Poll: Dog Days of Summer. Where Will We Finish in The 2023/24 Western Conference Standings?

[-DLC-]

I WANTED to say 1st. But then I thought I should be a bit more realistic so I adjusted.

 

To 3rd.  

[-DLC-]

On 7/31/2023 at 2:33 PM, Alflives said:

Edmonton 

CANUCKS!

Avs

Vegas

Kings

Dallas

Minny

St. Louis

Nashville

Flameroos

Krappen

Chicago

SJS

Ducks 

 

 

I love you Alf.

[TiTaniuM]

We should make the playoffs but if we are out of the picture by Christmas, JR/PA must start looking into scorched earth type of rebuild and breaking up the core. This should be make or break season for them. 

[Citizen Erased]

I have a much better feeling about the Canucks coming into this season than over the previous decade. 
 

I predict that not only will the Canucks make the playoffs, but will win the division due to the elite goaltending from Demko, who will win both the Vezina and the Hart trophies.

 

I only have Colorado ahead of the Canucks in the west.

[iinatcc]

34 minutes ago, Citizen Erased said:

I have a much better feeling about the Canucks coming into this season than over the previous decade. 
 

I predict that not only will the Canucks make the playoffs, but will win the division due to the elite goaltending from Demko, who will win both the Vezina and the Hart trophies.

 

I only have Colorado ahead of the Canucks in the west.

Not only that Canucks will win 10 Stanley cups in the next 10 years and be able to trade for Connor Berdard for Connor Garland due to some clerical error in the Blackhawks Management thinking they were getting Connor Mcdavid  

Edited August 1, 2023 by iinatcc

[iinatcc]

9 hours ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

I agree with you (other than Hronek being an unknown) but let's face it, any team with an injury to their top 2 players would struggle heavily. Just in our division, an injury to McDavid or Drai would be horrific, an injury to Kopitar or Doughty could crush the Kings, Vegas seems to be immune to it, an injury to Lindholm or Huberdeau could cripple the Flames, an injured McCann or Beniers could be terrible for Seattle....

 

This year we start with the following players not needing season-ending surgery; Demko, OEL, Pearson and Mikheyev....

 

We have a huge advantage compared to last year

I think this is the case of predicting a best case scenario for the Canucks and worst case scenario for other teams again.

 

I remember this similar argument last season with the LA Kings thinking everyone will regress and Doughty and Kopitar all suddenly regressing to become OEL's and Loui Erikssons respectively (), Vegas collapsing because Robin Lehner was going to be out all season, and the Canucks will have elite goaltending and Boeser will somehow become 30 to 40 goal scorer.

 

Reality things just don't work like that. Thinking every possible positive outcome will go in Vancouver's favor while other team will not have the same advantage. Universe doesn't work like that.

 

Example Kuzmenko had a crazy high shooting percentage last season. History shows that is not sustainable. William Karlsson is a good example, his first season in Vegas he had 23.4% shooting percentage and dropped to 14.2% next seaosn (almost half). Don't be surprised if Kuzmenko only gets around 20 goals next season.

Edited August 1, 2023 by iinatcc

[Gurn]

8 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

Not only that Canucks will win 10 Stanley cups in the next 10 years and be able to trade for Connor Berdard for Connor Garland due to some clerical error in the Blackhawks Management thinking they were getting Connor Mcdavid  

Maybe as a test run the Canucks trade Elias Pettersson?

Not our fault the other team thought they were getting the forward.

[iinatcc]

1 hour ago, -DLC- said:

I WANTED to say 1st. But then I thought I should be a bit more realistic so I adjusted.

 

To 3rd.  

 I think Vegas, Edmonton, Seattle, Los Angeles (all of a sudden the Pacific is looking really stacked), Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota are ahead of Vancouver. Perhaps one of those teams will fall but even so Nashville, Calgary, and Winnipeg are likely fighting for the same slot as Vancouver. 

 

Given that I say 5th or 6th the most optimistic prediction that is in the realm of what considered realistic. 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by iinatcc

[Hairy Kneel]

A better pk, giving Hughes, Miller and EP a break. To focus on offense. 

 

A healthy Demko!! But he needs 30 games from the back up. To be fresh for the playoffs. 

