Canuck City's Predictions; A Look Ahead At The Season To Be

With the regular season nearly upon us, and the rosters virtually set for opening night, it's time to make some early predictions; some serious and some humorous. So let's get right to it.

The Canucks will finish the regular season.....

In 9th place in the Western Conference, and 4th place in the Pacific Division behind Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose. The Canucks are in a heated race and need a win against the lowly Oilers on the final night of the regular season to sneak into 8th place and the final wildcard spot. They lay a dud and lose 4-1, ripping the hearts out of Canucks fans province wide.

The Canucks leading scorer will be.....

Henrik Sedin. Not a bold pick by any means, but Henrik and brother Daniel return to nearly a point a game form and rebound after a rough season under former coach John Tortorella. Henrik finishes with 14 goals, 63 assists for 77 points. Daniel isn't far behind with 73 points (28 goals, 45 assists), while linemate Radim Vrbata finishes with the most goals at 34 and totals 66 points. No other Canuck finishes with more than 50 points.

Ryan Miller finishes the year with.....

31 wins, a 2.36 GAA and 918%. Decent numbers overall and single-handedly wins his new team a handful of games. Goes through a rough stretch around Christmas in which he temporarily loses his starting job to Eddie Lack and sulks and makes some negative comments to the media who run with it, and once again there's a goalie controversy in Vancouver. It's short-lived though, as his job as backup lasts just over a week and he gets back on track and finishes off the season strong and as the team's clear number one goalie.

The Canucks most improved player will be.....

Alexander Edler. He had an abysmal season last year (along with everyone else), and has fallen out of favour with most Canucks fans, but the big Swedish defenceman rebounds with a solid year. He finishes with 13 goals and 37 assists for 50 points and limits the amount of defensive gaffes that have plagued him throughout his career. He returns to form and finishes the year as the Canucks best overall defenceman, slightly ahead of Dan Hamhuis.

The most disappointing Canuck will be.....

A tie between Zack Kassian and Alex Burrows. Kassian continues to disappoint, and aside from a few flashes of brilliance throughout the season, proves that he's likely going to be a bottom 6 forward for the rest of his career. He finishes with 13 goals and 16 assists but on the bright side, only one suspension. Unfortunately he also misses a few games due to off-ice issues as he gets arrested and charged with assaulting a patronizing fan at The Roxy. Alex Burrows is snake-bitten once again and proves that he can't score much without the Sedins. Thankfully, he is good defensively and kills penalties well so despite the disappointing offensive stats, he still has some value to the team.

The Canucks most surprising player will be.....

Linden Vey. He may not be a surprise to hardcore Canuck fans who have been watching all preseason, but he will turn some heads and make a name for himself in the NHL. He finishes third in Calder Trophy voting (rookie of the year) and finishes the season with 19 goals and 29 assists for 48 points.

Slightly Humorous Bold Predictions (and maybe some wishful thinking)......

Best Moment: Daniel Sedin accidentally hits someone from behind. Henrik comes over to make sure that player is okay when that player suddenly jumps Henrik (mistaking him for Daniel). Kevin Bieksa comes out of left-field and proceeds to rag-doll the opponent before the refs jump in. Bieksa gets suspended for a game but the Sedins chip in and buy him a puppy the next day to show their appreciation. Henrik is unscathed aside from some minor bleeding from the lip, but Daniel gets him a towel from the bench and wipes the blood away for him. Minutes later Daniel scores on a one-timer from a sweet Henrik no look, behind the back pass. All is forgotten. Bieksa names the puppy Stefeter after the Sedin's two older brothers Stefan and Peter.

Biggest Win: The Canucks beat the Bruins 7-1 at home. The win itself is just another win in the standings, but we all know how sweet it is going to feel. Especially because Brad Marchand breaks his femur in 6 places when he tries to slew-foot Henrik Sedin at full-speed (remember the wishful thinking part?). This incident was a close second for 'Best Moment.'

Biggest Loss: As mentioned earlier, Vancouver has a chance to make the playoffs on the final night of the season with a win at home versus Edmonton. They play awfully and choke in their chance to 'win and you're in.'

Biggest Trade: The Canucks deal Eddie Lack at the deadline to the Buffalo Sabres for Mike Weber and a 4th round pick. Weber adds some toughness and some depth to the blueline, but ends up being terrible. Still, he's an upgrade over Luca Sbisa and plays the remainder of the regular season as the team's 6th Dman. Jacob Markstrom proves himself as an NHL-calibre goalie in the AHL and becomes the team's backup in place of Lack. Thatcher Demko, Vancouver's 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft, is GM Jim Benning's longterm plan at goalie when Miller's contract expires after the 2017 season.

