The Crosby

If you have been watching the pittsburgh penguins in the 2009 nhl playoffs you can't help but notice the play of sidney crosby. His stats have seen a gigantic increase ( more than double the goals) compared to the pens 2008 cup run, and the're only in the third round.

"Sid the Kid" has gained momentum throughout these playoffs starting with a good performance in knocking off the philadelphia flyers in six games. Theb winning the showdown with alexander the great and now on the verge of sweeping the hurricanes.

His brightest moment in his career may  have come in the second victory over the washington capitals. The highly touted crosby vs. ovechkin was a stellar series indeed, truly one for the ages. Sid and Alex were pretty much equal in most respects in that series except for the one category that matters most, wins. Crosby matched ovechkin's play and when the smoke settled, it was the penguins, not the capitals who were off to the eastern conference finals.

Like sidney crosby or loathe him , what he has shown in these playoffs is not only that he can pick his game up another notch, but he is still very much a candidate to prove he's the best the nhl has to offer. He stepped it up on the biggest stage in hockey and is living up to the hype .

So we are now seeing the wings and hawks squaring off in the western conference final. For all those canucks fans wondering what happened, I'll answer with my own opinions and give some analysis on where they should go from here ( if you're a flames fan then you're probably thinking they can go to heck). 

First off, for most of this series the hawks were the faster team, but to the canucks credit, they did play a good trap in game 3. Luongo was good but he wan't great, he's human so you can't blame him if he has a bad game here or there . I think he'll be even better next season and that this was just a learning curve , no net issues for the 'nucks in 09-10.

The most obvious observation  would be that they need more speed , size, and players less injury prone. They struggled with likes of Byfuglien all series long and as stated before, the hawks were the faster team. So where do they go from here?

The Sedins are one of the biggest question marks . Rumor has it that the dynamic duo are looking for 6 million+ a peice next year. Do let your leading points getters go and risk alex burrows not performing well with anyone else, or do you swallow the hit on the cap and thus handicap the team. Right now they make a little better than 3 million so that would deplete 5 million dollars of current cap space. 

Other players who might be making an exit include Ossi Vannanen ( 1 million),Kyle Wellwood [RFA] ( 1 million), Jannik Hansen [RFA] ( 0.5 million )Mats Sundin ( $5million + ), Taylor Pyatt ( 1.5 million), Mattias Ohlund ( 3.5 million), Shane O'brien [ RFA] ( 1 million ), Rob Davison ( 0.5 million ), Jason Labarberra and Curtis Sanford ( 0.8 and 0.6 million respectively ).So if all of these guys leave , the Canucks will have about $15 million in cap space to work with ( assuming todays cap) . keep in mind luongo is supposed to make 7.5 million next year.

I would keep Labarberra and sign him to 1mil/yr. I would definitely let Mats go , re-sign taylor Pyatt 1.75mil/yr, and I would let go Ohlund, Davison. I would sign wellwood to a three year 1.5 mill/yr , vanannen to a 1.25mill/yr and i would sign hansen to 0.85/yr.That's just about 7.5million in cap space right there , if the Sedins were to leave Vancouver, you could ad another 7 million to that for a total of about 13.5 million in cap space when you calculate Luongo's salary increase. That means they need 2 top centers  , 1 top six winger, 2 defencemen.

Or maybe just try to re-sign everyone . post a comment.

canadian greatness

The war I am speaking of is the 2010 winter games in vancouver and whistler. I am talking about the canadian men's hockey team and who should be there. It has been said that team Can Gm Steve yzerman will be looking for a team full of two way players. here's who should be there , with some considerations:

Goaltending : Brodeur ( always a good pick, despite his age , proven consistency and puck stopping ability ) , Luongo ( can steal games , maybe the best in the world at times, had a little lapse in the playoffs but will bounce back), Ward ( good in the reagular season and great in the playoffs when it really matters ). CONSIDERATIONS: S.Mason, C.Mason, Turco, Roloson, Price

defence

Neidermayer ( kind of a no brainer , great speed and puck moving ability, experience an asset ),

Souray ( oilers best d-man, has a big body and is good on the powerplay), Pronger ( former norris winner has a nasty streak and can play all situations ), Weber ( took his game to a different level , would be an asset ), Green ( high octane scoring defenseman would be awesome to have for breaking games open) , Bouwmeester ( skates like grease lightning and has great puck moving skill)

CONSIDERATIONS: Keith, Campbell, Seabrook, Regehr, Phaneuf, Boyle, Blake, Mitchell .

offense

Thorton ( big joe has great playmaking skills and would be incredible if he could find a little more motivation), Crosby ( good all around, best playmaker pound for pound , good leader ), E. Staal ( aggressive power forward with talent to match ), M. Richards ( selke nominee and good for better than 80 pts. / yr. 2-way defined ), Toews ( talented center should only get better next year, has great hands ), Iginla ( may have seen a slight drop in numbers , still possibly the best complete package on the planet ), Nash ( captain of the 'jackets has grit size, and is a proven 40 goal a year man ), Getzlaf ( talented and tough , an asset to any team), Sharp ( has made a statement in the '09 playoffs that could make him dangerous in vancouver ), Savard ( awesome playmaker ), Marleau ( two way ability and number surge this season makes me think he will probably get picked ), Heatly ( maybe an off year, but proven ability and you know he's not done ).