Last year it was almost laughable at just how much the Canucks were accomplishing while being so far under the salary cap.  Even with the hit that they took for paying Mats Sundin, they still had the bucks to go out and buy a bunch of players if they had felt so inclined.

This year?  Not so much.  Right now, the Sedins and Roberto Luongo are taking up more than a third of the total payroll for the upcoming season.  Alex Burrows shows no signs of not being worth the money that they’ve now signed him for.  But you’d better believe that Willie Mitchell and Ryan Kesler are paying attention.  And they’ve just replaced 34 year old Mathias Ohlund with *40 year old* Mathieu Schneider.

I sure hope I’m wrong, but a couple of long-term injuries could quite easily wipe out a season due to the lack of room that they have under the cap.  And Luongo isn’t going to be any cheaper next year.  If the Canucks don’t sign him by his imposed deadline on the 13th of September, it’ll be hard to keep him here for the balance of this season, let alone next year.

It’s been shown that every year that the Winter Olympics have been held in North America, that the closest NHL team to the host city has won the Stanley Cup either the year before, the year of, or the year after the Olympics.  Even in years like 1960 (Squaw Valley, CA).  The NHL team closest to California at the time, won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1961 – the Chicago Blackhawks.  And uh, Canucks fans might have heard about this, um, tournament, that’s taking place at the Garage in February.

They might not get another shot in 2010-11 if the team falls apart due to salary cap issues, though.  This might be the one and only chance for the next few years.  Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want that to be the case.

They just need to find a way to not run up against the same issues Calgary did late last season – not even being able to skate the full roster during games due to salary cap issues.

A solution needs to be found, Mr. Gillis.

It’s kind of surprising just how much stuff has been posted around the various Canucks blogs over the last little while.  Some has been better than others (as is always the case), but it’s great to see that most Canucks blogs don’t just shutter themselves for the summer (as I admit to doing).

So after getting the new theme active (hey, it’s been 3 frigging years with the last one), I decided it was time to have a look around and see what kind of stuff the neighbours have been posting about.

• Theo Fleury a Canuck?  (Nucks Misconduct) – Oh for the love of God, no….please no.
• Canucks History: 1994 – the Courtnal Goal (Nucks Misconduct) – I remember this like it was yesterday.  One of the best moments in Canucks history.
• In Vancouver: Luongo Talk (Canucks and Beyond)
• A Mid-Summer Musing (Canucks Corner)