Have you changed your mind on this season? (Discussion)

[EdgarM]

On ‎2017‎-‎11‎-‎09 at 7:11 PM, canucksnihilist said:

I love the fact that the team is competing and seems to be turning a corner.

 

I just wish we had a true #1 star.  Like if we had gotten Mathews.  Maybe Boeser is that star, sure... I hope so.  However the team just needed another real true #1 center and a #1 defenseman...   I guess we had our chances in the draft but didn't win the lotteries.  so what can you do?

 

I fear we will be good enough to make the playoffs, but never good enough to win it all - in typical Canucks fashion.  I'm almost hoping to tank so we can win the lottery (fat chance anyways eh?) but that is probably unrealistic.   I blame management.  I think that JB and Linden have done a terrible job in not embracing a rebuild earlier - especially as they are so talented at actually rebuilding!  if only they would have played to their strengths...  So the rebuild is over - kind of - but we don't have the pieces that we could have.   The community kind of knows this, and thats why attendance at games still sucks.  there is no obvious McDavid or Mathews or Laine that is the core of a rebuilding team... so it seems half-done.  Which means the team won't be as good as it could have been when they are in a position to really compete.

 

anyways, I'm just voicing what a lot of people who buy tickets must be thinking.  Not saying it can't change, or that we can't grab the required players later in the draft if we get lucky... just saying I'm dissapointed in where the team is - I wanted to see a more youthful team making the same progress instead of a bunch of late 20s players in the mix.   I know, I know... hard to do when you don't have the players.  I mean... the team plays a really boring style - cause it doesn't have the players.  if this is the vision the tickets will never sell... and that's what I'm worried about.

 

anyways, I know there are a lot of peeps drinking the team kool-aid, and I like the team's direction too... but just wish we were at this point with another 5 really good prospects in the lineup instead of signing older free agents who enable us to play a boring style...  I'd rather see more young players playing a balls to the wall offensive risky style with a great goaltender (haha who wouldn't want that?)

 

anyways, no hate please - I can see this team competing and being really fun to watch eventually, but never winning the cup...

 

 

Its funny you say that because I have felt this team has done exactly that for the last 2 decades. The Nazzy Era and the Sedin Era did exactly that. Great in the regular season and then faulter during the playoffs. I am tired of being the "really fun to watch" team and would much rather be the team who is winning the cup. I am hoping our "Character" players are going to change all that very soon. GCG!

[erkayloomeh]

Even if it looks like we are going to make the playoffs I think we are still rebuilding.

However there only certain players I would trade . Vanek. Gagner. Hutton.  I'd trade edler too if he was willing to go. But I would want alot for him.

Granlund and baer ide keep though.  They are an integral part of our CDC moral in that they enable us to rub it in to the Sparks fans. 

[J.I.A.H.N]

23 minutes ago, EdgarM said:

Its funny you say that because I have felt this team has done exactly that for the last 2 decades. The Nazzy Era and the Sedin Era did exactly that. Great in the regular season and then faulter during the playoffs. I am tired of being the "really fun to watch" team and would much rather be the team who is winning the cup. I am hoping our "Character" players are going to change all that very soon. GCG!

I think it is absolutely important to have strong character players on a potential cup team, unfortunately, I do not see many of those players on our team, at this very moment, and I see a lot of mid-range players, both on defense and forward (At this very moment, I am referring to).

 

I think that our 2017-2018 team, may push themselves into a all too familiar spot of being in the 9 OA to 17 OA draft position, not quite making it there, but taking ourselves, just outside of the cream of this years draft........I think this is an important thing to keep in mind, if our goal is to have a cup winning team..........

 

I honestly don't think we are that far away from having young pro's (Horvat, Virtanen and Broeser) and potential pro's in (Pettersson, Gaudette, Juolevi, and Demko)

 

But honestly..............Sutter, Granlund, Baertschi, Del Zotto, Hutton, Stecher, Gaunce............Gagner and Burmistrov are just simply taking up space

 

Can and will be replaced at sometime with Dahlen, Goldoblin, Lind, Lockwood, Gadjovich, Brisebois, Chatfield, and McEneny

 

Besides Dorsett and Gudbranson..........where is our character players..............future or present?

 

I am hoping guys like Gaudette, Gadjovich, Lind, and Lockwood bring a little of it when they arrive............

