Have we ever had so much young talent at once?

[Chris12345]

Probably right but...remember a lot can go sideways.

 

Players 25 and under? Definitely not prospects but some hope in the year 2001? That's when 25 was young lol. Now a 25 year old is a vet!

 

Bert

Mo

Henrick

Daniel

Auld (great prospect)

Allen (4th overall)

Jovo

Ohlund

Druken

Cooke

Shaefer

Ruttu 

Cloutier

Holden

Sopel

Chuborov

 

Sure a lot were grinders but we didn't know that in 2001.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by Chris12345

[Maniwaki Canuck]

I've been watching the team since 1970, and for sure this is the best crop of young talent we've ever had.  Not the most talent we've ever had, but the most young talent. 

[kloubek]

I would say that we do have the best youth movement ever. I cannot speak to times prior to the early 90's.

 

But it is also a different league where youth and speed rule, and ALL teams are getting fresh new talent depending on where they are in their cycle. I believe the level of player abilities overall are increasing each generation. I am not sure it is a level playing field for comparison tbh.

 

An additional reality is living in a cap space world. Lots of young talent means lots of ridiculously high priced contracts as a percentage of cap. "If HE can get THAT then so can I" mentality will kill ya.

 

Also, career potential is a really difficult thing to gauge sometimes as it always has been. How good is Gaudette really going to end up? Hogs? Pods? We have some dark horses too in guys like Rafferty. At least I am confident we know what we can expect out of our core. And expectations are high. Our core has really, really high potential.

 

Then there is the supporting cast of all our vets - though some aren't exactly old themselves. The supporting cast need to help bolster the young guys both on and off the ice. I actually think we have a really solid such cast, actually, with guys like Pearson and JT performing well above expectations. 

 

I believe this team will turn heads in the upcoming playoffs and beyond. If we manage to have all cylinders firing, I believe we have serious dark horse potential even this year. We have super high quality forward depth and if bottom six guys don't perform, we have plenty who will. I believe we have great size to not be pushed around like we have grown accustomed to. If Marky stands on his head as we expect him to, I believe we will do some damage.

 

Going forward, I would have liked to see a really high end defensive prospect. We tried with Juolevi, but he's a big question mark. The positive part is that we have so much forward depth we should be able to acquire that piece if required.

 

If you can't tell, I'm pretty content with our young guns and believe with a bit more guidence Jim has built a winner. Once we get rid of our bad contracts we should be gtg.

[GhostsOf1994]

13 hours ago, -AJ- said:

Linden was traded for Bertuzzi, so by the time they were on the same team together, Linden was far from "young". The rest of those guys also weren't all young in 1997-98 when they were on a team together either. Mogilny was already 28 and Bure, while not old, wasn't a spring chicken at 26 years old by then.

 

A decent group, but I wouldn't say as young as our current core.

I meant as talented or beyond what we currently have.

 

Naslund, Bure, Mogilny

Vs.

Petey, Boeser, Hughes

 

Sorry i wasn't clear

 

 

 

[GhostsOf1994]

6 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Linden was traded for Bertuzzi and McCabe so they never really played together until Linden was traded back to Vancouver and already in his 30's.  Bure only played with Bertuzzi and McCabe for 22 games in 1997-1998 and he only played with Naslund for a couple of years as Naslund arrived the same year that Bure tore up his knee.  Same with Mogilny.  Bure tore his up his knee the year Mogilny came to Vancouver.

 

So overall a very impressive group, but unfortunately through injury and trade those players never really played together all at the same time for an extended period of time.  Our current group has the potential to stay together for many years barring injury and cap issues.  It's a very exciting time to be a Canucks fan.  I'm more excited now than I was when we got Bure.

More excited now then when bure landed!?

 

I changed from a righty to a leftie to copy my idol!

[-AJ-]

41 minutes ago, GhostsOf1994 said:

I meant as talented or beyond what we currently have.

