Written by Dani Toth | 20 September 2010

Lots of stuff happened in the off season that I didn't cover, but I'm assuming that as an awesome Canucks fan you already know what went down so this is more for me than for you. Nevertheless, here's a little bit of a catchup to start off my season preview.

Who we re-signed?

• Mason Raymond, Jannik Hansen, Tanner Glass, Alexandre Bolduc, Shane O'Brien, Aaron Rome, Cory Schneider

No surprises with any of the players being re-signed really. Mason Raymond's deal at two years for $5.1 million dollars came in just before his arbitration hearing was schedule to take place in Toronto. More than I was hoping for, but good to lock up the progressing winger for another two years. As for Shane O'Brien, well I didn't quite think he'd be back this year, but I'm glad he is nevertheless.

Who we lost?

• Pavol Demitra, Willie Mitchell, Kyle Wellwood, Steve Bernier, Michael Grabner, Andrew Raycroft

Thank f-cking god we are done with Demitra. I feel like he was still in some way tied to Sundin and the big names that Gillis tried to bring in during his first season as GM and I'm glad to be over with that chapter of the book. Bernier is part of that same first year of GMMG, and although we had to trade Grabner in the package as well, I'm glad to be done with Bernier as well. As for Willie Mitchell, with the contract that the Kings offered him, he would have been a fool not to take it. I wish him the best, and know that I'll be back to cursing him as he shuts down our offense in LA.

Click here to read more after the jump...

Who we got?

• Dan Hamhuis
• Keith Ballard
• Manny Malhotra
• Victor Oreskovich
• Jeff Tambellini
• Raffi Torres
• Bill Sweatt
• Joel Perrault

With two strong additions to our blue line, the Canucks have gotten an upgrade to what was a glaring problem in the playoffs last year. Manny was also a good pick up for our 3rd line centre at $7.5 million for 3 years who I remember back when he was in Columbus to be a bit of a Canuck killer.

Who we fired?

• Ryan Walter
• goalie consultant Ian Clark

Ryan Walter and his intermission interviews will not be sorely missed. Jokes about leadership camp will be.

Who we hired?

• Newell Brown as assistant coach
• Roland Melanson as Luongo's new goalie coach

Newell Brown was an assistant coach in Anaheim for five years and take over Ryan Walter's duties of special teams

Who we re-signed?

• Rick Bowness
• Darryl Williams

I'm as surprised as you are that Rick Bowness still has a job.

Name Change

The arena has undergone a name change from GM Place has become the Rogers Arena. This means little to you or me, but perhaps this will mean my cell reception will get better inside of the rink?

So where does all of these changes leave us?

So much talk about how well the Canucks are going to do this season. The Hockey News thinks we'll be the best in the Western Conference and Kesler thinks this could be the Canucks' year. That's a lot of pressure and the season hasn't even begun. Not to get ahead of ourselves when there's still 82 games to play, but for the Canucks the only thing that matters is how they do in the post season.  When you look at what he did during the summer, they all affirm his 'win now' mentality. He went with an aggressive trade at draft day for Ballard, was able to land his man in Hamhuis and picked up a good 3rd line centre. The team looks good this year and has every shot at winning. It's our 40th year anniversary this year, maybe this will be the year?

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