Hockey anyone?

[Kiss7]

oh yea I hope we keep Salo next year for a reasonable price. Like Cujo nicknames him and his dead hard slapshot "The Finnish MacInnis" (altho hes nowhere near one of the greatest all-time defencemen)

Damn Olympics.. Salo was out with an injury and I will never forget how after the Olympics our defense core was absolute brutal with Ohlund, Jovo, Salo and Baumer out and replaced with an AHL D. And we still beat the Flames! lol flames suck : )

[Bai Qi44]

That's not going to happen. It'll be the Jovo situation again. Some team is really going to overpay for Salo and there's no way we can match. Salo's only geting $1.2 mil whereas he'll probably get around $5 mil on the open market thanks to all the moronic GMs out there.

Though I understand why Nonis had to sign some guys to long year big contract deals (in fear of them not returning like Jovo and that they'll get overprice once they hit UFA stage), it really handicaps your team. If our team craps the bed next season, there's not many options we can do to alter it cause of all the committments we've made.

Damn, this cap world is not working out like we had planned. Players are still getting way overpaid (worse than before the lockout), but at least every team in the league has a shot at the top talents rather than just putting them on a few teams.

[trizz251]

The reason for the cap is to level off the playing field, they've done that but they also made things so unpredictable, who will win now, nobody really knows, just about anyone can win, and players aren't planning to stay long, they'll sign one year, hope to be succesful, if they're not hit the markets and get big money.

[Kiss7]

wow many Canucks signings today.. Lee Goren, Alexander Edler, Shaun Heshka, Jannik Hansen and Joe Ruiller..

Alexander Edler and Jannik Hansen are the two Im most interested in seeing making huge impacts for us in the near future. The others - meh.

Oh and how can I forget Jan Bulis. From what I've heard from Habs fans Bulis seems like a very promising young player who wasnt given a chance much when he was with Montreal. Hopefully this will change when he comes and he can fill in quickly for whichever line he will end up.

Man!! This is one hella exciting upcoming season for me! With so much changes- and finally we have a top world class quality goalie in Roberto Luongo.

I have a feeling with Nonis bringing in so many new guys Cooke could possibly land somewhere else. I liked him and when he's healthy he is pretty damn awesome but he kinda always find ways to be sidelined out with injuries.

Our first pick this year in Michael Grabner is most possibly going to spend one or so year with his WHL club the Spokane Cheifs and then possibly the Moose after. There may be a chance he could do well in training camp and find a way here but most unlikely.

And hopefully Luc Bourdon is ready and can make a huge impact for us next year as a rookie D (hopefully much like Phaneuf for the Flames this year), fill in as our top D in the near future and follow in the footsteps of Ohlund or Jovo (except for all the injuries). If he makes the club next season - and depending on his progress - he might be paired up with Ohlund or Mitchell/Salo.

I cant wait- this will be an exciting 06/07 year for the Vancouver Canucks with a new face and team!

[trizz251]

rumours has it that lowe wants sykora and markov. sykora, why, he's old and plus i think we have enough up front.

markov, i think that's just over exaggerating our situation defensively, yes i know our defense is like garbage right now, but we survived b4, plus tarnstrom from what i heard he's gonna sign really really soon.

[Kiss7]

Sykora is overrated for trade this off season same with Markov..especially in the West and NW division. Personally I dont care for Sykora in the Canucks.. Nonis has his plans and he will be filling in all the holes soon to setting the new team. Markov I wouldnt mind. The Oils can have them both. But seriously, Oilers had the offense. Not the best offense but very good offense enough to score goals to win games, as they have quick, speedy,and young offensive guns. Not to mention a recent in Joffrey Lupul, surprisingly the first player in NHL history to net 4 goals in a playoff game- at least thats what I heard.

I think everybody has been saying this but Ill just say it again.. Oilers for the most part this off season is to set up strong defensive depth and Lowe has to do this quickly before all the free agents defensemen sets up with new teams and nobody left but crap 7th dmen to sign. But Lowe has his plans.

