Vancouver Canucks – Year in Review

[Mango]

Vancouver Canucks – Year in Review



It was a bumpy ride from start to finish. The Canucks were a team that would win 3 in a row and then lose 4. That, of course, is not a method of being a successful team. Frankly, I don’t have many positives to take from the season other than the fact the youngsters are a year older and hopefully, we be ready to step up to a bigger role.

Next season certainly might be another addition of the “Young Guns” show in Vancouver. Most of the GMs know I like to stick with players and wait for them to improve rather than doing anything drastic. I think that’s been my MO for a few seasons now. However, it looks like some of the players are finally ready to take the jump:

Travis Zajac – He’s emerged as having scoring line center potential. We drafted Zajac and have enjoyed watching him grow.
Devin Setoguchi – He blossomed a lot faster than anyone really expected. In the NHL, he’s playing very well on one of the best teams in the league. It could be argued that it has something to do with the players around him. However, only time will tell and next season, we’ll see if that always dreaded sophomore slump hits.
David Krejci – I remember picking up this guy in the 5th or 6th row in my first draft as a GM. He’s had a great rookie campaign for our team in the CPHL and has enjoyed success as a member of the NHL’s Boston Bruins.
Mark Fistric – He was picked up in a late season trade with the Bruins. He has a fair amount of potential. I think it’s best to take a bit of a wait and see approach with this guy.

Also sticking around: Chad LaRose, Erik Christensen, Dominic Moore, Petr Prucha, Marek Svatos, Brian Campbell, Marc Andre Bergeron, Mark Eaton, Paul Mara, Karel Rachunek, Brendan Witt, and David Hale.

The team also has a good slate of picks at this year's draft.

Decisions on the goaltending will be made at a later date, as Martin Biron was inconsistent throughout the season.

The bottom line: As you can see, that true superstar is missing from our organization. There’s a major difference between great players and star players.

It should be an interesting summer. Good luck to all of the playoff teams!

[Sylvanfan]

Good review Mango. I suppose your biggest immediate challenge is in net as you have two pending UFA goalies...who ironically enough are NHL free agents with the Flyers this summer too. I suppose you'll need to watch the Flyers/Pens series and decide which one you want to go forward with, or if you want to keep both.

As we move into the third year of grid UFA contracts and the rules to retain your own UFAs as well as the way RFA free agents are handled I think we'll start to see the star players spread out a bit more. Which means that teams who currently don't have that star player should start having the chance to get those players so long as they manage the salary structure effectively.

[AtlantaMissesItsFlames]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Good review Mango. I suppose your biggest immediate challenge is in net as you have two pending UFA goalies...who ironically enough are NHL free agents with the Flyers this summer too. I suppose you'll need to watch the Flyers/Pens series and decide which one you want to go forward with, or if you want to keep both.

As we move into the third year of grid UFA contracts and the rules to retain your own UFAs as well as the way RFA free agents are handled I think we'll start to see the star players spread out a bit more. Which means that teams who currently don't have that star player should start having the chance to get those players so long as they manage the salary structure effectively.

Luongo is UFA this summer?! I thought he had one more year. If Sutter has brain cells he will dump Kipper and get Luongo....PLEASE!

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by AtlantaMissesItsFlames

Luongo is UFA this summer?! I thought he had one more year. If Sutter has brain cells he will dump Kipper and get Luongo....PLEASE!

Wrong forum....this is the CPHL

[Swayze11]

Originally Posted by AtlantaMissesItsFlames

Luongo is UFA this summer?! I thought he had one more year. If Sutter has brain cells he will dump Kipper and get Luongo....PLEASE!

[Sylvanfan]

Luongo is UFA this summer in the CPHL! Even though he's captain of the Oilers, and he's more or less forced to re-sign with the team. He wants to play somewhere that he can win a cup.

But this thread is about the Canucks....

[HelloHockeyFans]

Originally Posted by AtlantaMissesItsFlames

Luongo is UFA this summer?! I thought he had one more year. If Sutter has brain cells he will dump Kipper and get Luongo....PLEASE!

[Sylvanfan]

I think he meant....if n00b had any brains he would dump Kipper and sign Luongo!

[AtlantaMissesItsFlames]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I think he meant....if n00b had any brains he would dump Kipper and sign Luongo!

yes....thank you for taking the time to actually read it properly versus posting some immature response like others.

[Mango]

Look at the drama I've caused!

[Sylvanfan]

Canuck trolls are everywhere!

[Swayze11]

Originally Posted by AtlantaMissesItsFlames

yes....thank you for taking the time to actually read it properly versus posting some immature response like others.

Hey, welcome to CP... I see your new.

[JiriHrdina]

HA HA! I love it when people stumble onto the CPHL board and don't know what it is.

In fact (and I think I've told this story before) a few years back a charity contacted one of our player agents and attempted to book one of their players for an upcoming charity event.

Hilarity!