JayCanuckMan Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 After watching the home opener and seeing Big Bert, I can't help but think about the glorious days of the West Coast Express. It got me thinking who in our 50th anniversary team could form this formidable line and terrorize oppositions again. The way I see it, a front loaded lineup of "oh captain, my captain" Horvat, Pettersson, and Boeser resembles the good old days of Bertuzzi, Morrison, and Naslund. I, personally, would love to see a West Coast Express 2.0, if ever possible. I understand this might be a waste of time for all you fans to read, but if you think about it, does it work with our current group of players? As in, will juggling all our forward lines to bring back WCE be worthwhile? This would be my fantasy line combinations for the forward group: Pettersson - Horvat - Boeser Pearson - Miller - Leivo Ferland - Gaudette - Virtanen Eriksson/Schaller - Beagle - Sutter Go, Nucks Go! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
189lb enforcers? Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 Nobody wanted to trade Horvat for Brady Tkachuk, so no, 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danjr Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 I was going to post the EXACT same thing. Really there is a possibility of this. The other lines need to become super solid and allow those three to play together. At this point we don't have the scoring talent to balance the lines. Same with defensive reliability of the forwards. With Bo and Alien on separate lines, we always have that one super responsible player who can read and react to make sure we don't suffer to many odd man rushes going the other way. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Goat James Posted October 13, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted October 13, 2019 Wasn’t Kassian - Schroeder - Jensen supposed to be The West Coast Express 2.0? 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 They aren't really the same dynamic as the WCE. And I don't think we need to overload that line either, we can be dangerous in multiple ways instead. That makes us a harder team to handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PunjabiCanucks Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 Get over the past look towards the future We've had the WCE and it was good, 7 years later we have the Sedins + Burrow Line and they were good. You know what is missing 2 good lines? We have Petty and Boeser and Miller so far is doing great We have Horvat and he has Pearson locked with him but is Ferland is future linemater or do we see what Poldkozin brings in 2 years. We need depth, stop romanticizing about 1 elite line. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hindustan Smyl Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 About 4 years ago, I had assumed that a line of Baertschi-Horvat-Virtanen would be our next WCE but it didn’t pan out that way. To be honest, I don’t think we need another WCE, but rather, just a very good top line. I think Miller-Pettersson-Boeser has the potential to be an extremely good top line for us. For the long term, I also expect Podkolzin to be an excellent fit with Horvat (and what I hope is a resigned Pearson if he keeps this level of play). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyCanuck Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 On October 13, 2019 at 12:34 AM, JayCanuckMan said: After watching the home opener and seeing Big Bert, I can't help but think about the glorious days of the West Coast Express. It got me thinking who in our 50th anniversary team could form this formidable line and terrorize oppositions again. The way I see it, a front loaded lineup of "oh captain, my captain" Horvat, Pettersson, and Boeser resembles the good old days of Bertuzzi, Morrison, and Naslund. I, personally, would love to see a West Coast Express 2.0, if ever possible. I understand this might be a waste of time for all you fans to read, but if you think about it, does it work with our current group of players? As in, will juggling all our forward lines to bring back WCE be worthwhile? This would be my fantasy line combinations for the forward group: Pettersson - Horvat - Boeser Pearson - Miller - Leivo Ferland - Gaudette - Virtanen Eriksson/Schaller - Beagle - Sutter Go, Nucks Go! As much as I like bo, his no Bert ....podz on the other hand has that battle level and attitude that will make him a fan fav like Bert... like @189lb enforcers? said without Brady or someone that plays that style ,wce days are behind us...unless podz comes over and fits with Petey ,which I could see happening and then we will have a wce 2.0. If Jim wanted a top like the wce, he would have drafted Mathew tkachuk..