Burning it to the Ground: Reliving the post-2011 Cup loss Canucks

[CanuckJohnny]

A New Old Face at the Helm




After their riotously disappointing Stanley Cup Finals meltdown, the Canuck's ownership made a sudden, decisive front office move. Relieving both Mike Gillis and Alain Vigneault of their duties, Francesco Aquilini hired Canucks legend and fan favourite Trevor Linden to look after both the General Managing and Coaching duties.



At the ensuing press conference, Trevor announced that some radical changes could be ahead, that nothing was off the table when it came to their goal of being a perennial cup contender and cup champion. The coaching staff would see a big turnover. But he also assured the Canuck faithful that they could expect hard work, dedication, and a culture of excellence from him, his staff, and the players on the ice.


Many have criticised the bold move as being too rash, an emotional knee jerk over-reaction to a crushing defeat that still capped off an incredible season. But some analysts agreed with the move, saying that, although risky, it is a prescient decision for the long term future and building a contender around a core that showed some shakiness and has some hard questions to answer in the years to come.



One thing is certain, Trevor Linden has his work cut out for him. Sky high expectations, a brewing goalie controversy, a shrinking competitive window, and not much in the pipeline for prospects or assets to work with.

[CanuckJohnny]

So, the basic premise of this story is that I am going to try to rebuild/retool the post 2011 Canucks, hopefully better than they did IRL.

The plan is to move one of our goalies, and some of the quality depth pieces, to acquire some more assets, especially decent prospects or picks, infusing the roster with some more youth, dragging out the cup window while hopefully keeping the Sedins, Kesler, Burrows, Bieksa core around. Also will probably try to move on from a lot of the stagnant depth players just for a breath of fresh air.

[CanuckJohnny]

tried to put a picture in the first post, don't know why it didn't seem to work.

[CanuckJohnny]

Already simmed the first year, but I'll give some brief updates.

Signings: Cumiskey, Schremp, Hammond, Hunt, Sopel, Ruutu

Trades:
To FLA: Luongo, Salo, Lapierre, Higgins
To VAN: Markstrom, Campbell, Weiss, Ellerby, 5th
rationale: we decide to move on from Luongo, too much baggage... and we do it right away to avoid any drama. Felt like it was most realistic to send him back to Florida, where he really wanted to go IRL. His value is higher than when we traded him irl, but so is Marky's. Included two thirds of our cup final third line, picked up an aging and expensive but still skilled Brian Campbell to bolster the blueline post-Ehrhoff, and took a flyer on the talented but injury prone Stephen Weiss.

To OTT: Ballard, Hodgson, Schroeder
To VAN: Neil, Rundblad
rationale: moving Hodgson out now. His potential isn't looking great anyways. Got a middling D prospect in Rundblad that we hope can become a bottom pair option one day and a veteran, physical, character presence in Chris Neil.

To ANA: Mancari, Oreskovich
To VAN: 5th, 6th, 7th

To NSH: Hansen, 5th
To VAN: Ellis
rationale: this is my best steal of a trade, and the only one that I think might seem unfair. Moving out Hansen at peak value to pick up a young Ryan Ellis, still minor league level but 3.5 star potential. No guarantee he turns out to be as good as he has shown irl, since the development is set to FHM not historical, so I think it still makes a bit of sense for a Nashville team stacked at defense. But yeah, I'm thinking I win this trade.

To NYI: Raymond, 5th, 6th
To VAN: Grabner
rationale: he wanted to test the market, so I got a similar player with Canuck history who I've always liked to replace him

To WSH: Ruutu, Connauton, Grenier, 4th, 7th
To VAN: Ward
rationale: deadline acquisition, they were shopping him and I threw a couple mediocre prospects their way, mostly to move on from them for some fresh blood in the system, and because we're pushing for a playoff spot and he's a big game guy. He's set himself on testing the market so this is rental, albeit a low risk one.

[CanuckJohnny]

Standings from year 1. 2011-2012.
Crosby has a lights out year.
Keith Yandle goes insane and gets a hart nomination for his efforts.
We squeak into the playoffs on top of a very weak NW division in spite of being ravaged by injuries almost all year long and Hank and Danny having off years.
Other storyline for us is Jacob Markstrom, who came in to back up Schneids, got hot and stole the spotlight and the starting job for much of the year.

[CanuckJohnny]

Our player stats this year. Just riddled with injuries. Most defensemen missed significant time. So did Kes and Burr and newly acquired Weiss. Yikes. Might need to put a lot more attention into how durable guys are when we acquire them. Fired the trainer halfway through the season for a better one. Not sure it helped much.

Cumiskey and Schremp, two last minute depth additions to the roster, made the most of their increased opportunities though. I'll be extending them if I can. Although Schremp is "selfish" so hopefully that doesn't singlehandedly screw up the locker room.

[CanuckJohnny]

Lineup on first day of playoffs.
Still missing some key pieces like Weiss, Campbell, and Bieksa.
Schneider gets the start.

[CanuckJohnny]

Round 1 Game 1

Rob Schremp earning his new extension with two big goals in the second. And the veteran Sturm with the winner

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 2

ouch

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 3

Markstrom gets the nod. Needing some of his early season magic.
Clutch shutout win. We go up two games to one.

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 4

Yuck they even it up. Clutch goal by Radu with three minutes left.

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 5

Here we go boys. Another big 1-0 shutout win by Marky to propel us to the 3-2 series lead. Another Sedin (Hank this time) goal assisted by Hammer and Burr for the only marker of the game.

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 6

Hammer with the lone Canuck goal and it's off to game 7. *gulp*

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 7

Yeah! On to round two. Rookie Ryan Ellis (late season call up due to injuries, I was trying to keep him in the minors for seasoning - ended up getting 9 points in 19 regular season games) scores the series winner.

On a less exuberant note, we lost our playoff rental Joel Ward for the rest of the playoffs with a disturbing injury.

[CanuckJohnny]

Round 2 Game 1

We move on to face the Coyotes, who were led by a startlingly good offensive season from defenseman Keith Yandle to the top of their division.

It's a rough start, outshooting them but losing 2-1. At least Danny scored. Only his second of the playoffs. We need better from him.

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 2

Yikes. Shutout 1-0, held to 17 SOG, we've kept Keith Yandle off the scoresheet for two games and we're still down 2-0.

And another crazy injury. *Sigh*

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 3

Heartbreaking OT loss. Once again we keep Yandle off the scoreboard. This time we finally get the run support but just can't finish it. Not looking good.

[CanuckJohnny]

Game 4

Well... at least we got one round further than the irl canucks did in this season before getting knocked out by a sweep.

[CanuckJohnny]

Playoffs wrap up. Pens take it home, led by Crosby and Fleury and an impressive run by James Neal.

[CanuckJohnny]

Year end awards.
Almost caught up. The updates should slow down to a normal pace now.