Everywhere in the forums, the media, and the guy who serves me curry at the food court is telling me how Luongo had played his last game as a Canuck and we will be going forward with Schneider in the coming season. I am told by the media and by Schneider supporters how this is a good thing and that Schneider is cheaper and younger and will become an elite goaltender next season. So we should bid adieu to Luongo, who has graciously step aside already, for the new shining young goaltender who will bring us to the promised land of being Stanley Cup Champions.

So let me get this straight. Luongo who gave six best years of his life to this franchise and helped give us two President trophy seasons and five playoff appearances in those six years is now shown the door because we have a new darling in net? Luongo showed the Canucks franchise loyalty when his contract was up by signing a cap friendly and long contract so that we no longer need to worry about any goaltending problems in the years to come. Luongo detractors would instead flip his long contract around to say it is more a chain around their fantasy dream team than what really is a cap friendly contract in the hope to build a Stanley Cup contender. When it is the fans turn to show Luongo loyalty, we quickly kick him to the curb and

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With our goaltender controversy all but decided, we still have to sign our RFA goaltender. In this post, I'd like to look at some comparable contracts signed by goaltenders to see what kind of financial impact Schneider could have on this team in the short term, and in the long term.

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I have been reading a lot about the Hodgson trade and how the Nucks sheltered him to pump up his value, etc... but it all seems like noise to me. If he produced when given the chance isn't that a good thing? I really like Kassian and love the idea of players that can skate and have size but to diminish Hodgson because he produced when given the chance seems inapposite. He seemed to do a pretty good job for Buffalo and I imagine given 20 min. a game and PP time he is going to do some good stuff for them next year - seems like a Derek Stepan type player to me, even if he is not the re-incarnation of Steve Yzerman. Other players have left the Canucks and have fit in nicely on new teams, Grabner, Pyatt, Bernier, Samuleson, O'Brien ... I think some attention should be paid to the idea that you have to make the system work around the players you have.

The big thing for me when looking at this team is how much it hurt them to have a diminished Malhotra. If Manny could have been the guy they signed initially there is no telling how good this team could be. A big, physical centerman that can take pressure off Kesler and check the opposing teams top line is a commodity the Canucks desperately need. Hopefully he can get back to his old form, but if not, they will have to find some way to keep Kesler from playing too many minutes and absorbing too much punishment, something the old Manny could do.

via www.legendsofhockey.net

As I write this, the hosts of the Team 1040 morning show are complaining that Cory Schneider was not nominated for the Vezina this year. Add this to the prevailing notion, in a few threads on here, that we can go into the season next year with a Schneider / Lack tandem causes me great feelings of dread and worry for this hockey club. Going into next season with that pair means that we will have 68 NHL games of experience combined. To succeed in this league, your goaltenders need to be able to handle a 60 - 22 split, this ensures that goaltender fatigue is not the cause of an early playoff exit. If RFA Eddie Lack starts 22 games at the NHL level I would hope that, as a rookie, he can win 9 (40%) of those games for us. This leaves Cory Schneider the task of winning 42 (70%) of the remaining 60 games in order to match this years 51 wins This year he won 20 (61%) of his 33 games. To put this into perspective, Vezina candidates: Rinne won 43 games this year, Lundquist won 39, and Quick won 35. To sum it up Schneider will have to put in a Vezina capable season in his first year as an NHL starter, if Lack is his backup. Is this too much to expect from him? I think so.

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The final missive from the file is a little more circumspect that we hoped, thats for sure. Watching playoff hockey and not having a game today, I thought it time to wrap this little series up in a little bow.

This one will be a little more humbling than I thought. I had visions of that final game being the one with a parade of the chalice around the ice that is the last thing for the fans and this team to experience. They will be contenders for it for the foreseeable future, but sadly, this was not the year for that. Unless of course you put stock in the "window" theory, which I don't, the future is pretty bright.

Who thought that we would be watching the Panthers try to finish the Devils and not be feeling that tingle of excitement. ( well, maybe a little, Samuelsson and Jovanovski, Weaver, a wee bit with Sturm, Canucks South is one of the teams I will follow with interest, for sure )

Not me.

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I don’t have season tickets for the Canucks, but I did pay $150 for NHL Gamecenter so I could watch every game. I feel like I was robbed out of $10. This was a season of unexpected surprises and the feeling of déjà vu. People are going to focus on the playoff disaster and speculate on the repercussions. I am going to look at the regular season first and try to make some calm, analytical judgments and then let my anger take over.

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I would like to see two of these gentlemen in Vancouver next year (via clydeorama)

As hockey fans, our year has but two seasons: Springtime and Rosterbationtime. With the Canucks' defeat at the hands of the Kings, our part of the world has officially entered the latter. The good news is that, according to Government of British Columbia estimates, this year's rosterbation season could be the biggest in this province since the wild 2009, when the Sedins, Sundin, and Ohlund (as well as names like Gaborik, Hossa, and Bouwmeester) were all unrestricted free agents. That year, you may recall (if weeks of furious rosterbation didn't limit bloodflow to your hippocampus), the Canucks opted to roughly maintain the status quo, re-signing the Sedins and locking Kesler and Luongo into long-term extensions. Our big addition was Ehrhoff. Willie Mitchell was still a Canuck. Oh to be young again.

What will this year bring? Who knows? Let this thread be an outlet for your wildest fantasies. Rosterbation season is upon us, and there's only one right way to do it: publicly, loudly, and unapologetically.

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Many Canucks fans find themselves staring at a 1-4 series loss in round 1 of 2012 playoffs and asking themselves: What happened?

There will be no shortage of theories, and no doubt many of them will be based solely on emotion and resort to blame throwing. None of those will be helpful.

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1155807-the-florida-panthers-won-the-david-booth-trade
Well, the Canucks may have the best minor league team in the AHL next year if they are forced to send David Booth down to Chicago to play wingman to Steven Renprecht in order to hide his salary and get some flexibility to get the D-Man they desperately need along with a legitimate 2nd line scorer to play with Ryan Kesler. The Rangers have experienced this with Sean Aver and also with Wade Redden. The above piece at Bleacher Report sums up nicely why the Booth trade was a disaster and why not having Samuelson and Hodgson for the postseason was a recipe for playoff disaster.

I really like GMMG, and I am very hopeful that Kassian is going to come around and be a good player for the Canucks, so in many ways the ultimate outcome of both trades will have to be evaluated next year over the course of the regular season and playoffs, but the results for this year are not good.

I am also a bit surprised at the players that have been let go or traded that have flourished or been strong parts of teams that are doing well. Taylor Pyatt and Mikael Samuelson being two that are playing now - both would have been terrific additions to a Canucks team that too often got pushed off the puck and has small players or tweeners who are fast but not very physical. Other players like Malhotra, Paulsson and Kesler can be physical, but are not nasty.

I am hopeful that GMMG can right the ship, get ride of Luongo, get a minute-munching physical D-Man, and find a second line scorer to ride with Kesler, and get some nastiness on the team that can lead come playoff time.

Each week, Smug Nation allows Smuggie out of his cage of arrogance and irreverence to check his fan mail and answer your questions about the Canucks. Have a question for Smuggie? Email us at sn.smugnation(at)gmail(dot)com! And you can always visit Smug Nation at www.smugnation.com for the latest in Canucks-focused preening smuggery.

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