 

As for Hank and Danny.....it is time!, As  for Eriksson......we will have to live with him for now, As for Edler.........not much difference in him and Del Zotto, and the same can be said for the difference between Hutton and Pouliot...(slight edge to Hutton)

 

So, this season, gets us no where fast! This is the time to build by moving vets, because as you can see, we are getting jammed by middle line players, and need to build via the draft

 

Our goaltending, as usual is one of our strong points and will keep us in games, we do not deserve to be in..............again, as usual

[Toyotasfan]

Don't get too high on this team yet , but they're starting to show there's a new top line in town.

[EdgarM]

8 minutes ago, janisahockeynut said:

I think it is absolutely important to have strong character players on a potential cup team, unfortunately, I do not see many of those players on our team, at this very moment, and I see a lot of mid-range players, both on defense and forward (At this very moment, I am referring to).

 

I think that our 2017-2018 team, may push themselves into a all too familiar spot of being in the 9 OA to 17 OA draft position, not quite making it there, but taking ourselves, just outside of the cream of this years draft........I think this is an important thing to keep in mind, if our goal is to have a cup winning team..........

 

I honestly don't think we are that far away from having young pro's (Horvat, Virtanen and Broeser) and potential pro's in (Pettersson, Gaudette, Juolevi, and Demko)

 

But honestly..............Sutter, Granlund, Baertschi, Del Zotto, Hutton, Stecher, Gaunce............Gagner and Burmistrov are just simply taking up space

 

Can and will be replaced at sometime with Dahlen, Goldoblin, Lind, Lockwood, Gadjovich, Brisebois, Chatfield, and McEneny

 

Besides Dorsett and Gudbranson..........where is our character players..............future or present?

 

I am hoping guys like Gaudette, Gadjovich, Lind, and Lockwood bring a little of it when they arrive............

 

As for Hank and Danny.....it is time!, As  for Eriksson......we will have to live with him for now, As for Edler.........not much difference in him and Del Zotto, and the same can be said for the difference between Hutton and Pouliot...(slight edge to Hutton)

 

So, this season, gets us no where fast! This is the time to build by moving vets, because as you can see, we are getting jammed by middle line players, and need to build via the draft

 

Our goaltending, as usual is one of our strong points and will keep us in games, we do not deserve to be in..............again, as usual

Although you say these players are "taking up space" they are essential on the team to make up the roster. They need to fit in the overall picture and bring something to the table. Yes they will be replaced but not at this time. Character has a lot to do with work ethic as well as toughness. We have players that are willing to work hard each shift which makes a huge difference in competitiveness. If you are not scoring you should be making it extremely difficult in shutting down the other team. The money being spent on the Sedins is the big difference right now in that if we had legit 7 million dollar players we would be in a much different situation. Next year I am hoping we can be stronger in the top 6 forward positions.

[J.I.A.H.N]

1 hour ago, EdgarM said:

Although you say these players are "taking up space" they are essential on the team to make up the roster. They need to fit in the overall picture and bring something to the table. Yes they will be replaced but not at this time. Character has a lot to do with work ethic as well as toughness. We have players that are willing to work hard each shift which makes a huge difference in competitiveness. If you are not scoring you should be making it extremely difficult in shutting down the other team. The money being spent on the Sedins is the big difference right now in that if we had legit 7 million dollar players we would be in a much different situation. Next year I am hoping we can be stronger in the top 6 forward positions.

WE agree mostly, I think? 

 

Last night I spent some time reviewing the NCAA players that came into the league from 2014 to 2017.......Those with strong senior seasons, who came into the league and 

it was pretty obvious that they continued to shine as second line players and defensemen. I am hoping Gaudette comes in and does the same thing! I believe in the draft and hope that there is a shuffling of veterans to that end.

 

The trouble with this years UFA's not named Tavares and E. Kane is that most are a couple of years older, and are wanting longer term contracts, unless of coarse you are wanting 2nd tier UFA's, and then I don't quite understand why you would want them...........example Burmistrov and Gagner and if you look at our prospects in a positive light, they are coming in one to two years ........making any older UFA's somewhat cluttering...........of roster spots and of contracts (50 right?)

 

Benning has to guard against, more than one or two prospects making the team, next year or the year after........they are coming!

 

It is pretty much a given we are going to draft a RHD......unless of coarse we draft 1st or 2nd over all..........lol (I WISH) But I could see Benning trading down if we miss the big 2 and are not close to a Offensive RHD...we need one that bad!

