Tonight the Canucks fans at GM place and behind the TV screen watched the Edmonton Oilers ended their beloved team's hopes of making the playoffs. With one game left on Saturday, the game means basically nothing to both the Canucks and the Flames with the Western Conference's fate sealed tonight.
During the interview at the dressing room, Roberto Luongo was close to tears with disappointment. From now until the playoffs, the fans of the Vancouver Canucks must now wonder which team they must cheer for in the playoff.
Coach Alain Vigneault, who had a remarkable run with the Canucks last year and won the Jack Adams Award last year, is all of a sudden the bad guy in Vancouver, with his poor decision with his team this year and his questionable line changing.
With only one game left in the season, this is possibly the last time Markus Naslund and Trevor Linden will be seen in a Canucks uniform. With eight players in the Canucks line up as unrestricted free agents, Vancouver GM Dave Nois promised that the team will be very different next year.
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Let's look at the current Canucks who are going to be UFA this coming July. They include: Trevor Linden, Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison, Byron Richie, Aaron Miller, Mike Weaver, Curtis Sanford, and Brad Isbister. Their combined salary would be 13.7 million. That means, if they've decided not to re-sign any of them, it will give them a some room to sign free agents in the market.
To name some of the big names becoming unrestricted free agents this July, there are Joe Sakic, Sergei Fedorov, Matt Sundin, Doug Weight, Mike Peca, Nicklas Lidstrom, Wade Redden, Brian Cambell, Rob Blake, Adam Foote, Chris Chelio, Jose Theodore, Cristobal Huet, Ladislav Nagy, Sergei Samsonov, Brendan Shanahan, Marian Hossa, Michael Ryder, Miroslav Satan, Owen Nolan, and Mark Recchi.
Canucks' minor league associate Manitoba is doing quite well this season. They are now second in their division. Drew MacIntyre is ranked fifth in goaltending in the AHL with a record of 25-17-2 and a save percentage of 92.3 percent. He was also named second AHL all-star team. Cory Schneider on his first pro-year has a record of 18-11-2, a save percentage of 91.2 percent and two shut outs. He is now ranked 12th in the AHL.
Michael Grabner leads the team with 22 goals while Brad Moran leads the team with 21 goals, 52 assist, 73 points in 69 games. Jason Jaffry has 21 goals, 27 assist, 48 points in 43 games. Janik Hansen has 18 goals, 21 assist, and 39 points in 45 games.
With the potential of Alexander Edler and Luc Bourdon becoming top defensemen and Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows becoming the top shut down duo in the NHL, the possibility is endless. Although the Canucks season is effectively ended tonight, the future of the club looks bright.
Now let's get some opinions, who should go? Who should stay? And who should Dave Nois go for?
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4 months ago
My vote is that both Dave Nonis and AV go, I don't think Nonis has the smarts to make the right decison player wise and AV wouldn't know how to coach offensive minded players.
4 months ago
I think we give Nonis one more chance. But we need MAJOR changes during the off-season.
I would not be at all opposed to trading the Sedins - even Luongo (gasp!) - if it meant we could inject some true offensive talent into this team.
Obviously, Luongo is MVP material, and this season doesn't change that a bit. Which makes him very valuable on the open market.
Maybe I'm dreaming, but how about this scenario: LA Kings DESPARATELY need goaltending. We trade Luongo for Anze Kopitar and either Cammaleri or Brown. Maybe that's asking too much. But the Kings are swimming in youthful offensive talent, and need a bona fide puck stopper going forward.
It would hurt losing Luongo, but as the article mentions above, we have some strong goaltending talent waiting in the wings. And if you're anything like me, you CANNOT watch another low-scoring snorefest season like we just had....
from 4 months ago
Woah, trading Luongo for Kopitar and Cammaleri or brown is going to be trading the best goalie in the world for another Bertuzzi. Not to mention, we don't have another NHL starting goalie ready to play next year. We will see another west coast express backed by Dan Cloutier.
Another point I want to make is that just because a goalie is having success in the minor league, doesn't mean he is ready to start in the AHL right away. Goalie like defense man needs time to develop. In goalie's cases, they take more time to develop. Remember Alex Auld? He's possibly the greatest goalie the Moose had ever seen. However, look where he is now? His career is basically ruined because he started playing in the NHL too early.
