HOCKEY'S HERE: VANCOUVER CANUCKS

It's time to air out your gear, sharpen your skates and tape your stick -- it's hockey season. Sure, your team flat-out ached last season, but there's hope, unless you're an Islanders fan. In that spirit, Out of Left Field offers looks at all 30 NHL teams. Presenting: The Vancouver Canucks.

Last season: 92 points, 4th in Northwest Division; missed playoffs
Coach: Alain Vigneault (1st season with team)
Young guns: The Sedin twins are still just 25 years old, but there's also Taylor Pyatt (yet another young player out of Thunder Bay)
Store this name away: Luc Bourdon
Hey, get a load of the new guys: Roberto Luongo, Willie Mitchell
Blogs (including but not limited to): Canucks Hockey Blog, Stick in Rink
Pop culture moment: Wore perhaps the ugliest sweater in sports throughout the '80s and '90s and against all odds, replaced it with an even uglier sweater. Have wisely worked in the vintage 1970s look over the past few seasons.

Don't mean to harsh your buzz, all you blissed-out British Columbians, but your hockey team is going to eat it big-time this season (one hastens to write "winter," since winter for much B.C. doesn't even qualify as winter by most Canadian standards). Not that you'd care; you've got the mountains, year-round golf and Wreck Beach. The Canucks' date with the Northwest Division basement probably doesn't bother you as much as your parents' threat to cut off your allowance if you don't finish your degree before your 30th birthday. Hey, look on the bright side: It never rains in Vancouver.

Canucks GM Dave Nonis, no dummy, decided to blow the whole shootin' match up and start over after the then-Bertuzzi Apologists missed the playoffs in '05-06. Taking the tack that the Leafs should have employed at the start of last season, the word has been put out that the Canucks are going to struggle this year, in hope of greater glories somewhere down the road. New goalie Roberto Luongo is going to have to tap into his Florida experience of keeping an outgunned, offensively hopeless team in tight games.

There's just too many ifs to contemplate here. What if captain Markus Naslund doesn't rebound from a frustrating '05-06? What if the Sedins continue to play below their potential? What if they can't replace the offence from the blue line that the departed Ed Jovanovski provided? (His replacement, Willie Mitchell, is a stay-at-home guy.) What if Luongo, not that anyone is rooting for this to happen, tweaks a back muscle? The No. 2 goalie, as of this writing, is career minor-leaguer Wade Flaherty.

The Canucks would easily be a playoff team in the East, but with the strides various teams in the conference made, predicting a playoff spot is really Pollyannaish.

Also in Northwest Division: Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild

Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca