Well, last night was heartbreaking. Some thoughts on what went down:
- Congratulations to the Bruins on their Cup win. They were very effective at shutting down our offense, and they also deserved to have their Cup drought end. Kudos to Stanley Cup of Chowder visitors for being great to talk to, and for welcoming us to their blog.
- If you were rioting in downtown Vancouver last night, SHAME ON YOU! That was an absolute travesty. If you were downtown, but didn't partake in the riots, I hope you all got home safely.
- Now, the Canucks themselves. Let's face it: that was a bad game. Seriously, if you're in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, you should be giving 100000% effort. And, probably due to injuries, what we saw last night was not that. However, in an attempt to be positive, I will say that we have gained significant ground this year, and we probably shouldn't need to tear apart our team this summer to fit back under the salary cap, so I see a bright shiny thing in our future.
Here's an open thread to keep you guys tied over for the aftermath, until someone else gets around to posting some analysis. Some possible discussion topics:
- Our UFA's this summer (thanks CapGeek): Chris Higgins, Raffi Torres, Jeff Tambellini, Tanner Glass, Andrew Alberts, Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff.
- Our RFA's this summer: Jannik Hansen, Maxim Lapierre, Lee Sweatt.
- Players who are entering the last year of their contracts, and will soon contemplate extensions: Cory Schneider, Mason Raymond, Mikael Samuelsson, Aaron Rome.
- Will Sami Salo retire?
- Do we trade away one of our UFA's negotiation rights? Do we trade for negotiation rights for another UFA around the league?
- Who looks probable for the 29th pick in the draft? Will we trade for better 1st-round picks? Do we trade at all?