What direction should the Canucks go? (Discussion)

[Crabcakes]

re Vrbata on 2nd line

The internal part is a discussion. It's better to have 2 lines who can score than 1. It's as simple as that. There is no feud going on. That is a tsn1040 fabrication.

[Sbriggs]

He going to be on TSN1040 Tomorrow

I vote for trading all our players for the right price because the right price IMO better be pretty damn good

Thats why your not the GM, Thank God

[khay]

Stay the course. Continue to filter out one or two of the older players and bring in capable players in to replace them.

I think at forwards, we are fine. Sure, we aren't going to have Connor McDavid but how many teams do? I think we have enough of quality prospects that can overtake the veterans within 1 to 3 years. Some of these prospects are at or near elite level and that's good enough to build a contender.

Defence is what concerns me.

Juice is right about one thing, when it comes to defence, young doesn't always mean good. For forwards, it's fine to have young players because as long as they have the talent and will to play hard, they can just go out there and play. They can learn by playing. Occasional mistakes aren't magnified so there's not too much pressure on them. For defence, playing hard isn't enough. You need to be patient and be able to judge the right timing and so on.

Basically, there is no quick fix for defence. Here is what I think JB's plan is.

He will insert Clendening and/or Corrado and they will bring more depth and puck moving skills to the defence, which was one of the weaknesses. Of course, neither are crease clearing defender and neither improves overall toughness to play against factor of the defence.

He will do his best to acquire help on defence over the summer and that could mean moving one of Hamhuis and Bieksa. My guess is that he won't be successful in acquiring someone that can dramatically improve all of the weaknesses of the defence -- not his fault, it's just so hard to find someone like that and that the other team is willing to let the player go.

So the back up plan or the default plan is to develop the players within the organization.

Recently he acquired Pedan and drafted Tryamkin. These guys won't be ready to jump in next season but they will be in two seasons. If at least one of them pans out, then we have what we need. I'm especially optimistic about Tryamkin. A short clip here (http://thehockeywriters.com/boom-or-bust-tryamkin-signals-red-revolution-in-vancouver/) will make you optimistic too.

Basically, the clip is about his play in the WJHC, which could mean nothing if you see a player with dynamic offensive skills but if a player shows good defensive capabilities against most skilled young players in the world? That's a transferable skill and Tryamkin shows exactly that. He can clear the crease, hit hard, and to top that off, can move the puck. And skates surprisingly well for a guy that size... definitely not worse than Zdeno Chara.

One concern that I have heading into next season is that the weakness on defence and inability to make up for loss of Matthias and Richardson (due to the prospects being ready enough to play in the NHL but not quite strong enough to replace Matthias and Richardson yet), could see us missing the playoffs.

If this does happen and if it is clear that this will happen by the deadline, then JB have an option to trade at least one of the veteran defenders if they agree to waive their NTC to go to a contender.

If this happens and by some luck, we pick low enough to land one of the top defensive prospects in next year's draft, then we will be accelerating the retool. But this is only if JB does his best to improve the team whilst staying the course but somehow, the other teams improve to surpass us, which is definitely a possibility.

JB has a plan. A plan in which, we don't have to get lucky and land top 5 pick to fix the defence. And, if we do get lucky, then we have a manager who is dedicated to scouting and drafting well to take advantage of such luck. Furthermore, he has shown that he is going to continuously update his plan like he did with Forsling for Clendening trade.

So, I think we just stay the course. There is a distinct possibility that next season, we might struggle a bit but in two years, that's when the upswing begins.

[ABNuck]

With all the discussion about how the Canucks should proceed into the future, I wonder how CDC really feels, so I thought I would create a poll, and see where the chips fly.

Personally, I am mixed, and wonder which direction they should take, there are certainly choices.

We have seen teams trade major stars to accelerate the rebuild before(Buffalo), and we have seen teams rebuild slowly through the draft (Montreal), the jury is out on the Buffalo plan, but it takes time and good scouting, and a certain amount of luck to do it like Montreal.

Another plan that I have not seen discussed is a highbred, where current players are traded along with current prospects to up grade positions, this would keep us strong, but would be a budget nightmare, as higher end talent costs more in contracts, where as a combination of Older vets, mid-aged players, and rookies, blend contracts, which keeps the Teams cap under control..

In the end, I lean more towards a rebuild, but admittedly, I waver on it.......what is you choice?