Although I see your point of Luongo being valuable in the market but keep in mind that he has two more years in his 6 million dollar a year contract with no trade clause. Bobby Lou isn't going anywhere. As a matter of fact, in his interview last night, it shows that he's happy here. He may be disappointed but he's happy to be here. Anyways, happy birthday Roberto Luongo
4 months ago
by Mike
We can't overestimate how much of a prison Naslund's $6-million no-trade contract put Nonis in this season. Even if some other team could have taken Naslund off our hands under fair terms, all he had to do was say no. He will be gone and this makes the team better automatically.
Expressing confidence in a core group means giving them time to develop and to work through slumps. By nature, this requires time and the faith to believe it's the best thing to do. This is the second time that Canucks' management has placed faith in the core group and the second time the core has let everyone down. For this reason, the core must be gutted and a new one established.
Therefore, besides Marko, the old and tired hands of Linden and Morrison can be given a gold watch and driven to the airport. The decline of Linden mystifies me. Modano has been around as long as Linden and seems to have more in the tank at this stage of their careers.
You keep the Sedins as two-thirds of a strong second line. You keep Mitchell and all the young players because the youngsters will develop, and one or two may surprise. By not signing any of the UFAs, there will be almost $14-million available to BUY a top line that shows scoring talent, game-tough grit, stamina, and leadership that is infectious and lifts spirits.
Instead of focusing on TRADING for new faces, how about special training techniques designed to DEVELOP the special talents of each of the players you have? I think the better strategy is to SCOUT for new faces.
Matt Cooke's offensive contribution has improved since he left the Canucks. Does that tell us anything?
from 4 months ago
Agree with a lot of what you have to say. Cooke is in new scenery, I think that's good for him and he can contribute. Mitchell is overated in my mind although he's hard working. Salo is trade material, but we still need to develop more youngsters.
Canucks player development and scouts should all be let go. Especially anyone supporting draft picking in the last 10 years. We've been horrible and while you want to think that horrible means it can only get better, horrible stays horrible until something is done.
Linden was never that great a player to begin with, but on a good line during his good days of course he can score. How can you compare him to a talent like Mike Modano, one of the best American players ever. That's not fair to Linden. Linden has contributed more than enough.
At the end of the day, the team that the Canucks fielded this year was not playoff caliber and it certainly was not top 10 caliber in the league. Every team is supposed to play hard every night, so at the end of the day, what differs is still the basics, skills and talent and that comes from recognizing who has talent and skills...
4 months ago
We should've drafted Anze Kopitar instead of Luc Bourdon. The problem with the Canucks is management. I would give AV another chance, because I think he can coach both ways and we would have to built out from the current system anyways.
Luongo is hot in the open market, and barring some super miraculous FA activity in the off-season, I think he will go to the next highest bidder come contract extension/FA time. He will want something long term, close to home, near whereever he wants to live.
The biggest problem for the Canucks right now is the upcoming FA market is dry. Sure there are lots of experienced puck men, but in terms of stars, upcoming stars, they are limited and other teams will be vying for them too.
I would argue, that unless our drafting ability changes immediately, the Canucks will probably stumble for another 2-3 seasons before anything useful can result from the open market.
Wish I had time to write an article to prove my point. But go back to the last 10-12 years of drafting. Aside from the Sedins, Kesler (maybe) and Ohlund, who have we drafted? And then look 20-30picks behind us, WHO DID WE MISS???
Look at the strong teams of today. They are heavily invested in their past 4-5 drafts playing players they have developed. Look at the Habs, Sharks, Red Wings... that's how you build a lasting team/organization.
What's worse is that we drafted poorly when we had a good team, so now our team is going to suck even more and if we do not draft well while we suck, and do not have the opportunities in the FA market to pick up good players, we'll continue to suck.
Nonis has to go, the scouts have to go, anyone making player decisions in the last 5-7 years should all get turned over and turfed. AV's ok for another season or so.
For Canucks fans, (including myself), I think it will only get worse before it gets better.
EDM next year with Horcoff, Souray healthy will be great. They have good enough goaltending.
PHX is getting better.
CHI is getting better.
NAS is better
Vancouver is a sinking ship. I would almost argue Toronto is in a better position than us for next season.
It's sad. Talk about mismanagement!
Oh well...
from 4 months ago
Hey Myles, I did write a report on some of the draft picks we miss on my friend Cindy's post. I can repost it. Some of the big names we missed since 89 were just crazy. We're talking about Brouduer, Jagr, Hossa. With the exception of Kesler, the Sedin twins, Linden, and Ohlund, none of our first round pick were good picks. Not to mention, Linden is the only first round pick in Canucks history with monumental impact to the team, the game, and the society.
