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In place to the Canucks finish in the western Conference? (Discussion)


J.I.A.H.N

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Well, I have to admit, with the signing of our new UFA's, it worries me just a little that the Canucks may play themselves out of the bottom 10...........So I started asking myself, exactly who are they better than in the west? In what position are we stronger than the other teams.............so here is my thoughts on it, team by team.....please chime in and correct me if you think I am wrong........and expand on any team......I am posting to get debate going....not to say my rankings are bang on......just want to know what your opinions are, where this is concerned.

Thanks

 

1. Anaheim is younger, better defense, and a stronger 1st line................just too many good pieces to even be in any discussion with Vancouver

2. Edmonton is young, fast, has forward depth, Draisaitl and McDavid....the Canucks have nothing to match anything on Edmonton.........total different universe

3. Nashville is younger, better goaltending, better defense, and their forwards are ahead of the Canucks forwards in their development

4. Chicago a veteran team, strong Defense, Kane and Toews...they are slowing down, but not that much

5. Minnesota just more depth everywhere than the Canucks

6. Dallas..........these guys could end up near the top, if everything goes well for them (top 4)

7. St. Louis......Still a strong team with plenty of depth.....but it is the starting place for who finishes in the playoffs

8. San Jose.....Older, but good goaltending, above average Defense, and their forward are slightly stronger than the Canucks

9. LA................Way better Goaltending, better Defense, and I don't think Kopitar and Carter are finished just yet

10. Calgary.....Goaltending is suspect, defense in one of the strongest in the league, and their forwards are as good as the Canucks forwards in general

*11. Winnipeg....Don't know why these guys are not better, except Goaltending.......but is it any worse than Vancouver's?

*12. Vancouver...Well if teams above them fall to the injury bug and Vancouver doesn't....they could rise a couple of positions

*13. Arizona........These guys could be way better than where I have them, if their goaltending solidifies

14. Colorado.....Some great young stars, but they have terrible depth.......they will arm wrestle with Vegas for last

15. Vegas.........I thought they could have done better at the Expansion draft........maybe I am too critical????

 

*I think Winnipeg, Vancouver and Arizona's final positions are interchangeable

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Let's not forget our friend the injury bug. The Canucks were actually not doing too bad the last two season till injury caught up to them. These players will help us, but they'll just be extra depth when we inevitably get hurt down the stretch :(

 

With Calgary, their Defensive core is probably one of the best in the league right now with Hamonic and Hamilton. They should be higher.

 

I think Arizona is the dark horse here, but i see them surpassing us this season as well.

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10 minutes ago, janisahockeynut said:

the Canucks have nothing to match anything on Edmonton.........total different universe

Uh, ok.  I think the Canucks have a better overall D-corp to Edmonton right now (Edmonton has some growth potential), Vancouver may have equal or even better goaltending unless Talbot pulls back-to-back over his head years out of his rump and I don't think their forward balance is quite there yet as Anaheim exposed in the playoffs and Lucic didn't get younger, faster or less apt to take poor penalties over the summer.

 

I don't think Edmonton is the second best team in the west - time will tell, feel free to come back and quote me if it happens but my guess is they will be in tough to come within 5 to 10 points of their total last year as they won an awful lot of close games where they were out-shot, out-chanced and outplayed.   McDavid is an awesome player but as Anaheim showed, he is superhuman.

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26 minutes ago, Rob_Zepp said:

Uh, ok.  I think the Canucks have a better overall D-corp to Edmonton right now (Edmonton has some growth potential), Vancouver may have equal or even better goaltending unless Talbot pulls back-to-back over his head years out of his rump and I don't think their forward balance is quite there yet as Anaheim exposed in the playoffs and Lucic didn't get younger, faster or less apt to take poor penalties over the summer.

 

I don't think Edmonton is the second best team in the west - time will tell, feel free to come back and quote me if it happens but my guess is they will be in tough to come within 5 to 10 points of their total last year as they won an awful lot of close games where they were out-shot, out-chanced and outplayed.   McDavid is an awesome player but as Anaheim showed, he is superhuman.

Vegas has them as the 2nd most likely team to win the Stanley Cup.  

