Canucks are a Dark Horse

[10pavelbure96]

Just now, 10pavelbure96 said:

You are being a little too optimistic.

 

While I agree that we have the potential to have one of the best if not the best top 6, we arent there yet. Not even close. Petey and co will only get better.

 

At this moment, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Tampa,  Washington , Boston and Colorado all have us blown out of the water with our top 6.

 

Our goaltending, bottom 6, defense and special teams is severely underrated though.

 

We have the potential to go on a run and do some damage if Marky picks up where he left off.

 

[Nucker 67]

52 minutes ago, Chris12345 said:

I was thinking of that. What do you think about MacKinnon?

 

Pretty sure if he feels like winning the series is over.

Yea, MacKinnon is a beast, and he's rested

[King Heffy]

1 minute ago, NUCKER67 said:

Yea, MacKinnon is a beast, and he's rested

He's the best player in the game currently.  Would not be surprised at all to see Colorado go on a serious run.

[Nucker 67]

2 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

He's the best player in the game currently.  Would not be surprised at all to see Colorado go on a serious run.

I agree, MacKinnon and Makar, they'll be tough to beat

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Baratheon said:

 

True true.  I guess I am mostly curious if the time off has functioned like an off-season for Demko.  From 2017 to 2018 he improved significantly.  I'm hoping (not predicting) that he can make similar improvements here!

 

As of right now, both of you are correct.  I hope it's no longer true in a couple of months though!

Me too.   He did a great job in the AHL - same as Markstrom... for those that doubt or worry about his performance when it really counts (playoffs) he does have some experience with this in Utica - I think he will do great.  The best goaltending we’ve seen since Luongo left for sure.   Didn’t he break McLean’s record for shots on net and a shutout this year?  He can and will be a big difference maker - no slight on Demko he played some great games too - however Markstrom gives the team swagger. 

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, NUCKER67 said:

I agree, MacKinnon and Makar, they'll be tough to beat

Hope we get to play them.  EP showed his rookie year that he can be an absolute beast too - and think advantage goes to us with him rested (EP)... The most exciting games the past few years have been against COL... would be a treat to see us go against them and truly wouldn’t bet on either team (too close)..  

 

Edit:  not sure if this poll is public but I answered we’d lose in the conference final...means we win two rounds.   However I’d be satisfied we won two games in round one - and happy if we got out of round one too.   Watching this club for years I won’t be surprised if we go further then expected.   Our forward group is monster sized built for the playoffs ...  and our defense when healthy is good enough... goaltending is top five ...  like our chances 

Edited July 11, 2020 by IBatch

[Phat Fingers]

9 hours ago, IBatch said:

Sarcasm meter isn’t so good but I can tell your view ain’t hopeful.   Canada isn’t the US ... 3/4 of the league teams would be safer here then in the cities they play in.    Why don’t we just give it three weeks and see how it goes before worrying about what if’s.   There is absolutely no way Trump will get re-elected ... it will be a landslide the other way.  The US is dealing with huge wake up calls all over the place.  Educated citizens know that their rhetoric that they are the greatest is a big pile of BS and change is coming.   There is enough division in their own party to safely bet he’s down in the fall.   He’s been watched very closely by an element within his party for most to understand he’s on very thin ice  - he won’t survive much more stupid crap.  Literally won’t.   Yes I agree their numbers won’t peter out until the states put a stop to it - which easily could happen before the election but most definitely after.   Or 400ish tested players 26 so far have it - all upon arrival and have been isolated.   Maybe a few stragglers will come in and miss the play-ins that’s what the math is saying.   Both EDM and TO will be ready...not panic time not even close as far as the rest of this season goes....next year?   Well I agree it could be a write off completely until they get their sh!t together.

Not to be too pessimistic, but the chances of Trump and his very insane cult like following of mainly white nationalists and religious bigots.  All idiots who are heavily armed.  What happens when that dim lot realize their last chance at power for a very long time is slipping away.  See reason, rationally dialouge with those that didnt see it their way, bridging the epic divide between black and white, right and left....

