Great offseason so far from management. I am pretty optimistic for the upcoming year.

[Canuckfanforlife82]

Hey everyone,

 

I just wanted to start the new season with words of optimism. I was pretty negative during free agency and I am amazed at what Allvin was able to pull off. He sure is an amazing GM when compared to the previous regime and I just think anything is possible with this group. My only hope now is that they can get one more top right handed dman before the start of the year. Not sure if that can happen but I am optimistic with this group. I hope everyone is having an amazing and safe summer and I can’t wait for the new season to begin. Cheers everyone!

Edited July 30 by Canuckfanforlife82

[nux_win]

Me too.  I haven't been so optimistic about an upcoming Canucks' season in years.  I think that we're going to surprise a lot of people - again.  Go Canucks Go!

[HarbularyBattery]

Agreed. Our cap situation for the next 5 years also looks really good. Much better than most other teams.

 

What an impressive turnaround. 

[Reg]

Agree our management team has been impressive. And I am also optimistic about the coming season. That said however I believe other teams have improved as well. I just hope we get off to a good start like last year. Create a strategy/tactics to beat the other opponents in our division. Best of luck to the boys for 2024/2025. Cheers!

[Crabcakes]

Top 6 is better with DeBrusk.  They now have 4 bona fide top 6 players and a partner for both centres.

Bottom 6 is better

D may look a little worse right now but I think that Desharnais can be coached up by Foote and Gonchar.  We'll see what people think after Christmas.

Goaltending is as good as last year

Overall, there is better team depth.  There are at least 5 players other than Miller, Boeser, Petey and DeBrusk who could play top 6 as well:  Suter, Joshua, Garland, Hoglander and Heinen 

[Sophomore Jinx]

16 minutes ago, Crabcakes said:

Top 6 is better with DeBrusk.  They now have 4 bona fide top 6 players and a partner for both centres.

Bottom 6 is better

D may look a little worse right now but I think that Desharnais can be coached up by Foote and Gonchar.  We'll see what people think after Christmas.

Goaltending is as good as last year

Overall, there is better team depth.  There are at least 5 players other than Miller, Boeser, Petey and DeBrusk who could play top 6 as well:  Suter, Joshua, Garland, Hoglander and Heinen 

Sprong too, I think he'll have a great season

[Nucker67]

One thing about JR/Allvin - I'm not worried that they'll mess up the team by handing out bad contracts or getting schooled in trades. They usually get the players they want at a lower cost than everyone expects. Thinking back to the Benning/Desjardins era - those were dark days. Canucks are now one of the best teams in the league, with the best management and coaching, and I think they'll be even better next season.

 

Tough to lose Zadorov and Lindholm, but great job filling spots with players who may flourish under Tocchet. Hughes made a comment about how difficult it was to play against Sherwood, now he's on our team. DeBrusk and Heinen will really help that Top 6 as well. 

 

Yeo is gone, Yogi is in, and with the Sedins being very involved with the PP, I like their chances at improving the PP a lot from last season. 

 

Demko-Silovs will be a very good tandem. They should be one of the best next season.

 

The D still concerns me, but I don't think JR/Allvin are done.

[Hammertime]

Proof is in the puddin. I feel like aside from Debrusk they were all pretty low risk high reward signings. Though I do feel Zee @ 5m is better than Desi + Bort + Poolman off LTI. 

 

But overall I feel like they deserve a B grade. We got guys that fit our system and needs. Our fwd group looks legit. Ill give our D a pass it's better than it was this time last year. 

[DrJockitch]

I like the moves overall. Forwards are faster, deeper, shoot more and have a general overall better fit for Tocch’s system. 
D I like the decisions less but it is better than was at start of last year. I would have let Myers go, willing to see what happens with Forbort and Desharnais, see if they can be a decent pairing.  Still a bit deeper but a little less quality compared to last year. 
Gis what it is. Demko is fantastic but unreliable, Arty is growing and we will see if he can be a quality NHL backup. Would like to see another vet NHL tweener but if Ian Clark believes in Patera who am I to question. 
If I needed to be critical, it is that we still depend too much on building through UFAs and trade a lot of pics. Hasn’t changed since Gillis. In a rebuild, we load up with UFAs and trade away pics, when we are good and looking to build for a run we trade pics and are over-reliant on UFAs.  Feel like every year we build half the D through  UFAs.   PA does a lot more in trades than the previous GMs but still we added, and needed to add, 4 wingers, 3 D and a goalie.  

