Major changes need to happen to this organization.

[Odd.]

Before you read, this isn't a "reaction thread" of our horrible loss to Nashville yesterday.

If we are going to not be a playoff team, might as well send Horvat down to the CHL. Tell him that you have earned your roster spot, but since we are going down ship, we don't want you to... --------- and so on.

Because to me, this team is years away of contending for a cup. What's the point of JUST making the playoffs to only lose in the first or second round? Sedins for some reason don't want to shoot, our whole top 6 is inconsistent, our third and fourth lines are the only lines that actually cycle the puck to the net to find scoring opportunities and they are the lines that body-checks, and fore-checks the hardest. Our whole top 6 is over 31 (Bonino is 26). Bonino is showing us glimpses of what he really is on the second line. This year is the perfect year to get a good player for us in the future. When I see our team, I see a team that cannot play a full 60 minutes, a d crop that is weak as hell with Edler, Tanev, and Hamhuis that are our only best and reliable.

Management needs to step up, and tell the veterans that if you aren't going to preform, we are going to trade you. Something of that kind of mentality. This year is definitely the year we should try to get better draft picks and if we aren't a playoff team come trade deadline, that's a sign that we need to seriously consider the fact that this regime is not going to work anymore and that serious line configurations need to happen.

Veterans:

Daniel Sedin(Stay)

Henrik Sedin(Stay)

Alex Edler(best possible trade bait)

Chris Higgins(possible trade bait)

Dan Hamhuis(possible trade bait)

Kevin Bieksa(possible trade bait)

Radim Vrbata(possible trade bait)

Brad Richardson(UFA)

Zack Kassian(not a veteran but possible trade bait)

Chris Tanev(possible trade bait)

Eddie Lack(possible trade bait)

Ryan Miller(I don't know.)

Luca Sbisa(I don't know.)

Most of these veterans want a cup, and if we want to get draft pieces, we need to convince them that this organization won't be able to fetch a cup for at least 4-5 years.

Our prospect depth looks like this:

Jake Virtanen( possibly 1st line forward)

Nicklas Jensen( possibly top 6)

Hunter Shinkaruk(possibly top 6)

Bo Horvat(possibly a 2nd line center)

Brendan Gaunce(possibly a 2nd line center or 3rd line center)

Frankie Corrado(possibly top 4-6, reliable d-man)

Cole Cassels(possibly a 3rd line center)

Jared McCann(possibly a 1st line or 2nd line center)

and a few more I can't remember,

None of them are going to be "potential superstars" other than Virtanen, McCann or Shinkaruk in my eyes as of now. Our best d prospect is Corrado. Nothing against Corrado, but he's a little bit out of the reach to becoming a top 2 d.

My point is, this year wouldn't be bad to actually pick up some decent prospects and if we are going to be contenders some day. I want us to eventually have the new era of our prospects to lead us the way. Because torts said it the best way possible last year, this core is stale. We need youth and some excitement to our line-up. Now I'm not suggesting to "blow up the team" and go ballz deep into tanking, which I'm not proposing at all. I'm just stating the fact, the truth that this team is years and years away from contending and that we need a new system, a new model, a new kind of team, meat and potatoes type team that is fun to watch. Every loss these days, it's always frustrating. When we win, it's like a few players on our team like to blow it away by making stupid plays and horrible containment of the puck.

What are your thoughts to this?

[artful_dodger]

Before you read, this isn't a "reaction thread" of our horrible loss to Nashville yesterday.

If we are going to not be a playoff team, might as well send Horvat down to the CHL. Tell him that you have earned your roster spot, but since we are going down ship, we don't want you to... --------- and so on.

Because to me, this team is years away of contending for a cup. What's the point of JUST making the playoffs to only lose in the first or second round? Sedins for some reason don't want to shoot, our whole top 6 is inconsistent, our third and fourth lines are the only lines that actually cycle the puck to the net to find scoring opportunities and they are the lines that body-checks, and fore-checks the hardest. Our whole top 6 is over 31 (Bonino is 26). Bonino is showing us glimpses of what he really is on the second line. This year is the perfect year to get a good player for us in the future. When I see our team, I see a team that cannot play a full 60 minutes, a d crop that is weak as hell with Edler, Tanev, and Hamhuis that are our only best and reliable.