 

An improvement on defense which should stop those tire fires in our zone. Relieving pressure on our goalies. And also give us more offense in transition. 

 

I'm hopeful for 4th or 5th. 

 

 

 

 

[icycold]

On 7/31/2023 at 1:52 PM, Canuck You said:

Pffffff 8th or 9th!?!? We winning the Presidents trophy brah!

And then from lack of depth still, we fall in 4 straight in the first round and the CDC has a melt down! Sound familiar? Or close to familiar? 

[spook007]

48 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

I think this is the case of predicting a best case scenario for the Canucks and worst case scenario for other teams again.

 

I remember this similar argument last season with the LA Kings thinking everyone will regress and Doughty and Kopitar all suddenly regressing to become OEL's and Loui Erikssons respectively (), Vegas collapsing because Robin Lehner was going to be out all season, and the Canucks will have elite goaltending and Boeser will somehow become 30 to 40 goal scorer.

 

Reality things just don't work like that. Thinking every possible positive outcome will go in Vancouver's favor while other team will not have the same advantage. Universe doesn't work like that.

 

Example Kuzmenko had a crazy high shooting percentage last season. History shows that is not sustainable. William Karlsson is a good example, his first season in Vegas he had 23.4% shooting percentage and dropped to 14.2% next seaosn (almost half). Don't be surprised if Kuzmenko only gets around 20 goals next season.

True... just like thinking every negative thing will come to fruition is very unlike too...

 

Fact is none of us have a damn clue about, what happens next. 
 

Didn't see many folk think Seattle would have such a good season last year, or even Kings...

 

If we can't have any positive thoughts about, how our team will fare, whats the point of supporting them? 
 

Do agree, Kuz might not be as good as last year, but maybe Podz and Hogs take the next steps? Or maybe Boeser finally finds his lazer again and blasts 35-40 goals. We just never know...

[icycold]

3 hours ago, -DLC- said:

I WANTED to say 1st. But then I thought I should be a bit more realistic so I adjusted.

 

To 3rd.  

Same here, if our depth was seasoned a bit more I'd have said 1st for fun BUT if the injury bug that bites us so bad, you never know.

 The 2012 run was like that but then it bit hard losing  Hammer and no one to replace him.. 

I sure hope that doesn't happen again.. 

[EddieVedder]

If we get a top 3-4 dman, a legit 3c, and if podz and hogz break out then we have a shot at playoffs.  

[Citizen Erased]

3 hours ago, iinatcc said:

Not only that Canucks will win 10 Stanley cups in the next 10 years and be able to trade for Connor Berdard for Connor Garland due to some clerical error in the Blackhawks Management thinking they were getting Connor Mcdavid  

All we have to do to get Bedard for Garland is lock in their GM inside a certain Burnaby Tim Horton’s that has egg laying insects until they agree to the trade. 

[Wise Guy]

The childish Canucks fan in me says first, the 54 year Canucks fan in me says 11th.

[KirkSave]

14 hours ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

I agree with you (other than Hronek being an unknown) but let's face it, any team with an injury to their top 2 players would struggle heavily. Just in our division, an injury to McDavid or Drai would be horrific, an injury to Kopitar or Doughty could crush the Kings, Vegas seems to be immune to it, an injury to Lindholm or Huberdeau could cripple the Flames, an injured McCann or Beniers could be terrible for Seattle....

 

This year we start with the following players not needing season-ending surgery; Demko, OEL, Pearson and Mikheyev....

 

We have a huge advantage compared to last year

Yes, injuries to key players on any team would hurt. All the teams you mentioned in our div have better depth than us. I think we are most comparable to Calgary and Seattle except we have some young game breakers in Petey, Hughes and if healthy Demko (game stealer). If we are making the playoffs we gotta beat out those teams cause we ain't catching Vegas, Edmonton or LA, imho.

 

[iinatcc]

7 hours ago, spook007 said:

True... just like thinking every negative thing will come to fruition is very unlike too...

 

Fact is none of us have a damn clue about, what happens next. 
 

Didn't see many folk think Seattle would have such a good season last year, or even Kings...

