FanHouse Ryan Shannon

Wild 3, Oilers 0: Bruce Ciskie already posted on the details of Marian Gaborik's triumphant return to the Minnesota lineup in its 3-0 win over Edmonton, and to continue the coverage here's some video of the Wild's third goal. Let's just give an assist to the Oilers on this one:



That's just an unfortunate -- and depending on your rooting interests, hilarious -- bounce for the Oilers. Amazingly, it wasn't the only goal a team scored on itself during this weekend's action.

Ryan Shannon, a bit player on last year's Anaheim Ducks cup-winning squad, has done very little except be a defensive sieve during his few stints with the Canucks this season.

Last night, Shannon thrust himself into the spotlight with a shootout goal eerily similar to much-debated goal Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored many moons ago. As you can imagine, Hawks coach Denis Savard (who knows a thing or two about spin-o-ramas) was none too pleased about Shannon 'bowling' over Nikolai Khabibulin.

"To me that's interference," said Savard. "The goalie shouldn't be able to get bumped. I mean what's the difference if the guy goes right at the goalie and runs him right out? I think that's something the league should look at and try to fix that. They need to fix it.

So, should this be a legal goal? Was there enough interference to justify calling it off?

As a biased Canucks fan, the answer is rather obvious to me. The puck was always in a forward motion, and Shannon did not purposefully run into the goalie, so the goal was obviously A-OK.

The list of smurf-sized players that rocked the minors and sucked in the NHL is longer than John Holmes: Steve Kariya, Brandon Reid, Stanislav Chistov, Jason Krog, Keith Aucoin, and Darren Haydar, to name a few.

Many such players often have to find a new team before they are given a chance to succeed, such as Ray Whitney and Martin St. Louis.

So, where does newly acquired Canuck Ryan Shannon fit in?

They [Ducks] were looking for a change for Ryan and we think he has a chance to be an NHL regular, but it's not a lock," Vancouver Senior Vice-President and General Manager Dave Nonis said.

"We think he has some upside and he definitely has a second gear - he's one of the fastest in the league but his size may be a factor."

After rocking the AHL to the tune of 95 points in 85 games over the past two seasons, Shannon, generously listed as 5'9" 178lbs, earned a full-time job with the Ducks, but produced just 11 points in 53 NHL games. You can be forgiven if you don't recognize his name, even if it is now engraved on the Stanley Cup. Shannon was a bit part for the Ducks, and never made his presence felt.

At 24, Shannon is no spring chicken, so he won't get a lot of chances to prove himself as an NHL-caliber offensive forward. That is why the Ducks let him go, and why the Canucks acquired him.