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Well considering the current state of the lottery system, any team outside of the playoffs can (and will) move up to the top 3. As evidenced by last Draft Lottery. 
So I hope we don't have a tire-fire of a season like Colorado last season only to end up with the 4th overall, and we can remain in the playoff race until around mid-season. 

I could see this current Canucks roster finishing anywhere between 5-10th lowest points in the league. 

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2 minutes ago, 24K PureCool said:

For our future sake, I wish we finish as low as possible.

After these past 2 drafts, my view on tanking has changed considerably. Look at Colorado who finished dead last and ended up drafting 4th overall... Tanking is meaningless now.

 

If we start to lose, I'd rather us finish somewhere around the 22nd, 21st so we won't have to set ourselves up for disappointment. Besides, next year's draft is very deep and you'll likely get a franchise/cornerstone pick from drafting anywhere in the top 15. 

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12 minutes ago, Odd. said:

After these past 2 drafts, my view on tanking has changed considerably. Look at Colorado who finished dead last and ended up drafting 4th overall... Tanking is meaningless now.

 

If we start to lose, I'd rather us finish somewhere around the 22nd, 21st so we won't have to set ourselves up for disappointment. Besides, next year's draft is very deep and you'll likely get a franchise/cornerstone pick from drafting anywhere in the top 15. 

I agree hence the as low as possible part and not last. :P

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4 minutes ago, 24K PureCool said:

I agree hence the as low as possible part and not last. :P

Best case scenario we just miss the playoffs, end up being 20-25th in the league and we somehow win the lottery and select 1st or 2nd overall, and grab either Svechnikov or Dahlin.

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2 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said:

Uh, ok.  I think the Canucks have a better overall D-corp to Edmonton right now (Edmonton has some growth potential), Vancouver may have equal or even better goaltending unless Talbot pulls back-to-back over his head years out of his rump and I don't think their forward balance is quite there yet as Anaheim exposed in the playoffs and Lucic didn't get younger, faster or less apt to take poor penalties over the summer.

 

I don't think Edmonton is the second best team in the west - time will tell, feel free to come back and quote me if it happens but my guess is they will be in tough to come within 5 to 10 points of their total last year as they won an awful lot of close games where they were out-shot, out-chanced and outplayed.   McDavid is an awesome player but as Anaheim showed, he is superhuman.

Uh, equal or better goaltending? Surely you jest.

 

Cam Talbot has always been a fine goaltender, even when the Oilers were still crap during his first season there he still put up very respectable numbers, nevermind his first couple of terrific seasons with the Rags. Unlike our current tandem of Jacob 'Mr. No-Zero' Markstrom and Anders 'who?' Nilsson whom have accomplished virtually nothing at the NHL level, Talbot has at least proven to be a reliable workhorse of a starting goalie. There was nothing "over his head" about last year.

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No sure, who's better than who, but in WD first season we ended up in the play offs... nobody saw that coming.

We will probably end 3rd or 4th from the bottom, but wouldn't put it past them to end in a playoff spot...

Think it depends a lot of how bad we get hit on injuries and if we can get the PP going.

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3 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said:

Uh, ok.  I think the Canucks have a better overall D-corp to Edmonton right now (Edmonton has some growth potential), Vancouver may have equal or even better goaltending unless Talbot pulls back-to-back over his head years out of his rump and I don't think their forward balance is quite there yet as Anaheim exposed in the playoffs and Lucic didn't get younger, faster or less apt to take poor penalties over the summer.

 

I don't think Edmonton is the second best team in the west - time will tell, feel free to come back and quote me if it happens but my guess is they will be in tough to come within 5 to 10 points of their total last year as they won an awful lot of close games where they were out-shot, out-chanced and outplayed.   McDavid is an awesome player but as Anaheim showed, he is superhuman.

Seriously? I hate the Oilers more than any other team but we tandem of two inconsistent goalies who have never been starters their entire career. Talbot played a huge load of the games last year and a good chunk the year before. He's had either decent or good numbers every year so far in his career. I wish it were a fluke but he's the real deal. Saying we might actually have better goaltending is just pure homerism. 