[Crabcakes]

On 7/31/2024 at 5:14 AM, DrJockitch said:

I like the moves overall. Forwards are faster, deeper, shoot more and have a general overall better fit for Tocch’s system. 
D I like the decisions less but it is better than was at start of last year. I would have let Myers go, willing to see what happens with Forbort and Desharnais, see if they can be a decent pairing.  Still a bit deeper but a little less quality compared to last year. 
Gis what it is. Demko is fantastic but unreliable, Arty is growing and we will see if he can be a quality NHL backup. Would like to see another vet NHL tweener but if Ian Clark believes in Patera who am I to question. 
If I needed to be critical, it is that we still depend too much on building through UFAs and trade a lot of pics. Hasn’t changed since Gillis. In a rebuild, we load up with UFAs and trade away pics, when we are good and looking to build for a run we trade pics and are over-reliant on UFAs.  Feel like every year we build half the D through  UFAs.   PA does a lot more in trades than the previous GMs but still we added, and needed to add, 4 wingers, 3 D and a goalie.  

 

At this stage of the development curve of the team, we need to be bringing in players who are ready to play or are very close to it.   Draft picks are important long term but drafted players won't be helping this core for 3-5 years at least.  Trading picks or signing UFA's is the way to bring aboard talent without giving up current assets.   The only reason to be trading assets is to dump cap.  The other way to dump cap of course is to not re-sign players.  Allvin is doing exactly what he should be doing.

[Tocchet.A.Hockey.God]

I feel that everyone that cheers for the Sprong signing, and to some extent the DeBrusk signing is unknowingly allowing the management to feel save parting ways with Boeser and that kind of makes me sad. If Sprong is able to hit 25 goals and Debrusk the 30-35 goal mark, management is going to play hard ball with Boeser even if he hits 40 goals again. Their thinking will probably come done to "we can find the next Brock." we have heard them say it before. I believer Boeser in bodies what a Canuck is. As the currently longest serving Canucks and a draft product of the Canucks it will be sad to see him go. 

[spook007]

On 7/30/2024 at 8:28 PM, Canuckfanforlife82 said:

Hey everyone,

 

I just wanted to start the new season with words of optimism. I was pretty negative during free agency and I am amazed at what Allvin was able to pull off. He sure is an amazing GM when compared to the previous regime and I just think anything is possible with this group. My only hope now is that they can get one more top right handed dman before the start of the year. Not sure if that can happen but I am optimistic with this group. I hope everyone is having an amazing and safe summer and I can’t wait for the new season to begin. Cheers everyone!

 

@Canuckfanforlife82 I think your account has been hacked..........................................................

[WillisD]

Wow being positive only gets you one page lol. I'm looking forward to seeing how these guys can play also and am thinking they will be a better overall. Our defence is a bit up in the air but no doubt we will be tougher to play against and I love that. 

I hate soft teams. 

[DrJockitch]

8 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

 

At this stage of the development curve of the team, we need to be bringing in players who are ready to play or are very close to it.   Draft picks are important long term but drafted players won't be helping this core for 3-5 years at least.  Trading picks or signing UFA's is the way to bring aboard talent without giving up current assets.   The only reason to be trading assets is to dump cap.  The other way to dump cap of course is to not re-sign players.  Allvin is doing exactly what he should be doing.

