Are You Surprised By The 8-2-2 Start Without Kesler/Booth/Aaron Rome?

[Nuckles]

This team is pretty good.

Schroeder has shown he's an NHL player, Kassian took a huge step in his development, Ballard doesn't suck anymore, Raymond is good again, we have two decent backup goalies.

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[Angry Little Elf]

Who actually misses Aaron Rome? Oh right, Alain

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

I didn't see this coming.

 

[EpochLink]

**** Aaron Rome, waste of space.

AV can have dreams of him for all I care, I'm doing the happy dance he's no longer on this team

 

[PG Canuck]

Whoever says they're not surprised is A) a liar or B) a new Canucks fan. I'm more than surprised.

 

[givemeda411]

All this means is Kesler and Booth should be back at 100%...even take an extra week or two if needed.

 

[Slot 3]

I still dream of Aaron Rome... and that flubbed sure-fire goal.

 

[VeteranNetPresence]

yes, very

 

[Zombotron]

I was expecting the typical slow Canucks start (given that they've had .500 starts in every season since I became a fan), so this is awesome.

Going 10-2-2 is now a possibility and that's equivalent to a 17-3-3 start in a normal season...

I'm surprised at Luongo starting the season on the right foot for once, too.

 

[AmazingNuck]

Without looking at the schedule, yes. With looking at the schedule, much less surprised.

The goaltenders are excellent, but we knew this going in. The difference between having Luongo and Schneider and having Schneider and a much worse back up is probably something like going 6-4-2 so far in the season instead of 8-2-2. We've played 12 games so far, so the back-up would've made 2 or 3 starts by now.. honestly, having 2 goaltenders makes our record so much better.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

A little.

 

[ItsAllPartOfThePlan]

Yes. I feel the Sedins + defense haven't hit their stride yet and of course with no Kesler and Booth as well.

 

[pitseleh]

Pretty much any team in the league can go on a 8-2-2 run at any point, so no.

 

[Jyrki21]

Pretty much any team in the league can go on a 8-2-2 run at any point, so no.

Yeah, this is sort of what I'm thinking, even though this is definitely a better start than I expected. You can't prorate it to an 82-game season any more than you can pretend that the New England Patriots went the equivalent of 82-0-0 that year.

Every point matters, so I'm not going to complain how they get them, but they have played a string of weaker divisional opponents recently, and have also had a couple of shootout results (i.e. ties) not to mention an OT winner (not quite a tie, but 4-on-4 still changes things). So again, it's very positive, but they haven't yet shown themselves to be particularly dominant. I hope to see them manhandle a few of the elite teams before all is said and done.

 

[Zanon]

Without looking at the schedule, yes. With looking at the schedule, much less surprised.

The goaltenders are excellent, but we knew this going in. The difference between having Luongo and Schneider and having Schneider and a much worse back up is probably something like going 6-4-2 so far in the season instead of 8-2-2. We've played 12 games so far, so the back-up would've made 2 or 3 starts by now.. honestly, having 2 goaltenders makes our record so much better.

Yup. Huge reason why the Canucks are back-to-back PT winners.

 

[Fat Tony]

I'm a little shocked at the start.

 

[Street Hawk]

This team is pretty good.

Schroeder has shown he's an NHL player, Kassian took a huge step in his development, Ballard doesn't suck anymore, Raymond is good again, we have two decent backup goalies.

Not too surprised. Team has played the Oilers, Flames, and Wild 2 times each, plus a game against the Avs and have a 6-0-1 record against them

2 games against Anaheim and 1 each against LA and SJ, leaving them with a 1-2-1 mark.

Only played the Hawks from the Central in a SO win.

Not exactly the toughest stretch by any imagination, but without 2/3 of their 2nd line, they've done what they needed to do and beat the teams that they should. 18/24 points is excellent. Seem set to at least lock up the #3 seed in the West.

 

[oyvey]

Yes, but with how much of the schedule has been against Northwest teams, maybe I shouldn't be.

 

[Yossarian54]

Where is the 'no because Cam Barker' option?

 

[VanEric]

Aaron Rome plays like 18 minutes a night in Dallas.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

With the power play sputtering, the PK below average, missing both Kesler and Booth, the Sedins off to a slow start, the team getting off to a slow start the last few years......
Nah, I expected them to get off to a good start.
Imagine what they can do if the PP ad PK hit their stride.

 

[Intangibos]

One of these things are not like the others

 

[Hammer79]

Surprised, but not shocked. The Canucks were getting the job done down the stretch last year, even though they looked like they weren't on their game. Schneider has been sharp aside from Game #1 when he was brutal, but Luongo looks like a man on a mission. He is playing his best stretch of hockey in a long time right now. Special teams needs to be vastly improved if they want to continue this hot-streak.

 

[deadinthewater]

Good start (especially considering the second line is missing), but I want to see how the Canucks fair against some legitimate competition. We've got STL, CHI, DET, etc. coming up so I guess we'll see.

 

[BoHorvatFan]

IMO we're playing more of that same old rely on the goalies, have good depth, feast on the NW division regular season hockey that will mean nothing in a 7 game series against a good team. It's all about the playoffs for me. The games are going to get physical, Sedins will be punished, our D might get hurt, do we have the size and type of players that will step up and battle? still don't know.