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Couturier was one draft place higher than Horvat!! But you do believe Horvat should matchup against one of the best NHL hockey players like Malkin? Couturier played 14 mins time on ice, I don't see Horvat being able to play that much at the NHL level. Couturier was going off a great QMJHL season, much higher than Bo Horvat's so it's almost unfair to compare it to Horvat. I also don't see Horvat being top 10 in Calder Trophy voting, do you? Doubt he gets even top 15. Couturier is also still a 3rd line centre so if you're fine with Horvat being a 3rd line centre then yeah you can try Couturier on Horvat even though Couturier is on another level than Horvat at 19. You know what I think? I'm in favour of Sestito off the roster and signing a player on the 4th line that is capable of playing a two-way game with good skating ability. Bollig and Thornton play on Hawks and Bruins 4th line, I thought it wasn't mean for goons? You know what I want aswell? What best for Horvat is getting top minutes in Junior, develop his overall game because it isn't on the level it should be to be a NHL player. He isn't physical enough to be on the 4th line, he's actually a pretty soft player, doesn't hit much. He isn't good enough to be on the 3rd line (it seems), I can't see him beating out Dorsett on the 4th line because Dorsett is simply more suited for the 4th line and what will Horvat do? Kick out Hansen or Vey and demote them to the 4th line? I highly doubt he's going to beat a veteran 3rd liner and a player who's worked his way through the AHL and now can finally play in the NHL. Overall he's a better hockey player than Dorsett but Horvat isn't suited for the 4th line, I love wanting to be able to roll 4 lines but we can do that with Dorsett aswell. Horvat has the potential to be a key player for us we just need to develop him properly, I think a year in junior, a year in the AHL and he'll be able to easily step into the top 9.

I've seen posts of a great 3rd liner still isn't bad. I think that's what he'll become, that isn't that bad after all. No one calls Couturier a bust who is a 3rd line centre, might be a bit more but as of right now he isn't more than a 3rd line centre. Haven't heard Josh Bailey or Colin Wilson being called busts. Sure that's not where we want Horvat but that isn't a bust label. I'm out to lunch because you know what he's going to be? I think he becomes a 3rd line centre, I'm not going to tell you what he will be. It's what I think from what I've seen and all the other things involved.

Who's calling Horvat a bust?

You can't trade league to league in the CHL. Dale Hunter is a great coach, Horvat is learning alot under him. I think we aren't giving Hunter enough credit for Horvat's leadership, two-way game and all the intangibles Horvat has in his game.

You have problems if you think that post you just quoted was wrong in anyway.

I don't care. The point is I'm not saying he can't be more than a 3rd liner because that's what I think he is going to be. It's an opinion. It's a matter of understanding, and some of you have trouble with that.

No you're misunderstanding. I think he'll top out as a 3rd line centre but anything can happen, he can be a 1st liner or a ECHLer. Playing him on a spot like that at 19 is going to great for him, it would be very good for him to able to jump on the 3rd line at 19 and work his way up eventually in his career or he could be just that, a 3rd line centre. I think if he's able to play on the 3rd line this year he'll be able to become more than just a 3rd liner. Look at a guy like Couturier, he played on the 3rd line and he's still there, he's still developing and could be a 2nd liner but for 3 seasons now he's still a 3rd liner. Playing him good minutes is how he'll succeed, you have to push a prospect if you want them to succeed. It's simple, Matthias left Florida because he was given minutes, like some of you think he'll beat out Hansen, Burrows, Vey, Richardson, Higgins for PK minutes even though those players have done that their whole career. You gotta let the kid know that he's going to have to earn every single spot, obviously he'll have to do that to even crack the roster but on the PK he's going to have to beat out everyone else.

Yeah, I see Horvat as a good 3C. I think playing Horvat on the 4th line doesn't do anything to anything for his development. He could obviously be more but I don't know why you think both of those things relate, his offensive game is nowhere near where a top 6 player's offence is so a 4th line just stunts his development. Apparently it's good to play a player without a good offensive game on the 4th line for his development according to some here who think they know what to do with a prospect like Horvat. No, I've never been on Horvat's tail but I just don't see a good offensive game from Horvat. I wasn't mad that we picked Horvat, I was mad that we picked a defensive player instead of an offensive player because you can teach defence. You can teach high-end skill like Mantha, Shinkaruk (picked him up at 24 'cause we were lucky), Burakovsky.

Very good point of view. Although that could be true because Horvat didn't do too well at last years WJC, I think he could still use some work on his acceleration to become more of an explosive, power skater which will help him game tremendously. Bergeron played on the top line with Crosby and actually looked good as a skater in Sochi so maybe that's not the best comparison.

