Hockey Writers 2016-17 Predictions

[homersexual]

If the Canucks are a draft lottery team, Aquafan will be looking for a new GM by the end of the season.

[Jam126]

"If Daniel and Henrik are injured, the Canucks will sink."

 

 

NO FREAKING DUH!

 

 

If Benn and Seguin were injured, DAL would sink.

If Crosby and Malkin were injured, PIT would sink.

If Toews and Kane were injured, CHI would sink.

 

 

You can say that about any team. But of course, he chose the Canucks because they need to bash us even more.

[on the cycle]

2 hours ago, Eastcoast meets Westcoast said:

Not sure if smart hockey minds are the ones predicting our last place finish/debacle this season;)  The THW article was not written by one of the smart hockey minds.

 

I would like to see MacKenzies list, Maguire's list and even Button's list.    

 

The THW article was re hashed from the Score article. That and the survey of 200 or so NHL fans article (wtf????) have spawned a lot of zombie articles.  Even the Yost article on the Gudbranson trade spawned some Zombie articles. 

 

The guy writing is a self described "Oilers Homer".  His assessment of the Oilers was very optimistic.  Nothing new, every year for the past 4-5 or more, articles proclaim the Oilers are going to make the playoffs.

 

For the last 3 years, we were going for the lottery picks. But one of those years we had this guy named Torts( so close). The next we had a 101 pt season (oops).  The year after everyone got hurt, and we still haven't gotten our lottery pick yet... Damn. When will THW get something right;)

lol 200 nhl fans. At least 100 of them were leafs fans.

[Jam126]

3 hours ago, Eastcoast meets Westcoast said:

 

 

According to THW:  McDavid wins the Art Ross in his second year?  Edmonton is third in the Pacific?  Calgary is fourth beating out Anaheim/Arizona???  TML beats out Boston and Detriot and makes the playoffs???   

 

The Pacifc is the weakest division in hockey with the Kings winning two stanely cups and both Vancouver and San Jose making the finals in the last 6 seasons?  

 

 

Why is ANA ranked so low? They got worse but they are still a Playoff team. EDM is still going to suck. Especially with a slower and less disciplined replacement of Hall filled by Lucic, who is on the decline. CGY, outside of their first line has a poor offense, their defense doesn't impress me much (Brodie and Hamilton are the only good D, Giordano is on his way out) and Elliot, I'm not convinced about him, can he handle 60 starts? And TOR, I don't to explain...

 

BTW, the Atlantic division is the weakest, you know where the precious Leafs are found.

 

Goes to show how much they know about hockey.

[Butters Stoch]

Reality sucks but try actually comparing our team side by side with every other teams. We're on our way to drafting top 5 again unless everything goes right and best case scenario we barely make the playoffs to get swept right away. Our plan completely relies on Horvat, Boeser, Demko, and Juolevi becoming elite players a few years from now if we want to be competitive.

[khay]

2 hours ago, ForsbergTheGreat said:

Well maybe if the eastern media actually stayed up to watch a few games they wouldn't be so puzzled this June.  But what can you expect when there's no house hold names, instead they see names like Tryamkin, Hutton, Rodin, Larsen, Markstrom, Baertschi, Horvat, Etem, and Virtanen and wonder how canucks are going to compete, simply because they don't know these players very well.

 

In April when canucks aren't in the bottom 5 and competing for a playoff spot there will be a lot of: 

 

"What a surprise, not one person expected the canucks to make the playoffs"

"Who thought Hutton was an offensive D "

"Who knew Baertschi and Rodin would provide so much scoring depth"

"Who knew sedins would still produce"

"Who knew a healthy Sutter provide a strong #2 center"

"Who knew Gudbranson would make such an impact on canucks back end"

"Who would have thought Eriksson would fit so well with the twins"

"Who's heard of Tryamkin"

 

 

 

LOL. I can already imagine. And even if we make the playoffs next season, I bet they still say stuff like "the Canucks need to rebuild from the scratch because the Sedins won't be able to sustain it for much longer."