[trizz251]

I would trust the team under lowe, he's been quite a good GM, he's made some pretty good moves, most of the time it's for the team. and all these departures you can't really blame lowe for it, but blame the players, really what can he do, his job is to bring players in and make sure they are successful. Tweak the team enough to make them a contender, i think he has done that, he's probalby one of the better GM's in the nhl. I personally think burke is probably the best gm but i could be wrong.

[Kiss7]

I would agree with you - SO FAR Burke has been the best GM.

He simply from rebuilding a crappy Ducks team with millions of holes to fill and overturned them into a serious possible contender by the end of the season if it werent for the lack of depth and experience in the team except for Niedermayer,Giguere, Salei and Selanne.
Not to mention team went on from 9-10th place in the Western Conference then to making the playoffs by ending it on a impressive 6th seed, considering this was a team nobody would've dreamed of in making the playoffs in the first place- and finally surviving into the Western finals until the Oilers eliminated them in Game 5. Definitely the beginning of something for a young serious team.

And under Burke's management- this was the best Ducks team the franchise and its fans ever saw- as proven in stats, numbers and anyone with half a brain would even know that as a common sense if they followed NHL hockey.
And although the 02-03 Ducks team went deeper into the playoffs by actually making the Stanley Cup Finals but losing in Game7 to the Devils - they're still no comparison to this year's class.
They simply fluked their way-not to mention- it was simply JS Giguere who was the Duck's story in 02/03 whom they rode on to almost winning it. But from what I've recalled-most of the time, a team who rode their goalie in making far but not with truely the team itself never finishes it with a perfect touch at the end. A goalie can only do so much.


What I liked about the plans up Burke's sleeves are his intentions to build and set a team of absolute true character, effort, heart and definitely young guns who were settling for enthusiasm and speed.
And players that were lacking in that department he quickly sent them packing for the airport, as they are slugging as cancers to the lineup and depth. e.g: Sykora, Federov. And brought in those who can provide in that category; such as O'Donnell, Beauchemin.

And he is not a GM who is afraid to make changes. Once he identifies the need for a change he will execute it first no matter what and quickly fill in the void later. He can definitely be harsh but after all this is professional sports and it's all about the money and next to that- doing whats best for the team itself. As you can tell much by how he executed most of the 02/03 crew- whom most Ducks fans recalled being too harsh. As some were traded for younger blood with potential, some due to being a cancer, and some to load off some cap space to sign younger and cheaper players.
But by the end of the season doing such was definitely a change for a better team- much better team. The new Ducks team was set for a younger faster and hungrier team with more true character and enthusiasm as you can tell what a cinderella story they were this season.

Burke also sees a lot of promising youngsters especially in

Corey Perry : incredible hands, moves and speed.

Ryan Getzlaf (oh my he's a real hottie and my fav. Duck!) : grit, slapshot, size and speed packaged with good vision of the ice

Dustin Penner : definitely a team player.. a physical playmaker- possibly one of the young ones set to be a star playmaker someday

Francois Beauchemin : definitely true character, you can just tell by him dropping the gloves without a flinch and fought Jarome Iginla and actually beating the crap outta him .. what a heroic highlight of the Ducks-Flames series.. his dead hard slap shot, potential to be a top 2 dmen and possibly a future powerplay quaterback for years to come.

Not to mention they have their best upcoming prospect in Bobby Ryan.



That is why I believed Burke put in their first overall picks for '07 and '08 along with Joffrey Lupul to package to acquire Chris Pronger from the Oils, as he sees since Pronger is looking out of Edmonton it might be a golden chance to trade for him, one of the best defensemen of the game who can provide more veteranship, depth in both the blueline and its defense system. Not to mention having both Niederymayer and Pronger on the same team is an opposition's worst nightmare-esp. on the penalty kill.

