Canucks have absolutely no star power!!!

[mpt]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

I get what your saying.  Man it makes you pine for the days whenever Bure got the puck on his stick all the butts were out of their seats with a collective ewww or ahhh sound loud enough to send shivers.   Lafluer did that too.  Not many players are ever that exciting though, even most superstars.  Naslund had a bit of it, but not the same, Jovo or Ohlund were fun to watch because at any given time they could flatten guys (Edler what happened to you?) Linden put guys through the glass and could score.... Bertuzzi was a beast for us... Momesso Diduck Babych all fun to watch I could list dozens of guys like that... Ruutuuuu.  Hahaha bye bye Phanuef you hoser.

 

Horvat I guess is the best equivalent, fun to watch but not overly exciting.  You are right.  This team needs guys that can hammer guys, burn with speed, and make endless amazing saves to amp up the excitement.  Pettersson highlights are very promising, can score like Sakic and his main deke was Bures bread and butter too.  Juolevi won't bring any wow factor, his game is Vlasic like or even Lindstrom like, maybe nice to watch but not a lot of wow.  

Guess we are just going to have to wait and see.  Hockey IS exciting fortunately for us in the meantime.

Completely agree.  The Sedins are exciting after they do something amazing, but boring to watch shift after shift of nothing.  Horvat for me, isn't exciting.  He is a very good player and very valuable but again missing that factor.  Pettersson might be that player, very promising from the little I've seen.  What would make me excited as a Canuck fan for this year, even though his production won't be very good, is to sign Jagr to a one-year deal.  It would be great to see another NHL great have a link to vancouver, and the mentoring he could teach with his amazing puck control I would think would be very valuable to almost everyone on this team.

 

The problem with the Sedins from a mentoring perspective is they can teach everyone what its like to be a professional, how to conduct themselves, how to eat, how good of shape you need to be in, how to be consistent and how to deal with the grind of an NHL season, which are all very valuable, but the thing they would struggle with is teaching our young players tips and tricks, creating offense, playing north south etc as no one plays like the Sedins, their style is so unique, they don't know how to play any other way and its not going to be beneficial for Horvat, Granlund, Baertschi, Boeser, Boucher etc etc etc to learn to play like the Sedins when they are completely different players.  That is where Jagr comes in.  Guys like Sutter, Gagner, Eriksson, etc aren't offensively gifted enough; Jagr has the pedigree behind him, the skills, and the knowledge, and for a guy who is 45 and scored over 15 goals last season and over 20 at age 44, that's impressive.  Here in Vancouver I would doubt he gets more than 15 goals and 20 assists, but we don't care about his on ice performance as much as we would want his off ice performance to rub off on other players here in Vancouver.  Easily worth a 3 million contract IMO

[bloodycanuckleheads]

Quote

There is no shame having no star power. 

Oh yes there is!  Tremendous shame.

 

Having no stars means that, at the very least, your team has drafted abysmally!  Absolutely abysmally.  And for an extended period of time (a decade plus). 

 

And, if you drafted well, it means that you got absolutely fleeced in all your trades.

[kloubek]

No star power.  This may actually be true.  But we have a lot of very solid prospects who may become stars and I think we are in reasonably good shape for the future.  Let's just play a game here and consider what our lineup might be in 2 year's time, and making a few (potentially optimistic) assumptions, and estimating point totals.  Also factoring in players who's contracts may be up, but if it isn't that exact player I see no reason why we couldn't have a similar replacement:

 

Baertschi(60) Horvat(70) Boeser(65) 
I'm unsure about whether Baertschi can ever be a 1st line player and he might be a weak link.  Horvat appears to be on his way to be an average 1st line center, and I'm being a little optimistic about Boeser but what we've seen so far was an excellent start and shows he is a likely 1st liner.
 

Dahlen(50) Pettersson(60) Eriksson(50)
Again, assuming Dahlen and Pettersson are on their way to reaching their potential (which I believe to be likely), and Eriksson becoming a 50 point player again (which I also believe to be likely).  

 

Granlund(40) Sutter(40) Gagner(40)
One of the best 3rd lines in the NHL, I believe.  Not in size/energy so much but lots of scoring for a 3rd line, and guys who can be used in special team roles.  I know this has Sutter as having point totals higher than expected, but I think this is possible with the right wingers boosting his assist totals.
 

Virtanen(25) Burmistrov(25) Goldobin(30)
Again, lots of scoring potential here for a 4th line.

Extra potentials: Gaunce Lind Gaudette, Palmu, Rodin, Lockwood,  None are likely to be spectacular, but you never know.

Defence, in no particular order, but points based on pairings as below.
Tanev(20) Juolevi(40)

Edler(20) Hutton(30) 

Gudbranson(15) Stecher(35) 
DelZotto - not sure where he fits in here.....

Extra potentials: Subban, Rathbone, Tryamkin (I believe Subban WILL be an NHL defenseman.  Rathbone, who knows but some are high on him.  Hopefully Tryamkin comes back.)

 

Goaltending: Demko, Markstrom/Nilsson.  Potential to be an excellent duo, but no guarantees.  Estimated save% around .92

 

 

....so is this a team packed with stars?  Besides Pettersson, perhaps not a lot of truly elite potential, no.  But the above is what ultimately amounts to a 1a and 1b and 2b and 2c lines instead of a 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a configuration... so our bottom size playing at a level higher than their line position would typically indicate, and two solid top six lines.  Overall, very well balanced in my opinion; so much so that perhaps having that elite superstar isn't so necessary....

[coryberg]

No star power right now but quite a few mushrooms, some flowers, a frog suit or two and even some leaves.

[IBatch]

5 hours ago, mpt said:

Completely agree.  The Sedins are exciting after they do something amazing, but boring to watch shift after shift of nothing.  Horvat for me, isn't exciting.  He is a very good player and very valuable but again missing that factor.  Pettersson might be that player, very promising from the little I've seen.  What would make me excited as a Canuck fan for this year, even though his production won't be very good, is to sign Jagr to a one-year deal.  It would be great to see another NHL great have a link to vancouver, and the mentoring he could teach with his amazing puck control I would think would be very valuable to almost everyone on this team.

 

The problem with the Sedins from a mentoring perspective is they can teach everyone what its like to be a professional, how to conduct themselves, how to eat, how good of shape you need to be in, how to be consistent and how to deal with the grind of an NHL season, which are all very valuable, but the thing they would struggle with is teaching our young players tips and tricks, creating offense, playing north south etc as no one plays like the Sedins, their style is so unique, they don't know how to play any other way and its not going to be beneficial for Horvat, Granlund, Baertschi, Boeser, Boucher etc etc etc to learn to play like the Sedins when they are completely different players.  That is where Jagr comes in.  Guys like Sutter, Gagner, Eriksson, etc aren't offensively gifted enough; Jagr has the pedigree behind him, the skills, and the knowledge, and for a guy who is 45 and scored over 15 goals last season and over 20 at age 44, that's impressive.  Here in Vancouver I would doubt he gets more than 15 goals and 20 assists, but we don't care about his on ice performance as much as we would want his off ice performance to rub off on other players here in Vancouver.  Easily worth a 3 million contract IMO

That's more or less like some posts in a recent thread about signing Jagr.  He would put people in the seats that's for sure, and he's fun to watch when he sticks his gigantic butt out and plays keep away by the other teams net.  Put in the right situation I think he could get fifty plus points again too, and he's stated he would like to play to fifty as well.  Somebodies going to sign him, and the traveling Jagrs adding a Vancouver jersey to the group would look great.  I would pay to see him a couple more times for sure.

[apollo]

The Hockey News has no star power.

[CeeBee51]

2 hours ago, coryberg said:

No star power right now but quite a few mushrooms, some flowers, a frog suit or two and even some leaves.

 

[Tyndall2]

I would offer JJ $2 million for one year.  Take it or leave it.  

 

[IBatch]

5 hours ago, bloodycanuckleheads said:

Oh yes there is!  Tremendous shame.

 

Having no stars means that, at the very least, your team has drafted abysmally!  Absolutely abysmally.  And for an extended period of time (a decade plus). 

 

And, if you drafted well, it means that you got absolutely fleeced in all your trades.

The Canucks entire history of drafting like most teams is a bit of a minefield.  Some hits,  some near misses and lots of bombs.  Nedved was not one though. Jagr would only play with Pittsburgh and only because he wanted to play with Lemuiex.  He has a reasonable career for a number two, same with Linden and Tallon.  Bure had enough intrigue and action to make a good mini series.  

The last decade and a half until the last few years have been dreadful to say the least, and the jury is still out on that too.

 

The lottery screwed us possibly...then again even that is too early to tell.

 

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, apollo said:

The Hockey News has no star power.

They certainly lost some when JM left.  They do have a few excellent and acclaimed writers on their roster, and for hockey nuts looking for a fix their isn't any real competitors anymore.  Sportsnet throws out a few mags now and then which aren't bad but I miss the nineties when you could always find a few different hockey mags everytime you went to the gas station.  Tuff Guys was a good one, analysis on the leagues top enforcers...

[-DLC-]

Quote

Dom Luszczyszyn is a hockey writer from Toronto, Canada

 

All I needed to know right here.  HE has no star power.

[canucks.brad]

It is true...

[IBatch]

5 hours ago, kloubek said:

No star power.  This may actually be true.  But we have a lot of very solid prospects who may become stars and I think we are in reasonably good shape for the future.  Let's just play a game here and consider what our lineup might be in 2 year's time, and making a few (potentially optimistic) assumptions, and estimating point totals.  Also factoring in players who's contracts may be up, but if it isn't that exact player I see no reason why we couldn't have a similar replacement:

 

Baertschi(60) Horvat(70) Boeser(65) 
I'm unsure about whether Baertschi can ever be a 1st line player and he might be a weak link.  Horvat appears to be on his way to be an average 1st line center, and I'm being a little optimistic about Boeser but what we've seen so far was an excellent start and shows he is a likely 1st liner.
 

Dahlen(50) Pettersson(60) Eriksson(50)
Again, assuming Dahlen and Pettersson are on their way to reaching their potential (which I believe to be likely), and Eriksson becoming a 50 point player again (which I also believe to be likely).  

 

Granlund(40) Sutter(40) Gagner(40)
One of the best 3rd lines in the NHL, I believe.  Not in size/energy so much but lots of scoring for a 3rd line, and guys who can be used in special team roles.  I know this has Sutter as having point totals higher than expected, but I think this is possible with the right wingers boosting his assist totals.
 

Virtanen(25) Burmistrov(25) Goldobin(30)
Again, lots of scoring potential here for a 4th line.

Extra potentials: Gaunce Lind Gaudette, Palmu, Rodin, Lockwood,  None are likely to be spectacular, but you never know.

Defence, in no particular order, but points based on pairings as below.
Tanev(20) Juolevi(40)

Edler(20) Hutton(30) 

Gudbranson(15) Stecher(35) 
DelZotto - not sure where he fits in here.....

Extra potentials: Subban, Rathbone, Tryamkin (I believe Subban WILL be an NHL defenseman.  Rathbone, who knows but some are high on him.  Hopefully Tryamkin comes back.)

 

Goaltending: Demko, Markstrom/Nilsson.  Potential to be an excellent duo, but no guarantees.  Estimated save% around .92

 

 

....so is this a team packed with stars?  Besides Pettersson, perhaps not a lot of truly elite potential, no.  But the above is what ultimately amounts to a 1a and 1b and 2b and 2c lines instead of a 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a configuration... so our bottom size playing at a level higher than their line position would typically indicate, and two solid top six lines.  Overall, very well balanced in my opinion; so much so that perhaps having that elite superstar isn't so necessary....

Mediocrity ( or Vanilla) is the biggest problem of the cap era.  Most teams have one or two stars, or just one superstar like Ottawa, and end up been stuck in the middle, usually resulting in a wild card spot, near miss or on a good year second place in their division.