 

   Somehow I think one or two or hundreds or thousands of the hate crimes that will be committed by the police, by White nationalists who also could be the police and any halfwit who still loves the Confederate flag... 

 

 

The smart supporters will slink off to the next great white hope of the convenient movement in the US.  

 

As for a calm peaceful election and transition to power is very optimistic.  Me, the once ludicrous idea of building a bunker in the back yard is not so crazy as it once was... not yet a real concern, but damn things are getting bad.  

 

 

If the season can be finished without issue, then I will be happy to be wrong.  

 

I think the league is using sunk costs and confirmation bias to ignore the situation and push on.  This wouldn't be a issue if the US has any organized response to the Pandemic, but they don't.  70k a day of new cases reported with a 25% positive test rate in most of the sun belt.  The virus is so prevalent that 1 in 4 getting tested have the virus.  That is staggering.  

 

This isn't the second wave either, this is just the southern and rural half of the first wave.  

 

Also, what major US city is free from potential police vs minorities/protesters violence and the insane chaos and increased risk of exposure to the virus at the same time.  

 

It is a wishful move by the NHL.  Tone deaf to the increasing terrible conditions in many poor urban Black neighborhoods and it is getting worse by the week.  

 

My wife's cousin is living back at home, she is engaged to a very sweet gentle concert pianist who lives in Atlanta.  He is at home with his mother and they live in a middle class area.  When George Floyd was killed armed white vigilantes decided to keep his 100% black owned street under 'control' by posting two pickups with about 8 guys all armed with AR15's at each end.  Not to keep protesters from coming down the streets but to prevent the residences of the street from leaving. 

 

That is not rare, that is normal now.  

 

A black man was walking thru a park on July 4th in a big city, not sure but I think it could have been Minny, who knows? (insert random US city name as it is happening everywhere) 4-5 big white biker types got loaded and chased the black man thru that same pack trying to 'Lynch' him for fun bystanders ended up chasing the KKK types and it was all on film, not sure how it ended.  

 

This is not rare, it is now normal.  

 

I don't see anyway where the US resolves this current crisis thru a peaceful, fair and open election to a peaceful transition of power.  

 

The train is off the tracks and flying thru the air, it doesn't matter if you manage to put the brakes on now.  

 

That is my opinion... hope I am wrong.  

Edited July 12, 2020 by Phat Fingers

[IBatch]

8 hours ago, Phat Fingers said:

Not to be too pessimistic, but the chances of Trump and his very insane cult like following of mainly white nationalists and religious bigots.  All idiots who are heavily armed.  What happens when that dim lot realize their last chance at power for a very long time is slipping away.  See reason, rationally dialouge with those that didnt see it their way, bridging the epic divide between black and white, right and left....

 

   Somehow I think one or two or hundreds or thousands of the hate crimes that will be committed by the police, by White nationalists who also could be the police and any halfwit who still loves the Confederate flag... 

 

 

The smart supporters will slink off to the next great white hope of the convenient movement in the US.  

 

As for a calm peaceful election and transition to power is very optimistic.  Me, the once ludicrous idea of building a bunker in the back yard is not so crazy as it once was... not yet a real concern, but damn things are getting bad.  

 

 

If the season can be finished without issue, then I will be happy to be wrong.  

 

I think the league is using sunk costs and confirmation bias to ignore the situation and push on.  This wouldn't be a issue if the US has any organized response to the Pandemic, but they don't.  70k a day of new cases reported with a 25% positive test rate in most of the sun belt.  The virus is so prevalent that 1 in 4 getting tested have the virus.  That is staggering.  

 

This isn't the second wave either, this is just the southern and rural half of the first wave.  

 

Also, what major US city is free from potential police vs minorities/protesters violence and the insane chaos and increased risk of exposure to the virus at the same time.  

 

It is a wishful move by the NHL.  Tone deaf to the increasing terrible conditions in many poor urban Black neighborhoods and it is getting worse by the week.  

 

My wife's cousin is living back at home, she is engaged to a very sweet gentle concert pianist who lives in Atlanta.  He is at home with his mother and they live in a middle class area.  When George Floyd was killed armed white vigilantes decided to keep his 100% black owned street under 'control' by posting two pickups with about 8 guys all armed with AR15's at each end.  Not to keep protesters from coming down the streets but to prevent the residences of the street from leaving. 

