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I don't completely disagree. I think to certain degree, OJ's play at WJC and for London were inflated thanks to superstar teammates. I think one can argue if Sergachev was the better defenceman than OJ and they would have valid points. Although I don't see OJ as becoming a top defenceman like Karlsson, Doughty, or Hedman anymore, I certainly see him being capable of becoming a top pairing defenceman that plays an essential role in breakouts and running PP. I think he needs good teammates to truly shine whereas top defencemen of the league shine regardless of the teammates. In fact, they make the others look better. And up front, it looks like we are going to have good forwards that will help maximize OJ's abilities.

Yes, but I think Juolevi should start with a well rounded defenceman like Tanev. Tanev defends well and moves puck well. If Juolevi is in trouble, he can defer to Tanev. With Gud, he can't. Once Juolevi gains confidence, then he can play with Gud.

Part of me wants Daniel to come back for one more season so that he can get to 400 goals. It's about time we get a 400 goal scorer in the franchise. In 12-15 seasons, Boeser can follow it up by becoming a 500 goal scorer. Honestly, I think because Daniel is a winger, he can play few more seasons. Bigger problem is with Henrik, who is no longer effective as a center. I wonder if the two will retire at different times.

different era. Pettersson in that era may score 200 points. who knows?

Nice article. Thanks for finding it. Good post. Assuming that Pettersson is indeed the best forward to come out of 2017, I wonder how he stacks up against the two best forwards drafted in 2015 and 2016 (McDavid and Matthews). In my opinion, it goes something like this: Shot: Matthews > Pettersson > McDavid Passing: Pettersson > Matthews > McDavid Ability to generate scoring chances: McDavid >>> Matthews >> Pettersson Skating: McDavid >>> Matthews > Pettersson As you said, McDavid is not an elite passer, probably due to the fact that he did not have to thread a pass in his junior years. He had a real good linemate in junior (Strome) who can beat defenceman to get open and finish plays unlike now, where some of his linemates can't receive a pass. But yeah, his speed, acceleration, change of direction makes it so difficult to defend. A player that can generate chances on his own out of thin air. Pettersson has better pass, vision, and shot than McDavid but in terms of generating his own chances, EP is far behind. EP will get his points on PP for sure. But, on 5-on-5, Pettersson needs a puck hound as a linemate (Burrows type) that can create turnovers, so that EP can make plays and pounce on those turnovers. Gaining the offensive zone is another potential issue I noticed from WJC. Once Sweden gained a zone, the puck almost always went to EP and he did his magic with the puck, making plays, dekeing out the defenceman, and so on. But EP was having a bit of trouble gaining the zone by himself against tougher opponents like Canada. I noticed that this task of gaining the zone was eased thanks in large part to Rasmus Dahlin, who had that ability as a defenceman to gain the zone all by himself like Doughty and Keith. Assuming we don't get Dahlin on Canucks, who is going to handle that duty? I think if EP is used as a winger, then it's not much of a concern since he can start on Horvat's wing along with Boeser as suggested by many people here: EP-Horvat-Boeser. But if we want EP to run his own scoring line? I don't know if a suitable candidate exists on the Canucks system at this point. In comparison to Matthews, obviously, there is size difference. And Matthews shoots better than Pettersson, although Pettersson is no slouch either. I mean, Matthews shot is comparable to Boeser in the way he changes the angle, accuracy, and heaviness (although I think Boeser's shot is a bit heavier than Matthews). Matthews is an adept playmaker, better than McDavid but I think Pettersson wins here. Matthews does a bit better in terms of generating his own chances as well but different I think is marginal between EP and Matthews in this regards. I think in the long run, as McDavid gets better linemates and as he refines his passing and shooting, McDavid will win many more scoring titles compared to EP and Matthews but it's not farfetched to think that EP will win a scoring title or two given that he will have Boeser as a linemate to finish the plays.

