This is pure gold:

http://canucksarmy.com/20...-murders-from-last-season

This is pure gold:

http://canucksarmy.com/20...-murders-from-last-season
- CanuckDon

he better to be ready to fight. NHL players will not take being steamrolled. He might need Lucic to give him some back up

he better to be ready to fight. NHL players will not take being steamrolled. He might need Lucic to give him some back up
- VANTEL

Sad but true. Makes sense for Benning to get Doresett, Prust and target Lucic so that Virtanen can feel comfortable playing the same game from WHL to NHL

Who knows? Neither team was expected to do much last season but both did. The west is good but still pretty wide open.

Oduya was a good add, but Dallas's D is still horseshlt. Colorado too. The Wild will be as good as Dubnyk allows them to be. Nashville could easily fall back down a bit. LA looks scary, but if the circus that has been surrounding them all summer follows them onto the ice they could struggle. San Jose is in worse shape then the Canucks and have done less to address it. Edmonton is still Edmonton until proven otherwise. Columbus is a sleeper. If they stay healthy they could do some damage. Chicago is significantly worse than when they won the cup - still pretty damn good though. St. Louis will be good unless they are completely sick of Hitchcock.

Outside of Anahiem, who will probably win the President's Trophy, and Arizona, who will probably finish last, it should be pretty tight.
- CubanBuffet

I think Colorado has improved significantly and I have penciled in as a playoff team. Adding Beachemin, Zadorov and Soderberg will help the D enough and they still have a very good goalie and awesome offensive skill.

I don't see how you think SJ has done less to improve than the Canucks.
Out is Niemi, John Scott and Matt Irwin, in is Martin Jones, Joel Ward and Paul Martin. They added two very good players and a promising young goalie while losing a terrible player an aging goalie and a depth D. They also have some excellent young players.

Those 2 teams will take playoff spots IMO this year, LA also has a good chance.

Min, Cal, Van and Wpg could conceivably slip out of the playoffs and Dallas could slip in.

In other words I see La, Min, Cal, Wpg, Van and Dallas all fighting for the last 2 spots. LA might easily lock down a spot and we will have 5 teams fighting for 1 spot.

Edm and Ari will not be in competition and Anh, Chi, Nsh, St Louis, SJ and Col will lock down the top 6 spots.

I'm from Kamloops and there isn't a chance that it could support an NHL team. There's well under 100 000 people there, including the surrounding areas.
- CubanBuffet

People cant think past ticket sales only. That's only part of it. It helps make it profitable if you have millions of people to offer merchandise to. Millions of people looking at advertisements in the region for sponsor cash flow is important too.

People cant think past ticket sales only. That's only part of it. It helps make it profitable if you have millions of people to offer merchandise to. Millions of people looking at advertisements in the region for sponsor cash flow is important too.
- boonerbuck

It's a working class town too. Most people are labourers, loggers, mill workers, etc. It's not a poor town, but there are zero corporate head quarters and few companies that could afford to advertise in the arena or rent suites. Which doesn't even touch on the fact that Riverside arena is not set up for NHL.

[quote=Redmile247]Definitely agree with them making it in the east

As for the west it will be tough ...if the Canucks can get solid goaltending from miller and have a few break through performances they have a shot for sure ... With the flames I'm confident they won't be a team that regresses like all the haters say ...whether that's enough to get them in we will see
- LordHumungous[/quote

They will regress a bit...but they will contend for a spot.

I could see this happening

They just played large portions of the season without gio ....with Deryk Engelland playing 20 minutes a night ....with multiple injuries that lead to half a team of AHL call ups
This year they have the top line together all year ...everyone's favourite Sam Bennett to start the year ...healthy and deep defense ...and two goalies capable of playing well

They just might not regress at all

I think Colorado has improved significantly and I have penciled in as a playoff team. Adding Beachemin, Zadorov and Soderberg will help the D enough and they still have a very good goalie and awesome offensive skill.

I don't see how you think SJ has done less to improve than the Canucks.
Out is Niemi, John Scott and Matt Irwin, in is Martin Jones, Joel Ward and Paul Martin. They added two very good players and a promising young goalie while losing a terrible player an aging goalie and a depth D. They also have some excellent young players.

Those 2 teams will take playoff spots IMO this year, LA also has a good chance.

Min, Cal, Van and Wpg could conceivably slip out of the playoffs and Dallas could slip in.

In other words I see La, Min, Cal, Wpg, Van and Dallas all fighting for the last 2 spots. LA might easily lock down a spot and we will have 5 teams fighting for 1 spot.

