Reasons Canucks Shouldn’t Worry
OK, the Canucks have had a horrible start to their season and have really panicked their fans. However, I don’t think the Vancouver fans have anything to worry about. Here’s why…
More Depth as a Team
The biggest thing that the Canucks have done to get ready for this season is increase their depth. They’ve been able to get more good players on their lines.
They’ve done this by increasing their scouting and looking at more prospects. Scouting is something that they haven’t been doing very well in the past and it’s one of the reasons that they haven’t been playing as well in past years.
Fortunately, they’ve changed that for this season. There was an article I read on CanucksHockeyBlog.com that talked about the improved scouting and what it’s done for the team. If you’re interested, check it out.
Injuries to Good Players
Another key factor to the losses the Canucks have been suffering is the injuries to some of their key players. Once they get these players back, you’ll see them win more games.
The Canucks have lost three very crucial players for an extended period of time. Fortunately they’ll be back in time to help the team recover.
Daniel Sedin is going to be out with a broken foot, Salo will be out with a knee injury and Demitra will be out with a shoulder injury. It looks like they’ll all start playing again at around the same time.
The Canucks should expect to see a full, healthy roster by the end of November at the latest. That’s assuming, of course, that they don’t have any other injuries.
Really, the reason that Vancouver’s playing so poorly is because they’re still trying to figure out who they can rely on now that they have to change. Once they get their key players back, they’ll start relying on them more and winning more games.
Goalie
The biggest reason that the Canucks shouldn’t be panicking is their solid goalie. Roberto Luongo is a solid goalie that they’ll be able to rely on to keep the puck out of the net. They’ve also got a very capable backup in Andrew Raycroft.
Luongo is getting off to a bad start, but you’ll be able to see him turn this around as the season progresses. He just needs to find his rhythm again.
Honestly, I think that everything is going to start picking up at about the same time and the Canucks are going to be unstoppable. They’ve got a lot of potential weapons that just aren’t working right now. Their goalie is one of them.
Great Pre-Season Play
People don’t usually make predictions based on the pre-season, but I think that it goes back to depth. In the pre-season, we saw players that were looking for a spot on the team.
With these players, and a little help from the veterans, Vancouver went 7-0-2. That puts them in the top 3 in the NHL for the pre-season.
They were also winning in the pre-season because they had all of their “weapons” available and working. When that happens, I think we’ll see similar results in the regular season.
My Prediction
Finally, my prediction for the Vancouver Canucks.
Like I said before, Canucks fans don’t have a lot to worry about. I can understand them panicking a little bit over the poor start, but that should change once everything gets back to normal.
I think we’ll see the Canucks go around .500 until mid-November when they get their reliable players back. When that happens they’ll start playing better hockey and will create a winning season.
Luongo is working hard and has been making a few steps in the right direction. In the last two games he’s only allowed 3 goals, which sounds a little more like Luongo. I think that we’ll see him straighten out by the end of the month and give the team an added burst.
Look for the team to turn this season around in mid to late November assuming that nothing unexpected happens. When they turn it around, I can easily see this team in the top 3 and winning their division.
I don’t want to promise a Stanley Cup because anything can happen in the playoffs, but, the Vancouver Canucks will be one of the teams to contend with when the playoffs roll around.
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[...] I wrote another post that talked about why the Canucks were having a hard time winning during the beginning of the season. If you’re interested, go ahead and check out that post. [...]
I think your points are reasonable. The only one I’m not sure I really care much for is the one about injury. It is true that we are missing three players who should be contributing if they were around. However, out of those, the only one who is really unexpected is Sedin.
There’s been lots of attention to the fact that injuries have been big league-wide this year. Sedin is probably one of the most important in the league, at that. But the truth is, if we can’t win without Salo and Demitra in the lineup, we’re in deep, deep trouble, because they’re never reliably present.
I really believe that Sedin coming back will make a big difference in terms of scoring, both primary and secondary, since it will bring some more checking attention to the top line. But if injuries are a primary reason for our slow start, we could be in for a very weak year.