jagori78 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Looking at the rosters of the Western Conference, the top six teams are blessed with high-end skill and depth. I wanted to look at the process of which these teams got to these levels. Anaheim, San Jose, and L.A. are the top Pacific teams. Colorado, St. Louis, and Chicago are the top Central teams. I don't believe the Canucks have the assets to compete with these teams next year and be in the mix with these top six. My question is, what other teams are ahead of us or behind us in the process. I haven't been able to understand why the Oilers are such a poor team year after year. They keep adding high-value individual players through the draft, and each year, I expect them to break out. The Ducks made their push to the top by trading Bobby Ryan, and having a group of young assets contributing to their core, which hadn't changed. San Jose had a similar strategy in keeping their core, with their youth slowly taking over equal roles in the top six over the years. Finally, L.A. has always been strong, but allowed youth to develop to fill important roles. Colorado got to the top slowly, but drafting high, adding top picks till they finally clicked with a new coach. I wonder if Edmonton is too far behind them. St. Louis has allowed a young core to develop for years now, and steadily added high skill youth through development to the point they are ridiculously stacked with talent. And finally, Chicago is just Chicago, a team with an awesome core that also has added youth that seamlessly filled into vacant roles. Of these different models and franchises, which is the most logical path to take to improvement? Again, I don't feel the assets are there yet to be in the top six in the conference, but the goal is to NOT be the Leafs and be hovering just behind a playoff spot for years. I believe in identifying the core. I feel there should be a five year plan, to replace the current core of Sedins / Kesler / Bieksa / Edler with the new core gradually. I don't think the peices are quite their yet, but Horvat seems to be the safest bet to qualify. A Kesler trade or any other must bring in an equivalent prospect of forming a new core. Also, I believe in grooming Lack / Markstrom to be part of that group. I don't want a high-priced UFA goalie or even a quick fix to play 1A or 1B. I fear that the youth won't be ready to make impacts quite yet, and the team will have to resort to filling out the top nine with Santorelli, and other reclaimation projects to fill in for a year or two. Perhaps this will allow us to compete for a wildcard; but a want player development to truly be the focus of the franchise. -Jagori Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice orca Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Pacific division is the group of death, if you win it you get the cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurgerKing Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Chicago, LA, Col and STL were irelelvent for years stock piling picks and prospects, unlike the Oilers their top picks panned out. I don't know what kind of strategie you can apply to ensure getting guys like Kane, Towes, MacKinnon, Pietrangelo and Doughty. Ducks and SJ flat out know how to draft but moving forward I'm not that concerned about these two. SJ are looking to rebuild, their retooling on the fly that everyone was so impressed with kinda blew up in their face. Ducks' seconday scoring will be an issue, also their d is not great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerEpic5 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Its scary when playing against the big 3 (Ana, SJ, LA). One of the reasons why they are so dominant is because they have 4 complete lines that contribute. They have a bit of everything. Most teams that were mentioned above have a franchise defenceman, a dominant top 6 forwards, and great coaching and drafting. I think there's more to it than that. If the Canucks can learn and build off their models, we might just might have a chance to be like one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CynideSnipe Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 If we are going to become a top team anytime soon, we're going to have take the Colorado path. Using our high draft picks and young talent to breakthrough and become elite that way. That's the only realistic option I see we have. I'm completelty fine with this option though, In fact it may be my favorite. Horvat and Shinkaruk should both be ready for this year. I'm very confident that at least one of the two will become legit good 1st line centres. And the other one could be a very solid 2nd line centre. I don't really see the need to go after the #1 pick because reports said that If Benning gets that pick, he'll be drafting Reinhart, and we don't need another centre. We should just keep our 6th overall pick and draft one of the two high skilled wingers which would be Nylander and Ehlers, preferably Nylander. Both of them have the potential to be PPG superstars in the NHL and they would work well with Horvat/Shinkaruk. Although, I think Horvat has a better