from Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province,

The team looks more skilled, though it does appears to be lacking speed and size. No one will have any grasp on what that equation really means until the Canucks return from their three-game road trip which ends in Denver next week.

You see, it’s been 10 years since back-to-back Ws against Alberta teams meant, well, anything and that hasn’t changed.

What has changed in Vancouver, however, is the feeling the Canucks get when the team gets a game to a shootout. That awful, sinking feeling. Henrik Sedin called it “dread” and it’s been around for a couple of years, exacerbated last season by a coach who was convinced you couldn’t train for a skills competition. Imagine that.

“That’s the way it was sometimes, dread,” Henrik said.

“I think a lot of that goes into how you’re playing the game. If you don’t have confidence during the game, you won’t have any in the shootout.

“So much of it is mental.”

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