GDT: R2G6 - Canucks @ Chicago - 6pm - CBC, VS

[the toucan kid]

Kind of like Anaheim, who had Pronger and Niedermayer, AND a hot rookie goalie (as well as a high-priced backup), and still lost in the same round as we did.

They lost to Detroit in 7, we lost to Chicago in 6 (and badly). Don't be silly.

[Island Nucklehead]

LOL the only reason we think we lost so badly is because the potential we had to win it. It was there, we didn't take it. We were our own worst enemies in that series. Don't try to tell me we had no shot against Chicago.

As far as the Ducks analogy, that serves to prove how things can go from year to year. Similar team, similar star power, wins the cup one year, out in the second round a couple years later. That should only emphasize the need to be a little hesitant with saying "well if we didn't win it this year, we definately won't next year, lets remake the team and start from scratch."

[DonCherry4PM]

Kind of like Anaheim, who had Pronger and Niedermayer, AND a hot rookie goalie (as well as a high-priced backup), and still lost in the same round as we did.

To a team that decided to spend its money on offense rather than goaltending.

This does make for an interesting debate. Think it is quite a bit more complex than just the allocation of funds though. A large part of the equation is opportunity. For the most part we haven't drafted the players which afford us the opportunity of choosing to spend money on forwards or defense rather than goaltending nor is there a whole lot of variety in the upcoming UFA's. If it were as simple as spending money on Luongo(elite) and average forward versus spending money on Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Lecavlier, Datsyuk etc. (elite) and average goaltender, I might tend toward the latter. (just to be clear I consider a current "average goaltender" to be competent, in other words un-cloutier-like) But that said, we have access to Luongo (well so long as he wants to resign) but no access to players of the other calibre. Hossa may be the one exception (gaborik doesn't count given his injury propensity) but I don't think he is as an elite a player as is Luongo and given his position on the market, he will have an amazing amount of bargaining power to jack his price. So to make a long story short, we have the ability to spend money on an elite tender, not so much on an elite offense. Should we therefore not spend the money on Luongo, trade him for prospects and potential and hope that we will be able to use the money saved on worthwhile players? Big risk, in my opinion.

There is always a breaking point though, no matter how good Luongo is, we can't win without having a decent offense and a decent defense. So the question is what price is the breaking point for the Canucks, what is too much to pay Luongo? Whatever that number is, if he demands it, you have to trade him and cut your losses.

[Island Nucklehead]

Well and even that's not entirely true. Anaheim, thanks to Giguere, still ranks fourth in goaltender salaries. They fully intended to spend the money on the goalie/defense, and hope guys like Getzlaf, Perry, Selanne etc. could carry the offensive load. They nearly didn't get Bobby Ryan into the line-up because of the cap problems they were in.

Our money allocation for this past season breaks down like this:

Forwards: 29.051...54%...21st in the league
Defense: 16.897...31.5%...18th in the league
Goalie: 7.810...14.5%...2nd in the league.

We also had (after Sundin signed) a cap space of 2.852M...13th in the league.
We were 19th in salary, about a hundred grand a change above the average.

Now we can expect something similar in terms of percentage going into next season. But I can't fathom a situation where Gillis doesn't spend to the cap, because we won't be waiting for Sundin. The forward percentage might rise, but with Sundin departing or signing for less, there will still be space to spend elsewhere (Sedin's most likely).

[dr.dork]

Now we can expect something similar in terms of percentage going into next season. But I can't fathom a situation where Gillis doesn't spend to the cap, because we won't be waiting for Sundin. The forward percentage might rise, but with Sundin departing or signing for less, there will still be space to spend elsewhere (Sedin's most likely).

But that cap is likely going down (probably about 10% or so) in 10/11, so for teams spending to the cap in 9/10 they at least have to set themselves up to not be screwed going into 10/11.