Who's our biggest threat in the NW this year?

[sfgiants5518]

Welcome canuckfan. Great first post.

I agree with most of what you're saying, but our upgrades are still too marginal. We may improve our standing in the regular season, but we still don't match up that well with the big boys in the West.

We will upgrade with Samuelsson and Hodgson, but we badly need a puck moving D man.

Since Sammy has played with Sedin and Sedin before, I expect that combo to get some serious consideration. I also think Hodgson should at least start the season on the third line. That could mean a Burrows-Kesler-Demitra 2nd unit.

Good enough? Thoughts?

to maximize burrows value we need to keep him on that top line. But, if that line isn't producing on a particular night, probably wouldn't be a terrible idea to move sammy to the top line. This gives us a lot of options. To think at one point we had taylor pyatt on our top line last year...

[NUCK-U]

Noticed MTL signed Sanford today, burst my bubble there, was hoping (going with the fantasy thing here) that Gillis would've made a deal trading Schneider and Hansen for Markov, then turn around and deal Demitra and a draft pick to NYR for Zherdev, bring up Hodgson, and the team would look really good. Just dreaming though.

I do like the idea of Zubov though, plenty of experience, won Stanley Cups, he'd be solid and produce points, especially if he stays healthy. Not sold on Kaberle, considering what Burke would want for him.

And Sundin, well, I just hope Gillis isn't as patient this time around.

[ink]

to maximize burrows value we need to keep him on that top line. But, if that line isn't producing on a particular night, probably wouldn't be a terrible idea to move sammy to the top line. This gives us a lot of options. To think at one point we had taylor pyatt on our top line last year...

I think Burrows' contract is valuable no matter where he plays. Re-uniting him with Kesler and getting them an impact winger (other than Demitra) might really work. I wonder what Burrows-Kesler-Sundin would be like?

[ink]

I do like the idea of Zubov though, plenty of experience, won Stanley Cups, he'd be solid and produce points, especially if he stays healthy. Not sold on Kaberle, considering what Burke would want for him.

I don't want Kaberle regardless. Zubov would be great. If you look at what Calgary has in the way of defencemen, you can see why we badly have to upgrade at that position to be competitive.

People might be forgetting that Calgary was devastated by injuries in the playoffs last year. Otherwise they would have been a lot stronger. We can't count on that this year.

Gillis can't be done yet. Can he? ray:

[sfgiants5518]

I think Burrows' contract is valuable no matter where he plays. Re-uniting him with Kesler and getting them an impact winger (other than Demitra) might really work. I wonder what Burrows-Kesler-Sundin would be like?

sorry, i didn't word it right. By 'value' i meant 'production.'

but yeah, i'm not gonna be upset one way or the other. I'd prefer him to stay with the sedins but i'll support whoever AV chooses.

[carson005]

My lines would be:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows(don't fix what isn't broken)
Demitra-Hodgson-Kesler(Great second line if Cody can produce)
Bernier-Wellwood-Sammy(all guys can check and score)
Hordy-Johnson-Rypien(love this line)

All 4 lines CAN score, while not being defensive liabilities

[carson005]

My lines would be:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows(don't fix what isn't broken)
Demitra-Hodgson-Kesler(Great second line if Cody can produce)
Bernier-Wellwood-Sammy(all guys can check and score)
Hordy-Johnson-Rypien(love this line)

All 4 lines CAN score, while not being defensive liabilities

(Just looking at this again)

I would definitely trade Raymond and Schneider for a defenseman, I think Raymond is as good as he's gonna get, it seems like he can't just carry the puck in, make a move to the net and score, he can only score on 2 on 1's with awesome passes and open nets. He has speed, but not a lot of skill.

I would love if we could incorporate Hansen onto the team, I think he has serious potential as a great checking 3rd liner who can almost touch 20 goals, ala Burrows. But I just don't see a spot for him right now

[NUCK-U]

Is Gillis on holidays or something? I see other teams still making moves and re-tooling their rosters. Calgary and Montreal are revamping nicely to name two. I think once Luongo signs, thgs will start to happen, but I thought they were really close to a deal, that was two weeks ago.

