It's been a few days now since my hometown Vancouver Canucks exited the Stanley Cup playoffs and the feeling around the city is still one of disbelief. Many Canucks fans thought this may have just been their year, but alas it was not to be. The Canucks got flat-out beat by a very skilled, fast, young Blackhawks team. Yes, they could have taken a commanding three games to one series lead when they had the Hawks on the ropes up 1-0 with only a couple of minutes left in game four, but they couldn't hold the lead, losing that game and the following two, to end their run.
The bitterness of another year without Lord Stanley has one sportswriter in Vancouver even speculating a conspiracy, stating the NHL may have wanted Chicago to get through Vancouver, setting up a dream conference final between the Wings and the Hawks. His argument was that the refs throughout the series were letting the Hawks crash Luongo and were turning a blind eye to the Hawks wrongdoings. A legless notion, as there were many missed calls going either way, and the "crashing" of Luongo can be considered more like the "tapping" of a pampered primadonna. It’s highly unlikely that there was a fix in this series, but just ask yourself this, if Anaheim loses game seven tonight in Motown, could this be true? Come on. This is playoff hockey. There are missed calls in every series and all the goalies have taken their fare share of bumps. The fact is the Canucks weaknesses got exposed. The biggest weakness being a slow back-end that couldn't keep up with the speedy Hawks. You make a mistake and they make you pay. No conspiracy, just the better team prevailing.
This summer will be very interesting for this Canucks organization.
Do they resign the Sedins?
Has Ohlund played his final game as a Canuck?
Is Sami Salo the right quarterback for their power play?
What is going to happen with Luongo?
Let’s start with Luongo. The Canucks best player was far from great in the Chicago series. Luo's performance is now being questioned as to whether he's the right guy for the job. There is no question that Luo is one of the best goalies in the NHL, but legends are made in the playoffs and not the regular season. He has to step up when it matters the most, something he knows better then anyone else. He'll be back next season and will be stronger from this. If the Canucks have the chance to re-sign Luo, they will do it. What it shakes down to is what they do this summer. The Canucks have a blue chip prospect in Corey Schneider, this years AHL goalie of the year, playing in their farm system. If the team and Luongo can't come together on a new deal, there are options.
Before the Canucks can even look at re-signing Luongo, they have to figure out if they’re going to make the Sedins an offer. The word is they’re looking for something in the range of 13-14 million. The twins have the stats to back up a top-tier payout. The question is this, can anyone really afford to pay them that much? There have been rumors of Minnesota and Toronto showing some interest. The Leafs have the money and Burkey, after all is the one that brought them to Vancouver in the first place. Free agency starts as of July 1st, leaving the Canucks with little time to figure this out. They sign them and this is their top line over the next five plus seasons. They don't sign them and it frees up a nice chunk of money, money that may be needed to re-sign Luongo and possibly a top calibre free agent. Ultimately it comes down to this, are the twins the right choice to lead this team to the Stanley Cup? That decision is Mike Gillis's to make.
The back end of the Canucks got exposed badly in the Chicago series. That’s the reality of the NHL nowadays. The Hawks were brutal for years and were able to draft high flyers like Kane and Toews amongst others. The speed of this young Hawks team is unbelievable. The Canucks blue line was supposed to be a signature of the team, and arguably can still be considered one of the top Ds in the NHL. It is apparent that they will lose Mattias Ohlund, who seems determined to test the market come July 1st, which may turn out to be a good thing for the Canucks. Ohlund got burned by the speed of the Hawks, and his best years may be behind him. Not saying he won't be a significant pick up for a team needing a solid top six defenseman, just that I think the Canucks blue line can be better without him. What they require is a top flight D man that moves the puck out of the zone with ease and can quarterback a power play. Plus, he needs to stay healthy and log heavy minutes every night. Basically what Sami Salo was supposed to be doing. Yes, Salo's still under contract, but he needs to be moved. The Canucks would benefit from a shake up on their blue line. Ohlund's basically gone. Mitchell and Bieksa are trees that can hurt people. A solid blue line needs those kind of guys. Edler is their stud, who will move up into the top pairing. Moving Salo could score them a good young prospect who can slot into the third pairing, and more importantly, it would help them make a pitch for stud Jay Bouwmeester. Adding Bouwmeester would give them an all-star who makes the first pass effortlessly and has the speed and skill to keep up with the young fast stars of the league. Him paired with Alex Edler would give the Canucks one of the top two young blue line pairings in the league.
This won't be an easy summer for Gillis and his staff. Sportsnet reported yesterday that the Canucks will offer coach Alain Vigneault a two or three year extension, so you know that Gillis has faith in the man who is at the helm, as he should. Really this team is not far off being a legit Cup contender. The likes of Burrows, Kesler, Raymond, Wellwood, Johnson, Rypien and Hordichuk make up the depth of this team, a solid core. The decision has to be what to do with the top end players. Do you tinker or do you disable? Hard to say, but what we do know is come July 1st we'll have an idea of what way Gillis is going to go.
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