Management needs to step up, and tell the veterans that if you aren't going to preform, we are going to trade you. Something of that kind of mentality. This year is definitely the year we should try to get better draft picks and if we aren't a playoff team come trade deadline, that's a sign that we need to seriously consider the fact that this regime is not going to work anymore and that serious line configurations need to happen.

Veterans:

Daniel Sedin(Stay)

Henrik Sedin(Stay)

Alex Edler(best possible trade bait)

Chris Higgins(possible trade bait)

Dan Hamhuis(possible trade bait)

Kevin Bieksa(possible trade bait)

Radim Vrbata(possible trade bait)

Brad Richardson(UFA)

Zack Kassian(not a veteran but possible trade bait)

Chris Tanev(possible trade bait)

Eddie Lack(possible trade bait)

Ryan Miller(I don't know.)

Luca Sbisa(I don't know.)

Most of these veterans want a cup, and if we want to get draft pieces, we need to convince them that this organization won't be able to fetch a cup for at least 4-5 years.

Our prospect depth looks like this:

Jake Virtanen( possibly 1st line forward)

Nicklas Jensen( possibly top 6)

Hunter Shinkaruk(possibly top 6)

Bo Horvat(possibly a 2nd line center)

Brendan Gaunce(possibly a 2nd line center or 3rd line center)

Frankie Corrado(possibly top 4-6, reliable d-man)

Cole Cassels(possibly a 3rd line center)

Jared McCann(possibly a 1st line or 2nd line center)

and a few more I can't remember,

None of them are going to be "potential superstars" other than Virtanen, McCann or Shinkaruk in my eyes as of now. Our best d prospect is Corrado. Nothing against Corrado, but he's a little bit out of the reach to becoming a top 2 d.

My point is, this year wouldn't be bad to actually pick up some decent prospects and if we are going to be contenders some day. I want us to eventually have the new era of our prospects to lead us the way. Because torts said it the best way possible last year, this core is stale. We need youth and some excitement to our line-up. Now I'm not suggesting to "blow up the team" and go ballz deep into tanking, which I'm not proposing at all. I'm just stating the fact, the truth that this team is years and years away from contending and that we need a new system, a new model, a new kind of team, meat and potatoes type team that is fun to watch. Every loss these days, it's always frustrating. When we win, it's like a few players on our team like to blow it away by making stupid plays and horrible containment of the puck.

What are your thoughts to this?

Patience young grasshopper

[Warhippy]

I think over the last 24 months we have

Traded

Luongo

Kesler

Garrison

Weise

Waived

Sestito

Tommernes

Dropped

like 5 or 6 players

Picked up

Vey

Dorsett

Weber

Sanguinetti

Matthias

Miller

Markstrom

Vrbata

Richardson

Let go of GMMG and brought in Linden and Benning as well as new staff in the front offices

Now, please do let me know aside from moving the 2 or 3 vets we need to to ensure a smooth entrance of younger players from the AHL to NHL. What is it you want to do?

Trade everyone and tank? The time to do that was BEFORE we brought in Miller and Vrbata and gone with a 1-2 of Lack and Eriksson. We are to competitive now. We also stand in the almost identical spot we did last year in regards to where we were when we slid.

The season isn't over yet but it could be over by Valentines Day. We sink or swim with this roster sadly. I have no strong thoughts either way but after 40+ years of endlessly throwing away younger players in place of players like Tanti Pederson Messier and more. I don't want to trade ANYONE under the age of 30 and there are only 2 or 3 guys we could ship out for decent return over that age right now that would garner any kind of return.

For me personally, the ultimate win would be entering or just missing the playoffs in direct contrast to last season. And ending the year with two more 1st round picks with an additional 2nd giving us 4-5 picks in the first 2 rounds.

THAT is the best case scenario for this team is actually competing and ending this year with a strong handful of picks towards the future that we can actually spend on D men, shedding those 2 or 3 vets to allow for players like Sanguinetti or possibly one of our NCAA players (should they transition into pro leagues) on the blue line and one of our forwards allowing for some actual movement up the charts for our current youth on the roster as well as a forward or two in from the AHL.

