With the weekly football post out of the way, the Angels trying to start a comeback against the Royals in the 8th to go 10-0 versus KC this season, and the first game of the NHL preseason on the radar for 9/14 against the Isles, I figured it was about time for the very special LSF Vancouver Canucks season preview. After getting beat by the Blackhawks in the Western Conference Semifinals back in 2008/2009, Vancouver is looking to push things even further forward here in 2009/2010. We all have held onto the pain of the 5-7 Game 6 loss in Chicago after sweeping the St. Louis Blues in the quarters. Now, the Orca and their fans are looking for redemption. Is this finally going to be the year where the Blue & Green bring home Lord Stanley's Cup? This preview will focus on players that we've lost since last year, players that we've gained since last year, the LSF's expected line combinations for the upcoming season, and everyone's favorite...predictions. Let's get it on.
We'll start by taking a look at the newest former Canuck players. First out the door was one our most beloved defenders of all time, Mattias Ohlund. Ohlund signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 1, and it is going to be quite weird to see him playing for an East Coast team. Mattie was the first pick for the Canucks in the '94 entry draft (13th overall), and has been with the team ever since. He made the all-rookie team in 1998, when he started to stay up full time, making his career season in 2001/2002 with an astounding 36 points (10 goals and 26 assists). The Swedish Bomber may have saw his numbers dwindle a little bit in his most recent seasons, but stayed strong with 6 goals and 19 assists in his most recent Vancouver campaign, and he'll be pretty seriously missed. Jason LaBarbera is just the next in a long line of recent backup goaltenders to go 1 and out with the Canucks. I'll miss calling him "La Barbarian," but other than that, his 3-2 record with 2 shutouts will fade away like a warm summer day. Two Jason's make our list of departed players next, with Jason Krog and Jason Jaffray each making their way out. Krog seemed to be coming into his own late in his career with Manitoba and briefly with the 'Nucks, but figured the Thrashers would give him a better chance to get NHL time. Jaffray, meanwhile, appeared in 14 games with Vancouver last season (19 the year before that), and really pumped it up with 48 points in 43 games for Manitoba on 07/08. Hopefully he stinks, now that he's on the Flamers. Not too surprising that Curtis Sanford is off to go and play with another team. He lost all steam once LaBarbera did fairly well in the backup slot, and hopefully Montreal can use him more often. Slightly surprising, however, that Rob Davison is gone off to New Jersey keeping in mind the departure of Ohlund. Davison got some serious time thanks to the blue line injuries that have almost become an annual occurrence for the Canucks. But, then when you look at his numbers (2 assists and -4 in his 23 games), he won't be missed that much. Jeff Cowan went by the nickname "Bra-Barian" after becoming the only Canuck to get bras thrown on the ice after scoring. He's off to play with Brandon's Sabres after getting 11 points in 2 seasons with the Canucks, and being named the player who most looks like the Sedin's triplet. The final really surprising departure is Taylor Pyatt. After losing his fiance in that Jamaican car crash, he became Vancouver's sentimental favorite during the playoffs. The Thunder Bay native scored 49 goals and 44 assists in his three years with Vancouver, and was one of the guys who really benefited from being on the line with the Twins. He'll be with Phoenix, which will be weird, and he'll be missed by this guy as much as Ohlund. Others off from Vancouver are Patrick White and Daniel Rahimi (traded to SJ), Ossi Vaananen (signed with HC Dynamo Minsk), Zach Fitzgerald (signed with the Canes), and Mark Cullen (off to Chicago).
