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Hi Alf, did you take your old bottles to the bottle depot for some coin? They didn’t predict what you claimed unfortunately with your leafs losing buddy. But at least you get a bit of money towards a new bottle to speak sweet Stanley secrets to you

You got it Spur. I think he has at least one more lockout left before he calls it a day. I wish that day is soon.

Was too late to put Campbell in. Should’ve started him at the getgo of game 6. Too late now sadly. 30 years of a cup less Canada.

Whatever happens on Monday, the Kraken have matched our 4th longest playoff run that we ever had in the bubble in 2020. They did this in their second season. This will be great for the hockey market in Washington state. We should not be jealous of other teams success and have better standards for our own club. Personally I’m happy for Seattle because they are building for the here and now but also have eyes on the future.

Has anyone heard any movement at all on the team getting a new practice facility? I heard Kevin Woodley on 650 several weeks ago coming back from Seattle and had nothing but glowing things to say about their practice facility and how important it is for players to have a place to come into town and start their training. He also mentioned how the Canucks are only of two NHL clubs (actually they will be the last after the flames get their new arena) that do not have a practice facility. Lastly he said whenever a proposal came up for approval from ownership that they balked at the price.(Woolley’s words no mine) I will say that if the team wants players to come into town to prepare for the new season it would make a lot of sense to have their own practice facility not running around to UBC or 8rinks in Burnaby. Of course it’s not going to happen this off season but it really should start being a priority if management wants the team to come into camp and season game ready) it helps to have your own place to train/skate. I remember one of JR’s closing statements last season was that they are searching for a site for a practice facility but a year has gone by and no word yet of getting one. It would go a long way to recruit players by having a new place for the team to call their own for practice and incentive to arrive to town early.

If only the guy who dictates the team’s vision/direction could understand the benefits of drafting franchise/generational players. Nah let’s keep being cap crunched and have not enough elite talent to win what fans here want, a cup. Watching teams like Chi and LA literally lap us in rebuilding-to winning cups again will be very painful and frustrating to watch. Did you opt out as well SerenityNow?

I’ll take “Cammi spilling the beans at the dinner table to Ray” for 500 Alex.

Welcome back Gurn. I have enjoyed your genuine thoughts on the team over the years. Sometime’s it’s healthy to take a step back and deal with what life throws at us. We all have deep rooted passion for this team, I think we can all agree that last year was a low point with how things were dealt. We are still here for better days ahead hopefully. I can hope that things on a personally level have been put behind you and the summer ahead is a fresh slate, such as the Canucks. Sending you good vibes to Powell River (I think that’s where you are at) and always appreciate your posts my Canuck friend.

