The 2011 NHL season has ended, with the Boston Bruins crowned champions after Wednesday night’s seventh game win over the Canucks. And with the draft just a week away, it feels like the league has already moved into off-season mode.

But before we set our sights on the road to the 2011-12 season, let’s take a moment for a look back at this year’s Stanley Cup final. Here’s a period-by-period review of one of the most memorable series in a generation.

GAME 1

First period

In an effort to appeal to a younger demographic, the NHL announces that the role of the brooding but misunderstood vampire will be played by Alex Burrows.

Second period

As a neutral fan, this is the last time you feel vaguely comfortable with the idea that one of these teams will win the Stanley Cup.

Third period

Raffi Torres fools the Bruins’ defence to score the game-winning goal by using a trick play he calls: “Shoot the puck like a normal player instead of launching your elbow into somebody’s temple.”

GAME 2

First period

Manny Malhotra makes an emotional return to the lineup wearing a full face shield, which he will later admit is just an attempt to keep Brad Marchand from yapping in his ear all game.

Second period

In an embarrassing coincidence, the entire 20-minute period is played without a whistle after all 40 players drop to the ice and roll around to draw a penalty simultaneously.

Third period

The Canucks tie the game by scoring their third goal of the series, then quickly remind themselves to slow down and not use up the remaining five too quickly.

Overtime

Somewhere in the building, a Canucks fan who spent $2,000 on tickets returns to his seat 11 seconds late and asks “So, did I miss anything?”

GAME 3

First period

Aaron Rome catches Nathan Horton admiring his pass and delivers a textbook open-ice check, but the anti-Canucks media go and make a big deal out of it being a “late hit” just because the pass was from the opening shift of Game 2.

Second period

The Bruins realize that since the Canucks are apparently planning to hit them late whenever they pass, it would be safer to just shoot the puck into the net every time they touch it instead.

Third period

In hindsight, Bruins coach Claude Julien admits he probably shouldn’t have let Bill Belichick talk him into going for a two-point conversion.

GAME 4

First period Bruins legend Bobby Orr takes part in the pre-game ceremony, fires up the crowd, and then ruins the good vibe by asking if there’s any chance he could be traded to Colorado.

Second period

The TD Gardens maintenance guy starts to worry that he really should have replaced the bulb in the goal light behind Roberto Luongo.

Third period

Frustrated Bruins players learn that their advanced scouting report on Cory Schneider is one sentence long and simply reads, “Try to get a penalty shot and make his groin disintegrate so Luongo has to go back in.”

GAME 5

First period

While sitting in his living room enjoying the series on TV, Tomas Kaberle starts to get the nagging feeling that he was supposed to be somewhere this month.

Second period

After demanding during a fiery intermission speech that the slumping Sedin brothers “look yourselves in the mirror,” coach Alain Vigneault realizes that the dressing room doesn’t have a mirror and the two brothers are just sitting across from each other staring creepily.

Third period

Luongo points out that Maxim Lapierre could never have scored that winning goal against him, in the sense that they’re teammates.

GAME 6

First period

Bruins fans are widely criticized for mocking Mason Raymond as he lays on the ice with a fractured vertebrae, but in fairness it’s the first time they’ve accused an opponent of faking a broken back in like two months.

Second period

As he sits on the bench, an embarrassed Luongo begins to realize that the start times listed for the road games in this series are probably in Eastern time.

Third period

Bartenders in Boston start to wonder why customers keep trying to pay for drinks with bloody strips of green spandex.

GAME 7

First period

The Bruins score the opening goal, but after a brief discussion NHL officials decide that they might as well go ahead and play the rest of the game anyway.

Second period

As the Bruins build an insurmountable lead, Ryan Kesler starts to think ahead to which winner-take-all championship game in Vancouver he’d like to lose next.

Third period

As the closing seconds tick down, devastated Canucks players console themselves with the knowledge that at least they can still drive home in their luxury sports cars that they parked on the streets outside the arena.

And now, Vancouver, do you understand why the nation never endorsed or embraced the Canucks as Canada's Team?

Canadians didn't like the team, didn't like the organization and they especially didn't like the fans.

As it worked out, Vancouver's off-the-ice losers did a wonderful job taking the focus off Vancouver's on-the-ice losers. Only positive you can find.

Harsh? To the hockey club, certainly. To the obviously significant percentage of people who poison the population, not a chance.

Regardless, from now until Grey Cup week in Vancouver and beyond to next year's playoffs, we're left to contemplate the mental make-up of a town and a team.

What happened in Vancouver Wednesday in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final cannot be written off as a team simply making it all the way to the last game of the final and having the misfortune of having some bad puck luck and running into a hot goalie and losing it. Not when you are outscored 21-4 in the final five games after surviving similar scares against Chicago and Nashville.

