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What Lessons Have The Habs Taught Us?

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10 hours ago, knucklehead91 said:

Imagine not having COVID and the cap going up. WOOOAH that would be pretty wild. Cant imagine what it would be like with the inevitable and foreseeable effects of COVID a few years ago… jeez that 84-88mil salary cap increase that everyone was expecting suuure would have been nice. Its too bad JB mishandled all these contracts 2-3 years ago before COVID. He should have seen it coming .

 

IDK IF YOU NOTICED BUT WE HAVE NO VETERAN GOALIE TO LEAD AND HELP DEMKO. DERP. ITS A 2 YEAR F***ING DEAL. Do you want to ruin the development of DiPietro and just toss him in behind Demko? Or perhaps ruin the mental stability of Demko when he begins to struggle and has no one to look around to? It also conveniently can be left exposed at the ED if we really want to let him go possibly. The Kraken will need a starting goalie after all and one that comes at a decent cap….. 4.3mil for 1 year for a cup winning goalie. Oh I should also mention a Vezina and Jennings winning goalie.

 

 

Lmao you want JB to take advantage of a small window, to what, re-sign the same failed group last year who were no match for Vegas, just to do it all again and win another round maybe? Only to meet our biggest issue again in the playoffs? 
Idk what part of a rebuild you dont understand. The part where it takes several years, or the part where ours turned around 2 years after the Sedins. 
The “poor” UFA signings like Beagle Roussel etc were in 2018-19. Just going by a little logic here, but 2018-19 is the first season without the Sedins, the first year without the Sedins = rebuild

FA TWEETED the rebuild in july 2018 and said it is a long slow process and we want everyone united through the process. We signed those poor contracts IN TOO THOWSAND ATE TEEN. The start of the rebuild, WE SOMEHOW turned it around in the 2nd year, thanks to JB’s drafting of Petey, Hughes and Boeser all making instant impacts. We took advantage of TBL and squeezed a good player out of them for a decent price. And woah what do you know we made the f***ing playoffs, not just made the playoffs but we EARNED a playoff spot by winning the play in round. Take the blinders off bud. We acquired Toffoli feb 17th, March came and COVID hit. Mid march the cap was still expected to go up, July the announcement was made that the cap would remain flat. NOT ANYONES FAULT AND NOT A CIRCUMSTANCE ANYONE IN THE WORLD SAW COMING. 
 

Quit sippin on the hateorade and take a bite of reality. 
 

You dont typically win on ELCs, its in the RFA years you win. Thankfully we can take advantage of Hoglander and Podkolzins ELCs and our 9th this season if we choose to keep it.

 

Look at tampa mother f***ing bay… took them 11 years to win after drafting Stamkos, then Hedman and Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, BP was drafted 6 years ago. ALLL OF their top players are IN their RFA and UFA deals. Its thanks to the 3rd wave of the ELCs that they managed to win with Sergachev, Cirelli and Cernak on ELCs

 

Kuch, Stammer, Hedman, Vas, BP all drafted 6-11 years ago. Take Kucherov out of the group, are they winning a cup last year? Probably not.

Take BP out this year, are they winning a cup? Probably not. Take Vasilevskiy out for either year, are they winning a cup? Definitely not.

 

it Baffles me to think you believe COVID was part of the plan and Benning could see it coming and poorly played his cards 3 years in advance. EL OH EL

lmao we have no veteran goalie to lead and help demko so we over pay 4mil for 2 years for hotlby who was on the decline for 3+ years. when really he was signed for 2 years for the expansion draft with the expectation seattle will take him if he has an ok season. if we wanted a veteran presense we couldn't have signed anderson nilsson whatever other veteran goalie out there for 1/3 1/4th the cap? we *started* rebuilding in 2018 so we trade away a 1st 1 year in for a player that would not fit into the timeline of when this club will be competitive? since we are still rebuilding for at least couple more years according to people. i like how we keep pointing to the sedins retiring is when the rebuild actually started we can't rebuild as long as the sedins are still here it's only retooling. i see no difference in the team that's drafting in the top 10 each year pre and post sedins nor did we trade anything to get more draftpicks pre and post sedins. so i guess the LA kings are still retooling and haven't started their rebuild either coz they still have doughty kopitar quick on their team and they will never be rebuilding till those guys are traded or retired? the contracts benning gave out after the Sedins retired surely doesn't look like a rebuilding team lmao.

