Jason Lewis: Pacific Division Preview: Vancouver Canucks

You were doing good until you included Edmonton in the list of teams that have a tough and strong 3rd and 4th line. Now I can't believe anything you write, cause they're brutal.

That bottom 6 is awful.

Although I think it may be more like.

Booth Santorelli Hansen
Sestito Richardson Kassian

Still ugly though. SIde note, Kesler might surprise a lot of people this year. He's healthy as ever and has something to prove (olympics as well). Hopefully he stops his diving and other antics.

The 3rd and 4th line depth may very well kill their chances this year. Almost any fan will agree that the bottom 6 appear on paper to be the worst in years.

They need Kesler to bounce back in order to free up the twins a bit. Secondary scoring was a major issue last year.

I think they make the playoffs, but I think they grab a wild card.

I agree with a lot of the analysis on the team but Garrison is certainly not a question mark. He was arguably the best d-man on the team last year. He didn't get the goals like last season, but AV didn't really use him on the PP.

Garrison shouldn't be much of a question mark.

He was easily the team's best D last season.

Good blog and fair analysis , although I don't seem them finishing anything worse than 4th in this new division, and I think 3rd behind SJ and ahead of ANA is fair. That bottom six that you posted look ugly, but when healthy and with Kassian back I'd expect something more like this:

Sedin - Sedin - Burrows/Hansen(still a dominant line, Daniels sh% will bounceback)
Higgins - Kesler - Hansen/Burrows(great to play against other top lines and can still score)
Booth - Schroeder - Santorelli(freed up for easy matchups, Booth-Santorelli scored 20 eah together in Florida)
Dalpe/Weise - Richardson - Kassian(much better 4th line than last year, Kassian can move up the lineup easily)
Dalpe/Weise
Sestito

Hamhuis - Bieksa(shutdown, play with Kesler's line)
Edler - Tanev(offensive, play with the Twins)
Garrison - Weber(Corrado eventually and Garrison would still get top 4 minutes with PP and PK time)
Alberts/Stanton

That's not too bad IMO, the potential is actually there to build a much better bottom 6 than last year with Kesler/Booth hopefully healthy(Kesler being injury-prone is being overblown) and with good bottom 6 signings in Richardson and Santorelli. Defense and goaltending is rock solid. 4 very good top 4 defensemen plus a good #5 in Tanev and when Corrado gets called up that's a great group of 6. I did a write up on Torts ssystem, and he actually encourages a more aggressive forecheck than AV ever has so I don't see this team becoming more boring/defensive. And the shot blocking he encourages is usually shots coming from forwards, not defensemen, meaning more high quality shots are blocked.

Luongo is also a much better goalie when he plays more games and faces more shot, he's definitely a rythm goalie if such a thing exists.

I wrote a little about these things in greater detail:

http://my.hockeybuzz.com/...t_id=15595&user_id=103557
http://my.hockeybuzz.com/...t_id=15607&user_id=103557

Garrison shouldn't be much of a question mark.

He was easily the team's best D last season.
- Fosco

No doubt, outside of Vancouver he still seems to be viewed as a question mark but he and Hamhuis have been this team's most consistent defensemen, and his bomb of a shot on the PP is a great weapon, a legit 15 goal threat from the blueline while being very good defensively.

I like Garrison. I watched him a lot playing Florida, and that being said he is annoyingly hot and cold. Good season last year, I just wonder how he follows it up.

And in regards to the Edmonton bottom six...I know thay have been playing around with it a lot but I am a big Boyd Gordon fan, and I believe both Smyth and Hemsky end up down there at some point. Joensuu is a wild card...Acton, Eager, Hamilton...meh whatever. Some real solid vets down there though.

Maybe Edmonton wasn't the best team to include in that list XD But nonetheless, Anaheim, San Jose and LA all have way stronger bottom lines.

And hey good input Nucker!

3C Is the big question here. Derek Roy did nothing in Vancouver last year, a bad deal plain and simple. Did they get grittier and younger? I suppose. My feeling is we will be looking at top ten drafting down the road.

The one thing you'll be absolutely right about is that the Oil or Phoenix will need to outperform the nucks to make them avoid the playoffs. I still agree with your analysis that the nucks won't make the playoffs, but it's mostly a pipe dream

Jason-- You are a brave soul. The REAL Canuck fans here can be honest about their team. It's a fair assessment. I have been saying they are either going to provide alot of entertainment or surprise alot of people. I am prepared for the suckout and entertainment.

The biggest problem the canucks will have is the Sedins not playing like the Sedins. Torts wants them to kill penalty's and be defensively responsible but at 33 thats a little late in the career to change from full force offense.

I mentioned this last year and the year before that, the canucks have no identity. We went far in the playoffs because we followed Keslord. When you look at the forward ranks we have no continuity. 1st line cycle game, 2nd line grind and speed, 3rd line ??? 4th line ???. IN theory diversity is great, but in reality diversity on a hockey team doesnt fit. Tyler Seguin was moved because he didnt play Boston Hockey. No one knows what type of hockey we play in Vancouver. In theory it should be a puck possession game, but then why are we looking at guys like Kassian (who i think will be good once he figures everything out).

So as a canuck fan, i agree with you, we will not win the division and we probably will be fighting for the 6-8th spot. We wont miss the playoffs because Calgary, Colorado, Minny are still in the conference but still its a big fall from grace considering where we came from.

I definitely agree with the assessment that our bottom six as written looks questionable. However, there is no representation of our prospects in that list, and with Horvat, Shinkaruk, Gaunce and Jensen rotating in, either on third/4th line duties, or by somehow earning a 2nd line spot, and bumping down a Hansen, Higgins or Booth type player, our lineup on the bottom six becomes a heck of a lot better.

