Sergei Shirokov

Yeah, like a lot of young defensemen, seems like he just needs to sort out of few things. He'll be an important player for the canucks.

Did Juolevi have an awful season? From all reports, it seemed like it was a very having a pretty good season. Getting points, and getting lots of minutes.

It's a very sad day. Botchford started covering the Canucks right around the time when I started watching hockey. I was a huge fan of the PatCast and The Provies/Athletties. I thought he was a very divisive figure in the Canucks media circle, but he definitely drew intrigue and kept things interesting. He was original and had an edge in his writing.

It's true. Veteran teams win cups. That doesn't mean younger teams like the 2010 Hawks can't pull it off, but you don't see a team full of 20 to 24 years winning cups very often. The physical peak of hockey players is usually around 25 years old. However, experience and wisdom can make up for the physical decline up until the mid thirties. So the real prime of hockey players is probably around 27-28.

Injured defensemen? Sounds like a Canucks D already.

I'm actually really looking forward to seeing his debut. It'd be a huge development for the organization if we had another defensemen pan out.

Regardless of whether Juolevi was the best player available, Benning addressed a very big organization need with the Pick. Tkachuk and Keller may become better players, but at the end of the day, the Canucks desparately (And still do) need quality defensemen in their prospect pool. I honestly don't know what the commotion is about. He's played very well at the pro level, and just needs some seasoning, like most young defensemen.

I've heard mostly good things as well. (Canucks army, the athletic, and various interviews on tsn team 1040. Defense is a hard position to play. Just give him some time. Juolevi will be a very important player for the canucks for a long time.

I thought he did play on the PK. I remember Ryan Johnson saying he was playing 23-24 minutes a night which would be hard if didn't kill penalties. I don't have the exact facts though. (Not a 100% sure) The defensive side of the game will come. It just takes time. Defense is the hardest position to player. I'm pretty sure Sergachev, Chychurn and McAvoy aren't know for their defenseive games as well.

Yeah Hutton being a top-four defensemen again is a huge development for the organization. Means we don't have to rush Juolevi and Hughes.

Well I understand the pick 100%. Look how many top four defensemen are available in free agency compared to how many wingers. Needless to say, if this rebuild is going to work, we really really need Juolevi to pan out. Maybe even more than Hughes. Hughes will be a really good offensive defense, but we under estimate how important having a steady two way defensemen will be.

Over years, they've also traded or let some good players go for not much. Stoll Brodziak Cogliano Dubnyk Petry Hall Eberle

I've actually been living in Edmonton for the past 6 years, so I get a heavy dose of the issues. It's a very complicated problem, and it basically stems from a number of contributing issues: - Poor defense. Generally, for the last 10 years, ever since Pronger left, the Oilers have had a tremendous struggle putting together a competent defense. They lack reliable two-way defensemen. - Poor Goaltending or inconsistent goaltending. - Young players on the Oilers got their pay day too early. One of the biggest advantages of icing a young lineup is taking advantage of the low cap hit when the time is right. Players like Eberle, Hall, and Nugent-Hopking got their pay days way too early. -Youth is largely overrated in the NHL. Sure young players are fast and hungry, but if you look like at the last stanley cup winners, these teams were full of veterans (Washington, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Los Angelos, Boston). Experience is a tremendous asset, and the Oilers have iced nothing but youth. - Poor scouting and drafting - Poor player development as a previous -Poor rebuilding strategy. Tearing down an organization to the roots causes a lot of problems.

11 pts in 14 games is actually pretty impressive for a rookie. For comparison sake, Virtanen had 13 pts in 55 games, Horvat had 0 points in 5 games. Hodgson, Schroeder, Shinkurak, Gaunce and several other former and current canucks prospects had uninspiring starts. Obviously, points aren't everything, but lots of positives to be drawn from the start. Notes on Juolevi: - Biggest strength is passing and puck moving abilities - Terrific vision and hockey sense - Needs better defensive positioning - Still adjust to the north american game

High offensive upside than I was expecting. It's hard to score in the AHL. See pretty much all first year pros. I can't wait to see him for a call up.

Jake's going to be a very important player for us. He'll provide that speed, edge, physicality, and occasional offense.

How you guys rank the defense in Utica through 6 games? Juolevi seems like he'd be at No.3. Being familiar with a team and a league makes a big difference. It'll come for Juolevi. 1. Chatfield 2. Sautner 3. Juolevi 4. Brisebois

Here is an example of canucks army casting away a player and ended up retracting it later on: https://canucksarmy.com/2017/03/04/canucks-throw-away-contract-on-chl-free-agent-zack-macewen/

Didn't really see him use it actually. Mostly during the wrister.

Juolevi doesn't really seem to have any glaring weaknesses in his game. In comparison to some of our recent top picks, there always seemed to be one deficiency. Hodgson had poor skating, Schroeder lacked size, Virtanen/Kassian lacked hockey sense, Horvat lacked explosive skating, and Petterson is/was under weight. Of all of our top prospects, I'd be willing to bet that Juolevi has the highest probability of success in the NHL. Probably not a franchise calibre player, but he'll definitely key piece to a cup contender.

Patrick is playing in the NHL against way more difficult competition. Remember Hodgson and Schroeder lighting up the WJC and then failing in the NHL?

He def brings something different than all of our other prospects. Speed, Size, and plays with an edge. Gaunce and Jensen are okay, but don't bring what Virtanen brings.

Good pick. He's exactly what the canucks will need moving forward. Young, fast, strong, and he has a mean streak.

Strange, he doesn't look like he's 228 lbs. The size and speed would do wonders to our lineup.

I don't think he'll be quite ready next training camp, but we'll see how his conditioning is in September. Still a really good sign if he is able to stay in the comets lineup at this time of the year. I think he's exactly what the canucks need. Young, big, strong, and fast. Really would add a new dynamic to this team.