2011

lol, how old do you think Raymond is? It was Robin from How I Met Your Mother who made the rare Canucks referances, not Elaine.. lol.

Benning (and team) are far more informed and educated on all of the draft prospects available than any of us "arm chair" GMs are. Like it or not, we the fans need to sit back and trust the process.

Ok, I looked back and re-read the 1st 2 pages. NOT 1 PERSON SAID THEY WOULD RATHER PICK NYLANDER. Sure Ehlers, Dal Colle, and Ritchie came up, but the point is; You cant go around telling other people to go look back at this or that,when you didn't do it yourself.

Not true. A lot of fans supported this pick. At the time I wanted Ehlers or Jake; 100% based on highlight footage that I watched from all of the top prospects. Nylander looked good, but not as good as the other two. Over the years Vancouver fans have seen a number of local BC boys go on to have great careers (Sakic, Webber, Neely), so it was nice to see Jake picked. Again, at the time it all made sense. The only major mistake IMO was Jakes shoulder injury. Vancouver knew he had shoulder surgery and they really underestimated how much this would affect his game. Jakes first season as a Canuck looked decent too, until his checking re-aggravated that shoulder injury (hit against Kessler I believe). Injuries happen, I get it. Heck, Aaron Ekblad (who was taken 1st overall in that same draft) may have a shortened career due to concussion injuries, That really sucks. My hope as a fan from experiencing this draft is this: 1. I hope Jake can fully recover from this injury and find his game again. 2. Vancouver management learns from their mistakes and takes drafting injured players more seriously.

I see it as a trust gaining move. Vancouver has happy prospects who don't feel like management is trying to take advantage of them in these signings. Sure it burns a year, but it is more likely they will want to resign here in Van isn't it?

I believe there are ways around this. Most popular being conditioning stint. I don't know he would be aloud to play in the playoffs though.

Ulf hasn't played in the NHL for 13 - 14 years. I would guess his son didn't play in NA at all.

I feel like the Tkatchuk or Juolevi debate is a waste of time. They are not comparable players in any way (ie. shape, style, position), I honestly feel like both are great players, both are great picks. To spend time claiming that one is better than another is like arguing over what type of fruit is better, its an individual preference. If somebody like apples, you wont change their mind just because you like oranges, you need to proof, that at this point doesn't exist. I will say this about Tkatchuk, he sure is making Virtanen look bad.

Really??? You watched 4/6th ? Is there some ongoing bad math joke going on that I missed?

Anybody else notice that Juolevi and Boesser play the same position on the powerplay?

Good points!! Its my belief that Tryamkin would be a better defenseman in the NHL than he is in Europe based on the ice size alone. Trymakins size and reach should help him in taking space away from Crosby and Ovechkin. Nobody's going to know for sure until somebody try it. I doubt Tryamkin plays in the NHL this year. Hope to see him in Utica and next years preseason though.

Agreed.... this tournament will tell me who's going win the Stanley cup for the next 10 years. I'm gonna break Vegas.

Its more than just what happens on the ice when you consider player developement. In Bo's case playing at the NHL level means he gets to practice and learn tips off of the Sedins and other NHL caliber players. Unless you get real lucky, you dont get that in junior. Sedins arent getting any younger either, so taking away a year of that opportunity could be costly. At this point I dont know if Bo stays on the team or not, but he should get his 9 games at the least.

I agree that the Pitts puposal is a step backwards. I have no interest in Sutter. Van needs to upgrade scoring more than anythings. Only Pitts deal that would work for me is: Malkin and Vokoun for Kesler and Loungo. Salary is even. Pitts would downgrade in scoring but upgrade in 2 way center skills and goaltending (If I'm a Pens fan, I still dont trust Flurey in goal). This deal makes sense for Pens too, theres no way they would trade for Kesler and not play him as a top 6 center. Van upgrades in scoring, and Hopefully Horvat can fill the 2 way center void next season. Risky move for Van, as Malkins long term deal looks just as bad as Loungos.