FORMERFAN is that you trying to sneak back on the bandwagon? Anyways, kudos for the screen name...however...I can't help but to think of Tobias Funke's (Arrested Development) license plate "ANUSTART"...makes me chuckle every time.

[dura_mater]

I like Benning and I think he's doing a wonderful job with strengthening our prospects. However, I get sick of hearing about bringing players up in a winning environment. Utica aside, the Canucks getting knocked out in the first round isn't a "winning" environment. To quote another poster, we're bringing players up in a "semi-winning" environment; along with 15 other teams in the league. Unfortunately you can't semi-win a Stanley Cup. Hopefully his model works, otherwise we may miss out on some exceptional talents in this and next years draft. That being said, I have much more faith in Benning than any other Canuck GM since 2000.

[A NEW BEGINNING]

Just can't help think that we should have started our rebuild at the deadline

Reasons: Trading of Richardson and Matthias for picks and a much better draft pick

Just starting to get that " should have sold 2 month ago" feeling

I wonder what JB thinks when he is out of Trevor's office

[dilettante]

I kind of miss pre-2011 Gillis because it was always obvious what kind of team he was building. Yea, yea, yea Gillis failed to create depth and not all of his trades worked out.

But with Benning all we have is a guy who's trying to create a "winning environment" and trying to get players "within a certain age group." And with WD all we get is "we want to be a hard working team that's hard to play against." Other than WD's attitude of creating a 4 line team, I'm at a loss as to what style of hockey Canucks management has in mind.

[BMorrison 7]

I kind of miss pre-2011 Gillis because it was always obvious what kind of team he was building. Yea, yea, yea Gillis failed to create depth and not all of his trades worked out.

But with Benning all we have is a guy who's trying to create a "winning environment" and trying to get players "within a certain age group." And with WD all we get is "we want to be a hard working team that's hard to play against." Other than WD's attitude of creating a 4 line team, I'm at a loss as to what style of hockey Canucks management has in mind.

everyone dissed gillis but the fact is, he had 2 presidents trophys a stanley cup final and was already building the team with guys like horvat. he made mistakes but he's human. Drafting wasn't his strong suit but he made sick deals to get us to the final.

[Zuongo]

Sooo I've beginning to see threads popping up, trying to sound new or different... But in reality every thread is the same old with a different title.

As if we haven't discussed whats next for the team until now.

[Adamth]

Canucks need to look @ Chicago and the Ducks as a example of what players to acquire- not just for some random picks. Core players ..... players like Bo Horvat , Kesler gave Canucks the edge when Sedins were in trouble .... We need some or a couple of new todays experienced vets NOT star players who only know how to pass the Puck.

[StraightFlush]

West. I always go west.

Go west. Life is peaceful there.

Pet shop boys.

[TheAntar]

This team could contend again the day the sedins are our 2a/2b line with second unit pp minutes.

Think Stevie Y in Detroit during their last hayday.

The other thing we need by then is a replacement for edler. I don't mean get rid of Eddie I just mean we need a new bona fide number one d.

And I don't mean force people into those roles... I'm talking legitimately having people step up and take over.

[dura_mater]

This team could contend again the day the sedins are our 2a/2b line with second unit pp minutes.

Think Stevie Y in Detroit during their last hayday.

The other thing we need by then is a replacement for edler. I don't mean get rid of Eddie I just mean we need a new bona fide number one d.

And I don't mean force people into those roles... I'm talking legitimately having people step up and take over.

This team could contend again the day the sedins are our 2a/2b line with second unit pp minutes.

Think Stevie Y in Detroit during their last hayday.

The other thing we need by then is a replacement for edler. I don't mean get rid of Eddie I just mean we need a new bona fide number one d.

And I don't mean force people into those roles... I'm talking legitimately having people step up and take over.

A lot of people mention this and I don't disagree about us being contenders with the Sedins in a 2nd line role. However, who do we get to play on the first line? You rarely draft top 1st line players in the 2nd round or late 1st round. Sure there's usually a complimentary 3rd player on your top line to spread your offense around - see Alex Burrows with the Sedins, Belesky/Maroon with Getzlaf and Perry. But those core 2 players required on a GOOD first line are hard to come by outside of an early draft pick.

Getzlaf and Perry are a bit of an anomaly at 19th and 28th overall in the 2003 draft.

