Adam’s 2010 Cup Prediction: The Vancouver Canucks
Adam Steevens is a student, author and blogger who has semi-coherent thoughts about the NHL
I admit, this is a dark-horse pick, (In vegas, Vancouver is sitting at 18/1 odds) but the Canucks have the balanced formula it takes to bring the Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993. You can’t ignore Roberto Luongo; he is arguably one of the best netminders in the league, and championships are often won or lost on goaltending alone. Luongo kept a stellar .920 save percentage over 54 games, and stayed consistent throughout the playoffs last year (.914 over 10 games). Not only is Roberto hungry to win a cup for Vancouver, but he’s competing for starting job for Team Canada in the Olympics; expect him to have an outstanding year.
The Canucks have a top-six that can compete in the stacked Western Conference, (D. Sedin, H. Sedin, Wellwood, Demitra, Kesler, Burrows, Johnson) and expect a breakout year from youngster Alexandre Burrows; he netted 51 points in his third year in the NHL last season, and proved he can score clutch goals when he knocked St.Louis out of the first round with an overtime, series-ending goal.
The Vancouver blueline looks like one of the best in the Western Conference (Ehrhoff, Edler, Schneider, Bieksa, Lukowich, Salo), and with the recent acquisition of Ehrhoff and Schneider, they continued to build up depth on defense. Couple this strong defense with the world-class goaltending in Roberto Luongo, and it’s clear that the Vancouver Canucks are a serious contender for the 2010 Stanley cup.
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Hmmm, the Canucks. I hadn’t even given them a thought. Nice insight. Time will tell.
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I’d like to politely disagree with your assessment. Yes, the top 6 forwards will be expected to compete in the western conf, but Wellwood and Johnson would not appear on other western conf teams’ Top 6 lines in comparison. As for the defence, again, I respectfully disagree. I would say Calgary has the strongest back-end in the league with Regher, Bouwmeester, Phaneuf, Sarich, Giordano, Pardy – and Lukowich is likely gone due to salary cap crunch, and while both Schneider and Erhof offer more offensive punch (which is great), historically, they’ve both been quite the liability in their defensive zone (not so good). I will agree that Vancouver has the most BALANCED team. Better than average offence ability, better than average defence ability, and a regular season star in goal. Luongo, though, hasn’t convinced that he can elevate his play come playoffs. We’ll see, should be a good year for the nucks.
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I also must politely disagree. And I am a ‘nuck fan. The Canucks are just not consistent enough in their play to make it through to the finals, if they even make the playoffs. They are easily bowled back by pressure from their opponents, and seem to lose games to their own psychological jitters. They have the tools to win (Sedins, Burrows, Lou), but run hot and cold. Ya can’t trust them! They sucker you with fantastic play against tough teams, then are crushed by teams you would think they could walk all over.
Oi.
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@canucklehead
My thought process was to select a team that would finish around the middle of the pack at the end of the season and heat up at the right time – with dependable goaltending as the backbone. I think that could very well be the nucks this year.
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I agree that Vancouver has the best chance of a Canadian team, but there are too many other teams in the league that are more balanced. If Vancouver makes a couple moves before playoffs and brings in a couple nopt notch defenseman, then they would have a much better shot.
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