Glory_Days

"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious: - Oscar Wilde "Huh, neat."

I doubt that, very few kids make it to NHL right out of their draft year, only a few more from draft year +1 Realistically, unless you're a top pick in the draft, or have been playing against men for several years already, not likely to go straight from juniors to NHL

I was interested in Hague as well, but I was bit leery about him too. His skating is a big issue and not everyone can work out their flaws in skating like Horvat has. Last thing we need on the backend is a giant pylon reminiscent of Douglas Murray, would get absolutely destroyed, McDavid would quite literally, skate circles around him. Maybe he's able to fix his skating though, if he can, great pick by Vegas.

Everyone complaining about his weight... 1: He's 18! he will fill out, he's not tiny, he's 6'2, it's not THAT hard to put weight on. I was around 155 in my early 20's and put on 50+lbs in a couple of years, muscle, not fat...well...mostly muscle haha. 2: I'd rather take a kid who is playing against men with a slight frame, who will get bigger and stronger, who is already playing very well against men who are larger then him at this stage, then some kid who looks like a man, playing against 15/16 yr olds and dominating them, because of course they are. 3: Hockey IQ is great, weight is easy to put on, smarts not so much.

Er...wat?

Eh, there were a ton of Horvat/Nichuskin comparisons, especially the first year when Nichuskin had a good rookie campaign and Horvat wasn't even in the gosh darn NHL yet dont'y'know! Those have pretty much vanished in the last couple of years lol

Mainly because we didn't have a top 2 pick in this draft and everything after the top 2 are at the least a year or two away from the NHL. Might be a surprise here or there, but not a lot of NHL ready players this draft.

For people complaining about his size/weight, he's only 18. I'm 6'3 and was a shade over 150lbs at one point in my 20's, with right diet and knowing your body and what works what doesn't, put on 50+ lbs in a couple of years.

My thoughts at the time over the last several drafts when we picked in 1st rnd 2007: Patrick White - HATED HATED HATED IT, pretty sure everyone did, we all saw what Nonuts couldn't lol. 2008: Cody Hodgson - I loved the pick a ton, definitely up there for being most excited about a 1st round pick from Canucks...welp, that didn't turn out lol 2009: Jordan Schroeder - Another pick I liked, thought we might have got a bit of a steal on our hands...good thing I'm not a scout haha 2010: (No picks in 1st three rounds) 2011: Nicklas Jensen - Didn't know a lot about him, read up on him, didn't hate the pick, wasn't thrilled over it either. 2012: Brendan Gaunce - See above, 2013: Bo Horvat - Was a bit disappointed with the pick at first, some of it was sour grapes about Schneider though. Hunter Shunkurak - Thought he was a boom/bust player, still a bit early to tell if he has busted though. 2014: Jake Virtanen - Turned my tv off when we picked him, so pissed, wanted Nylander or Ehlers, jury is still out, hope I was wrong. McCaan - Was really excited about the pick, thought he was going to be in our top six by now...lol 2015: Brock Boeser - Liked the pick, wasn't huuuuge on it, but liked it. Loved it as the year went on. 2016: Olli Juolevi - Personally was hoping for one of Sergachev or Tkachuck. This one is so early, who knows what becomes of whom in a few years. 2017: Elias Pettersson - Wasn't my 1st choice to pick at 5, not sold he is our 1st line center of the future With that being said, me not being sold on Pettersson bodes probably quite well for Canucks, since I've been pretty fk'ing terrible with my 1st round feelings for most part (with a couple of exceptions) over the last decade haha.

We've really loaded up on the international talent eh? Dahlen, Goldibin, Pettersson, Juolevi

Yeah, I agree with you. None of us have a crystal ball and if one of us does...WTF man, come on and share it with the rest of us! I don't see Pettersson becoming a legit 1st line center in NHL, I think either he may be converted to a wing, or will slot in as our 2nd line C, neither are bad, I'd argue at least a third of players picked that are picked as centers get converted to wing at NHL level.

I'm not huge on this pick, but, if you have the right skillset, size plays less of a role. Marner, Nylander, Gaudreau among others have all proved you can have success at NHL level with a smaller frame. Granted, they are all wingers (or playing wing as of right now anyways)

Dahlin 2018? *Crosses fingers*

I truly don't see him ever becoming a 1st line center, hope I'm wrong, even if he is just a really good 2nd line center though, it's still a good pick. Look at how many players in top 10 become grinders on bottom six, or bottom pairing D

Not thrilled with the pick...I really hope I'm wrong about it though. For anyone saying this is an amazing pick, or a horrible pick, we all need to wait and see. Won't know until 2022 or so how it all pans out.

