Well, the Canucks just keep on winning. Last night, in the second of a back-to-back, the 'Nucks busted a fairly decent (although faltering) Phoenix Coyotes squad 6-0. Alex Burrows redirected a point shot by Daniel Sedin in the first, Jannik Hansen and Cody Hodgson (his first career goal, on a play that showed a ton of patience, waiting to take the perfect shot) tallied in the second, and two Kesler goals sandwiched a Mason Raymond netter in the third. That whole time, Roberto Luongo outlasted both former Canuck LaBarbera and former Duck Bryzgalov, stopping all 23 shots in just another shutout. He was a machine. The refs helped out the flow of the game, putting their whistles away, and letting the boys play. It was complete domination, and Dan Hamhuis and Mason Raymond both flew under the radar with impressive +4 ratings.
Now 33-10-9, the Vannies have 75 points, and are making life easy on us fans. An 18 point lead over Minnie in the division, a 7 point lead over Detroit in the Conference, and a 4 point lead over Philly in the league. Yes indeed, life is pretty sweet for the fans of the Orca. Have we ever seen the team playing at this high of a level over this length within a season? I don't think so. Even when we made it to the Cup in the '94 season, we weren't even within a sniff of the President's Trophy. And those were the glory days. The Canucks have 3 less losses than any team in the NHL. That's how good this team has been.
But, when your favorite team kind of gets on a roll like this, or has an impressive one-half-plus of a season, the media starts to catch on. The 'Nucks are unanimously the owners of the #1 spot in all the NHL major power rankings. Pundits are watching this team and making bold comments about how this may finally be the season that they won't be able to be stopped. Of course, if you know anything about the Canucks and their history, you know that Orca fans are a little weary of this positive attitude. We've been let down quite a bit by this team ove the year, and gone through no small amount of suffering. Just look at the second round of the playoffs over the last two seasons, as a very small example.
So, with all that being said, does this 33-10-9 start for the Canucks here in '10/'11 do anything to quell the constant sense of impending doom that all 7th Canucks seem to have? In short, what are the realistic expectations for Canucks fans based on this red hot start?
Being able to measure where your realistic expectations should be is very difficult. What about how the Canucks have played this year shows us any indication of how far they might make it after the regular 82 are alll said and done? I want to say that I think this Canucks team is finally the kind of team that gets us back to the Finals, but are they? We'll look at a couple of areas.
Depth- If you read this blog, you know that I'm constantly nervous about our depth, especially on the blue line. But, for all that worry, the Canucks have done nothing but show that they have the talent to keep winning even when they lose players. Burrows, Salo, Rome, Alberts, Edler. They have all been off to injury, along with others. If you knew that we would have lost those guys, especially the final three on the list (because they came as a surprise) before the season, you'd think we'd barely be hanging on to the #8 spot. Instead, somehow, we're the #1 team in the League. I never even knew what that felt like until this year. And how about our goalie depth? Cory Schneider has been simply the best at backing up Roberto Luongo, only losing 2 out of 13 games he's started this year (in regulation). Our depth, and our ability to continue to play at a high level despite adversity (remember the Ryp incident?), is pretty telling when it comes to predicting future success.
Wins against good teams- This Canucks squad has shown the amazing ability to beat good teams. Never before have I been so confident when I see the 'Nucks going into games against Philly, Detroit, Dallas, and the like. That's a huge indicator of success at getting beyond round two this time around. Would you take any team against the Canucks in a 7 game series if the playoffs started today? Doubt it.
A good mix of players- If this was baseball, I'd call myself a joke for suggesting this, but the mix of players and personalities on this Vannie squad gives me even more confidence that this could be the year. Scoring from the Sedins is always expected, but we've seen special things from Ryan Kesler, Burrows, Torres (at times), Samuelsson, and the former unknown youth and newbies (Tambers, Sweat, Volpatti, and Hodgson). Production comes from everywhere on this team, and that's a good thing once we get to the playoffs.
So, let's get serious and lay out our expectation. I can honestly say that I have never felt this confident about a Canucks team since I became a fan in February of 1994. Of course, there is still a long way to go, and anything could happen. But, if we stay where we are at and at the level we are at, I don't see any reason to see that this team will be stopped before making it to the Lord Stanley's Finals. I may have just jinxed myself, and my team, but with their amazing play this year, I don't even think a jinx could stop them.
Go Canucks Go...all the way.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
0 comments:
Post a Comment