'Nucks IceMan

Written by: Larry “The Nucks IceMan” Johnson

The one thing that I can guarantee you is that the Canucks organization has not had as short a summer as we here in Vancouver. In this part of the world the summer did not start until August and it took until September before we received temperatures 25 degrees Celsius or more.

As of today (Sept.15) the temperatures have gone straight to Fall with 18 degrees, cloudy and light rain. Welcome back to reality Vancouver.

Questions – I got enough to fill several articles but I will try and condense them down to a page – well, maybe two.

Let’s start in goal and work out from there. Now it you have been following this site, then you should by now realize that my aim is not to throw spears at the players or the organization. I’m just stating some of the obvious questions. With that sometimes come the facts of what has been accomplished to date, whether by a particular player or the organization as a whole.

No matter how good Roberto Lunogo’s goaltending stats are during the regular season, until he quits having those meltdowns during the play-offs, he will be questioned in perpetuity. There are definitely enough previous articles on this site to have done that since 2008.

So which came first, the chicken or the egg? To extend that question to the goaltender, does the defense make the goaltender or vice versa? Did the beaten and injured Canucks defense allow too many quality scoring opportunities that one might not expect a goaltender to stop? The answer would be subjective, depending on who’s responding.

The pure goal scorers these days, when given the time and space, usually end up putting the puck in the back of the net. If there are only between 10 – 16 really grade A scoring opportunities in a game, and the goaltender gives up two to four goals, should that not be the real gauge of his save percentage, which extends to his ability to stop the puck?

Bear with me here and I will return to Luongo. If the NHL used that type of measurement instead of shots, some coming from areas that even junior goaltenders could stop, wouldn’t the save percentages look more like .750 or .812?

If Luongo, who allowed eight goals against in game three in Boston (and another 4 in game four), had even 20 quality scoring chances, does the .400 save percentage indicate that he’s a poor goaltender or that the defense didn’t do their job?

Why is it that in every play-off, Luongo has one, two, or more of these meltdowns? Is he a goaltender that just can’t produce when the pressure is at its pinnacle or has the defense been that poor?

Depth on defense once again reared its ugly head during the play-offs. By the time game seven of the Stanley Cup finals rolled around, the Canucks were down to Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo, Chris Tanev and Keith Ballard, the proverbial healthy scratch, as the only real healthy and mobile defensemen. This, out of a depth group of nine NHL D-men and three to four in Manitoba with various amounts of NHL experience.

The depth on defense in hockey is like pitching in baseball or the quarterback position in football. You can never have enough. So is there enough depth on the Canucks defense for the upcoming season?

Will some of the young prospects, with another year of experience on their resume, be able to contribute to that position if needed for long periods of time, or more importantly – in the play-offs?

Moving on to the forwards group – with Mason Raymond and Ryan Kesler not expected back until the middle of November, has Mike Gillis added enough depth to allow the Canucks to compete and win enough of those 18 games, until those two players return?

Fortunately there are only three games out of the 18 that are within the NW Division but with Luongo a notoriously slow starter, this could be an October/November uphill challenge.

Marco Strum

Will 33 year old Marco Strum and his bad knees stay healthy enough to fill in for Mason Raymond? How about Cody Hodgson? Will the Hodgson that displayed so much potential when he was chosen 10^th in the NHL Entry Draft, finally prove to the Canucks that he is healthy and can fill in for Kesler until his return.

If Hodgson can play even half as good as Kesler, that would add considerably to the much needed depth at centre.

Who will replace Raffi Torres, his physical play and 14 goals on the third line? Currently I don’t see anyone in this pre-season lineup that has those ingredients.

If Hodgson starts between Samuelsson, Higgins or Strum, and Malhotra centres Hansen, Higgins, Samuelsson or Strum, where is that player amongst this group?

Will Cory Schneider, with his excellent season and stats, have proven to Canucks management that he should play more than 25 games during the regular season? Furthermore, if another Luongo meltdown occurs, should Schneider be given the opportunity to right the ship before it sinks once again?

Finally, surely there should be more than enough toughness with Byron Bitz, Mike Duco, Mark Mancari, Steven Pinizzotto and returning Victor Oreskovich, to keep the other teams honest?

Questions, I got a million of them, but I know most of them will be answered before the end of the regular season – or sooner.

Footnotes: It looks like prospect forwards Steven Anthony, Darren Archibald, Anton Rodin, Bill Sweat and Aaron Volpatti will be attending the Canucks training camp. Joining them on defense will be Peter Andersson, Sebastian Erixon, Adam Polasek and Yann Sauve. All should see some pre-season games.

Credits – AP, Getty Images, Google Images and Yahoo Sports!

Video Credits - YouTube

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Filed under: Vancouver Canucks