NHL Hockey Betting - Vancouver Canucks

NHL Betting 2007-08 – Vancouver Canucks
Manager: Alain Vigneault
Arena: General Motors Place
Last Season: 49-26-7, 105 pts (1st Northwest, 3rd Western Conference)
2008 Prediction: 5th Western Conference

Preseason Odds to win Stanley Cup: +1600

Do not be fooled by the Canucks when you are tossing around your NHL betting dollars. Of all playoff teams last season, they scored the fewest goals. They boasted the best penalty-kill percentage in the league, but everyone seemed to forget they were one of the most penalized teams in the NHL.

The truth is that goalie Roberto Luongo played like he was possessed by the Devil and saved his team. He was barraged with the third most shots in the league, and the most in any round of the playoffs last year. The Canucks couldn’t protect Luongo at all as their defense was terrible, and they had trouble getting on the scoreboard as well. They had the 21st ranked offense in 2006-07.

Not much has changed this year. The bright spot for the Canucks were the Sedin twins, who finally played up to their potential. Daniel raked in 84 points, while brother Henrik managed 81 points and both averaged 18+ minutes per game. Unfortunately for the Canucks, offensive superstars Markus Nasland and Brendan Morrison virtually vanished last year. The offense has simply never gotten over the inexplicable loss of Anson Carter or the understandable departure of Todd Bertuzzi (not that Bertuzzi in his current condition would help anybody).

The defensive stats are misleading at best because Luongo is such a monster between the pipes. Vancouver is a team that lacks real leadership on the ice and relies way too heavily on their goaltender to play at an all-world level each and every night. Anaheim crushed them last year because the Canucks only managed eight goals in five games. Defensively, they will be up to the challenge because Luongo is a freak of nature, but unless they find some legitimate and consistent offense, you can forget about the Stanley Cup being hoisted in Vancouver this season.

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Official Website: www.canucks.com