The Sedins were drafted 2 and 3 (as everyone knows) so unless we tank we won't be drafting here anytime soon. Especially not with the Sedins still playing for us (which kind of makes it impossible to have them as our 2nd line if we have no one to replace them on the first).

Chicago has Toews and Kane 3rd and 1st overall picks.

I'll be honest, I don't know who composes LAs top line; however, Kopitar is an 11th pick, Jeff Carter and 11th pick, Dustin Brown a 13th pick, and Marian Gaborik a 3rd overall pick.

Tampa Bay is also a bit of an anomaly. Outside of Stamkos at 1st overall pick, they've done really well with Johnson (2nd line) and Palat and Kucherov - both steals in later rounds.

If we want a Stanley Cup winning team then we'd be better off modeling ourselves around LA or Chicago. They both have a lot of early first round draft picks comprising their top line. I don't understand how we are suppose to get these draft picks, allowing the Sedins to shift into a 2nd line role, with the Sedins still playing for us. As long as we have the Sedins we'll never be bad enough to get a top 15 pick. We achieved this for one year under Torts but I think it's gonna take more than this.

[canut]

No one's going to take a chance on Kassian and his back. Probably why it wasn't public for so long. We didn't want anyone to know his back was the issue.

The Sedins aren't going anywhere... ever.

`if we can unload any of those other names, like Burrows, Higgs and Bieksa we need to make sure we have someone to take those spots.

Right now we don't, and those guys aren't worth a lot for a trade.

Barring some miracles, Canuscks fans should be ready to miss the playoffs next year and for a few more years after that.

Really lucky to have made it this year at all, but does it matter when a team like the Flames are able to stomp us like that.

I like rooting for the kind of guys you'd want your kids to be around.

The Ducks likely to win the cup, are a bunch of really unsavory guys.

I'm ok with the Big Trev nice guy approach, uphelp by the Sedins and Miller and trickles down through the line-up.

Real reasons why Kassian is a healthy scratch: give-aways? nope, attitude.

If you are a mean person or a jerk or too egocentric you won't fit in on our roster, which is full of the nicest sportmen in the world.

I actually take pride in being a Canucks fan because I know the guys aren't going to do anything that the media will exploit.

As Canuck fans we should take a page from their book. Lose with honour. Look at Winnipegs fans (not that team maybe).

If you want to win, keep a@@h0lE5 like Kesler around.

As a guy with some moral fabric to him, I like rooting for a loser that is always gracious and kind.

Not usually a hockey thing... but take it or leave it Canucks are the kindest sportsman in the game.

[Og Kassian Doe]

South

-Gary Bettman

[Monty Mahla]

the best thing would be to keep the sedins untill they retire. They can play in first then second and then maybe third line in future..right now they have to make a decision what they gonna do with kassian. either play him or trade him and we can trade hamhiuis we can get alot back for that.. and no need to trade the pick but if they jump up in the draft then yeah i would agree with trading the pick..this year there are so many good players...if we wanna rebuild faster or transit faster...we need one more top notch player..or after hamhuis traded yeah we have alot of good defencemen but again we'll need that one good top 2 defense.. we have goalies,a big traffic of forwards and best way would be get a better pick in this draft bring a good right wing to the franchise or a defenceman would be great but rest is up to benning...and we have seen what he can do..im sure he'll turn things around. dont get ahead of yourselves sedins r not gonna get traded. they have given alot to this franchise. When their contract expired each Canucks fan was scared if they gonna sign or not. now they have signed you wanna trade them..they want their young guns to play alongside of the old canons which is a great idea, trading vrbata wont be a good idea either vrbata is flexible he'll will play better with the sedins this year and could be a great second liner...so we need vrbata and his experience...trading vrbata wont get us a better player then again we wont be satisfied...vrbata and sedins r those player who can do some damage..and only that way they can have a winning environment. Go Benning Go

[dura_mater]

the best thing would be to keep the sedins untill they retire. They can play in first then second and then maybe third line in future..right now they have to make a decision what they gonna do with kassian. either play him or trade him and we can trade hamhiuis we can get alot back for that.. and no need to trade the pick but if they jump up in the draft then yeah i would agree with trading the pick..this year there are so many good players...if we wanna rebuild faster or transit faster...we need one more top notch player..or after hamhuis traded yeah we have alot of good defencemen but again we'll need that one good top 2 defense.. we have goalies,a big traffic of forwards and best way would be get a better pick in this draft bring a good right wing to the franchise or a defenceman would be great but rest is up to benning...and we have seen what he can do..im sure he'll turn things around. dont get ahead of yourselves sedins r not gonna get traded. they have given alot to this franchise. When their contract expired each Canucks fan was scared if they gonna sign or not. now they have signed you wanna trade them..they want their young guns to play alongside of the old canons which is a great idea, trading vrbata wont be a good idea either vrbata is flexible he'll will play better with the sedins this year and could be a great second liner...so we need vrbata and his experience...trading vrbata wont get us a better player then again we wont be satisfied...vrbata and sedins r those player who can do some damage..and only that way they can have a winning environment. Go Benning Go

