[Discussion] Building a Chicago-like Core

[DownUndaCanuck]

Chicago may not win the Stanley Cup this season, but if they do that's 3 in 6 years which I believe should be considered a dynasty. This is something that was considered impossible to accomplish during the modern era with 30 teams, but Chicago have found a way by consistently contending for the Cup year after year.

The thing is, most good teams (Pittsburgh, Anaheim, St. Louis, Nashville, New York etc.) all have great core players that make up their team. What is so good about Chicago's? And what is so good about their complementary players? More importantly, how can the Canucks take what they currently have and create a similar core to that of Chicago's?

1) Chicago's Core.

Jonathan Toews - 3rd overall pick in 2006. First line center

Patrick Kane - 1st overall pick in 2007. First line winger.

Marian Hossa - Signed as a free agent in 2009. Top-6 winger

Patrick Sharp - Acquired in a trade with Philadelphia in 2005. 2nd line center, now winger.

Duncan Keith - Drafted 54th overall in 2002.

Brent Seabrook - Drafted 14th overall in 2003.

Corey Crawford - Drafted 52nd overall in 2003.

2) Chicago's Complementary Players

Niklas Hjalmarsson - Drafted 108th overall in 2005.

Johnny Oduya - Acquired in trade with Winnipeg for 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2012.

Saad, Bickell and Shaw - Drafted 43rd overall (2011), 41st overall (2004) and 139th respectively.

As you can see Chicago's core was built on some very high picks, but a lot of their players are former Chicago 2nd round picks that they've developed and groomed themselves over a long time. Their drafting has been superb, but their development has been even better, as we watch their older players and guys lost due to cap problems constantly replaced seamlessly by other guys in the organization.

3) How the Canucks Compare

Obviously in 2011 we had a pretty perfect core, and about as good a team as there is. We had the Sedins, Kesler and Burrows up front who were probably the best at their roles in the league at the time. In goal we questionably had a Cup-worthy goalie, and on defence we were stacked.

That aside, how does the new wave of Canucks get back to the Cup Finals? How does what we have in the system compare to Chicago, and what holes need filling?

The way I see it, a "core" has 4 forwards, 2 defencemen and a goalie. Of the forwards, you have the first and second line center and a couple of wingers.

1) Bo Horvat - Our core starts here. Former top-10 pick, he's got the tools to become a Toews-like, natural born winner, two-way playoff-thriving captain and ideally a top-2 center.

2) Jake Virtanen - Like Kane is to Toews, hopefully Virtanen can add some skill to our top-6 and become a physical mainstay in our future top-6. Anything less would be a massive waste of a 6th overall pick considering the talent out there. I hope he sticks on our future first line.

3) Sven Baertschi - Most skilled forward in our prospect pool, hopefully he can become a first line winger. Former first round pick, this guy lit it up in the AHL, is dedicated and I'd say his skill is comparable around the league (which is a rarity for a Canuck prospect).

4) Cole Cassels - McCann could be mentioned here but Cassels was a clutch leader and winner this post-season so I'll include him here as hopefully part of our future core and top-2 center with Horvat, but of course McCann could slot in as well.

5) Alex Edler - He's 29 now and his game isn't improving anymore, we desperately need a left-handed defenceman to replace Edler and Hamhuis and fit in with this core.

6) Chris Tanev - At just 25 he fits in with our new core a bit better. Never put up big offensive numbers so he'll need a puck mover to complement his fantastic defensive game in the future.

7) Eddie Lack - Getting old, and is probably going to get traded this off-season unfortunately, but I think the Canucks did a brilliant job of grooming and developing this kid into a near-starter. Hope they don't give up on him just yet because I feel this playoff experience has been vital to his growth, and give him another season or two before he's ready for a deep run.

There you have it...Personally, I believe our future forward group is fairly stacked. We have a prospect pool at forward comparable with the Cup-winning cores of the league right now. Horvat-Cassels-McCann is a fantastic trio to have at center and despite a true skilled first liner who can score 80-100 points, I think that group will do well enough. They're clutch, they're physical and they're very talented thanks to Virtanen and Baertschi. Complementary forwards like Shinkaruk, Hansen, Jensen and Kassian round out our forward group VERY nicely. I'd say these guys are very similar to Chicago's complementary players, and can do the job, if not better, than they are right now. Any minute holes there can easily be filled in with UFAs or minor trades but for the most part, our forwards are gold.

Then we go to defence. As you can see, we don't have a future Keith or Seabrook in the pipeline at all. Edler is getting old and when his game starts to decline, we're finished. As complementary defencemen we're pretty set with Corrado, Clendening, Sbisa and Subban who are IMO comparable with the 2nd pairing defencemen of Hjarmarsson/Oduya. They don't need to be flashy, just sound defensively, which Corrado and Clendening are for the most part. The problem is that top pairing. Tanev is great, but he doesn't put up points and we NEED a top defenceman to replace Hamhuis and Edler eventually. As this team doesn't have one drafted, we may need to either draft one soon (ie. this draft) or trade for someone/sign a UFA.