 

look at tampa bay? what is there to look at? they drafted a rocket richard winner, a norris trophy winner, a vezina winner, an art ross trophy winner in the 2nd round, and another top line player in BP? do we have any of those? maybe a vezina in demko in the future. Take out Kucherov they have 9.5mil to spend on another player last year so they prolly could still win the cup. take out BP they have 7mil to spend on another player so can they win the cup? prolly. take out vasilevkiy? maybe not or maybe if they replaced his cap with a fleury or something then maybe and they also have another 2.5mil to spend. they started to become good 5-6 years after they drafted stamko and made the SCF they prolly could have won if they didn't run into a team with patrick kane toews crawford and keith all in their primes. ok so they won after 11 years.. so i guess we should follow their plan and hope we win 11 years after drafting EP when he'll be 30? i don't even know why you are even looking at tampa bay and comparing it with vancouver.. they since 2004 they literally have been in the SCF 25% of the time.. 

 

Covid is not part of the plan but giving out bad contract and using the expectation of the cap growing each year as an excuse to justify the bad contract he gives out doesn't hurt the team? we can take advantage of hoglanders and podkilzins elc? pretty sure we are still rebuilding for at least 2 maybe 3 more years so what elc is there to take advantage of? maybe just the 9th if we even keep it? this team doesn't have a sergachev cernak cirelli in the pipeline 

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9 hours ago, knucklehead91 said:

Idk, Marky doesnt strike me as the type of guy who was looking to cash in. In his first season with Clark he finished 15th in Vezina voting, the following year he had Hart and Vezina votes.

Last season with the Canucks he was the only goalie in the NHL to not allow a single clear sight goal, which is insane to think that not one single player could burry one on him if he had a half second to see the shot. I think the adjustments Clark made to Marky’s fundamentals drastically improved his sv% and his positioning to not get beat on a clear sight shot. Either way, Im happy for Marky and happy we didnt sign him as well, it would have caused a ton of headaches for the Canucks

 

Agreed on the Holtby contract, thank god its only 2 years and if the Kraken are in search of a goalie, theres a former Vezina, Jennings and Stanley cup winning tender with a cheap cap hit for an expansion team, plus its only 1 year, they can reassess Holtby at the end of the contract and decide wether or not he can be their guy for the next 3-5 years until they can establish their identity… thats if it takes them that long… god damn Vegas… If not they either sign him for cheaper or let him go, no love lost. I havent looked to see what other tendies will be available to the Kraken. So im not sure if he would be on their priority list or not. Ill take a look and see what other tendies are available to select or sign

I get your point cause his uptick in play did (mostly) coincide with Clarks' arrival; and I am not minimizing Clarks importance to the team but from my POV, JM was also a (very) motivated student that was hoping to cash in big in FA.

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56 minutes ago, ShawnAntoski said:

I get your point cause his uptick in play did (mostly) coincide with Clarks' arrival; and I am not minimizing Clarks importance to the team but from my POV, JM was also a (very) motivated student that was hoping to cash in big in FA.

I don’t know what Marky’s numbers were last year with the Cow Pies, but it sure appeared like (from just watching him play) he was not nearly as good as he was when Clarke was his coach.  

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4 hours ago, knucklehead91 said:

Please tell me we could sign for so cheap to mentor Demko and be his support. What Vezina, Jennings, Stanley cup winning goalie is out there for <4.3 mil? Its only a 2 year deal, woopty f***ing dooo. We just burned a year of that deal in a TERRIBLE season. Its too bad his contract effected us SOOOOOO much.

 

You realize we are paying for the experience and accolades such as what it took to win a Vezina, how to prepare each night get get nominated for the Hart and Vezina trophy 3 times in 10 years, what it took to win a cup, what were the struggles, how’d you over come them etc… you do realize that right??Not just some old goalie who hasnt accomplished anything in their career to mentor Demko on how to warm a bench or some good jokes to tell at the end of the bench and hasnt even played 200 games or been a starter in the league.

Also just a little FYI Anders Nilsson is property of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he hasnt played since 2019-20 and he has 161 games under his belt. So ya genius signing bud, the guy aint even playing in the league hes out with a concussion and TBL bought his LTIR.