 

Best to not give any care to these clueless media outlets.

 

[J.I.A.H.N]

I would really love to see the Canucks win the Stanley Cup this year

 

I would be happy if they made the playoffs in the 6th spot in the West

 

But I just can not believe in my heart of hearts, that Las Vegas odds makers would do so little research into placing the Canucks tied for the very bottom of the league, if they actually did not believe it.

 

I believe they canvas the great minds of the NHL, Writers,  Stats people, and a Ground Hog from Northern Minnesota,  before posting their odds.

 

These odds are based on everyone being healthy all year, and the depth to withstand injuries that occur throughout the season

 

Now I still want the Canucks to win and Vegas odds makers do loose, but I would not bet my house on them being wrong , they seldom are!

 

Never mind some dummy from back east........Vegas says they don't win

[King T]

8 hours ago, khay said:

How many teams have the supporting case to overcome the loss of two star players?

 

Say Kopitar and Doughty gets injured. LA is done. No? Toewes and Kane goes down. Not very convincing reasons for predicting the Canucks to finish last.

 

This is not an analysis. Just a guess work.

 

What ^ said

[Honky Cat]

1 hour ago, homersexual said:

If the Canucks are a draft lottery team, Aquafan will be looking for a new GM by the end of the season.

Maybe,but I doubt it..Benning had a pretty tough task when he got here...An old team,barren prospect pool,a team that had used up everything. in their bid for the SC.....He's pretty much gutted the 2011 squad...I think that this upcoming season you will start to see the beginnings of a new nucleus.

 

 

[Baggins]

13 hours ago, Alflives said:

It sounds like this guy discusses the reality of our team.  Every hockey source says we should be rebuilding, not retooling.  Oh well, as some very smart posters have pointed out here, once the Twins leave, we will get those tank picks needed for elite talent several years in a row.  

Retooling you keep the main pieces while changing a few others. We have in fact been rebuilding. Changing many pieces while getting younger. Some just don't get the difference.

 

Barring an injury riddled repeat of last season I don't see us at the bottom at all.

[alfstonker]

13 hours ago, Alflives said:

Compare our next core with other teams like Edmonton, Calgary, Colorado, and even Toronto.  That's only four teams.  Plus, teams like Chicago and LA have core groups that are not that old.  Our best players are very old compared to other teams.  I accept (now) the philosophy to try and compete until the Twins retire, and then allow the eventual tank to happen naturally.  

You don't or shouldn't make the mistake of evaluating a team on a name by name draft position basis. Team sport doesn't work that way. If it did, the Oilers, Florida and Buffalo would have a Cup over the last 5 years.

 

I don't see a tank coming here soon, so if that is your hope then I feel sorry for you.

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, alfstonker said:

You don't or shouldn't make the mistake of evaluating a team on a name by name draft position basis. Team sport doesn't work that way. If it did, the Oilers, Florida and Buffalo would have a Cup over the last 5 years.

 

I don't see a tank coming here soon, so if that is your hope then I feel sorry for you.

That "tank" is not a hope, it's an acceptance of the inevitable.  Many posters here have pointed out these other (often) bottom feeder teams have more depth (elite talent) in their young core players than us, because they have been worse for longer.  We are starting our cycle, or close to starting, and should be behind the curve.  I'm not hopeful of us becoming a bottom feeder.  I am accepting it's most likely coming when the Twins are no longer able to carry our offence.

[alfstonker]

8 hours ago, Eastcoast meets Westcoast said:

Alf,

 

Do you propose trading away the Sedins?  Until they retire/leave we will be somewhat competitive.  The only thing I saw in the THW article that made sense, "If either Henrik or Daniel or both goes  down with an injury, the Canucks are sunk."  Capt Obvious is suing for trademark infringement.  

 

If you are a fan, go with optimism.

 

This team had great run and now change is happening. The Sedins are some of the fittest players in the game, Swedes are tough. I see 36 year old Volvos on the road all the time. Swedes are built to last;). 