Finally in goal, we've got a bit of a mess brewing. Miller is a bandaid fix right now and not part of our core. Eddie Lack could be a bit of the old core and a bit of the new, but even he's getting old. That leaves Markstrom who has been superb in the AHL, but doubts exist about his play in the NHL. Demko in the distance is a nice backup plan but ideally Markstrom becomes the starting goaltender this team needs.

IN SUMMARY

This Canucks prospect pool is closer than most people think. We've got a core under construction and in my opinion it compares nicely to those of the Cup winning teams like Chicago and Los Angeles even. We've got 2 fantastic centers in Horvat and Cassels, and 2 great wingers in Baertschi and Virtanen. Then there's plenty of great supplementary players still being developed who, like Shaw and Saad, will be able to burst onto the scene as bottom-9 forwards. When the time comes for a deep Cup run, I'm sure Benning will be able to make the trades necessary to fill in any needs, whether it be another top-6 veteran scorer or not. Until then though, we're good up front. Even in goal we have a few backup plans with Lack, Markstrom and Demko all viable options. The problem exists, however, in defence. We have no one who compares to Keith-Seabrook. Edler is 29 and on the downswing, as is Hamhuis who only has a couple good seasons left in him, and while this team has a bunch of fantastic options for the 2nd and 3rd pairings, we have no true top defencemen.

THE FIX

Start drafting defencemen in 2015 obviously, but I don't think that's enough. There is no bonafied top defenceman around the 20ish pick this draft. Kylington would be a perfect replacement for Edler, but he's nowhere near Keith/Seabrook/Doughty/Chara, which is what we need if we want to win a Cup in the future. If I were Benning, I would strongly consider trading up, or throwing our 1st rounder away in a package for a stud young defenceman like Shea Theodore, Derreck Pouliot or Joe Morrow. Even our new core is getting old, we can't keep waiting around for this star defenceman...

[monkey2]

What I dream we would do this offseason is get more early 2nd and 3rd round picks.

Then draft clutch D-men to develop long term such as:

Vince Dunn

Nicolas Meloche

Caleb Jones

Brendan Guhle

Veeti Vainio

Keoni Texeira

Nicholas Boka

And some good wingers to develop long term such as:

Jack Roslovic

Roope Hintz

Jordan Greenway

Robin Kovacs

Then hope we compete in 2015-2016 season and continue to draft and develop players well.

[-AJ-]

Lack isn't old. He's 27. Thomas didn't start his career til 28 and wasn't full-time 'til 31 years of age. Dominik Hasek didn't become a starting goaltender until he was 29 years old.

Lack has a load of time ahead of him.

[monkey2]

THE FIX

Start drafting defencemen in 2015 obviously, but I don't think that's enough. There is no bonafied top defenceman around the 20ish pick this draft. Kylington would be a perfect replacement for Edler, but he's nowhere near Keith/Seabrook/Doughty/Chara, which is what we need if we want to win a Cup in the future. If I were Benning, I would strongly consider trading up, or throwing our 1st rounder away in a package for a stud young defenceman like Shea Theodore, Derreck Pouliot or Joe Morrow. Even our new core is getting old, we can't keep waiting around for this star defenceman...

Vince Dunn and Nicolas Meloche will be similar players to Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. But if we draft them and develop with the Canucks, they will be our versions. But none the less they will be good players. I would actually argue with you that there are so many stud d-men in this draft in the second round and beyond, that I hope the canucks trade down and acquire more picks.

Maybe I am biased but I'm not a fan of Kylington. I like tough Canadian D-men as I think they are the most clutch.

[SaintPatrick33]

The key player is Toews. Bar none he is the most clutch player in the game, as evidenced by CROSBY asking him if he wanted to be captain of the olympic team. He is also the true leader of the hawks team, you cannot underestimate his impact (42-14 in Games 4-7 of playoffs). Yes having Kane, Keith and Seabrook make all the difference, but I doubt they would have the success without their Captain.

My point is that Toews is a once in a lifetime player, more so than crosby, ovechkin etc. Why? because his intensity and desire to win are much greater. Example: 2012 finals versus Boston, he had a bad hamstring and still took on Chara in front of the net for the entire series. Watch the replay of the series again and focus on that matchup, I mean what human can take that punishment? Tazer thats who.

IMO Canucks would have to completely luck out to get a player like this, I think a better comparison would be to get a team mimic a team like LA or Anaheim because Chicago's big four Kane, Toews, Breezy and Keith are at a different level, and Chicago was both lucky and smart they were available at the time they were.

