Well, this year's rendition of the Vancouver Canucks has to receive a lot of credit for doing what seemed impossible and surmounting a 13-point deficit to win the Northwest Division. Despite the general sentiment on the airwaves that this is not a big deal, I for one do take pleasure in knowing that we already have cause to raise another banner to the relatively barren Vancouver rafters.
That said, there seems to be a lot of excitement around town, and rightfully so. And there seem to be some high expectations around town, and rightfully so. But a lot of people appear to be throwing around phrases like "best Canucks team ever" and "best shot at the Stanley Cup ever."
This, unfortunately, is not the case. I am not saying the Canucks can't go all the way this year. But to say that this team is better than the Canucks squads that stepped onto the ice from 1991-1994 is looking at the present lineup with rose-colored glasses.
GOALTENDING
Even if you give Roberto Luongo a slight edge over
Kirk McLean at that time (and that is not a given, as McLean, like Luongo was a Vezina finalist during this period) then you are left comparing the skaters. And this year's team doesn't fare all that well against early nineties Canucks.
TOP LINE FORWARDS
The Sedin twins would just barely edge out the combination of
Cliff Ronning and Geoff Courtnall, and this would be literally by a hair.
That leaves your next two big name forwards, Mats Sundin and Pavol Demitra (today) to be balanced against
Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure, both in their prime. While Sundin and Demitra have been stepping up their game somewhat as of late, this is an enormous and overwhelming victory for Linden and Bure. Are you telling me you wouldn't trade today's Sundin and Demitra for 1993's Linden and Bure? If you would, send me a note and we'll see what other kind of deals we can work out.
Of course, overlooking Ryan Kesler and
Alex Burrows would be a huge mistake. So we could pit them against the next two early nineties Canucks on the depth chart, maybe Murray Craven and Greg Adams (or Petr Nedved up until 1993). Maybe the gritty Sergio Momesso? For 1991-92, another division championship season, we also had Igor Larionov. Either way, I am willing to give it to Kesler and Burrows by a hair, but if you think the margin is any greater than that, you weren't paying attention to Greg Adams or Murray Craven when they were playing.
CHECKING FORWARDS and ROLE PLAYERS
This years forward lineup drops off fairly steeply after this group. You have your Wellwoods and Berniers. The early nineties had Martin Gelinas (probably a better corollary for Burrows or Kesler) or Anatoli Semenov or a fading Jimmy Carson / Jim Sandlak / Tom Fergus. I'd give the edge here to the early nineties, but you can call it a wash again if you like.
GOON SQUAD
Today for enforcement, we have the capable Darcy Hordichuk. In the early nineties, we had the best in the game, Gino Odjick. Edge, Gino. In fact, I would put Sergio Momesso on par with Hordicuk in this regard, and I would also put Tim Hunter well ahead. The 1994 Canucks were a
tough team.
DEFENSEMEN
And finally, there is the defense corps.
Today's top six: Willie Mitchell, Mattias Ohlund, Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa, Alexander Edler and Shane O'Brien.
This is a pretty solid top six, and a
very solid top four.
But when you look at the top six for 1993-94: Jyrki Lumme, Jeff Brown,
Dave Babych, Gerald Diduck, Dana Murzyn and whoever we pick as #6 (Jiri Slegr, Adrien Plavsic, Brian Glynn, Bret Hedican or Robert Dirk -- probably Hedican) you are left with not only a stronger roster from top to bottom, but a
more balanced blueline with three very capable offensive defenseman in Lumme, Brown and Babych. And there is pretty much NHL depth all the way down to the tenth D.
THE VERDICT
Anyway, this year's Canucks are a pleasant surprise and a good reason for hope...
But don't sell short the great teams of the past.
