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The Morning Skate, June 15: Trying for Tryamkin, World Cup flips the bird

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Let’s make this quick because … Friday.

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Also, Spain vs. Portugal at 11 a.m.? World No. 1 Dustin Johnson trying to lap the field at Shinnecock while everyone else looks like us weekend duffers trying to play that infernal course?

Anybody getting any work done today? Didn’t think so.

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On with the Skate …

The home team

Nikita Tryamkin: Hey, remember me? Da.
Nikita Tryamkin: Hey, remember me? Da. Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Writing about hockey as the summer solstice approaches can be a tough gig (unless you’re still following Alex Ovechkin around, which looks like a helluva lot of fun).

But our Ed Willes is up to the task of digesting all those off-season management bromides and spinning them into something resembling truth.

Like the reality that the Canucks aren’t going to go hog wild in free agency this summer.

“The foundation of your team is built through the draft,” Trevor Linden told Willes. “I think we have to recognize where we are and be prudent and patient and not get ahead of ourselves.”

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At least that’s a bit more honest than the last few years, when we were fed the illusion that the Canucks were gunning for a playoff run while mixing in youth.

Really? Were we really? Was that all intentional smoke and mirrors, or was the braintrust itself deluded about the strength of those squads? Hard to say.

But this frank talk — if not the results of the recent vintage of the team on the ice — is something we can get behind. Speak your truth, Trev.

Try, Tryamkin again?

Former Canucks defenceman Nikita Tryamkin walks with an interpreter to an end-of-season news conference in April 2017. “How do you say in English, ‘Just give me some damn shifts’?”
Former Canucks defenceman Nikita Tryamkin walks with an interpreter to an end-of-season news conference in April 2017. “How do you say in English, ‘Just give me some damn shifts’?” Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Daily Hive’s Janik Beichler landed a nice catch this week when he had a long-distance chat with onetime Canucks d-man Nikita Tryamkin, who’s playing over in Putinland.

Though you’d expect some sour grapes from the towering blueliner over the way he was underutilized here, he says he’s followed the Canucks closely and wouldn’t rule out a return after his Yekaterinburg contract is up.

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All he wanted to do, then and now, was play.

“The lack of ice time is the reason I decided to leave the Canucks,” Tryamkin told Daily Hive via email. Tryamkin received just 16:44 of ice time in 66 games under former head coach Willie Desjardins.

“I was a first-pairing D-man in Yekaterinburg this season, so I was pretty happy there.”

As for a couple years’ hence? He asks the only relevant question:

“Would I be needed by the Canucks after two years when my contract will expire?”

— So the Canucks are taking the kids on the road in the preseason, hosting camp in Whistler and playing a game in Kelowna.

Good idea. Let’s truly demonstrate that they’re British Columbia’s team, not just Vancouver’s … and thus spread around all that monumental sadness a bit.

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I kid. Next year’s going to be SO MUCH BETTER! Amirite?

Around the NHL

Was there a story out there this week that trumped the one involving Erik Karlsson’s wife being harassed by another Senators WAG? Nah, not even close.

It evolved over the week as Melinda Karlsson filed a protection order against her alleged online troller, and the team said it knew about the allegations for weeks. And the rumour is the situation has Erik Karlsson wanting out of Ottawa. Ug-lee.

That mess simply won’t fix itself unless the Sens do something drastic. Like trade away Mike Hoffman, whether you think he deserves it or not. Only …

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The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch says the Canucks are on a list of teams that are likely interested in Hoffman despite the hubbub. Well?

Here comes the Whirled Cup

The World Cup kicks off for real today, after a shady start where Russia obliterated that Saudi Arabian powerhouse.

You know, the squad that’s part of a super-strong, randomly selected “Group of Dearth” that miraculously gives the hosts a sniff at advancing out of the group stage.

How random that group draw was! How completely random!

One thing I loved from that game was Guus Hiddink on Fox during halftime. The coach, who knows a thing or two about trying to get lesser teams to rise to the occasion, was asked why the Saudis were losing.

He said, essentially: They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know how to play soccer.

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For the record, Robbie Williams wasn’t really flipping off the “entire world” there. He was giving it to the U.K. press for slagging him about being a Putin puppet and taking his “blood money.”

So much bro hugging: The Canada-U.S.-Mexico delegation celebrates winning the 2026 World Cup bid.
So much bro hugging: The Canada-U.S.-Mexico delegation celebrates winning the 2026 World Cup bid. Photo by Pavel Golovkin /AP

— In pre-tournament news, FIFA announced that North America will co-host the 2026 event.

