Nothing exciting but two points for Canucks

It wasn’t pretty, but it was exactly what the Canucks needed. Coming off yet another disappointing performance against their #1 rival in Calgary, the Canucks returned to GM Place looking for answers. The performance they turned in against a very weak Minnesota team is a blueprint for success for this Daniel Sedin-less team- they stood tall in front of Roberto Luongo, clogged the neutral zone and threw pucks at the net all night long. The “top” line of Henrik, Burrows and Samuelsson played well and generated chances. Henrik stills looks a little lost without his twin brother, but he continues to make plays and work hard in the corners. The second line of Kessler, Raymond and Grabner combined for 17 shots and the most exciting plays of the night. Finish continues to be an issue for this team, but this is not the team that will compete for top spot in the Western Conference. This is the team that has to keep the Canucks in contention while Daniel Sedin, Sami Salo and Pavol Demitra heal up and Luongo comes through his annual slow start. The always elusive second tier scores are proving they can make plays and get chances, the defense is looking tighter and more responsible. For the next few weeks the Canucks have to be a boring team. Good forechecking, tight defensive coverage and getting pucks on net will be key. The Canucks do not have a sniper or a game breaker that will steal points, they will win low scoring games decided on deflections and second chance goals- just like tonight.

draft time!

So who will be this year’s version of the canucks first round draft pick? Looking back over the years they have had some great ones, some mediocre ones and some down right bad ones.

Great draft picks:
Kesler, sedans, ohlund, nedved, linden, neely, and lever

Horrible picks:
Jocelyn Guevremont, Richard Blight, Dan Woodley, Alex Stojanov, Libor Polasek, Josh Holden, Nathan Smith, and Shawn Antoski

I guess it is like this for most teams, but wow some of these guys never even played a game! So who will be this year’s pick? Well we get the 22nd pick, providing we don’t trade up or down, so let’s say we don’t trade. Well, we are pretty deep at centre and tender. Defence is solid and may even get better if we sign jaybo. So that leaves the winger positions, which means either Carl klingberg or zack kassian. Kassian is a bonified tough guy with tons of offence skill, he proved his point last year how tough he really was and thus this year no one wanted to fight him and he scored more. Klingberg is a speedster who could play well with a guy by the name of Marion gaborik!

Time will tell who we draft and it is truly tough to pick as you never know who will trade up to get a certain player. One thing is almost for sure this year is that every team in the first round should get a decent player unless that player decides to become a Patrik Stefan clone!

Dissapointment

The disappointment of losing a series is overpowering. We all believed this was THE TEAM and a bunch of young, talented; don’t know any better players stole our thunder. Hats off to Chicago for not backing down. If they can play that way in the conference finals, there is no reason not to believe that they can’t go on to the cup finals. As for the Canucks, where do they go from here? A lot of guys have to be either signed or let go, Does Mats come back? Do the twins come back? Do they go after Boumeester and Gaborik?

These are all things that need to be decided sooner rather than later so we can build off of what was a very positive and promising season. Stay tuned Canuck fans as this is going to be a very scary or exciting off-season.

Bring on the Hawks!

Bring on the Hawks! Chicago knocked off Calgary last night and that is perfectly alright with the Canuck world. We get home ice once again thanks to Anaheim beating San Jose. The series is rumoured to start Thursday night in Vancouver.

This should be a great series and for those of you thinking it won’t be physical watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmfLGtxsjAE
The regular season series was split 2-2 with each team winning once on the others home ice. The edge should go to the rested Canucks but we all know nothing is given in the NHL playoffs, ask the Sharks!

I look for this to be a grudge match with the Canucks coming out on top in 6 games, perhaps 5. The pure physicality of the nucks defence will wear down the Hawks who will be frustrated by Captain Lou.

Oh and coincidentally the only time the Canucks have swept a series in the playoffs was in 1982 in the first round against Calgary and we all know what happened that year don’t we?

Best Canucks Team Ever?

Best Canuck Team Ever???

Well the start of the 2009 playoffs is making the Canucks look awfully good. Best Canucks team ever assembled?? Well let’s look at the other great teams the franchise has put together.

81-82 towel power team. With the likes of king Richard, the butcher man, Ronny Delorme, Gradin, Rota, Smyl and Snepsts, this team of underdogs made it to the Stanley cup finals only to be swept by the power house Islanders. Probably not the best team ever but made quite a run.

93-94 team. What a team this was huh! Adams, the Russian Rocket, Courtnall, Ronning, Gelinas, Linden, Lumme, and Captain Kirk. By most peoples standards they underachieved in the regular season. They embarked on a playoff run of the ages and came within a goal post to taking the 7th game to overtime. This team was loved so much that riots broke out after the finals.

02-03/03-04 team. Bertuzzi, Morrison and Naslund, Linden, Cloutier, Jovocop, Ohlund and Salo, and the young Sedins. Perhaps the best REGULAR SEASON team this franchise has put together. But you can’t say they were the best team because they couldn’t take it far in the playoffs. Too bad because if one of these teams had at least made it to the finals they would have been a lock for best team in franchise history.

08-09 team. 3 games into the playoffs and this team looks and plays like they want the cup and nothing will stop them. Mature Sedins with agitator turned scorer Alex Burrows are always a threat. Mats Sundin, Ryan Kesler and Demitra make up a 2nd line that would be a number 1 line on half the teams in the NHL. The 3rd and 4th lines aren’t too shabby either. With arguably the best defensive package, you could almost throw any goalie in net and have a great chance at winning games. But they don’t have just any goalie, they have Captain Bobby Lou! The best goalie right now in the game!

So who is the best team ever assembled? Right now as we speak the 93-94 team has a loose grip on it, but things are changing fast. If things go the way all us canuckleheads want it to, the 08-09 team will be the best there ever was.