Here is the season review for the Vancouver Canucks for the 2007-2008 NHL season.
2007-2008 Record: 39-33-10, 88 points, fifth in Northwest, 11th in West.
Head Coach: Alain Vigneault
General Manager: Dave Nonis
Top Three Players: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Roberto Luongo
Team MVP: Roberto Luongo, G, 73 GP, 35 W, 2.38 GAA, .917 SP. Luongo was one of the only rays of hope in an awful year for the Canucks. He consistently played well and he is still the best player on this team and, one of the best goalies in the NHL.
Rookie of the Year: He is not technically a rookie still, but he basically is after playing just over 20 games in his first season. Alexander Edler, D, is a great young defenseman who scored 20 points in 75 games. He had a positive plus/minus rating on a team that struggled all season.
Bust: Trevor Linden, F. He had a great season, leadership-wise, but stats-wise, he was terrible. Don’t let this season take away from his career, though. He is a great guy and he will be missed if he really does retire after this season.
Surprise: None.
Playoffs: Did not qualify.
Season Analysis: The Canucks had an off year. Okay, a really bad off year. They will bounce back, but the owners need to first find a good, competent general manager that can help rebuild this team. They have some good building blocks in the Sedin twins, but they are getting up there in years and they will be leaving in the next five years or so.
They must assume Luongo will be leaving in the next six to seven years as well, so the goaltending situation is set for now.
They need to work hard this off-season in order to get in shape for a long run next year because they will indeed be back in the playoffs.
comments (3) write a comment »
write a new comment
3 months ago
I think that you've failed to recognize the role that injuries played this year...I don't think that the team had an "awful" year, I think it was more of an unfortunate one. We battled in the toughest division in the league and, in the end, we just missed. While our players didn't play up to par on some occasions (even Luongo faltered a bit down the stretch), I think people fail to recognize that this team was in it, despite injuries to some of our key d men.
I also wouldn't call Trevor a "bust"....although you look at his stats, you also have to take into account the leadership he provided - especially in the playoffs.
from 3 months ago
dylan, u make some good points, but i never said that they had an awful year. i said they had a bad off year. and i did mention how trevor linden provided leadership in the locker room. and they did not make the playoffs this year, so he could not provide leadership in the postseason. yes injuries played a huge role, but i personally do not like blaming a season on injuries.
3 months ago
The Linden thing is a complete miss on your part.
It's so easy to tab the "stats" and see Linden didn't score many goals or points this year, but you have to examine the role he was used in to evaluate his overall performance. A "bust" is someone expected to provide something they haven't provided. Trevor Linden was never asked or relied upon as a scoring threat for the team. He was, throughout the whole season, a 4th line penalty killing specialist. That is what was asked of him and he did it certainly no worse than what was expected of him. To call him a "bust" because of his stats is completely missing the point.
If you want to look for a bust, a better choice would have been Naslund. Although he's shown a steady decline over the last few years, he was still wildly inconsistent throughout the entire year. For a guy being paid $6 million and expected to produce to that level, 60 points just isn't enough.
THAT is a bust.
write a new comment