 

Your outlook on who to bring in to mentor and provide “leadership” is very.. very sad…

 

And Ya look at Tampa it took them ELEVEN F***ING YEARS DUDE E-Lev-IN To win a cup since they drafted Stamkos, oh and by the way Nikita Kucherov was drafted in 2011. Hedman… 2009 and by the way Hedman was looking like a bust for a few years before he finally figured it out. The point is it takes years and years to become a top team they made a cup appearance in 2014-15 and didnt make it back for another 5 years, not to mention they missed the playoffs

Tampa does not win a cup without Kucherov last season, what 9.5mil player are you going to go out and sign this year or last year that could fill Kucherovs shoes? The guy missed the entire regular season and leads the post-season in scoring. Give your head a shake man. TBL  wouldnt have made it past NYI if it wasnt for BP scoring in 6 of the 7 games, what 7 mil player is a playoff beast like Point??? You’d be hard pressed to find someone for 7 mil to do what Point does… He’s also due for a big payday at the end of next season. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that TBL would not win a cup without Vasilevksiy last year or this year.

You are arguing that Tampa would have won if the Chicago core wasnt in their prime… and instead if they were washed up Tampa would have won… lol dude you need to be the best to beat the best. Tampa made the finals and clearly wasnt ready. IT….. takes…… TIME! You need to build a team through strong drafting (Boeser, EP, Hughes, Podz, Demko, Hoglander Horvat thanks GMMG) Then you must go through the aches and pains of this core growing together, surrounding them with good role players, find your window to win and then add to the team to put then over the top via Free agency and TDL. So far we have drafted the core. We need to get a couple seasons under our belt and start acquiring the missing links.


 

The JT Miller trade??? Steal. No one here has an issue with it. We stole him from TBL and he only JUST turned 28. He still has 2 good years left before his point production is going to drop. However he can easily slide DOWN the lineup and be an effective 3rd line centre behind Horvat and Petey..  wooooah depth down the middle, crazy to think?

 

I will partially agree with you that in rebuilds you typically dont trade 1st rounders away. The reason why I am only partially agreeing is because you dont trade 1st rounders if you have nothing in the pipes and nothing on the roster.

 

Why I disagree that it was a bad idea is because we drafted impact players. Boeser and Petey made instant impacts on the team to compliment Horvats success. We drafted Hughes who in his debut showed something special. 
Marky was playing at a Vezina caliber, Demko was groomed and ready. This team was beginning to turn around instantly. Why not add something to add to the success we were having?? And guess what, Benning made the right call and we were beginning to claw our way into playoff contention, Benning followed that brilliant move up with adding Toffoli later that season and we were clearly on the path to playoffs. Hows that for smart moves??? Didnt hold us back from playoffs. Gave us the most exciting time to be a Canuck fan since 2010-11

 

I gave Tampa as an example not a comparison. I hoped you were able to figure that out, but clearly not. I could give you examples of ohh idk, Buffalo and Edmonton who have been forever rebuilding or failing. How many top 5 picks did Deadmonton get?? Or Colorado? They havent made it near the finals. Washington etc etc etc. There are countless teams that took ages to win a cup after their rebuild began. Rebuilds take 4 years typically to start competing, 6-7 years to contend. Its not often that they can pull off a Pittsburgh or Chicago cup win where their franchise players were drafted within 3–4 years of winning. However if you look further back, the rest of the core players like Letang or Fleury, Keith, Crawford, Seabrook, Byfuglien were all drafted years in advance. Crosby is a generation talent, Malkin is right there with him its pretty helpful when you draft guys like that. Definitely fast forwards your rebuild and chances to win a cup. Kane is a future HHOF, Toews is a HHOF and generational leader, Hes like the modern day Messier  (pre-canuck era) 

How about STL, BOS, LAK?? Took them 5+ Years to win a cup. STL drafted Pietrangelo and Tarasenko 7+ years prior to winning a cup

LAK??  Dirt bag brown in 2003, Kopitar and Quick in 2005, won a cup in 2012.. 9 years after that scum bag brown was drafted they won a cup. 

Look at how long it took Ovi to win a cup. Probably the greatest scorer of all time. Took him 13 years. He was 33 years old when he won the cup I believe.

 

11 years is not the plan, its how long it takes the plan to finally pay off. Like I said teams take 4 years to start competing, roughly 6-7 years to start contending for a cup. Its just a matter of how soon they capitalize on their window to win. The window opens up at the 6-7 year mark if you have a successful rebuild/turn around. But the window doesnt close if you fail the first year the window was open. You have a good 4-5 years to win. Its what you do during that period of time to extend the window that is critical. Thats where cap management is insanely critical. That is where Gillis failed, he didnt change things up enough to extend the window and he ultimately failed at drafting the entire time he was there. He held on for too long and by 2014-15 the team had fallen a part. 3 years after a cup run. All we had to look forward to was Horvat.