 

Roster turn over has occurred.  Who's left from 2011?  Henrik and Daniel?  How do we trade to guys with a combined 14 m/NMC cap hit and get real value back?  Burrows? One last year most likely.  Hansen?  Would we want to trade him right now.  Tanev?  At 26 he is in the age group we need the most, RHD that steadies the ship. Edler?  NTC, might waive if convinced.  Good player.  Our slide started with his broken leg.  Trade him now with his value at an low point?  However, If we are tanking due to injuries, maybe at the TDL.  

 

How many more players have to go for a rebuild to have been preformed?

 

6 players left from 2011 with 10/11 players 25 and under on the roster.  Markstrom, Guds, Horvat, Baer, Sbisa, Sutter, Hutton, Etem, Granlund, Trymakin.  Other possibles: Virtannen, Gaunce, Pedan, Juolevi, Boeser Demko etc... Due to arrive within 1-2 years.  Rodin and Larsen are 26 (both are huge ? marks though).

 

JB brought in 8/11 of those players. 2 players were top 5 picks,  2 more were top 10 picks with two more drafted at 11 and 13 in their draft years.  That is not really relevant to how well they play, but draft position seems to really matter to the tank crowd. 

 

For all the tankers out there rejoice, according to THW, lottery pick here we come. Even better, we don't have to trade away roster players for junk to get there.  Everyone wins.

 

According to THW:  McDavid wins the Art Ross in his second year?  Edmonton is third in the Pacific?  Calgary is fourth beating out Anaheim/Arizona???  TML beats out Boston and Detriot and makes the playoffs???   

 

The Pacifc is the weakest division in hockey with the Kings winning two stanely cups and both Vancouver and San Jose making the finals in the last 6 seasons?  

 

But hey, we have something to talk about in August and the team gets another article to put on the motivation board. In a few months it will all be sorted.

 

Going to be an interesting year. 

 

EW

Great post E meets W but too logical for Alf.

 

Alf wakes up each morning with his memory erased imo so you end up pointing out the same logic day after day (which to his credit he generally tends to agree with) but the next day he starts with his hard drive wiped and he's back in full media brainwash pessimistic mode again. 

 

So on it goes wash, rinse, repeat. 

[Baggins]

5 hours ago, janisahockeynut said:

I would really love to see the Canucks win the Stanley Cup this year

 

I would be happy if they made the playoffs in the 6th spot in the West

 

But I just can not believe in my heart of hearts, that Las Vegas odds makers would do so little research into placing the Canucks tied for the very bottom of the league, if they actually did not believe it.

 

I believe they canvas the great minds of the NHL, Writers,  Stats people, and a Ground Hog from Northern Minnesota,  before posting their odds.

 

These odds are based on everyone being healthy all year, and the depth to withstand injuries that occur throughout the season

 

Now I still want the Canucks to win and Vegas odds makers do loose, but I would not bet my house on them being wrong , they seldom are!

 

Never mind some dummy from back east........Vegas says they don't win

The Vegas odds aren't the odds to be bottom of the league, it's the odds of winning the Stanley Cup. There's a difference.

[Phat Fingers]

12 hours ago, Warhippy said:

I don't know why people are griping so much.  I am trying to take a far more objective approach to the season.

 

We got a shade younger, while also getting a shade more experienced from our youth.  We got tougher on the blue line and deeper in the prospects department.

 

But THW, Score, TSN and almost universally every major analyst has the Canucks finishing in the bottom 10.  There IS a reason for this and it is not blind hate for Vancouver or love for TO

 

OK, to simply make the playoffs, you have to beat your division.  Can we capably say we can do that at this moment in time?

 

Let's dissect the teams that weren't pegged as cup contenders in our division that we should capably beat.

 

Oilers, needed goaltending defense and toughness.  What did they do?  They now have Lucic/Maroon/Kassian that's 3 lines of crazy right there.  They have an older Nurse, Klefbom, Reinhardt and Larson now.  That is a big and very mobile defensive group that is still incredibly young.  They brought in the Goose to back up Talbot who was actually really good in front of a porous defense.