 

What I hope in fact is that If there is another RHD near our 2nd is to take another as well........but only if it's right there in front of him.......

 

This is all conjecture of coarse, and why we are here.........your guess is as good as mine.......but I would like to see this our last season with the Sedins, Edler and of coarse Vanek

 

When your 2 brightest stars fall out of the sky, it will take some time to replace them, the same can be said for other aging players............

 

[Guest]

Sadly, I think this is how the rest of the season will go for the Canucks. They gave us some excitement in the start but now the reality of us being a below average team is kicking in. As long as they show effort and the kids like Boeser and Horvat put up points I will be happy with this season. We need a high draft pick in the deep draft coming up in 2018.

[Duodenum]

We've got to hope that Joulevi becomes something special because outside of Tanev, our defense is just horrible. 

[Industrious1]

Change my mind on the season?

 

That's assuming that alot of us had preconceived notions on the club after watching a few good games before the end of November.

 

No.

 

I assumed it would be a pretty rough season, but hopefully more entertaining to watch.  Believe it or not, the middle of November still isn't a large enough sample size to make an accurate decision.

[D-Money]

Nope. I knew we weren't very good.

 

However, I have changed my mind a bit on the future. Thought we were 5+ years away from being truly competitive, due to a complete lack of elite young talent. However, Boeser, Pettersson, Demko, and Lind have exceeded even my most optimistic expectations. And some other young guys who were underwhelming last year so far seemed to have turned the ship (Virtanen, Juolevi).

 

If we can keep the young guys rolling, and sell at the deadline for one more lottery pick (Dahlin or Svechnikov would be amazing), we may be ready to do some real damage in 2-3 years. 

[ChuckNORRIS4Cup]

Well now that Edler and Eriksson are back in the lineup definitely changes my mind, they're was some upside to this team with them out of the lineup, but now that's gone back to sucking again.

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, ChuckNORRIS4Cup said:

Well now that Edler and Eriksson are back in the lineup definitely changes my mind, they're was some upside to this team with them out of the lineup, but now that's gone back to sucking again.

It could be worse.  They could be back in the line-up at the expense of young players having to sit out. 

[oldnews]

33 minutes ago, ChuckNORRIS4Cup said:

Well now that Edler and Eriksson are back in the lineup definitely changes my mind, they're was some upside to this team with them out of the lineup, but now that's gone back to sucking again.

I think the absence of Tanev, and the fact it coincides with those guys returning, has as much to do with the last couple games as anything else.

[canuckpuckluck1]

Have a look at the upcoming schedule. If you go through to the end of Jan it's 33 games in total, with some really tough match ups. I know you cant predict anything as there are so many factors that can occur over 2 and a half months. But on paper I dont see more than 9 wins in that period. 

Thats not very encouraging for a playoff bound team. 

As I stated nothing ever runs as predicted.

I think the Canucks have had a great start to the season and have had a pretty good schedule to work with. But the next month will really give a fair assessment of where this team is at this year. The heavy style of game that the Cali teams play, will show us if the Canucks can compete. They play a hard hitting in your face style which really puts pressure on the Canucks. If the team can deal with this then I think they will win more games.

I must say I have enjoyed the start to this season and hope the team continues to play this way and not go into their shell and go back to the garbage we saw for the last two years.

In saying that I would love to see the Canucks get 1st overall pick.  I think Dahlin is so exciting as a prospect and something the Canucks need.

[RU SERIOUS]

Who is Gagner ??????????  Never heard the guy EVER mentioned during any of the games ???????? (Sarcasm)

[RU SERIOUS]

1 hour ago, ChuckNORRIS4Cup said:

Well now that Edler and Eriksson are back in the lineup definitely changes my mind, they're was some upside to this team with them out of the lineup, but now that's gone back to sucking again.

Yup, all that great chemistry and north south hockey we got to see the last few weeks is gone with Edlesr "standard Slow motion skating out of the zone with predictable backpass while all the forwards screech to a halt on the blueline" play and his patented "take a 0% chance slap shot off the opponents knee pads when they are point blank in front of him" play.   He will never change.  "Special -Ed"!

[VegasCanuck]

On 11/8/2017 at 11:44 PM, oldnews said:

Odd fear in a few senses - one being the Flyers picking 2nd overall this summer despite not 'bottoming out' to do so - having that pick to add to the other youth they've built.

 

The other - that you're describing the Flyers results of the past, which doesn't really define an 'identity' / dictate their future/path.