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris12345 Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 (edited) On 10/12/2019 at 11:34 PM, JayCanuckMan said: After watching the home opener and seeing Big Bert, I can't help but think about the glorious days of the West Coast Express. It got me thinking who in our 50th anniversary team could form this formidable line and terrorize oppositions again. The way I see it, a front loaded lineup of "oh captain, my captain" Horvat, Pettersson, and Boeser resembles the good old days of Bertuzzi, Morrison, and Naslund. I, personally, would love to see a West Coast Express 2.0, if ever possible. I understand this might be a waste of time for all you fans to read, but if you think about it, does it work with our current group of players? As in, will juggling all our forward lines to bring back WCE be worthwhile? This would be my fantasy line combinations for the forward group: Pettersson - Horvat - Boeser Pearson - Miller - Leivo Ferland - Gaudette - Virtanen Eriksson/Schaller - Beagle - Sutter Go, Nucks Go! Maybe we can trade OJ for Matthew Tkachuk? Edited October 14, 2019 by Chris12345 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Googlie Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 Do we still own Orland Kurtenbach's rights? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeanBeef Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 (edited) Already lost our chance by losing Jensen-Schroeder-Kassian Edited October 14, 2019 by LeanBeef 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt kilgore Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 No Totally different dynamic. Besides, I think we can be a little more creative with a line name than just adding "2.0" amIright? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borvat Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 (edited) Bertuzzi made that line what it was. A true power forward - big, fearless, great hands, pretty good wheels for a big man and a mean streak with the ability and willingness to back it up - dominant for a period of time. He gave Naslund and Morrison time and space to do what they did. Somewhat like what Kassian (on a smaller scale he is no Bertuzzi) is doing for Deadmonton currently if he can keep it up. This team does not have that in it's mix. This team is missing another top six skilled winger for the Horvat line to put them over the top. I love Baertschi but I am talking a legit skilled top six winger who will get 60 - 70 points and make that line more dangerous. Edited October 14, 2019 by Borvat 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amebushi Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 5 hours ago, Borvat said: Bertuzzi made that line what it was. A true power forward - big, fearless, great hands, pretty good wheels for a big man and a mean streak with the ability and willingness to back it up - dominant for a period of time. He gave Naslund and Morrison time and space to do what they did. Somewhat like what Kassian (on a smaller scale he is no Bertuzzi) is doing for Deadmonton currently if he can keep it up. This team does not have that in it's mix. This team is missing another top six skilled winger for the Horvat line to put them over the top. I love Baertschi but I am talking a legit skilled top six winger who will get 60 - 70 points and make that line more dangerous. Came here to write this...Naslund was a constant scoring threat, but Big Bert made all the room and scared the bejeezus out of anyone that dared cross the line. If you want to make a WCE 2.0 you need different personnel than we currently have. Besides, who wants WCE 2 when we could have something new and different lead us to the promised land? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostsOf1994 Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 WCE died long ago... It's called Peteys line.... And bo"s line..... And Gaudette"s line... And beagles line... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBatch Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 Naslund and Bertuzzi did terrorize forwards for a couple of years .... but maybe nostalgia is getting away a little from what really went down. Yes for two years they were the bomb, one of the best lines in hockey. Morrison might have been the defensive conscious on the line but he was far from elite himself - always wondered what those guys could have done with a top ten or top five center too. Also 5 x 5 they scored a lot of goals but were also responsible for not back checking and it showed on their plus minus - the PP like a lot of other great lines really pumped their tires. It was a pretty good team but it was missing secondary scoring, two upgrades on defense and a top ten goalie ... even one of those things would have made a real difference. Compared to the Linden teams and the Sedin teams it really wasn’t that impressive. A little bit like the Heatley-Spezza- Alfie line. But not as dominant and never had the same support. Since we are discussing this - why not go for whos the next Linden, Bure and Mogilny while we are at it. And Luongo and Sedins for that matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hindustan Smyl Posted October 16, 2019 Share Posted October 16, 2019 Give Miller-Pettersson-Boeser about a year or so to gel and grow, and I believe that these guys will come close to being as good as the WCE and Sedin-Sedin-Burrows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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