 

 Economics make it near impossible to buy your way out ( although somehow after all this time NYR keeps acting like their is no cap and behaving like they have since the mid to late seventies, an eventual destination for late prime stars) and the ELCs hold everything together.  

 

Guess the lottery will help this somewhat as Philly and Dallas are about to find out, and NJ certainly got a big shot in the arm for their rebuild also, at ours and COL expense.  

 

When you look back at all the Stanley Cup winners, they all have star power, elite goaltending and or Norris worthy defenseman and or game breaking forwards that eat teams like ours for lunch including the hypothesized team above.  You simply can't win it without at least some star power.  The NYI robbed the mighty Pens of past from a three peat, with Ferraro leading a pack of mediocre guys so history does show the little guy can do some damage in the playoffs

..

 

But nobody has ever won it without stars laced into the line-up somewhere.  

We need at least one and that will only work if it's a superstar goalie (ahem Roy) Preferably two upfront, one or two defenders ( includes Selke types) and a top ten goalie.

 

So far we can tick one of those boxes in Horvat, and given its early still thats using rose coloured glasses.  

[canucksnihilist]

gotta get star power from drafting D.  you don't need a top pick, and it can be almost as effective.

[cuporbust]

On 15/07/2017 at 4:14 PM, -Vintage Canuck- said:

That will change in five years from now.

 

Boeser, Pettersson, Juolevi, Demko.

Virtanen ?

He is guna surprise this year. I'm calling it now.  

[Aardvark]

1 hour ago, cuporbust said:

Virtanen ?

He is guna surprise this year. I'm calling it now.  

I think so too.  Most "improved" player.

[bobbyg43]

Be of good cheer Brock will be here this year An close on his coattail will be Nikolay Goldobin.

we now have legitimate young guns with star power.

Don't remember if ever we had so many young guns with star power in the same time frame growing into their dream jobs of playing in the NHL.

this year will be exciting to watch as they grow together .

[The Lock]

On 7/18/2017 at 4:05 PM, IBatch said:

So far we can tick one of those boxes in Horvat, and given its early still thats using rose coloured glasses.  

Well the thing is, pretty much anything is possible when you're talking about the future. I don't know if I've go out of my way to use "role coloured glasses" as a classification as I'd say the likelihood of Horvat becoming a star is more evident than it being the opposite. It's obviously not a guarentee yet, but you certainly don't need glasses to see he has what it takes to be one.

 

Then again, I tend to hate the whole "this person has role-coloured glasses" comment stuff. It's lazy and is an accusation rather than a sound argument. It's throwing sticks and stones basically. Not all that productive. Especially when a lot of the people using that tern could be called out as doing the exact same thing, just with the opposite side of the argument. lol

[-DLC-]

Here's what I hate about this article.  We're damned if/when we do/don't.

 

We're not focused on one "star" player...we're focused on a team.  Rebuilding that team.

 

And here's the part they forget....there is no "Star" Shop where you just go pick one up...it's really tough to acquire a star.  You can't place an order on Amazon for that.

 

Sometimes they (star players) don't reveal themselves as such at first.  There are diamonds in the rough who emerge, seemingly out of nowhere.  But this blowhard knows already.  I want those Lotto Max numbers from him too...let's see what his star power is all about.

 

So sure, to get a number one draft pick in a great draft...one team gets that per year.  On good years (some drafts aren't as promising or stocked).

 

When we had "aging veterans", that was the focus.  That we were old and washed up.  Now that we're acquiring some younger talent, they're being judged before they even hit the gate.  

 

How about we don't listen to this nonsense from sources who love nothing more than to see us fail?  If we buy into what they're selling, I question why we bother at all.

 

For me, I'm going to wait and see because some of our prospects hold promise.  But don't let that stop some "hockey expert" in Toronto from writing everything off.   I'm thinking maybe focus on your own backyard?

 

It's always something.   

[Ryanstorm]

1 Word.

Pettersson.