 

That is not rare, that is normal now.  

 

A black man was walking thru a park on July 4th in a big city, not sure but I think it could have been Minny, who knows? (insert random US city name as it is happening everywhere) 4-5 big white biker types got loaded and chased the black man thru that same pack trying to 'Lynch' him for fun bystanders ended up chasing the KKK types and it was all on film, not sure how it ended.  

 

This is not rare, it is now normal.  

 

I don't see anyway where the US resolves this current crisis thru a peaceful, fair and open election to a peaceful transition of power.  

 

The train is off the tracks and flying thru the air, it doesn't matter if you manage to put the brakes on now.  

 

That is my opinion... hope I am wrong.  

Things aren’t much different now fear/anxiety wise as they were growing up with the fear created by the threat of nuclear war - so yeah I get the bunker idea in fact doesn’t seem that looney to me at all (every three months emptying dozens of gallons of water jugs with Dad - fill them up with tap water and store them with 80lb bags of wheat grain, rice ,beans and peas that filled a 10 x 10 storage room in the basement) in fact seems smart.  At worst you won’t make it to your bunker but someone else will find it and survive ha ha.  

1/4 positive testing makes you wonder how many aren’t bothering with it and how bad it really is ..  at 200$ a test with no insurance you can bet not everyone is bothering without serious symptoms.  The US is mostly backwards because of their ignorant education system - center is the universe propaganda ... 30th worldwide and they don’t even know it for the most part.  Not we are number one ... and their north/south politics need to adapt and change too.   
 

They kind of got the president they deserve.   A capitalist blowhard.   We are number one!  In violence, propaganda and creating obese folks living in poverty.    The internet might just save them - taught they are best at everything and then find out ranked 30th education wise.... have high hopes the next couple of generations will create change for the better down there.    Should look at our system .... it’s not so bad. 

[IBatch]

22 hours ago, 10pavelbure96 said:

You are being a little too optimistic.

 

While I agree that we have the potential to have one of the best if not the best top 6, we arent there yet. Not even close. Petey and co will only get better.

 

At this moment, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Tampa,  Washington , Boston all have us blown out of the water with our top 6.

 

Our goaltending, bottom 6, defense and special teams is severely underrated though.

 

We have the potential to go on a run and do some damage if Marky picks up where he left off.

We have arguably the deepest top nine in the league and experts and regular folks have noticed this.   We match up well against Boston..after Marchand their left side is all 4th pairing compared to deeper teams...Tampa Bay is the standard to beat - that has a lot to do with their no state tax and extremely team friendly contracts more then anything - still they had to trade JT Miller to allow for raises.   Our team is chocked full of middle six depth, we lose a forward no big deal at all and have flexibility as several guys can play more then one position.   I agree for sure out top six isn’t elite - but it is in the top ten... even fantasy playoff pools are coming out with our top line as a 6-8 spot, same with our second line.   (For anyone who does these sort of things a big factor is how far teams might go...this is second-third round expectations too which is cool...why? Because we are a Dark Horse for sure!!).
 

Agree too that our top six has the potential to move up...however it id be much happier if we get just a little bit better - would hate to end up like TO, PIT, WSH, TB, Boston where it’s a WCE scenario and rely on a couple or few guys to carry the mail... CHI went through it too and look at how they’ve had to waste both Kane and Toews prime as a result of huge raises.   That said the above teams aside from TB and TO won all the cups (with the exception of LA) the past decade.  (ok St Louis too...that’s exactly the type of team we are building...good for JB having a pulse on trends before they come...the NHL has always made micro-changes to mimic the most recent winners and we are almost already there..hate Myers all you want but without him both Tanev and Edler wouldn’t have played nearly as many games - depth depth depth). 
 

Personally I’ve only seen the Canucks this much top nine depth ... well factually never.   Make a lineup you think was deeper with relative PGP ... only the Linden teams match up.   Adams, Linden, Ronning, Courtnall, Craven, Momesso and Bure.     The Sedins maybe but not really- they relied on their top line and Kesler and then a middle of the row third line (without Miholtra) and a ok fourth line but not great relatively.  Our fourth line is probably Sutter Beagle LE...expensive but top tier. 
 