But my main point is- Burke knows his team is definitely set with lots of young promisers so he isn't afraid to hurl in first picks for 07 and 08 along with Joffrey Lupul to get him. Good choice in my opinion, as he won't have to give up a lot of his current players whom he took lots of time in setting for a young new team, and bringing in more young blood to the team is definitely not a consideration at all. Not to mention I've heard from numerous Ducks fans who were pretty pissed with Joffrey Lupul- the kid who has it all- skills, hands, moves, speed, you name it but definitely a floater with no discipline whatsover at times. Its as if he chooses to be extreme in one game and then decide to float for the majority the next game.
I guess Burke sees it as an issue although he has very promising upsides - and since he's more concerned for a team with character he decided to dump Lupul in the blockbuster. After all the kid has the talent and the skills every team would be hoping for in their youngster and his 4 goals vs. Colorado in one of the playoff games during the Ducks-Avs series really upgraded his resume.

Oh and I've confirmed that he IS actually the first NHL player to have ever scored 4 goals in a playoff game. You'd bet that really upgraded his resume by a whole mile- as he practically actually set up a total new NHL record. Who would've thought?

But Im sure Lupul would change his ways now he's part of the Oilers. He's with his childhood team now, not to mention his grandparents are part of the Oilers ownership and he seem pretty damned hyped about playing for his favorite team growing up. Not to mention he's a hometown boy, and now he's playing for an actual Canadian team..you'd bet there would be huge demanding fan expecatations esp. it coming that he is a hometown boy - unlike down the South, California where most of the people says "Ducks...who?!"



Wow that is a lot I've wrote lol. Cant wait for 06/07 season! Here's to an amazing year for the Canucks and hopefully win the Cup soon with Luongo as our guard in net!

[superkaratemonkey]

congratz to the oilers for locking up hemsky for SIX years! not sure for how much (rumor has it that he'll get $4M per, which is a great deal of edm) but its great to lock up your most talented player for that long. i think hemsky is the most talented player edm had since weight (yes i think hes more talented then comrie). too bad edm didnt have time to sign markov tho, he coulda really help your blueline.

bulis gives us alot of forward depth now. even if we dont sign anymore players we'd have 12 capable forwards. dont 4get linden is supposed to be back too, so that gives us 13. my only concern is there doesnt seem to be any natural RW as of rite now. sure you can move cooke/pyatt/bulis around, but they dont normally play there. we r relying on some breakout seasons from some unexpected sources too, hopefully some of these skill players can step up and score some goals when we give them quality icetime.

burke is not a genious ppl make him out to be. when he was w/ hartford he traded the #2 pick for shanahan, and the pick turns out to be pronger. shannahan was a good player, but just didnt fit into hartford becuz they werent ready to compete for the cup. he inherit nazzy/bert when hes in vancouver. he also had alot of asset to trade (bure, mogilny, lumme) and along w/ some high picks, he built a decent (not great) team. w/ anahiem he had scott neidermayer and selanne begging to sign w/ this team, he didnt have to do anything to get them. he inherit perry and getzlaf, as well as penner, macdonald and byzgalov. he got pronger, sure, but any team w/ his payroll and asset can easily get pronger. there was like 2 or 3 teams that have the cap space and asset and desire to acquire pronger, and he just happened to pony up the most. dont get me wrong, burke is a ok to above average GM, but he aint no genious. he didnt make hartford successful and trade away their future. he didnt make vancouver successful in the playoff becuz he didnt address the goaltending. and so far most of the succesfful w/ the ducks belong to the last GM and their scouting crew.

[trizz251]

you got a pretty good point, so in your opinion who do you think is the best gm?

[superkaratemonkey]

i used to think NJ's lou lamerallo (sp?) was the best. he never spent the most, but his team is always competing for the cup. his scouting team is the best in the league, so he got lots of assets to work with. but he also made some good trades, and some good (relatively cheap) signing, and just keep his team among the best for the last 10 years. too bad after the new cba he seem to lost his touch. the mogilny and malakov signing was stupid, mcgillis was overpaid. becuz of those 3, the team is in a lot of trouble. they are over the cap limit, and w/ gionta still yet to sign, they'll have to dump some players, players dat he mite otherwise keep.

