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On one hand, Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke has assembled a very nice group of talented players on a limited budget and his team should again challenge for 100 points. On the other hand, Burke keeps coming up one step short of letting his team go for it in the face of a very heated conference race.

PROJECTED CONFERENCE FINISH. . . 5th

STRENGTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The best line in hockey last season. Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison combined for 121 goals last year. They are a force to contend with 5-on-5 and helped the Canucks lead the NHL in power-play goals. WEAKNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When you talk great young goalies in the NHL, not many will hold Dan Cloutier up as a example. He collapsed in the playoffs last season, losing 7-2, 5-2 and 4-1 games to Minnesota, including twice at home. That cast doubt on the role of Cloutier as a playoff winner. BEST OFFSEASON MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . The acquisition of goalie Johan Hedberg was the smartest thing GM Brian Burke could do. Now, he has a backup who can put legitimate pressure on Cloutier during the regular season WORST OFFSEASON MOVE . . . . . . . . . Trent Klatt would have been more than happy to stay for a small raise, but the Canucks decided to nickel and dime him. This move could backfire not only on the ice but in the locker room, where Klatt was a respected leader. PLAYER TO WATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NHL insiders believe Bertuzzi will continue to ride the scale of improvement that has him scoring 55, 85 and 97 points in the past three seasons. Yet you have to wonder if Bertuzzi can do more or if he's in for a little slide back this year. FANTASY FIX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniel Sedin: The Sedin twins remain the players to watch in Vancouver, although fantasy owners are running out of patience with the duo. While teammates Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund have emerged as fantasy stars, the Sedins remain statistically stuck in neutral. Daniel takes more shots than his brother, and goals are the currency of the realm in fantasy hockey. -- Graham Hays AT A GLANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2003-04: Schedule | Roster 2002-03: Schedule/Results | Stats

So what does it all mean?

Maybe that Canucks fans are simply going to have to wait for the new CBA to be signed before they can entertain real dreams of winning a Stanley Cup.

Burke is one of the most ardent backers of frugal spending in the NHL and will likely bring team payroll in at $36 or $37 million this season. But you have to wonder what would happen if he would just take a few fliers the way that Anaheim has. By adding Sandis Ozolinsh and Adam Oates and trading for Petr Sykora, the Ducks spent some money. But they also put their rebuilding plan on the fast-track.

Burke had the chance to do that this summer when key players such as Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Sergei Fedorov, Derian Hatcher and Greg deVries were available. Heck, he could have just spent a little extra and kept Trent Klatt. That would have been a good first step. Instead, Burke took a chance on cheaper free agents in Magnus Arvedsson ($1.5 million) and Brad May ($500,000), and brought in Jiri Slegr on defense.

The moves are solid and all bargains, but the wonder is whether they are the right moves to make the team better. Actually, we should rephrase that: they appear to be the right moves to make the team better, but are they the moves to push the Canucks over the top?

Early indications are they are not. And that's fine if you don't mind waiting for a few years while NHL suits hammer out a salary cap or luxury tax.

The Canucks finished second only to Detroit in regular-season goal-scoring race (269 to 264) and appear to have the forward skill to improve on that. Obviously, the focus of everything is the top line of Markus Naslund (48-56-104), Brendan Morrison (25-46-71) and Todd Bertuzzi (46-51-97). They have the perfect mix of speed, skill and power and should be good for years to come (assuming Bertuzzi doesn't become an unrestricted free agent under the new CBA).

The room for improvement has to come from below, where twins Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin have been living on potential for three seasons and where veteran Trevor Linden appears to be aging faster than his 33 years. The addition of Arvedsson should help get a little more offense from the checking line, but there is not a whole lot of goal-scoring at the bottom of the lineup.

This team could try to rely on veterans like Mike Keane or it could let the kids come in. Brandon Reid, Jason King, Zenith Komarniski and Kiril Koltsov are all knocking on the door. The question is will the Canucks let them in.

Count on the power play to once again be impressive. It ranked third in the NHL last season at 20.8 percent and led all NHL teams with 87 goals. The top three players are obviously key, but defenseman Ed Jovanovski had 40 assists last season and helps quarterback the potent unit.

Personnel-wise, the Canucks are pretty decent. Jovanovski is a physical player with above-average skill. Once an enigma in the younger stages of his career, he has turned into a confident veteran around which the Canucks have built their blue line.

Mattias Ohlund is underrated. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder is offensively talented and also is responsible defensively. Sami Salo (6-3, 215) and Marek Malik (6-5, 215) add more size, and Brent Sopel, Bryan Allen and Jiri Slegr offer decent depth.

Still, the Canucks don't play great defense. That' probably because it's not something coach Marc Crawford has stressed over the years. A fan of free-wheeling hockey, Crawford allows his defensemen to roam the ice and take off when they feel they have good opportunities. That's fun to watch, but it has made it very difficult for the Canucks to win in the playoffs. If Cloutier or Hedberg really step it up, that might be all the defense the team needs. Then again, if Crawford stressed better team defense, maybe his goalies wouldn't look so shell-shocked.

The penalty kill has been OK, but it reflects the philosophy of the organization. It allowed 62 goals last season (ranking 15th in the league) but balanced that out by scoring 12 times short-handed.

Even on the penalty kill, this team seems to be thinking offense.

Figuring out Cloutier is a little tricky right now. He's only 27, but he's spent most of the last six seasons in the NHL and really should be ready to be considered a top-level No. 1 goalie. His numbers say he's nowhere close (2.43 GAA, 2.43, 2.42 over the past three seasons).

What's more, he was downright scary in the playoffs. He was in net when the Canucks came back from a 3-1 series deficit in the first round against St. Louis, but he had a bad giveaway in Game 5 and he almost blew a 4-1 third period lead in Game 6. Then, after Vancouver grabbed a 3-1 series lead against Minnesota, Cloutier was part of a collapse that allowed the Wild to score 16 goals in three games. The concern over his mental toughness was maybe highest in Game 6 when he was obviously affected by the chants of "sieve, sieve, sieve," by the crowd in Minnesota. Bottom line, a goalie has to eat that up.

Maybe Cloutier will this year. Maybe he learned from the experience and will be pushed by new backup Johan Hedberg. Maybe the pressure will bring out the best in him.

The problem is, it hasn't before.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.