Good assessment. I also think Dahlen and Horvat would compliment each other well. Lind also seems like a good fit in terms of skill. As for 1LW, Virtanen brings size and speed. He doesn't bring much of a snarl as he did in junior. He is better offensively on the LW although he is right shooting. Virtanen may not become a driver of a line, but one day, I think he can become good enough to play amongst two superstars similarly to Burrows.

Our PP alignment with current players is already pretty good I think, Bo Dahlen (not Dahlin) Brock Pettersson Juolevi Jonathan Dahlen is good around the net so he can join Bo once the puck gets there. He can play the position in the slot for quick snipes from the middle as well. Juolevi is one of those players who is not spectacular by himself but he is a cerebral type that when surrounded by great players, he can really excel. I think he will do just fine running our PP. But yeah, Dahlin would add another dimension to that PP. A defenceman who can gain the zone all by himself will make setting up way easier.

Boston player Gregory Campbell's dad, Colin Campbell was in charge of player discipline I think. Of course, he stepped aside from these duties during the SCF but people working on player safety and discipline were his subordinates. To help his son's team out, he or his people suspended Rome for exactly 4 games, games 4, 5,6, and 7. Not one game shorter, not one game longer. And that hit was not as bad as some of the other hits that were happening across the league. And considering that each playoff game, let alone a SCF game is equivalent to about 2 regular season games, Rome was suspended for 8 games for that hit. Colin Campbell the greatest dad in the world. He basically gifted his son a Stanley Cup. How many dads can do that?

Thinking about f*cking b!tch* Granato always gets me angry. That scumbag sent out Moore out on the ice in the third period far more often that he had despite the player's wish to not be sent out. And yet, he was not part of the lawsuit. Moore should've sued Granato. If there is one person that could have prevented all of this, it was him. That f*ckface later on went on to make garbage excuses as to why he sent Moore out. It ultimately cost us a cup run that year. We would have beaten Calgary in 5 with Bert on the roster.

badly timed interview. but what do you expect? it's sportsnet.

When was the last time a Canuck won an all star MVP? I don't think it has ever happened before. When was the last time a rookie won the all star MVP? Congrats Brock!

I think i have this chair!!

I like what Gudbranson brings but I sometimes feel like he is lost out there, not knowing what to do. For one, I think he is really quick to the puck on dump ins. On dum-ins that are 50-50, he will often beat out the opposing forwards to the puck. But the problem starts there. He gets there, and he tries to move the puck but this gives the forward enough time to apply pressure. He gets pinned to the board. Either we have a defensive system that does not provide ample outlet options or Gudbranson cannot quickly process the ice for options and make quick plays with his stick. Or both. Maybe the simple thing to do is to have Gudbranson focus on clearing the puck rather than trying to make plays when in deep. Retrieve, and clear it out. Only on a clean breakout, he should focus on making plays. I don't know, I have a mixed feelings about Gud. I like what he brings to the team, but he just can't make good plays quick enough. Doesn't seem to process the ice all that fast as he can move his body.

The best model for success in the NHL is connection and influence. I guess Chia didn't realize that Jacobs family's influence is what got him that Stanley cup ring.

Crosby and mcdavid are generational talents but not only that, they reached their respective max potentials very early on in their careers. Pettersson may become an elite player, maybe HHOF, but he is not very close to reaching his max potential. What makes us excited is the fact that this player's ceiling seems to be sky high as demonstrated by his SHL plays in comparison to former NHLers. I think that is why McDavid and Crosby would have made team Canada but Pettersson may not. Sweden's management may view young Pettersson to bring less to the table than some of their best older players playing in various leagues. For McDavid and Crosby, they were as great as they can be when they were only eighteen and so it would have been hard to find Canadian players not playing in the NHL that were better than those two.

Lol @oilers. They gifted the islanders an entire second line when they are having trouble building their own second line.