 

Naslund, Bure, Mogilny

Vs.

Petey, Boeser, Hughes

 

Sorry i wasn't clear

 

 

 

Ah yeah, we've definitely had some teams on this level of talent for sure. The youth of our talent is new for us though.

[IBatch]

All I can say only Linden and Bure had a bigger immediate impact on the team then BB...and EP and QHs had better seasons then BB.    Linden came in as a winger and had his best seasons production wise until matched up in center to play against Otto.   Then became more of a two-way player.   EP did came in a year later but switched spots right away (thank god Miller’s there to help - those who are hot in trading Sutter maybe should consider what that could do to AG)....

 

Point is we have three of the top five all-time best starts by Canucks ever on our team right now.     Naslund took years ... same with the Sedins.  Same with Bertuzzi.    Hope is that means when these guys peak they could shine even brighter - if not that’s ok we still have them for a longer window...

 

The team drafted arguably better from 1979 through the early 80’s ... however  79 was also the best draft group ever and it’s not even close and the other years are top five all-time too so I’m sure that had something to do with it.  Under JB - over six drafts it’s pretty hard to find a better period - and it’s not like we drafted that high in any of them either.  The team wasn’t so good in the 80’s either and back then 22 was a second rounder so edge definitely JB.

Edited July 21, 2020 by IBatch

[IBatch]

4 hours ago, GhostsOf1994 said:

More excited now then when bure landed!?

 

I changed from a righty to a leftie to copy my idol!

Bure was the most exciting player we’ve ever had for sure.   Don’t re-call any other player making  the entire arena stand up just because he got the puck on a meaningless shift .. was like watching a player get “shot out of a cannon” - that’s a quote from Letang on how fast he was with the puck - his favourite player growing up too.   McDavid can’t  even do that ... whenever I watch the footage I still get excited.    The definition of a game breaker ... seemed like every shift he could change the outcome of a game.   His goals were mostly amazing even the shooting ones ... but when he had the puck on his stick he never really dangled - he deked at such speed sometimes I was embarrassed for the opposition.    In an era where hooks and holds weren’t called unless a player fell down for the most part...wonder what his career penalty shot percentage was too?  Some excellent goalies back then .... and in international play he was unreal too ... lead the 1998 Olympics with nine goals.    And scored close to 60 back to back on a so so Florida team in the deepest part of the dead puck era...for me he’s one of the best goal scorers ever - and definitely the fastest skater all-time with apologies to McDavid.  He’s regularly ranked that way too.   Special player.  EP has potential and maybe one day will could even score 120 and win an Art Ross.  Love watching him too.   But I also thought Nedved had a lot of potential - still a little early yet to know for sure. 

[GhostsOf1994]

33 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Bure was the most exciting player we’ve ever had for sure.   Don’t re-call any other player making  the entire arena stand up just because he got the puck on a meaningless shift .. was like watching a player get “shot out of a cannon” - that’s a quote from Letang on how fast he was with the puck - his favourite player growing up too.   McDavid can’t  even do that ... whenever I watch the footage I still get excited.    The definition of a game breaker ... seemed like every shift he could change the outcome of a game.   His goals were mostly amazing even the shooting ones ... but when he had the puck on his stick he never really dangled - he deked at such speed sometimes I was embarrassed for the opposition.    In an era where hooks and holds weren’t called unless a player fell down for the most part...wonder what his career penalty shot percentage was too?  Some excellent goalies back then .... and in international play he was unreal too ... lead the 1998 Olympics with nine goals.    And scored close to 60 back to back on a so so Florida team in the deepest part of the dead puck era...for me he’s one of the best goal scorers ever - and definitely the fastest skater all-time with apologies to McDavid.  He’s regularly ranked that way too.   Special player.  EP has potential and maybe one day will could even score 120 and win an Art Ross.  Love watching him too.   But I also thought Nedved had a lot of potential - still a little early yet to know for sure. 

