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IBatch

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Everything posted by IBatch

  1. You bet. Even without the cap building a contender was hard with a big wallet, it didn't gaurantee it, but it sure helped and most of Edmontons first group of guys went elsewhere pursuing their millions which was a big reason they never made things work with all their picks from their glory days core ... I like our team too, and even more the prospects. Under the cap we've got a good chance to make it work off the hop, but we still have a ways to go.
  2. Thats about where I see things too. At least two more lottery seasons including this one. A lot of it depends on the prospects development ( for example Virtanen frustrates with his speed and shot, gets a lot of chances if he figures it out we could have something special, or just a bottom six plug) and what Benning or his predecessor does with free agency to fill the Sedins role. At this point we really only have two pieces in place with Horvat and Boeser and a lot of maybes.... This team reminds me a lot of Edmonton after the old gaurd left in the early nineties and they had a lot of promising guys coming up. Doug Weight, Ryan Smyth etc couldnt make it work and except a Pronger fueled run to the cup nothing much has happened for them until now, and that still isn't working. One could say they've been rebuilding sicne then. It's entirety possible that this core won't gain enough traction in time, and it will be the next one, with a few guys signed long term with this one, that gets us back into contention.
  3. This would be the ideal scene and it is possible. IMO we will likely still have a couple down years, not as bad as last year or the year before, but still out of the playoffs and picking top ten ( if the lottery balls are kind to us). After that we will have Pettersson plus two or three making a difference, along with Juolevi and Demko, plus possibly Lind, one or two other guys and if we are very lucky this or next year's draft pick(s). 2020-21 should be a competitive team (one of the best in our division, battling with Calgary and Edmonton for supremacy, LA should be done by then, San Jose for sure, and ARI and Vegas in the middle of the pack...ANA is a wild card depending on how they do with aging Getzlaf and Perry) possibly a contender.
  4. Of course. I hope he will be the answer in net for us and but it's not a foregone conclusion. We won't know for sure until he gets up here and has a big enough sample size.
  5. Now that things are starting to go south a little for the team, winning one out of four and having a difficult time stringing a couple wins together I wonder how fans will react if we end up picking top five again as originally predicted going into the season. The Stealth Tank would certainly be still in full swing and a chance at one of the three guys at the top of 2018 would definitely be some consolation. My biggest fear is we don't get fooled again into believing this club can compete earlier than we truly can, we go back hard into the UFA well and end up with one or two more anchors eating up our payroll for modest at best results. It's hard to look honestly at this roster and expect we are out of the woods, including our prospect pool. Boeser is a revelation, Horvat is just fine too, but we also need a top pairing and an elite goaltender to go along with it minimumly, and at least one more star forward. Don't think we are there yet, one or two more years of top five picks would be painful, but it's just the medicine we need to come out contending later.
  6. Well said ( as usual). The best thing that could happen to this club is if we keep finding guys past the first round that can make an impact, and if we could get two or three more years of high first rounders in the system, although it's not necessary if you pick well regardless. I also don't see things really sticking until the latter half of Horvats contract. Also wrote about how guys like Guentzal and Point are doing so well, last year Kucherov made things easy for Point and we all know who Guentzal gets to play with. Lemuiex did the same thing, and Maroon scored way above his norm with McDavid last year... I'm sure Virtanen would look golden lining up with these guys too ( and on that note im stoked Green put him with the Sedins, his speed and corner work is exactly what that line needs, eight shots is a lot for even Ovechkin...) So far this year we have two new young faces to cheer on... within the next two years we should see between 3-6 depending on the Sedins and how high we draft ( and who we pick of course). My guess is Benning is going to start trying to draft guys that are NHL starting maybe this year, than the pool will organically take over given the development curve between guys will be closer. I also see a few UFAs gone this deadline or next. We have seven roster spots that should be replaced with young guys over the next two or three years, which does put us at 2021....and should put us surging back towards the top of our division to do battle with most likely Edmonton and Calgary.