 

Stop complaining in hindsight. The contracts handed out at the time were meant to stabilize the team as we rebuild. They were never meant to be contracts handed out to pull a cup out of our a$$. They were signed in FA tweeted the rebuild in July of 2018, 19-20 we went on a thrilling playoff run… now the contracts look bad because we are actually already able compete, thanks to our drafting that made an instant impact. COVID is not an “excuse” its a legitimate reason as to why things got f***ed up. And right now Benning is prioritizing locking up the core, over signing UFA’s. So ya…see ya later Toffoli, sorry Marky and Tanman we gotta let you go.

Its a flat cap world right now, we have Petey and Hughes to get locked up and then Boeser and Horvat in the next couple years. Boeser is next season. You need to start looking at the contracts ahead and quit staring behind at contracts behind. COVID nixed any UFA extensions and screwed a lot of players, guys had to go over seas to get a contract. Signing UFAs in the flat cap is a dangerous game to play, we were expecting the cap to go up, there were announcements it was going to go up to 84.5-88 mil, all the way until July last summer when the final verdict was a flat cap. If the cap went up like it was supposed to, those contracts would have hardly any effect or add any stress to our cap situation and soon after they would all be off the books and we’d be signing our next “Toffoli” Benning is being cautious to not get his hopes up and expect a cap increase if he were to sign Toffoli etc. Btw Hoglander will be on an ELC for 2 years and Podz for 3 and in that time frame we have LE and Lou’s cap penalty coming off the books.. so yea we can actually take advantage of Hogs n Podz ELC.

I couldnt agree more here. We drafted Daniel and Henrik in 99 and made the finals in 2011. 12 years after they were drafted. its not a linear thing to build a competitor for the cup. Sometimes you go forward and sometimes you go backwards. Up and Down. What is needed is great drafting at all positions and understanding what your needs are and how to best fill them.

FA signings should be kept to a minimum until the team starts to show it can compete with the core they have. We have a decent top 6. A goalie that has shown some promise that he can be a top performer in the playoffs. We have a  decent offensive defenceman in Hughes but we are sorely lacking the shut down player that can help us keep the puck out of our net. Sometimes that can happen by committee but most cup challengers have a Norris trophy  candidate to lead the D corps. QH is a good defenseman. We still need a great one.

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5 hours ago, Alflives said:

I don’t know what Marky’s numbers were last year with the Cow Pies, but it sure appeared like (from just watching him play) he was not nearly as good as he was when Clarke was his coach.  

Yeah, I have also not really followed him after he left but his SV% did go down to 918 to 904 but overall his number were very comparable to his last year with the Canucks to his first with the Flakes - so I guess, he was the same ?    Imo, we got his best years (leading up to FA and under Clarks Tutelage) and he got the most money from the Flakes - just glad it wasn't the Canucks overpaying for past performance this time and his vacancy allowed Demko his opportunity. 

Edited by ShawnAntoski
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On 6/27/2021 at 6:41 AM, mikeyman109 said:

I couldnt agree more here. We drafted Daniel and Henrik in 99 and made the finals in 2011. 12 years after they were drafted. its not a linear thing to build a competitor for the cup. Sometimes you go forward and sometimes you go backwards. Up and Down. What is needed is great drafting at all positions and understanding what your needs are and how to best fill them.

FA signings should be kept to a minimum until the team starts to show it can compete with the core they have. We have a decent top 6. A goalie that has shown some promise that he can be a top performer in the playoffs. We have a  decent offensive defenceman in Hughes but we are sorely lacking the shut down player that can help us keep the puck out of our net. Sometimes that can happen by committee but most cup challengers have a Norris trophy  candidate to lead the D corps. QH is a good defenseman. We still need a great one.

Good take and the (top of the) draft is the cheapest way to acquire these players; and 5 OA would had been better than 9 OA (three loser points against the Flakes caused the Canucks 4 spots).   Ofcourse, there are alot of cases were Norris trophy winners had been drafted outside of the top 3 - hope JB can continue with his drafting mojo and keep all his draft picks cause only through the draft can a team continue to build up cheap (but talented) depth.

Edited by ShawnAntoski
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There is no one path to win the cup. You can win a cup with a rookie goalie. You can win a cup without a legit #1 centre. . You can win a cup without a legit #1 D. 

 

You play the hands that you have been dealt, not the hand you wish you had. 

