With last season’s Vancouver Canucks posting the most successful campaign in their 40-year history, this year’s group faces the challenge of repeating their regular-season success while also repeating an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals.
Following a heartbreaking game-seven loss to the Boston Bruins, expectations for the 2011-12 season may be higher than ever before.
“For the first time ever, anything less than a Stanley Cup will be a disappointment in Vancouver,” says CTV Vancouver Island sports anchor Jordan Cunningham.
The off-season saw the Canucks lose several key players to free agency. Top-scoring offensive defenceman Christian Erhoff took a pay raise and a long-term deal with the Buffalo Sabres, while fan-favorite Tanner Glass signed with the Winnipeg Jets. Forward Raffi Torres, the pesky grinder whose presence was felt throughout the playoffs with devastating hits, signed a two-year contract with the Phoenix Coyotes.
“Considering the additions and subtractions, the Canucks are not as strong a team on paper,” says Cunningham. “Subtracting Christian Ehrhoff and Raffi Torres and adding Marco Sturm doesn’t add up.”
Sturm, a well-traveled veteran, has posted 20-plus-goal seasons eight times in his career. However, the 33-year old has been hampered by injuries the last two seasons and his cont0ribution to the team will depend largely on whether he can remain healthy. Sturm remains the Canucks’ highest-profile signing.
After accepting a professional tryout with the Canucks, former Shark and Wild captain Owen Nolan was sent packing. It appears that young talent such as Cody Hodgson will carry the workload through October as forwards Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond recover from off-season surgeries.
Vancouver’s defence remains one of the strongest units in the league. Aside from Erhoff’s departure, last season’s defence that posted a league-low goals against will all return to this season’s Canucks. Expect defencemen Andrew Alberts, Ryan Parent, and Chris Tanev to battle for a spot among the top-six pairings.
Equally responsible for the league-low goals against was goaltender Roberto Luongo, who will enter his sixth season between the Vancouver pipes, while backup Cory Schneider will be entering his final season under contract with the Canucks.
Although Luongo experienced several blowout losses in the final series against Boston, Cunningham believes a deep playoff run will benefit Luongo and the team as a whole.
“The Canucks know the feeling of competing for the cup and that alone makes them a better team,” he says.
With several top players still in the prime of their careers, a healthy roster has the potential to capture what last season’s Canucks couldn’t.