Not many teams have that elite, true, undisputed #1 center. Maybe half the teams in the league have that. Bergeron isn't a #1 center by any means if you just look at his point production, Toews also skirts around that undisputed #1 center status just based on production alone. I'm not saying, nor do I think many people on here are, that Horvat is going to be that ppg or near ppg player. I see a complete, 200 foot player, can score goals, set players up, plays all the big minutes for us (1st unit pp, 1st unit pk) and can shut down the opposition when needed. Will he be as good as Toews/Kopitar/Bergeron...I doubt it, I sincerely hope so, but I think that's lofty as f*** to expect that from him. Look at the game he already plays as a 21 year old though, look at the points he is putting up, look at his linemates and the mess that our pp is. Give him a legit sniper on his wing, let our D develop and grow more and hopefully one of them can be a true QB for the PP. Not the least bit unrealistic to think Horvat can be a consistent 65+ point 1st line center.

So...about Juole...*banned* I liked the Dahlen trade a ton when it happened even though I was sad to see Burrows go. After the clinic he's been putting on for the last little bit, I'm stoked. I've heard comparisons to Camel-toe and Vrbata for the type of player Dahlen could be (Vrbata Prime, not the slug he was with us last year). Hopefully both Goldobin and Dahlen pan out, that gives us two top six wingers potentially, throw Boeser in to the mix along with Horvat we got most of our top six ready to go (Just need that 2nd line center!...no I don't think Gaudette can fill that role).

Well, we don't get to see Milos in the final, but we get the next best thing! Another Fed vs Nadel Grand Slam final. Pretty sure lot of people didn't think they would ever see another one of those, with Nadel's injuries and Fed's age/injuries and with the emergence of Murray and Joker. I'm actually more excited to watch this then I would have been a Milos final. Hoping for a Fed win, but as long as it's great Tennis I'll be happy with either one winning. Wow, didn't realize if Nadel wins this he would be first player in open era history to win each Grand Slam at least twice, not even Fed has done that. We also get Williams Sisters going head to head again! Are we back in 2009? lol Shame Tennis isn't a bigger sport here in Canada/N.A. I find it way more exciting to watch then Basketball or Baseball.

Well, that sucked. Shouldn't be surprised, Milos can't seem to beat the top guys (Nadal still counts as that when he's healthy/on his game) in any of the Majors. The top guys are just too good it seems and are able to pick apart Milos, he pretty much has to win every service game if he hopes to win, it's easier for the top guys to break Milos then Milos breaking them. Glad CoCo is gone...didn't watch much of her games, but from what I did see and some highlights...what a cow. I almost wish she had faced Serena just so she could have laid the utter smackdown on her and humiliated/humbled her.

To be fair, that's pretty much where all trains stop in the women's side lol.

I know Milos has beat him two out of the last three matches they've played, but I have no idea what kind of shape Nadal was in. Nadal looked on form in his win against Monfils. I hope Fed makes it out of his bracket into final. Fed vs Milos, whomever wins I'll be happy, or Fed vs Nadal, old rivalry renewed.

Holy sh#t! Istomin is crushing world ranked 15th Dimitrov right now. Making it look easy. I might be jumping on the Iso hype train!

He knocked out Murray, #1. Istomin knocked out Djokovic, #2. If Milos wins his next match and Istomin wins his, they'll meet in the Quarterfinals. At that point, I would be cheering for both of them, Milos for obvious reasons, Istomin...I mean come on, outside of top 100 and had to play in wild card just to get in. Now all Istomin needs is to have some sappy stupid romance took place and this is basically like the movie Wimbeldon, except not horrible... Needs more Sam Neil though, always more Sam Neil. Edit: My bad, Raonic and Istomin would meet in Semi's if they were to meet at all.

Hoping for a Fed or Milos win. Milos would be great to see, first Canadian to ever win a Grand Slam (outside of doubles/juniors) Fed would be great as well, one last Grand Slam title before he retires.

Raonic's games has come a long way from where it was a couple of years ago. Used to be annoying to watch him, wasn't a lot of entertainment in it outside of the fact he was Canadian. Either he got you with his serve, or after a couple of volleys he would usually lose the point. Improved so much, can make some really nice shots, returns. His footwork has improved tremendously , still not elite but not much he can do being a big man, it's pretty much as good as it will get for someone of his size. Question for those who follow Tennis more closely than I. What happened to Bouchard, seems like a former shell of herself. Injuries? Confidence? Or was she just playing above her grade for a short time?