 

Flames, needed more balanced scoring and goaltending as they have arguably one of the deepest and best pools for blue liners in the league; that just got deeper after this draft and a shade older.  They added Elliott who arguably is a top 10 goalie in this league; if Calgary stops 1 goal per game last year in 25 matches, they make the playoffs.  They also got a shade deeper up front as well.  Nobody will say Tkachuk is NHL ready but he's certainly not a lock to go back to juniors based on his play either.

 

Arizona, Needed X and Y and Z and with one of the deepest forward prospect pools in the league did everything they needed to in shoring up the defense.  Drafted up Chychrun who is without question physically NHL ready and has something to prove, has an older core now of young stud forwards and really only has questionable goaltending and a suspect bottom 5-6 D

 

I look at the teams we SHOULD beat and know that if Markstrom is not getting 55+ starts, we have our annual medical parade on the blueline and lose any one of Horvat, Sedin, Sedin or Sutter we're a lottery team.  There are HUGE questions for this team that is not nearly as deep as they appear or skilled as some on here seem to think they are.

 

I cannot see us breaking the top 10 for this season in the West with the moves everyone else made.  Colorado will hire a new coach and be better, Hawks, Wild, Jets, Blues, Sharks, Ducks, Kings, Preds, Stars all almost seem like they could be locks for the playoffs.  Deeper, faster, bigger, younger and arguably as or more skilled.

 

I mean i LOVE my Canucks, I suffered through the king Richard days of the 80's the Keenan days and more and have earned the right to be realistic about our chances this year.

 

On paper we're a bubble team.  Realistically; we're one injury away from a lottery pick.  Not hatred, not hating, not blind homerism or love for another team

 

Just brutal honesty.

No doubt we are a bubble team this year.  Well said. Can you start writing a blog so we have better substance to discuss?   Your points about being a bubble team of lotto team based on injuries is bang on. Either way works for me, win win. We don't need to tear it all down. 

 

This team has a lot of question marks around it this year.  More than any other team in the div.  As a fan, I like the changes JB has made and hope it translates into a never quit/never say die attitude on the ice. Win lose or draw, I want to see the team play hard.  This group needs to be about the journey and not the destination this season.

 

This season is about building and development IMO. Maybe even more than last year. 

 

Whether other teams have improved like Edmonton and Calgary.  We will see. Really the whole Division is a giant question mark this year.  

 

Can Edmonton finally put it together?  Heard it all before and need to see it to believe it.

 

Calgary improved goaltending but faced huge upheaval last season. Are they last years team or the team from the year before?  

 

Zona, well they have a lot of exciting young forwards, that can go either way.  Not sold on Goliski and their d core outside of OEL.  Zona's goaltending is weak/inconsistent. Will watch their analytics experiment with interest. 

 

LA, lost players, no real cap room. Can they be the second coming of Chicago and reboot for another Cup run?  They should win the division, but if any of Doughty/Quick/Koptiar get injured...  

 

Anahiem... See LA. Sub in Kessler/Getzlaf/Perry . 

 

San Jose, great season, older core with some good younger players in the mix.  JB looks like he is attempting to create the same mix here. Wilson drafted very well and San Jose has developed their prospects properly. Only question is whether they have the dreaded cup loss hangover or not?  

 

    EW

 

[alfstonker]

8 minutes ago, Alflives said:

That "tank" is not a hope, it's an acceptance of the inevitable.  Many posters here have pointed out these other (often) bottom feeder teams have more depth (elite talent) in their young core players than us, because they have been worse for longer.  We are starting our cycle, or close to starting, and should be behind the curve.  I'm not hopeful of us becoming a bottom feeder.  I am accepting it's most likely coming when the Twins are no longer able to carry our offence.

How do you know the bottom feeder teams have more depth. Depth is only an illusion until it is melded into a fully functioning unit. In team sport fully functioning units are not decided on individual "talent/draft position" they are decided on a whole manner of things and one of these things most underestimated is "character" combining endurance, will to win and the ability to not accept defeat.

