Every Monday at 9:00 AM during the playoffs we are going to ask Dan “Murph” Murphy Host of the Canucks a couple of questions recapping the past week of Canuck action and to take a look into the next week. If you have a question you want us to ask, comment on this post or follow him here on Twitter. Here are this Monday’s questions:
Cactus Club: Canucks draw the Kings for the first round. They won season series 3-1, but got blown out in the meeting on April. In your opinion is this favorable for the Canucks?
Murph: I personally like this match-up for the Canucks. In fact, other than the Avalanche, I think the Kings were the best first round opponent the Canucks could have drawn. BUT – thats not to say it is going to be an easy series for Vancouver at all. Sure the Canucks won the season series, however people should remember that it probably should have ended two games a piece as the Canucks had no business winning back on October 29th. That was the game Aaron Rome was used as a shutdown forward on Anze Kopitar and somehow the Canucks managed to squeek out an ugly 2-1 shootout win. Still, the Kings are a fairly young squad with an untested goaltender and I believe the Canucks will prevail in six games.
Cactus Club: It feels like alot of our defence is injured (e.g. Mitchell, OB, Salo, Rome etc). What does the Canucks Defence picture look like? Who will be ready for Game 1?
Murph: Who would have thought that depth on defence would be the Canucks biggest problem heading into the playoffs. I mean there were nine defenceman (Willie Mitchell, Sami Salo, Aaron Rome, Shane O’Brien, Lawrence Nycholat, Brad Lukowich, Matheiu Schneider, Mike Funk and Nathan McIver) at training camp who were unavailable to the club for game 82. That said, Salo and O’Brien should be ready to play when things get going on Thursday. Not having Mitchell is a huge blow for the Canucks and right now he doesn’t look to be close to returning from a concussion. So an injury to either Salo or Christian Ehrhoff at this point would likely put an end to any hope of a long run.
Cactus Club: The Kings are young and do not have a lot of post-season experience. What weakness in the Kings will the Canucks need to exploit?
Murph: The Kings may be young, and yes, they don’t have a ton of post season experience but their young guys do have enough NHL experience to not be overwhelmed by the situation. Drew Doughty is a beast and he proved he could be handle big time pressure at the Olympics. Ditto for Jack Johnson. And remember what I said about the Canucks’ chances if Salo or Ehrhoff go down? Well, Dustin Brown is the guy the Canucks should fear as he is probably the best forechecker and bodychecker in the game. If there is a weakness with the Kings I would say it has to be in goal. I know Jonathan Quick had a great season but I don’t think he can “out-goalie” Roberto Luongo and the Canucks scoring depth will eventually wear him down.
There you have the inside scoop. Tune in next Monday for more Monday’s with Murph!
Have a question you’d like answered for next week? Comment Below.