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I don't think when he starts will matter to his UFA status. He will get to 27 before he gets 7 years at this point. If he signs an ELC this year it has to be 3 years and if he signs next year it will be 2 years so he gets to RFA status the same whether he signs this year or next unless they can burn the year next year. It would have been beneficial if the Canucks had the ability to burn a year this year like they did for Tryamkin and essentially turn it into a 2 year deal but BC making the Frozen Four ruined that.

I just hope they can somehow convince him to sign at the end of next season. I'd hate to see him go into his senior year at BC. Then they basically have a short time before he's a UFA. At least the Canucks can burn a year on the ELC to make it more enticing.

I was there so it was hard to follow a particular player but Crouse stood out all night. He was really strong. Duclair was easily the best player on the ice.

Donald Sterling has owned that award for a long time. It's too bad the Clippers are actually good. It's in spite of him for sure.

The Storm are stacked. They have been the best team in the OHL all year. That wasn't a surprise. They have 12 players drafted on that team including a few first and second rounders.

Not to mention that Nashville is ahead of the Canucks and playing Dallas and Phoneix but can only win those games and no others! Straws are being grasped at for sure. I'd say the Predators, as slim as their chances, actually have a slightly less impossible chance to make the playoffs. Still impossible but more likely than the Canucks.

Phoenix has two more ROWs right now so they would hold the tiebreak if that held.

You are right on! If they go 4-3 in the next seven I will be really pumped for next year. I'm not sure anyone thinking they can go 9-0 has looked at the schedule.They are a combined 1-6-4 against the 5 teams they are playing in the next seven games. Colorado x 2, Anaheim x 2, Los Angeles, Minnesota and the Rangers are all playoff bound so maybe they let up a little but I doubt it. Heck, if the Canucks pull ten points out of these games I'd say they would be scary to play in the first round. It will be really interesting to see if they can continue to score against what they are about to face. At least by Saturday night we will have a pretty good idea of the chances. Tough back to back in Denver and St Paul and then home to the Ducks who want to catch the Sharks. Get three wins in there and I'll start to believe.

What is happening to the Canucks now is what happened to the Leafs a number of times in the 9 year playoff absence. Team would be out of it but put on a valiant run with a young goaltender and lots of AHL players only to miss out on the last weekend of the season. Team drafts 11-14 and doesn't get the impact player that is needed. The other factor is that they really aren't on much of a roll yet. Just playing a more entertaining brand of hockey. It's good to see young players perform well and I think players naturally relax when the pressure is off. I think there has been a general sense that this team won't make the playoffs so now they are just playing again. It's pretty common. Once they stop gripping the sticks everything gets easier.

And Marc Bergevin would be the worst!

I think there are some problems surrounding this letter as well. The fact that he hasn't mentioned the coaching staff is problematic to me. Not a positive or a negative. I think that the coaching staff is sort of important to the direction of the club. And to the point about the salary cap. There now seems to be more information coming out the cap won't be rising nearly as much as anticipated due to the decline of the Canadian dollar. It could be as low as $68 but he has it at $71 in this letter. Even if the information currently coming out proves to be wrong you would think that he would have the sense to temper expectations. And long term if the dollar stays low it means the cap likely grows at a lower rate. And the Canucks are dealing in a 10% decline in revenue due to outside economic factors before any dip in sales because of this down year. No playoffs also means a big loss in ticket sales, concessions and mech. Revenues are going to be down in Canuck land this year and that is tough for an owner to swallow. This is going to get ugly before it gets better. Under this current ownership group the team has enjoyed unprecedented stability. Now for the first time they are facing the music and a lot of us forget that Vancouver isn't always an easy sell. This isn't like Edmonton, Calgary or Toronto where the fans just keep coming whether you win or lose. Winning is more important to overall fan support with the Canucks. It is interesting to see that Gillis is on the offensive when it comes to selling season tickets. Kind of ironic when you think of the season!

They aren't shareholders, they are customers. The best customers. It's not so much that you ignore other customers but you treat the ones that pay you over $10,000 a year for a pair of good seats a little better. It's common sense business practise but sports is different because there is a sense of civic responsibility that other businesses don't have. Even though you may not spend thousands a year you are still emotionally invested. Other corporations don't have that issue. It is hard to appease disappointed people that aren't really your core customer base but are still huge fans and supporters of the team. And they do spend money and often times more of their proportional income. However, very soon season ticket renewals are going to be due with deposits and that has to be the main objective at this point. In 2011 it would have been easy. Send the letter to the STH and charge the credit card on file. Now it's going to be much more difficult to convince to people to drop their money with all the uncertainty. He is trying to appease that group of fans first because to go forward with the plan Gillis needs to know that the funds are there.

Whoever thought giving John Tortorella a five year contact was a good idea should be fired. And it seems as though Mike Gillis is maybe starting to take some issues with Tortorella's way of doing things. Why is he never at the pre-game skate? How much coaching does he actually do? Are Sullivan and Gulutzan doing all the actual coaching? And why during a pre-game skate in March is an assistant spending 12 minutes on a forechecking drill? And I get that Kesler is awesome but 25 minutes in a game against the Flames? Come on. This team has fallen that much that Tortorella trusts one forward? I just think Tortorella is not a relevant NHL coach anymore. The veteran guys who were highly desired last year have fared much better. Ruff has things going well in Dallas and AV has done a solid job at MSG. I would say that neither one of those teams was in a better situation than the Canucks but now they sure seem to be. And I'm tired of hearing about Tortorella's system. By his own admission he isn't a strong tactical coach. I'm not sure he really has a system save for block shots and collapse around your own net.