Other notable items.....

- Hunter Shinkaruk plays a handful of games as an injury call up and impresses in his short time. He leads the Comets in scoring and proves he's an integral part of the future.

- Much like Shinkaruk, Niklas Jensen gets some games with the big club and impresses offensively scoring 5 goals in 11 games before getting injured himself and limiting his time in the NHL.

- Nick Bonino proves he needs Getzlaf and Perry to score and has an average season finishing with 12 goals and 32 assists. Linden Vey replaces him as the 2nd line centre.

- Tom Sestito whines about ice-time and about being scratched and demands a trade 20 games into the season. Benning tries to trade him, but no team will pay even a conditional 7th for him. He ends up clearing waivers (again) and being sent to Utica. He doesn't accept his demotion and sits out the rest of the season before signing with the Tilburg Trappers of the Dutch League where he leads the league in scoring. Local Dutch league fans call him the next Dale Weise and Sestito reminds everyone that he was a big-time scorer in junior and just needed his opportunity to play 1st line minutes.

Follow writer Mike Kermode on twitter @mikekermode

Eastern Conference:

Atlantic:

1. Boston (Playoffs)

2. Montreal (Playoffs)

3. Detroit (Playoffs)

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4. Toronto 

5. Ottawa

   6. Tampa

   7. Florida

8. Buffalo

Metropolitan:

1. Pittsburgh (Playoffs)

   2. Philadelphia (Playoffs)

3. New Jersey (Playoffs)

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4. Washington (Playoffs) Wildcard 1

5. NY Islanders(Playoffs) Wildcard 2

   6. NY Rangers

7. Columbus

8. Carolina

Western Conference:

Pacific:

1. Los Angeles (Playoffs)

2. Anaheim (Playoffs)

3. San Jose (Playoffs)

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4. Vancouver 

5. Calgary

6. Arizona

7. Edmonton

Central:

1. Chicago (Playoffs)

2. St. Louis (Playoffs)

3. Dallas (Playoffs)

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4. Minnesota (Playoffs) Wildcard 1

5. Colorado (Playoffs) Wildcard 2

6. Winnipeg

7. Nashville

Eastern Conference Playoffs:

Boston over NY Islanders in 5

Pittsburgh over Washington in 5

Montreal over Detroit in 6

New Jersey over Philadelphia in 7

Boston over Montreal in 6

Pittsburgh over New Jersey in 6

Pittsburgh over Boston in 7

Western Conference Playoffs:

Blackhawks over Avalanche in 6

Kings over Wild in 6

Stars over Blues in 7

Ducks over Sharks in 5

Blackhawks over Stars in 7

Kings over Ducks in 6

Blackhawks over Kings in 7

Stanley Cup Final:

Penguins over Blackhawks in 6

Conn Smythe: Evgeni Malkin

Art Ross: Claude Giroux

Rocket Richard: Corey Perry

Hart: Carey Price

Vezina: Carey Price

Calder: Jonathan Drouin

Norris: Drew Doughty

Adams: Lindy Ruff

Selke: Anze Kopitar

Canucks face tough questions and roster decisions before next week's regular season opener

We're exactly a week away from the start of the Canucks regular season (click here to view the Canucks 2014'15 schedule in its entirety) and there's still some roster decisions to made. With just two preseason games left, Thursday and Saturday both against the Oilers, Canucks brass will be in tough to decide which players will open the year on the 23 man roster.

* Has young prospect and 9th overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft Bo Horvat done enough to earn a roster spot? Or do they send him back to junior where he has nothing left to prove? What would be best for his development? And who's spot does he take if he does in fact make the squad?

* Same could be said for Hunter Shinkaruk, though with his AHL eligibility it's likely he starts the year in Utica for the Comets, Vancouver's farm team. Shinkaruk, the 24th overall pick in the same draft class as Horvat, has played well in the preseason and is second on the team only to Linden Vey in preseason scoring.

* Speaking of Linden Vey, where does he fit into the lineup. The quick, shifty centre who came over in a draft day deal with the L.A Kings for a 2nd round pick is expected to add some offence to an otherwise fairly futile offensive team. Will he be the 2nd or 3rd line centre? Should they shift him to the wing to play alongside newly acquired Nick Bonino?

* Can Zack Kassian finally make the jump to the effective power forward that everyone expected he'd become? Or is he slated for a bottom 6 role again this year.

