OffThePost.org

bobby lou shits the bed...

Firstly, I hope the Cloutier bullshit can be put to rest in this city. Im not saying Cloutier is a stud nor am I his fan , it just annoyed me when all the geniuses lynched Cloutier as the lone choker. It irritated me so much everytime I heard “if the 03 WCE had Luongo ...”... yeah caz Naslund, Jovochoke and Craptuzzi display all that championship pedigree. ENOUGH! Loungo had a series equal to Cloutier and esp the elimination game. Luongo's third period stats may be worse in franchise history for a series.

Everybody knows Chicago is the next great western power I just thought they would have typical noob bumps and bruises in their first playoffs. They already blown pass the Canucks in every which way. That is why I hope Canucks management and media and fans dont start blabbling about “tweeking” this roster and bringing back the same team again.... the Hawks are a young team thats on the rise and are already superior than a veteran Canucks team.

And I hope Van fans dont hang Mitchell as the reason they lost... “ if we won game 4...” did the series not tell you the Hawks fight back on the Canucks in every which way. You're telling me you feel a 3-1 series lead was safe on Chicago? Nobody should get lynched in this series ... Chicago was simply the better team. That doesnt mean we have bend over and take it from Chicago for the next 10 years, THAT is why the Canucks cannot sit on their hands and just tweek this roster .. they avoided SJ , Det and Anahiem and still couldnt get to the final four.

Aim to be the best ,dont settle for mediocracy.. this season was a failure.

While I wouldn't start screaming 'failure,' I definitely agree that our team is not 2-3 tweeks away from a cup.

We actually have some decent young talent on the team and in the system that should make the jump this year. Get rid of the more fragile players, the ones who've lost their step, and the ones who never should have dragged their fossilized asses out of retirement. Use new-found cap room to attract UFAs/take expensive contracts off cap-strapped teams/re-sign the guys you really (really!) want.

Ok, so I'm over-simplifying a skoatch and if any GM could do this at will, they would have a whole rack of trophies in their office... but trying to replicate this same team next season is a Burke-ism and should be avoided.

I'm not saying blow it up and start from scratch... there are a lot of quality players already here. But the defensive side was a bit embarrassing this series, and the offense wasn't really firing on all cylinders either. We simply weren't good enough, and we should not be attempting to maintain our status quo for next year.

/uninformed opinion

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Keep on rockin' in the free world!

Yeah, last night I was trying to remember whether Luongo gave up that many goals all season...

Speaking of goalies, what in the world are the Hawks gonna do this offseason? Will they honestly let the Wall walk after this and just hope to God Huet can regain his form? Tallon, for all the good he's done, seems to have compounded this situation by signing a goalie that, in the end, he didn't really need to sign. Khabibulin is playing so ridiculously well he may just earn himself another big contract. Not sure who exactly will dole one out though.

I don't think he has a choice. Forutnately, there are two good young goalies for the Hawks in the AHL that could alleviate the damage.

And hey, Huet is making less than Khabibulin is anyways! Of course he signed on to be the backup.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Sorry but I am not following you-Cloutier (statistically speaking) is the worst NHL goaltender that has ever played in the playoffs--Luongo didn't play well in 2 of ten games.I as a Canuck fan no longer wish to see Luongo in a canucks uniform,not because I believe he is responsible for Canucks elimanation but because he isn't worth the cap hit.Scheinder is the goalie of the future-let the future begin now.
Chicago won because their fwds & D were better than the Canucks & Khabbibulin out played Luongo.

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Zack Kassian for Cody Hodgson = Gillis on CRACK

I'm not so sure Khabibulin outplayed Luongo. Yes, he was the better goaltender last night, of that there is no doubt. But if I'm not mistaken weren't Chicago's shot totals far greater than Vancouver's? One goalie was seeing a hell of a lot more action than the other so I'm not convinced that it's as cut-and-dried as that article surmises. If the Canucks could have gotten more consistency from forwards not named Sedin, more shots taken by the defense, and overall more sustained pressure, they certainly could have won this series. Sask even noted how the Hawks seemingly wilted when the Nucks started forechecking harder.

I think you also have to factor in how Luongo got beaten... The puck bounces over Salo and Mitchell's sticks and lands perfectly on Kane's before Luongo realizes it; puck is centered and bounces in off of Edler's skate - do you fault him for those? Three Canucks converge on the puck and Bolland makes a sick pass to Havlat who skates into the slot, and wires a shot through Luongo; sure he gets a piece of it, but how do you allow someone as skilled as Havlat to skate unmolested into the slot? Mitchell breaks his stick on the PK and the puck is passed through him across the ice to a wide-open Toews at the back door who has the entire net to shoot at... Do you expect any goalie to be able to stop that? BTW, that play down low between the PK forwards and the defence was Chicago's bread and butter this entire series - that was their Luongo-killer. Chicago's skilled defencemen (which St. Louis didn't have) forced Vancouver out of collapsing in the slot and shutting down that back door play.

I also don't think Vancouver had an answer for Byfuglien and that unnerved Luongo. BXA did his best but Buff was a beast.

I'm probably not welcome here, but I'll chime in until told to do otherwise...

First of all, I was shocked that Eager didn't get called for drilling Salo into Luongo... but also shocked that no one went after him... I don't care who is on the ice, what the situation, that's your franchise player right there and Eager had only one intent. You have to tackle him and feed him as many as you can before the nannies... er... linesmen come and tidy up...

The Hawks have blown past Vancouver because they draft well... Burke had a few studs which kept the team at a good not great level. That meant ok not great draft position, and unless there was an obvious pick (Hodgson) or a draft so full of studs you couldn't help but strike gold (Kesler, Bourdon), the Canucks have done sweet fuck all for drafting since he took over...

In a cap world you need young studs on entry level deals combined with established talent to make a contending team. Hodgson looks like he may well become the Joel Otto Vancouver has always wanted - just kidding - a true, number one center. Schnieder is certainly the goalie of the future, but show me the young talent on this year's roster that had an impact. Edler, ok at best. Rypien, ineffective. Raymond, nothing. You can point to Burrows, but Carter and Pyatt scored with the twins and so would the dumbest of my clients... Point being, this team wasn't close to contending at the start of the year, and it isnt at this point either...

But there is good news, potentially. With the cap likely going down cap space is hugely valuable in the marketplace, and teams become more vulnerable to offer sheets. Exploit both. Dump the old, overrated talent - on unsuspecting eastern managers for something of a return, if possible... let the twins walk, and all of a sudden you have a ton of cap room.

As for Luongo, Philadelphia has had a ton of trouble with goaltending for years... I'm thinking something in the Luongo for Biron and one of Richards or Carter... Biron can keep the pipes warm until Schnieder is ready, and you pick up a stud center to boot.

Anyway, just my two cents...

Biron's a UFA... but the Carter idea actually has some merit (Richards is signed until the end of time, so he ain't going anywhere). Luongo, though, probably needs a new contract in order to have greater value.

Anyways, razz, you're welcome to post in the Chicago forum, but... it's about time we moved on from this Vancouver discussion in here for other reasons. Not a slag on you or anything, just the same reason we don't try and talk too much about the Leafs in here.

Onwards we go!

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb