Is the season a success no matter what else happens?

[IBatch]

4 minutes ago, spook007 said:

True.... actually forgot that one... Congrats to Green as well 

Absolutely.  His F!ck Yeah!! was epic.  Congrats to the league too for doing their homework and making this happen.    Don’t mind losing sleep to watch these guys play, it’s the least I can do as a fan. Miller’s speech was great to watch...the best part to watch was “Tequila “ score 11 seconds in...what a game. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by IBatch

[spook007]

1 minute ago, IBatch said:

Absolutely.  His F!ck Yeah!! was epic.  Congrats to the league too for doing their homework and making this happen.    Don’t mind losing sleep to watch these guys play, it’s the least I can do as a fan. Miller’s speech was great to watch...the best part to watch was “Tequila “ score 11 seconds in...what a game. 

Yes the elation and jubilation on the bench showed how important this was for everyone involved with the Canucks...

All brilliant things we will be able to look back at, when we discuss this team in the next few years.

I mostly get up at 3am during regular season to watch them, as I hate watching a game knowing the score. And I don't mind neither... 

 

And Millers speech.... I even had goose bumps watching it.

The 'I got your back and you got mine' feeling shone right through.... They are A TEAM

 

[Patel Bure]

First round playoff loss = decent season.

 

2nd round appearance = success.

[Chris12345]

9 hours ago, Googlie said:

You don't think the Oilers learned a huge lesson getting swept by the Islanders in the 83 finals?

 

That propelled them very next season to the first of their 5 cup wins

Finals? or first round?

[Kevin Biestra]

9 hours ago, Googlie said:

You don't think the Oilers learned a huge lesson getting swept by the Islanders in the 83 finals?

 

That propelled them very next season to the first of their 5 cup wins

 

A lot of people forget or don't know, but the Oilers also lost to the Islanders in the playoffs in 1981 before that.  They were familiar with the Islanders already.

 

They were also swept in the first round in 1980 and blew it in the first round against LA in 1982.

 

That Oilers team actually had to learn a lot of lessons for several years.  You might even say they were outright dumb for a little while.

[wesley]

Need to go one step further.

[Baggins]

Canucks in, Oilers, Leafs and Jets out. That's a successful season. If the Nucks make it past the first round and the Oilers, Leafs and Jets don't get that 1st overall pick it's a HUGE success.

 

 

[fanfor42]

Beat St. Lou and we can call the season a success.

[Kevin Biestra]

1 hour ago, Baggins said:

Canucks in, Oilers, Leafs and Jets out. That's a successful season. If the Nucks make it past the first round and the Oilers, Leafs and Jets don't get that 1st overall pick it's a HUGE success.

 

 

 

I can't really think of any good reason to wish ill on the Jets or their fans.

[Junkyard Dog]

1 hour ago, Baggins said:

Canucks in, Oilers, Leafs and Jets out. That's a successful season. If the Nucks make it past the first round and the Oilers, Leafs and Jets don't get that 1st overall pick it's a HUGE success.

 

 

Rather would of had the Jets in over the Flamers.

[oldnews]

Making the playoffs is a serious success in my opinion.

 

I think they took a calculated gamble that they could make the playoffs in one of the two MIller conditional pick years, but to do so in the first year and essentially seal that as a late 1st is certainly icing on a 'breakout' season for the team, with Hughes running away imo with another Calder win for the team.

 

And to make the playoffs by essentially winning a series is another bonus imo - call it what you want but the qualifier was a 'playoff' round in the sense of the experience the young players gained - and the Canucks were the better team = highly unlikely that a 7 game series yielded a different result.

 

When you look at the continued progress of EP, Boeser, Virtanen, now Hughes, Gaudette earning a lot of experience this season, Juolevi looking like he's ready to take the next step, Markstrom continuing to step up, with a solid complement of veterans and some talented young two-way players that you can win with (guys like Motte, MacEwen) - you have to consider the team to be achieving it's short term goals.   And while it faces some cap challenges, particularly after the recrapture b.s, and a Covid stalled salary cap, it still has a solid group of rising prospects yet to emerge, so it should continue to have some push from within from it's young players to help offset a bit of the complications of a tighened  cap that is not going to increase.

[Baggins]

3 hours ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Rather would of had the Jets in over the Flamers.

It would have been my preference as well. But truth be told, there's only one Canadian team I cheer for. 

[Junkyard Dog]

20 minutes ago, Baggins said:

It would have been my preference as well. But truth be told, there's only one Canadian team I cheer for. 

I would agree if my 2nd team wasn't the Habs. Kind of winning on two fronts right now.

[Baggins]

3 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

I can't really think of any good reason to wish ill on the Jets or their fans.

I have an obnoxious co-worker that's a big Jets fan. I'm talking knobnoxious level and the only coworker I'd really rather not work with. As a team I hate the Flames more but getting to say to him, "so the Jets Flamed out" and the look on his face was priceless for me. But I've hated our Western Canada rivals since expansion. It's ingrained now. Although I will say I hate the Flames and Oilers the most. Likely because there was a sizable break without the Jets.

[Baggins]

1 minute ago, Junkyard Dog said:

I would agree if my 2nd team wasn't the Habs. Kind of winning on two fronts right now.

I've hated the Leafs and Habs since I was a kid. Back in the original six I was a Bruins fans. I cheered for the Sens their last playoff run though. Probably the only Canadian team other than our beloved Nucks I don't hate. Probably because there's never been a rivalry between "my team" and the Sens. It depends on who they're playing.

[Junkyard Dog]

Just now, Baggins said:

I've hated the Leafs and Habs since I was a kid. Back in the original six I was a Bruins fans. I cheered for the Sens their last playoff run though. Probably the only Canadian team other than our beloved Nucks I don't hate. Probably because there's never been a rivalry between "my team" and the Sens. It depends on who they're playing.

