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Well, this is certainly an exciting time to be a Canucks fan...…...

So much young potential on our Canuck team, in Pettersson, Hughes, Boeser, Gaudette, Demko, and Virtanen

I just love seeing these 6 progress, and IMO, none of them have reached their ceiling.....not to mention Horvat

Imagine that!

 

But, what is just as intriguing, just as exciting, is our current, group of prospects, not on the team...…..

Hoglander, Podkolzin, Madden and to a lesser extent Lind, all have huge potential to add to the forward group,

in the next couple of years......

 

And the collection of up and coming Dmen, that could also be pushing for jobs in the same time period.

As Tryamkin, Juolevi, Rathbone, Rafferty, Brisebois and Woo, will all be pushing hard

 

I think that, it is imperative to sign Tryamkin and Rathbone, this year, and to get Juolevi and Rafferty

some minutes on the big club this year, to better evaluate their development. I believe this will be done

in the second half of the season. (Hopefully!) 

 

People caution me, about my optimism, but frankly, I can honestly see all the aforementioned players

developing into strong, contributing players, on the Canucks within the next couple of years...….

 

Where this all leads me, is to this season and the up and coming draft, and what Benning will see as

Canuck needs going forward, which is why it is so important to get these players some playing time on the big club.

"IF", the above players all pan out, then a then I hope, all things being equal, 

that Benning drafts defensemen and goalies with there first 2 picks, whether we are in the playoffs or not

 

Unless, for some unforeseen reason, we are not in the playoffs, which means we are picking in the top 15

and either a forward or the Russian goalie drops, and Benning can't believe the player is still there when we pick.

Never mind the unlikely chance that we get a lottery pick!

 

I am not wishing us not to miss the playoffs this year, as from how it looks right now, we are as good as most, 

with a lot of prospects coming on line, we are in a much better position to not need our 1st, than we ever have.

But I have noticed, like most others, that when big Edler is out of the line-up, we are a different team, so

naturally, we need that big, dominant,  mobile defenceman going forward, as we do, with another strong goalie prospect.

 

In saying all that...….Man!, What a time to be a Canuck fan!

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Benning has set the Canucks up for years. They could probably still use a few more promising D in the system. Wasn't long ago a player like Gadjovich or Lockwood were considered our better prospects, but now I'm not even sure they make the Canucks. There are better players developing, so, I think the Canucks have some prospects they could possibly include in a trade to upgrade the Top 6. And still have Podkolzin, Hoglander, Madden, Focht, Woo, Rathbone, etc. to look forward to down the road.

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6 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

My thoughts on our prospects are simple:

 

Stay the course, continue to build through the draft.  Keep as many of our own picks as possible and don't sell off our assets  (picks or prospects) for overpaid,  average-performing veterans on expiring contracts or those locked into team-unfriendly contracts.  

 

The only way we keep our core together from a financial perspective is if we build through the draft and have guys join the team at key positions who are on ELC.  This means we keep developing and graduating guys from Jr/AHL.  

That’s what JB said after the 2019 draft, getting Miller, and his July UFA signings.  He believed our young core was ready to compete for the playoffs, and would continue as competitive for several years to come.  He said, like you, we don’t need to bring in more older guys to support the core.  He said we have a strong pipeline full of young guys who will do that.  

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Drafting BPA is going to land the Canucks more NHL players than drafting for need.  They especially can't afford to whiff in the 1st round.  And any team is going to need a constant stream of young players graduating to the big club.  Drafting and development is the single most important thing an NHL management team can do.  We know all about this through experience.

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2 hours ago, janisahockeynut said:

 

In saying all that...….Man!, What a time to be a Canuck fan!

Definitely has been worth the wait.

 

And hey, tickets were cheap in the "rebuild years" so I got to go to a lot more games than I normally would choose to.

 

A playoff game this year would be the most delicious icing on the cake that Benning has baked for us with the greatest of care.

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3 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

Drafting BPA is going to land the Canucks more NHL players than drafting for need.  They especially can't afford to whiff in the 1st round.  And any team is going to need a constant stream of young players graduating to the big club.  Drafting and development is the single most important thing an NHL management team can do.  We know all about this through experience.

Totally agree with you CC

I am just saying if all things are equal, I would like to see us pick up a Dman and goalie through the draft...….

Of Course as I said, if there is a faller that is right in front of us, when we draft.....well of course!

I know, that you know, that I know, that you know this!~always BPA according to Benning

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1 minute ago, janisahockeynut said:

Totally agree with you CC

I am just saying if all things are equal, I would like to see us pick up a Dman and goalie through the draft...….

