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The Vancouver Canucks play their first game on Oct. 2 but that still leaves another week to discuss Nikolay Goldobin’s role with the team. If that isn’t enough to get you excited, here are the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.

• At the beginning of each season, every NHL teams faces five critical questions which will determine the failure or success of their campaign.

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Now, if you’ve followed the Canucks over the past number of years, you’re aware the issues facing their team weren’t questions so much as wild fantasies which had no basis in reality.

Remember those years? Can Markus Granlund score 25 goals this season? Is this the year Ben Hutton establishes himself as a bona fide top-four defenceman in the NHL? Can Erik Gudbranson solidify the blue-line? Can Sam Gagner give the Canucks a power play?

Those questions still exist for the Canucks. But this season, they’ve changed. Now it seems the answers are within the realm of possibility. Now it doesn’t all seem so far-fetched.