Forwards score goals. Goaltenders do not. Luongo gave Vancouver a chance to win every night.

Posted by Kate from Pa. on 04/04/08 at 04:07 PM ET

The Sedins obviously produced but it was Luongo who exposed the teams obvious weakness: relying on Luongo. 

In the final 6-game stretch he was yanked from two straight games - sorry about one of those - had a GAA of around 4 (if my math is correct) and a save percentage of .850% (again, math blah blah)

That’s not good enough for a team that averages 2.6 goals per game.

They might have been better off to not rush him back to the team after the new baby.

Posted by Shane from Saskatoon on 04/04/08 at 04:40 PM ET

Everyone loves to pick on the Sedin’s. Part of their problem was that no one else was doing anything threatening so the other team’s could focus solely on the Sedin’s.

In reality the Sedin’s provided, again, good value.

Comparing Luongo to his performance last year probably isn’t fair. It could have been his career year. This year, he played very good, not great, like last year.

The real problem, no surprise lies in the lack of scoring.

Unlike most however, I think the best way to do that is to find a top flight offensive defenseman with a good first pass.

Why? Because the Danny Briere’s of the world are fetching 10 million per.

One top flight forward isn’t going to solve your problems. So now you need 2, at least.

Get one top flight d-man who can log 30 minutes per night and you only spend 7-8 million (only!?!) per.

Generating offense from the defense is what Vancouver didn’t do well this year. Even on the power play Vancouver was dump and chase.

My 2 pissed off bits.

Posted by Laker from Williams Lake BC on 04/04/08 at 05:39 PM ET

Maybe, just maybe, last year was the aberation, the fluke, and this year is more truly representative of the Canucks team.

Posted by cynical joe on 04/04/08 at 06:15 PM ET

Well, I for one, am looking forward to the off-season overhaul. Bugger the playoffs, I don’t even care about this season anymore.

Posted by Jaz on 04/04/08 at 06:34 PM ET

In reality the Sedin’s provided, again, good value.

Not good enough, and the same applies for their fellow Swede Markus, who should be sent packing, and no hometown discount offered.

The Sedin’s are 2nd line material, and until Nonis addresses the lack of a “real” 1st line, I dont care if you put up a brick wall in front of the net, the Canucks are not a great team in the NW, just a team with some very good veterans and rookies ( Lou, Kesler, Raymond, Edler) and way too many underacheivers.

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 04/04/08 at 08:01 PM ET

PuckHoud61
Kesler an underachiever? Um..... Hello?
He’s a 1.75 million guy.

The Sedin’s make 3.5 million a year. For that, they are a bargain bigtime. They have 76 and 74 points respectively. That’s 150 points for 7 million.

OVECHKIN only has 112 by comparison. 9.5 million.

HOW about we go and get Brad Richards? He only has 62 points and makes more than the Sedins COMBINED?! Yes, COMBINED. (and what has he done in Dallas other than the first game???)

Personally I don’t like watching the Sedin’s. I find their style of play boring and predictable and they rarely score off the rush.

Posted by Laker from dapuddle on 04/04/08 at 08:33 PM ET

People realize the Sedin’s are actually two seperate players, right?

I mean, saying they combined for 18 points in 9 games sounds great… until you do the math and figure out that actually is just 9 points each in 9 games.

And then you do the research and discover those 18 points were Henrik scoring 2 goals and 8 assists (no goals since St. Patrick’s day) and Daniel getting 3 goals and 6 assists (no goals the past 4 games).

Prior to the goal Daniel scored on the 20th of March he went THIRTEEN games without one.  Henrik has only scored three goals in his last TWENTY FIVE games.

Both guys were huge non-factors.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 04/04/08 at 08:37 PM ET

Kesler an underachiever? Um..... Hello?
He’s a 1.75 million guy.
The Sedin’s make 3.5 million a year. For that, they are a bargain bigtime. They have 76 and 74 points respectively. That’s 150 points for 7 million

Hello, did you read my post?
I said Kesler, Raymond, Edler and Lou were fine, its the rest of the team that are slouches.

What good did that $3.5 million we pay the Sedin’s
do?
It did squat, do we pay pay them for a exciting regular season?
The cycle of the Sedin’s is so predictable it aint funny, not too mention they are easily piushed off the puck game in and game out.
Richards would have been a huge mistake, glad Dallas got him.... Nonis needs to revamp this club or sent packing, this is completely unnaceptable missing the playoffs, and injuries are no excuse.
It will only solidify to me what a bad GM he is if he attemtps to re-sign Naslund, who isnt worth a hometown discount and surely is not a good captain.

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 04/05/08 at 08:27 AM ET

One of the strengths of the Sedins last year and earlier in the season this year, was that they were so hard to get off the puck.  They scored goals and added offense, but even if they didn’t score, they had puck possession most of the time, and thus the other team wasn’t scoring goals against them.

This year especially, they took several bad offensive zone hooking penalties, and were much easier to knock off the puck.  I was still happy with their overall points this year, but the points don’t fully reflect their overall play.

One of the problems too, I thought, was Vignault’s constant line-matching, which, while it helps to have the Keslers and Burrows checking the other team’s best lines, it also severely cut into the better offensive players ice times.  Even when down a goal late in a game, he’d keep the line matching going, even though the Canucks desperately needed someone with more offensive talent out there (the Naslund/Sedins/Morrison/ Pyatt etc) to get a goal.

Posted by Shabbadoo on 04/05/08 at 12:07 PM ET

puckhound;

indeed that is what you said. Read it wrong the first time...........

The Sedin’s aren’t first line talent. They aren’t paid as such either.

They weren’t the problem. The problem was we were short a top flight forward, 2 if you count Naslund not showing up.

Posted by Laker from dapuddle on 04/05/08 at 01:36 PM ET

They weren’t the problem. The problem was we were short a top flight forward, 2 if you count Naslund not showing up.

Absolutely.

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 04/06/08 at 10:41 AM ET

this blame the player gets a little lame...Had Nonis addressed the glaring holes in his team last summer.....and don’t cry salary cap to me, he wanted to be the GM, thats why he got Burke run off,.... then there would have been another line as a scoring threat. Again ...at the trading deadline he did nothing to boost the strength of the club when everyplayer on the team new that they needed help. The result is obvious. They tanked. Keeping Nassy another year was no a bright idea. Giving him 2 mil to go home last summer ..or move him, if your peers stop laughing on the other end of the phone. 4 mill to spend. don’t get role players get real ones then use your farm rookies

Posted by Rob Mac from Castlegar on 04/07/08 at 09:41 PM ET