Edit:  I have a feeling good things are coming ... maybe even over the next couple of months.   Once the puck drops our team is going to play hard and win a lot of games.   And the farther we go the more the pendulum switches into our favour ... as far as attrition goes in our forward group few teams can match up our top 12. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by IBatch

[spook007]

11 hours ago, IBatch said:

We have arguably the deepest top nine in the league and experts and regular folks have noticed this.   We match up well against Boston..after Marchand their left side is all 4th pairing compared to deeper teams...Tampa Bay is the standard to beat - that has a lot to do with their no state tax and extremely team friendly contracts more then anything - still they had to trade JT Miller to allow for raises.   Our team is chocked full of middle six depth, we lose a forward no big deal at all and have flexibility as several guys can play more then one position.   I agree for sure out top six isn’t elite - but it is in the top ten... even fantasy playoff pools are coming out with our top line as a 6-8 spot, same with our second line.   (For anyone who does these sort of things a big factor is how far teams might go...this is second-third round expectations too which is cool...why? Because we are a Dark Horse for sure!!).
 

Agree too that our top six has the potential to move up...however it id be much happier if we get just a little bit better - would hate to end up like TO, PIT, WSH, TB, Boston where it’s a WCE scenario and rely on a couple or few guys to carry the mail... CHI went through it too and look at how they’ve had to waste both Kane and Toews prime as a result of huge raises.   That said the above teams aside from TB and TO won all the cups (with the exception of LA) the past decade.  (ok St Louis too...that’s exactly the type of team we are building...good for JB having a pulse on trends before they come...the NHL has always made micro-changes to mimic the most recent winners and we are almost already there..hate Myers all you want but without him both Tanev and Edler wouldn’t have played nearly as many games - depth depth depth). 
 

Personally I’ve only seen the Canucks this much top nine depth ... well factually never.   Make a lineup you think was deeper with relative PGP ... only the Linden teams match up.   Adams, Linden, Ronning, Courtnall, Craven, Momesso and Bure.     The Sedins maybe but not really- they relied on their top line and Kesler and then a middle of the row third line (without Miholtra) and a ok fourth line but not great relatively.  Our fourth line is probably Sutter Beagle LE...expensive but top tier. 
 

Edit:  I have a feeling good things are coming ... maybe even over the next couple of months.   Once the puck drops our team is going to play hard and win a lot of games.   And the farther we go the more the pendulum switches into our favour ... as far as attrition goes in our forward group few teams can match up our top 12. 

+1 for optimism... 

What's the point of watching sports, as a fan, if not to look optimistic on the future that lies ahead.

The disappointments will come soon enough, so let use those rose tinted glasses and put a smile on our faces. Onwards and Upwards.

Bring it on. 

[HorvatToBaertschi]

I was talking with a friend (who's a habs fan), and he said that he thought we were the dark horse this year. I agree with him. If certain things go our way; injuries, certain calls here and there, hot hands, lucky bounces, we have a solid team that can make a strong push. I for one think that the shinny type experience (with 0 fans in the stands) might actually benefit younger teams with young star players. It helps take the pressure off the shoulders, while allowing players to keep their focus with more ease. I think that could be very beneficial for our team.

 

I'm extremely excited to see what will happen. I personally am not afraid of a single western conference team. We seem to have St Louis' number, the Avalanche are scary offensively but their goaltending is pathetic, and Vegas is a tough matchup, but one I think we can take by pure star power (EP, BB, QH and Marky).

[GB5]

Just win baby!!!!!!

 

Go Canucks!!

[IBatch]

37 minutes ago, GarthButcher5 said:

Just win baby!!!!!!

 

Go Canucks!!

Amen.   Can’t wait until the season gets back to playing.   With everyone rested and healthy this could be one heck of a tournament.    

[ilduce39]

We’re healthy and this team (even when we sucked) always seems to start the season on a good run.  
 

Anything can happen and I like our chances! Can’t wait.