Nedved"s brain got in the way of his career

[IBatch]

Just now, GhostsOf1994 said:

Nedved"s brain got in the way of his career

I thought it was his head...like it got too big too fast

[GhostsOf1994]

Just now, IBatch said:

I thought it was his head...like it got too big too fast

Little fuzzy on all the details but, he held out or threatened to several times in his career, had off ice issues as well.

 

did or said something to Gretzky on a record night and tried to get his game stick or something.

 

He also had major beef with Eric Lindros for some reason.

[Kevin Biestra]

6 minutes ago, GhostsOf1994 said:

Little fuzzy on all the details but, he held out or threatened to several times in his career, had off ice issues as well.

 

did or said something to Gretzky on a record night and tried to get his game stick or something.

 

He also had major beef with Eric Lindros for some reason.

 

The Gretzky thing was asking Wayne for his stick seconds after the Kings had eliminated us in the playoffs in 91 or 93 or something.  It didn't bother Wayne I don't think, but it made a lot of Canuck fans angry at Nedved.

 

 

[IBatch]

3 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

The Gretzky thing was asking Wayne for his stick seconds after the Kings had eliminated us in the playoffs in 91 or 93 or something.  It didn't bother Wayne I don't think, but it made a lot of Canuck fans angry at Nedved.

 

 

It showed his maturity level.  After thrashing WNP ok - not a thrashing but a hard won series we played LA with Gretzy still at the peak of his powers in 93, went six games including a double OT loss in game five and he asked WG for his stick after a 2 goal one assist performance (Gretzky ... how many points did he get on us over his career?  More then Horvat probably has scored in his career so far ha ha) in the handshake lineup.   Fans didn’t like this ... what really screwed us over was how cheap ownership/management was, after a 38 goal season Nedved finally looked like he was coming into his own ... his agent was asking for 3 million- a huge amount for the time on a second contract ... we offered half that or so and then reduced the offer the second time.   It blew up when St Louis offer sheeted at 4 million... we wanted Shanny in arbitration got Janney who refused to report and finally settled on three guys that we wouldn’t have made the 94 run without - Brown, Hedican and Lafayette...which turned out ok for us.   
 

Nedved made trouble later in his career too...but it’s understandable why fans were disappointed- especially given his draft slot.

[Elias Pettersson]

9 hours ago, GhostsOf1994 said:

More excited now then when bure landed!?

 

I changed from a righty to a leftie to copy my idol!

Yes for sure.  When Bure came it was the greatest time to be a Canucks fan.  We finally had a superstar and a player that other teams fans wanted to watch.  However, team wise other than those first 2-3 years we were an average team.  Even during the run of 1994 we were a 7th place team going into the playoffs.  Quinn tried to get Bure some players to play with, but he let Larionov go which was a mistake and by the time Mogilny arrived Bure ended up tearing up his knee 15 games into their first season together.  After Bure's knee injury the team was never the same and we ended up trading Bure and all the other players and had to start over again.

 

With this current team we have TWO franchise players, not one, and Hughes is something we've never really had before, a superstar offensive defenceman.  We also have several other younger players in all positions, so as a group I would say this is the best young core we've ever had.  The only question is can Benning keep it together long term and will they be able to gel as a team and make a run into the playoffs for several years to come?  We will see.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Elias Pettersson

[TheNewGM]

On 7/20/2020 at 10:57 AM, Battlemonger said:

This is the best our young talent has ever been. Its not even close in my opinion.

no question.. when YOUNG is the key word.. we've never had two franchise players under age 22 ever.. let alone all our other great young guys. I still have very high expectations of jake virtanen also.. a blossoming todd bertuzzi level player... maybe better ? remember the Sedins were not franchise players at age 21/22 ?? If im correct they took a while to get to the level they were at in their prime. as did Betuzzi, when NYI gave up on him as a bust. Just like Jake V... remember people calling him a bust last year and demanding a trade.. lol