And what happened afterwards, in a riot which ranks in the worst in pro sports history, can't be brushed off as a few bad apples and not real hockey fans.

The Vancouver Canucks are a team with 41 years of failure which is going to have a hard time going forward knowing that their best players, a goalie who is signed through to 2022 and twin talents, back-to-back Art Ross Trophy winners and maybe Hart Trophy winners, can't be counted on in the clutch.

Maybe they fire the coach. Maybe they change the mix to add toughness and get rid of the soccer-style divers, finger-biters and whiners. Maybe they change the numbers so that someday there will be more Canadians on their roster than on every other team they play. Or maybe they do nothing. Maybe they go back and just hope it's not the Boston Bruins in the final the next time or that the attrition takes its toll on the Eastern Conference winner next time. (Odds for next year's Stanley Cup winner by Bodog came out Thursday and listed Vancouver at 5-to-1 favourites to win.)

Whatever they do, it won't change the way the nation views the fans, now.

Of course, it isn't all the fans.

That's what's so sad.

Vancouver wears it because the easiest prediction to make was that there would be a post-game riot, win or lose. And Vancouver wasn't prepared to stop it.

Like the Canucks, who told us again and again that they'd learned their lessons, Vancouver claimed they'd learned theirs from 1994. Neither learned a thing.

It wasn't just the idiots who rioted. Reaction from the exceedingly large lunatic fringe of fans from the other side of the mountains was unbelievable via Twitter, email, etc. throughout the playoffs. Rude. Obnoxious. Begging to be blocked. These are the same people who harbour conspiracy theories, who reportedly threw projectiles at Gary Bettman on the ice during the Stanley Cup presentation and one who shouted out while rioting that "this is all Bettman's fault!"

It ended with Vancouver owner Francesco Aquilini telling multiple members of the media in the Canucks dressing room to go fornicate elsewhere.

The Canucks organization, when reported to be attempting to sell the rights to their Stanley Cup parade telecast after Game 5, added greater numbers to the ABC community.

Not hockey fans? Usually that's the case.

But there were so many Canuck jerseys on the rioters in this one, they're hard to ignore.

And Vancouver is a repeat offender dating back to a Grey Cup riot in the 1960s, the 1994 riot, a riot early in the Olympics and one which seemed ready to break out several other nights, prevented mostly by cutting off liquor store sales downtown.

Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and a city which overall managed to make Canadians very proud in playing host to the Olympics.

I don't know how much money the citizens of Vancouver and British Columbia invested in the Olympics, but they received full value for it in 2010. And then they did this to themselves in 2011 to spoil the image around the world in one ugly night.

You'd love to say that all those volunteers who showed up to clean up the riot scene Thursday morning made up for it all, but they didn't.

It's Vancouver's shame.

Let's pretend you were on a space probe for two months and you returned to earth just as the Stanley Cup final was starting.

In Game 1, you saw a player from one team bite a player from the other team. In Game 2, you saw a player from that same team wave a finger at that same player in a mocking fashion.

In Game 3, you saw another player from that team concuss an opposing player with a late, high hit. The offending player was kicked out of the game and suspended for the duration on the playoffs.

And we're just getting warmed up. In Game 5, one team scored the game-winning goal late in the third period and their goalie said that would have been an easy save for him. While all this was going on, players from one team were diving like Greg Louganis, trying to draw penalties. They were also complaining that the standard for penalties had changed and referees were calling a game which favoured the opposition.

This was part of a league-wide conspiracy. Yes it was.

OK, if you saw all that, what would you conclude about that team? Would you say its likeable? Would you say its mature? Would you say it represents the qualities seen in a champion?

Or would you say exactly the opposite?

Look, we understand the wounds are fresh from the events in and around Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final and we have no desire to further incite Canucks' fans. But this was one of the big storylines to emerge from the final and it raises the question, what does it say about the Western Conference champs?

Beginning about Game 3, the Canucks became the team the hockey world loved to hate and while a lot of that sentiment originated in Boston, it was echoed throughout North America.

The commentary became so widespread, in fact, it can't be dismissed as regional bias or sensationalism. When that many people are seeing and saying the same thing, it could be there's something there.

And that's something which requires a long, hard look by the Canucks and their organization.

If the point needed reinforcing, colleague Terry Jones at the Edmonton Sun weighed in on the subject Friday. Under the headline: This is why Canada rejected the Canucks, Jones noted the Canucks should change their mix to add toughness and get rid of the soccer-style divers, finger-biters and whiners.

Always with the subtle turn of phrase, Mr. Jones.

But they can't hide from this. The Cup final did reveal something that was lacking in the Canucks; some elemental quality which has to do with mental and physical toughness. If you were to sum it up in word it would be maturity and it was conspicuous by its absence in the championship round.

