Chairman Maouth

until vancouver does something in the playoffs no one will take them seriously.  they came close in 94 but has been not making the playoffs or second round flops ever since.  The canadian media is always nut hugging a canadian team.  this year it is vancouver, before its been calgary or the sens.  same old thing every year, same goes for the sharks as well.  nucks have a shot just like anyone else but tsn guys calling them the team to beat with the very good but most overrated goalie of all time is puzzling.

You're right. Results are the only way to calm the critics.

But of course the Canadian media favours Canadian teams. Doesn't every country do that? I remember the 1992 and 1993 World Series with Toronto. The American media nearly had a collective stroke.

Either that or you just enjoy reading your own responses. I'm leanin' that way.

Well I do enjoying reading good material. Yours isn't bad either, but only as a catalyst.

Alot of us here believe that Luongo is a sieve and has a s***ty attitude. That's why we don't fear your team. And considering that he has never really done anything to prove otherwise, I guess you're just gonna have to deal with it.

I'm not sure I can do that chief. Your post may haunt me the rest of my life. As a matter of fact, I'm on the verge of tears at this very moment. Hell, I may need an ambulance to take me to the hospital for a dose of IV Valium. Is Valium strong enough? I don't know. I may need a horse tranquilizer instead. Yeah, that's it. I won't call an ambulance -- I'll call a vet. He'll fix me up with a couple ounces of that stuff and I may be able to cope with those harsh words o9f yours that you're forcing me to deal with.

Is the Guiness Book of World Records still around? Cause I think I just set a new high water mark for sarcasm. And I did it through all those tears.

Not one sub-par season, but two sub-par POST-seasons. Big difference. The whole "5 instead of 7 so that's an improvement" statement from your captain has got to have you a bit worried. I know I'd sure as hell be worried if Nick Lidstrom said something to that effect.

Also, not only did the Wings not "squeak into the playoffs" last season, but they had the best record in the NHL after the Olympic break due to the fact that they were completely healthy, unlike starting at the third game of the year.

One bad game two years ago; otherwise a solid playoffs. A fairly solid effort this playoffs considering the state of the Canucks defence. You know how ridiculous the injuries on defence were -- right? It was brutal -- and now the defense has been addressed by Gillis.

I guess I just imagined all the panic and the Flames watching going on around here towards the end of the season.

Look, I know it's human nature to devalue opposing players and overvalue your own, but I try to be as objective as possible. Luongo is still fairly young. Devaluing him now based on his performance over essentially one calendar year may be foolish. Kipper is older than Luongo and had 3 or 4 years in a row where his play deteriorated, last year he was back with a vengeance. I'm not laughing at him anymore -- except for maybe when he abandoned ship in the Olympics.  

It would be so cool if I had the energy to go back and search the posts on this forum from the summer of two years ago when Mike Gillis was hired -- and read about how the general consensus was that Vancouver would be a bottom-dwelling team for years to come. The Canucks had chosen a fool for a G.M. etc., etc. Detroit fans were giddy in their enjoyment of that mistaken assessment.

It proves one thing for certain; that objective opinions on a rival teams forum are worth about as much as what it costs to post them.

Now, in the summer of 2010, Detroit fans appear to be getting their s*** in a very tight knot about the fact that other teams in the West, including Vancouver, are overtaking them as favourites to vie for the Stanley Cup. Some of the absurd and uninformed comments on this thread prove that.

Personally, at this point, I don't see any team as being the team to beat in the West, but I do know that Vancouver has definitely improved while other traditionally strong teams have either weakened or done little to improve. Time will tell I guess.

Just saw the final scores from today.
Were the Canucks that good?
Or were the Hawks that bad?

The Canucks defense looked very solid, including Andrew AHLberts who had his best game as a Canuck. Might be able to change his name back if he keeps that up.

Erhoff was again a beast, but the entire D-core played well.

Kesler was also a beast making excellent defensive plays and getting two assists. Bernier and Wellwood continued their excellent post-season play and all four Canucks lines scored.

The Sedins were the Sedins, with them giving the Hakws D fits all night. One point each; Daniel with 11 points in 7 games; Henrik with 9.

Luongo was briliant and kept the Hawks off the scoreboard in the first period when he faced 17 shots. The only goal Chicago scored was on a 5 on 3 powerplay in the third.

Although the Canucks had few shots in the third, they continued to press with a very tough forecheck and the Hawks had no answer for it.

Patrick Kane played great, Byfuglien was a total non-factor, and despite some flashes of brilliance early, Niemi's weaknesses as a goaltender were exposed by the Canucks offense, which is clearly not the same offense as the Preds offense.

Definitely the best I've seen the Canucks play in this year's playoffs.

The mindset of the Canucks this year appears to be very different than in the past. Rick Ball from the Team 1040 witnessed the Canucks reaction in the dressing room after beating St Louis last year and LA this year. He said the celebrations were totally different. With St. Louis, they acted like they clinched the western conference. They were way over-the-top. With the win over LA, there was no over-the-top celebration at all. Ball said that they knew, unlike last year, that the journey had just begun. In my opinion, that shows a team with playoff experience is clearly maturing. You can also see this reflected in Luongo's post-game comment from last night when he was asked what the win means.

''Nothing. [It means] nothing to me,'' he said. ''It's only one game. We're here to win four games, not one. There's no satisfaction for me personally or for this team.''

An article out of Chicago.

CHICAGO – If the Blackhawks believed their playoff series against Vancouver Canucks would be a distant replay of the one last year, when they put their Western Conference rivals to bed in six games, then they learned a hard lesson at the United Center on Saturday night.

These are not your 2008-09 Vancouver Canucks.

This is the 2009-10 version, and it looks to be more talented and disciplined than the one that was its own worst enemy at times last spring.

The Hawks witnessed in a 5-1 loss that was every bit as one-sided as the score indicated.

“They’re really good,” said forward Patrick Kane, who netted a power-play goal in the third period. “It seems like they’ve gotten a lot better since last year. They’ve gotten contributions from everyone. They’re feelin’ it.”

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2010/05/02/39614960/index.xml

That kid probably asked his dad to put him directly into the freezer so he can preserve Ovechkin's ice forever.

Seriously, Ovechkin was just playing around.