Welcome to another instalment of our in-house Monday Mailbag. The spot where we take your questions and find answers to them.
You can submit your questions simply at Canucks.com/mailbag.
This week, we took your questions into the locker room for answers from the players and Head Coach Rick Tocchet.
We wonder if you’ll be as surprised as we were at some of the responses.
Carl C.: What language do Teddy Blueger and Arturs Silovs communicate in?
Russian.
Kelsy R.: Who's team Cats vs team Dogs?
Noah Juulsen is on Team Dogs and shared that his mini golden doodle Tucker turned five years old last week.
Podkolzin had to think about it for a second but ultimately was on Team Dogs.
“My mom has a cat, but my wife has a dog,” said Podkolzin. “My wife’s dog is named Maya and she’s small, but I don’t know what kind of dog she is. I didn’t see her for a long time because she lives in Russia, but she makes our day fun.”
Tocchet is on Team Dogs, but he says that cats are beginning to grow on him.
“I actually like cats more than I did when I was younger,” said Tocchet. “I'm starting to actually like cats.”
Soucy is Team Dogs, and he loves his golden retriever.
“We had a couple of acres when I was growing up and had some outdoor cats, but I prefer dogs. We always had labs or retrievers.”
Boeser is on Team Dogs.
“I’m just not a cat person,” said Boeser. “Cat people are cat people and dog people are dog people. Dogs are a little more playful and loving.”
Åman is on Team Dogs but he does not have one of his own.
DeSmith is also on Team Dogs.
“I’ve had both, but I just think dogs are better,” said DeSmith. “Having a cat was great but cats are very independent and less of a companion. Dogs are just a man’s best friend.”
Charlie L.: If you could choose one vintage hockey player to play with, who would it be?
Tocchet said it was easy for him and chose Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky.
Juulsen would want to be on a pairing with Bobby Orr.
Soucy went with Nicklas Lidstrom.
“I just feel like he would just make the game so easy,” said Soucy. “The way he broke out pucks and squashing plays, I feel like he was just the complete package and that he would just do most of the work and I could just kind of be there. I’d just bring moral support.”
Boeser went with Marian Gaborik because Gaborik was Boeser’s idol when he was growing up.
Åman chose Wayne Gretzky.
“Because he was the best to ever play,” said Åman.
Miller chose Patrice Bergeron as the player he would love to play with.
“I played against him a lot in my career and really looked up to him,” said Miller about Bergeron. “I like the old-school guys from the early 2000s too, playing with them would be cool. Alexei Kovalev was my favourite player and I never got to play against Jaromir Jagr, that guy is a vet.”
Podkolzin went with Sergei Fedorov or Igor Larionov.
“I’ll go with a Canuck legend and say, Larionov,” said Podkolzin.
Casey DeSmith went with Carey Price as his goaltending partner.
“He was my favourite goalie when I was a teenager and he’s my favourite goalie of all time to watch,” said DeSmith. “It’s just the way he played the game. It was beautiful to watch – just clinical.”
Simon K.: Who do you like to sit next to on the plane?
Tocchet had the biggest surprise of the mailbag and said that his favourite person to sit next to is the airplane mechanic named Neil.
“Sometimes I’ll sit with him and just talk about the mechanics of an airplane and he’s a nice guy,” said Tocchet.
Juulsen sits next to Filip Hronek on the plane.
“We always talk, and we have fun,” said Juulsen.
When he was asked if Hronek is quiet, Juulsen said, “it depends on who he’s talking to.”
Soucy’s seatmate is Sam Lafferty and those two go old school with their activity of choice.
“It’s really good with Laff,” said Soucy. “He started bringing a crib board and we play crib on the flights and then just relax. We will usually either nap or watch some TV together and then play some crib. Laff is beating me pretty good right now, we’ve got to get back on the road so I can push back. He has skunked me a few times.”
Boeser sits next to Thatcher Demko on the plane, and they have a “little movie club.”
DeSmith’s favourite seatmate is Phil Di Giuseppe.
“We just talk,” said DeSmith about PDG. “I normally have my own row, but we just talk about our families and babies and where we would want to live after we retire. We really just talk about everything.”
Nils Åman likes to sit next to Nils Höglander.
“We’ve been sitting next to each other all year,” said Åman. “It is just nice to be with him. We speak in Swedish and talk about everything.”
Podkolzin sits with Ilya Mikheyev and Nikita Zadorov.
“I think Z is the funniest guy around,” said Podkolzin. “Sometimes I sit near Millsy at a table, and we sit near each other. It is always good jokes and some fun after the wins. I call Millsy dad.”
Podkolzin then screamed ‘DAD!’ across the locker room and Miller responded with ‘SON!’
Miller has run into some problems on the plane this season but has found his Zen with the movie club.
“I sit with Mysie now,” said Miller. “I used to play cards, but I don’t do that anymore because I can’t handle it. I like sitting with Mysie and we’ve got a movie club now and it’s great.”
“Mysie, Brock, Demmer and I sit in a foursome and we will hit play together. We rotate who picks the movies. I didn’t really understand the gist of the club. I brought a terrible movie and I found out quickly that it needed to be like a legit movie. Like above eight and a half movie.”
Berfin E.: Who is the best and the worst roommate candidate on the team?
Most NHL players do not have roommates on the road anymore, as per Article 16.9 in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
16.9: Single Room Accommodations:
“Any Player on an SPC who is not in the Entry-Level System shall be entitled to single room accommodations for all Club road trips.”
The only Canucks roster players who are currently on Entry-Level Contract are Vasily Podkolzin, Arturs Silovs, and Nils Åman.
The team has chosen to give all their players their own rooms – even the ELC players.
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This concludes this week’s edition of the Monday Mailbag here at Canucks.com. Thanks to all who asked questions and if you missed your chance to get a question in this week, have no worries because there is always next week!
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