I don't like losing to lose, if you want to tank a season you start in the off season not halfway through. This team will sink or swim on the back of its current roster. I myself hope Benning is a trade day seller but it is what it is now.

[Heretic]

I think over the last 24 months we have

Traded

Luongo

Kesler

Garrison

Weise

Waived

Sestito

Tommernes

Dropped

like 5 or 6 players

Picked up

Vey

Dorsett

Weber

Sanguinetti

Matthias

Miller

Markstrom

Vrbata

Richardson

Let go of GMMG and brought in Linden and Benning as well as new staff in the front offices

Now, please do let me know aside from moving the 2 or 3 vets we need to to ensure a smooth entrance of younger players from the AHL to NHL. What is it you want to do?

Trade everyone and tank? The time to do that was BEFORE we brought in Miller and Vrbata and gone with a 1-2 of Lack and Eriksson. We are to competitive now. We also stand in the almost identical spot we did last year in regards to where we were when we slid.

The season isn't over yet but it could be over by Valentines Day. We sink or swim with this roster sadly. I have no strong thoughts either way but after 40+ years of endlessly throwing away younger players in place of players like Tanti Pederson Messier and more. I don't want to trade ANYONE under the age of 30 and there are only 2 or 3 guys we could ship out for decent return over that age right now that would garner any kind of return.

For me personally, the ultimate win would be entering or just missing the playoffs in direct contrast to last season. And ending the year with two more 1st round picks with an additional 2nd giving us 4-5 picks in the first 2 rounds.

THAT is the best case scenario for this team is actually competing and ending this year with a strong handful of picks towards the future that we can actually spend on D men, shedding those 2 or 3 vets to allow for players like Sanguinetti or possibly one of our NCAA players (should they transition into pro leagues) on the blue line and one of our forwards allowing for some actual movement up the charts for our current youth on the roster as well as a forward or two in from the AHL.

I don't like losing to lose, if you want to tank a season you start in the off season not halfway through. This team will sink or swim on the back of its current roster. I myself hope Benning is a trade day seller but it is what it is now.

Well said but you forgot the Schneider trade (NHL draft 2013) which got us Bo Horvat.

[Warhippy]

Well said but you forgot the Schneider trade (NHL draft 2013) which got us Bo Horvat.

Tried to stay true to the 24 months but yes you're right. There's also a few more that i just didn't want to take the time to write down, but the meat of the post doesn't change much

With all of this change over the last 2 seasons....how much more do you want? Endlessly changing support pieces won't win you anything if you don't let them grow and trading ALL your vets won't help your youth win.

So long as we can end up with 4-5 picks in the first 2 rounds we'll be laughing and I've less than 0 issue if Benning and Linden want to spend 3 or 4 of them on Defense either

[lumberman]

Why can't we all just get along!

It takes two, sometimes three to make a trade, money has to fit.

Besides, when was the last time you saw two teams trading similar type players in order to give the players a fressh start.?

In days gone bye, but not in todays era.

Rape, Pilege, Plunder, the Gm motto, less for more.

[canucks8888]

If you look at the teams we have to beat out to make the playoffs, it doesn't look very good. We cannot score goals and our defence is weak. JB can't sit on the fence much longer. We do have some players over 30 that possibly help other teams. Draft picks are our future at this point.

[TOMapleLaughs]

"This isn't a reaction thread."

Of course it is. If we had won, no thread.

[smithers joe]

we need quicker d-men....and the forwards that do come back and help out the defense, are the guys

that people want traded...higgins, burrows, richardson bonino and dorsett...those guys could play on my team

any day of the week....if the big guys like matthias and kassian aren't hitting, we will fall out of the play offs...

dorsett and richardson are doing the only hitting...they should put stan smyl in as hitting coach...and paul reinhart as

moving the puck out of their zone coach....

[AriGold]

Veterans:

Daniel Sedin(Stay)

Henrik Sedin(Stay)

If those 2 guys aren't gone, then nothing major will happen. Change cant happen until the Sedins are off this team.

[artful_dodger]

If those 2 guys aren't gone, then nothing major will happen. Change cant happen until the Sedins are off this team.

Agree!!! But this process will take some time....

[Brick Tamland]

"This isn't a reaction thread."