Edm and Ari will not be in competition and Anh, Chi, Nsh, St Louis, SJ and Col will lock down the top 6 spots.
- belcherbd

You could convince me about Colorado, as long as Varlamov regains his form from a couple of seasons ago, but I disagree about San Jose. They are a lot like the Canucks the before we hired Tortorella. They didn't completely lose their minds and hire Torts, but they downgraded their coaching pretty significantly, in my opinion. They've added a few nice pieces, but they still have the same ageing core that hasn't been able to get it done and seemed pretty disinterested last season. And Jones might be an upgrade, or he might not.

People cant think past ticket sales only. That's only part of it. It helps make it profitable if you have millions of people to offer merchandise to. Millions of people looking at advertisements in the region for sponsor cash flow is important too.
- boonerbuck

Who would be the major corporate sponsor in the interior ? A vineyard ? BC tree fruits ? BC can't support a 2nd team. The Canucks sell merchandise and tickets to people from across the province.

Who would be the major corporate sponsor in the interior ? A vineyard ? BC tree fruits ? BC can't support a 2nd team. The Canucks sell merchandise and tickets to people from across the province.
- golfingsince

Agreed. Outside of the lower mainland it's too sparsely populated. Which is the case for all of Canada. Rabid hockey fans are only one of the ingredients you need.

I could see this happening

They just played large portions of the season without gio ....with Deryk Engelland playing 20 minutes a night ....with multiple injuries that lead to half a team of AHL call ups
This year they have the top line together all year ...everyone's favourite Sam Bennett to start the year ...healthy and deep defense ...and two goalies capable of playing well

They just might not regress at all
- Redmile247

I think Cal will be a good team but will Gio compete at the norris caliber play of last season even if healthy? Will Hamilton, Russel and Brodie continue to improve on very good seasons? Will Hiller/Ramo be able to play above average?
Will the depth players be able to all have career offensive years again? Will 19 year old Sam Bennett be better than 18 year old Sam Bennett?

I like the way Calgary has always played and expect the team to play the same blue collar style they have always played. I do have doubts that some of those blue collar players continue to produce at the same rates as they did this year.

Who would be the major corporate sponsor in the interior ? A vineyard ? BC tree fruits ? BC can't support a 2nd team. The Canucks sell merchandise and tickets to people from across the province.
- golfingsince

I disagree, the province could easily support another team, the Canucks only sell merchandise and tickets because they're the only game in town. Have another team nearby and the Canucks would keep their Lower Mainland fan base, but the rest of the province would likely support the other team, especially if it isn't in the Lower Mainland.

Agreed. Outside of the lower mainland it's too sparsely populated. Which is the case for all of Canada. Rabid hockey fans are only one of the ingredients you need.
- CubanBuffet

The GTA doesn't even have a 2nd team yet and there's around 11 million people in the golden horseshoe. NY struggles at times with it's 3 teams and there's over 20 million people in the area. It wasn't all that long ago that Vancouver struggled with it's one franchise, and it could very well again if we sustain a prolonged losing period.

I think Cal will be a good team but will Gio compete at the norris caliber play of last season even if healthy? Will Hamilton, Russel and Brodie continue to improve on very good seasons? Will Hiller/Ramo be able to play above average?
Will the depth players be able to all have career offensive years again? Will 19 year old Sam Bennett be better than 18 year old Sam Bennett?

I like the way Calgary has always played and expect the team to play the same blue collar style they have always played. I do have doubts that some of those blue collar players continue to produce at the same rates as they did this year.
- belcherbd

I think depth up front will kill them. They are built for the playoffs but its a long season to get there, not sure they can get the same production and effectiveness from guys over 82 games - thinking Bouma, Frolik and Ferland

I disagree, the province could easily support another team, the Canucks only sell merchandise and tickets because they're the only game in town. Have another team nearby and the Canucks would keep their Lower Mainland fan base, but the rest of the province would likely support the other team, especially if it isn't in the Lower Mainland.
- DariusKnight

So where do you put this team ? Once you get out of the Lower Mainland the largest city is Kelowna with about 120,000 people. That won't cut it.

Edit: I forgot Victoria at about 350K but i'm pretty sure lifelong Canuck fans from the interior aren't going to jump ship to support a team on the island.

he better to be ready to fight. NHL players will not take being steamrolled. He might need Lucic to give him some back up
- VANTEL

He needs to fight...perhaps twice a year and that's it. We can't have a young star player getting concussed or breaking his hand. That's why we brought in Prust. But yes, a couple times a year he will need to back it up.

I could see this happening

They just played large portions of the season without gio ....with Deryk Engelland playing 20 minutes a night ....with multiple injuries that lead to half a team of AHL call ups
This year they have the top line together all year ...everyone's favourite Sam Bennett to start the year ...healthy and deep defense ...and two goalies capable of playing well

They just might not regress at all
- Redmile247

I think it is likely that they will regress, meaning that the bounces will begin to even out. How many games did they come back late in the 3rd to eventually win? Playing without the puck so much, if that's how they play again this year, will hurt them. Having said that, the team is most likely better this season then last, so perhaps it evens out. I think they'll be in the 93-97 point range, fighting for a playoff spot.

