Vancouver Canucks 2008-2009 Season Preview

Canucks are perfect so far in the pre-season with a 6-1 triumph over the Flames.

Earlier on this week, one of the newest Canucks, and probably their highest profile free-agent, Pavol Demitra, compared Taylor Pyatt to St. Louis Blues power forward Keith Tkachuk and Mason Raymond to Wild Sniper Marian Gaborik. Many people were amused and passed it off as a joke.

Sedins & Bernier

But nobody was laughing on Wednesday, as the Canucks looked, yet again, as if they could do no wrong. The replacements on d were getting it done, with the top four, Bieksa, Salo, Ohlund and Mitchell all in the pressbox.

What can we say about the new Captain in between the pipes? He was absolutely lights out, stifling Flame shooters all night. We’ve seen it many times, but it still can’t be said enough. When Luongo is on his game, he gives the Canucks a chance to win every night.

The Canucks skated to their fifth win in the preseason, boosting their record to 5-0. What’s more impressive is the types of goals that the Canucks scored, beautiful plays off the rush, a power-play tally and a seemingly strong ability to capitalize chances despite being outshot 36-23. All this coming from a team who’s biggest question mark for this upcoming season is whether or not they will have enough offense. They had more than enough on Wednesday night.

Danish youngster, Jannik Hansen, had a 2 goal effort and continued to strengthen his bid for an opening night spot in the Canucks lineup. The 22-year old spent the last 2 seasons with the Canucks AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. Hansen looked very comfortable on Wednesday alongside linemates Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler, who were each credited with 3 assists.