4 months ago
by Mike
Myles, my comparison of Linden and Modano is a relative comparison, not an absolute one. I picked Modano because he is very close in age to Linden and they were drafted the same year, Modano #1 and Linden was seen as good enough to be drafted right behind him at #2. Was the 1988 draft that thin?
If you examine their records, you will find that Modano's point totals were about 23 % greater than Linden's in the first five years of their careers and 135% greater in the last five. While not a perfect measure, this divergence in relative performance is great enough to conclude that a good portion of the difference can be explained by "gas in the tank".
The unfairness to Linden is that his talents were never used properly by the Canucks in his last years. He was always a better winger than a centre, and was too often used as a centre in recent years. Why? They had nobody else. Why? A hole in the drafting and trading, perhaps?
While we're at rebuilding the team, trade Ohlund and Salo. Let others be dazzled by the toughness and hard shot (which isn't accurate) - these guys get injured too often. We will be trading away injury time as well as hockey talent for which we should be able to get something in return.
4 months ago
At this point, it's save to say no body's job in the entire organization is safe unless it's a player with a no trade clause. We can all expect to see Naslund in the Canucks uniform for the last time tomorrow. As a big time Trevor Linden fan, of course I would love to see him play again and play in the second line role with the Sedins. However, that's not going to happen. Last year, Dave Nonis said that if Trevor isn't such a good player, he would have offered him a coaching staff position. His leadership in the locker room is needed. It is something the team has been lacking.
Let's ask ourselves this question. How many players in the Canucks lineup have the no trade clause? From my sources, there are Salo, Ohlund, Mitchell, and Luongo. That is of course excluding Naslund. We should also remember that Luongo's salary is going up to 7 million next season. That means the Sedins, Kesler, Pyatt, Krajicek, Pettinger, Bourdon, Cowan, Bieksa, Edler, Burrows and Raymond can be possible trading chip. Especially with the Sedins multi play making skill and flexibility to play with different players and relatively low price (3.575 million each) for the points they have, it's possible to find a GM who's willing to have them for at least a year since they are going to be UFA next season. The only question is what can the Canucks get back for the Sedins?
4 months ago
by Mike
Here's a comparison of Matt Cooke with Vancouver and Washington.
The Cooker was traded on or about February 26 and had recorded 61 games played with Vancouver. To date, he has recorded 16 games played with Washington.
Goals: 7 in 61 with Van; 3 in 16 with Wash;
Assists: 9 in 61 with Van; 4 in 16 with Wash;
Points: 16 in 61 with Van; 7 in 16 with Wash;
+/-: -4 in 61 with Van; +4 in 16 with Wash;
Penalty Minutes: 64 in 61 with Van; 27 in 16 with Wash;
Average # of shifts per game: 19 with Van; 17 with Wash;
Average ice time per game: 13 minutes 23 seconds with Van; 12 minutes 2 seconds with Wash.
If you project Washington's performance in 16 games to 61 games to compare with the Vancouver performance, you get a better-than-60% increase in each of the following categories: goals, assists, points, and PIM.
Cooke is producing at a higher rate on slightly less ice time. While there is no guarantee this differential in performance would continue longer-term (Cooke was a Canuck, you know), the performance differntial so far is interesting to note and makes you wonder if AV's coaching style was detrimental to the season performance of some other Canucks.
from 4 months ago
It's a very interesting point you brought up Mike. Very interesting. If you look at the Canucks line up, how many defense man are there with offensive skill? We're talking about Bourdon, Ohlund, Salo, Bieksa, Elder, and Krajicek. Some how with the defense line up the Canucks have with only solid shut down de, Mitchell, Ohlund, and possibly Salo, one would wonder why aren't they playing in a more offensive style?
One caller at Team1040 tonight made a very interesting point. If you look at the Red Wings lineup, who is their top defense man? Then look at both the Ducks and the Sens. If you take a look at ours, who is our number one defenseman?
4 months ago
Hey Leo - Great article
Canucks sure could do with a well rounded player - for some reason the Canucks don't develop their players to be well rounded. Most teams have a player that is on for every situation - PP - PV 4/4 and even strength - usually it is the Captain - Iggy, Alfredsson, Sakic etc
What I would love to see from the Canucks is their old playing style back - the hits, grit, offensive minded - none of this trapping - they aren't good at it and its boring.
Canucks really need an number one D man. They should pick up Redden - he is an offensive defenceman - great player. Salo - can the guy ever hit the net? He must miss the net by a country mile half the time.
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