Another factor in the Chicago story was the death of their former owner Wirtz. He was a notorious cheapskate and bad owner, and after his son took over, they brought Scotty and his son Stan to work with the organization and presto, you have a dynasty in the making. Chicago has the best in Scotty and Stan Bowman, which resulted in the best four core players we have seen since the Oilers dynasty. Will be hard for any organization to replicate.

[Drakrami]

Lack is getting old...? Most goalies dont even start playing a full NHL season until they are 25+.

[Edlerberry]

horvat's not 18 anymore, lets trade him

[73 Percent]

horvat's not 18 anymore, lets trade him

need to gwt younger. Trade him for a 17y/o

[thejazz97]

need to gwt younger. Trade him for a 17y/o

Howsabout 2034 and 2035 first round pick?

[Ghostsof1915]

In the memorial cup, our centre, playing injured, out worked and shut down the 1st overall prospect and surefire superstar in Mcdavid.

Yet people want to trade him? Is is so hard for folks to understand that maybe we lucked out and got a top ten pick in the 3rd round?

These are the kinds of picks we need to make. Find those gems that others have missed. Before Cassels won the Memorial Cup, I remember Stan Smyl on the radio was just raving on how great of a prospect he was.

If we can get some 2nd and 3rd round picks back. Make some smart picks for our defence, hopefully we can find the next Duncan Keith or Shea Weber.

[thejazz97]

In the memorial cup, our centre, playing injured, out worked and shut down the 1st overall prospect and surefire superstar in Mcdavid.

Yet people want to trade him? Is is so hard for folks to understand that maybe we lucked out and got a top ten pick in the 3rd round?

These are the kinds of picks we need to make. Find those gems that others have missed. Before Cassels won the Memorial Cup, I remember Stan Smyl on the radio was just raving on how great of a prospect he was.

If we can get some 2nd and 3rd round picks back. Make some smart picks for our defence, hopefully we can find the next Duncan Keith or Shea Weber.

Caleb Jones it's freaking Caleb Jones!!

[Baer.]

horvat's not 18 anymore, lets trade him

Sam bennett

[elvis15]

You can't model that kind of success. They had top picks for multiple years and even then one of them was Cam Barker. They had the same hopes for their later picks that turned out as the ones that didn't, so that's even not a given but good on them for finding those pieces.

We can't just hope to draft top 3 for consecutive years and replicate their success, there would be a similar chance we end up like all the other teams at the bottom of the barrel that stayed there (e.g. Edmonton). Horvat and Virtanen are no Toews and Kane either.

Even then, Gillis took what pieces we did have that were acquired similarly through the draft or trade (Sedins, Edler, Kesler, Burrows, Bieksa, Salo, Raymond, etc.) and added to them (Ehrhoff, Hamhuis, Malhotra, Higgins, Lapierre, etc.) to create the best team in Canucks history with multiple years of top level success - everything but the cup and we were one win away from that.

Benning will do what he can and hopefully find some complimentary pieces to work with what we already have. Hopefully it's enough to do something while we transition, and then after the Sedin era.

[elvis15]

...

Maybe I am biased but I'm not a fan of Kylington. I like tough Canadian D-men as I think they are the most clutch.

So you wouldn't want Lidstrom or Karlsson on your team? Or even Suter from the US? If he's the best player available then you draft him. No idea if Benning feels the same, but I'll trust his choice (since I can't do anything else about it unless I get hired to his scouting staff between now and then).

Howsabout 2034 and 2035 first round pick?

Psh, by that point the draft will be decided by a genetic scan and automatically sorted to each team.

[TOMapleLaughs]

You can't rely on the lottery to build a team, but you sure can cap one off with it. We'll see what's in store in the coming seasons.

The most important thing Chicago had going for them was a total team mindset towards winning. It's a lot easier to win when all the players are onboard and are willing to sacrifice personal gains and goals for the good of the team. The Canucks used to be there too, but lost it over the years, in a predictable dramatic decline that happens to all Canadian cup finalists now. imho we won't be back there until the next franchise players are in place. When will that be? Who knows.

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

need a duncan kieth, goodluck finding that

[coastal1]

Lack isn't old. He's 27. Thomas didn't start his career til 28 and wasn't full-time 'til 31 years of age. Dominik Hasek didn't become a starting goaltender until he was 29 years old.

Lack has a load of time ahead of him.

Absolutely. Lack can be a quality back up in this league for the next 10 years.

[Edlerberry]

Howsabout 2034 and 2035 first round pick?

ZERO YEAR OLDS = INFINITE POTENTIAL

[Edlerberry]

Sam bennett

who

[Steen]

I don't have a reply for your whole post, but would just like to point out that based on his draft position, not even Duncan Keith would be considered "a Duncan Keith".