preaching the truth and facts Iceman. We should’ve started building a team (depth and cornerstone players not just Petey, Demko and Hughes) when the Sedins retired in 2018 and Trevor Linden wanted to build a deep and young team. That was one year after Petterson getting drafted, Hughes was just drafted and Demko was still in Utica and not with the big club other than his first call up/start against Columbus in 2018. This was the time to accumulate draft picks and take bad money (contracts) for short term pain, for picks and prospects to increase the timeline of this rebuild that Linden proposed to FA and Benning. We know the story after that, Linden leaving the franchise because FA wanted a quick turn around (when doesn’t he want that) and Benning said he can do it. So instead we went free agency shopping and used the 14+ million dollars that came off the books with the Sedin’s retiring. Spent money on Gagne, Beagle, Rooster, MDZ, Nilsson instead of weaponizing cap space like we have seen with so many other teams around the league do when they need to rebuild the cupboards and depth of their organizations. And the irony of that summer spreading spree bit the team in the ass in the off season of 2020 when we didn’t have the cap space to resign our right side defenders in Stetcher/Tanev as well as top 6 winger Toffoli. It’s very short sighted mistakes that we might run into repeating as soon as end of the 2023/2024 season when we have to somehow find the cap space to resign Petey and Hronek when they need new deals. Of course we will make the room for Petey but at what cost? It doesn’t do us any favours always being so close up against the cap. Teams aren’t stupid and can see when a team is cap crunched (which we always seem to be) and can get really solid players for peanuts due to their cap issues. Seattle traded just a 5th and 4th to Columbus for Bjorkstrand. It’s a very difficult task to achieve to rebuild a blue line when you have 13 million combined in undesirable D men in Myers (free agent signing in 2019 6X5) and OEL (the trade that Benning did to try and save his job and failed) how does one improve when we are stuck with dead weight contracts. While Myers might be able to be moved being in the last year of his deal, we are stuck with OEL. One other thing that has been a glaring issue with this team is the reluctancy to draft more blue liners especially on the right side. You mentioned how we happen to never have enough depth to get in the playoffs or to go far in the playoffs. This is very true, especially on the right side defence. I don’t have any issues with what we have and what’s coming on the left side. We have Hughes, Rathbone,Hirose, Wolalin, Breez and EP2.0 coming on the LS. It’s the right side we have little to no depth and no elite RSD on the way. Who was the last RSD that we drafted and developed? Johnathan Myrenberg (traded last year for Studnicka who may or may not be in our future plans) Jet Woo that’s who and he’s having a great year in Abby. But why haven’t we been drafting more RSD when it’s been our area of weakness on the big club and in the system for a very long time. Is it because Defensemen take a lot longer then Centers or Wingers do? That management doesn’t have the runway of 4-5 years to develop these prospects? I think JR and most of the Canucks Execs have until the end of next season before their contracts run out so they aren’t focused on the future they are focused on getting instant results. That was intentional and how FA wanted. Another quick turn around that JR said he would help take on. So the future of building out depth has taken a back seat for a ready now playoff hunt. This short term way of thinking limits this teams potential ceiling of being a cup contender and instead we the fans have to settle for just a playoff team (not even that the last 3 years). Which you have pointed out @iceman64 that if the goal is just to be a playoff team it’s a numbing goal and standard to “just get in and anything can happen” benchmark. Now because we didn’t go ahead with Trevor’s plan of rebuilding in 2018 we are stuck with a unfinished product that yes has some REALLY great pieces but the work isn’t done and we are stuck in a place where our core doesn’t want to be bad and get the elite talent we need to expand to contender (not pretender) status. We are in a way f**ked with the layout of contracts and our three cornerstones in their prime with very little margin for error to add to and improve upon. The Hronek trade was not the right time to make but since JR and Co are on the clock, rather then draft a Hronrek with the 1st or 2nd (he was after all a 2nd round pick) rounder we had we used those cost controlled and potentially better assets go so we can gamble on next year. If we make the playoffs and Hronek has a good year, we have to open the bank for him and Petey. I absolutely hear you loud and clear Iceman and I’ve opted out of my season tickets because I can no longer give my money towards a goal( playoff spot not a cup) that not every fan agrees with. It’s the only deterrent I have to say I’m done with the refool on the fly method that we continue to try and sell to the fan base I’m always going to want to see this club win the big prize but you, myself and other fans have seen the trend that we’ve been stuck on since we lost the final in 2011 and we want to cut corners to get there. So I’m sceptical this retool short term plan is going to work this time because it sure hasn’t worked out the last 9-10 years. The fear I have in the next decade is that we will be the lone team in the sad club with Buffalo looking like they are getting their act together finally and Toronto might get over the hump now that they got through the first round. Hope I’m dead wrong about that but I can see it. Anyways Iceman I might have vented more then I should’ve but there’s good reason to be critical about this team spinning it’s tires for this long. If posters on here have issue with what I am saying here, maybe the team should have higher standards and put a stop to the short sighted mediocrity that we’ve all endured. BE BETTER DO BETTER! We all want to see a cup championship in our lifetime it’s overdue and we want a deep team that can deliver that goal. There’s nothing wrong with having those expectations.

He’s not selling and he’s never rebuilding. It is what it is. I love the players of this team but hate his stubborn vision and standard of the club. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what fans like myself want, it’s he’s team.

Personally I didn’t think Igor was lights out like he was last year but he played very well last night to keep the rangers in it. That’s a fair point not to generalize all goalies with heavy workloads, hell look at Otto not showing signs of fatigue at all after being a workhorse in the reg season and 1st round. I will say that big reason why Seattle got through was because Grubauer wasn’t the incumbent during the regular season, Martin Jones for the most part was the main starter for the Kraken. So Grubie was well rested and had an axe to grind with his former club. While it’s difficult to generalize , the truth lies somewhere in the middle imo.

The problem for me the last 4-5 years is the constant trading of picks (yes that’s right magic beans) for quick fixes on the roster that has hampered this team build enough depth out to support the cornerstone players. Sure not every draft pick is going to turn into a NHL player. But the amount of draft capital we have used to keep our team “competitive” also hurts our potential ceiling of being a contender. When was the last time we drafted with a second round pick? I think it was 2021 with Klimovich but we haven’t had one since and won’t have one next season either. Depth is what wins teams championships. You have higher potential of having more talented and cost controlled players by keeping your 1sts and 2nds. A 2nd could be another Demko or Hoglander. Who wouldn’t want more of those then take a flyer on another teams projects or overspend in free agency. If the Canucks never made the Dickinson trade we would have kept our 2021 third and our 2024 2nd rounder and we are still looking for a 3C that Dicky was supposed to be. We would’ve been better off drafting a shutdown centre with the 2021 third rounder. My point is eventually all these futures we trade off are going to hurt our depth and hamper our potential ceiling of being a cup contender, to settle with being a playoff contender. We need more talent pushing from the bottom for when injuries and other situations come up. If Demko,Petterson or Hughes is out long term, that would make our season cooked. It’s like a credit card where eventually the spending will catch up to you. And endlessly trading away picks is not what a retooling team should be doing (all the time) which is something that JR already said not to do and we still did it with our 2023 early 2nd. If the path to the cup will work this way of using more futures in trade than to draft and develop in house, then I don’t have issue with it. But so far it hasn’t worked and I’m sceptical that it’s going to work now. I’ll put some crow on the BBQ if I am wrong. Let’s see how this retool turns out…

Have you noticed that all the goalies that had a heavy workload aside from Otto are now all out of the playoffs? There is something to be said for having a goalie who is fresh and not overworked before the real games begin. You see the results of a goalie who breaks down and doesn’t recover even the season after in Marky last year. He didn’t have any gas left in the tank to play sharp against the oilers last year. Went from runner up to the Vezina to being a backup this year due to burnout. Really hope that Canucks management look at Demkos workload and see that part of the reason that he keeps getting injured is because of overplaying him (and the D corps) so I’d hope that we give a good share of starts to Silov/Martin so that this doesn’t keep happening with Demko. Coming out to a good start will be vital of not putting too much pressure on Demko to have to win/play every game if we come out of the gate in another deep hole. People will joke about preseason/early season not meaning much but for the last 3 seasons, coming out of a solid start is no joke. Demko will be able to rest more if the pressure to win every game isn’t there. I agree with you that we are wasting his prime years not having the personal on the blue line to give him the best chance to succeed. It pays off to have a well rested and healthy goalie.

So here’s my question. What is up with the seeding (or lack there of) I understand stand that in 2014 or 2015 the NHL changed the playoff format of having inter division matchups for the first two rounds. Hear me out: Vegas is the 1 seed and plays in the pacific Division. Seattle is the lowest seed left in the west who as well plays in the pacific division. Logically should the matchup be (1)Vegas VS (7) Seattle no? Edmonton (3) and Dallas (4) would have to play each other being the other seedings. But again Gary Bettman wanted to grow playoff rivalries in the division so seedings be damned. It takes away a part of the home Ice advantage that teams play for during the 82 game regular season. Because the best seeded team isn’t in fact playing the lowest seeding team in every round. That’s not exactly honouring home ice/top seeds. It’s definitely a Gary bettman idea that doesn’t make sense and it over complicates a playoff system that was fine and worked 1 VS 8, 2 VS 7, 3 VS 6, 4 VS 5. Anyways love that there’s going to be a great goalie duel with this matchup and I feel like this series will be a close one. I’d say 6 or 7 for Dallas but I can see Seattle still upsetting the stars.