 

And I'd give them a slight edge on defence but that's arguable. Their top 4>ours but our bottom pairing is a bit better. 

 

 

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4 hours ago, janisahockeynut said:

Well, I have to admit, with the signing of our new UFA's, it worries me just a little that the Canucks may play themselves out of the bottom 10...........So I started asking myself, exactly who are they better than in the west? In what position are we stronger than the other teams.............so here is my thoughts on it, team by team.....please chime in and correct me if you think I am wrong........and expand on any team......I am posting to get debate going....not to say my rankings are bang on......just want to know what your opinions are, where this is concerned.

Thanks

 

1. Anaheim is younger, better defense, and a stronger 1st line................just too many good pieces to even be in any discussion with Vancouver

2. Edmonton is young, fast, has forward depth, Draisaitl and McDavid....the Canucks have nothing to match anything on Edmonton.........total different universe

3. Nashville is younger, better goaltending, better defense, and their forwards are ahead of the Canucks forwards in their development

4. Chicago a veteran team, strong Defense, Kane and Toews...they are slowing down, but not that much

5. Minnesota just more depth everywhere than the Canucks

6. Dallas..........these guys could end up near the top, if everything goes well for them (top 4)

7. St. Louis......Still a strong team with plenty of depth.....but it is the starting place for who finishes in the playoffs

8. San Jose.....Older, but good goaltending, above average Defense, and their forward are slightly stronger than the Canucks

9. LA................Way better Goaltending, better Defense, and I don't think Kopitar and Carter are finished just yet

10. Calgary.....Goaltending is suspect, defense in one of the strongest in the league, and their forwards are as good as the Canucks forwards in general

*11. Winnipeg....Don't know why these guys are not better, except Goaltending.......but is it any worse than Vancouver's?

*12. Vancouver...Well if teams above them fall to the injury bug and Vancouver doesn't....they could rise a couple of positions

*13. Arizona........These guys could be way better than where I have them, if their goaltending solidifies

14. Colorado.....Some great young stars, but they have terrible depth.......they will arm wrestle with Vegas for last

15. Vegas.........I thought they could have done better at the Expansion draft........maybe I am too critical????

 

*I think Winnipeg, Vancouver and Arizona's final positions are interchangeable

sometimes i wonder how  bad your hockey sense is  edmonton is not better than blues or preds  your mindblowing my call on this yr

1. ducks

2. preds

3. blues

4. jets 

5. sharks

6.stars

7. hawks

8.canucks 

9. oil

10.wild

11.flames

12 kings 

13 knights 

14. coyotes

15. avs 

 

 good luck 

with your predictions but ya no way u have a clue 

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I think we're deeper up front, the same on the blueline and take a massive hit in goal with Miller leaving. This is the first season in a LONG time that the Canucks haven't had a bonified star starting goaltender, and now we're about to see how bad a team this club really is without one.

 

Good teams can look terrible without a star goalie, and bad teams can look good with a decent goalie. Now we've got a bad team without a goalie, I don't see us beating many teams this season.

 

13th in the Conference at best. It'll be exciting, I think our team up front is a lot better and on defence about the same, but oh boy a lot of those mistakes that Miller used to clean up in the past are going to get exposed. Our PK is going to get shredded and defensively we're going to get embarassed.

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The Avs were historically bad and did nothing to improve.  I think they are probably going to be worse than Vegas, but Vegas has a for sale sign up on every player over the age of 25 so could drop even more in second half season.

 

Someone in the Central has to drop as Dallas looks like it is on the upswing.  Calgary is a playoff team, and I think a home playoff team.  Edmonton may not have the best D but good enough, same with goaltending.  They really are very loaded up front and RNH will continues to be dangled for help.  Calgary and Edmonton also have three of the worst teams in the league in their divisions in LV, Avs and Canucks, so a lot of potential for easy points (if there is such a thing in NHL).

 

Not going to give full rankings as haven't a clue but I will give my hot take prediction is Chicago is out of playoffs this year.  Central is a killer.  I see SJ as a bubble team though the weakness of their division will get them in.  LA drops more and starts fire sale.

 

 

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