Gawdzukes

Hmm, which one?

When I say that (fables) I mean we haven't even seen Hronek play in a meaningful game yet. Isn't it a bit early to say that our defence went from atrocious and giving up the 9th most goals in the league to playoff caliber without them actually having played a game or even had a practice yet? It seems to be what people do every year and then make excuses as to why their predictions didn't come true. I mean we have no real insight into what OEL we get yet. Myers is still on the team. We currently don't have a bottom pairing set in any way, shape, or form, and we currently don't have a partner for Hughes. So far we have 50% of the starting D set. To me that would seem very presumptuous to just proclaim all of our problems are solved and we're a top defensive team all of the sudden without doing much of anything to improve it besides Hronek, who is more of an offensive defenceman. I guess in some people's mind's Hronek is Scott Niedermeyer or something maybe. To me it still seems very much up in the air as to what we'll be looking at come next year. It would be different if all those things you mentioned are actually addressed at some point. I guess it seems obvious to me it's a don't count your chickens until they hatch situation. Anything else seems rather short-sighted with all the question marks imo. Some fans just want to believe. I couldn't agree more with your second paragraph. Why waste assets, or use buyouts, etc., when we will finally be in a good position if we just don't panic. @PhillipBlunt @higgyfan @BC_Hawk @VancouverHabitant +'s all around guys. Good posts this morning.

We had last year with Dries. Good little player but too small for the role he tried to fill.

Good post Van Habitant. You hit the nail on the head. While I do say our defence was absolutely horrible last year I'm sure it comes off pessimistic or whatever. That's not my intention but I'd rather be correct than all feel goody on an internet forum. However, despite our ineptness of last season like you say we are only a player or two away from making it far better. In that sense defence is easier to fix than forwards. While the players are harder to find you only need 6 dmen as compared to 12 forwards. So one player can completely turn things around. As you say we got two top players in Hughes and Hronek. I thought OEL was good in 22, not quite as good as some say though. If he can return to form we could be in decent shape. I have encouragement from Tocchet's comments at the end of the year where he says OEL is walking around with a gleam in his eye like he is very focused and going to rebound strongly. We'll see what happens there as it will determine a lot of our success or failure. If we can clear cap and bring in one more guy it could make all the difference. Mayfield or Gudas to play with Hughes are my top choices barring a trade for a more long term partner. Justin Holl is also a name I've heard tossed around. Maybe a guy like Clifton but I would like someone bigger. Not sure what the Bruins and Orlov are planning to do. The biggest difference we have is I'm not going to anoint these guys as playoff worthy until they actually show they are. Currently they are not. Rolling it back with Bear will just mean the season is over before it starts unfortunately. We all saw how terrible he was. He was a dart throw and a throw away from another team. He's replacement level. Allvin and his 27 assistants. That made me chuckle.

Very close call on all those guys.

Yes, either of those two are better. Woo as well is in there. I would gladly play anyone else than sign Bear to a gaudy contract. It would be like paying Hoglander $3mil for 3 years because we don't have a 3rd line RW. Unless Bear wants to sign a one year deal for under $1.5 get rid of him. Exactly. Why do people keep telling themselves these fables? The defence is a shambles until we see differently. That's like I wonder if Arizona fans are sitting around telling themselves they have a rock solid team and are playoff bound.

Hmmm, I am very doubtful. Why would you assume he'll get any better? That's a bad bet to make. I would feel he would be like Boeser the second we sign him. Too much money, stuck with a contract for a player no one wants. Anything more than a year is absolutely criminal for that plug imo. I would almost entirely give up on management if they did that with the cap constraints we're under. We are struggling to ice a team under the cap and throwing away $2.5m for 3 years on Bear would be absolutely insane. Just the thought of it has me shaking my head rapidly as I write this.

Bear isn't even worth $1 mil. I'll be outraged if they waste $2.5m on him for 2 or 3 years, What an utter waste of cap space that would be.

Yeah, I see it that way too. More risk with ASP I think and Reinbacher is probably more ready having just played against men all season. He could be in the AHL this year I think. That would be exciting. We are seriously lacking size too. I wouldn't target that specifically but it's a good bonus.

Reinbacher for me. Exactly the type of defender we need. What a great future partner for Hughes.

I think the result of these stats just show how flawed they are. You can't just use a spreadsheet and some fancy numbers, you have to actually view what the players are doing out there. I'll give you Hughes and Hronek as being upper echelon guys but Bear is just awful. He routinely makes Myers level mistakes, he's tiny, doesn't PK, while only adding a miniscule bit of offence. He wasn't even good enough to play in Carolina, not even once last year. The only reason his ranking is good is because he was playing with a superstar most of the time. I would say he's alright as a #7 but I wouldn't want him dressing as a regular on a competitive team. If they think Bear is the answer we're sunk. Hirose and McWard both acquitted themselves well, Hirose especially is very calm and confident. We are lucky to have the coaching we do but there is only so much they can do with this group the way it is.

Yeah something like this. I don't think we'll get Gavrikov but we definitely need upgrades and Myers as far away as possible. I thought I heard there was a good chance of Gavrikov re-signing in LA LA land. There are Graves, Dumoulin, and to a lesser extent Kulikov, Mikkola, Nutivarra, Beaulieu, and Gustafson. I would go after Soucy myself but he probably likes what Seattle has going on. Gudas is a little older but him and Mayfield are two guys I like. The pickings are slim though.

