Naslund picks up the slack
 

Man i just finished watching the Canucks beat Tampa in overtime 5-4

Jovo gets a goal stolen from him due to a quick whistle and like 7 second later Naslund puts in a rebound to win it.

Too bad cloutier and the defense sucks, because they have some of the best forwards in the league

I know people keep saying Khabibulin is heading to the Avs, but wouldn't the Canucks be a viable trade, too? Thing is, though, what would the Canucks have to give up in order to get him? Jovo? One of the Sedins? The rights to those ugly yellow jerseys from the early 80s?

I don't think the Canucks would want him because of his salary. Really they have two decent goalies (although Cloutier makes me cringe in the playoffs) and Hedberg hasn't had any consistent playing time due to injury and backup role.

Ha Burke trade away his pride and joy? It seems like he'd rather cut off his own balls rather than trade his precious Sedins.

the sedin's are still developing hockey players

they have skill, they just need more confidence

i have faith in them

I agree that they've come a long way since their first year when they spent half the time falling all over the place.

People are predicting them to be like the next Naslund or something. I think they'll be good role players but never like top 5 superstars in the league.

when i watch naslund, all i can think of is watching an extremely unselfish hockey god


you see him blaze in, but rather than to go the net 100% of the time, he looks to dump it to a teammate, since eveyone converges on naslund people are open.

when i watch the sedin's i see flashes of brilliance, mixed with periods of absolute stupidity and clumsiness


i respect them as players, but agree they will never be superstars

Yea i think that the Sedins are good hockey players but I think that they were a tiny bit overrated. But I like them none the less... living up to your own hype is a hard thing to achieve. They need confidence as said before... but I like them on the line with King... that was a line with some Chemistry... until all three of them went into a slump.

Sedins haven't shown much so far, and they've had time too.
I wonder if it's gonna be trouble dealing with them at contract time, since they're so adamant about staying together on the same team..

How much time is left on their contracts???

anyone know?

i was wondering that same thing Tempboy, if they would demand to stay on the same team, could be the kiss of death for their NHL career

Their contract expires at the end of this season. There is no real reason for the Canucks to split them up unless they (or their agent) get greedy.

Of course the new CBA or lack of one as the case may be could change everything for any player who's contract expires this year. Management just doesn't know enough about what's going to happen or how much they'll have to spend. Should be interesting come July 1st if their is no new CBA in place by then :) .

yeah their contract expires at the end of the year along with cloutier's

you know the real weird thing is that the Sedin's play in the playoffs totally outshines their play in the regular season. I've been watching them for the past 3 years and each playoff season, I catch myself saying "Damn is it me or did the Sedin's play good in the playoffs?"

maybe it's because of their average play in the regular season or something but does anyone else agree?

I think a scoring RW on the second line would smooth everything out. The Sedins have talent - especially in the playmaking department. When King was able to finish it, it was perfect, but, since like most rookies, his hot and cold streaks can last quite a while, we need an established winger for them. That and a physical D.

Speaking of Defence, you said that defence suck? We have 4 solid D - Ohlund, Jovo, Salo and Allen. Sopel and Malik are prone to giveaaways, but happen to have quite decent +/- ratings - which testifies to how key they are to the team. Cloutier. for the most part has only been letting in goals that either are virtually unstoppable, or goals due to turnovers.

Sure, the Canucks have been a bit slow and sluggish lately, but that doesn't make them a bad team, and when they cool a bit, it doesn't mean that they're hopeless. They've had a horrible schedule - you can't blame them for not giving it their all in every game.

I disagree Shadowz... in all the games i've watched this season, all Jovo does is try to score, and gives up horrible pucks that lead to goals.

While they have talent, thats for sure, they need someone punishing that wont let people stand in front of cloutier and pot the easy goals. Until they get that solid defenseman, they are hanging cloutier out to dry

I don't think the Canucks would trade for a goalie. Somehow that's like admitting that they have a weakness, which doesn't seem like something Burke would ever do.

rumour has it that Kolzig is coming to Vancouver for Cloutier and Bondra is going to the Senators for high draft picks.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam040123/nhl_ott1-sun.html

You guys don't realize how happy it would make me if we got rid of Cloutier. I've never been a fan of him, and all the times he has choked in key situations make me yearn for the day when we can get a real goaltender.