I disagree, the province could easily support another team, the Canucks only sell merchandise and tickets because they're the only game in town. Have another team nearby and the Canucks would keep their Lower Mainland fan base, but the rest of the province would likely support the other team, especially if it isn't in the Lower Mainland.
- DariusKnight

I think the province is going to struggle to financially support one team, especially if they are indeed entering an era of worse hockey. Don't forget that this team has only been financially strong the past decade or so, there were many lean years. With the Cdn Petro Dollar continuing to fall and the potential for the housing market in Vancouver to take a big hit, I wont be surprised at all if we see this team having some difficult financial years.

Then we will actually be able to see what kind of owner we have.....

You could convince me about Colorado, as long as Varlamov regains his form from a couple of seasons ago, but I disagree about San Jose. They are a lot like the Canucks the before we hired Tortorella. They didn't completely lose their minds and hire Torts, but they downgraded their coaching pretty significantly, in my opinion. They've added a few nice pieces, but they still have the same ageing core that hasn't been able to get it done and seemed pretty disinterested last season. And Jones might be an upgrade, or he might not.
- CubanBuffet

If anything I would say last year was their " Tortorella" year, and look how this team rebounded with IMO a worse roster than what they will have to work with.

Regardless, it's just my opinion but I still think their additions of Ward, Martin and Jones trumps our additions of Prust and Bartkowski to go along with the subtractions of Kassian, Bieksa and Lack, Richardson and Matthias.

I think the province is going to struggle to financially support one team, especially if they are indeed entering an era of worse hockey. Don't forget that this team has only been financially strong the past decade or so, there were many lean years. With the Cdn Petro Dollar continuing to fall and the potential for the housing market in Vancouver to take a big hit, I wont be surprised at all if we see this team having some difficult financial years.

Then we will actually be able to see what kind of owner we have.....
- belcherbd

Even in the lean times, the franchise wasn't in any danger, not like some teams in the South were/still are. The dollar will rebound eventually, and as long as the Chinese dump their dirty money into speculating on property here, the housing bubble isn't going to burst anytime soon.

Even in the lean times, the franchise wasn't in any danger, not like some teams in the South were/still are. The dollar will rebound eventually, and as long as the Chinese dump their dirty money into speculating on property here, the housing bubble isn't going to burst anytime soon.
- DariusKnight

They were closer to losing it than you think. The dollar is likely still overvalued.

They were closer to losing it than you think. The dollar is likely still overvalued.
- golfingsince

The dollar will rebound, the oil price will go up eventually, commodities and currency tend to be cylical in nature.

If anything I would say last year was their " Tortorella" year, and look how this team rebounded with IMO a worse roster than what they will have to work with.

Regardless, it's just my opinion but I still think their additions of Ward, Martin and Jones trumps our additions of Prust and Bartkowski to go along with the subtractions of Kassian, Bieksa and Lack, Richardson and Matthias.
- belcherbd

I look forward to finding out who's right. Bloody offseason...

It's a working class town too. Most people are labourers, loggers, mill workers, etc. It's not a poor town, but there are zero corporate head quarters and few companies that could afford to advertise in the arena or rent suites. Which doesn't even touch on the fact that Riverside arena is not set up for NHL.
- CubanBuffet

It could support an Ahl team though. Hell I'd even make that trip that far south to watch a few games a year.

They were closer to losing it than you think. The dollar is likely still overvalued.
- golfingsince

the talk of a second team in the province is nonsensical. there are just too many factors against the idea.

firstly, the canucks would do everything in their power to stop it. they would claim their territorial rights for the province (and certainly the lower mainland). and their claim would be justified.

quite frankly a new team would not be creating new hockey fans but more than likely just getting fans to switch allegiances. why does this matter? b/c there will not be a great increase in tv numbers. the value in the canucks property will probably go down b/c some of those that used to watch/follow the canucks would switch over to the new team. if the numbers are big enough, the value of the canucks' advertising would go down. this means local tv and radio. this then relates back to the canucks claiming territorial rights.

secondly, there just isn't the corporate base to satisfy two teams. big corporations don't have endless advertising revenue. they will not double their ad buy just b/c there is a new team. especially when there isn't a bigger audience but just a "different" audience.

thirdly, i just don't see a potential owner who is willing to pay half a billion in franchise fees, a few hundred million in arena upgrades (or building a new one) and x millions to the canucks for territorial fees.

and this is before we even consider the dollar.