saintpakoFiled under: Uncategorized
Yes, I know that teams which have released their third jersey last season cannot change them again this year. But I am just not a big fan of the current third, it looks too much like the home jersey.
A lot of people have tried to suggest their own version of the third jersey. Here’s mine.
I think the main reason why some of the ideas out there isn’t that good looking is because of the helmet. A green jersey with a blue helmet just doesn’t look good. Both blue and green colors used by Canucks are considered sharp color, and having too much of both won’t look good. This is the reason why the current home jersey only includes a little bit of green.
I didn’t choose the Johnny Canuck logo because I think the “Rink” logo is actually pretty good, it also has a lot of heritage which is why it is a great idea to use it in the third jersey, just that the overall colors are too similar to the home jersey. I’ve also kept the blue-color rink, with tweaks to change the green border of the logo to blue.
I think a good third jersey should be eye-catching, it can be a bit crazy, because you only intend to wear them a few times. I agree that the green color can be a bit too much if we use it as a standard jersey design.
Don’t like it??!!!
How about the following variations? Tell me what you think.
Filed under: Prospects
Competition is extremely fierce with the Canucks this pre-season, and it sure is looking like Hodgson won’t make the roster.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid, he’s everything a Canucks fan can hope for, but it looks like now isn’t the time, yet. I know, with just 6 pre-season games under the belt for the team, Hodgson still has a maximum of 3 more pre-season games to play, and then 9 more regular season games before his first-year contract kicks in.
It’s really too bad that he just came off an injury, and it may have affected his performance a little. But that little bit has proved to be devastating, especially in the big leagues. The difference between mediocre players versus great players may be just that little in the NHL today.
Let’s be honest here, Hodgson didn’t play poorly, his play was decent, and he did have an empty-netter and that beautiful shoot-out goal. This may have been sufficient if he’s playing in Atlanta, Colorado or even Florida. In Vancouver, however, he needs to be better, better than Wellwood, Pope, Bliznak and Bolduc, if he wants to play center.
If he can adjust to playing on the wing, he still needs to be better than Shirokov, Glass, Parrish or even Hansen. Has he really shown that he is better than them?
With five of the top nine forward positions locked down with Henrik, Daniel, Burrows, Kesler, and Samuelsson, there are only four spots open.
Wellwood has been sensational so far in the pre-season, his soft hands and patience have surely earned him a spot in the roster. Raymond has been consistent, and his change to go to the net more has resulted with better production. He was even named the first star in tonight’s game with a great goal to help shift the momentum and another shoot-out goal.
Bernier has improved significantly as well, he seems to be faster and he had a great game against the Ducks. Hansen, similarily had a great game against the Oilers and his speed will prove to be a great asset for the team. Both players were exceptionally great, and in terms of points, Shirokov and Hodgson had better production.
With two great goals and two assists, Shirokov has the best chance out of the four for a spot. Fans in Vancouver love Shirokov and it’s naive to think that the organization will neglect this when they finalize the roster.
Hansen recently just signed a league-minium two-way contract, so it’s safe to say that unless he performs brilliantly in the remaining games, he will be heading to Manitoba.
So this leaves us with Bernier and Hodgson. I personally believe that Bernier contributes more with his size, toughness and newly revived speed. Hodgson however is still young, so young that if the Canucks decide to cut him, he won’t be eligible to play in the AHL this season. He will have to go back to the juniors for another year.
My prediction is that since Hodgson just came back from an injury, the Canucks won’t risk putting him in at the beginning of the season. Bernier, on the other hand, is in a great shape, and he will get the nod to start the season.
Another sign of this is coach Vigneault’s post-game reaction suggests that he feels Hodgson isn’t playing that well.
On one hand, I guess it’s great to see that even a player with three goals (1 slapshot, 1 empty-netter and 1 OT goal) in the pre-season can’t even make the Canucks’ roster, but on the other hand you have to feel sorry for Cody.