If we keep the Sedins until they retire how do you expect them to play on the 2nd or 3rd line? As long as the Sedins are playing for us we are not going to be drafting high enough to get quality first line players. If we are going to win a cup it will have to be with the Sedins as our top line.

[A NEW BEGINNING]

Although, I think the Sedin's are here until they retire, I also do not think we are going to get those elite prospects in the middle of the first round, not unless we are very lucky.

So the only other way we can improve fast is to sell off players and replace with UFA's of somewhat equal abilities, "IF" you want to stay right about the middle of the pack.

If you want to get near the top, trade your prospects and picks, and upgrade your current players with them. But that does seem to create a void where your prospects were...but you now have no organizational depth.

The third thing we could do is trade our older skill and take picks, then move them around a little to move up in the draft, then having moved much of your older talent, the Canucks will then drop in the standings and be able to acquire other the elite picks.

I think it was Jan is a hockey nut that suggested trading Hamhuis, Vrbata, Lack, Higgins and Edler, converting them into high picks and quickening the rebuild.

Although a little ambitious, her point was valid......it is the only way we get into the area of elite talent and diminish our ability to be middle of the pack ( which means middle of the road draft picks).

There is only so many ways you can slice the apple....sorry Apple!

So compete, stay the same, or sell off......those are our only choices short term (next 3 to 4 years)

But, I am sorry to say we are not going to win the cup with the Sedin's any which way.

[Baggins]

As long as the Sedins are playing for us we are not going to be drafting high enough to get quality first line players.

There are an awful lot of top line players drafted outside the top 10 and the first round for that matter. Quality comes from both drafting and developing well.

[Canucklehead73]

Bennings only option truly is the UFA market. He needs to talk a scoring top six winger and a top defenseman into believing we have a shot at the cup. That being said the UFA market is slim pickings this year... Do we go after a RFA? Hasn't been done lately...

I think we have a solid bottom six, if not overpaid a bit, but pretty solid. Two rookies...

Higgins Center? Hansen

Dorsett Horvat Kenins

Our biggest weakness is on defense, we cannot handle any sort of fore-check (for years now) and we need some more playmaking and crease controlling size. We do not have a number one defenseman be it a offensive or defensive one and our group are about the same, smallish well rounded players who excel at nothing in particular. Edler is the best we have currently and that speaks for itself. How about we see if Bieska can win draws and be a bottom six center??? He is a liability on defense. I would be ok with moving Hammer as well. Say what you will about Stanton, he was a plus player for us and good enough to be a 6/7 guy.

Edler Tanev

Hamhuis Bieska

Sbisa Stanton

Outside of our defense we have few true goal scorers. Landing Vrbata is a start but a decidedly soft start. The sedins showed they still have some jam but did not generate many shots in the playoffs but playing with Hansen might do that to any line... losing Burrows really hurt us against Calgary. But as usual we have no second line really, same old some and dance. Bonino is "ok" has a good shot and a good stick defensively but is way too slow to be effective. I would trade him if I was Benning, good luck tho. The perfect scenario would have Kassian step up and be an impact player for our top line, he has what we need.

Sedin Sedin Vrbata

Burrows Bonino Kassian?

I'm not sure the options are there for Benning this year regarding the UFA/RFA market. Hopefully someone shines in camp and can help up up front, but how hard is it for a rookie to score in a top six role in the NHL, pretty bad odds. We have zero prospects on defense... All that being said, we had a decent year and made the playoffs, so it's not out of this world to suggest Benning might be able to tweak this lineup for another year or two until he can land some decent UFA signings to replenish our defense.

I would say overall Benning's hands are tied, his only true option to make an impact to this roster is to shed salary and bring up his top six prospects. Can't see it happening so I see the direction for this team is the wait and see game. Nothing to see here.