The Canucks Report
This is whats going on:
Where is this team right now? Well, it depends how the Mats saga resolves. If he becomes a Canuck, then the Nuck’s will become a force, and one of top 5 or 6 teams in the league. If not, we’ll most likely be challenging for 8th place, but maybe have a shot at a division title, because three of the four teams in the Northwest division are probably going to be weaker.
With Sundin in the lineup the teams looks like this:
Sedin – Sedin – Bernier
Demitra – Sundin – Raymond
Burrows – Kesler – Pyatt
Hansen – Johnson – Pettinger
extras: Wellwood, Hordichuk, Krog
The 1st line is solid. The Sedins haven’t had a legit top 6 forward as linemate since Anson Carter, and since Bernier and Carter play similiar styles Bernier could be a good fit for the twins. Bernier is big power forward, who likes to crash the net, and has good hands. The Sedins are good for 80 points, and Bernier could score 25+ goals playing alongside them.
Finally the Canucks would have some secondary scoring, and finally Sundin would have some decent linemates! Demitra is more of a playmaker then a shooter, and would compliment Mats Sundin nicely. All of you guys already know what Sundin’s strengths are. These guys are both older and aren’t as quick anymore, so extremely speedy Mason Raymond would be a perfec tfit for the line. He’s very strong, young, highly skilled, and maybe the fastest player on the team (him or Kesler). Raymond could have a huge year and get 60 points playing with these two proven vet’s. Sundin is good for 75+ points, and Demitra have a rebound year.
Line 3 is very strong. Kesler is emerging as one of the finest checking line centers in the NHL. His focus on the defensive aspect of the game is exceptional. He can not only completely shut down star players, but he score against the other teams top lines. I expect a 25 goal season from him, and he could contend for the Selke trophy. Alex Burrows had a huge year last year. He was almost cut from the team out of training camp after the terrible year he had before last season. After he started playing with Kesler he
really took his game to next level. Now he can be considered a strong 3rd line player, while the year before he was seen as a fringe player. Taylor Pyatt isn’t really a real 2nd line player, but he for sure shouldn’t be on a 4th line, so he is stuck playing a checking role. Try to avoid this guy in your guys hockey pools this season, he’s a bust candidate. He’s type of guy who would be a great for a team that lacks overall depth and would be able to take advantage of playing with elite players (perfect fit for the Penguins), but Mason Raymond is younger and has much more upside, so Pyatt will be stuck on the 3rd line. He’s not extremely strong defensivly, so he could have a rough year, but will fill in nicely for anyone of the top 2 lines that gets hurt.
The 4th line is alright. In case your wondering why I put Wellwood in the press box is, because I don’t think he is a better fit for a FOURTH line then the guys I have on it. He’s a power play specialist, not a grinder. We do have some decent depth though. That’s always been a problem in Vancouver. We’ve never had good depth.
Here’s the defense:
Ohlund – Edler
Bieksa – Mitchell
Salo – Krajicek
extras: Rob Davison, Nathan McIver, Nolan Baumgartner
The Canucks defense was terrible last year, but should be much better this year. Every single one of our top 6 defensemen suffered inuries.
Mattias Ohlund is a pretty durable defender, but missed almost 30 games last year, but was probably the Canucks best defensemen when he was in the lineup. He’s only 32 years old. He’s definitely the most reliable defensemen on the team right now. The Canucks defense was bad last year, but there were a couple bright spots, like the play of Alex Edler. He showed that he’s not only a top pairing guy, but he could become a true #1 defender. He faded a bit down the stretch, but he’s only 22 years old. Most defenders don’t enter there prime until there at least 28 or 29. He has real upside, and superb offensive abilities.
Kevin Bieksa has real upside, but had just a bad year. Nothing went well for him. 10 games into the season his calf gets lacerated in a freak skate accident. He was average at best the first 7 or 8 games of the season, but was playing better around the time of his injury. Then he could never really regain his 2006-2007 form after the injury, but looked like the old Bieksa the very end of the season. He will definitely be better this season, but how good remains to be seen. Willie Mitchell was brutal last year too, but missed the fewest number of games out of all the top 6. He only missed 10 games last year, but like I said he might have been the worst out of all the big 4 (Mitchell, Salo, Ohlund, Bieksa). He was often caught out of position, and often made really stupid mistakes, but is leadership was valuable, and he could be named the new captain.