Clearly better? Probably just McDavid and Crosby. On par or better? Probably can count with five fingers: McDavid, Crosby, Kucherov (the two players are now on par in my opinion), Malkin. Eventually this list will most likely include Matthews in a few years. That's why I was saying, if his skating becomes better (I shouldn't have said becomes as good as Kane), EP would be a sure fire HHOF and probably the best Swedish player since Forsberg. Maybe even better than Foppa. As he is now, he has a very good chance to become an elite player but nothing is set in stone. He might just turn out to be a offensive specialist whose defensive awareness is good enough to make him effective NHLer. Could be like a more dynamic version of Henrik Sedin in his prime, equipped with much better shot/goal scoring abilities. But Henrik Sedin with his brother Daniel might still end up a much greater player than EP.

Yep. The difference I think is that Kane and Gaudreau's skill levels are elite whereas Subban and Shink were very skilled but not elite enough to overcome their other limitations. I think Pettersson is in Kane and Gaudreau boat as you say. Elite level passing, vision, and shot. Enough to overcome his size limitation. Although I do have to say that if his skating reaches Patty Kane's, then Petterson would be something else. Then, we might really be talking about best Swedish forward since Peter Forsberg. EP's skating is not bad, his edgework and change of direction already seems fine but speed and acceleration looked just OK.

I agree. If Pettersson had a Naslund type sniper on his line, I think Pettersson would have put up more points. I also think that with his vision, maybe the Canucks should try him out at C for 5-on-5, although I think Pettersson-Bo-Boes is going to be a great line as well.

Elite player that is not franchise level talent? Can you define elite and franchise level talent. Can a player be a franchise talent but not elite? Crosby, McDavid are both elite level talent and franchise players. Patrick Kane? Elite level talent but not franchise level talent? Jonathan Toewes? Franchise player but not elite? How about Henrik Sedin? Elite but not franchise level? To me, being elite is like being top 10 or top 20 in the league in something, like goal scoring abilities, points scoring, and etc. So if a player is top 10 in something, I'd say that is a franchise level talent. So if Elias will be elite, then I think he will be a franchise level talent. But from what you say, I interpret it to mean that a player can be elite but not franchise level talent. Is it correct to assume that in your definition, Patrick Kane is elite, but by himself he would not have resurrected the Hawks so not a franchise level player. On the other hand, Jonathan Toewes is not elite, but he is a franchise level player? Kinda weird.

Juolevi played a safe game, no mistake, and he was calm. However, he also did not create much on the offensive side of things. Made good plays but did not generate grade A scoring chances. For someone who was touted as a smooth skater, he almost never skates the puck out. Stick handling doesn't seem like it's his forte. Of course, this was against Canada, one of the toughest and tightest checking team. But if he can't do it against the juniors, basically we shouldn't expect that he will be able to do that in the NHL. At this point, my guess on his career trajectory is somewhere along pre-back injury Edler to Sami Salo. A very good defender but not the type to generate offence on his own. If he plays with good players, he will score a lot of points (assists).

They tried their a$$ off to sell Liljegren after the draft but they failed. Watching this game tells me why they failed. Liljegren does not possess high hockey IQ to become a top 2 defender. His physical tools look pretty good but not elite enough to cover up for it. A (very) poor man's Jake Virtanen is the impression that I get from him. I think Liljegren is going to take quite a lot of time before he can become a top 4 defender, if ever. Just like how it's been 3 years for Jake and we are hopeful but still unsure if he will become a PF that we hoped he would become. On EP, it looks like he possesses the precision and accuracy in his playmaking to run an NHL PP right now. 5-on-5 play, he reminded me a bit of Patrick Kane, minus the dynamic skating. His puck handling, playmaking (vision + passing), and how he backs off the defenders reminded me of Kane. The players driving the net, creating seams for EP to make passes was akin to Kane. Of course, this was against Belarus. I hope he can replicate this performance against the powerhouses. Another player that I noticed was Dahlin. I think he can potentially overcome Erik Karlsson as the best Swedish defenceman. At the least, he will be among the top 3 Swedish defencemen with Karlsson and Hedman very soon. It seems like he has the ability to do almost everything that Karlsson does plus, he is physical and defends better.

doesn't irk me, but noticed that you write like this in all of your other posts. just wondering if there is a reason behind this choice.