 

if you look at who Philly has drafted in their recent history

Couturier

Laughton

Gostisbehere

Moran Hagg Sanheim

Provorov

Konecny

Rubtsov

Hart

Allison

Nolan Patrick

 

I don't see why a person would be afraid of the future of a franchise building on young players like those.

 

And they got that 2nd overall pick, while this team fell back in two consecutive drafts.  If anything, the evidence is in on 'bottoming out' - you can't assume it guarantees you top 3 lottery picks...  As a strategy it presumes your team is an Edmonton or Toronto - a lottery champion - as opposed to all the other teams that haven't had those lottery picks.  There's also the risk of devaluing the assets you do have to move in the process.

 

Philly also still have guys/assets like Giroux, Vorachek, Simmonds....

 

I don't see Philly as necessarily defined by their recent history - so I can't fear being like them.   If you don't want to mimic their results of the past decade that makes sense, but there is no way of really projecting results over a future term like that, and 'bottoming out' doesn't necessarily produce better or different results.  I think it comes down moreso to focusing on who you draft, acquire, sign, (accross the board) - than focusing on where you finish, where you'll draft - which you can't/don't control at the top of the (lottery) process in any event.  The 'increase your odds' argument doesn't look that realistically at the actual odds - it looks at examples, like the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Ironically, closer to home, the result has been consecutive two spot drops in draft position.

 

Maybe we should hope to emulate Philly.   Have a pretty good season - with their youth driving a lot of it.  Just miss the playoffs.  But then win a lottery pick.  Sounds like a pretty good trajectory.

We may have dodged a bullet on Nolan Patrick, although I think Pettersson was always JB's top choice.

 

Patrick has gone through 3 different injuries already, since being drafted, including concussions:

 

http://www.tsn.ca/talent/patrick-hoping-for-hometown-return-from-latest-injury-setback-1.916161

 

[Nucker 67]

I don't know who the Canucks are. One game they look unbeatable, fast, engaged, crisp passes, lots of shots, great goaltending. And then the next they look terrible, mistake everywhere. Gaunce over Jake is a mistake IMO. The Sedins aren't very good anymore. Edler keeps getting worse year after year. Gagner, Granlund, Eriksson and Hutton have been disappointments. Vanek and Del Zotto have been a nice surprise. Nilsson has been the better goalie, but they keep riding Markstrom.  The PK and PP are both awful.

 

Predictions:

 

- Virtanen will score more goals than Gaunce this year, even if Jake doesn't play another NHL game this year. Jake currently has 2 goals (in 15 games). That's more NHL goals than Gaunce has in his career.  

- The Sedins will be re-signed after this year, because management feels they would be a good influence on Pettersson and Dahlen next year.

- Edler will remain with the team, and may even be re-signed after his contract expires in 2019, to help mentor Juolevi.

- Vanek, one of our only vets who plays hard and can score, will be traded at the TDL, for a late 2nd.

- Canucks will finish out of the playoffs and get 10th OA pick. They will miss out on Dahlin, Merkley, Hughes, Svechnikov and Tkachuk.

[aGENT]

4 minutes ago, NUCKER67 said:

I don't know who the Canucks are. One game they look unbeatable, fast, engaged, crisp passes, lots of shots, great goaltending. And then the next they look terrible, mistake everywhere.

We're a mid-rebuild team with two 37 year old vets eating $14m of cap space and only the tip of a cresting waive of ready prospects contributing at this level.

 

AKA: We're going to be inconsistent. We'll likely be 'in' most games with hard work but still likely finish bottom 10 +/-.

 

Make peace with that reality brother 67  

[Nucker 67]

4 minutes ago, aGENT said:

We're a mid-rebuild team with two 37 year old vets eating $14m of cap space and only the tip of a cresting waive of ready prospects contributing at this level.

 

AKA: We're going to be inconsistent. We'll likely be 'in' most games with hard work but still likely finish bottom 10 +/-.

 

Make peace with that reality brother 67  

Yeah, I know they're rebuilding and would probably struggle again this year, but I saw glimpses of a really good team, gives me hope they could be more this year. I guess they could still be, considering it's still early in the year. But yes, I agree, I need to just appreciate the wins when they come and understand that there will be nights when they struggle. I'm thinking this team may not turn the corner until the Sedins retire. Unfortunate, as I love the Sedins, but they aren't the players they used to be.