* Can Luca Sbisa step in and be a solid 6th defenceman? He certainly hasn't shown he can this preseason as he's been awful. So will Yannick Weber be the 6th guy? Or can Frankie Corrado step up and be that guy right away or does he need some more sesoning in the AHL?

* Can Ryan Miller survive the goalie graveyard that Vancouver has become and return to form as one of the league's best goalies? Will he be able to singlehandedly win the Canucks some games when they inevitably lay a dud?

These are just some of the questions that I have heading into the season, and some of the questions management will have to answer within a short week. One last question....is anyone else excited for the puck to drop? I sure am!

Despite Lofty Expectations, Canucks Face Elimination; Down 3-0 To Kings

It wasn't suppose to be this way.

The Presidents' Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks were expected to roll through the eighth ranked Los Angeles Kings with relative ease en route to another Stanley Cup Final appearance.

Alex Edler, arguably the Canucks' best defenseman, wasn't expected to be the worst player on the ice through the first three games. He has been. By a Kilometer.

Dustin Brown, the Kings' young American captain, wasn't expected to be the best forward in the series. He has been. By a mile.

Roberto Luongo wasn't expected to play amazingly well. He had been. That was until he was benched in favour of Vancouver's uber-competent backup goalie Cory Schneider. Did anyone expect that considering how well Luongo was playing?

The Canucks were not expected to lose all three of the series' opening games. They have.

The only thing that has gone as expected is the play of L.A's Vezina Trophy Candidate Jonathan Quick, however, I'm not sure anyone expected that he would play quite THIS well.

But things don't always go as expected.

The Kings have taken a 3-0 stranglehold in the Western Conference Quaterfinal and will now have an opportunity to sweep the Canucks on home ice Wednesday night. Who expected that?

Now, the series is not over - the fourth win is apparently the hardest to achieve in a series - but the Canucks are all but done. The thought of Jonathan Quick losing four straight games right now is unimaginable. Sadly, so is the thought of Vancouver playing a full 60 minutes of desperate hockey and having the discipline to stay out of the penalty box. Also unimaginable is the Canucks inability to right their struggling powerplay. My beer league team, the Bowen Island Cruisers, may have a better chance of scoring on the powerplay than Vancouver right now. We are in division six and most of us haven't played more than minor hockey - yes, it's that bad.

Expectations are one thing, but delivering on expectation is another. Let's look at some of the other factors leading to the Canucks seemingly insurmountable series deficit.

Vancouver coasted through most of the regular season, often seeming bored after playing so deep into the playoffs last season. They were rarely on top of their game, and despite winning eight of their last nine regular season contests, they were playing some of their poorest hockey heading into the post season. Los Angeles, on the other hand, have been playing for their playoff lives for the last half of the season, which has essentially been playoff hockey. The level of desperation and commitment they've played with lately is far superior to that of the Canucks, and that has shown early in this series.

I personally expected the Canucks to lose in game one. I suspected that the Kings would continue to play at the level they had played in the final weeks of the regular season, and it would catch the Canucks off-guard. But I expected Vancouver to use it as a wake up call and be prepared for game two.

But, as you know, things don't always go as expected.

The Canucks never turned it up a notch and they got caught up in the antics and the after-the-whistle bullcrap that makes them the most hated team in the NHL. They've lacked leadership, maturity and confidence. I didn't expect that.

Sure, the injury to Daniel Sedin is a huge loss. But it shouldn't be the difference between a first round loss and a first round win.

Who would step up in Daniel's absence? How would a former coach of the year manage his lineup to maximize their abilities? These are questions I expected to be able to answer after the first three games of the series.

Well, things don't always go as expected and I don't have those answers. No one does because they haven't happened.

Vancouver now has the unenviable task of coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. It's happened only three times in NHL history, so it's extrememly unlikely.

No one expects the Canucks to come back and win this series.

But you know what they say about expectations.....

Kings Capitalize On Canucks Lack Of Discipline, Take 1-0 Series Lead

The Vancouver Canucks and the Los Angeles Kings took two completely different paths en route to their first round Stanley Cup Playoff matchup.

One team had been playing for their playoff lives for the last month of the regular season while the other had been coasting through the regular season with ease, just waiting to finally play a meaningful game.

On Wednesday night, it was pretty obvious which team was which as the Vancouver Canucks were still in cruise control and were completely dominated by a much better, more intense and more prepared Kings team by a score of 4-2. (Watch highlights here)

The Canucks opened the scoring just 4:17 into the game when Alex Burrows wired home a wristshot passed Jonathan Quick, who was slowly recovering from a bump by Ryan Kesler. Quick appeared to embellish the bump a bit and was a little out of position by the time Burrows ripped it by him.