Canucks have 37 losses. Last time they lost 37 in a full season was 2008-2009! That was their first year at 100 points. That streak is probably over as they have to gain every point here on out. Out east we will probably get the Sharks Habs anyway so we won't be subjected to this one.

Oh my goodness. If Jensen is that soft then he shouldn't be here. You have to earn minutes. You can't just be protected all the time.

Pierre McGuire is on the Team now and he has tempered those remarks a bit. Way more cautious now. A lot more "ifs" regarding Markstrom than in his initial remarks. He is still high on the trade because of moving the contract with only 15% relief as the cap may not be going up as much next year due to the Canadian dollar falling. Pierre is also still pretty down on the Schneider trade.

Here is why. GP. W. L. OT. G. S. SV. SV%. GAA REGULAR SEASON 12 1 6 3 36 285 249 .874 3. 52 In reference to above, I'm pretty sure Dale Tallon wasn't too worried about negotiations with these numbers. You can make all the excuses you want about those numbers but Thomas and Clemenson still put vastly superior numbers and there stats aren't great. 1 win in 12 games and only stoping 87% of his shots. He ranks about 77th in NHL goalies this year. I think the high prospect tag is probably gone.

I think it's a good move not to make this deal. Gillis is going to have a tough time keeping his job. As an owner I'd rather not have a guy I'm about to fire make deals of this magnitude. GIllis showed some ineptitude the past couple of years and I'm guessing he's almost done. Fire him April 13th and then have a couple of months to hire someone prior to the draft and free-agent deadline. That to me is the best way to go about it. I still can't believe the goalie tandem they plan to go with.

How is it that the "uneducated" think this is a bad deal but intelligent fans know it is good? I think that under the circumstances this deal is what Gillis could get now and it is so much better than what he was going to get last year. The problem is they traded away one of the best goalies in the league last summer for a pretty good return. Not great or over the top but good. It's a futures deal so hard to judge it. Considering current expectations and the market for goaltenders this is as good a deal that could have been had. But is the team better today? Is this a deal that helps the team long term? Maybe but no locks. Last year the proposals for Luongo were crazy. People wanted Simmonds and Couturier or similar. Now some of those very same people are thrilled with this return? And giving back cap and the recapture hanging over their heads? It is wondrous what managing expectations can get you in a market place. Kudos to you Mr. Gillis. This was a bad situation handled badly that ended up with Gillis making a deal that was the best he could get. Still doesn't it make it great or even good. And of course this follows a Mike Gillis pattern of getting a guy who is struggling mightily but coming off a career year with the Panthers. Is Matthias useful to a team rebuilding? A big C who doesn't play physical and scores around 10-15 goals a year? The goalie market sucks and Luongo has an expensive contract in the current goalie landscape. It's the best he could have done. The team currently has a lot of bottom 6 unproven Centers. Curious to see what happens this summer with Santo, Richardson, Lain, and Schroeder. Might as well see if they can move any of them today for a late pick. And Markstrom is a huge question mark. Nobody wanted him in a Luongo deal last year. He can't even make the Panthers and he has been at it for 4 years. It's sad that third liners and AHL goalies from the Panthers are upgrades in Vancouver. Is that how bad this team has become? Panthers depth is expected to make a difference? Three years ago this June I was in Vegas the day that Luongo and Schneider won the Jennings trophy. Who would have thought that in three years the goaltending tandem would be Markstrom and Lack. Man have things changed since then!

So centre depth is Schroeder, Dalpe, Richardson and Lain if Henrik and Kesler don't play? Yeah, that isn't all that reassuring. Even the positive fans can't be comfortable with that.

Did Phil Kessel harm your family at some point? So much bitterness! Gotta let it go. I grew up hating the Leafs but the guy can play.

I was so hyped but the ref took a bit off of it for me. Those were tough calls. The slash on Lamoureux was bad and I don't really think the call on the breakaway was great. And if was a penalty it sure as heck wasn't a cross check and it should have been a penalty shot.

Team Canada has given up 74 shots on goal in 4 games. And 3 goals. The team doesn't even really need to score. That's a huge confidence boost going into tomorrow's game knowing that the other team will have a tough time generating any offensive chances. To me this game is tricky for the US because they do like playing a more wide open style but I doubt they can match Canada in such a battle. The Canadian forwards can certainly play a two way game but will the Americans be OK sitting back and waiting for chances. In the end I think this works out to be one of Canada's easier and more fun games before they go back to the stifling, horrific to watch play that Sweden or Finland will employ in the finals.

I love how everyone doubts a Canadian team that has given up 3 goals in 4 games and won them all. Sure the offence hasn't totally clicked but there has never been a doubt that they weren't far and away the superior team on the ice. Even against Finland they were the better team by miles. I actually think this team comes out Friday and puts it together in a big way. This is a very good hockey team and you know they aren't going to give up many goals. If the USA plays the wide open style I think the Canadians will expose them and it won't be close. I could be wrong but I doubt this game scares the Canadians much. They know all these guys and they are in the same boat. Travelled the same distances and they are put together almost exactly the same way.

All this respect stuff is crap. By all a lot of your reasoning Luongo should never have had the net in 2010 in Vancouver. If anyone deserved the respect it was Marty. If Price falters Luongo gets the net. All year long the coaches have said the season would determine the starter. Let it go. Babcock is a good coach who will make tough decisions. He sat down a guy with a gold medal, three Stanley cups and four vezinas for Luongo in 2010 and Luongo hadn't had a whole lot of playoff success at that point in his career. And ultimately today's game doesn't mean too much. Unless they lose by more than 5 I think they get a bye regardless of what happens.