(Article) If the Canucks MUST make the playoffs in 2023/24, what does ‘all in’ look like?

[Citizen Erased]

2 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Yup, which is why as much as I love Garland as a player...he's got to go. Too much cap for a 3rd line player who's small and doesn't PK. I'm hopeful Podkolzin can grow in to that 40+ point, two way, hard to play against 3rd liner with some size.

 

As you guys discussed, Joshua can cover that factor on the 4th line.

If Garland was on a 3rd line with 2 bigger guys who can chip in offensively and can PK, it would be different, especially if his cap hit was 1-2 million less.

[aGENT]

12 minutes ago, Citizen Erased said:

If Garland was on a 3rd line with 2 bigger guys who can chip in offensively and can PK, it would be different, especially if his cap hit was 1-2 million less.

Well exactly. None of those things happen to be true though, being the problem 

[Gawdzukes]

29 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Yup, which is why as much as I love Garland as a player...he's got to go. Too much cap for a 3rd line player who's small and doesn't PK. I'm hopeful Podkolzin can grow in to that 40+ point, two way, hard to play against 3rd liner with some size.

 

As you guys discussed, Joshua can cover that factor on the 4th line.

  

2 hours ago, aGENT said:

Some more size, grit and defensive ability on the wings would be nice...

 

11 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Well exactly. None of those things happen to be true though, being the problem 

Exactly. While Garland is far better than Myers imo it's like you have been saying all along. Square peg round hole. He simply just doesn't fit in and at $5 mil that's a pretty steep swiss army knife contract for a team with negative cap space.

 

I completely agree with your size/grit on the wings comment. It's just blatantly obvious as to where that should come from when you look at the roster.

[Coconuts]

On 9/4/2023 at 10:31 AM, McBackup said:

I love hearing "all in" on a team that hasn't legitimately made the playoffs in a decade. Inspires confidence. 

For real though, solid article or not it's still all in on pre-pre-season 

 

Let's try making the playoffs at least a couple seasons in a row before we talk about "all in"

[DeNiro]

38 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

For real though, solid article or not it's still all in on pre-pre-season 

 

Let's try making the playoffs at least a couple seasons in a row before we talk about "all in"

I don’t really see it as all in on winning a cup but rather all in on finally pushing the team to become a regular playoff team again. Then go from there.

 

The rebuilding or retooling or whatever you wanna call it stage is done. It’s time to put the pieces into place that gives this team a chance to push.
 

That means finding another two top 4 defenders. And finding some legit bottom 6 role players with some size and nastiness. I think the goal needs to be to find at least one of those top 4 defenders by the start of the season.

[RWJC]

44 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

For real though, solid article or not it's still all in on pre-pre-season 

 

Let's try making the playoffs at least a couple seasons in a row before we talk about "all in"

I think the article accurately describes what it might take to simply make the playoffs. To ensure we are within position of the expected candidates. 

[Gawdzukes]

1 hour ago, DeNiro said:

I don’t really see it as all in on winning a cup but rather all in on finally pushing the team to become a regular playoff team again. Then go from there.

 

The rebuilding or retooling or whatever you wanna call it stage is done. It’s time to put the pieces into place that gives this team a chance to push.
 

That means finding another two top 4 defenders. And finding some legit bottom 6 role players with some size and nastiness. I think the goal needs to be to find at least one of those top 4 defenders by the start of the season.

 

I couldn't agree more. It's nice we finally have a somewhat competent group but Cole is a stop gap, and Soucy is really a #5. Our goal should absolutely be to get another top 4 longer term Dman in there asap and definitely before the start of the next season. It's nice to have Willander, D-Petey, and even Mynio coming up but they are two or more years out most likely.

 

We do have a lot of cap coming off the books in the next few years so we should be able to target the players we need, and like you said earlier our 2024 and 2025 firsts should definitely be on the table. No more Benning moves of just acquiring random players who are decent contracts in isolation. We need to specifically find the right guys for the job. The good thing is we don't really need to find high profile point getters, just solid defensive Dmen who can move the puck.

[Citizen Erased]

13 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

 

I couldn't agree more. It's nice we finally have a somewhat competent group but Cole is a stop gap, and Soucy is really a #5. Our goal should absolutely be to get another top 4 longer term Dman in there asap and definitely before the start of the next season. It's nice to have Willander, D-Petey, and even Mynio coming up but they are two or more years out most likely.

 

We do have a lot of cap coming off the books in the next few years so we should be able to target the players we need, and like you said earlier our 2024 and 2025 firsts should definitely be on the table. No more Benning moves of just acquiring random players who are decent contracts in isolation. We need to specifically find the right guys for the job. The good thing is we don't really need to find high profile point getters, just solid defensive Dmen who can move the puck.

Johansson might be NHL ready sooner rather than later.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Citizen Erased

[Gawdzukes]

15 minutes ago, Citizen Erased said:

Johansson might be NHL ready sooner rather than later.

Yeah good point. Apparently he slipped right in on Abbotsford in the playoff and got good reviews from the coaches there. Maybe he's a candidate to replace Myers sooner than later as well.

[aqua59]

On 9/4/2023 at 12:09 PM, Pears said:

If it’s moved for another top 4 RD I’d be ok with that since that’s the only other thing we really need right now. 

I understand that, I'm torn because how many times has Vancouver given a 1st up in the past and come up short in the future while looking at their prospect pool?

 

This is the discipline part of not trading picks away. I do understand your point.

[Pears]

6 minutes ago, aqua59 said:

I understand that, I'm torn because how many times has Vancouver given a 1st up in the past and come up short in the future while looking at their prospect pool?

 

This is the discipline part of not trading picks away. I do understand your point.

I get the hesitancy of moving a 1st, but we’re at the point of our cycle where 10th-15th overall picks really don’t do much for us unless it’s in a super deep draft.

 

We aren’t bad enough to completely bottom out, and it’s time we start adding pieces to our core like we’ve started to do going back to last year, or we risk our core players growing impatient with a lack of progress. 

[aqua59]

3 hours ago, DeNiro said:

I don’t really see it as all in on winning a cup but rather all in on finally pushing the team to become a regular playoff team again. Then go from there.

 

The rebuilding or retooling or whatever you wanna call it stage is done. It’s time to put the pieces into place that gives this team a chance to push.
 

That means finding another two top 4 defenders. And finding some legit bottom 6 role players with some size and nastiness. I think the goal needs to be to find at least one of those top 4 defenders by the start of the season.

Reading your post I think to myself long gone are the days of the Vancouver 2012 standard of defense compared to now, having a defense that can win a CUP as opposed to just make the playoffs. You're right there's more additions to be made but only if Vancouver has the players that can be built on.

 

People need to realize, yup we need to make the playoffs, but that is only another very tough step at this point.

 

A team needs a Tampa Bay type core. A decade core, a CUP core not just make the playoffs core. Vancouver has a long way to go but I think they are on the right track I just think that fan expectations have to be realistic in the time frame department.

 

As you point out there are more pieces to be added if this present group is foundational. 

Edited September 5, 2023 by aqua59