I think Burr was more happy, he hit me in the head so hard on the bench I thought I almost got a concussion.

—Virtanen after he scored his first goal

It’s obviously a bittersweet day. I think it will get better as time goes on. I’ve known for a few weeks now that my days as a Vancouver Canuck were going to be numbered. It’s a bit emotional, but I had a great run in Vancouver. It’s a great organization, and I have nothing but great memories in Vancouver. I have a lot of great friends that I’ve made on the ice and in the dressing room. Obviously the Sedins and [Alex] Burrows I played with for over a decade, and I grew up with those guys. Obviously Dan Hamhuis. I could go on forever. I’ve had a lot of great relationships that I’ll keep the rest of my life. A lot of great friends we made in the city, through the kids’ school. It’s tough to leave Vancouver, but it’s also exciting to have a new chapter in my life and to move on to a great city in Anaheim, a great hockey team and it will be exciting moving forward and see what happens.

—Kevin Bieksa (via crosbieksa)

It’s not the first time we have seen that in playoffs. We have played against Ben Eager and some other dumb-dumbs like that before.

—kevin bieksa about game 2 vs. flames

Vrbata said the Sedins really didn’t have many special instructions about fitting in with them. After a couple of exhibition games, the linemates made sure that whoever was in the middle on a rush made sure to drive the net. Other than that? ‘We decided we have to shoot more,’ Vrbata said. Even Henrik? Vrbata paused, and you could hear the smile forming on his face over the phone. 'When they said we have to shoot more, they were really saying I have to shoot more.’

—30 Thoughts

They are most excited about having guys in the room that want to be there. That’s probably the most important thing.
This is not an indictment of Roberto Luongo, he was in a tough spot. [The core players] never pointed fingers at the coach or anything else, They were looking at themselves; not blaming anyone. With all of the distraction gone, they just want to have a good season.

—Trevor Linden, on what he learned from his players during off-season conversations with them (30 thoughts)