Worded that incorrectly, my point is supposed to be that Horvat isn't a flashy player offensively and really isn't going to be a great offensive player. I don't see top 6 in him, I see a solid 3rd liner centre, I see him topping out as a Jarrett Stoll.

Horvat isn't that flashy offensively as some of you saw against Russia. I don't really see him more than a 2nd line defensive centre, he hasn't been impressive in international tournaments.

He had an alright game, he was used as a defensive player since McDavid's, Petan's line were used offensively. He doesn't stand out that much but he has a NHL game that shouldn't be hard to translate. The thing is. Hockey Canada has enough defensive centres and at the World Juniors they've been lacking offence. I think having Horvat as a 4th liner and using offensive guys in the top 9 is the way to go. Horvat was phenomenal on the faceoff dot aswell.

Horvat plays tomorrow here: http://stats.hockeycanada.ca/game/show/7838018?subseason=165586&referrer=1253933&referrer=1253933 His linemates will be Dal Colle and Nastasiuk.

Patrick White had talent, he was a two-way player with good offensive abilities like Kesler but he was still a 1st round pick. I know maybe he wasn't the right pick but that doesn't mean he wasn't a draft choice in the 2007 draft. The development staff looks better, I like the Cassels pick, Cederholm (Sweden was always our strong spot), Hutton, Beattie. Our drafting looks better but can we develop them to NHL players? I know the junior leagues/NCAA are doing a good job with them so far. I'm basing it off history, our history sucks pretty bad. Hoping it changes.

Sure our development staff has changed but that changed isn't really showing in our later picks. Some players look good like Corrado, Hutton but what about Schroeder, White, Ellington, Sauve, Rodin. Look at teams like Chicago, Detroit, Anaheim then compare it to the Canucks, we're awful. How much of our development staff has changed?

You realize that the development staff is also responsible for the lack of decent prospects in our prospect back then? You can say our drafting sucked by why can't you say our development staff sucked? They have the same amount of responsbility in a prospect, they couldn't develop a good player for crap outside of the 1st round. There's promise in every player if you have a good enough development staff to find that, find their strength and work around it. Horvat is completely irrelevant. It's easy to say everything improved with many 1st rounders in our prospect pool.

It's between Nedeljkovic and Demko whoever out performs gets the WJC starting job, I'd say they are pretty even.

Those players were still developed by the Canucks for a few years and their most crucial years. Ignore the fact that only a couple of those players regular NHLers and the other 4 are AHLers.

From '06 to '11 we developed 4 players that are looking like good players and are already good players (Jensen, Hodgson, Grabner, Corrado). You could add Schroeder or Connauton. Development has a part of young players.

Probably should, we're one of the worst in the league at developing players. Anything can help them.

I'm saying if he's on the 4th line he clearly isn't good enough to play in the top 9 which means he isn't good enough to play against that type of competition. Sure he can have a few shifts a game against that type of competition but he shouldn't be playing in a role he isn't ready for. I know how development works, if you want to really develop your player into the best player he can become then do it like Detroit. They let them sit in the AHL and play top minutes while slowly transitioning to the same player at the NHL level. Give Horvat the same role in Junior, AHL and then to the NHL. Don't go top line Junior to bottom line NHL. Horvat should go as this: 13/14: Two-way, top line Junior. 14/15: AHL, top 6, two-way shutdown player (same role as in junior), playing same minutes. If he excels give him some time in the NHL and see how he does in a 2nd/3rd line spot. 15/16: Start him in the AHL, if there's no doubt, then he's ready to play in the NHL. If it goes correctly he should be able to jump into the top 6 while he's still on his ELC or close to the top 6. Then he finally grows into the player want. I just hope our development staff don't screw it up.

So the 3rd line should play against the 4th liners? I don't really understand how youth has anything to do with penalty shots, Horvat needs to excel to earn that spot. I doubt he'll beat out our top 9 players for those spots.

I said I was done with this topic. I believe it's more important to play against play against top players like McDavid, Konecny, Ritchie, Bennett, Dal Colle than 4th liners in the NHL playing not many minutes. I think a year in the AHL will also help him become the best he can become.

I think we could try Travis Partridge, he looked decent when he got his chance. Glenn is doing okay but we gave up a first round pick for him, I expected more.

Great work by the defence, we're the best defence in the league IMO. Ryan Phillips broke up a sick pass and Ronnie Yell had an outstanding game. He had a pick six, stripped the ball and covered his guys extremely well. I can't trust Glenn though, he panics in the pocket when his O-line is getting pushed back but props at the end of the game drive. Beat an undefeated streak without Lulay, pretty darn good.