Of course it is. If we had won, no thread.

Bingo, knee jerk for sure

[firestorm238]

I think we'll see a bit of a sell off at the Trade Deadline - we need to shed about half of our veterans, and we need to find some legitimate blue chip offence in the draft.

We're not going anywhere in the play-offs, that's pretty clear. Not defeatism or anything like that, but in order to go far you need to have at least two effective 1st lines. At the moment, we don't even have one. But, we do have four respectable lines, all of which are pretty good at PK work and other niche skills that play-off teams will be looking for - which is great because it means that our assets still have some value.

[Off_The_Schneid!]

We need a trade! But I disagree with your thoughts on defense

Edler and tanev have been a good top pairing defensive pairing

With Hamhuis back it balances things out

The fact is we can't score goals but the problem is the same prob we had last season.

The problem is Higgins, burrows, Hansen

3 players that do the job of one player

[combover]

the biggest mistake this new management made when coming in was not selecting a new captain . this team plays soft and has probably the easiest top line in the nhl to deal with when they don't have the puck.

hanks a great player but from a fans perspective the on ice leadership well there is none.

effort can replace skill but that has been non existent the last three games.

[JustRich]

trade Kassian please.

[Bo.Horvat53]

But then who would that captain be? Bieksa? He's the only choice really....

Can't be Daniel, certainly not Burrows, Edler meh....

We have to wait for our youth to step in and be ready. Like Horvat in 5-6 years maybe.

[Mackcanuck]

Higgins(limited NTC), Richardson(UFA), Kassian(RFA), Matthias(UFA),Weber(UFA) and Lack(UFA) all have good trade value

Acquire picks and prospects

Replacements

Higgins 2LW - Jensen

Richardson 3C - Horvat

Kassian 3RW- ?

Matthias- 3LW- ? would like to keep Matthias(he is good with Horvat)

Lack - Markstrom

Weber 6RD - Corrado

[Fateless]

I'd like to see some changes. I don't want us to blow the team up, but we definitely should be dumping players like Higgins who can be of use to a playoff team as a depth player and pick up a 2nd round pick for him (or package him with something else for a first).

My real concern is that the draft is a gamble which does not always pan out. If we continue to only draft the bare minimum amount of players in the 1st and 2nd round, this team is not going to ever recover as we will always be a fringe team.

I would rather draft in the top 10 this year (whether by sinking to the bottom of the table, or trading up) and pick up a few other drafts and really inject this team with youth.

Benning showed us in the summer that they are willing to get the youth movement rolling, and I think we can get it going at full tilt this off-season.

[Heretic]

Jeff Patterson's mid season take is pretty much spot on:

VANCOUVER – Anyone (and, these days, everyone it seems) can come up with mid-term report cards and breakdown the hockey season with letter grades. So I’ll let everyone else go the alphabet soup route with their mid-season evaluation of the Vancouver Canucks, who reached the halfway point of their 2014-15 schedule with a 5-1 loss in Nashville on Tuesday night. Instead, I offer up my likes and dislikes from the first half of a season that started with such promise, but has hit a few potholes of late.

LIKE: The fact the Canucks are on the right side of the playoff bar in the West.

DISLIKE: The direction they’re trending with three straight losses and just two goals in those games.

LIKE: The fact they have games in hand on the teams around them in the playoff race.

DISLIKE: The lack of energy around the team lately. The hope has to be that it’s a mid-season malaise combined with a stubborn flu bug that seems to be lurking in the locker room.

LIKE: The sense of calm from management and the coaching staff even as the team appears to be reaching its first crisis of the season.

DISLIKE: The length of leash some of the unproductive players continue to be given, although that seems to have changed in recent games.

LIKE: The way ice time is allocated throughout the lineup which should help the team have the balance necessary to remain competitive in the second half of the season.

DISLIKE: In all the close games they’ve been involved in since Christmas, the fact that the Canucks have three third period goals in that eight game span. All of them came against Detroit, and two were into an empty net. The Canucks have held firm to the belief that fresher players will be better late in games. That hasn’t been the case since the holiday break when they’ve been outscored 9-3 in third periods and managed to win just three of eight games (3-4-1).