I think a part of the reason why Vegas got to become a villain so quickly was how unprepared the other GMs were for the first expansion draft in 17 years with new rules. Team GMs gave Vegas a ton of draft pick capital (that they used to draft and flip Nick Suzuki and Brannstrom for Patches and Stone) that they used to bolster their roster into contender status right away. Teams were so afraid to lose some of their 8th best forward or 4th best D that they would rather bribe Vegas prospects (Alex Tuch comes to mind for Vegas not picking Dumba) and with picks. I believe Vegas had 3 1st rounders in their first draft and not one of those picks is still with the team. Where as this time around in the Seattle expansion draft teams either learned from their mistakes or Francis was asking too much to get the same returns. The Kraken have kept their picks (so far) and are building out the depth for the long term. They are already a playoff team in their second season and will be a force to be reckoned with if Shane Wright becomes the player he was hyped up to be in the future. I also think that fans in Vancouver have a bit of a local bias as well (myself included) that we want Seattle to finally be that PNW rival that we never had with the SuperSonics/Grizzlies and the uneven rivalry of the Sounders/Whitecaps. I think deep down we want them to do well but not well enough for them to win a cup before us of course

100% love the city and how similar we are to them. Both cities can relate to the pain of losing our NBA franchises (although I hear Seattle is getting an expansion team) we share a lot more in common then the Alberta teams that’s for sure. The sad thing is if Tod Leiweke (Tim Leiweke’s brother) who discovered that the land that key arena was on could be expanded underground earlier, Seattle wouldn’t have ever lost the Super Sonics in the first place. Hell they won a championship in 79 they shouldn’t never moved to Oklahoma City just after they drafted Kevin Durant! This playoff run will help cement a place for the Kraken in their sports landscape because as a sports fan in Seattle you have literally every professional sports league to choose from (NBA coming soon) so it’s important that the team has some early success. Grow the hockey market fan base to an already crazy passionate city who love their sports teams. Can’t see anything wrong with that. Other than insecure sports fans of other markets being jealous of them, but thankfully not everyone lives in pettiness stuff like that but some do. Give this Kraken team some credit for putting the defending champs on the brink with no real superstar player on their team.

Exactly! The only reason why people want to hate on Seattle is sports fan insecurity. Just because our team has made some mind numbing and bumbling mistakes, doesn’t mean you can’t give credit where credit is due for another franchise/team. They build their team differently then Vegas did and built for the long term instead of wheeling and dealing. It’s impressive. If people want to be jealous or upset at teams like Seattle, they need to look in the mirror of their own team and direct their anger/frustration at management & ownership. Hell I would rather see Seattle win a cup before Toronto does. I have a place in my heart for Cascadia sports teams over the big bad empire that is the centre of the universe. Sorry not sorry. I’m so happy for Seattle and those fans are going to be so amped up on Friday.

Drai was a 3rd OA in 2014. It was Sam Reinhart that went 2nd overall. If only Canucks drafted up 3 more spots…

Mix that with leafs tears and you might have the next flaming moe! Perfect delicious spring drink for a delusional fan base in TO!

I’ll bet you my family rag doll cat Alf if the leafs do end up winning. If you’re wrong I’ll bet you, for your whiskey supply. You seem absolute that they are winning the cup. Deal or no deal?

I’m happy for Seattle and it’s good for that hockey market to be at the worst going home with a 1-1 series. Seattle sports fans are some of the best in North America and while they are our geographical rival, I don’t think we should be jealous of them. They did well in the expansion draft, drafted well and have a proper budget with their salary cap. Even though the franchise is only 2 years old. I think our ownership and management can learn a few things with how important cap space is and how much leverage a team has when you aren’t reckless with your cap space. Patience with your cap space can really find good trades like Bjorkstrand (just a 4th and 5th) it pays off to not spend it all away in free agency. Hopefully it was more of a FA and Benning problem (especially summer of 2018 comes to mind in free agency) then a PA/JR problem. Great job Seattle getting the W in their first playoff game. Saturday in Seattle will be rocking.

It sounds like the plan is to bring OEL back next season. Which is better then buying him out. If he can come back and play closer to the 2021/2022 OEL and not the slow and injured 2022/2023 OEL then that’s more palatable than buying him out and having 7-8 years of dead cap when it’s the window of prime time Petey/Hughes and Demko to be competing. It was a relief to hear PA today state that buyouts don’t make sense for the timeline and competitive window for the club.

“Ready or not here we come” buyouts and lack of draft capital be damned!

I mean it’s the Canuck’s way. But we will still be getting a stellar player. Just not the one we desperately want after 9/10 seasons with no playoffs we really need more then Petey Hughes and Demko. The elite depth needs to be set for us to become a contender I hear what you are saying. A good complimentary piece like Podz/Boeser will be added but not the franchise level that Petey and Hughes are.

It’s been a blast watching the games with all of you. Better days ahead next year.