Col's pierre lacroix was a great GM too. he inherited alot of talented players from quebec's decade long crappiness, so he had an easy start. but he solved the team's 3 big weakness (goaltending, scoring from D, agitator) and turned a very talented team into a championship team. hes a person dats not afraid to take risk (which is burkes biggest weakness in vancouver), he trade anybody to get the player he wants. kept the team among the cup fav for a decade cant be easy, even tho he had good scoutings behind him too, but he was able to steal 1st rounders out of nowhere to restock his prospect pool. but like lou, he seems to lost his touch after the new cba, keeping blake while losing forsberg and foote, and give sakic and blake signing bonus dat handcuff his team this coming season.

others dat i think is good
-muckler, did a good job w/ ottawa, give them more depth.
-sutter, turned the flames into a top team, not afraid to fill team needs w/ trade/signing

[trizz251]

sutter is a pretty good GM. I personally thought slather was a pretty good GM/coach but was it after the last edmonton cup, he just died, he lost everything and he never did anything good from then on.

[superkaratemonkey]

sutter is a pretty good GM. I personally thought slather was a pretty good GM/coach but was it after the last edmonton cup, he just died, he lost everything and he never did anything good from then on.

he was never dat good imo, signin gretzky was good, but it didnt take a genious to figure out wayne was special, its like everybody knew crosby is special. he drafted well in the beginning, but then in the '90s he didnt draft anybody good, which let me to think he fluke out in the 80s. he lost every single trade he made. the edmonton dynasty was built on a few players he acquired early on, he didnt add anything to it.
in NY, he overspent like crazy (holik for $45M!?!? ) and got them no where. he continue the trend w/ lindros, bure, and finally jagr. luckily jagr turned it around and suddenly ppl think hes great again. i dunno if i'd say hes a good GM.

[trizz251]

no clue really, i wasn't from that era. GM's really have a hard hard job come to think of it, they need to know every aspect of the team. I'll just stick with watching the game and analyzing it from a fan's point of view.

[superkaratemonkey]

its a hard job for sure, but its also very fun and interesting i'd imagine. think about how u can improve your team through signings, trades, draft, make sure all contracts fit under the cap, determine wat kinda team will be successful, eliminate the weakness of your team, it all seems challenging and yet i find it facinating, its like a puzzle. i love playing GM in all the nhl games, ever since i got nhl 94, i've been more attracted to building a team then actually playing the game. sometimes i draft a team, simulate the season and try to improve on the record next season. haha i know im lame

[Kiss7]

thats not lame. Definitely acting as a team's GM is fun.. getting to build your team.. know players' characteristics, skills and talent. Analyzing other players and what they could contribute to the team and making deals for them. Learn the game and the sport and how you can improve your team and its style and game to win the greatest trophy of all time. HAHA Im joining in your lameness lol jk

[superkaratemonkey]

haha sweet good to know im not the only one
ru interested in joining a hockey pool next season?

[Kiss7]

haha nahh. I joined my pool really late last year in regular season and I chose Fernando Pisani as my 4th line winger and I thought he was crappy because he barely had any points but who would've knew once the playoffs started my pool was bursting with points because of him hehe and Thornton got me hella lot of points

[superkaratemonkey]

pisani is a flash in the pan, hes way over paid and wont get much pts in the regular season. i dont think u should pick him again. thornton on the other hand is a gaurantee. u must've done well last yr in your pool then.

[Kiss7]

I dont know why I picked him really- I guess that was the only name I recgonized from the list of players they let you pick for 4th line left wingers. Yea my pool was not bad considering I joined in the late regular season. I had Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexander Ovechkin and Joe Thornton for my top line. And Brad Boyes was the only name I really recgonized of my forwards besides the top line. As for defence I just remember I had Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Zubov, Jean-Michael Liles and Matt Pettinger. I dont remember the rest. My goaltenders are of course Miikka Kiprusoff (duh) and Martin Gerber.