The Sedins have emerged as true stars the past 2 seasons, dominating offensively and taking their collective game to new heights. No doubt back-to-back Art Rosses, a Hart and a Ted Lindsay are all the evidence required of this. But we saw in this year's playoffs that shutting down the Sedins entirely - limiting them to next-to-no production - is entirely possible. Boston and Nashville in particular (injuries aside) did phenomenal jobs of containing the Sedins and keeping them to the perimeter rather than allow them to set up their patented cycle or anything much offensively for that matter. Whether that speaks to the predictability of the Sedins offensively or simply a fantastic defensive effort by the Bruins and Predators is tough to say, but considering two teams managed to do so with remarkable efficiency, I'd lean slightly towards the former. Fact is the Sedins needed to adapt to the defensive setup of the Bruins and Predators, but didn't. And come this season and playoffs, we could very well see the same defensive game from other teams to continue to shut down the Sedins.

Which is why I believe the Sedins should adapt and grow their game with a simple change - get Henrik to start shooting.

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As we are all painfully aware, the Canucks have been embarrassed in the past two games of this series. Outscored 12-1 combined in Games 3 and 4, Luongo getting pulled, an obscene number of penalties and far, far too much going on between the whistles. A series that 4 days ago seemed to have everything going the Canucks' way has quite suddenly become one that, according to the mainstream media, is all but over despite being tied 2 apiece. Admittedly, the Canucks are certainly not in great shape - they were beaten in every facet of the game for the past 120 minutes of hockey - but rest assured, this series is far from over.

The mainstream media, with all their impulsiveness and shortsightedness, seems dead set on believing the Canucks lost Games 3 and 4 because, well, they suck and the Bruins are fantastic; and on top of that, that the Canucks don't stand a chance in Game 5 because the Bruins have all the momentum. And I think that couldn't be farther from the truth.

The Canucks didn't lose Games 3 and 4 in such embarrassing fashion because they are the inferior team - they absolutely are not - they lost because they were tired and unprepared. Justin Bourne, who while not the best writer still knows hockey better than most, wrote this morning that the Canucks simply looked gassed in Game 4, and I absolutely agree. They were uncharacteristically slow, made poor decisions with the puck, had a distinct lack of communication between players and were noticeably less physical than in Games 1 and 2. In fact, they played almost identically as in Games 4 and 5 against Chicago in the first round.

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Been a while since I've been on here! I've been taking a bit of a break from hockey but the draft has gotten me back into the thick of it again. What better way to start then with a rosterbation proposal? I came up with this little proposal earlier and posted it on the CDC forums, but of course people there aren't always the brightest around so I figured I'd see what you all think about this. So here goes:

Alright, well with the Ballard trade it looks like Gillis is going to try and totally revamp the Canucks' defence, seeing as he said he "wasn't done" retooling the defence after the Ballard trade. So obviously some more moves are in store, and I think it makes sense that way. So here's a sensible series of moves that I think the Canucks should carry out to complete the roster for opening night.

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So there's no denying it at this point - no matter what his most loyal fans may say, Luongo has been struggling ever since Game 6 in '09 against Chicago. That night, he let his team down and it cost them the game and the series. That day will probably live in infamy as Luongo's worst choke of his career. But is it really all Luongo's fault? I don't think so. To me, the single biggest reason Luongo has been struggling hasn't been an issue of leadership, losing sight of his technique, or any of the most popular explanations - I think it is because this team's offense-first, mistake-prone style simply does not suit him. It's not a style under which Luongo can succeed, and it has to change.

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