Elite defenceman theory

[CANUCKLELION]

+1 (and i never give +1's to new posters )

But yes IMO you are bang on about our D.

We have never had a norris calibre, all star D man. Jovo was for awhile but never Norris worthy and never mentioned in the same breath as the elite.

And as you said, even historically the Canucks' defence is pretty lacklustre in who we've had. i was born in 88 and don't know much about our teams of the 90's but I know that we haven't had decorated D very often. Salo, Mitchell, and Ohlund were/are good but not in a place where I would call them elite. Edler has the makings of a strong D man but has yet to reach his full potential IMO.

Sadly, I think Luc Bourdon was going to be that guy for us. The WJHC gold medalist, top 10 draft pick, the solid 2 way Dman we'd been looking for. Tragically and most unfortunately that didn't work out.

I think one of our MAJOR focuses this summer has to be on D. We have our goalie all set, our top 6 fwds are pretty set. We need D...badly...or else we will continue to lose in the playoffs as soon as we meet an elite team.

Hopefully it's something MG can address and fix this summer! I belive it's the last piece of the puzzle.

[D-Money]

* fixed

and YES! Ive been saying we should go after EJ for a while! This kid is gonna be amazing and seeing as the blues are stacked with D I would think getting one of them might be a real thing. EJ is gonna be VERY hard to get but I think it could happen. I LOVE Raymond but IF we had the chance to get EJ I would have to say bye to Mayray.

[D-Money]

true , I have been a Nuck fan since day one and they have never had a Norris caliber Dman.

We could have had another WJC gold medalist and MG could have addressed it, but he chose COHO vs TYLER MYERS, in the 08 draft. So far, IMO, that was the most glaring error MG has made. Hopefully this year he will pick some size on D. Ya can teach defense, but you can't teach size.

[2 Sedins 1 cup]

true , I have been a Nuck fan since day one and they have never had a Norris caliber Dman.

We could have had another WJC gold medalist and MG could have addressed it, but he chose COHO vs TYLER MYERS, in the 08 draft. So far, IMO, that was the most glaring error MG has made. Hopefully this year he will pick some size on D. Ya can teach defense, but you can't teach size.

[tmoney44]

Were you, then, thinking that Ehrhoff was going to go somewhere for Patrick White and Daniel Rahimi?

Another thing is that we're dealing with Nashville here. The management is never willing to spend up to the cap. I've mentioned this in Trade Proposal section and everyone laughed at me for saying it, but Nashville is the kind of team that won't trade Weber for Crosby straight up just because they don't want to pay 10M a season to Crosby.

Of course, that will never happen because Pittsburgh wouldn't agree to it in the first place, but you get my point. It is difficult to understand to hockey crazed markets like Vancouver, but for quite a few US based teams, it's 100% about money and profit. Their management would force GM to trade away players like Weber if they have to save more money.

It has happened before, and it will happen again. And I don't see why we must think we will never going to win that kind of lottery any time soon.

[CANUCKLELION]

.quote name='D-Money' date='14 May 2010 - 12:54 PM' timestamp='1273866878' post='8623299']

Ahh, the wonders of hindsight.

Nobody in their right mind had Myers ahead of Hodgson. Some rankings had him down near the 20's. He has made HUGE progressions, far beyond what anybody could have expected.

All that said, Hodgson could still very well end up a better player.

[-- Alexander 89 Mogilny --]

Kevin Connauton.

[Peter Gunn]

+1 (and i never give +1's to new posters )

But yes IMO you are bang on about our D.

We have never had a norris calibre, all star D man. Jovo was for awhile but never Norris worthy and never mentioned in the same breath as the elite.

And as you said, even historically the Canucks' defence is pretty lacklustre in who we've had. i was born in 88 and don't know much about our teams of the 90's but I know that we haven't had decorated D very often. Salo, Mitchell, and Ohlund were/are good but not in a place where I would call them elite. Edler has the makings of a strong D man but has yet to reach his full potential IMO.

Sadly, I think Luc Bourdon was going to be that guy for us. The WJHC gold medalist, top 10 draft pick, the solid 2 way Dman we'd been looking for. Tragically and most unfortunately that didn't work out.

I think one of our MAJOR focuses this summer has to be on D. We have our goalie all set, our top 6 fwds are pretty set. We need D...badly...or else we will continue to lose in the playoffs as soon as we meet an elite team.

Hopefully it's something MG can address and fix this summer! I belive it's the last piece of the puzzle.

[D-Money]

I have been a T Myers fan ever since he played junior. I had the pleasure of watching him play for the Kelowna Rockets, playing with Luke Schenn, the team that also produced Alex Edler, Shea Webber, Josh Gorges, Scott Hannan, Sheldon Souray, Kyle McLaren, and probably a couple of others, that all contributed at the NHL level by the time they were 20.