 

Speed, skill and physicality are mandatory for putting up an effective defence. The Canucks have lots of two way players that understand and appreciate the defensive side of the game. However, they are not fast enough to get to the puck or cut off the puck carrier's path. The Canucks in general are not particularly good at intercepting passes with their sticks or grabbing loose pucks with their stick work. The Canucks have quite a few puck moving defensemen but many of the forwards have trouble receiving passes at speed. 

 

In the new NHL with the salary cap in place, it is highly unlikely that the G.M. who drafted the core of the team would remain to be the G.M. that wins the Cup. I expect J.B. to be gone eventually and a new G.M. to take the team to the next level. 

 

The biggest enemy for team building is not the salary cap but time. Your core players are aging as we speak. They can give you several seasons of peak performance that justify their contracts. 

 

 

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Both the Habs and Lightening have a very large mobile defense with a true number one guy.   Weber and Hedman.

 

Both teams have a true number one goal tender.

 

 

It is all about defense.

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The biggest difference between the Canucks and the Habs is Montreal has its 'Four Clydesdales'... what Ducharme calls his four big top 4 D.

 

A core of big, mobile and physical D is ALWAYS part of the recipe for success in the playoffs.

 

The Canucks have two comparable... Edler and Myers, and Edler is in the twilight of his career.

 

Look at the teams which went deep into the playoffs this year, and they all had big, tough, mobile D.

 

Look at the teams which went out early and you see smaller D back there.

 

Boston was expected to go deep, but when they lost Carlo to injury, Charlie McAvoy had to do it on his own... and he was not big enough... he got pounded on by the Islanders and broke down.  When Boston won the cup their back end was big... anchored by the monster Chara.

 

Colorado had Cale Makar, and the same thing happened to him.

 

Winnipeg has lost most of its size in its D... their top 4 are smaller and they also got beat up.

 

Canucks in their run to the Cup had average sized D except Edler and Salo, Salo went out and nearly all of the rest were injured or beat up.

 

Key to Cup Contender:

 

-  Top 5 Goaltender or one on a hot streak

 

-  Top 4 D are big, mobile, physical and capable of putting up points

 

-  Speed on the forward lines so they can get in on the forecheck, beat the opposition 1 on 1 or pound on the D

 

-  Speed on the PK so they can pressure, pressure, pressure.

 

-  Balance of scoring lines

 

Size on the forward lines are less important than speed.  Size on the D are critical so they can withstand the pounding.

 

Tampa has mostly smaller sized forwards... but they are all really fast and get in on the forecheck.  Their top 4 D is big... anchored by 6'6" Hedman... best all round D averaged over the last 5 years.

 

By big D I mean a player who is 6'3" or taller and 215 lbs or over.

 

If the Canucks are going to become Contenders, they need another two big mobile D... as well as a big partner for Hughes.

 

This is why it was so stupid to let Tryamkin walk away.

 

 

 

Edited by *Buzzsaw*
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7 minutes ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

The biggest difference between the Canucks and the Habs is Montreal has its 'Four Clydesdales'... what Ducharme calls his four big top 4 D.

 

A core of big, mobile and physical D is ALWAYS part of the recipe for success in the playoffs.

 

The Canucks have two comparable... Edler and Myers, and Edler is in the twilight of his career.

 

Look at the teams which went deep into the playoffs this year, and they all had big, tough, mobile D.

 

Look at the teams which went out early and you see smaller D back there.

 

Boston was expected to go deep, but when they lost Carlo to injury, Charlie McAvoy had to do it on his own... and he was not big enough... he got pounded on by the Islanders and broke down.  When Boston won the cup their back end was big... anchored by the monster Chara.

 

Colorado had Cale Makar, and the same thing happened to him.

 

Winnipeg has lost most of its size in its D... their top 4 are smaller and they also got beat up.

 

Canucks in their run to the Cup had average sized D except Edler and Salo, Salo went out and nearly all of the rest were injured or beat up.

 

Key to Cup Contender:

 

-  Top 5 Goaltender or one on a hot streak

 

-  Top 4 D are big, mobile, physical and capable of putting up points

 

-  Speed on the forward lines so they can get in on the forecheck, beat the opposition 1 on 1 or pound on the D

 

-  Speed on the PK so they can pressure, pressure, pressure.

 

-  Balance of scoring lines

 

Size on the forward lines are less important than speed.  Size on the D are critical so they can withstand the pounding.

 

If the Canucks are going to become Contenders, they need another two big mobile D... as well as a big partner for Hughes.

 

This is why it was so stupid to let Tryamkin walk away.