I agree about Raymond, I want him to be better and I think he could be, but when? Definitely has speed, but he seems to always take the puck, skate like hell into the opposing team's zone, skates some more all over the place, loses the puck and wipes out along the boards. (hehe)

But he's also valuable trade bait, along with Schneider. I agree with that, and if that gives us a chance at the type of offensive defenseman we need, I hope Gillis goes for it. I just can't see Edler stepping up that much and being that guy, even though I think he has huge potential. He's still a couple of years away.

[sfgiants5518]

Is Gillis on holidays or something? I see other teams still making moves and re-tooling their rosters. Calgary and Montreal are revamping nicely to name two. I think once Luongo signs, thgs will start to happen, but I thought they were really close to a deal, that was two weeks ago.

I agree about Raymond, I want him to be better and I think he could be, but when? Definitely has speed, but he seems to always take the puck, skate like hell into the opposing team's zone, skates some more all over the place, loses the puck and wipes out along the boards. (hehe)

But he's also valuable trade bait, along with Schneider. I agree with that, and if that gives us a chance at the type of offensive defenseman we need, I hope Gillis goes for it. I just can't see Edler stepping up that much and being that guy, even though I think he has huge potential. He's still a couple of years away.

this luongo crap is almost as bad as sundin. We kinda need luongo to sign sooner rather than later so we can start exploring trading corey schneider. There's no way we can afford to keep him when we already signed an acceptable backup and we still have more pieces to add.

[canuckfan1970]

I've been here three times to post a brief reply today in this forum, but the pics of Nicole distract me...so I keep forgetting...

(shakes head) ahem ANYWAYS it would be a mistake for Gillis to sit tight. I think he's working the angle that he wants to keep a core for five years that will, at some point, win a Cup for Vancouver. That means trades instead of free agency. That means moving salary cap around judiciously, knowing that Pavol (ow, my groin hurts again coach) Demitra will leave his $4million on then table next season, maybe just enough to entice Kesler and Roberto to stay...then he has to replace Salo, and Mitchell (would he be a huge loss?) and so on.

IMHO Gillis is gearing up for a 2011 Cup win, hoping to do well in the meantime. I guess I'll be patient. I was 10 when I saw Barry Wilkins score the first goal vs. LA, and at this point, I'll be grateful to see the Cup in Vancouver before any hint of grandkids.

[flyers1618]

Flames are the greatest threat. They lost camalleri but they got jokinen at the trade deadline last year. They lost leopald but they gained bouwmeester who is better. As for the canucks, they got more scoring but lost a good defenseman in ohlund so idk who wins the division.

[sfgiants5518]

yeah, but nucks aren't done dealing. we'll add a defenseman to fill the hole that ohlund left us.

also, a lot of our success will be hanging on the cody hodgson, can we really trust him to step up when he didn't really play in the AHL?

[canuckfan1970]

I don't see Ohlund as a big loss. He was slow and often mishandled the puck, maybe he was relied on too much. I think our D will be just as good, but we have needed a powerplay QB for a LONG time...JBo is good, but not as good as the $ the Flames are coughing up. Let's see how JBo does with all this travel.

[NUCK-U]

I agree, I think Bouwmeester will be good, but not great. Hell, even Jokinen was really good in Florida, then he was moved to the Flames, where he did nothing. IMO, Calgary has taken a step back player-wise. It's their coaching that will help them this year.

The Canucks aren't done with their roster, they'll still get Luongo signed and I believe Gillis will trade Schneider in a package for an offensive defenseman. There's also a good possibility that Grabner and/or Hodgson will join the team this year. The acquisition of Samuelssson was a great move as well.

[ink]

I don't see Ohlund as a big loss. He was slow and often mishandled the puck, maybe he was relied on too much. I think our D will be just as good, but we have needed a powerplay QB for a LONG time...JBo is good, but not as good as the $ the Flames are coughing up. Let's see how JBo does with all this travel.

No, Ohlund isn't a great loss (even though he tends to be under-rated). But he is if he isn't replaced by ANYBODY. That's the problem. So far we only have a hole.