Oh defence my Defence

The Vancouver Canucks are shaping to be contenders this playoffs. We have to take it one game at a time, but this team has more depth then ever before. The playoffs will be the first time that all 6 defenseman on the Canucks have played together all year. Salo missed all of 2010 until after xmas, and bieksa edler, ballard and alberts all went down early in 2011; edler missing the rest of the season until the 81st game. This will be great to see how far the potential for the canucks defense can reach. The pairings will likely be:

Erhoff-Edler
Bieksa-Hamhuis
Salo-Ballard

When someone gets injured (namely salo), we will have Andrew Alberts to fill in. Andrew Alberts is one of the most improved Canucks this season. Fans got to see very little from him because of his many injuries, but when he did play he was solid defensively and chipped in the occasional offense. I really hope Gillis signs him in the offseason, because we should be able to get him for cheap and he is the perfect player to have in your third pairing.

As for the third line offense, there is a lot of talk that Hodgson will center it. I agree with this notion however I see there being a possibility of Cody going back down to Manitoba once Raffi Torres returns. With Raffi Torres back in the lineup we will likely see a line of

Torres-Raymond-Hansen

There is a possibility too that Raymond will get to play on the second line, bumping Higgins down to the third line or even out of the lineup if Hodgson stays.

Another thing that has to be factored in is that Mikael Samuelsson has missed a lot of games lately. Not to mention missing practice today for the Canucks. Sameulsson could very likely miss a game or two in the first round.

The fourth line will be Lapierre-Glass-Oreskovich. Thats a very tough and physical line that should be able to intimidate even the Blackwhores.

Brouwer and Bolland are both out for the Blackhawks. Not to mention the loss of Versteeg, Byfuglien, Niemi and Ladd who all played enormous roles in helping chicago beating Vancouver last year. I don't want to be too cocky, but i really do think Canucks will have an easy time with this series. It could go to 6 or 7 games, but Canucks should clearly come out of the series being the better team. There is no way Luongo is going to play as bad as he did against Chicago the past two seasons, and even if he does it should be enough to outplay Cory Crawford.

-Hark

stanley cup pattern

i am totally one to believe in superstition. that is why when i realized this i shit my pants. look at this pattern. 1976 montreal hosted the olympics and in the next calendar year of 1977 they won the stanley cup. then calgary hosted the olympics in 1988 and the next calendar year they won the stanley cup. so if the pattern holds true any canadian city that hosts the olympics will win the stanley cup the following year. crazy isn't it? the patterns been in front of my eyes all along.

-hark

Game 6

elimination?
canucks could suffer tonight!
a win gets home ice

flames took chi to six,
how much better is van-can,
tonights game will tell.

danielle has three points,
kesler is worse in playoofs,
burrows round 2 disappearance,

luongo can win,
but the team must get better,
to beat the red wings.

-hark

How the Playoffs could Unfold

With Anaheim's win over san jose last night, they have nearly put the nails to the coffin of the Sharks tremendous year. Bobby Ryan has looked amazing in the playoffs so far. He has had 4 goals in 4 games, and has been playing tremendous on the line with Getzlaf and Perry. Getzlaf is the set up man and Bobby Ryan is the finisher.

I am really hoping for anaheim to win this series, because then canucks will have home ice advantage next round. if the ducks win, they will play detroit next round, while the canucks will play the winner of calgary/chicago.

The calgary chicago series is definitely the best series of the first round. the blackhawks definitely look like the favorite at this point for two reasons. 1) the blackhawks have home ice advantage for the final best of 3 series. 2) the flames roster is very depleted. i have been saying that this one will go to seven games for a while and i still believe it will. tsn injury update is saying that lang-con-bourque are all questionable for saturdays game.

having a lot of injuries this time of year is not bad luck. it is a sign that your players have been overworked and have not had enough time to rest. for the canucks past 3 years there have been massive injuries on their defensive core. i first thought that we were just unlucky, and that we had the curse of the jade groin. but it was really because we were asking our players to do too much. even while their groins were soar, we were asking them to play because its better to have an injured willie mitchell than a healthy ossi vanaanen.

the fact of the matter for the flames is that they have lost two of their best faceoff men in langkow and conroy. they have lost their best defenseman in regher. and they have lost their best secondary scorer in rene bourque, who has likely reinjured his ankle. while the chicago blackwhores have no injuries to contend with, although they probably have some sore players on the ice like patrick kane. if the flames can find a way to beat the blackhawks with this injury riddled team, then if they are able to get some of their injured players back in the second round, they will be a force to contend with. for now, iginla needs to keep on scoring, you need to keep getting secondary scoring from guys like nystrom, and phaneuf has to keep playing effective.

interesting note: todd bertuzzi is leading the team in plus/minus with a plus 4. he is tied with jordan leopold who i have not been very impressed with so far this series. leopold has already taken 4 minor penalties this playoffs.