The most glaring issue pertains to Kevin Bieksa and his $3.75 million salary. Bieksa has one-year left on his contract, and looks to be expendable after GM Mike Gillis signed Dan Hamhuis and traded for Keith Ballard this off-season.

Those additions put Bieksa somewhere in either the fourth or fifth spot on defense, and the amount of money doesn’t meet the position if he is playing in the third defensive pairing. Of course, Sami Salo is injured again and the length of his recovery will only complicate the affordability of Bieksa.

With or without Bieksa, the Canucks defense will be an improvement from last season’s glaring playoff weakness. Their top six should consist of Christian Ehrhoff, Alex Edler, Hamhuis, Ballard, Bieksa, and Shane O’Brien.

There is also still the possibility of adding Willie Mitchell to that corps at a discount from the $3.5 million he made with the Canucks last season. Mitchell was concussed from a hit from behind by Evgeni Malkin last January and never returned. He remains an unrestricted free agent.

At 35-years-old, Mitchell will need to sign a one-year, bonus laden contract in order to prove he can stay healthy throughout an entire season.

Even though Vancouver is still reportedly $2.6 million over the salary cap (not including the $1.6 million Cody Hodgson is set to make should he make the opening-night roster), Gillis told the TEAM 1040 that they could still fit Mitchell in under the salary cap. Every NHL team has a cap buffer zone in which they can utilize during training camp.

On offense, there are even more questions.

But still, the Canucks return the Sedin twins (one of those being the Art Ross and Hart Trophy winner), Ryan Kesler (a Selke candidate), a $2 million 35-goal scorer in Alex Burrows, along with the recent re-signing of up-and-coming winger Mason Raymond.

Mikael Samuelsson fills out that top-six role, or so he should. This is where the offensive questions begin.

Can Cody Hodgson play a third-line role? He’s probably never been asked to in his life. The Canucks tried having three scoring lines last year, but once again had trouble shutting down high-powered offenses.

What may be more feasible is to move Kesler to the wing, the same position he played when Mats Sundin was in town, in order for Hodgson to play his natural centre position in an offensive role. This would create a pretty experienced third line, but also an expensive one.

Samuellson, who will make $2.5 million next season, played on the third line successfully in Detroit, where he won a Stanley Cup.

Manny Malhotra, another free agent signing, will make that same amount but is experienced enough that the big cap hit may be worth it.

After that, it gets tricky. Can Jeff Tambellini play on a third line? He was on and off the Islanders’ roster for the last two years and forcing him into regular minutes anywhere on the team might be a stretch.

Jordan Schroeder, who now has some AHL playoff experience, may be the answer to that extra third line spot. Schroeder, though, is undersized and may not be able to provide enough grit to play in that role.

On the fourth line, a prospect may have to step up into the centre role and make the team in a similar way to what Tanner Glass did last season. This is because the Canucks opted not to offer contracts to last year’s bottom two centers Kyle Wellwood and Ryan Johnson.

Glass and Jannik Hansen can be expected to play on the wings on the fourth line.

But, the Canucks success this season will without a doubt depend on the abilities of captain Roberto Luongo.

As their highest paid player, he’ll need to have a similar year to his first in a Vancouver uniform for the Canucks to go deep into the playoffs.