Despite all the moves the Canucks have made this summer, one name remained mostly out of the discussion of their defensive corps for next season. That name? Willie Mitchell. Read the rest of this entry >>
Tags: defence, free agency, injuries, salary cap, Sami Salo, Willie Mitchell
Markus Naslund, Peter Forsberg, and the Sedin twins teaming up— Read the rest of this entry >>
in a restaurant? Yeah, you should probably watch this. [Via Nucks Misconduct]
Sami Salo continued his injury-prone ways [Nucks Misconduct] this summer, rupturing his Achilles tendon [Cam Davie, Canucks Army] in a game of floorball [Greg Wyshynski, Puck Daddy] back in his native Sweden Finland. It sounds like he could be out for at least four months [J.J. Guerrero, Canucks Hockey Blog], which has significant implications for the Canucks this coming year.
As Jim Jamieson of The Province writes over at The White Towel, this might reduce the impetus to trade Kevin Bieksa. The Canucks still have plenty of good defensive options in Alex Edler, Christian Ehrhoff and new acquisitions Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard, so they could move Bieksa if they want, though. As Davie writes, however, there’s now less cap pressure to make a deal immediately. Vancouver could very easily enter the season with the current roster if they don’t get a strong enough offer for Bieksa, and then make a deal before Salo returns to get their cap in order.
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Tags: defencemen, injuries, Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo
I’m going to be running a series this week looking at the different players on the Canucks’ current roster by position, and how they stack up going into this season. First, a look at the goaltenders.
Top dog: Roberto Luongo
Last season wasn’t a particularly good one for the Canucks’ captain, but that’s mostly by his standards. His regular-season goals-against-average of 2.57 was the highest such mark since he put up a 2.97 mark in 2005-06 in his last year in Florida, and his save percentage of .913 was the lowest such mark of his career since the .904 mark he put up in 24 games with the New York Islanders in his rookie season in 1999-00. However, those numbers weren’t atrocious when viewed in the league-wide context; he was 18th in save percentage (12th among goalies who played 50-plus games) and 19th in GAA (12th among goalies who played 50-plus games). That’s not the Vezina Trophy-calibre play the Canucks were expecting from Luongo, but it puts him in the upper half of regular starters, which isn’t bad. They’ll certainly be hoping he’s able to return to better form this coming season, though.
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Tags: Cory Schneider, David Shantz, goaltending, Roberto Luongo, Tyler Weiman
From several different perspectives, this season was a watershed moment for Henrik Sedin. He stepped out of his brother’s shadow when Daniel was hurt early on in the season and was almost as effective without his twin on the wing. That’s no small feat considering that Daniel had a tremendous year of his own, averaging [Behind The Net] a ridiculous 5.15 goals per 60 minutes of even-strength ice time, the best-such mark on the Canucks. Henrik also proved that the decision Mike Gillis made to sign him and Daniel to long-term deals last summer was as good as I thought it might be, at least considering how it’s played out so far; he led the league with 112 points, putting up 29 goals and 83 assists in 82 games. Not bad at all for a guy with a cap hit of just $6.1 million [NHL Numbers]. Henrik played well in the playoffs, too, putting up 14 points in 12 games. He capped off his season in superb fashion [Ed Willes, The Province] Wednesday night at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, winning the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP (as voted by media) and collecting the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer.
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Tags: Art Ross Trophy, Daniel Sedin, Hart Trophy, Henrik Sedin, Markus Naslund, NHL Awards, Pavel Bure
Now that the dust has settled from the Canucks’ postseason exit, it’s worth taking another look at how they did. A second-round playoff exit obviously wasn’t what they’d hoped for. Was that a result of bad luck, or does it point to deeper flaws with the team? The answer to that question should define how they approach this offseason; believing it was bad luck would suggest that tinkering and adding a few pieces would be the proper course of action, while deep flaws might signify that management should blow up the team and start over. In essence, what general manager Mike Gillis and company need to ask themselves before preparing their offseason plan is “Could this current Canucks team conceivably win a Stanley Cup?”
It’s easy to do this from a qualitative perspective. Everyone has their own ideas about how good these current Canucks are and who, if anyone, could put them over the top. Let’s take a different angle and look at it from a quantitative perspective, though. To do that, let’s examine the odds involved.
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Tags: 2010 playoffs, advanced statistics, playoffs, regular season, statistics
[youtube=tQQAlNg4y5I] Read the rest of this entry >>
Tags: Chicago Blackhawks, live blogs, playoffs
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Tags: Chicago Blackhawks, links, live blogs, previews
Check out my game preview here, and join the live blog below! Read the rest of this entry >>
Tags: Chicago Blackhawks, live blogs, playoffs
The happenings of the Vancouver Canucks.
Andrew Bucholtz is a Canadian journalist with a fierce passion for sports in general and the Canucks in particular. He is the editor of Sporting Madness and an assistant editor of The CIS Blog and The Phoenix Pub. He also writes for The 24th Minute, The Rookies, The Good Point and Out of Left Field. His work has appeared in The Langley Times, The Queen's Journal and the Queen's Alumni Review, among other publications. You can e-mail him at andrew_bucholtz[at]hotmail.com, or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
