YOUR VANCOUVER CANUCKS ROSTER [PROPOSAL]

[NorthWestNuck]

17 hours ago, Esmond said:

wheres garland?

Hopefully shipped out before the start of the season.

[Canuckle]

Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Mikheyev

Podkolzin-Miller-Boeser

Beauvillier-Suter-Garland

Joshua-Bluegar-Studnicka

 

Hughes-Juulsen

Soucy-Hronek

Cole-Myers

[Alflives]

3 minutes ago, Canuckle said:

Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Mikheyev

Podkolzin-Miller-Boeser

Beauvillier-Suter-Garland

Joshua-Bluegar-Studnicka

 

Hughes-Juulsen

Soucy-Hronek

Cole-Myers

Forwards look possible. D will have Cole in our top 4 and most likely with Hughes. Juulsson isn’t on the club. 

[Canuckle]

1 minute ago, Alflives said:

 Cole with Hughes.

I originally thought that too, but after Tocchet said he really likes (or wants) Lefty righty pairings I don't know what to think. Maybe McWard fights his way up?

 

Maybe even end up:

 

Hughes-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

Cole as LD/RD- rotating cast?

 

But yeah could still easily be Hughes-Cole. "Like" or "want" may not be an option, two lefties being a necessity at this point (until Willander potentially Brzustewicz are ready to fight for roster spots next year anyway.)

[DownUndaCanuck]

Mikheyev - Pettersson - Kuzmenko

Podkolzin - Miller - Boeser

Beauvillier - Suter - Garland

Joshua - Blueger - Hoglander

 

Hughes - Cole

Soucy - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

Irwin

Wolanin

Rathbone

 

Demko

DeSmith

Silovs

Martin

 

Sadly I don't think Podz will be consistent or good enough to remain in our top 6 so we'll probably see a lot of rotation on Miller's wing. Would love an Abby guy to grab some more offensive minutes.

[Jeremy Hronek]

On 9/20/2023 at 10:31 AM, PunjabiCanucks said:

With the trading of Pearson and with Poolman on LTIR- give me your 2023/2024 Canucks NHL Roster for opening night

 

Are the Canucks one Top Pairing RD away from being a Top 12  NHL Team?

 

I'll try and add a different element to this thread rather than post a line-up which will likely be similar to other line-ups in this thread. 

 

Without the risk of sounding homeristic, I think the Canucks would actually be a Top 10 calibre team this season if they had another top pairing defenseman.  

 

Lets have a look:

 

Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Beauvillier

Hoglander-Miller-Boeser (Mikheyev replaces Hoglander upon returning)

PDG-Suter-Garland  (Bluegar moves to 3C + Suter moves to wing if Raty makes team)

Podkolzin-Bluegar-Joshua (Hoglander replaces Joshua + Maybe Raty makes the team).  [pretty decent up front overall]

 

Hughes-???

Soucy-Hronek [very strong 2nd pairing]

Cole-Myers [very strong 3rd pairing]  Hirose is NHL ready and should be playing with Cole.  

 

Hirose, McWard, Wolanin, etc. [very good depth]

 

Demko [elitę starter]

DeSmith [good back-up]

 

For me, the only real weakness is our defence. 

 

Ideally, 

 

1) Soucy would be a #4

2) Cole would be a #5.   

 

So, if we could somehow bring in another Top pairing RD to play with Hughes, we'd be at or close to the Top 12 in the league in my opinion........which ultimately results in the Canucks having taken that "next step,"..........which ultimately convinces guys like Pettersson and Hronek to sign long term with us (which is ultimately what all of this is about).   

 

The good news?   The Canucks likely have that RD within our system in Tom Willander.  

 

The bad news is that Pettersson is going to make his long term plans dependent on how we do this season + the Canucks need to start winning NOW if they want to maximize the years they have Kuzmenko, Demko, and Hughes under contract.

 

So long story short, I think the Canucks still need to find a way to move and upgrade on Tyler Myers while simultaneously bringing in a (superior) defenseman that has a cap hit equal to or lower than Myers and is signed short term......so that we can walk away from said player once Tom Willander is ready.   

