Popular Post *Buzzsaw* Posted September 18, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted September 18, 2019 For the first time in nearly 5 years I am feeling good about Team Depth in nearly all positions. Defense still remains the Teams weakness, but it has definitely improved over last year. ----------- A quick run-down of the current depth chart: OFFENSE Center Elias Pettersson Bo Horvat JT Miller (starter as R Winger) Brandon Sutter Jay Beagle Tyler Motte (starter as R Winger) Adam Gaudette Tim Schaller (likely playing as Winger) Tyler Graovac (likely playing as Winger) Unlikely to be called up: Carson Focht Left Wing Sven Baertschi Michael Ferland Tanner Pearson Louie Eriksson Josh Leivo Antoine Roussel (on injured Reserve likely till January) Reid Boucher Landon Ferraro Unlikely to be called up from Minors: Vince Arseneau Francis Perron Right Wing Brock Boeser Jake Virtanen Nikolay Goldobin Zack MacEwen Unlikely to be called up from Minors: Kole Lind Jonah Gadjovitch Lukas Jasek Justin Bailey DEFENSE Left Alex Edler Jordie Benn Quinn Hughes Oscar Fantenberg Olli Juolevi Ashton Sautner Josh Teves Right Chris Tanev Tyler Myers Troy Stecher Alex Biega Brogan Rafferty Jalen Chatfield Goal Jacob Markstrom Thatcher Demko Zane McIntyre Unlikely to be called up: Michael Di Pietro ------------------- From my perspective forward position depth looks excellent... the team will not automatically fall out of the standings with one or two injuries. Obviously we want a healthy team, but we should survive the typical mid season bout of injuries which has plagued us in past seasons. In fact some positions are so strong the team will likely need to waive some players prior to the season start. Kind of a fortunate predicament to be in. The team still lacks a bonafide No. 1 Defenseman... Alex Edler is past his prime, Tyler Myers is not that person, and Quinn Hughes is still essentially a rookie. But overall with Edler, Myers, Tanev, Benn, Stecher and Hughes, this team has a decent starting top 6. The remaining positions from 7-8 will be a tossup. The Canucks really need to wait another year for Tryamkin, (hopefully) and Woo to arrive and Hughes to get a feel for the game for the D to take a real step up. Offense is where this team should shine and where the Orca should start to inspire some fear around the league. The team is at its strongest down the center... I think any team would look at our depth chart for the 'C' position and wish they were as fortunate. Assuming reasonably healthy seasons, our #1 guy Petey is very likely to exceed 70 points and start his rise to the Art Ross Trophy. (not this year) Our #2 and Captain to be, Bo Horvat won't be far behind, if he gets regular linemates and a chance to reduce the number of faceoffs and ice time, he should increase his point total. Sutter as #3 has a decent chance for 30 pts, and our #4 Beagle is likely to hit 20 pts. And if one of these guys falters or is hurt, JT Miller can slide over from wing, or Adam Gaudette can be called up. The potential on the wings is also excellent. Left Wing perhaps doesn't have any Star players, but it does have a very solid group... with at least 4 players who could potentially play top six. I still think Sven Baertschi is potentially the best of the bunch, but time will tell if he has recovered from the dirty hits of last year. But even if he falters, Michael Ferland and Tanner Pearson are right behind him... both could easily hit 25 goals, and even Loui Eriksson and Josh Leivo as dark horses could put up the numbers. And lets not forget Antoine Roussel... he might only have 1/2 of a season to play... but you know he'll come out storming. Right Wing has a strong group as well. Brock Boeser could have a breakout year with 40 goals and 70-75 points a real possibility. JT Miller is likely to slot in here too, and he is a guy who put up 56 points in a top six role with the Rangers. After him is Jake Virtanen... another guy who is due... he could easily hit 20 goals and 35 pts. And finally there is Nikolay Goldobin, our Team Enigma.... who if he finds his scoring touch, could hit over 40 points. Goaltending is as solid as I think any team could hope for. We have a tandem of #1's... either Markstrom or Demko could fill that role... I predict these two guys will have a great rivalry and both will be fighting to outdo each other. And I like Zane McIntyre as an emergency backup. From what I have seen he is a solid netminder with good size, good technicals and decent experience. The last couple of seasons the Canucks have been decimated by injuries... and those injuries have killed their seasons. This year I think the team can survive the expected number of players who are sidelined by the physical nature of the game. I think the depth we now have is the biggest difference between last year and this year... and it is the reason I believe we'll make the playoffs. 1 1 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrockBoester Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Playoffs are a lock baybeeeeee I didn't read that whole thing word for word but I agree with the general gist of it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken. Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Ferl-Petey-Boes Baer-Bo-Miller Pearson-Sutt-Virt Motte-Beagle-Erikson Edler-Myers Quinn-Tanev Benn-Stech Mark Demko I'm cool with that lineup.. Leivo, Boucher, Gaudette, Fanten, Biega, Sautner waiting in the wings We almost have too much depth. I feel like we might lose someone to waivers or a trade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucker 67 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Nice optimism, I feel the same way. I don't have any real concerns for this year. Even if Tanev goes down, Brisebois, Teves and Rafferty have looked pretty good, and there's always Juolevi later in the season. I also love Biega, he's like a wrecking ball out there. His effort makes me smile. I wasn't convinced with the goaltending this year (yet), but Demko sure played solid last night, and I feel better knowing he could step in if needed and play lights out. He's going to be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush17 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Jim said if we get depth injuries this year guys like Lind and MacEwen will be the guys getting called up. I assume if we waive a few NHL guys and they clear.. they might get called up first. It is exciting knowing these guys will get looks at the NHL level. Let's see how Gaudette looks down the stretch of pre season games here. He hasn't looked great thus far. Good effort but very little to show for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckylager Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 I can definitely see Gaudette moved over to RW sooner than later 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PunjabiCanucks Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 I still feel we lack a superstar LW, until we can get that we wont be cup contenders. We can get into the playoffs tho imo Defense is still our biggest weakness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush17 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 NSH really wanted Gaudette. Wonder if that might be worth exploring. Jim is still really high on him. I'm curious what they offered to acquire him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tortorella's Rant Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Would've felt a lot better with Tkatchuk instead of Juolevi. That's not really even a "in hindsight" comment either 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucker 67 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 1 hour ago, PunjabiCanucks said: I still feel we lack a superstar LW, until we can get that we wont be cup contenders. We can get into the playoffs tho imo Defense is still our biggest weakness Hoglander will be here soon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mll Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Rush17 said: NSH really wanted Gaudette. Wonder if that might be worth exploring. Jim is still really high on him. I'm curious what they offered to acquire him. Nashville wanted to clear cap space. He was rumoured part of the return for Subban because he could go through waivers - there is no spot for Gaudette on their roster. Poile explained that they made the deal with NJD because they were the only team willing to take the full cap hit. The return was mostly secondary. Edited September 18, 2019 by mll 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xereau Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 (edited) Sautner and Brise both look ready to fill in, they are quality, young depth with lots of room to improve. Stetcher looked good out there on Monday night too, so our NHL ready players have also gotten deeper themselves. But I agree, it could be better. I'd like to see at least half of the picks from the next 2 drafts, at least, be D. Edited September 18, 2019 by xereau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCNate Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 4 hours ago, Chicken. said: Ferl-Petey-Boes Baer-Bo-Miller Pearson-Sutt-Virt Motte-Beagle-Erikson Edler-Myers Quinn-Tanev Benn-Stech Mark Demko I'm cool with that lineup.. Leivo, Boucher, Gaudette, Fanten, Biega, Sautner waiting in the wings We almost have too much depth. I feel like we might lose someone to waivers or a trade. I'd add Joulevi to that list of callups as well. It is going to be huge to have NHL calibre players to call up from the minors. Hopefully the days of icing guys like Megna, Cramarossa, and Kenins are behnd us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the grinder Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, Tortorella's Rant said: Would've felt a lot better with Tkatchuk instead of Juolevi. That's not really even a "in hindsight" comment either and we may not have gotten petey or hughes in hindsight and plus we needed dmen at the time it is what it is Edited September 19, 2019 by the grinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5Fivehole0 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 7 hours ago, luckylager said: I can definitely see Gaudette moved over to RW sooner than later He looks decent at centre, but he needs a year in the AHL I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
48MPHSlapShot Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 7 hours ago, Rush17 said: NSH really wanted Gaudette. Wonder if that might be worth exploring. Jim is still really high on him. I'm curious what they offered to acquire him. Wasn't it Subban? xD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 6 hours ago, mll said: Nashville wanted to clear cap space. He was rumoured part of the return for Subban because he could go through waivers - there is no spot for Gaudette on their roster. Poile explained that they made the deal with NJD because they were the only team willing to take the full cap hit. The return was mostly secondary. This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Surfer Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 8 hours ago, Tortorella's Rant said: Would've felt a lot better with Tkatchuk instead of Juolevi. That's not really even a "in hindsight" comment either That's very old news. Why even bring it up at this point? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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