Putgolzin

I remember Wellwood once scoring on a between-the-legs dangle and Quinn lit him up. Maybe things have changed in those years, but I don't see an NHL coach being very happy with a move like that.

Depends who you are...for some guys that's just like walking past 4 hot dog stands

Gunter glieben glauchen globen

That could also be called Bertuzzi-esq. when comparing early careers. Just for those of us who yearn for cups to be half-full and whatnot.

Agreed, and the presumed conditioning stint in the AHL has the potential to see him regain some top-6 time and scoring

The second half of this list looks like they're planning to do a reboot of The Replacements in hockey version...if they can all hit their top-end simultaneously, we've got a good chance at the cup! (or if they don't....)

I'm not out of reps. If he has another year that goes as well as this one appears to have gone, it could have the potential to make the Canucks a legitimate contender again.

Yeah, I was recently coming up with a roster of players and prospects under about 23 (baertschi and granlund being the cutoff point). I think the historical view of Benning's work here is going to be highly regarded (even if he's ousted prior to their maturation).

Haha - you've obviously seen this sketch from a couple years back right?

that's the exact perspective i'm talking about. if a guy like nylander is showing ppg in the sel at D+1 and two years later we're seeing that carry over to some degree into the NHL...if we have a player that could potentially be on the same trajectory as Nylander, consider me carried away.

So after four games he's already looking like he's on a trajectory to be dominant in this league?! Hard not to be a little over-excited right now.

I've always thought that if 09-12 had 1/4 of the amount of heart/grit/perseverance/whatever-you-call-it as the 94 team that we would have dummied all contenders (I'd even say the same for WCE era). The 94 team had loads of talent too, but what got them close was sheer passion and determination. The same thing that made them so unbelievably entertaining.

Yep, the media was amping up the populace and there was a legit ground swell of opinion that seemed to work hand-in-hand with the reffing changing. And while Vigneault was hoping for some more calls, there was still no way he was going to change his eternal strategy - get out into the lead and then start playing Red Rover at the blue line for the rest of the series. We were lucky to have finally gotten past Chicago with that plan (they'd beaten us at it the previous two), but we weren't going to also get that lucky with Boston.

Exactly. If someone came on here and said he's going to be a sure-fire top liner I'd chuckle a little. But that's just the other end of the spectrum of those who can only foresee him being a 4th liner. He'll be a good third liner, and perhaps even a bit higher (not holding my breath on that last one, but not ruling it out either).

Fair point, it might be overly-optimistic. I suppose I just react against others overly-pessimistic outlooks. Yeah, he hasn't scored in the NHL, but he did score in the O and the A...and he scored more year-over-year in those leagues...which means to me he has (like most prospects) the ability to grow...which means there's a good chance he won't always be a 4th line plug.

Spectacular story. One of the greatest things I've ever heard. Hopefully the old dude got a little un-shook and carried on happily with life. I bet he'd done some stupid stuff when he was a kid too that could be spun into a hilarious story. I don't mean to sound callous, I'm sure that was a major sucky event in the poor dudes life...but he probably got over it after a week or two. You were just a kid being a stupid kid. And we get a great story out of it.

I like this thinking. It seems that people can only think Bust or Top 6. Bo has done a delightful job of working himself from 4th line deployment to all-of-a-sudden being pencilled into Top 3 status (which I think is entirely premature) People still think of Gaunce as an almost-bust, but I'm ok with him slowly working into Top 9 deployment, and then hopefully Top 6 after a year or two. Same with Virtanen...if he could be real steady as a 4th liner (or perhaps 3rd liner) over the next season and a half, maybe he could keep developing into one day becoming the force we all hoped he would be...perhaps in 4-5 years he could still become a force if we let him slowly work himself into that role.

Fun discussion. OK, so say we set up a Memorial Cup type of tournament where the champion team from SEL, KHL and AHL played (and throw in a host team from whichever league). If it were to run for ten years, how many champions would emerge from each league? 3 SEL, 3 KHL, 4 AHL?

I should know this, but would SEL be considered the world's best league other than NHL? Also, the thing that excites me is he seems to impress at every juncture. For years it seems we've always been making excuses or reasons why our prospects haven't shown up at different tournaments...it's nice to finally have one that does seem to do so.

Yup, this is from his parody of Royals. I like the conspiracy theory part better than the sandwich wrap part.

I'm protected cause I made this hat from aluminum foil

Funny, I read those predictions by @Warhippyand @Derp... and I'd say they're exactly spot on (maybe 2b is a touch overly optimistic...) You think at 22 or whatever Gaunce has completed his development arc as if he's 28? You haven't noticed that he's done a great job as a rookie on the defensive end of his game? You haven't noticed that he's managed to improve production year-over-year in the last two leagues he's played in?

Also, if Gaunce had spent this last year in the AHL under Green and scoring at a better pace than the previous year (a somewhat safe assumption), everyone would be frothing at the mouth that we've got the next Jumbo Joe in the making. Which would be ridiculous...but so is discounting him based on last seasons lack of offense.

I really don't get what the down side is to Gaunce. We've got a handful of young "top-six-or-nothing" type of players, but on the other hand we have Gaunce. He does what he's told very well at the bottom of the depth chart and looks like he could slowly work into a more productive role while continuing to play great two-way hockey. His new coach knows first-hand that he can produce offensively...I'm going to predict that he finds more time on the third line this year...maybe in a year or two he even starts seeing some second line time while half of our 'high-end' prospects are flaming out cause they can't slowly be moved into a top six role and can't play a bottom six role...

Trying to figure out why I can't get excited about this pick...realized it's been 25 years since we had one of our second round picks turn into a real hockey player. And Mason Raymond I guess, but that would lend more weight to why I can't get excited about a second round pick. i can't wait for him and Gadjovich and Thatcher to all change the tides.