The goal came after Roberto Luongo made a number of gorgeous stops to start the first period and keep the reeling Kings off the board.

Then midway through the frame, a parade began -not the parade Canucks fans have been planning for a few months already - but a parade to the penalty box. With Kesler already in the sin bin for a questionable unsportmanlike conduct call (he sprayed Quick with snow, something that usually goes uncalled about 2-3 times a game), Chris Higgins inadvertantly shot the puck over the glass and into the stands for a delay of game penalty resulting in a Kings 5-3 powerplay. Just 10 seconds into the two-man advantage, Mike Richards caught Luongo cheating towards the far-side of the crease and slid a hard low shot passed the Canucks goalie to tie the game at one.

Then just a minute later, with Higgins still in the box, Alex Edler swatted a puck out of mid-air and into the crowd for yet another delay of game call, and consequently another Los Angeles 5-3 powerplay. Luckily Vancouver were able to kill that one off. Despite another penalty by Sami Salo late in the period, the Canucks were able to keep the game tied heading into the second stanza.

It was more of the same in the second period as Vancouver was shorthanded for almost half of the whole period. Byron Bitz took a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for hitting from behind when he caught Kings forward Kyle Clifford in the numbers. Clifford left the game and didn't return with an obvious head injury.

Former Canuck and B.C bred Willie Mitchell launched a slapshot from the point that saw its way passed a screened Luongo and into the back of the net. Then, with only 8 seconds remaining in the frame, Alex Edler's wristshot from the point deflected off of an L.A player's stick and beat a fooled Quick to tie the game at two heading into the final frame.

In the 3rd, the Canucks were unable to generate any offense on their two powerplays and were generally outplayed by the Kings who were able to get the go-ahead-goal with under four minutes left in the game when Alex Edler's turnover allowed Dustin Penner to bang home a shot that took a generous bounce off of Jeff Carter's skate and right to a wide-open Penner at the side of the net. Dustin Brown potted an empty-netter with 18 seconds left to seal the win for L.A.

My take: An all-around poor effort by Vancouver save for Roberto Luongo who made 35 stops and kept the Canucks in it throughout the game.

Hopefully an eye-opening game as Vancouver has to realize now that they need to step up their effort now that the playoffs have begun.

The Canucks 4th line of Byron Bitz, Manny Malhotra and Zack Kassian were awful all night. They iced the puck on every shift they played, allowing the Kings to get a favourable matchup when they were on the ice. Then of course Bitz's bone-headed hit from behind resulted in a 5 minute L.A powerplay that ended with another Kings powrplay goal. Expect Bitz to be suspended for at least one game.

Vancouver's powerplay continued to look stale as they hardly generated any chances and had a tough time even gaining the zone.

Despite his two assists, Ryan Kesler needs to get his game together. He was too busy diving around the ice and getting caught up in antics which resulted in him focussing
more on other things than trying to score.

Alex Edler had a shockingly poor game. His play in the defensive zone was horrendous, and as mentioned, his ugly turnover late in the third period resulted directly to the Kings game-winning goal.

Aaron Rome reminds me of defensemen that I play mens league with....everytime he gets the puck he freaks out and shoots it off the boards and out.

It's certainly not time to panic just yet, but Vancouver didn't give their fans much to be happy about. They will undoubtedly have to play more disciplined in order to win a game, and they will need to right their struggling powerplay. Goal scoring has been an issue of late, and will likely continue to be as they've struggled to score since the trade deadline.

Look for a much better effort on Friday as last night's game was a reality check.

Prediction for Friday's game: Canucks 2 - Kings 1.

Stars' Stars Shine While Canucks' Don't; Dallas Wins 5-2

Watch Highlights here

As the Sedin twins continue to struggle, so does their team as the Vancouver Canucks lost in regulation for a second straight game on Tuesday night - their first back-to-back regulation losses since November - this time to the Dallas Stars by a score of 5-2.

Unlike Vancouver, Dallas' top players led the way as J-Lo's ex Marc Anthony's twin Mike Ribeiro had 2 goals and 1 assist while Loui Eriksson finished with 1+1 and Michael Ryder had 2 assists. Rookie goaltender Richard Bachman made 29 saves for the win. Victoria's Jamie Benn was buzzing all night for the Stars and finished with a goal on five shots. Stephane Robidas hit the empty net to seal the deal for the reeling Stars who now lead the Pacific Division by two points over the Phoenix Coyotes.