Of Course as I said, if there is a faller that is right in front of us, when we draft.....well of course!

I know, that you know, that I know, that you know this!~always BPA according to Benning

I also know that you know that in this years draft, there is a Russian goalie who may be the best goalie available since Carey Price :bigblush:

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3 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

Drafting BPA is going to land the Canucks more NHL players than drafting for need.  They especially can't afford to whiff in the 1st round.  And any team is going to need a constant stream of young players graduating to the big club.  Drafting and development is the single most important thing an NHL management team can do.  We know all about this through experience.

Hopefully the BPA is a defenseman. We got a lot of good ones but we need another Hughes-level.

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7 hours ago, NUCKER67 said:

Benning has set the Canucks up for years. They could probably still use a few more promising D in the system. Wasn't long ago a player like Gadjovich or Lockwood were considered our better prospects, but now I'm not even sure they make the Canucks. There are better players developing, so, I think the Canucks have some prospects they could possibly include in a trade to upgrade the Top 6. And still have Podkolzin, Hoglander, Madden, Focht, Woo, Rathbone, etc. to look forward to down the road.

If the players you mentioned aren't available to upgrade our top 6, what prospect is going to hold enough clout around the league for a team to trade a top 6 winger to us? Lind, Gadj, OJ?

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12 hours ago, Canuckster86 said:

If the players you mentioned aren't available to upgrade our top 6, what prospect is going to hold enough clout around the league for a team to trade a top 6 winger to us? Lind, Gadj, OJ?

Honestly Canuckster

 

I think we should just wait and see what we have over the next 2 years. I think we have 4 potential candidates in Podkolzin, Hoglander, Madden and Lind, that should be given a chance to fill our top 2 lines spots.

 

The reasons being, that first off they will be on ELC's and secondly, that they maybe better than who we would be able to get. I think we just need to be patient, and wait.

 

With Pettersson, Hughes, Gaudette, Virtanen, Tanev, Markstrom, Demko and others needing new contracts, I do not see us going out and adding to that, not to mention, that if Tryamkin comes back, he will be wanting more. The cap will only go up 6 to 8 million over the next 2 years, and we will need substantially more to pay all these dudes.

 

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Yes, right now is exciting to be a fan!

The way I see things right now, I'd say (just my opinion) that our talent pool goes like this (from players that are either rookies or not yet NHLers):
Big-time difference makers: Hughes (duh), Podkolzin. These two look to have the talent and ability to absolutely tear up the NHL. Imagine Pod on EP40s right wing...woah!

Star, but not quite All-Star material: Hoglander. I think he will be just below the top rung of players. He will be exciting to watch, and will be a good to very good player

Middle Six forwards, top 4 Dmen but not stars: Lind, Madden, Juolevi, Rafferty, Focht, Rathbone

Bottom six forwards, bottom pairing Dmen: MacEwen, Brisebois, Teves. Woo, Keppen

Depth: Gadjovich, Lockwood

DiPietro I see as a good #2 goalie

 

Looking at this, there are two positions that stick out as being absent. We need at least one more top pairing D man, and we need better depth at center; Madden looks more like a winger at the NHL level, as does Big Mac.

 

Adding these guys to our core of: Pettersson, Boeser, Horvat, Miller, Gaudette, Virtanen, and Hughes (though still a rookie, he's gotta be the best or at least in the top three Dmen ever for the Canucks), and we have the look of a competitive, highly skilled team for years to come. I'm not showing any other current Dman in the core, as I see all of them as replaceable in the near future, except Myers, and that's a term issue rather than a skill issue.

 

If able to manage the cap to assemble, then the 22-23 Canucks could look like:

Miller - Pettersson - Podkolzin

Hoglander - Horvat - Boeser

Lind - Gaudette - Virtanen

MacEwen - (some we need to draft) - Madden

either of Gadjovich or Lockwood as depth forward

 

Hughes - Rafferty

Juolevi - Rathbone

Tryamkin - Woo

Teves

 

Markstrom

DiPietro       

 

I know I didn't put Demko in here. The team has a decision to make, soon. Goalies seem to last longer than the other positions. I can easily see Demko be a centerpiece for a trade by the end of next season. Markie is playing so freakin' good right now, and really doesn't have as much wear/tear on him as the cumulative seasons may suggest; he may be good for another 6-8 seasons, vs the 3-4 that a skating position usually has at age 30.

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