Notice how I didn’t mention Grabner at all, that’s because there’s absolutely no way he will make the team. I guess there’s always hope, Michael, …hope that Gillis will trade you to a weaker team.
Filed under: News
Mike Gillis wasn’t lying when he said that things are going to change around here. We’ve all seen his wizardry in signing and trading players, his commitment to improving scouting and developing young players. And now, we have a chance to see how he selects the squad for this coming season.
I personally don’t recall the last time the Canucks have such a competitive training camp. In today’s NHL, where training camp has been significantly reduced to a few days of on-ice scrimmage before pre-seasons, the Canucks are taking it very seriously this year.
With the showcase of highly-publicized talents coming out of Prospect Camp, fans finally have a glimpse of Russian Sniper Sergei Shirokov, and First-Rounder Star Cody “Hod-Son” Hodgson in action. Aside from our prospects, the Canucks also invited a number of Veteran players like Dave Scatchard, Mark Parrish and Ron Petrovicky. Together with newly-acquired players and the existing regulars, the Canucks started this year’s camp with 56 players.
Number-wise, I don’t know if that’s considered a lot or just normal, but talent-wise, this is easily the most competitive try-outs in recent years, if not the entire Canucks history.
As suggested in my previous post, even without adding any new player, the Canucks current roster is all filled-up by proven regulars, with a few to spare. With the forward lines of Sedins-Burrows, Demitra/Hansen-Kesler-Samuelsson, Raymond-Wellwood-Bernier, Hordichuk-Johnson-Rypien, defensive lines of Bieska-Salo, Mitchell-Edler, Ehrhoff-O’Brien/M.Schneider/Lukowich, and goalies of Luongo/Raycroft, every single position is jamm-packed already.
How on earth, are Gillis and Vigneault going to fit Hodgson, Grabner, Shirokov, C.Schneider, Parrish, Scatchard, or Petrovicky into the holes which don’t exist?
It will be survival of the fittest to the extreme and is definitely good news for fans, but something has to give. It’s pretty easy to say “No, but thank you for coming” to Veteran Invitees, but are we really going to send Grabner back to Manitoba for the fourth consecutive year? At the time I am writing this, with his performance (or lack-of) in his first pre-season game this year, it is looking very likely to happen.
But what about Hodgson?? The highly-rated junior-sensation, who has been named as the best player not playing in the NHL today. Although, he has just recovered from a back-injury, are we really going to send the player voted by THN as likely-Calder-Trophy-winner of 2010 back to Manitoba?
What about Shirokov?? The Russian Young Gun who sacrificed so much to be here, a hard-working player with two-goals in his first NHL pre-season game, are we going to send him to the Moose?
If not, will players like Bernier and Wellwood, who both recently signed a new contract, and both worked so hard in the summer to improve their condition be on their way to demotion?
It’s not any easier for our defense either. We have eight NHL-worthy defensemen signed, each having their strengths and weaknesses. On the surface, it would appear that O’Brien is easily the odd-man out, but with reduced-weight and the great shape he is in right now, he can surely challenge the other seven for a job.
Yes, Mathieu Schneider is still recovering from injury, but you can bet that he will join the club around mid-season. You can probably count Salo as likely to suffer an injury as well, so it leaves the six spots filled. But if you have players like Salo and Schneider waiting around, how likely are players like Sauve, Oberg, Ellington, Funk, Rome, McIver or Ramsey to have a chance with the big clubs?
Perhaps the easiest position is in net. Luongo will undoubtedly start for about 70+ games, if he’s healthy. Former Calder Trophy Winner Raycroft will likely get his last chance to redeem himself as backup, and Schneider will be traded if he puts up a decent showcase in the upcoming few games.
With so many talented players to choose from, it’s really too bad that there can only be twenty spots available. Although the Canucks have reduced seven players in the past couple of days, still a lot of hearts will be broken before the season officially begins on 1st October.