Chris Higgins and Alex Edler scored for the Canucks who continue to get very little output from Daniel and Henrik Sedin; both are mired in a slump (at least by their standards). Henrik has been held pointless in six straight games and 10 of his last 13.

Questions arose when the Canucks traded their skilled third line center, Cody Hodgson, to the Sabres at the trade deadline. What if the top six forwards struggle to score? Who will step in if someone in the top six gets hurt?

With both of Vancouver's top centers struggling right now (both Kesler and Henrik Sedin have only one goal each in their last 13 games), the team needs some consistent secondary scoring, and the only player who was doing that in the past was the aforementioned - and newly departed - Hodgson.

Sami Pahlsson, a defensive specialist who was brought in to replace Hodgson, is to offense as what I am to a full head of hair. And his defensive and faceoff skills haven't been overly spectacular thus far either.

Zack Kassian has proven that we should expect very little consistency from him after being the best skater on the ice Saturday night against Buffalo, where he finished with a goal, an assist, three shots and seven hits, he followed that up with a statline of zero's across the board - all after being promoted to the second line.

Roberto Luongo stopped 24 saves in the loss which dropped Vancouver to second place in the Western Conference standings behind the surprising St. Louis Blues.

The Canucks continue their homestand Thursday night as they host the Winnipeg Jets for the first time in 16 years.

Sabres Stuff Canucks 5-3; Kassian Outshines Hodgson

The Buffalo Sabres got off to an early 3-0 lead and were able to stave off a late Canucks attack to earn a 5-3 win Saturday night and put them within two points of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Overshadowing the Sabres' recent surge up the standings was the return of Cody Hodgson to Vancouver less than a week after being shipped off to Buffalo in a trade for Zack Kassian. Kassian, who finished with a goal, an assist, three shots and a game high seven hits in only 10:40 of icetime, was more noticeable than Hodgson in the game, and won the battle of the "tradees" on the night. He was also named the game's first star (although Ryan Miller easily should have been the first star).

Hodgson finished the night with three shots, was a plus one and finished with just under 17 minutes of icetime.

Ville Leino scored two goals in the first four minutes, and Brad Boyes scored only a minute and a half later to give Buffalo an early 3-0 lead and pull Roberto Luongo from the game.

David Booth responded for Vancouver late in the 2nd period to cut the deficit to two goals.

Early in the 3rd, former Canuck Christian Ehrhoff beat Corey Schneider from the point on a shot that deflected off of Aaron Rome's skate to once again give the Sabres a three goal lead. Shortly after, Booth potted his 2nd goal of the game to get Vancouver back within striking difference. Then with under three minutes remaining in the game, Kassian scored his first goal as a Canuck to make the score 4-3. Tyler Ennis scored an empty-netter with just over a minute left to seal the win for Buffalo who have now won three games in a row.

Vancouver outshot Buffalo 35-25 in the game, but shot themselves in the foot early by giving up the 3-0 lead to the Sabres. Daniel and Henrik Sedin were left off the scoresheet. Henrik has now been pointless in 9 of his last 12 games.

Vancouver resumes their season-high seven game homestand Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars.

Canucks Stifle Blues; Remain Atop NHL Standings

The Vancouver Canucks shutout the St. Louis Blues 2-0 Thursday night to earn their 90th point of the season and move three points ahead of St. Louis and Detroit for the Western Conference lead.

Alex Burrows scored his 23rd goal of the season early in the third period and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to record his third shutout of the year.

Chris Higgins scored an empty-netter with 38 seconds left to seal the victory for the home team.

Vancouver's fourth line of Manny Malhotra, Maxime Lapierre and the newly acquired Zack Kassian were easily the Canucks most affective unit of the night. They generated a few scoring chances and Lapierre and Kassian were hitting everything in sight. Lapierre finished with an unbelievable 10 hits while Kassian finished with four hits and four shots. Kassian showed Vancouver fans what he brings to the table and likely made some people forget about the guy he was traded for - Cody Hodgson.

Speaking of Hodgson, ironically enough Vancouver's next game is Saturday against Hodgson's new team, the Buffalo Sabres. You can see that game at 7:00 pacific time on CBC's Hockey Night In Canada.

Canuck fans should expect low scoring games from here on out as the trade deadline deals have made them a less offensive team. With that said, they have only allowed one goal against in two games since Monday, so if they can continue to allow very few goals, no-one will care if they aren't scoring in abundance.

Marc-Andre Gragnani played in his Canuck's debut and finished with 15:38 of ice time. He had a couple of turnovers but made a few good passes while finishing even on the night.