Complete Preview for the Vancouver Canucks' 2014-15 Season

After the biggest offseason overhaul in franchise history, the Vancouver Canucks are hoping to stop the downward slide that has plagued the team ever since it lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in June 2011.

With former Canuck players Trevor Linden and Jim Benning at the helm, new coach Willie Desjardins behind the bench and a revamp of more than one-third of the lineup on the ice, fans have been promised that "Change is Coming." It's hoped that the team has hit rock bottom and is ready to begin its climb back to respectability.

What We Learned in 2013-14

It's never a good sign when your coach decides he wants to fight his counterpart and tries to storm the opposing dressing room in the middle of a game.

Hiring John Tortorella to replace Alain Vigneault during the summer of 2013 started off well enough. As he handed big minutes to his star players, Daniel and Henrik Sedin played well enough in the early going to sign off on matching $28 million contract extensions on November 1.

The good ship Tortorella captained sailed along smoothly until the end of 2013, by which time the Canucks had put up a record of 23-11-7. But injuries started to mount, and the team was 1-5-2 in January before Torts launched his assault toward Calgary coach and old nemesis Bob Hartley on January 18.

Vancouver went 2-4 during the six-game suspension Tortorella received for the incident and never regained much momentum. After the coach returned to the bench, the team went 9-14-2 for the remainder of the season.

Oh—and goaltender Roberto Luongo was traded to the Florida Panthers on March 4, two days after Tortorella passed him over for a coveted start at Vancouver's Heritage Classic game against the Ottawa Senators.

By season's end, the once-mighty Canucks had fallen to 25th place in the NHL. The Presidents' Trophy-winning team that had led the league in goals for, goals against and power-play percentage in 2010-11 had dropped to 28th in goals, 15th in goals against and 26th on the power play. Former Art Ross Trophy winners Henrik and Daniel Sedin once again led the team in scoring but with just 50 and 47 points, respectively.

Heads needed to roll. President and general manager Mike Gillis was fired on April 8, with Tortorella and his assistant, Mike Sullivan, joining Gillis on the unemployment line on May 1.

Outlook for 2014-15 

The new era began one day after Gillis' firing, when the Canucks introduced beloved former captain Trevor Linden as the team's new president of hockey operations. The charismatic Linden brought Boston Bruins assistant general manager Jim Benning on board as his new GM, then patiently waited until Texas Stars bench boss Willie Desjardins captured the AHL's Calder Cup before signing him up less than a week before the draft.

Once the new management group was in place, the player personnel changes could begin—and there were plenty.

The most important departure was second-line center Ryan Kesler. He demanded—and received—a trade to the Anaheim Ducks, per Justin Bourne of The Score.

But that wasn't all the housecleaning. Defenseman Jason Garrison was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, David Booth received a compliance buyout and Mike Santorelli, Zac Dalpe, Jordan Schroeder and Jeremy Welsh all moved on to new teams as free agents.

To fill the holes, the Canucks brought in center Nick Bonino and defenseman Luca Sbisa as the spoils from the Kesler trade. They also dealt for promising young center Linden Vey and gritty forward Derek Dorsett. 

Next, Vancouver made a splash in free agency, signing veteran goaltender Ryan Miller, scoring winger Radim Vrbata and minor leaguer Dustin Jeffrey, who played for Desjardins' Texas Stars.

Here's a look at the Canucks' projected lineup for the new season:

	Forward
	Defense
	Goal
Daniel Sedin	Henrik Sedin	Radim Vrbata
Chris Higgins	Nick Bonino	Zack Kassian
Alex Burrows	Linden Vey	Jannik Hansen
Derek Dorsett	Shawn Matthias	Brad Richardson
Dustin Jeffrey		Tom Sestito
Alex Edler		Kevin Bieksa
Dan Hamhuis		Chris Tanev
Lucas Sbisa		Ryan Stanton
Yannick Weber
	Ryan Miller
	Eddie Lack

After sending third-string goaltender Jacob Markstrom to the AHL's Utica Comets, the Canucks have a 22-man roster and $3 million in available cap space, according to CapGeek.com.

With a deeper prospect pool than they've had in years, the Canucks are keeping an eye on their young players to see if any are ready to make the jump to the NHL. The inside track may belong to two-way center Bo Horvat, who was chosen ninth overall in 2013. At 19, he's too young to play in the AHL, so he'll either stick with the Canucks or be returned to the OHL's London Knights for a fourth year of junior hockey.

"

Benning - “I really like Bo Horvat, I think he’s going to be an important player here going forward.” #Canucks

— Sportsnet Pacific (@SNETPacific) May 23, 2014"

Throughout the summer, the battle cry of the new brain trust has been for the Canucks to make the playoffs with their new group. Almost every player from the Canucks' core is coming off of a disastrous campaign, so there should be some bounce-back, particularly from the Sedin twins, Alex Burrows and Alex Edler.

It wouldn't be Vancouver without a goaltending controversy. Though Ryan Miller was signed to be the team's No. 1 goaltender—and is being paid as such—he'll need to get off to a great start. Eddie Lack made the best of a bad situation during his rookie year, and he did it all with a smile on his face. Fans love him and will be screaming for him to get his chance the moment Miller falters.