Well, I know something for sure, and that is, the Moose will have a heck of a team next season.
Filed under: Prospects
Summer is over for the Canucks, as the Pre-season will officially begin one week from today. Next Monday, 14th September marks the first Pre-season game for the Canucks in Terrace, British Columbia. It seems like yesterday that CBC announced the winning of the bid for Terrace to host their first Canucks Pre-season game. Again, congratulations to the Kraft Hockeyville 2009 winner, a town of 12,660 population, now known as the most passionate hockey city in Canada.
Today is also the day two of the Prospect Camp for the Canucks, and I believe we’ve all heard the interviews of Vigneualt, Hodgson and Shirokov. With all these talents, gathered by our most trusted GM, I don’t think I’ve been so excited about the upcoming lineup for the Canucks, ever.
There is still plenty of hockey to be played before we know for sure the official line-up for the Canucks in the 2009-2010 season. In fact, there are nine Pre-season games for the team before we lock down on the official squad, and for most of the prospects, Canucks can play them no more than 10 regular season games before their first year contract kicks in.
I think there is no argument as to which prospect will get the most attention on whether or not he makes the team than Cody Hodgson. Without ever playing a single game for the Canucks, Cody was recently named by The Hockey News as the top Calder candidate for 2009-2010, ahead of Tavares and Hedman. SYP also named Hodgson as the top three prospect of the NHL, just behind Tavares and Hedman.
However, a back-injury sustained during practise has kept Hodgson off the ice for a while, and despite being approved to join the prospect camp, Cody is only allowed to do skating drills but NO CONTACT. Whether this affect his chance of cracking the team this year remains to be seen. It will be a terrible blow to Hodgson’s ego as well as the marketing department of the Canucks if he indeed doesn’t make the team.
We all know that the only logical opening for prospects in the current Canucks roster is probably just the third-line. Since AV usually keeps his fourth-line to blue-collar work, the Johnson-Rypien-Hordichuk lineup is pretty much what I expect to see comes October.
But we already have tons of player fighting for third-line opening. If we assume for a moment that Demtira is healthy enough to play, the Sedins + Burrows + Kesler + Demitra + Samuelsson will fill up the top six nicely. Then we will see Bernier, Hansen, Wellwood, Raymond fighting for the three spots. Since, Hodgson is still under recovery, I don’t think AV will rush him, we do have plenty of healthy bodies already! Then, who else should we keep an eye on at the end of the Prospect Camp?
Micheal Grabner, coming off a great season and playoffs with the Moose is very very close to making the team. He is oozing with confidence, and I don’t think the Canucks can afford to keep him off the roster for any longer, without hurting anyone’s feelings. If the team can’t use him, they might-as-well trade him now.
I think there’s a dark horse in Sergei Shirokov, who gave up quite a lot to be here at the camp, and trying to making the team. He sure has some natural offensive skills, often seen from the Red Army’s graduates. If he doesn’t make the squad, will he be content to spend one season in Manitoba??
The camp will end tomorrow noon, and the team will travel to Edmonton for two night games with the Flames and Oilers Prospects. By then, we should know more about which player has the better chance of making the team.
But in any case, whether or not there are any third-line vacancies will depend of the health status of Demitra or any upcoming trades by Gillis. So I guess we won’t know until the puck is drop on 1st October.
Filed under: Signing
The wait is over, and it looks like our captain will retire as a Canuck.
A 12-year $64-million contract means an average $5.33-million annual cap hit, more than one million dollars less than his last contract. Although, officially the cap reduction won’t happen until next season, this gives the Canucks very good Cap space in the future.
With a no-movement clause included, this will mean that Luongo will most likely finish out his career in Vancouver, latest by the 2021-22 season. However, most analysts believe that he will choose to retire a couple of years before the contract expires.