  7. I agree on the last paragraph. Personally I think Juolevi s stock went through the roof when they won the Gold at juniors and he feasted with Aho, Laine and Puljajarvi upfront. With the three defenseman picked after him all in the show and flourishing theres nothing worng with suggesting he wasn't the best guy, and I blame the junior tournament. It happens all the time, guys have a great tourney and their body of work is ignored to a certain extent. I hope I'm wrong of course.
  8. Add Keller (no.7) and even Chychrun...and you have to start admitting OJ looks like a miss.
  9. The re-tool would have worked if we had Schneider, traded Luongo and kept Kesler. It was a bad judgement call at the time thinking that our aging Sedins were enough, even with a decent replacement in net. I'm guessing a directive from the owners to keep their stock prices at their all time high was part of the reason it took a few years ( Getting into the post season fooled them too into thinking it was working which didn't help) before the rebuild word came along. Now fans should be happy, that's what we are doing. Embrace the losing, it's what we need to get our next bunch of core players, so far we only have two ( and that's getting Boeser is the second).
  10. Well said. Luongo absolutely is one of the best goalies ever to play the game. He was one of my favorites before we traded to get him, he was always in the highlights and regularly faced forty plus shots yet had a respectable winning percentage. I knew as soon as we got him we were approaching contention, and he didn't dissapoint in the playoffs going head to head with an equally hot Turco...what a series. I loved Luongo before he became a Canuck but he wasn't and never will be at the same level as Roy. This guy revolutionized the way the position was played and won two cups on his back, one so lopsided that he cemented himself in the history books the same way Gretzky did with his 50 goals in 39 games and 215 point season ( overtime wins, this guy got in other shooters heads more than anyone else not named Hasek). Luongo also idolized Roy, and the fact he's got a chance to pass him in wins makes for fun debate. I just don't see that happening unfortunately. Five hundred wins are within reach for sure, but passing Roy is unlikely. His body has taken a toll, and like Broduer before him even with one last great season ( like Broduer going to the final one last time at Luongo's age) in him, passing even the five hundred win milestone is NOT a foregone conclusion.
  11. Check out the stats. Reimer was a mediocre starter in TO, they hired him to back up Luongo and he took over last year. What happens this year is anyone's guess. Broduer also played amazing in his late thirties but he eventually lost it. To expect Luongo to beat the odds is admirable but not realidtic. The number one role is fluid in Florida right now, it could be Reimer it could be Luongo, but three more years or twenty wins is the most we should expect, not enough to dethrown Roy.
  12. Given that Reimer has outplayed him the last two years and that at most he will split the starts this year, his years of thirty wins are no longer there. I don't think he will finish his contract but of course am hopeful he will. Five hundred wins are within reach, but it's doubtful he will pass Roy IMO.
  13. Roys place in the record books is safe. No slight on Luongo or anyone else, goalies just are not getting their chances before that young anymore. Murray and Jones are exceptions, but they still are no Fluery who has the best chance at the record books, but only if he gets traded out of Vegas.
  14. Even if you cross reference to different eras you probably won't stop. The things he could do with the puck were otherworldly. Like half slapping the puck from a face off through another player, two defenseman and a goalie top corner. Have an old VHS tape named Gretzky Fifty Best Goals and that one I can't forget.
  15. Sick highlight video. His ability to pick corners and guide the play with his passing is elite level already. Don't know who we've had in the history of the Canucks that would be a good comparable...Naslund would be the closest but that doesn't quite fit. THAN had his comparable as Zetterberg ceiling.... nothing wrong with that.
  16. We probably just picked a career third liner comparable to Chris Stewart when he fills out. Hoping he's more like Kevin Stevens, Cam Neely, Rick Tochett or even Keith Tckchuk though.... Not too worried about his speed as that usually isn't a power forwards game as much as getting in the right spot and battling for position, or crashing the corners and gaining possession. What I love about this draft is with Lind and Pettersson it's possible an entire line could come out of it. Plus a goalie. The scouts said it lacked completely in generational and franchise players, but was deep otherwise, surely a couple of these guys are going to to bite. This was a great pick IMO.