[Gator]

1 hour ago, TheNewGM said:

no question.. when YOUNG is the key word.. we've never had two franchise players under age 22 ever.. let alone all our other great young guys. I still have very high expectations of jake virtanen also.. a blossoming todd bertuzzi level player... maybe better ? remember the Sedins were not franchise players at age 21/22 ?? If im correct they took a while to get to the level they were at in their prime. as did Betuzzi, when NYI gave up on him as a bust. Just like Jake V... remember people calling him a bust last year and demanding a trade.. lol

I watched a YouTube video earlier saying McEwen was taking Virtanens spot in the lineup but he still had Rousel in lol. I really hope to God we dont give up on Virtanen. I really think he will be a very important player for us for years to come. I say hes a year or 2 out from a total break out

[IBatch]

2 hours ago, TheNewGM said:

no question.. when YOUNG is the key word.. we've never had two franchise players under age 22 ever.. let alone all our other great young guys. I still have very high expectations of jake virtanen also.. a blossoming todd bertuzzi level player... maybe better ? remember the Sedins were not franchise players at age 21/22 ?? If im correct they took a while to get to the level they were at in their prime. as did Betuzzi, when NYI gave up on him as a bust. Just like Jake V... remember people calling him a bust last year and demanding a trade.. lol

Well, yes we actually did in Bure and Linden.  And Nedved would have made three.    These two back then were considered future stars ... Linden joined right away but they were only a year apart, Nedved and Bure were the same age.   Have some old books from the early 90’s with the league future stars and both Linden and Bure were considered possible HHOF material at the time.   Point is we did have the potential to have three young future stars at one point - Nedved did score 38 goals for us his third year... but it didn’t quite go as we thought it would.  One year of QHs, two of EP and three of BB...what Linden and Bure accomplished their first three years was also very impressive.   That’s the only other time that so far really matches up ... Nedved was unbelievable his CHL season pre-draft.

[JeremyCuddles]

I dunno, the time we had Nicklas Jensen, Hunter Shinkaruk, Jordan Subban, Bo Horvat, Cole Cassels was pretty electric. We had the 2nd coming of the west coast express man. And the guy that single handedly shut down Connor McDavid. Doesn't get any better than that.

[Gawdzukes]

On 7/20/2020 at 9:33 AM, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Key is it’s not just drafting but development.  We drafted Dirk Graham VERY late but he went on to develop and play for ANOTHER on the road to a Selke trophy!  

Peca

[Kevin Biestra]

6 hours ago, IBatch said:

Well, yes we actually did in Bure and Linden.  And Nedved would have made three.    These two back then were considered future stars ... Linden joined right away but they were only a year apart, Nedved and Bure were the same age.   Have some old books from the early 90’s with the league future stars and both Linden and Bure were considered possible HHOF material at the time.   Point is we did have the potential to have three young future stars at one point - Nedved did score 38 goals for us his third year... but it didn’t quite go as we thought it would.  One year of QHs, two of EP and three of BB...what Linden and Bure accomplished their first three years was also very impressive.   That’s the only other time that so far really matches up ... Nedved was unbelievable his CHL season pre-draft.

 

Yeah Linden arriving immediately gave us the 1989 Calgary series.  There was no five years of "learning to play the right way in a good environment" stuff...guy just hit the ice from game one as a winner.  And if I remember right, he was Don Cherry's choice for the Calder.

 

As for Nedved....yeah he just had a weird career, right up to coming out of nowhere as an old dude to play for the Czechs in that last Olympics.  He just marched to a weird drum like Bryzgalov, but still managed 300 goals.  That whole draft was weird.  Jagr basically scored 2000 points as the fifth pick, but the first three - Nolan, Nedved and Primeau all looked like the biggest flops in NHL history.  They all had like 12 points the first year and the whole league was scratching their heads.  Then they all found their footing and had great careers.