Conversations with the Enemy: Answers from Benched Whale

Editor's Note: We talked a little with Dani who runs Benched Whale, Bloguin's Vancouver Canucks blog.  Here's some things you should look for heading into the restart of the rivalry on Saturday.  We'll let you know when our side of the convo goes up over there.

BHDL: What is the Canucks biggest strength?
BW: Their biggest strength this year is that they have more depth than they had last year. All four lines that Vigneault puts on the ice can score so even if the opposing team shuts down our big line, there's still another line that could put pucks in the net. The Sedins have been able to elevate their game and when they haven't, players who have been MIA during the regular season somehow stepped it up in the series against the Kings.

BW: Defense. A couple months ago I was complaining about how bad Aaron Rome was, now I'm wishing for him to be in the lineup to replace Andrew Alberts because he's even worse. That statement there should tell you about the state of the defense right now. Without Willie Mitchell the Canucks defense is missing a key shut down guy which will hurt them in this series. BW: In short: terrible. Well he wasn't that good coming into the Olympics and he was mediocre during the Olympics, so his play afterward could be thought of as being consistent with his play before. But he's been pulled a ton of times after the Olympics and was the number one question mark going into the series against the Kings. Luckily he made some clutch saves, and will hopefully carry this form into the series against the Blackhawks BW: Rivalry. I love a good rivalry in a playoff series and have a feeling that this one will live up to my expectations. Also, during the Olympics I have come to appreciate Toews so much more and I am really looking forwards to watching him play against the Canucks. BW: Canuck Day? What? Oh that event that I refuse to acknowledge even occurred because they are jumping the gun on this? Oh that. No bad mojo but it just was jumping the gun and makes non-bandwagon fans cringe because it just gives other fans/bloggers ammo to make fun of us with. It was a way for the city to show support to the team, but the end result just ends up looking like we are celebrating prematurely.