Penguins odds on favorite for Stanley Cup in 2013

bodog.net has given the penguins 7:1 odds of winning the Stanley Cup next year and they have given the Canucks 12:1.  With this past years performance down the stretch and in the first round this is not much of a surprise that the Canucks have been fairly good odds,  However I am not so sure about the Penguins we will have to wait and see what happens on and before July 1st.

Mike Gillis has a lot to do this off season to get the team set for next year.  Tomorrow I will discuss the reasoning for decreasing Raymond's salary for next year.

Louongo, in or out?

So the time has come, Roberto will waive his NTC and Cory's contact is coming to an end.  This will be MG's most important decision as GM and will he pull the trigger on a trade to get the player/players that will be the future of the Canucks.
I am glad that I do not have to make this decision, as I have confidence in MG I know that he will do what is right for the team in the long run.

Update:
This topic in the hockey world seems to have cooled a little which I for one am glad,  This will be interesting to watch play out sometime in the next month I would suspect we will know what will happen.

Game 2 Canucks vs Kings 2012 playoffs

What the HELL was that?

The team played well but the Kings just played their game better.  The Kings PK was in a word amazing,  high intensity quick to the puck and overall a will to win.  With 2 short handed goals it was quite the display.  The overall play of the Canucks was good and at times excellent just without the finish.  The players that stood out for me where Raymond, Higgins and Booth,  these three have really elevated their games.  I did not include Kesler in the list even though he was outstanding he has always elevated his game when he needs to.  The only player that I really did not notice elevate his game so far is Henrik Sedin.

That is one thing about this season the Canucks have been much better team on the road.  I am not hitting the panic button yet, however I will not be doing any more polls until next year.

Now for the officiating I am not sure what was going on there was bad calls on both sides.  No call on Richards for the snow shower on Louongo in the first (I understand that it was not the same Ref's as game one but there needs to be more congruence between officials).  This is the same all around the league. No offside call on the Flyers ending in a goal.

While watching Sportsnet  before the playoffs started the overall consensus was that it would be the Canucks and Penguins in the final.  At this point in time both teams are down 2 games to none.

No panic yet here, I still BELIEVE.

Bitz out for 2 games and Weber fined.

Alright so Bitz is out,  it was not a good hit and should not have happened and he will have to do the time, fine. However Weber purposefully rammed Zetterbergs head into the glass twice and gets a $2500 fine, um I am not so sure about that.  He should have had at least a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. Please note that I am not disputing that there should not have been a suspension I believe that it should possibly have been 3 games but in the playoffs the standard has been set.

So each of them had an interview today to discuss the hits,  Bitz apologized for the hit.  On the other hand Weber made some noise about it being the speed of the game. So what now? The more a player gets paid the different the treatment will become? A hit to the head should be equal no matter who does the hit. period.

Shanahan has done a good job so far since taking over, it is going to take a lot of work to get rid of the double standard that plagued Campbell.

Next up game 2.

2012 Playoffs

I always find it interesting that the teams are compared on past playoff experience even as far back as 1996or even 2001 as none of this has any bearing on what will happen in these playoffs so why do we talk or even read about it.  Well it is interesting and we hope that it has some bearing on this year.  So what is of note this year?

• 5 teams have one the Presidents Trophy two years in a row (since it was introduced in 1985/86)
• of those 5 teams 4 have gone on to win the Stanley cup in the second year.
• the Canucks have met the Kings 4 times in the playoffs
• out of the 4 times twice the winner has gone on the Stanley Cup Finals 

So what?  Well we will hope that both of these will be hold true the odds are on the side of the Canucks.

More to come...