October 5th, 2007, No Comments »
Half the fun of watching sports is speculation. Before tonight’s season opener, I thought I’d better make a couple of predictions about the 2007-2008 edition of the Vancouver Canucks. Over at the Canucks Hockey Blog, we see that there are plenty of questions to answer:
It goes without saying that Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison have to produce more, and at least to start the season, the Canucks are relying in large part on the youngsters to provide some offense. Can Ryan Shannon and Ryan Kesler, both playing with Naslund, and Mason Raymond, playing with the Sedins, answer the bell?
I’d add to that two more:
- Can the defense score as often as they did last year? Yes, I think so.
- Will Luongo have as good a year as last year? I can’t see why not.
Plenty of pundits point out that the Canucks haven’t added any legitimate scoring threats. They’re right. But here’s what I figure: it’s a long season, and there’s a ton of parity in the Canucks’ division and the league as a whole.
Neither Great Nor Horrible
Given their strong defense, quality coaching and great goaltending, the team is unlikely to stumble badly out of the gate. They’re unlikely to be either great or horrible. GM Dave Nonis has some extra assets at defense, and can convert one of them to a legitimate scorer when he needs to.
I say the team plays decent hockey all season, Nonis adds one or two scorers at the trade deadline, and repeats last year’s achievement. In short, they win one round of playoffs. The teams ahead of them–Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim–are too good to get much farther than that.
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September 19th, 2007, 1 Comment »
There’s a lesson for everybody here: always limber up before the end-of-training-camp orgy.
Also, I wonder how long the editor deliberated over the tense agreement in that headline. It’s correct, I think, but it sounds kind of funny if you say it aloud.
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August 29th, 2007, 8 Comments »
Well, that’s a uniform designed by committee, isn’t it? How does that idiom go? Try to satisfy everyone, and you’ll satisfy no one. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se. It’s just a kind of lame mishmash of recent iterations. Is something a ‘mash-up’ when it’s good, and a ‘mishmash’ when it’s bad?
Here’s the official announcement with a clearer photo, and
photos and reactions from Kimu, The Chief Canuck, Nephrus, Rebecca and, uh, Living Sword.
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July 13th, 2007, 4 Comments »
If you’ll permit a brief, mid-summer diversion by a out-of-country Canucks fan, I’ve been musing about the future of the Canucks defensive core. At the moment, they have six legitimate NHLers under contract:
Ohlund
Salo
Mitchell
Miller
Bieksa
Krajicek
All of those guys could play in the top four positions. Add to that promising rookies Luc Bourdon and Alexander Edler (and what’s the status of the storied Rory Fitzpatrick?), and you’ve got remarkable depth.
Of course, the team is paper-thin up-front, so I expect they move one or more of these assets to add a scoring forward or two. Ohlund and Salo look the most expendable, though the former has both have a no-trade clause (and Ohlund, as it happens, is my favourite Canuck after Linden).
There have been rampant rumours about a trade with New Jersey. In my experience, it’s rare that the really popular rumours ever become a reality.
What do you think will happen?
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July 3rd, 2007, 2 Comments »
The Vancouver Canucks have some strange aversion to free agency. Over the last decade, when July 1 has rolled around, they’ve usually ignored the big targets and signed stick boys for $27.50 and a box of TimBits. There used to be budgetary reasons for their inaction, but that’s far less justifiable in a salary-capped league.
James Mirtle has been doing yeoman’s work detailing what the other 29 clubs have been up to over on the Globe and Mail’s hockey blog, and here’s a big list on TSN’s site.
Happily, the teams in the Canucks’ division haven’t been particularly active. Yes, the Avalance got Ryan Smyth (he’s going to get a merry reception when he plays four times in Edmonton, eh?), but that’s about it. The Flames acquired Owen Nolan, but how much does he have left in the tank? There’s no news from the Oilers and the Wild yet.
Canucks GM has been very savvy since his promotion, so I trust that he’s working on something. The team obviously needs two more twenty-goal scorers, and I don’t seem them in the farm system.
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March 28th, 2007, 2 Comments »
If so, please drop me an email. Now that the Canucks have made the playoffs, I have certain web-based TV requirements in Malta which a Slingbox (and its generous) owner can fulfill. I’m willing to trade goods, services or cold, hard cash in exchange.
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