On some level, that's understandable. At the Canucks' post-mortem on Friday, player after player talked about the mental demands of their Cup run and how you can't appreciate the grind until you go through it.

But this was about something else. It was about resolve and resilience and all those things the Canucks talked about having through the regular season but weren't there when they were needed most.

It was also interesting to hear GM Mike Gillis address this subject on Friday. Gillis made two press appearances during the playoffs one during the Chicago series, one before Game 7 in which he questioned the officiating. True, he was a lot more subtle about it than Brian Burke was in '02 but there was no mistaking Gillis's intent.

You're also left to wonder about the message Gillis was sending and what it did for the Canucks' image. You can be sure it didn't win any points with the zebras. As for the Canucks' players, if offered up a ready-made excuse.

Gillis repeated that same theme on Friday but it's what he said later which was notable. While volunteering there are things he'd do differently, he talked about walking a fine line between what you say and what you feel. He also talked about battling for his team every day and, sometimes in the heat of that battle, your judgment is impaired.

It was as close as Gillis will ever come to saying, 'Sorry, I made a mistake,' but it demonstrated an awareness about what happened during the final.

These things generally start at the top and if the GM understands the need for change, it figures the players understand it as well.



Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Wi...#ixzz1PkkA9hvw

RYAN SMYTH TELLS KINGS HE'D PREFER TO REJOIN OILERS


Could Ryan Smyth be returning to the Edmonton Oilers in order to finish his career with the team that selected him in the first round of the 1994 entry draft?

A deal certainly isn't imminent and won't necessarily be an easy transaction for either the Los Angeles Kings or Oilers to close, but sources tell TSN the 35-year-old left winger has indicated to the Kings his preference would be to play next season in Edmonton if a trade can be worked out.

As much as the potential return of Smyth, a.k.a. Captain Canada, to Edmonton might warm the hearts of sentimentalists who so closely identify the mop-haired veteran with the Oiler franchise, there are some practical reasons why it won't be an easy deal to facilitate and there's no guarantee it will happen at all.

For starters, Smyth is an integral part of the Kings' offence. He scored 23 goals and 47 points in 82 games this past season. He's fourth on the team in goals and points and he still averaged 18:02 of icetime per game last season, third most (behind only Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown) amongst L.A. forwards.

In other words, the Kings, who are desperately seeking to upgrade their top-six forward positions, aren't about to give away Smyth for nothing. Yet they also realize market value for a 35-year-old, even one as productive is Smyth, is fairly limited.

Smyth is on the final year of a contract that will pay him $4.5 million this season although the cap hit is $6.25 million. The finances of all of this may also be an issue for the Oilers.

Sources say the Oilers' management team may only be lukewarm to the idea of Smyth returning "home." The reality is that the Oilers are in a major rebuilding phase and going with a youth movement. Adding $4.5 million to the payroll, with a $6.25 million cap hit, for a 35-year-old forward, even one with the local marquee value of Smyth, isn't a slam dunk unless the Oilers can offload some salary.

But financial considerations aside, the Oilers ultimately have to decide whether they want Smyth at this stage of his career. Some believe he's precisely the type of veteran mentor who would do a good job working alongside the Oilers' youngsters. Others aren't so sure of the merits of a potential homecoming.

The Kings and Oilers have not had substantive trade talks by any means, but both organizations are well aware of the existing situation. That is, in a perfect world, Smyth has indicated he would like to return "home" to the Edmonton Oilers.

Where it goes from here, if anywhere, remains to be seen.

NHL SALARY CAP TO INCREASE TO $64 MILLION IN 2011-12 SEASON

With the National Hockey League Entry Draft less than a week away and the potential for trades escalating this week and next with the free agency period looming, the salary cap will be going up by nearly $5 million next season.

Clubs and agents are being told next year's salary cap will be set at an upper limit of $64 million with a floor of $48 million.

During the 2010-11 season, the salary cap had an upper limit of $59.4 million.

The league's cap - entering its seven season under the current collective bargaining agreement - has risen every year since the end of the NHL lockout when the cap was set at $39-million.

On Stamkos...

After talking to more and more people, I have very little doubt Stamkos will either be signed by July 1 or traded to Toronto. I have talked to a dozen or so folks today and they all are saying "You hearing about the Leafs making an offer sheet for Stamkos?"

It's coming. No doubt right now. And if all those people are telling me, surely the Lightning are aware, but will they allow the pressure to force this deal to be done or will they build their future and cut their losses in a trade.

Of course the Leafs are also part of the Flyers/Bryzgalov/Dominos situation as well. If they can't get Stamkos many feel the Leafs will turn to trying to get Jeff Carter.

The report indicates Jagr would also be interested in playing with the Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals or Montreal Canadiens.