This is the break down of his salary:
| 2010-2011 | $10-million |
| 2011-2012 | $6.716-million |
| 2012-2013 | $6.714-million |
| 2013-2014 | $6.714-million |
| 2014-2015 | $6.714-million |
| 2015-2016 | $6.714-million |
| 2016-2017 | $6.714-million |
| 2017-2018 | $6.714-million |
| 2018-2019 | $3.382-million |
| 2019-2020 | $1.618-million |
| 2020-2021 | $1-million |
| 2021-2022 | $1-million |
I’ve seen fans saying that Mike Gillis pulled another super deal to secure Luongo long-term at a significant pay-cut. Being a top-end goaltender, arguably the top 3 in the league, and at the prime of his career, he’s worth way more than $5.33-million per season.
Although, I also congratulate Gillis for his job well-done, you can argue that Luongo didn’t really take a pay-cut in any form. This is simply the Capologist spreading out the annual cap-hit.
The first $10-million per first season is way overpaid, which I believe is used to compensate the final 3 years of the contract, during which I believe Luongo will retire. Luongo is now 30-years old, let’s say that he does retire after the 2018-2019 season, by then he will be 40-years old.
Adding all the salary paid up to 2019, this will equal $6.7-million per season for the next 9 years.
Martin Brodeur, 37, makes $5.2-million per season, up until he’s 40. But when he was 30, also his prime year, he made $6.9-million per season. At 33, he signed a six-year contract worth approx. $5.2-million per season. Everybody knows that Brodeur took a pay-cut to stay with the Devils. (Salary Reference & NHL Numbers)
Miika Kiprusoff, 32, last season made $8-million in salary, and will continue to make $7-million per season for the next two years. At 30, also his prime year, he was in a previous contract which gave him only $3.5-million.
Tim Thomas, 35, recently signed a new contract extension of $6-million per season for the next two years, then $5-million and $3-million for the remaining two.
Nikolai Khabibulin, 36, last season made $6.75-million in salary. That was also the final year of his 4-year contract with the Blackhawks. Signed by the Oilers recently, his new contract promises him $3.75-million per season up until he’s 40.
Brodeur and Khabibulin are proven Stanley Cup Champions, while Kiprusoff and latest Vezina-trophy winner Thomas are considered elite goaltenders in the market today. It is, of course, unfair to make direct comparisons across these players, because the time of their contract negotiation differs, but we can get a general idea of where Luongo’s contract sits.
Brodeur is considered the best goaltender of our generation, and at the prime of his career, he only made $6.9-million per season. Kiprusoff’s latest contract covers 6 years until he’s 38 averages out to $5.8-million per season only, despite the $8-million paid in the first year. Khabibulin’s last contract of $6.75-million per season was a relatively short contract for only 4 years, so the price has been inflated slightly. Thomas, signed his new contract the year he was awarded the Vezina, and his four year contract only averages out to $5-million per season, but he is considered a late-bloomer.
Let’s take a look at one more player, goaltender for the latest Stanley Cup Champions, Marc-Andre Fleury, and we will see a much clearer picture. Fleury, 24, is slowly entering his prime, but he’s still relatively young, and his best years are still ahead of him. Fleury’s latest contract, signed in 2008, promised him $35-million for seven years, which is $5-million per season.
If we summarize all these stats, we will see that Luongo’s contract of $6.7-million per season for 9 years isn’t a pay-cut. He is and will be paid as a top goaltender in the league.
Of course, none of the above mentioned goaltenders are the captain of their team except for Luongo. With Vancouver so hungry for the Cup, the Canucks is still extremely fortunate to have such an elite player committing his career to.
So don’t be mistaken, I still think Gillis did a heck of a job with his sales pitch to lock down Luongo for good, and his Capologist did a great job minimizing the Cap hit for the team in the future. It was, perhaps, an even greater move by Gillis & Co. Public-Relationship-wise in creating an illusion of Luongo taking a pay-cut to stay in Vancouver.
Hopefully, after you’ve read this, you will have just a slightly clearer picture of why Luongo said he and his family is “thrilled” to have this contract extension.
