The canucks had a successful season, considering what they started with, and what the expectations
were in the beginning of the season. Most people were going to be happy if we made the playoffs,
and to win the first round was a little more than that.
Vineault in my opinion, ( along with Luongo) is the nicest surprise of all, as he is a neatest coach,
and along with his assistants, I think they will go on to build this team next year and years to come.
The new NHL has become very fast, and it is easy to see when you watch Naslund and Morrison trying
to be the players they once were, as the young forwards coming into the league now, with the game
much faster than it was before lockout, has put many of the old forwards out of the mix.
Our defense was OK, and we have good prospects who will come up next year, to boost them forward
as well.
I really don't know what will happen to Naslund, as he has one more year at over 6 million on his contract, and no team is going to take him for that price, so my guess is that he will stay next year
and plug along on the second or third lines along with Morrison. Cooke and Cowan and Morrison actually did make up a pretty good line, then Cooke went down, and line broke up, so maybe they
will emerge again next year.
We have to look at this team in a positive way, as they are building now 'around Luongo', who will
be the cornerstone of the team for many years, so they will get better and better, as the management
and the coaching staff, are eager to add the kind of players they want to complement Luongo, and
I know they will do that. Nonis wanted Luongo in the worst way, and he went out and got him, and
now it will be exciting to see how he adds to the team next year.
I liked this team 'much' better than the old lazy 'so called' highly talented offensive group, with
Crawford at the helm. They were not responsible in their own end, waited for others to do the
checking, and Crawford liked it that way, and finally the players tuned him out, and it was obvious
the end was near, 'good' riddance to them.
We have some good players in Manitoba, and that team is now in the finals of their playoffs, in
their conference, and doing very well, but Nonis will have to go out for a couple of free agents in the
NHL as well, very highly skilled forwards, and also the 'right' player to top of the sedin line. The sedins are wonderful players, and had to come against the top defense group on the Anaheim team,
who are among the best in the NHL, so they can't be faulted for not being able to break through and
score like they did in the regular season, but they do need the third forward on that line to complete it, as some players did it for short periods this year, but they never did have the exact left winger they needed.
Anaheim definitely are a better team than the Canucks, and we knew that going into the series, but
that doesn't always mean a victory, the games still have to be played, and, as in the past, some
very good teams just don't get it done, and that often is because of a harder working team playing
against them, and better goaltending, but Anaheim's goalie was great, but last night Luongo played the best game I have ever seen him play, and he even said today in an interview, that he felt it was
his best game ever, he is so good, and I feel very lucky that we will be seeing him on our team for
a long time.
GO CANUCKS GO