That sparked a flurry of reflection among British Columbians about whether it was a wise decision to back away slowly from those soccer shucksters and their shenanigans — which of course means we miss out on hosting a Burkina Faso vs. Albania game or something.

We polled you informally about Vancouver missing out on the action, and the results were mixed. About 45 per cent of you were disappointed, but the rest were either satisfied with the decision (30 per cent) or ambivalent (25 per cent).

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Our soccer-mad sports boss Paul Chapman says it was a missed opportunity, but I’m somewhere in those latter two groups. It’s not like the U.S. delegation was going to hand us a semifinal, and there’s just too much ass-kissing involved with that FIFA gang.

Our old buddy Jmac tweeted us a reminder just how dirty the whole scene is.

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Golf: Told you it’s hard

Tiger Woods making what I’d call “Normal Golfer Face.”
Tiger Woods making what I’d call “Normal Golfer Face.” Photo by Carolyn Kaster /AP

There’s something satisfying, in a Schadenfreude sense, about watching what’s transpiring at the U.S. Open.

That course is making mincemeat of the best golfers who ever played the game, reminding them that, for everyone else, par is one hell of a score.

Tiger, Rory, Phil … most of the generational superstars might be gone by the weekend. And don’t be surprised if one or more of them whines that it was too tough out there.

Yeah, tell it to someone who hasn’t taken a nine on a 120-yard par 3, dudes. Suck it up and deal.

Let’s make a night of it

The scoreboard warns of severe weather, delaying action for hours in Winnipeg Thursday night.
The scoreboard warns of severe weather, delaying action for hours in Winnipeg Thursday night. Photo by Kevin King /Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun

Well, that was a crazy way to start the CFL season. The Blue Bombers opened festivities taking on the Eskimos in Winnipeg last night, and I think they may still be playing.

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Those who rushed back to their seats after the record-setting weather delays were treated to this, just before the half. Pretty agile on that sodden turf.

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Capping off the bizarre night — which turned out to be the longest regular-season CFL game in history — the visiting Esks had to go spoil the party with a last-second Sean Whyte field goal.

No Sub-Mariners this year?

‘King’ Felix Hernandez and the Mariners lost a 2-1 nailbiter to the Boston Red Sox last night, but already their games have a buzz that’s been rare in Seattle for a decade.
‘King’ Felix Hernandez and the Mariners lost a 2-1 nailbiter to the Boston Red Sox last night, but already their games have a buzz that’s been rare in Seattle for a decade. Photo by Lindsey Wasson /Getty Images

Seems that Seattle baseball club has been on the brink of relevancy for years now without much to show for it. But maybe, just maybe, this season is different.

The vibe coming from down the I-5 is of a team able to stand up and battle for their division — or at least a wild card, since it’s looking like the world champion Astros may not lose again this season.

This play during their sweep of the Angels was a showstopper, and helps explain how they won a game in which Mike Trout was Mike Trout: Two homers, ho hum. We’ll beat you anyway.

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Then on Wednesday, Seattle stubbornly kept pitching to Trout and gave up another bunch of hits to the perennial MVP — and still came out with a walkoff homer win.

Things are going so well, in fact, that superstar Robinson Cano is going to have to fight for playing time when he comes back from his PED suspension.

Managers yelling: What makes baseball great

A closeup look at one of my favourite things in baseball (NSFW language, might want to use earbuds) …

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Update: Well, damn, looks like MLB is trying to remove that clip from the interwebs because it’s profane. Duh. It’s also great, you schlubs.

Try this if that one up there isn’t playing for you:

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It’s not just Mets fans who love dirt-kicking, spittle-flying managers.

I grew up with Billy Martin’s histrionics in Detroit. He was a straight monster, but I liked him because he once gave me a practice ball at spring training. Those things are gold when you’re a kid.

Last lap

Just give me a minute. It’s been a long year.
Just give me a minute. It’s been a long year. Photo by Tad Vezner /AP

Apparently we’re all just tired. Tired of talking about Trump and Rocket Man and Trudeau’s terrible tariff tiff.

Because everyone stopped what they were doing this week to track the epic tale of a raccoon crawling up —then trying to get down — a U.S. skyscraper.

It was strangely riveting.

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— Let’s wrap this up with the official (Roller) Skate song of the day.

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Have a great weekend, everyone.

jruttle@postmedia.com

twitter.com/joeruttle


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