chance of becoming that very good 1st line centre. Kinda like an Anze Kopitar. So We could have a Horvat - Nylander combo or a Horvat - Ehlers combo. Same thing with Shinks if he becomes out #1 centre. What I think we should do before the draft is trade Kesler to Anaheim, since he wants to go to a legit cup contender. So we should trade him there, in exchange for their 10th overall pick and Hampus Lindolm. That would be a very solid trade for both teams. That way we would get that highly skilled winger, and then draft another prospect. Actually we could have a chance at both if Ehlers were to drop to us at 10th. If not, we could draft Kapenen or Perlini, which both have a great chance of being availible at our pick. These moves would really set us on the right track and we would definetly be back on par with teams like Dallas and Minnessota within a year. With those changes/moves, I would be pretty confident we would be able to snatch up one of those Wild Card spots next year. The exciting thing is that the moves I have listed above actually have an excellent chance of happening. After the end of last season, a lot of fans were acting as if we were down an out. They were almost treating the team as if we were on Edmonton/Buffalo standards, but a few right moves and we have a very bright future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Pacific division is the group of death, if you win it you get the cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheXFactor Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 The Oilers have talented players playing under poor management, simple as that really. If we were to follow another team's building process it would need to be Detroit's. Making 21 straight playoff appearances is nothing to sneeze at. They know how to stay competitive with a relatively weak roster compared to some western teams. Horvat might make a great 1st line center however I don't think he'll ever reach the talent H. Sedin was in his prime. Likewise I doubt Lack or Markstrom will ever be as good as Luongo. If these 3 are part of our future core the team won't be as good as 2011 unless we find WAY better depth for the rest of the roster. I would say to trade all our current core except Hank and Bieksa so they can tutor the next gen. Bottom line is we need to get good draft picks, luck out with their development and hope they turn into superstars really. Players like Toews, Kane, Doughty, and Kopitar don't come every draft season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William_Clarkson Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Canucks can't play with the big boys anymore/yet. Anaheim & LA will still be there, but SJ won't be the same after Thornton/Marleau take off (Couture, Hertl, etc. won't meet that role and they still don't have that Norris candidate D-Man). Edmonton, I sense a being regular season team in the future. Calgary & Phoenix, meh. I think the focus of next year should be trying to get the Sedins & Edler to rebound, giving younger guys like Kassian top 6 time, and developing Lack. If the Sedins rebound, with no Kesler on that second line, it will give guys like Kassian & Jensen more opportunities to start carrying more of the weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Drafting is the key to making your team competitive for a long period of time. Look at what our team could have been right now with our last 5-6 years of drafting. Sedins-Burrows Matthias-Kesler-Kassian (Hodgson) Higgins-Schroeder-Jensen Booth-Richardson-Hansen Those 3 guys on cheap contracts can make huge differences.. Too bad they aren't as good as Saad, Toffoli, Pearson, Hertl. That's where drafting makes a huge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Possibly LA in '09 or 2010 was looking at us, & pondering the same dilemma. Draft well; couple shrewd trades; sacrifice a goat or two.. we know the drill, & we'd best stop living in the past(with our core). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete13 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I like the idea of being patient and building through the draft. But imho you have to sprinkle in some great trades to put your team over the top. Where would the Kings be this year without the trade for Gaborik at the deadline? And the trades for Richards and Carter a few years ago? The Hawks were put over the top when they traded for Sharp and then Hossa. After tomorrow (or Friday) that's four cups in five years. It seems that the trick is to stock the cupboard with great draft picks and then trade away guys who start wanting more money (Boland)for more picks to continue to build your team on the fly. As a team sheds these expendables, they constantly create enough cap room to be able to work the trades they need to make at the deadline. It works for a few teams who have the common sense to understand what kind of team they want to build. Just do it TL and JB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raoul Duke Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Drafting is the key to making your team competitive for a long period of time. Look at what our team could have