The Canucks might have a bigger need for a #3 calibre defenseman than they do for a 2nd line Center

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

Canucks be like…..

[Reznor]

Is our D ideal? Probably not. But when you have a 6m contract in Myers, Allvin has limited options. Unless there is a trade available which allows us to give up a d in favour of a BETTER d, I think next season there is a better opportunity for such improvement.

 

See, getting Hronek was such a great move, as it now gives us 2 defensemen who can actually score. I would argue that Hronek IS that 3rd man. When we first acquired him, it was uncertain where he would actually fit. And he's found a good home with Hughes and has done really well. But wouldn't it be nice to have more than one defensive line capable of scoring regularly when 5 on 5? Next season, we could see something like:

 

Hughes Tanev/Pesce

Soucy Hronek 

Zadorov Cole

Then, of course, they could still team up to man the PP1 D. 

[DrJockitch]

I like the structure of our D.

An elite puck moving starting pair backed up by a forest of trees that can cut off the middle of the ice off, clear the net and are decent puck movers.

Not too concerned that none are a clear number three they have a pretty good platoon of 5 D below the Hughes Hronek pairing.

Do think the more pressing concern is forechecking forwards for top 6.

[AlwaysACanuckFan]

On 1/12/2024 at 8:39 AM, IBatch said:

Think the teams just going to have to live with what they have and we are going to have and to trust that it's enough.    Worried about injuries too.    That's going to be part of this now.    The same way it was with the Sedin era and one of the Sedins, Kesler, or Luongo, or during the WCE era with Naslund or Bertuzzi.   Keith and Moore scuttled those season's.   So get the concern.    

 

Vegas was completely dismantled with injuries then won a cup.    Let's start with playoffs.   Not terribly concerned about the D...so many number 5's now they can figure it out.    Protecting QHs is paramount.   I'd rather we did something to bring a Coleman or Bolland in, over a big name that's going to cost us the farm.  

 

The Lotto Line could be temporary.  Or stick.   We should have a better idea by the TDL. 

I believe RT will stick with the Lotto Line until it either stops producing or Canucks find a top 6 forward to play with Petey at TDL 

[Blue]

I swear we could acquire Morts Sieder and someone would still say "we need another defensman bru" 

 

 

[Jeremy Hronek]

On 1/18/2024 at 10:48 AM, Blue said:

I swear we could acquire Morts Sieder and someone would still say "we need another defensman bru" 

 

 

I wouldn’t be one of those people by the way.  You don’t seem to have understood my argument.

 

My argument is not that “we need another defenseman.”  We already have enough depth from #4-#7.  
 

My argument is that we need a legit #2A/#3 calibre defenseman since there is too big a drop off in talent between Hronek and whoever is our 3rd best defenseman.  Soucy, Cole, Myers, and Zadorov are all #4 calibre dmen at best. 
 

While any of those guys could play with Hughes or Hronek in case of injury (to Hughes or Hronek), such a pairing would no longer be elite……and hence, ultimately resulting in a loss of a massive strength for us.  
 

So my argument is that if we brought in a guy like Chychrun per se, who could anchor that 3rd pairing, we could then elevate a guy like Chychrun to the top pairing and keep said top pairing “elite” even if one of Hughes or Hronek got injured.

 

My ultimate argument is that the Canucks, at current, won’t be an elite team is Hughes gets injured. While we could work around any injuries to Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, and Demko, we would be significantly hampered if we lost Hughes for an extended period of time.

 

While our 2nd line of Suter, Mikheyev, and Kuzmenko sucks, it’s not too big of a deal because all of our other lines consistently produce offense.

Edited January 19 by Jeremy Hronek

[Provost]

A case can be made for both, we aren’t so good that we could overcome an injury to either a top pairing D or a 1st line centre.

[SV.]

4 minutes ago, Provost said:

A case can be made for both, we aren’t so good that we could overcome an injury to either a top pairing D or a 1st line centre.

Pretty much this.

If Hughes/Pettersson, or maybe even Miller, go down at any point - and we have been very fortunate in that regard - it's looking very spooky for this team.

[Provost]

7 minutes ago, SV. said:

Pretty much this.

If Hughes/Pettersson, or maybe even Miller, go down at any point - and we have been very fortunate in that regard - it's looking very spooky for this team.

Well I take it as all gravy right now anyways.  For the team to be this good right after spending so much time being so bad is rather startling.

[Junkyard Dog]

We do need a solid #3 who can play big minutes, ease the workload of Hughes/Hronek and be there in case injury to Hughes/Hronek. Also, be someone who can mentor Willander. 

 

You could argue either 2C vs #2/3 D and make a good argument. There's no real wrong answer. I prefer to add a #2/3 D because once Willander arrives we would potentially have the greatest D-core in the league If the #2/3 D and Willander both fit in well. 

 

The problem is they aren't readily available, they're costly and we have no cap. 

[Junkyard Dog]

If you keep the lotto line you need to create an entire 2nd line. A 2C is the start.

 

[DownUndaCanuck]

When you look at the make-up of Cup winning teams, they have two things in common - solid center depth and solid defence. Those centers are usually great two-way defenders as well, so defence wins Championships.

 

Recently, the defence of most good playoff teams revolves around one elite puck mover and 5 brutal physical shutdown guys. Vegas is the prime example - Theodore and Peitrangelo are both good puck movers to be fair. Pittsburgh had Letang and then 5 hardened shutdown guys. LA had Doughty and then the same - 5 shutdown boring defencemen. 

 

When you look at the Canucks we've obviously got Hughes as arguably the best puck mover in the game and then Hronek who is quite a good passer but very solid defensively, and the bottom-4 are physical, shutdown guys. They're not elite, they're not 22+ minute guys but they play solid defensively and don't cheat offensively. Myers is racking up some points but not by cheating this year. I really would like a 2LD shutdown defenceman to take some minutes off Hughes but obviously it would cost us. We're going to have an issue when Myers and Cole move on likely this off-season (Myers is going to want to get 3-4M and Cole is starting to slow down for sure), so we'll have quite a hole on the right side. Zadorov can play the right, but not too well. Willander is still a good couple of years away from 20+ minutes. 

 

It'd be a luxury to acquire a 20 minute defenceman now to replace Myers/Cole, and just have him around for the playoffs but we don't necessarily need it. Hughes and Hronek are so great that we could just roll this top-heavy lineup. However, the matchup game becomes massive in the playoffs, and our second shutdown pairing of Zadorov-Cole for example might get feasted on by a 2nd line centered around Draisaitl. Our bottom pairing is as good as any other team's though - we essentially have 3 or 4 4-5th defencemen on this team and two elite defencemen.

 

Regardless, the makeup of our D is pretty solid right now because of our two elite defencemen. Personally I'd love a shutdown, boring LD who plays quality minutes - someone like Slavin or Hanifin. Of course they'd be expensive, probably cost us 6-7M, but I'd rather roll with three 7M defencemen and then some really cheap bottom defencemen than an extra expensive center. If there's a way to get Pesce then we revolve around him.

 

Honestly I think Allvin will go for a big, physical winger this trade deadline, perhaps a center like Monahan if the price is right, and I think he's done with the defence. It is a very solid defence to be fair but I've seen some mistakes from Zadorov defensively and Cole does look like he's slowing down out there at times, so who knows how they'll go come playoff time. I guess it's our first playoffs as a team so will be interesting to see and we'll learn from whatever mistakes we make - who knows, we might play great defensively and physically in the matchup game but then our scoring might dry up completely and necessitate more offensive trades.