Well those 4 “Clydesdales” were lucky to be in the north division. If montreal was in the east the habs wouldnt even be in the playoffs. They are playing well right now but hab fans were fuming about their defense a lot during the season, especially weber. Now they are playing really good, sure they are big but they are actually playing well at the perfect time. We beat a team with BIG dmen in st louis just a year ago.

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9 minutes ago, Bertuzzipunch said:

Well those 4 “Clydesdales” were lucky to be in the north division. If montreal was in the east the habs wouldnt even be in the playoffs. They are playing well right now but hab fans were fuming about their defense a lot during the season, especially weber. Now they are playing really good, sure they are big but they are actually playing well at the perfect time. We beat a team with BIG dmen in st louis just a year ago.

Play during regular season and play during playoffs are two different things... you can't get away with the type of heavy hits in the regular season which happen regularly in the playoffs... you have to be big and strong to stand up to those.

 

Canucks were fortunate to beat St Louis, and did so probably because Jordan Binnington came back down to earth from his hot streak the previous year and showed he wasn't really a Vezina level goalie.

 

 

 

 

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By the way, Montreal beat Vegas not because the Habs are overall a better team, but because Carey Price got into the heads of Stone, Pacioretty, Karlsson, etc.... those winks he was handing out were not directed at his team mates... they were aimed at the Vegas trigger pullers... and he completely psyched them out.

 

Vegas is pretty much perfectly built for the playoffs... they do have a big top 4, they do have excellent goaltending, and they do have a balanced, speedy offense.  (now that they have unloaded Schmidt to Vancouver and signed Pietrangelo... who was Vegas's best D)

 

The only way the Habs pull this off is if Price gets the Tampa big guns second guessing themselves too... otherwise it will be over soon.

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2 hours ago, *Buzzsaw* said:

By the way, Montreal beat Vegas not because the Habs are overall a better team, but because Carey Price got into the heads of Stone, Pacioretty, Karlsson, etc.... those winks he was handing out were not directed at his team mates... they were aimed at the Vegas trigger pullers... and he completely psyched them out.

 

Vegas is pretty much perfectly built for the playoffs... they do have a big top 4, they do have excellent goaltending, and they do have a balanced, speedy offense.  (now that they have unloaded Schmidt to Vancouver and signed Pietrangelo... who was Vegas's best D)

 

The only way the Habs pull this off is if Price gets the Tampa big guns second guessing themselves too... otherwise it will be over soon.

Good take but you forgot that gift in Game 3 from lady luck.

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Same lessons every stanley cup winning team has taught for the last 10 years:
1) You need everything (good drafting young guys that can help in playoff run, good/value free agents, a good top 6/9 forward group, franchise 1C/2C/3C centres, elite winger, elite sniper, elite power forward, franchise dman, elite defensive dman, good top3/4 dmen, good drafting, good salary cap hits, very little cap space wasted on useless/bought out players).
but 2) Most important thing the Canucks always miss: Franchise dman and a good 3/4 D-corps. It's always been a requirement, Montreal even traded PK Subban (a dynamo at the time) for Shea Weber (who was degrading at the time, and arguably since). Weber rising again (even if only slightly) and improved top 4 dmen in montreal has made all the difference.

We always seem to argue that THIS or THAT is the missing thing, but the problem is if you fill that hole, you make another hole somewhere else (in this cap world). You need everything, period. But we, the Canucks, specifically keep missing out on having a good top 3 or 4 man d-corps. And it's an issue that all our GM's for the last 15 years have missed out, we don't wanna risk committing to a franchise dman and really loading up the d-corps (love hughes, but he just fell into our lap, and jury is still out if he can also be a defensive stalwart as well).

Edited by Forsy
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Be careful about getting caught up in the " we must have four big defenseman " talk. 

You must have solid defense.  Your team needs a solid defensive structure.  Yes it needs some grit and the ability to clear the front of the net . Let's not forget the importance of puck control.  Their is more than one way to accomplish the same results. 

Coaches are there to shape the teams playing style to the talent it has.

We have two young defenseman who are exceptionally mobile.  We have two defenseman who are mobile and bring size and bring a balanced attack. Now we need a couple of shutdown guys who are mobile. There is no room for players who can't skate at a high level in this league.

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I learned from Montreal that having a Northern division  helps a Canadian team advance to the final 4 spots and one series win away from contending in the Stanley Cup!  In the past while under the previous divisional format, it has been very difficult for Canadian teams to make it to the end or even the final 4 for that matter.  Thankfully, the habs ended the long drought and made it to the last dance this season!

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