That's not to mention pieces like Schroeder, Corrado, Stanton, and others. I prefer to look at it this way...with so many question marks, a heck of alot of possibilities open up, and even if 25% of these question marks turn out to be positives this year, we're in the running.

I definitely agree with the assessment that our bottom six as written looks questionable. However, there is no representation of our prospects in that list, and with Horvat, Shinkaruk, Gaunce and Jensen rotating in, either on third/4th line duties, or by somehow earning a 2nd line spot, and bumping down a Hansen, Higgins or Booth type player, our lineup on the bottom six becomes a heck of a lot better.

That's not to mention pieces like Schroeder, Corrado, Stanton, and others. I prefer to look at it this way...with so many question marks, a heck of alot of possibilities open up, and even if 25% of these question marks turn out to be positives this year, we're in the running.
- Kaiser123

Except that Horvat, Shinkaruk, and Gaunce can't be rotated in until their JR teams' seasons are finished, since they've all been sent down.

Unless you meant long term, and weren't just referring to this season.

Jason Lewis: Pacific Division Preview: Vancouver Canucks
- Jason_Lewis

I think the Canucks are still dangerous. But if they get any injuries I think they are going to struggle. They simply don't have the depth to be able to handle a Kesler/Dank/ type injury again.

And as for the comment on Edmontons bottom 6 being soft...

Joenssu - 6'4" 215
Mike Brown 5'11" 205
Gordon - 6'1" 205
Eager - 6'2" 225
Gazdic - 6'4" 240
Big Mac - 6'5" 250

Not a lot of push overs there....

You were doing good until you included Edmonton in the list of teams that have a tough and strong 3rd and 4th line. Now I can't believe anything you write, cause they're brutal.
- moondawg

Better check again.

I see the Canucks as a bubble team this year. Its going to take a very healthy roster to keep in the mix and we are already looking at a foot fracture for our 3rd line center. Kesler and Booth will have to do something they havent done in years... stay healthy. Lack is also coming off injury... Bieksa who used nagging injuries as an excuse last playoffs(and year before) never dealt with it and went to Europe instead...

A healthy Canuck team makes the playoffs.

You were doing good until you included Edmonton in the list of teams that have a tough and strong 3rd and 4th line. Now I can't believe anything you write, cause they're brutal.
- moondawg

I'll translate what you wrote, "You said something bad about my team so you suck.".
That about sums it up.

Jason-- You are a brave soul. The REAL Canuck fans here can be honest about their team. It's a fair assessment. I have been saying they are either going to provide alot of entertainment or surprise alot of people. I am prepared for the suckout and entertainment.
- rugdnit

He did say we will miss Mason Raymond.

He did say we will miss Mason Raymond.
- dshiddy

To be fair I even chuckled to myself when I wrote that.

Correct me if I'm wrong, which very well might be the case since i am way to lazy to research but.....

it seems to me that the last few years our season records versus non-division teams was on par if not better then our record versus division foes.

Seeing as how that was the fundamental argument against the Canucks making the playoffs it would be great if a more knowledgeable fan could fact check that assumption.

Furthermore, we lost our 2nd and 3rd line to injury for a good portion of last year, while i agree with much of what you are saying i still view this team as a playoff lock regardless of our post-season record.

Thanks for the unbiased blog

A good read and some fair comments. As mentioned the team goes into this year with a lot of question marks, but, I don't see them missing the playoffs IF they stay healthy. They still have too much talent to not be considered top eight in the Western Conference.

The top teams in the Conference would be these IMO, LA, SJ, Chicago & St Louis. So that leaves teams like Anaheim, Vancouver, Minnesota and possibly Dallas for the next four spots.

Bubble teams could be Edmonton, Winnipeg & maybe Nashville fighting the last four teams I mentioned....I just don't see them being deep enough to compete unless someone can take Dallas's spot???

You're analysis stinks.Canucks are solid all over.

Sedin-Sedin-Kassian
Higgins-Kesler-Burrows
Hansen-Santorelli-Booth
Weise-Richardson-Welsh

Hamhuis-Bieksa
Garrison-x (corrado/Weber/Stanton)
Edler-Tanev

Luongo
Lack

Canucks top line has art Ross winners. Second line has a Selke winner, and a 30 goal scorer. Third line has two 20 goal scorers and a 16 goal scorer. Fourth line has size, grit and speed.

Garrison, Hamhuis, bieksa, Edler are the to four in the defense in that order. Garrison was on pace for 15/ 16 goals with one of the best plus minus for d men in the league. The guy did at both ends with limited power play time.

Canucks will finish top three in the div if not win it outright.

You're analysis stinks.Canucks are solid all over.

Sedin-Sedin-Kassian
Higgins-Kesler-Burrows
Hansen-Santorelli-Booth
Weise-Richardson-Welsh

Hamhuis-Bieksa
Garrison-x (corrado/Weber/Stanton)
Edler-Tanev

Luongo
Lack

Canucks top line has art Ross winners. Second line has a Selke winner, and a 30 goal scorer. Third line has two 20 goal scorers and a 16 goal scorer. Fourth line has size, grit and speed.

Garrison, Hamhuis, bieksa, Edler are the to four in the defense in that order. Garrison was on pace for 15/ 16 goals with one of the best plus minus for d men in the league. The guy did at both ends with limited power play time.

Canucks will finish top three in the div if not win it outright.
- kaptaan

Now that's confidence!!!

Now that's confidence!!!
- LeftCoaster

It was only a matter of time