5 Reasons This Could Be Vancouver's Last Shot At A Stanley Cup

The Vancouver Canucks have visited the final series of the Playoff three times, being swept in 1982, and going to the 7th game in 1994 and 2011. After their first appearance they struggled to make the playoffs in the years that followed, facing early elimination if they did. A year after their 1994 run they moved out of the storied Pacific Coliseum into G.M. Place (now Rogers Arena) the team faced a steep decline for a number of years until the turn of the century. At the beginning of 1999 Pavel Bure, one of the key factors in the 1994 run, was traded to Florida for Ed Jovonovski, and two first draft picks that then GM Brian Burke made sure were consecutive in order to draft The Sedin Twins. The trio joined the likes of Brendan Morrison and Mattias Ohlund to form a younger newer Vancouver Canucks.

For the next 8 years the team would struggle to get past the second round of the playoffs, though being consistent in making the post-season. After the retirement of Marcus Naslund, the moment in time where Roberto Luongo captained the Canucks began under GM Mike Gillis for two seasons, until Henrik Sedin became captain. It was this season that the Vancouver Canucks clinched the West Conference for the first time in franchise history, and later the President's Trophy, awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the year, as well as breaking several other franchise records. This was to be the third season that the Vancouver Canucks were in the Finals, and the second time where they were one win away from securing it.

The Vancouver Canucks have been eliminated in the first round in their last two playoff appearances since. History has shown that there has been a sharp decline in the team for years once they have come so close as to have the Stanley Cup in the same building as them. Unlike the previous attempts however, for the reasons I have mentioned above this is a team at the end of an era, the fading shadow of the team repackaged after the decline in the 90's. Here are five reasons, in no particular order, that this could be the last chance this team has of winning the Stanley Cup before the inevitable ice age.