The Vancouver Canucks won the Presidents Trophy, but were quickly eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Los Angeles Kings. Off-Season Game Plan examines a Canucks team that has registered 100 points or more in seven of the last nine seasons, but remains in the hunt for the franchises first Stanley Cup. When the Canucks made it to Game Seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, it was a heartbreaking defeat, to come so close to the ultimate goal, but the challenge for any Cup finalist is daunting: getting revved up for another season after coming so close the year before. In the Canucks case, its not unreasonable to start wondering whether their championship window is starting to close, even a little bit. The Sedins will be 32 by the time next season starts, Ryan Kesler is enduring another summer of rehabilitation after surgery and Roberto Luongo appears to be on his way out of town. These are all reasons to be concerned about the Canucks, but not unduly so. The Sedins have been among the games best scorers in recent seasons and that should continue. Even if they lose some ground, its hard to imagine a steep drop. The anticipated Roberto Luongo trade poses challenges, but could also provide opportunities. If the Canucks make a deal for Luongo, its likely going to improve their long-term salary cap situation and as long as Cory Schneider can handle the No. 1 job, there may not be a huge letdown in goal (to be fair, its unlikely that the Canucks will have a backup goaltender next season that is as good as Schneider has been the past two seasons in that role). When it comes Kesler, however, there is no easy fix. Hes not going to be ready for the start of next season and hes been such an integral part of the Canucks success in recent years that it will be hard for Vancouver to replace him while hes out or, worse, make up for lost production if hes not the same player post-surgery. In the larger picture, the Canucks concerns are the concerns of a Cup contender, though. Sure, they need their best players healthy and could use an upgrade on the blueline, maybe a quality forward or two to fill out the lineup but, presuming the Canucks are active this summer, they are going to be expected to contend for a championship again next season. Being an annual Cup contender cant be taken for granted, especially after getting bounced in the first round, so a sense of urgency should be at hand because that window cant stay open forever. The TSN.ca Rating is an efficiency rating based on per-game statistics including goals and assists -- weighted for strength (ie. power play, even, shorthanded) -- plus-minus, hits, blocked shots, giveaways, takeaways, penalty differential and faceoffs. (Stats are listed in this format: G-A-PTS, +/-, PIM, GP). Generally, a replacement-level player is around a 60, a top six forward and top four defenceman will be 70-plus and the biggest stars will be over 80. Evgeni Malkin finished at the top of the regular season ratings with a 93.12. Salary cap information all comes from the indispensable www.capgeek.com. GM/COACHMike Gillis/Alain Vigneault Returning Forwards Player Rating GP G A PTS +/- Cap Hit Daniel Sedin 77.85 72 30 37 67 +16 $6.1M Henrik Sedin 73.63 82 14 67 81 +23 $6.1M Alex Burrows 73.09 80 28 24 52 +24 $2.0M Ryan Kesler 72.25 77 22 27 49 +11 $5.0M Chris Higgins 70.23 71 18 25 43 +11 $1.9M Jannik Hansen 66.55 82 16 23 39 +18 $1.35M David Booth 65.41 62 16 14 30 -5 $4.25M Maxim Lapierre 59.26 82 9 10 19 -3 $1.0M Zack Kassian 57.66 44 4 6 10 -2 $870K Manny Malhotra 56.53 78 7 11 18 -11 $2.5M Free Agent Forwards Player Rating GP G A PTS +/- Class 11-12 Cap Hit Mason Raymond 63.66 55 10 10 20 +4 RFA $2.55M Andrew Ebbett 62.88 18 5 1 6 +2 UFA $525K Byron Bitz 62.69 10 1 3 4 +2 UFA $700K Samuel Pahlsson 58.30 80 4 13 17 -2 UFA $2.625M Dale Weise 54.92 68 4 4 8 -1 RFA $605K Aaron Volpatti 52.85 23 1 0 1 -2 UFA $612.5K Although 67 points last season was his lowest total since 2003-2004, Daniel Sedin is still one of the games elite scoring wingers and his absence from the lineup (thanks to a concussion suffered late in the season after an elbow to the head by Duncan Keith) was a factor early in the Canucks first-round loss. Henrik Sedin led the league in assists for the third straight season and hes the only player in the league to have scored at least 80 points in each of the last four seasons. The Sedin Twins get to start a disproportionate number of their shifts in the offensive zone (www.behindthenet.ca), but thats intelligent use of two of the games best players. Over the last four seasons, there is one other player (Anaheims Corey Perry) that has scored at least 110 goals and registered 400 penalty minutes, like Alex Burrows has for the Canucks. Certainly, Burrows benefits from spending much of his time on the Sedins wing but, as an agitator who does most of his damage without the benefit of first unit power play time, Burrows deserves credit for developing into such a productive player. Ryan Kesler was ready to go remarkably early in the season after off-season hip surgery but, not surprisingly, his production was down. After slumping late (no goals, two assists in his last 12 games), Kesler finished with 49 points, his lowest total since 2007-2008. This offseason, Kesler had shoulder surgery and doesnt figure to be ready for the start of the 2012-2013 season as a result. 27-year