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...that Francesco Aquilini is watching the Ducks these days and cursing John McCaw under his breath?

Yes, the Ducks have an outstanding team - but they have also drafted very well over he past few years, and are currently seeing the results.

Much of that team was in place before Burke arrived in Anaheim. Then again, having a Niedermeyer and a Pronger certainly doesn't hurt!

Much of that team was in place before Burke arrived in Anaheim

a lot of teams have most of the talent in place, it is getting the final pieces that create a championship team that is the challenge, and so far, Burke seems to have done that.

KnowItAll wrote:

Much of that team was in place before Burke arrived in Anaheim

a lot of teams have most of the talent in place, it is getting the final pieces that create a championship team that is the challenge, and so far, Burke seems to have done that.

Yup. Case in point: Pittsburgh, who on paper SHOULD have been a lot better than they are for years now, especially last year, when they got Crosby, who finished 6th overall in points, yet the team finished LAST in the east and second-last in the league with only 58 points.

They're running 15-11-5 right now, 6th in the east, largely thanks to the fact that Sid is the league's scoring leader by a fair margin (7 points up on Jagr now, 51 points in 31 games!), but this year they've also added Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Mark Recchi, and of course, Jarko Ruutu... and they're starting to look like contenders.

Burke has done well with his young guys playing over their heads and the adding of Pronger and Niedermeyer - not to forget how well Teemu Salanne is playing for his meagre $1 million.
The coaching choice was brilliant. Burke will enjoy great success there until those players demand the big bucks and he can't afford them all which is to some extent what is happening to the Canucks. They need their young guys to do something like Kesler. They needed to get rid of Bertuzzi and reconstruct or at least revise their core.

The draft is always a crap shoot and no team in the NHL lays a claim to perfection in that area.

I am still not sure the Canucks have the right core for a successful team and to some extent it is now unclear what they are trying to do with their team. I know that last year the team had moments of brilliance and the core couldn't be dumped entirely but more of that has to change in my view. It is far less the draft than the core.

Toppy Vann wrote:Burke has done well with his young guys playing over their heads and the adding of Pronger and Niedermeyer - not to forget how well Teemu Salanne is playing for his meagre $1 million.

Burke did a great job building up the Canucks team that he did. It was unfortunate that outside events intruded on the success of that team.

The draft is always a crap shoot and no team in the NHL lays a claim to perfection in that area.

And sometimes ya just luck out... Kevin Bieksa was a fifth-round pick!

Pronger and Niedermayer must be taking about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the Ducks cap space.

They are sacrificing a lot up front and somewhat in goal in order to have two Norris Trophy winners in their lineup. Granted, J-S Giguere led the Ducks to a Cup appearance and Ilya Brzygalov (sp) seem to be working well together. As for their forwards, their core is young and for the most part untested. It's all fine and dandy to tear it up in the regular season, but they'll be leaning rather hard on Niedermayer and Pronger come the playoffs.

As for Bieksa, he spent numerous years in the AHL before making the jump. The point is, first round picks are the biggest crapshoots. You could end up with a Jason Herter or a Sidney Crosby.

The Penguins would've done a lot better with semi-decent goaltending. Due respect, Marc-Andre Fleury received the same initiation as Rick Dipietro. Baptism by fire.

And sometimes your hot-shot rookies and top picks look good off the top and then quickly fizzle into obscurity. Granted, it's too soon to make that determination on, say, Cam Ward, who had a big part in stealing Carolina the Cup last year and is so far 13-8-3 with 2.98/.893 stats this year... will he go on to a long career as an elite multi-Cup-winning goaltender, or was last year just a fluke for him?

I wouldn't call Ward's play "stealing" the Cup. I think his stats reflect the .500 season everyone except the Sabres are having this year.

Canuck_4_Life wrote:Pronger and Niedermayer must be taking about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the Ducks cap space.

As the Canucks are doing with Luongo and Naslund.....who would you rather have?

Don't worry.... Just like a death and taxes, a Brian Burke led team choking in the playoffs will continue to be one of life's gurantees. J-S Giguire will soon be inconsistent again.

Soundy wrote: Burke did a great job building up the Canucks team that he did. It was unfortunate that outside events intruded on the success of that team.

Only problem is that his team can't win in the playoffs.