 

If we can't have any positive thoughts about, how our team will fare, whats the point of supporting them? 
 

Do agree, Kuz might not be as good as last year, but maybe Podz and Hogs take the next steps? Or maybe Boeser finally finds his lazer again and blasts 35-40 goals. We just never know...

There needs to be a balance.

 

The thing is most fans here make the pre-season mistake thinking everything will fall in Vancouver's favor while things will go wrong for the other teams.

 

In reality everything falls somewhere in between for all teams. 

 

So for everytime Podkolzin taking a huge step you have to expect other teams' prospect will do the same (perhaps Shane Wright and Quinton Byfield both take huge steps next season too). For every time we think a player in another will take a step back we have imagine the same could happen for a player here possibly Miller, due to his age, or Kuzmenko due to his insane shooting percentage last season. 

 

I think last season assessing the goaltending between Vegas and Vancouver was the perfect example. People here were writing Vegas off because of Lehner while thinking Vancouver will be a playoff team because of Demko. In the end Demko was quite average early on and was injured in large chunks of the season. So things balanced out between Vegas and Vancouver.  

Edited August 2, 2023 by iinatcc

[Snake Doctor]

I honestly don’t expect much from this team. I chose 15. 
 

[spook007]

3 hours ago, iinatcc said:

There needs to be a balance.

 

The thing is most fans here make the pre-season mistake thinking everything will fall in Vancouver's favor while things will go wrong for the other teams.

 

In reality everything falls somewhere in between for all teams. 

 

So for everytime Podkolzin taking a huge step you have to expect other teams' prospect will do the same (perhaps Shane Wright and Quinton Byfield both take huge steps next season too). For every time we think a player in another will take a step back we have imagine the same could happen for a player here possibly Miller, due to his age, or Kuzmenko due to his insane shooting percentage last season. 

 

I think last season assessing the goaltending between Vegas and Vancouver was the perfect example. People here were writing Vegas off because of Lehner while thinking Vancouver will be a playoff team because of Demko. In the end Demko was quite average early on and was injured in large chunks of the season. So things balanced out between Vegas and Vancouver.  

I know, and I agree amigo. 
i don't think anyone think we suddenly are walking it. It will be really hard. Baby steps most likely. 
The team is not yet totally transformed, but we took a couple of steps this year. 
They will be fighting for a playoffs spot, and hopefully strong enough to get over the line...

Petey, QH, Demko, Kuz etc needs play off experience, and the staff needs to see, how they react, to the play off atmosphere, if they are strong enough to cope etc. 

On top of that Petey in particular will most likely also want to see progress...

 

Personally, I'll be delighted if we reach the play off, and then take it from there. 
 

It'll be the first step on the road, and as the next year rolls by, we will get some changes in our line up. 
They haven't yet been able to swing a deal to rid us of one of the wingers and get a proper 3C, so I'd say its still baby steps. 
 

The year after they should start to push properly towards the end target. 

[Alflives]

20 minutes ago, spook007 said:

I know, and I agree amigo. 
i don't think anyone think we suddenly are walking it. It will be really hard. Baby steps most likely. 
The team is not yet totally transformed, but we took a couple of steps this year. 
They will be fighting for a playoffs spot, and hopefully strong enough to get over the line...

Petey, QH, Demko, Kuz etc needs play off experience, and the staff needs to see, how they react, to the play off atmosphere, if they are strong enough to cope etc. 

On top of that Petey in particular will most likely also want to see progress...

 

Personally, I'll be delighted if we reach the play off, and then take it from there. 
 

It'll be the first step on the road, and as the next year rolls by, we will get some changes in our line up. 
They haven't yet been able to swing a deal to rid us of one of the wingers and get a proper 3C, so I'd say its still baby steps. 
 

The year after they should start to push properly towards the end target. 

All true except we already saw Petey and Quinn elevate their games in the playoffs. Petey was more than a ppg, and Quinn set the record for most playoff points by a rookie D man. 
Imhao, and Alf’s empties support this, we will get 105 points this season. We will be third in our Conference. We will make a deep playoff run. And the best part will be the other teams’ posters who come here pretending to be our fans will go elsewhere. They will bow and kneel to Alf’s empties! Those puck suckers!