yave1964 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 PRESEASON OUTLOOK: The once proud organization was thrust into chaos when they hired Torts and traded two top shelf goalies, missing the playoffs the year before. The twins looked old, the team was in fear that the run was over. They signed Ryan Miller to man the net and signed Vrbata to pump up the scoring and hoped to turn it around. FINAL RECORD: 48-25-9 101 points 5th in the Western Conference HIGH POINT OF THE SEASON: They served notice early and often that the swagger was back, Torts was a bad memory in the rear view mirror and the Sedin boys could still play. They beat the Jackets 5-0 on November 28th to go to 16-6-1 and never really looked back. LOW POINT OF THE YEAR: Losing soundly the the upstart Flames in the first round. The Canucks are still trying to figure out what happened. WHAT WENT RIGHT: Miller and Lack stabilized the net which had become a disaster the year before. Vrbata came aboard and scored a team leading 31 goals. The Sedin boys scored 76 (daniel) and 73 (Henrik) points, proving they are far from done. Bo Horvat showed a lot of promise as a 20 year old kid. Derek Dorsett provided toughness and scored a bit. Alex Edler did a good job running the point on the PP. Nick Bonino who came over in the Kessler deal was good as was Linden Vey who came over from the Kings. Yannick Weber scored 11 goals from the back end. Secondary scoring was strong, eleven players reached double digits in goals. WHAT WENT WRONG: Hamhuis scored a whopping one goal all year. Bieksa was injured and mildly effective at best when in the lineup. Zack Kassian took a step back. Really the team did not have a lot of players who failed this year. Luca Sbisa who came over from Anaheim was not good. The defense in general was boring and the fact that they brought in waiver wire warriors such as Weber and Clendening shows that. STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR: Yannick Hansen scored 16 goals, 17 assists without a single power play point. UFAs: Shawn Mathias, a third/fourth liner is the only one of note. TOP PROSPECTS FOR 2015-16: Young Bo Horvat played bottom six minutes but a lot more is expected this year. Jake Virtanen is expected to compete for the Calder next year. Hunter Shinkaruk is another promising young forward hoping to stick. The team seems to be ready to retool the forwards from within going forward. Defense, though, is not really a strength. OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS: Can they improve the back end, once a strength and now a weakness with a bunch of 30somethings and kids who really cannot play? Are Miller and Lack, who were decent but not spectacular enough? The Senin boys seemed to get it back together, will this continue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun260z Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Well I know many if not all were upset by the Lack deal all I can say is I couldn't have cared less; Lack was a .500 goalie at best and one whom I really doubt can be a number one, especially when it counts. See: First round Vs. Calgary. 18-13-4 or 18-17 take your pick. The .921 Sv% is solid, no doubt but in the end I believe Benning did the right thing and turned him (27 years old) into something while the phone still rang. You will never know what your youth can do if you don't present opportunities and I think we're going to see something far more impressive from Markstrom. He looks decent and different to me this year, perhaps that year in Utica has done him well. He just looks more square to me, more sound and more confident. Trusting his inner game a little more. We shall see. I've heard and read my fair share about Miller and to be honest he was on a decent pace last year 29-15-1 i solid. his .911 sv% not stellar but neither was the d in transition. Miller is no slouch and will give them a chance to win most nights. I am eager to see how Virtanen and McCann work out, do they make opening night? Both seem close... At first I wasn't crazy about the Prust trade, never been a fan, however I do believe he will bring something they've needed for a long time. Can he shut his mouth?....I hope so. This team has been through enough. And Kassian may never come around... This Ronald Kenins I don't believe I like at all, you will rarely hear me say that about anyone but a regular season Euro who runs around nailing everything who is useless in the playoffs and doesn't fight is of little use to any serious hockey team. In fact guys like this cause more trouble than their worth. I'd rather this spot in the line up had been filled off the waiver wire with a guy like Patrice Cormier out of Winnipeg's system. Cormier will never get a true shot there and he was just on waivers as he didn't make the Jets - yet again....They have a log jam of centers there and he's fit what Benning is doing. For me the wild cards at the moment on forward go to Cracknell and Baertschi. Cracknells jr. numbers are impressive. He's been in some interesting situations and maybe not to solid team environments so in saying that I like that he ended up in the ECHL and didn't give up. Being he was drafted by and given up on by the Flames I am looking to him when this team plays Calgary this year to make his mark. If that doesn't motivate, I don't know what will. Same basically to Sven. Here's a talented guy, only 22 and a 13th overall pick. Seems to have an attitude on the ice. I hope he uses it the right way cause 30 points in 69 games is nothing to sneeze at. Defense. Bieksa's gone and maybe once again Benning pulled a nice move here. I mean at 34 he showed his age last year. He lost control with Ferland and simply cost the team more than he helped. The time was right and I like how Benning's made moves where previous management would have sat on their hands a little longer. I believe the same fate should be for allotted to Hamhuis as well, at 32 get a hockey trade together and get something solid in return for the future. Gotta be some interested parties out there who would take a flyer and pony up fair market value. Sbisa...I just can't get my head around. For all intensive purposes this guy is awful, selfish only begins to describe it. Maybe I will eat my words here, gladly. Can't wait to be wrong here but I can't see it. Edler and Tanev. Solid, love em. Webber too. Carrado, I need to see more. Simple as that. Hutton and Fedun I know little about however I watched Fedun the other night and really liked him. I hope to see more of him. Onto a new season! Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I'll say this: the Canucks have never met a starting goalie they didn't want to trade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 @datsun260z I agree with Lack, he is long in the tooth to be considered a prospect, I never thought much of him. Miller gets a hard time in here because of one particular poster who thinks Miller is the best goalie in the history of the game but truth be told he is a good goalie. With a solid team around him there is no reason he cannot succeed. I am not a fan of most of the moves the Canucks made, Bieksa is a solid minute eater and in my opinion was not properly replaced. Prust and Kassian, nothing to see there. Baertchi has supposed to be a NHL regular for so long that he could be entering the senior leagues soon without actually making it. I do love Horvat, like REALLY think he is going to break out this year as one of the leagues top second line centers. Everything they asked of him last year he did well in. Good luck this year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Wow they are doing better than i thought they would be. Probably going to beat my Flyers down bad tonight. Canucks will get even stronger once Hunter Shinkaruk is ready. They have one of the top PK units right now. Spells trouble for the Flyers and their struggling PP. I say Canucks win tonight 5-3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Good read...... Canucks make right call in keeping McCann and Virtanen http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/canucks-make-right-call-in-keeping-mccann-and-virtanen/ Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Virtanen's first NHL Goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J0e Th0rnton Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Good read...... Canucks make right call in keeping McCann and Virtanen http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/canucks-make-right-call-in-keeping-mccann-and-virtanen/ Enjoy!The prank video where Desjardins was ripping them a new one was awesome. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/canucks-virtanen-mccann-1.3301028 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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