Vancouver Canucks: Top 5 Players in Their Quest for the Cup

The Canucks have been getting contributions from their entire lineup during the first three rounds. 

It was hard to narrow it down to only five key players, so I would like to give honorable mention to those that didn't make the cut.

Chris Higgins (three game-winning goals), Mason Raymond, Raffi Torres, Jannik Hansen, Dan Hamhuis, Alex Edler, Sami Salo, Christian Ehrhoff and others have all had their moments in the sun and contributed to the 12 wins that have gotten the Canucks to the biggest stage in hockey.

Henrik and Daniel Sedin

They each deserve their own slide, but lets be honest, they are always going to be linked together, so I'm not going to break up that trend.

Henrik is simply doing what he has done all year, creating offense through sublime passing. A pair of goals and 19 assists for 21 points, good for first overall in NHL playoff scoring. 

Daniel naturally is scoring goals. Eight goals is good enough to tie for second in playoff goal scoring, and Daniel has notched eight assists as well.

What has to be scary for the Lightning and Bruins is that Henrik is just hitting his stride. After playing through an injury in the earlier rounds, the Canucks captain exploded for 12 points in just five games in Western Conference finals against the San Jose Sharks.

Ryan Kesler

The single most valuable skater for the Canucks, Ryan Kesler does it all. He is second in NHL playoff scoring with 18 points in 18 games, coming close to teammate Henrik Sedin's 21 points. 

Kesler also has produced seven goals, including a pair of game-winners and also the last-second tying goal that forced overtime in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

Kesler leads all Canucks forwards with 23:15 in average ice time, as he plays on the second line at even strength, as well as the first power-play unit and the top penalty-killing pair.

Roberto Luongo

Roberto Luongo has been maligned as a playoff non-performer in recent years after meltdowns against Chicago in the 2009 and 2010 playoffs. I'm not going to go into detail, but Chicago was the better team in both those series, so the label was a bit unfair. 

Still, Luongo is doing his best to dispel that reputation this year:

• 12 wins, 6 losses

• 2.29 GAA

• 0.922 save percentage

He also leads the league in playoff shutouts with a pair.

Luongo has been getting better as the playoffs have progressed, and he saved his best for a 54-save performance in the Canucks' double-overtime victory over the Sharks in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.

Kevin Bieksa

Nine months ago, Kevin Bieksa would have been traded out of town if the media and fans had their say. 

After a lacklustre few seasons due to injury, most were ready to trade Bieksa for a bag of pucks just to get him off the salary cap.

The first article I wrote on Bleacher Report was about keeping Bieksa because he was a guy who had another gear in the playoffs.

Luckily, general manager Mike Gillis thought the same, and the Canucks had some "fortunate" injuries that allowed them the cap space to retain Bieksa.

He is third in playoff scoring for defenseman with five goals and four assists. 

He leads the NHL in playoff fights with three fights, all of which he won.

He leads all remaining defenseman in playoff hits with 62.

His plus-10 rating is second only to Zdeno Chara of the Bruins, who is plus-11.

Bieksa also leads all Canucks defencemen with 25:56 average ice time.

And no goal this year was bigger than the double-overtime goal he scored to send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 17 years.

Oh, and Don Cherry is constantly promoting Bieksa as a Norris Trophy-calibre defenseman, so you know he is good.

Alex Burrows

For an guy who was undrafted and then toiled in the ECHL and AHL before finding a home with the Canucks, Alex Burrows plays a huge role for the Canucks. 

At even strength, Burrows rides shotgun with the Sedin twins.  

Now some would say that this is the easiest job in hockey, but they haven't watched the Sedins over the years. 

It takes a special sort of player to mesh with the twins. In fact, it took almost seven years and three general managers before the Canucks finally found the right fit and put Burrows with the twins.

In the playoffs, Burrows has put up seven goals and seven assists, and no goal was bigger than his overtime series-winning goal in Game 7 against the hated Blackhawks.

He also contributes to the Canucks excellent power-play and penalty-kill units.