  17. This thread is unique given when it was posted and how much one player can generate....it's great to see his name on or near the top of my phone when I log in, and will miss it if it's gone. I'm all for keeping it here for a long, long time. Respect.
  18. You need to watch Who's Eating Gilbert Grape and relax too. Then we both can relax a little and listen to 1040. Seriously though there is a resemblance in that photo.
  19. It's well documented that toughness matters in hockey for as long as it's played. Every era has had some very tough intimidating teams that use it as a big part of their toolbox to win games. Obviously Philly is the biggest example of this, bringing in eight if the toughest, roughest player in the world and completely changing the culture of the team, winning two cups and almost a third five years later. The Big Bad Bruins of late sixties and early seventies had it. Philly was dominating and intimidating everyone until Larry Robinson single handedly went through their line up and beat the tar out of every single tough guy sparking the best dynasty the league has ever seen. Gretzky talks a lot about the original six and how tough those guys were, expected to fight their own battles without a true police man in the lineup (Ferguson of the sixties MTL dynasty is considered the first true enforcer, but he could play too). Pretty much every great team pre 2000s had at least one, more like three or four guys that could fight well when required. The Pens. Oilers. Detroit, especially 1997-98. MTL. NYI had Gilles the best power forward in the league, the Sutter's and Potvin....
  20. Boston won mostly because of Thomas. Record playoff saves, record final saves all-time. ANA is the only team in the last decade that won because toughness was their key element. Penalized heavily but bailed out by penalty kill, and absolutely bullied Ottawa. Going back a little further the 1997-98 Detroit teams would target key players and either knock them out of the series or knock them of their game..that was mean team, skilled too. CHI first cup team was the toughest by far, the other two relies mostly on skilled two way play. PIT appeared in more final than anyone now over the last decade and none of their teams was or is particularly tough. LAs first cup was similar to Boston's as it was all Quick. Second not so much, luckiest team in the league and underserving IMO. Hate them. CAR was mostly Ward, Conn Smythe winner. So three of the last ten cups were won primarily on goaltending. My favorite by far was ANA. Iced four enforcers, and had half a dozen guys on top of that that could fight and hit with aplomb. Parros, May, Scott Thornton, Moen, Perry, Penner, Getzlaf, Pronger etc. We're just brutal to their appponents, spent half their games happily on the penalty kill with arguably one of the most effective units alltime..
  21. PIT and even CHI aren't any tougher than our current team. Speed is the future, its not my favourite type of team but they are the ones with the most playoff success in the last ten years.
  22. Especially considering before now his career high was like 12 goalpants and McDavid turned him into almost a 30 goalpants guy. He's a plug, his career norm is way below last year...imigane how many pants an actual star could get playing with him...
  23. Absolutely. As Martin found out in one of the highest ranked fights of the year, Guddy is dangerous. In the second round right now and only a few teams have actual enforcers on their teams, Reaves, Wilson and Neil but all those guys can play and hit hard too. Lucic of course can throw with anyone too. Getzlaf has been a beast in ANA and Perry is now slouch either. The Rangers have Glass who's actually turned into a great fighter, routinely has some of the top ranked bouts of the year in hockey fights.com, which leaves PIT and Nashville as the only teams left that don't have a guy on their team that can fight well and or play well and add a large element of toughness. The Canucks should continue to move toward skill whenever possible if they hope to become a playoff team, but I would take a Getzlaf, Perry, Lucic type at the draft if available too. Eventually some team is going to bring back a few goons and the arms race will be back with a vengeance...maybe after the next round of expansion when the talent is further diluted? As a fan I hate getting pushed around. Losing Tryamkin stings. Guddy and Pedan are the only players in our system that can fight well. Beiga hits everything but is small. Hopefully the next few drafts we get some guys that can play well and do some damage and offer push back. Losing Burrows and Hansen actually reduced our toughness which says a lot.
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