Founded: 1970
Arena: General Motors Place
Stanley Cups: 0
2008-09 Canucks Preview:
(See below for the team ranking from last season)
If you can’t score and your all-star goalie has an off year, what else is there? Not much, if you were a Canucks’ fan in 2007-08. You have to believe Luongo will sort himself out. So the mission for this season is to find a few goals.
Vancouver has a strong blue line group, but no real offensive threats. That didn’t change during the off-season, meaning points from the point will continue to be a weakmess. Still, Mitchell-Bieksa-Ohlund-Salo is a decent top four. As long as Luongo is back on his game, the Canucks look good in their own zone.
At forward, the face of the team changes with the retirement of Trevor Linden and the departure of Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison, whose steadily diminishing returns made them expendable. A contract offer to Mats Sundin was spurned, so who can score besides the Sedins? Maybe Pavol Demitra (15 goals in Minnesota last year), or Steve Bernier (on his third team in less than a year) or Mason Raymond (who?).
If Demitra can't recapture his high-scoring days of yore, this might be the weakest attack in the West. If Luongo falters or gets hurt, disaster looms. It looks like a less than stellar debut for new GM Mike Gillis. We have to assume he's thinking long term, because this Canucks teams is no better than the one that finished 11th last spring.
What the Vanccouver Canucks did in 2007-08
11th in Western Conference
21st in NHL