Yeah. Indeed, I can't see the management group leaving things they way they are. They've said themselves how poor the group is and their disappointment at not upgrading it. They will be retooling at all costs. Well hopefully not the 11th overall but I agree our 2024 first is as good as gone, just a matter of when. I heard the cap situation won't be known for a month but I'm not sure it will go up. The players union needs to give up a lot of money for that to happen. Hopefully though.

Put down the bottle ... or make it a double.

Bear. Myers, and Bone 50% suckage = bottom of the league

I can't really put any faith in stats that says Bear is in the upper half of the league. He's brutal. As it stands we are easily one of the worst defenses in the league. Predicting we are contenders for the Pacific is hilariously incorrect. We are no where near the level of Vegas. That statement is laughable. I like Hronek but 7th best dman in the league. I don't think so. It really depends on OEL too. Who knows what we're going to get there. Tonnes of question marks. It's almost impossible to guess what our defence will look like. We got 3 guys Hughes, Hronek, and OEL. The other 5 spots are currently up in the air in terms of what the plan going forward will be. I'd imagine there are many irons in the fire and they'll be looking for upgrades.

Yeah, he should be in the conversation for sure. He had a great season for us. Him and Hirose competing for the 3LD. Ideally we find some cap space and bring in another RD, even a stop gap. Currently we have Hronek, and maybe (hopefully not) Myers there with no one else capable unless Woo surprises at camp. I'm really hoping we pass on Bear somehow. He's just not good.

Hmmm, no, 83 points for sure though. Bone sucks, he's worse than Brisebois, who wasn't too bad but he's still an AHL tweener. Woo hasn't played an NHL game in his life. That third line is made up of 3 question marks. Bear and Martin are both awful.

Couldn't have said it better myself. It's easy to predict they'll be better like I see people do every year but yeah they actually have to do it. Beauvillier-Petey-Kuzmenko DiGiuseppe-Miller-Boeser Mikheyev-Dries-Podkolzin Joshua-Aman-Garland Studnicka Hughes-Schenn?? OEL-Hronek Brisebois-Myers Burroughs? Hirose? This roster blows. That top 6 is so weak defensively. It's more likely to be bottom 10 than in the playoffs. DiGuiseppe is an AHLer on the second line. Dries is an AHLer centering the third line. Podkolzin is an AHLer at this point. Schenn is probably not back so it'll be Bear, who is terrible. Brisebois is also an AHLer As of now we have no backup unless Silovs makes the team. Martin is Respectfully disagree. Like I said though I don't expect the players I listed above to be on the roster except DiGuiseppe on the 4th or in the pressbox. With those changes we are fringe playoff team on paper, as is we are bottom 10 of the league. This is the same team that finished 11th last and all the teams around us will be getting better too. Most of them are not cap crunched like we are.

That slow little toe drag he did about 30 times in that highlight reel ain't going work at the NHL level imo. Very slick looking I'll admit but he looks like a one trick pony if there ever was one.

It was hilarious to see all the misplaced criticisms and blame thrown his way. A lot of posters showed where their knowledge of the game stops.

Haha. Sure Alf. It just occurred to me you must have the worst batting average on CDC with all the constant wild claims you make. Just so you know though, a great core doesn't really mean much of anything on it's own. Our core is good, not great. It's small. It takes an entire team to win in the NHL. You know ... depth and stuff, which our current cap problems prevent. Damn I hope you're right for once though. I actually think this team has a chance to make the playoffs but it will depend on the moves PA and co make. I think we're going to be in for a hell of a ride.

I've seen so many excuses year to year but it's my experience that is mostly just telling oneself lies. I saw a crap hockey team that got a coaching bump against other crappy teams with no pressure when it didn't matter, Reminiscent of the year before. The top 6 has no backbone or defensive acumen outside of two guys, the bottom six is a mishmash of spare parts. I don't even know if we have a bottom 6 currently. Actually I do, we don't. The defence is the worst in the league and is a complete mystery at this point. At least we got Silovs. That's one plus. And yes we did seem to get "defence" as a concept for the last quarter of the year. That's a big stretch between then and putting it all together when it counts next season. The line-up posted is definitely a bottom 10 team which is what the thread is about. We have serious cap problems no matter how many ways you add up real numbers to 82.5 (grade 3 math). I have faith we'll finish a little better but that is only because the team will be quite different by the time the season starts. Depending on what they do it will cost us though. How much, is the question.

Big whoop. We were horrible. One of the worst in history as I recall. One can try to be optimistic but in pure evaluation form the team listed in the OP is destined for a bottom 10 finish. AHL city out there.

Yeah, I'm getting more and more hyped with Moore. Sometimes players are the benefactor of playing with others but you also have to be very good to play the part. In this case I think they are all studs. I think Perrault may be getting undersold. I've heard a lot about how Moore is incredibly dedicated to his craft and he just eats and breathes the game. He's a beast defensively while allowing the big 3 to shine, “Moore is the second most involved player in offensive transitions in North America behind Connor Bedard. He’s sending almost a quarter of his passes to dangerous areas of the ice, and is among the higher-end shot generators in the class. Put this with his superb skating and edgework, dogged mentality of being hard on pucks defensively, and his puck skill: Moore has risen to the top 10 of our rankings and still could climb higher. I’d like to see him carry the puck into the dangerous areas of the ice in the offensive zone and not just on the rush, but he’s been showcasing his offensive acumen the last few months.” – Austin Garret, Smaht Scouting Imagine another set of brothers. That would be a trip.