I wasn't a cdc'er in 08, but was all over the TSN + Sportsnet boards, advocating Myers or Beach, in that order if either was available at #10. Turns out both were avail.

[MikeJones]

We have at least 3 defencemens better then Hamhius, 4 if you include Mitchell. Hes far from Elite.

My idea is to sign Scott Neidermayer.

[adubs]

The Bouwmeester situation was bad for the Flames. Clearly they thought he was going to be a different story for them. Maybe if they looked at his stats and realized that his best statistical season was 46 points and only +1 they wouldn't have signed him. Bouwmeester is not elite. He is the most over-paid defenseman in the NHL right now(even more than Campbell). Furthermore the Flames already had Phaneuf. They're window is now closing with Iginla, Regyr, Conroy, and Langkow all getting older. The Canucks already have scoring Depth so we neednt get a high priced forward. We need an elite defenseman. Your stat theory of how "a defenseman gets 1 goal for every 5 assists so therefore hes not really that good" is silly. You don't win cups without these guys. It's proven.

[stan smyl 2.0]

build through the draft we got the 25th pick in the draft we could land jonathon merrill or trade up and try to get derek forbort, dylan mcilrath, mark pysyk etc. its the best way to build a team in the salary cap era

[Wolfey]

What would it take to get a Webber, Doughty, Johnson. They will/are elite defencemen.

IMO I'd give up Bieksa/Bernier/Rodin or Suave/2nd. Maybe this could swing it for us. But, realistically in order to get an elite defenceman you need to draft one!! The price for an elite defence man is as high if not higher than any forward.

Gillis won't trade away the teams spine for 1 piece of the puzzle. I'll be sitting baack and watching intently. It's not like we can change Gillis' mind once he makes a decision.

[Bure80]

If the Nucks had 1 Elite Dman wouldnt have changed the result against the Hawks.They have the better and deeper team in offense and defense.

I would go for Seidenberg.I watched many games he played for the Bruins, he was often their best Dman. (better then Chara)

[Finaddict]

While not a Norris candidate, Ohlund was our defensive leader and a total beast. Letting him go was a HUGE mistake. I said so at the time and it proved to be true.

If we do go after Hamhuis I hope he's as good as he's been made out to be. I haven't seen him enough to know.

I would be all for trading something/someone to get one of the top D in the league. It is an area we need to address for sure.

If we could move Bieksa in that trade it would be good for us. He's just not good enough when it really matters. He's far too inconsistent. Plus he's our hightest paid D-man and completely unworthy of his salary!

[CHIPS]

The Bouwmeester situation was bad for the Flames. Clearly they thought he was going to be a different story for them. Maybe if they looked at his stats and realized that his best statistical season was 46 points and only +1 they wouldn't have signed him. Bouwmeester is not elite. He is the most over-paid defenseman in the NHL right now(even more than Campbell). Furthermore the Flames already had Phaneuf. They're window is now closing with Iginla, Regyr, Conroy, and Langkow all getting older. The Canucks already have scoring Depth so we neednt get a high priced forward. We need an elite defenseman. Your stat theory of how "a defenseman gets 1 goal for every 5 assists so therefore hes not really that good" is silly. You don't win cups without these guys. It's proven.

[adubs]

What would it take to get a Webber, Doughty, Johnson. They will/are elite defencemen.

IMO I'd give up Bieksa/Bernier/Rodin or Suave/2nd. Maybe this could swing it for us. But, realistically in order to get an elite defenceman you need to draft one!! The price for an elite defence man is as high if not higher than any forward.

Gillis won't trade away the teams spine for 1 piece of the puzzle. I'll be sitting baack and watching intently. It's not like we can change Gillis' mind once he makes a decision.

[BowTie]

IMO I'd give up Bieksa/Bernier/Rodin or Suave/2nd. Maybe this could swing it for us.

[shazzam]

Through trades or free agency, lol. Honestly though in this day and age of the NHL you have to give up to get. We would have to shed salary in order to sign someone and we'd have to give up a large amount in picks/prospects to get someone. It has to be done, though, in my opinion.

[geezer2]

Hamhuis is a good start but we need more. neidermeyer is too old for the money he would cost... I would trade a hodgson for a top 2 d man in a second only because you have to give up quality to get quality back...... otherwise you are just trading one problem for another. We could regret losing hodgson this is true but he also has a bad back at a very young age which can be a big worry also he is not a great skater so speed could be an issue. at this point I am a little worried about his health ( not his character)