R3aL Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 26 minutes ago, fanfor42 said: Last 2 years Benson had 161 pts in 118 reg season WHL games and 40 pts in 30 playoff games. Local kid. He will be ready to play in the NHL in a year. Willander won't be ready for the NHL full time for 3 years. Benson scale is Schroeder to top 6 point per game NHL'er. Willander scale is Juolevi to Hughes partner. Who is more likely to finish the highest on their scale? Hard to say. Hoglander is tradeable and so is Garland in 2 years. Having too many small wingers is not an issue. If Benson pans out the other guys can be moved. Benson could positively affect the team for two years before Willander even shows up. Lots to consider here... Willander could be here in 1-2 years a very possible timeline for him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 24 minutes ago, fanfor42 said: Last 2 years Benson had 161 pts in 118 reg season WHL games and 40 pts in 30 playoff games. Local kid. He will be ready to play in the NHL in a year. Willander won't be ready for the NHL full time for 3 years. Benson scale is Schroeder to top 6 point per game NHL'er. Willander scale is Juolevi to Hughes partner. Who is more likely to finish the highest on their scale? Hard to say. Hoglander is tradeable and so is Garland in 2 years. Having too many small wingers is not an issue. If Benson pans out the other guys can be moved. Benson could positively affect the team for two years before Willander even shows up. Lots to consider here... Willander USA for sure NHL top four elite D man. Benson is a bustaroo bonsai. Sabres are a puck sucking loser hole club. Their best player, Power, is average. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighOnHockey Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 54 minutes ago, fanfor42 said: Last 2 years Benson had 161 pts in 118 reg season WHL games and 40 pts in 30 playoff games. Local kid. He will be ready to play in the NHL in a year. Curious what makes you think that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 11 hours ago, Bob.Loblaw said: 100% he would've been selected by Jet Black Jim. I think (pure speculation) Jet Black would have gone with But. The size the speed the shot Benning would have been all over But. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 2 hours ago, Alflives said: Willander USA for sure NHL top four elite D man. Benson is a bustaroo bonsai. Sabres are a puck sucking loser hole club. Their best player, Power, is average. I thought Benson was gonna push Miller to the wing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 13 hours ago, HorvatToBaertschi said: PA + JR would have looked really stupid passing on the most coveted position in the game (RHD) in order to draft an undersized winger, a position we have an abundance of. The Canucks haven't drafted a RHD in the first round since 1997 and have only drafted 4 RHD in the first round in their history until this year. Allvin finally pulls the trigger on perhaps the best RHD in the 2023 draft and people are upset that we didn't draft a 5"9" winger... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 4 hours ago, fanfor42 said: Last 2 years Benson had 161 pts in 118 reg season WHL games and 40 pts in 30 playoff games. Local kid. He will be ready to play in the NHL in a year. Willander won't be ready for the NHL full time for 3 years. Benson scale is Schroeder to top 6 point per game NHL'er. Willander scale is Juolevi to Hughes partner. Who is more likely to finish the highest on their scale? Hard to say. Hoglander is tradeable and so is Garland in 2 years. Having too many small wingers is not an issue. If Benson pans out the other guys can be moved. Benson could positively affect the team for two years before Willander even shows up. Lots to consider here... Lol. Completely down playing Willander. Sounds like the only thing to consider here is your insane bias towards Benson. Juolevi's injuries derailed his development. So no, he's not Willander's floor. I'd say 3rd pair D is his floor and McAvoy is his ceiling. McAvoy only needed two years of college as well. Both are 6'1, so similar frames. Willander puts on 15ish pounds he's around Charlie Mac's weight. Which is easy enough to do in the NCAA. He could become a better skating Charlie McAvoy. Which is crazy. So this idea he needs 3+ years at a minimum and Benson is NHL ready next season is, again, bias against Willander. He can probably play regularly in the NHL after next season if he so choose. He skates really well and is smart defensively. Easily transitionable skills. His weaknesses are on the offensive end and strength, on account of him being a kid still. He can easily bulk up in college cause of how their seasons work. And he can also get accustomed to the smaller surface there. Two years in college, then he'll be pretty close to ready if not already good to go. Benson probably has a similar time table. He's smaller so it's harder to transition to the NHL. Bigger, faster, stronger competition. I don't care if people preferred one guy over the other, but don't make sh*t up and downplay our guy cause you wanted the other guy. Benson and Willander are great prospects with potential to be major pieces for their teams. Willander's ceiling isn't "Hughes' partner." Sounds incredibly disrespectful. He has legit top 2 potential. And his floor is definitely NHL level too. Speed and sound defense will keep him in the NHL once he makes the show. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanfor42 Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 I like Willander and hope he reaches his ceiling. It is fair to comment that Benson could turn out to be the better player in time. A lot of sports writers said this after the draft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stawns Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 23 hours ago, higgyfan said: I agree that the Sabres are likely the best team for him to play on. They are a rising, young team that have a variety of talented players that will support him well. At the very least, he will be similar to Caulfield, but I think he will likely be much better. It will take much longer for Canuck fans to see what Willander will do in the NHL. If he can develop to his full potential, he will have an impressive career. ........that still missed the playoffs. They have been a "young and upcoming team" for longer than most posters have been on this board. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, JeremyCuddles said: Lol. Completely down playing Willander. Sounds like the only thing to consider here is your insane bias towards Benson. Juolevi's injuries derailed his development. So no, he's not Willander's floor. I'd say 3rd pair D is his floor and McAvoy is his ceiling. McAvoy only needed two years of college as well. Both are 6'1, so similar frames. Willander puts on 15ish pounds he's around Charlie Mac's weight. Which is easy enough to do in the NCAA. He could become a better skating Charlie McAvoy. Which is crazy. I have a fold out couch that weighs as much as McAvoy it folds out pretty fast and has a good frame also spent 2 years in college. People have slept on it like Willander/McAvoy. Willander could be a better skating fold out couch. Which is crazy. Edited July 29, 2023 by hammertime 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhippy Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 15 hours ago, fanfor42 said: Last 2 years Benson had 161 pts in 118 reg season WHL games and 40 pts in 30 playoff games. Local kid. He will be ready to play in the NHL in a year. Willander won't be ready for the NHL full time for 3 years. Benson scale is Schroeder to top 6 point per game NHL'er. Willander scale is Juolevi to Hughes partner. Who is more likely to finish the highest on their scale? Hard to say. Hoglander is tradeable and so is Garland in 2 years. Having too many small wingers is not an issue. If Benson pans out the other guys can be moved. Benson could positively affect the team for two years before Willander even shows up. Lots to consider here... 129 games in their last two years of jr. 267 points. 40 points in 33 playoff games. 5 foot 10 inches. 172 pounds Name that player Willander means more to us even at his base line than Benson does. We don't have the team to highlight or accentuate what Benson can possibly do. The surrounding pieces just aren't there. With so many smaller wingers fighting for two whole spots what use would he be to us now or in 3 years if we couldn't maximize his potential because we didn't have the surrounding cast? We've a very similar style player that did more in their last 2 years of if jr on a much worse team and people wanna get rid of him. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorvatToBaertschi Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 11 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said: The Canucks haven't drafted a RHD in the first round since 1997 and have only drafted 4 RHD in the first round in their history until this year. Allvin finally pulls the trigger on perhaps the best RHD in the 2023 draft and people are upset that we didn't draft a 5"9" winger... I see we agree on a lot of things. Cheers EP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 1 hour ago, Warhippy said: 129 games in their last two years of jr. 267 points. 40 points in 33 playoff games. 5 foot 10 inches. 172 pounds Name that player Willander means more to us even at his base line than Benson does. We don't have the team to highlight or accentuate what Benson can possibly do. The surrounding pieces just aren't there. With so many smaller wingers fighting for two whole spots what use would he be to us now or in 3 years if we couldn't maximize his potential because we didn't have the surrounding cast? We've a very similar style player that did more in their last 2 years of if jr on a much worse team and people wanna get rid of him. Montreal tried to get bigger up front so selected Slafkovsky over Nemec and Jiricek. You should never take a winger over a potential top pairing RHD. Never. Wingers can be obtained throughout the draft and even via trade or free agency. Doesn't matter how big they are. Top pairing RHD's are almost never available, you have to draft them. Montreal had a shot at two of them and passed. Philadelphia did the same thing and took Gauthier over Jiricek. Montreal obviously realized their mistake and jumped on Reinbacher this year. They took him even over Michkov. Allvin didn't waiver. He took the RHD over the wingers including Benson, But and Wood... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMHockey Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 I was at the prospects scrimmage at UBC. Willander is what we need and he is very steady, poised, and mature. He is a good kid that interacted well with fans, he has experience playing forward up until two years ago. And he defended calmly and smoothly. You don't notice him too often in a good way because he is so mistake-free. If he hits his offensive upside than Vancouvers blueline is in great hands with Hughes-Willander leading it. Zach Benson is skilled and competitive but he is also just another undersized winger that we have many of. People were only hollering to draft him because he is a hometown product with a good ceiling. Let's focus on Tom Willander and give the kid the support system he needs and deserves. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Kneel Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 On 7/28/2023 at 2:02 PM, Nuxfanabroad said: We're pretty good up front..glad we went with Willander. We totally needed restock the talent on the backend. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted July 30, 2023 Author Share Posted July 30, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesB Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 On 7/28/2023 at 9:14 AM, 250Integra said: We don't need another undersized winger. He will probably be a Garland or Gallagher at best, and there are tons of people on this board who are itching to trade Garland away. Willander is what we need and he may come out as the best defenceman in the draft. The majority opinion on CDC at this stage seems to be that the Canucks made the right call in taking Willander over Benson at #11. On draft day, I had Benson ahead of WIllander and thought it was unlikely that Benson would fall out of the top 10. But, like a lot of other people, I am now glad that the Canucks took Willander, although that could just be confirmation bias or rationalization. I want to believe that Willander is a great prospect so I interpret what I see as being consistent with that. But, being honest, there is a lot of uncertainly. We can all think of smallish, high-skill, scoring wingers who were great in junior but who never did much in the NHL. But some smallish, high-skill, scoring wingers become elite players. And with defencemen there is even more uncertainty. As others have said, there is not much we can do except wait and see how things work out. Of course we known that Benson will score a ton in junior (assuming he goes back to the WHL), but it is very hard to predict how Willander will do in the NCAA. Hope he sets the Hockey East conference in the NCAA on fire, wins the Hobey Baker award and turns pro next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Is Benson a great prospect? Absolutely. Is he more likely to hit his ceiling than Willander? Quite possibly, yeah. The point is though, if both players do not their ceilings, which is more valuable? It's the defenseman, and it's not particularly close. Even if Willander falls short of expectation and Benson doesn’t, they could still have similar trade value (see: Hall for Larsson trade). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screw Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 On 7/28/2023 at 7:49 PM, R3aL said: Willander could be here in 1-2 years a very possible timeline for him I think he is 2 years away. The exciting part is that he and D-Peaty could break onto the team in the same year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcam Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 On 7/28/2023 at 7:21 PM, fanfor42 said: Last 2 years Benson had 161 pts in 118 reg season WHL games and 40 pts in 30 playoff games. Local kid. He will be ready to play in the NHL in a year. Willander won't be ready for the NHL full time for 3 years. Benson scale is Schroeder to top 6 point per game NHL'er. Willander scale is Juolevi to Hughes partner. Who is more likely to finish the highest on their scale? Hard to say. Hoglander is tradeable and so is Garland in 2 years. Having too many small wingers is not an issue. If Benson pans out the other guys can be moved. Benson could positively affect the team for two years before Willander even shows up. Lots to consider here... Also have to take in consideration stats Benson played on 2nd best team in WHL? Lots of great talent to support him.. Benson is good but NHL whole new world. Playing against best hockey players in the world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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