been right now with our last 5-6 years of drafting. Sedins-Burrows Matthias-Kesler-Kassian (Hodgson) Higgins-Schroeder-Jensen Booth-Richardson-Hansen Those 3 guys on cheap contracts can make huge differences.. Too bad they aren't as good as Saad, Toffoli, Pearson, Hertl. That's where drafting makes a huge difference. Wow. Can't wait to miss the playoffs again next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 We'll know when we're reading to contend when we can compete with the big teams in our division. Los Angeles are still a young team so they'll be a contender for another 3 years, San Jose's stars are getting older and despite Couture and Pavelski, that team isn't going to be a contender in 3 years time unless they rebuild now. As for Anaheim, they've got a lot of good young players who are shining right now and some very good young goalies, so they'll still be great in 3 years. As for Chicago, we all know how young their team is but Keith and Seabrook probably won't be as effective when they're 33. Their team revolves around their defence, Toews and Kane so I see their contending era drop off after about 5 years from now. St. Louis are still very young and Colorado is probably the youngest of the lot which pose a serious problem, as they'll still be good 3-5 years down the track. If the Canucks want to compete and contend for the Cup, there's obviously no point going for it now - our last window has closed, and who knows when our next one will open up. If Jensen, Kassian, Horvat, Shinkaruk, the #6 pick, Tanev, Corrado and Lack are all peaking in 3 years time it may not even be enough to beat out a still-very strong Chicago, LA and Anaheim. Our only chance is to really tank it for a couple more years. We need top-5 picks in next seasons draft and maybe a top-10 in the year after that, with some good 2nd round picks. Hopefully trade away Kesler and some of our ageing defencemen like Hamhuis and Bieksa/Garrison for some high picks in the next two seasons drafts and build a core around our current prospects (who will be the eventual veterans) PLUS hopefully 3 very high picks in the next 2 drafts. Next year is said to be a deep draft which is what we want to pounce on. Then, players from the 2015 draft will hopefully be ready to peak around 2020, by which time no doubt the current powerhouses will be a shell of their current selves. Yes there will be other good young teams, likely Calgary, Winnipeg and a few from the East, but the current monsters of the West will definately not be able to keep up a good drafting record with low picks as well as contend at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mephnick Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 People seem to forget how hopeless LA and Chicago were for decades. It takes a lot of high draft picks and luck to build a core like that. So let's follow their approach and I'll see you in 2025. Hopefully we draft well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rollieo Del Fuego Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 We are due, it is time we got lucky on a couple of rookies. Bure was the last time we had a rookie tear it up right out of the gate, next year one of these guys is going to do it; Horvat, Shinkaruk, Fox, Gaunce, Cassels or pick 6 (Nylander or MDC)! It's our turn damn it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Draft well, develop well and manage your assets well. Make sure to leave key vets in place to mentor younger players (Sedins, Bieksa). All the "right stuff" is already happening. Fans just need to be patient and let it actually unfold instead of panicking every 5 minutes and calling for it to all be blown up in a reactionary spaz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiggs50 Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 The Kesler trade will speed up our rebuild like crazy. We will be competing probably next year for a low 6-8 playoff spot... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfstonker Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Pacific division is the group of death, if you win it you get the cup. As long as you are still in one piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erkayloomeh Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 If the sedins don't perform we are kind of screwed. 14 million for 4 more years so let's hope they rebound to at least the 80 point mark. The other thing we really need is to have a really good 3rd and fourth line. I think it's really important to drop either jg or Edler in a trade. Will be hard to say by to Kesler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenDrinkin Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 If the sedins don't perform we are kind of screwed. 14 million for 4 more years so let's hope they rebound to at least the 80 point mark. The other thing we really need is to have a really good 3rd and fourth line. I think it's really important to drop either jg or Edler in a trade. Will be hard to say by to Kesler. At least? I would expect that at most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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