 

That is why you find teams like Boston, Detroit etc filled with low draft picks and undrafted players who still manage to produce a winning team.

I know this may be a little too subtle for you and you prefer to go down the pessimistic route Alf but Benning in his SHORT two years has imo gone a long way to drafting these character players and creating the basic foundations for success. (the hard way) 

 

It can be seen in players like Stecher, Brisebois, Olson, Tryampkin, Neil, Zhukenov etc. We also have a great development club in Utica under some inspired coaching and it is these things that lead to ultimate success imo.

 

Above all and this is probably where I am more optimistic than most, we have a coach in WD who I think is a "winner" Not only a winner but a coach who knows how to develop young players, the right way. Willie will hopefully prove to be the best signing we have made so far.

 

Keep the faith.

[Phat Fingers]

5 hours ago, Butters Stoch said:

Our plan completely relies on Horvat, Boeser, Demko, and Juolevi becoming elite players a few years from now if we want to be competitive.

Of course it does.... This doesn't suck.  I have been a long time fan, since Steamer, Tiger and King Richard led the team. We lost more than we won, but played with heart and were loved by the fans. We need adversity to build real character. As a fan base and as a club. 

 

Mm any posters on the CDC only know the Sedin/Lou years when we a top 5 team and contenders.  We are now the underdogs. That can be great to watch too. 

 

The guys you listed look great so far.  They all look like guys that should have great careers in the NHL.

[Rocksterh8]

I personally don't put any stock into this predictions what so ever. WHY? because they are exactly that... predictions from a piece of paper. 

 

Sports (Hockey) is played on the ice, and every game, no one really knows how the players will play, how the team will play or if all the sudden the team will just click or not. Hutton could turn into a scoring machine this year. Baer could turn into that 40 goal guy. Markstrom could be that vessna candidate....  or they could all flop as well.  

 

Point is, no one knows, until the game are played.

[Crabcakes]

3 hours ago, Baggins said:

The Vegas odds aren't the odds to be bottom of the league, it's the odds of winning the Stanley Cup. There's a difference.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the odds are based on what betters are betting.  Not any kind of analysis on the bookmakers part. 

 

It's really a distillation of the research of people who bet on who will win the cup at this stage.

 

3 hours ago, Baggins said:

Retooling you keep the main pieces while changing a few others. We have in fact been rebuilding. Changing many pieces while getting younger. Some just don't get the difference.

 

Barring an injury riddled repeat of last season I don't see us at the bottom at all.

Yes!  This isn't a retool.  It's a rebuild.

 

What I think confuses people is that if it's a rebuild, why are the Sedin's still here?

1. Benning is sheltering younger or developing players.  The Sedin's are doing that.  They are place holders.  And Benning wants to have a full top 6 of vets to shelter youngsters.  Who else is there who is ready to play on the top line?  Further to that who projects to top line?  Boeser and ???  Get drafting Jim.
2. Is it possible to trade the Sedin's even if they would agree to it?  Everybody says they are better together but moving $14 M is next to impossible

Who from the 2011 core have been moved?  Kesler, Luongo, Bieksa, Hamhuis

 

Who from the 2011 core remain?  Sedin, Sedin, Burrows, Edler

 

 

 

[cbdoubleu]

If we are able to aquire a Hudler, and/or make a trade for a top 6 forward we might surprise some people with the quality of team we can ice, but I think most writer's are predicting us to finish so low not because we are that terrible, but that every other non-playoff team in our division has improved more, or at least has more upside on paper, and there's no sign of significant regression in the top 3 teams. And the Central is so deep the Pacific will have a hard time prying one of the wildcard spots away from them.

 

I would call the Coyotes the worst team in the conference and even they've got a lot of upside, but we are definitely in the lump of good teams with the Jets, Avalanche, Wild, Flames, and now the Oilers, that are fighting for 1 or 2 spots in the playoffs.