Sami Salo missed 19 games last year. He was without a question the worst defensemen at the start of the season. He started to play way better when he started shooting again. He has one of the best slapshots in the NHL, and needs to use it. He was outstanding down the stretch and probably the best defender in the 2nd half of the year. Lukas Krajicek missed more then 40 games. He was horrific when he was in the lineup though. Unless he plays strong this season the Canucks will make some sorts of move to replace him during the season. It’s too bad we don’t have Luc Bourdon anymore (R.I.P), because no one will really challenge Krajicek for that #6 spot this season.
The Goaltending is obviously great. Luongo is a beast, and Sanford isn’t a bad goalie. If Luongo goes down Schneider will probably play more then Sanford, because Schneider is a better goalie, but needs to play so will be in Manitoba this year.
So the team looks good. The offense could finish around 10th in the league, the defense is one of the top 10 units for sure, and we still have arguably the best goalie in the world.
We still could use a 7th defensemen. The Nuck’s have far less depth on defense this year then they did last year. I would like to see them bring back Aaron Miller to be the 7th defensemen.
Prospects:
I’m going to use the same type of grading system that hockeysfuture.com uses, but i’m going to copy the website reports on the players i’m going to mention.
Top prospects in order:
1). Cody Hodgson: 8.0 A: He reminds Canuck fans of a young Trevor Linden, except with more offensive ability. He is a great leader, has an outstanding work ethic,and is a future captain. His offensive talents overshadowed by his leadership abilities, but he is extremely skilled. A playmaker, not really a goal scorer. He scored 85 points last year, and if surpasses the 100 point mark next season (which is very possible) people notice how skilled he is. His vision is incredible. He needs to work on his skating though. He’s not very fast, and he could get stronger. A year or two in the OHL would be good for him, and won’t ever be on the team when Mats is. If we don’t sign Sundin he has a shot at making the team, but if Sundin signs and stays in Vancouver for two years Hodgson won’t be on the team.
2). Cory Schneider: 8.5 C: His upside is huge. He could become an elite NHL goalie, but he could be hurt by the fact that he’ll have to play in the AHL for a long time as long as he’s in Vancouver. He could play in the NHL this season. He or Luongo will be traded at the end of this season. He’s a clutch goalie, and is as talented as any goalie in the AHL. He looks like he’ll become a franchise goalie.
3). Mason Raymond: 7.5 B: Extremely fast, and and is a good shooter. Has already made the team, and will become a very good player.
4). Michael Grabner: 8.0 D: Is lightning fast, and scores tons of goals. His upside is a 1 dimensional 40 goal scorer, but he almost might not even make the NHL. He struggles when games
get physical, and will never be a checking line player, but his upside is huge.
5). Yann Sauve: 8.0 D: Before last season begun he was seen as a possible top 4 pick, and future franchise defender, but for the 2nd year in a row didin’t met expectations. The former #1 pick in the QMJHL draft is seen as a future top 4 defender who can be very aggressive, but is likely at least 3 years away from making any sort of impact in the NHL.
We have a pretty solid group of prospects, but none of our top 10 or so prospects were selected after the 3rd round. We don’t draftwell in the late rounds, and success at drafting with late picks has won Detroit 4 Stanley Cups. Although Prab Rai (our 5th round pick this year) put up pretty good numbers last year in the dub.
One thing I really like that Canucks at the draft this year was go off the board in the late rounds. That’s how you find gems. Nobody’s ever heard of this Froshaug guy. He went unranked. He’s an over aged player (almost 20), but could be a really good player. Just nobody has ever seen the Norway native play. Same as Alex Edler a few years ago. He was unranked. Only two teams had ever seen him play, The Canucks, and or the coarse the Red Wings. The Wings had the pick right after the Nuck’s in the 3rd round, and were going to select him.
If you subtract Sundin though, everything changes. Instead of Sundin either Kyle Wellwood, Taylor Pyatt, or an 18 year old Cody Hodgson playing with Demitra and another very young player Mason Raymond. Then our scoring is as weak as it was last year. Funny how one player can make such a difference.
Thanks for reading the article. It was a bit long, sorry, but I hope you guys enjoyed it.
Thoughts?