Now we'll peer into the world of the recently signed/acquired players, and see where we sit. First the nice Gillis extensions and how I feel about them: Steve Bernier (so glad to have Bernie for 2 more years; he's quality and severely underrated), Rick Rypien (the Ryper didn't get much time to prove himself last year, but he's a solid 4th line center to keep around), Hank & Daniel Sedin (I can't even picture the Canucks without these two guys on the team, and I won't have to for five more years), Shane O'Brien (if this SOB can keep him PIM down, then I'll love him a lot more), Kyle Wellwood (I think you all know how much I love Welly; 18 goals and 9 assists last year helped me like him a lot more), Jannik Hansen (I think the Great Dane is going to get better and better, starting here in '09), Nolan Baumgartner (I was so excited when we got him last year, but he didn't play, with Ohlund and Davis leaving, maybe he'll get his shot again), Lawrence Nycholat (Lo Lo got an assist in his 14 games w/ Vancouver last season, and is back after a brief 5 game stint with Colorado), and Roberto Luongo (so nice to just put this whole problem behind us forever; our loyal captain will retire as the greatest Canuck goalie off all time in 2021...if he wins us a Cup). So, that's who we kept, how about our acquisitions? Right winger Mikael Samuelsson is a big one that I lot of people have already forgotten about. Sams may be from the Red Army, but it'll be nice to add his 19 goals/21 assists kind of numbers to the offense next year. He had back to back 40 points seasons the last to years, and has a total of 159 points his last 4 seasons with the Red Wings. Ding. Our newest Sanford/LaBarbera is Andrew Raycroft. Andrew leads me to believe that Raycroft sucks, but it shouldn't be a huge deal unless Luongo goes down to injury for the whole season (Dear Lord, please don't let that happen). In 31 games for the Avs last year, Ray Ray went 12-16 with a 3.14 GAA. Eeps. The recent big moves involved trading with the Sharks for two top notch defenders and signing a third from free agency. Christian Ehrhoff brings his 27 year old defending body to Vancouver this year, knocking out a 42 points season in '08/'09 with Karen's Sharks. He's been consistently 21+ assists for the last three years, and gives you are least 77 strong games. I think I'm going to be about him. His friend Brad Lukowich also comes over. The Cranbrook, BC native comes home at 33 , and brings 8 assists and a +5 rating from 58 games with the Sharks last year. His last "full season" was 2006/2007 with the Devils when he played 75 gaems and earned himself 12 points. Clearly not as big as Ehrhoff, but still someone to make some plays with a big stick. 40 year old Mathieu Schneider has hopped from team to team and finally found himself in Vancouver. One of the few US natives (New York, however) to play on the Orca, Schneider carries over 23 points from his 67 games last season (split between Atlanta and Montreal). He's not going to be a huge difference maker on the blue line, but he's a nice fit as a #6 kind of guy, right? Also acquired to play more of a minor role: Matt Pope, Aaron Rome, Tanner Glass, Guillaume Desbiens, Mike Funk, Kellan Tochkin, and Nathan McIver. Most likely all Manitoba Moose, except McIver for a little bit.
Just so you know, the unrestricted free agents include Micehl Ouellet (keep him, right?), Julien Ellis (eh), Patrick Coulombe (I think they'll keep him), and of course Mats Sundin (are you going to retire?). And, just so you know, the big Canuckleheads with contracts expiring in 2010 are: Pavol Demitra, Ryan Johnson, Willie Mitchell, Ryan Kesler, and Mason Raymond.
I'm just going to quickly break down the Canucks lines, as predicted by me, and see what I come up with. Vancouver and Coachie V have a long history of switching lines like mad during the season (and even during games), so this is what I think the starting rotation will look like (three points for the cross sports reference!):
Line One: Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Mikael Samuelson
Line Two: Alex Burrows-Ryan Kesler-Steve Bernier
Line Three: Ma$on Raymond-Cody Hodgson (his time has come)-Pavol Demitra
Line Four: Rick Rypien-Ryan Johnson-Jannik Hansen
Important backups: Darcy Hordichuk and Alex Bolduc
Defense One: Christian Ehrhoff (left)-Sami Salo (right)
Defense Two: Willie Mitchell (left)-Kevin Bieksa (right)
Defense Three: Shane O'Brien (left)-Alex Edler (left) or Mathieu Schneider (left)
Important backups: Nolan Baumgartner, Brad Lukowich, and Lawrence Nycholat.
Goalie: Roberto Luongo
Backup goalie: The battle between Andrew Raycroft and according to him Moose star Cory Schneider.
Predictions: The 'Nucks finished last season with an impressive 45-27-10 record, finishing with 100 gigantic points to win the Northwest Division (+2 on Calgary). Despite that fantastic regular season, and the sweep in the Quarterfinals against the Blues, the Vannies bowed out against Jon's Chicago Blackhawks. So, will 2009/2010 be better, worse, or more of the same? I think the regular season will be about the same, somewhere around 100 points or so. I can only hope that the 100 or so points will against be enough to hold off the rest of the idiots in our division. Let's go with a season of 44-29-9 (97 points) and a trip to the Western Conference Finals. I would love to see Vancouver hoist Lord Stanley, and I think adding Samuelson may make us that kind of team, but I feel like I'll stick with my prediction as more realistic.
Go Canucks Go!
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