I have liked the Habs all the way back when Price started getting good(after the 2010 Olympics) and especially when they got Weber. Both are two of my favorite players. Before my Price profile pic it was mean mugged Weber. Also a Gallagher fan. If you've notice I like BC born/WHL talent.

[Gollumpus]

On 8/8/2020 at 8:39 AM, Maddogy said:

They also retain next season’s 1st round draft pick which is reputed to exhibit several good D.

I'm hoping that Braden Schneider slips through the cracks...

 

                                       regards,  G.

[Gollumpus]

9 hours ago, oldnews said:

Making the playoffs is a serious success in my opinion.

 

I think they took a calculated gamble that they could make the playoffs in one of the two MIller conditional pick years, but to do so in the first year and essentially seal that as a late 1st is certainly icing on a 'breakout' season for the team, with Hughes running away imo with another Calder win for the team.

 

And to make the playoffs by essentially winning a series is another bonus imo - call it what you want but the qualifier was a 'playoff' round in the sense of the experience the young players gained - and the Canucks were the better team = highly unlikely that a 7 game series yielded a different result.

 

When you look at the continued progress of EP, Boeser, Virtanen, now Hughes, Gaudette earning a lot of experience this season, Juolevi looking like he's ready to take the next step, Markstrom continuing to step up, with a solid complement of veterans and some talented young two-way players that you can win with (guys like Motte, MacEwen) - you have to consider the team to be achieving it's short term goals.   And while it faces some cap challenges, particularly after the recrapture b.s, and a Covid stalled salary cap, it still has a solid group of rising prospects yet to emerge, so it should continue to have some push from within from it's young players to help offset a bit of the complications of a tighened  cap that is not going to increase.

Hold on a second there, you're not getting with the narrative coming out of various Leafs circles.

 

These games weren't an actual playoff round as some are suggesting, they were a qualifying or "buy in" round, and the playoffs start on Tuesday. This way Leafs Nation doesn't have to suffer the ignominy of having once again lost in the first round of the playoffs, but rather that they just didn't qualify for the playoffs. Apparently not qualifying is preferable to actually making the playoffs, and then getting bounced in the first round. Had the Leafs won, the line would have been how great is that the Leafs finally won the first round of the playoffs...

 

Either way, there is lots of talk from those circles that no one will care by the time next year rolls around and the Leafs win their first of several Cups in a row.

 

                                                                                regards,  G.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Gollumpus

[Junkyard Dog]

20 minutes ago, Gollumpus said:

I'm hoping that Braden Schneider slips through the cracks...

 

                                       regards,  G.

This year? I doubt he reaches the 3rd round. Maybe if he falls somewhere in the 2nd round JB trades up with our 3rd pick to get him.

[IBatch]

13 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

A lot of people forget or don't know, but the Oilers also lost to the Islanders in the playoffs in 1981 before that.  They were familiar with the Islanders already.

 

They were also swept in the first round in 1980 and blew it in the first round against LA in 1982.

 

That Oilers team actually had to learn a lot of lessons for several years.  You might even say they were outright dumb for a little while.

Going up against a still great MTL team in the preliminary round in 81 was also considered a pivotal series for them.   Occasionally I still read about this was Messiers pivotal series which set him on the road to become the player he was ... going up against the guy that tamed the PHI flyers Robinson and threatening to bash his teeth in with his stick if he or anyone went after Gretzky, Coffey or any of their stat players... he had zero points in the 3 game sweep...never read much about WG and his 11 points though against the best defensive team in the league and fourth highest scoring (MTL), one of the best overall still and EDM had a below .500 record themselves.

 

Point is like others have pointed out - even the best teams ever take some time to get traction and don’t come out of nowhere and win the cup right away.   NYI also paid their dues in the mid -70’s from the time Potvin was drafted right through the MTL dynasty.   There were a lot of great teams back then too, PHI came close during their record unbeaten streak under Quin...there might have been three consecutive dynasties but they sure had to work for it. 

 

Beating MIN and because they count as playoff game I’m already pretty happy with this team, if somehow we can beat the cup champs this season would go from a success (which it already is IMO), to exceeding expectations by a long shot.   None of our young guys wilted, QHs came out as the scoring champ for defenseman, heck even Tanev was tied for second,  EP and BB were key players and didn’t back down.   And we did it with essentially the same lineup (all three wins) that we went with in the regular season.   
 

Part of me is a little worried that getting TT back could screw with the chemistry a little.   It shouldn’t - but it won’t be the first time I’ve seen this with not just ours but many other teams in the past.   It also puts to rest in my mind that we don’t have “cap “ issues.    A few minor tweaks and lose a little depth we haven’t needed anyways.   Stecher could be replaced with OJ by moving him to the R side (he can play both),  or just for with Rafferty, or like we did with Fatenburg and Schenn before him just look for an underused cheap alternative.   And we could trade Pearson if Ferland doesn’t end back on the LTIR, play with a shortened bench etc etc.    
 

Adding Myers changed the victim culture - finally a guy that bullies the snot out of the other team.   If only Gudbranson played like that.   Huge massive upgrade.   Adding QHs changed our special teams completely.   Despite all the calls to fire Newell Brown we have one of the deadliest PPs in the league as QHs feasted on it.     Miller trade is won already even if we get swept.   A 17-19th overall - whoopie do.   And it could be in the mid 20’s by the time we are done.  
 

Was a little worried before the MIN series that next year could be a down year.   Now I’m very confident we, like other young teams of the past - are on a similar path as theirs.   PIT might be a better comparison really.   Maybe CHI.