 

One guy that I have in mind is Chris Tanev but I can't see Calgary trading us such an important piece.  So - basically someone like Chris Tanev? (i.e. an aging top pairing d-man that can be with us for 1-2 years until Willander is ready to replace said d-man).   

 

 

[Alflives]

4 hours ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

 

Are the Canucks one Top Pairing RD away from being a Top 12  NHL Team?

 

I'll try and add a different element to this thread rather than post a line-up which will likely be similar to other line-ups in this thread. 

 

Without the risk of sounding homeristic, I think the Canucks would actually be a Top 10 calibre team this season if they had another top pairing defenseman.  

 

Lets have a look:

 

Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Beauvillier

Hoglander-Miller-Boeser (Mikheyev replaces Hoglander upon returning)

PDG-Suter-Garland  (Bluegar moves to 3C + Suter moves to wing if Raty makes team)

Podkolzin-Bluegar-Joshua (Hoglander replaces Joshua + Maybe Raty makes the team).  [pretty decent up front overall]

 

Hughes-???

Soucy-Hronek [very strong 2nd pairing]

Cole-Myers [very strong 3rd pairing]  Hirose is NHL ready and should be playing with Cole.  

 

Hirose, McWard, Wolanin, etc. [very good depth]

 

Demko [elitę starter]

DeSmith [good back-up]

 

For me, the only real weakness is our defence. 

 

Ideally, 

 

1) Soucy would be a #4

2) Cole would be a #5.   

 

So, if we could somehow bring in another Top pairing RD to play with Hughes, we'd be at or close to the Top 12 in the league in my opinion........which ultimately results in the Canucks having taken that "next step,"..........which ultimately convinces guys like Pettersson and Hronek to sign long term with us (which is ultimately what all of this is about).   

 

The good news?   The Canucks likely have that RD within our system in Tom Willander.  

 

The bad news is that Pettersson is going to make his long term plans dependent on how we do this season + the Canucks need to start winning NOW if they want to maximize the years they have Kuzmenko, Demko, and Hughes under contract.

 

So long story short, I think the Canucks still need to find a way to move and upgrade on Tyler Myers while simultaneously bringing in a (superior) defenseman that has a cap hit equal to or lower than Myers and is signed short term......so that we can walk away from said player once Tom Willander is ready.   

 

One guy that I have in mind is Chris Tanev but I can't see Calgary trading us such an important piece.  So - basically someone like Chris Tanev? (i.e. an aging top pairing d-man that can be with us for 1-2 years until Willander is ready to replace said d-man).   

 

 

Tanev is perfect. He was perfect when Benning  didn’t want him and chose to bring in a more expensive Schmidt and then an even more expensive OEL to fill the void. Stupid Benning. 

[Jeremy Hronek]

23 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Tanev is perfect. He was perfect when Benning  didn’t want him and chose to bring in a more expensive Schmidt and then an even more expensive OEL to fill the void. Stupid Benning. 

 

Agreed.

 

In retrospect, Benning's post bubble off-season was quite disastrous.  I think Benning got too obsessed with puck-moving defensemen and didn't fully consider the fact that guys like Edler and Tanev were the ones putting their bodies on the line on the PK and on defense. Guys like OEL, Schmidt, and Myers were pegged as "two-way defensemen" by Benning (which is why Benning believed that they could fill the void of Edler and Tanev), when in reality, these guys were stylistically closer to being "offensive defensemen."   None of those three guys are willing to sacrifice their bodies in the way that both Edler and Tanev did for us, and also did not provide that stay-at-home presence like those guys.  OEL did for his first 2/3's of his 1st season here but had a porous season last season since he couldn't train properly in the Summer.

 

In retrospect, here is what I would have done differently if we could do the 2020 off-season all over again.

 

1) Toffoli over Holtby 

2) Tanev over Schmidt

3) Markstrom over Demko 

4) 1st rounder as a sweetener to move Sutter and Virtanen

5) Sign cheaper back-up

6) Trade Demko for a 1st rounder to recoup the pick lost in the above Sutter/Virtanen deal

7) Use Podkolzin and the 1st rounder as part of a packaged deal to try and trade for Hampus Lindholm at some point.  

 

I don't know if my above idea would have worked given that Markstrom's body is and was starting to break down, but that's loosely what I would have tried to do.