Canucks at a glance
	Camp schedule: Sept. 11: Cantan Ice Sports Burnaby 8-Rinks (Burnaby, British Columbia) Coach: Marc Crawford (4th season, 74-88-32-15) General manager: Brian Burke (4th season)

It's been a wonderfully smooth, placid summer on Canada's west coast.

The Canucks are enjoying a Renaissance of sorts at the box office, the season-ticket base up to around 10,500 from 7,500 a year ago; a $12 million (Canadian) loss was a drastic improvement over the average of $30 million in the three previous seasons; captain Markus Naslund's contract was extended for the (comparatively) rock-bottom price of $15 million over three years, locking him up through the 2005-2006 season; and burly winger Todd Bertuzzi, a potential training camp holdout, was re-signed.

Backup goaltender Bob Essensa is the lone absentee from a 2000-01 season in which a younger, cheaper, faster version of the Canucks managed to capture the imagination of the city. If a majority of those 23-, 24- and 25-year-olds continue the upswing on their NHL learning curves, coach Marc Crawford's aim will be to burrow deeper into the playoffs, not merely qualify for a first-round exit.

Grab a goalie: General manager Brian Burke simply must find a veteran goaltender. Somewhere. Somehow. Counting on neophyte No. 1 Dan Cloutier and Alfie Michaud (69 NHL minutes) or Alexander Auld (no NHL minutes) as the last line of defense compromises what's being built. There's a few proven netminders available out there -- Chris Osgood, Stephane Fiset and Jeff Hackett pop immediately to mind -- but Burke seems content to bide his time, looking for a deal where his trading partner agrees to eat some of the goalie's existing contract.

Stop, you're killing me: Statistically, the Canucks were fairly solid across the board last season -- except killing penalties. Only five teams allowed more power-play goals than the 74 Vancouver surrendered. Cleaning up this problem area could move them up a couple of notches in the West.

Canucks 2001-02 preseason schedule
Date	Opponent	Time
Sat., Sept. 15	at Phoenix	Canceled
Mon., Sept. 17	San Jose	10 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 19	Phoenix	10 p.m.
Thu., Sept. 20	at Calgary	9 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 21	at Edmonton	9 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 22	at Edmonton	8 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 23	Edmonton	5 p.m.
Tue., Sept. 25	Calgary	10 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 29	at San Jose	10:30 p.m.