^

I could see it too, but I have a feeling change is coming. We'll see I guess!

They have a team with an aging core, with no players in the wings to fill the void of the Sedins when they retire. Next year will be the last year of the Sedins' current contract and they will be 33 this September. They've already said they do not want to retire. To me it seems the franchise is too loyal to trade them, so they will get 1-3 year deals at a lower cost. They don't have a lot of trade chips since most of their core has NTCs.

What would have been nice was if they had younger guys move into first line roles with the Sedins moving to the second line as they get closer to retirement, but that hasn't happened.

Tickets are the most expensive they have ever been, so you can bet that Aquilini knows his window to make money off this team is closing with this core. Eventually they will have to build. I wonder how long it will take before they do. And how does Gillis go about doing it?

Blues and Kings tied.

That chicago game was not a correct representation. The Blackhawks, that game, played without Sharp, Handzus, Bolland and Rosival. That's essentially their second line and second d pair.

On the other hand, am I the only one that thinks the Canucks need a PROPER
sniper for the first line? A legit winger/sniper that just scores? Something
along the lines of Steen, Moulson, JVR, Stepan. Burrows to me just doesn't quite cut it.

Yeah, I agree with what you're saying 100%. I just can't see the organization moving the Sedins, and obviously they won't let them walk. I can see them getting a 3 year extension as well.

I really wish we had some young guys to step in, but the way we've been built is to win with a group of veterans, not the young guys. Because of that, the very few young guys we had were traded away and we're left with not much. Unfortunate that it happened that way.

With tickets being as much as they are already, and the team declining year by ear, I see there being a lot of empty seats next year. After two first round exits and a fanbase that has already been less supportive this year than any in a while, something has to change. I think the fanbase is ready for change, but does management have the balls?

If Gillis thinks that the team, as it is right now, can win then he is an idiot. There are pieces in place that are fine, but the mix we have just isn't working. We need to add 2 LEGITIMATE top 6 players (no, guys like David Booth don't count), and if that is done, I think the Sedins can still do good stuff for us. Right now, we have 2 lines that we rely on for everything. In the latter part of a game, we don't see lines 3 or 4 at all. Look at San Jose, they roll all 4 lines - their fourth line played 12 minutes. That's almost as much as our fucking third line.

That's because that's not his role. His role is stay in front of the net to:

a) screen the goalie
b) aggro 1 or 2 defensemens
c) tip ins
d) rebound

Honestly, he's the only one in our team who's willing to take the punishment in front of the net. Kesler's alright, but I see Burrows really get right into the goalie's grill better. He also moves side to side better (when screening the goalie) as the play moves to and fro, left to right. He's also never afraid to come right back after constantly being spilled in front of the net + after whistle fracas.

There's really no room for a sniper since neither Sedin is going to take that role. As Henrik is always planted on the corner/lower boards to set up passes while Daniel darts in and out of the front of the net waiting for a pass.

Loading on 2 snipers (Daniel + whoever you want) will just mean, that no one's aggroing in front of the net.

Brunner with the OT winner for the Wings!

Burrows is effective for what he does... its just that no one fucking shoots

sometimes i feel so sorry for him when he gets mobbed infront of the goalie... he tries so hard to screen but no one shoots and he gets clobbered at the whistle and no one goes and helps him

MG was in a damned if you do, damned if you don't position with Luongo. Anyone with half a brain who has watched his post season can tell he's still a legit #1 goaltender worth a hell of a lot more return than what they were offered.

That's the question right there. I don't think they do. I think they will continue to just tweak this team.

It's simple, if MG doesn't make moves this off-season to better our team, he will be fired

And by "better" our team its gonna have to be significant moves, period.

#boldmoves

Something popped up on the radio today about Aquaman pushing for AV to go last offseason, but MG stepped up to bat. And this offseason it will be an almost certainty, and not without reason IMO. But there's also the possibility that MG walks away from the Canucks completely, which leaves the organization in a pretty precarious position to clean up his mess. I don't disagree with the moves and signings MG has made as its part of the plan HE put in place for the long term success of the club (how good that plan is is another discussion), but anybody stepping in for a resigned MG is setup to fail with all the NTC's and lack of cap space available to bring in the needed personnel to actually make any change for the better.

Can you guys imagine if Luongo was playing for the leafs?

And we were left with Cannata being back-up lol?

After a probable first round sweep, any offseason change to the roster is thinkable. IMO Schneider gets moved before the idea of a Sedin trade is even entertained. All along moving Schneider is the more logical thing to do, he'll return more, he's way more marketable, and having a goalie in his prime is no use to us when we are not a cup contender. Luongo still has a good few seasons to offer which will be sufficient while we hopefully teeter around making the playoffs the next few years while rebuilding on the fly, and by the time the next core is in a winning position, hopefully Lack will be ready to take the reines

Kings tie 3-3 now. wow

If that series goes the distance, I really doubt either team will last the second round if they are to face an equally big/hard hitting team.

^ at least it would be interesting :)

also kings score again 4-3...

Rebuilding on the fly is going to be tough with all the no trade clauses unless they give young guys time and patience to develop playing on the Canucks roster.

Yeah we'd probably get sweeped.. Oh wait wut..
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Easy way out of an NTC is to bench underperformers. They ask for a trade, and boom, headshot.
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Yeah, well that would require us to have young guys first to begin with. And by rebuild on the fly, I don't mean that we would be competitive per se. My vision of rebuild on the fly is making the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed, or missing it by a couple of points at the end of the season. The market here would never tolerate a complete blowup style rebuild, nor are we able to with all the NTC's. Of course with that understanding, some of the NTC's may actually want to move on to a legitimate contender especially as they get on with their careers.

MG isn't going anywhere, imo

Depends on Aquaman's patience. MG doesn't need this job to put food on the table. He doesn't necessarily aspire to continue being an NHL GM somewhere else if he gets fired. I don't think he gets fired, but if Aquaman really pushes MG to make moves he doesn't want to, or refuses to let MG make the moves he wants, I could see MG quitting

Lu's penthouse is up for sale...

Video and photos: Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo's penthouse listed for $4.2 million

Yeah, that'll really work great in attracting free agent players to play for your team :rolleyes: