It's unorthodox and I love it.

On Tuesday the Vancouver Canucks named goaltender Roberto Luongo as their new captain. The move came as a bit of a shocker as NHL rule 14.D states that goalies can't actually serve as captains, Louie won't actually be wearing the "C" on his jersey though, the Canucks will opt to have three alternate captains instead, namely Ryan Kesler, Willie Mitchell and Mattias Ohlund.

Coach Alain Vigneault and GM Mike Gillis came to the decision that Luongo was the man for the job in August and Vigeault approached Luongo with the proposition in early September; with the announcement weeks of speculation come to an end on the West Coast.

It's a bit of a rare move, especially when everyone expected Mitchell to be named captain, but it's a bold way to approach things and I think Luongo was a prime candidate for the position. Mitchell was thought to be the clear favorite because he leaves it all on the ice every shift and plays with heart and courage with regularity, yet Roberto is a game-breaker, with one stacking of the pads he has the ability to shift the momentum of the game in Vancouver's favor. That's clearly not the same as scoring the winning goal or delivering a big hit to spark the offense, but Luongo has been taking this team under his wing for two seasons now so he deserves the invisible C.

The logistics of the captaincy are simple, Luongo is the captain, he's the outright face of the franchise, the man the media will be hunting down if this upcoming season takes some turns for the worse, while Ohlund, the longest serving member of the Canucks, will take all the special ceremonial face-offs and whatnot, and Mitchell will be the one in the refs ear when the zebra either chokes on or is liberal with his whistle.

Really Vancouver is getting the best of both worlds, Louie is the clear-cut captain, but he's sharing the duties and therefore also some of the burden. I also love that Kesler became as assistant captain, he's part of the youth movement that the Canucks are featuring and after his breakout season last year and just overall gritty play, he deserves it.

Today's Vancouver Canucks go left when everyone else goes right, they swim against the current instead of with it and they name a goalies as captains. Stranger things have happened in the NHL, but I think this is a bold move by the team that will pay dividends down the road.

I can't say much about Friday nights game as I missed the 5-0 loss to the Habs, but I did manage to catch the Saturday night 3-1 victory.

The highlights that I did see of the Friday night game showed a Montreal powerplay that still looks deadly.  Barring injuries, the Habs should be very strong and near the top of the East. Saturday night the Habs faced pretty much our full squad (minus Fisher and Vermette) and still did fairly well consdering we faced their 3rd and 4th string goalies while the CASH line was reunited several times through the game.

Foligno had a standout game on Saturday night, just missing on a breakaway goal after completely undressing Denis before sliding a bobbling puck just wide of the post.  Then he took a nice feed from Winchester to score his first of the preseason.  Nice play by Winchester to take the hit to make the pass.  The banger line of Bass, Ruutu and Neil looked very good.  They brought lots of energy and provided a goal when Neil fired the 3-1 marker past Denis in the second frame (his 3rd goal in 4 games).

Alfie scored the other Sens goal on a nice back hand on a breakaway.

So it's off to Sweden for an exhibition game against Alfie's former team (Frolund).

I asked this in an earlier post, but does anyone know if a team has had to face the previous season's Stanley Cup finalists in 3 straight games to start the season?  What's up with that?! Here's hoping the Penguins and Red Wings are both suffering a bit of that infamous Stanley Cup hangover, or we could be looking at an 0-3 start.  I believe we can split the games with Pittsburgh, but I'm not overly confident against the Wings. 

Some positives in what I've seen so far.  Neil is looking more like the player from 2 years ago instead of the version we got last year.  Foligno seems to have made some strides coming into his second season with the team.  Nick put up 9 points in 45 games last year and I can totally see him putting up 30+ points if he sticks with the team.  If we can get a decent second line going, having Fisher with Neil and Ruutu would be one of hell of a tough line to play against!

Regarding our revamped defensive squad... I don't see much chance for an improved PP if Kuba's running it.  I'll agree with P.M. that we'll be trading a forward for a powerplay quarterback if things don't improve.

GO SENS GO!

As some of you have noticed, the Six Pack has a relaunched on new software and has some new features.

The old software was ancient and so open to spam every time you logged on someone was trying to bait you into clicking for porn, so don't hate on it. The new comment captcha may be an annoying little change, but if you create a profile you won't ever see it. Creating a profile also gives you a bio, allows you to upload an avatar and add friends.

In the meantime if you're using a blog reader and have noticed you're not receiving posts anymore, be sure to subscribe to our new RSS feed or bookmark the new URL.

So what are your expectations for the Maple Leafs this year? Will they finish in the bottom five of the league and have a shot at the #1 pick? Will they surprise and make the playoffs? Or will they be somewhere in between? My guess is that they’ll once again, be stuck in mediocrity.

They don’t have enough developed talent to make the playoffs. However, I don’t think that they’re going to be bottom feeders either. Ron Wilson and Vesa Toskala just won’t allow that.

I just find it hard to imagine that they’ll be any worse than last year. The additions of Mayers, Hollweg, Hagman and Finger will make this team a lot tougher to play against. These are guys that will stick up for their teammates and make everyone compete just a little harder. This was a key element missing from last season’s team.

Ron Wilson will implement his system, improve the special teams and make every player accountable on a nightly basis. Vesa Toskala will keep the Leafs in most games and even steal a handful of wins.

Don't get me wrong, some nights they’ll look like a last place team, but on other nights, they’ll surprise us and look like a solid team. Just don’t be shocked when we end up 9^th or 10^th again.

Many people have the Vancouver Canucks pegged at somewhat of an anomaly this season. Critics and prognosticators alike aren't sure what to make of the team's off-season moves and where they'll finish in the standings.

A solid rookie camp and stellar main camp has brought optimism back to the West Coast though. Fans are slowly getting back on board with the team that crashed and burned hard just over 172 days ago.

There are questions for concern, there's no doubt about that, but find me a team other than Detroit that doesn't anything to worry about this season. A great start to the pre-season has helped the Canucks answer a few of their questions. This is what I've put together so far:

Steve Bernier will be a force upfront for the Canucks.

He was all over the ice in his debut in Vancouver two nights ago, he was gritty and tough and everywhere. He was involved in five or six scrums, face washing guys and dishing out the talk as well as he took it. He lost his helmet three times throughout the game because he was getting under Edmonton's skin so bad, it was an impressive debut to say the least.

He skated on a line with the Twins yesterday during practice and the prospect of him being that type of player while with Daniel and Henrik is an exciting one. I'll bet his style of play is just what the Sedins have been looking for.

Darcy Hordichuk is the new black

While Bernier seems to add grit here and there, Hordichuk eats it for breakfast. This guys is as reckless and scrappy as they come, but he isn't just a brainless thug, he's smart with the puck and knows how to pull the trigger. He scored in Vancouver's 2-1 win over Edmonton, which any player would be thrilled about, yet afterwards he was disappointed he didn't get to drop the gloves and dance with anyone. 

His high-energy style of play will be a welcomed addition to the lineup and fans at GM Place will be chanting his name in unison game after game after game...you wait and see.

The Young Guns are battling it out

The Canucks aren't fully handing the team over to the crop of youngsters waiting in the wings, but there are definitely a spot or two to be won if they can impress. Everyone from Cody Hodgson and Michael Grabner to Jannik Hansen and Dan Gendur have impressed so far. Gendur scored to force overtime and eventually a shootout in Vancouver's first pre-season game (a 4-3 win), while Grabner and Hansen hooked up to score the game winner in their 2-1 win a night later. 

Hodgson hasn't found the scoresheet yet but after a slow first period in his NHL debut, he impressed in the second and third, right now I think he could handle playing on Vancouver's fourth line. It would provide them with some young energy and hopefully scoring, while he slowly adjusts to the game at the NHL level.

We're only two games into the pre-season, there are at least 87 games left this season for the Canucks so it's way too early to just to any conclusions, but the team looks good and I don't expect things to be as bleak for Vancouver as everyone else does.