Pool Outlook for Vancouver

At the beginning of the season, the expectations of the Canucks were only as high as the pre-season that came before... which actually turned out to be cautiously high. On paper, the Canucks didn't vastly improve their team over the summer and it wasn't until the mid-point before Mats Sundin came to town. The Canucks did fare well in the year overall, winning the Northwest Division, despite a long injury layoff for Roberto Luongo. It was just a hard crash at the end of the year, being ousted by the Blackhawks in the second round of the playoffs.

Despite missing quite a bit of action this season with a groin injury, Roberto Luongo still finished the season well, with 33 wins, 9 shutouts and an assist for 85 pool points. He finished 17th in pool scoring in the league, keeping his stock rather high going into the 2010 campaign. The 85 points had him ranked 6th among goalies in the league, which still seems astounding since he missed a month and a half worth of action. Nevertheless, he came back stronger than ever, which made keeping him around during his injury worth while.

In Luongo's absence, the Canucks were going to rely on young Cory Schneider and Curtis Sanford, but that wasn't working out too well. The team went out and acquired Jason LaBarbera from the Kings to help out, which he did and then ended up being Luongo's back-up. There really wasn't a great deal of points to be had in the back-up department when it was all said and done.

Up front, it was one of the better seasons for Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who both finished in the top 20 in pool scoring in 2009, both with 82 points. For Henrik, that was a career year. Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows each broke out this year, scoring 59 and 51 points, respectively. Pavol Demitra, signed on in the summer, had a bit of a bounce back year, climbing back into the top 100 in scoring with 53 points in 69 GP, but certainly wasn't dominant. Beyond those, there wasn't a lot of pool players in the mix. Mats Sundin, in his mid-season jump back into the fray, had 28 points in 41 GP, certainly not the biggest draw for the money he was paid to play.

Finally, on defense, it was a career year for Kevin Bieksa, scoring 11 goals and adding 32 assists in 72 GP for the Canucks. His injury in 2008 did hamper his stock a fair bit in my draft in 2009, but as a mid-season acquisition, he was quite good. Alexander Edler had himself a breakout year on the blueline for the Canucks, with 37 points in 80 GP, ranking him 34th among defensemen in the pool. Both Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo had rough years, finishing with 25 points each and injuries for Salo were not helping him out very much. Bieksa and Edler should be considered two worthy defenders for your pool team next season.

2010 Season Outlook
It's going to be a busy Summer in Vancouver, as there are a lot of question marks going forward with the team, especially when it comes to all the free agents. The management is going to have to pick a direction with all the free agents and stick to it, just for the sake of continuity. The team has a reasonable core signed up already, but it does lack their big names, in terms of scoring.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Ryan Kesler	Kevin Bieksa	Roberto Luongo
Pavol Demitra	Alex Edler
Alex Burrows	Sami Salo
Steve Bernier	Willie Mitchell
Mason Raymond
Ryan Johnson
Darcy Hordichuk

The current base of the team consists of 12 players at a salary cap hit of $35.3 million, but the difference towards the cap ceiling will be filled up quite quickly. Having the starting goalie, four of their top defensemen and a good group of forwards signed at the current amount does seem pretty good though. There should only be a few different ways that this team will go, but we won't find out until the pens hit paper.

Of course the biggest free agent concerns are all unrestricted, as the Sedin twins are both up for new deals this summer, as well as Mats Sundin, Mattias Ohlund, Jason LaBarbera, Taylor Pyatt, Curtis Sanford and Ossi Vaananen. There isn't a big case for any of these players to stay on at the moment, especially with the cap number not announced yet and some RFAs to handle as well.

The RFA crop for the Canucks will include Kyle Wellwood, Jannik Hansen, Shane O'Brien and Rick Rypien, all of whom shouldn't be commanding too much cap space this summer, which could help the franchise work around some of the more important signings.

The Canucks are quite excited to see Cody Hodgson do well with the Manitoba Moose in the AHL playoffs, as they are poised to have him on the team next season. Hodgson was one of the big stars on Canada's WJC team in the New Year, scoring on a line with John Tavares. Hodgson should bring some big talent in the middle of the ice, not to mention already looking very mature for his age. We should be seeing Cory Schneider getting more involved with the big club, likely even in an showcase role for moving. Also likely getting a look in camp will be two defenders, Yann Sauve and Taylor Ellington, both 2nd round draft picks with good potential.

Depending on who signs what in the summer for the Canucks, there is a few question marks as to how the chemistry will work out and how many wins the team will get. You have to know that Luongo, Bieksa and Demitra will be mainstays, no matter what the climate, while Kesler, Burrows and Edler have room to fluctuate, due to inexperience. The signing of the Sedin twins will be key for the Canucks or else they are going to have to replace 160+ points with the money that is left over. Stay tuned, this will be a very interesting summer.