LIKE: The goaltending. Even though Eddie Lack allowed a stinker that sealed the deal in Nashville, he provided enough goaltending to give the Canucks a chance to get something out of Music City, but the team in front of him had to score a second goal. Since the middle of December, Lack and Ryan Miller have been terrific and the tandem has given the team the type of netminding it’ll need to make a playoff push.

DISLIKE: The discrepancy in starts between Miller and Lack. Miller has started 30 games and Lack just 11 (and that includes three of the last four). Miller has talked about the need to stay fresh in his first season on the West Coast. For the good of the team and with a busy schedule in February and March, it’s probably going to have to be closer to a 25-16 split of starts over the second half of the season.

LIKE: The penalty killing almost all season long. That’s one area the Canucks have excelled, and the battle level has been high from all involved.

DISLIKE: The power play at key times, particularly in recent games against Florida and Nashville. In so many tight games, a power play goal can be the difference, but the Canucks power play has suffered too many outages of late.

LIKE: Radim Vrbata. It’s been a few years since the Canucks had a one-shot scorer, and with 16 goals (in 38 games), Vrbata has been dangerous and consistent and in my opinion, the team’s first half MVP. He was brought in to score goals and, at 33, leads all NHLers over 30 in goal-scoring so far this season.

DISLIKE: The fact that Vrbata is the team’s only double-digit goal scorer at the midway mark, and that follows a year in which the team’s only 20-goal scorer was shipped out of town is concerning.

LIKE: Bo Horvat. The best prospect the Canucks have had in years has arrived and is taking a regular shift on a nightly basis. He has pro size and hasn’t looked out of place in the NHL as a 19-year-old. He has been given key defensive assignments and has emerged as the team’s best faceoff man in the first half of the season.

DISLIKE: That, as a top-10 draft pick, Horvat hasn’t had a little more impact offensively and that the club is still relying on too many older players. Five of the team’s top seven scorers are over the age of 30. Nick Bonino and Brad Richardson are the only Canucks under 30 with more than 16 points in the first 41 games.

LIKE: Derek Dorsett. He’s been a solid fourth line addition to the hockey club who competes hard, plays bigger than his size, kills penalties and has been a season-long mentor to rookie Bo Horvat.

DISLIKE: That Dorsett is the only forward who consistently brings a physical edge. The rest of the forward group doesn’t offer much in the way of push-back. The Canucks haven’t been pushed around on many nights, but they don’t initiate physical contact very often and don’t give the appearance of a team that would wear down an opponent in a seven game playoff series.

LIKE: The pairing of Alex Edler and Chris Tanev. Together they have formed a legitimate NHL duo capable of playing in all situations and against all opponents. They’ve logged big minutes and most nights have kept the other team’s top players in check.

DISLIKE: The chaos that ensues when the other defensive pairings are on the ice most nights. The loss of Dan Hamhuis in game 20 has certainly affected the stability of the defensive core of the hockey club and has left too many players playing above their rightful spots on the depth chart.

LIKE: The opportunity general manager Jim Benning has between now and the March 2 trade deadline to continue to remodel the hockey club and put his stamp on it. He showed a willingness – almost an eagerness – to make deals shortly after taking the reins last spring. The time has come once again for him to continue an overhaul of an aging core that will soon be four years removed from its run to the Stanley Cup Final.

DISLIKE: That organizationally, the Canucks’ biggest stockpile of assets is in goal. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, it’s just that as the team has learned in recent years, the market for goalies is a curious one that rarely yields the hoped for return. If Benning is going to make a deal to help the hockey club this season, he will likely have to package a goalie with a roster player and/or prospects to get anything of significance in return.

LIKE: The passion of the Canucks fan base whether on the phone boards on TSN 1040 post-game shows or on social media.

DISLIKE: There’s no real dislike here. I recognize that everyone sees things differently and has varying opinions about the state of the hockey club and the players on it. That’s what makes being part of the post-game shows on TSN 1040 so much fun. Let’s just hope the second half of the season presents as many intriguing storylines as the first 41 games have. And regardless how the season plays out, know that I’ll be on the radio and online to continue offering my thoughts about the Canucks as they push to get back in the playoffs.

http://www.tsn.ca/canucks-likes-and-dislikes-at-the-midway-mark-1.182369