B-Mo isn't the only question mark as the Canucks wind down the preseason, but he is a big one. Questions about the completion of our fourth line, the sixth defender, Cody Hodgson, Fat-gei Shirokov, and even our backup to the backup netminder are all lingering with one preseason game to go. Alain Vigneault has guaranteed that no decisions or roster cuts will be made until after the game in Anaheim on Friday night. He played the "mostly B-team" in San Jose last night and got drubbed, with Cody Hodgson finishing with 0 points and just 3 shots as the top line center. I guess, in reality, maybe all of the Canucks questions have already been answered.
Sitting at 2-5 with one preseason game to go isn't exactly good, but we should all be more worried about performances by individuals, rather than results by the whole team (at least, during the preseason). Despite Coachie V's comments that no decision will be made until after tomorrow night's preseason finale, I have the feeling that all of the Canucks' questions have already been answered. Before we get into this, please note that the internet doesn't seem to have a preseason NHL stat resource. If it does, please DON'T tell me about it, because I poured through all the preseason box scores to compile my stats for this post. Thanks.
1. The best & the worst of the preseason so far are...
-Raffi Torres, believe it or not, scored the most goals with 3. He was followed up by Daniel Sedin's two, and then 9 other players with one each.
-Probably not a shocker that Henrik Sedin leads the team with 3 assists. He's closely followed by Alex Edler, Daniel, and Danny Hamhuis with two each. There are 11 other players with 1.
-Now, I want Canucks fans to sit down for this. The best +/- guy so far in the preseason is...Cody Hodgson. Now, I understand that +/- isn't necessarily a good value stat and it could be that he's just been playing with the right guys, but it's still interesting. An argument against +/- may be that despite being a team leading +3 in the preseason, Hodgson failed to register a point. Dan Hamhuis (+2) is second on the list.
-At 53%, Brendan Morrison has the top faceoff percentage.
-The worst +/- guy is Mikael Samuelsson, although his -5 all came in that blowout 2-8 loss to Edmonton. Other than Sammy, we can look at newbie defender Keith Ballard's -4, Perrault's -4, and SOB's -3.
-Basically we've seen three main goalies out there, five in all I think. Roberto Luongo, our beloved ex-captain has outperformed everyone else in his two outings. Stopping 51 of 54 shots, Bobby Lu has saved 94% of all rubber coming at him this preseason. With four outings, Schneider has stopped 87%, while Lack has stopped 85% in his two games.
2. Which forwards will be dressed come October 9?
In no particular order, here are my top 9 forwards who will definitely be playing on October 9: Daniel, Henrik, Samuelsson, Kesler, Raymond, Torres, Malhotra, Glass, and Hansen.
This leaves three starting spots open, practically all the fourth line positions. Still battling for the three spots are Rick Rypien, Hordicuk, Brendan Morrison, Jeff Tambellini, and Cody Hodgson. My boy, Sergei Shirokov is no longer in it, thanks to his apparent lack of offseason conditioning. Way to go, Ruskie. The last time I predicted my fourth line, back on September 14, I had Shirokov-Rypien-Hodgson. Now, that has obviously changed. While it's clear that the Vannies haven't set it in stone, I'd like to see the final three starting spots filled by Tambellini (1 goal, 1 assist, and +1 in the preseason), Morrison (the sentimental favorite), and Hodgson (we have to give him a chance, a la Brandon Wood). Keep in mind that the return of Alex Burrows following his recovery from offseason surgery should make for an interesting in-season roster decision.
3. With Salo out for the forseeable future, who are our top 6 defensivemen?
Even though Shane O'Brien tried to play himself out of a roster spot this preseason (-3), I don't think he did. It would have been nice to have seen more of a battle between Alberts, Rome, and SOB, but I think Shane was always locked in as the #6 (at least to start the season). That's why my top 6 defender picks in no particular order are: Hamhuis, Ballard, Edler, Ehrhoff, Bieksa, and SOB. The return of Salo/the sucking of O'Brien may make for some interesting decisions.
4. Is Schneider ready?
In a word, yes. I think he's shown some impressive stuff this preseason, and I'm confident in his skills as Luongo's backup. Three of his four outings saw just one goal go in, with save percentages of .944, .888, and .958. I think Cory inspires the most confidence of any Vancouver backup netminder since, dare I say, Alex Auld? He's ready. Also, despite his 24/30 outing last night against the Sharks, probable Moose starter E-Lack has looked sharp, stopping 16/17 in his first preseason outing. Should Luongo go down, and I'm really praying that he won't, Lack should be an okay option behind Schneider.
We have one final preseason tune up, against the Ducks in Anaheim tomorrow night. It will be the fourth televised Vancouver preseason game for us Southern Californians out of the eight total, which has me feeling pretty lucky. Let's beat the Quakers and get our final questions answered.
October 9 is so close I can taste it.
*I was checking my Google Reader before I proofread the post, and noted a story posted 12 minutes ago (well after I started writing this post) where 'Nucks Misconduct (my go to Canucks blog) posted the preseason stats! Wow...just a couple of minutes too late to make my post a lot easier.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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