Vancouver Canucks

The NHL season is back, and with it, a long list of Canuck injuries and question marks. We know Ryan Kesler is out, as is Mason Raymond and perhaps even Manny Malhotra. This is bad news because that means the Canucks second line is essentially being held together with duct tape, with rookie Cody Hodgson expected to center it, with Mikael Samuelsson and new comer Marco Sturm flanking him.

Even without Kesler, the biggest question mark going into this season is how the Canucks will respond after a long playoff. Further, how will Roberto Luongo play tonight, and for the first month of the season? Luongo has been admittedly a slow starter, something the Canucks simply can't afford. ...

It's no secret that the Vancouver Canucks have squandered their best chance to win a Stanley Cup. Last year, to put it lightly, was the year. Detroit was wounded, San Jose was thin on the back end, Chicago had been gutted and tired from a short offseason full of partying, Boston was without two of their best offensive players in Marc Savard and Nathan Horton, Pittsburgh was without Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, the list goes on.

This year, San Jose is still relatively thin on the back end, but they do have a bonafide shut down pairing of Brent Burns and Dan Boyle, if Todd McClellan decides to play the two together. Chicago had a short off season and added some key parts to ma...

Jannik Hansen is still a Vancouver Canuck.

The fiesty danish winger signed a 3 year deal worth 4.05 million. The deal means that the Canucks and Hansen will avoid arbitration, which was set for Friday. The deal is front loaded, as Hansen will earn 1.6 million in his first year, 1.35 million in the second year and 1.1 million in his third year.

It's a win-win, as Hansen wanted to stay here, and he wanted more than a one year contract. The Canucks wanted him here, and they wanted him for less than 2 million a year.

Hansen established a career high in points last season with 29.

My take: it's a good contract, and the Canucks saved money, because he would have ...

Brian P. Burke was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on June 30, 1955. He was raised in the affluent southwestern Minneapolis suburb of Edina, Minnesota. Historically, Edina was a predominantly Irish farming and milling community comprised of immigrants landing in the Richfield Township during the Potato Famine, between 1845 and 1852. The son of Irish-Catholic parents, Brian grew up with nine brothers and sisters, in a close-knit family where education and accountability were of paramount importance. A commitment made would be a commitment kept. This sense of personal integrity would later become a defi...