It is a systemic issue that has plagued the team for decades and is very hard to do anything about at this stage of the team cycle. Gillis rightfully burned a tonne of pics to try to win the cup but the way he did it and the incompetence in his drafting and development shortened the window for the Sedin’s team. Benning just burned pics through a rebuild in a completely non-sensible fashion which prolonged the rebuild and put is in a position of depleted pics, poor prospect pool but a few really good pieces too build around but nothing coming behind them. 
‘Allvin is doing what he should be doing and doing a good job of it but a team that needs to build a D in the UFA market every season and that needs to fill 4-5 holes up front in the UFA market every season is not a team that is going to be great for long. You are just going to get some players that don’t work just on probability. PA has done a great job of moving on from those players though. 
Again, in the balance PA is doing a great job, these are minor observations more than complaints, we are working like a JR managed team and JR hates draft pics with a passion. Our prospect pool is extremely thin from the incompetence of Benning and the general philosophy of JR and so we are over-reliant on UFAs. At least now our prospects have to prove it before making the team unlike under Benning and our pro scouting is extremely competent. 
It has taken a couple years (and faster than could reasonably be expected) but we have reached the point we don’t really have any bad contracts and our overall salary structure looks really good over the next few years even with the OEL penalty. 
Next off-season the poaching of management begins. Foote or Gonchar will be off to a HC job and EC may be looking for a full GM position(though this seems less likely).

[Gawdzukes]

On 7/30/2024 at 8:42 PM, Hammertime said:

Proof is in the puddin. I feel like aside from Debrusk they were all pretty low risk high reward signings. Though I do feel Zee @ 5m is better than Desi + Bort + Poolman off LTI. 

 

But overall I feel like they deserve a B grade. We got guys that fit our system and needs. Our fwd group looks legit. Ill give our D a pass it's better than it was this time last year. 

 

Who are these people?

 

Edit: Oh you mean Forbort and Desharnais? I would say he's probably better than Forbort ... to be honest though not sure he'll be that much better than Desharnais, if at all, who is a better PKer (Forbort too). They are also two players, not one, and Poolman moved costs another high asset or no deadline maneuverability if on LTIR. All 3 are just essentially big bodies who hit hard. Slight edge offensively to Zads. I'm happy we went the way we did. That 6 years will not age well. We'll see how it shakes out this season I guess.

Edited August 2 by Gawdzukes

[AK-19]

13 hours ago, Tocchet.A.Hockey.God said:

I feel that everyone that cheers for the Sprong signing, and to some extent the DeBrusk signing is unknowingly allowing the management to feel save parting ways with Boeser and that kind of makes me sad. If Sprong is able to hit 25 goals and Debrusk the 30-35 goal mark, management is going to play hard ball with Boeser even if he hits 40 goals again. Their thinking will probably come done to "we can find the next Brock." we have heard them say it before. I believer Boeser in bodies what a Canuck is. As the currently longest serving Canucks and a draft product of the Canucks it will be sad to see him go. 

If Brock hits 40 next season, Debrusk hits 35 and Sprong hits 25, chances are we're winning the cup and I don't really care what happens after 

Edited August 2 by AK-19

[Ghostsof1915]

Much like last year, and to brace myself, I have no expectations for this year. I think if the team storms out of the gate early again (even though the schedule looks tougher) then the team will be in great shape. The question marks will be on defence. We will see who does what and what position? Will they split Hughes and Hronek?

Who will step up? The team looks like on paper like it's going to be a total pain to play against. And I can get behind a team like that.

[Hammertime]

4 hours ago, Gawdzukes said:

 

Who are these people?

 

Edit: Oh you mean Forbort and Desharnais? I would say he's probably better than Forbort ... to be honest though not sure he'll be that much better than Desharnais, if at all, who is a better PKer (Forbort too). They are also two players, not one, and Poolman moved costs another high asset or no deadline maneuverability if on LTIR. All 3 are just essentially big bodies who hit hard. Slight edge offensively to Zads. I'm happy we went the way we did. That 6 years will not age well. We'll see how it shakes out this season I guess.

Absolutely. I usually feel quality over quantity. We played Descharnais. His on ice presence in the payoffs was not comparable to Zads. 

[Crabcakes]

12 hours ago, DrJockitch said:

It is a systemic issue that has plagued the team for decades and is very hard to do anything about at this stage of the team cycle. Gillis rightfully burned a tonne of pics to try to win the cup but the way he did it and the incompetence in his drafting and development shortened the window for the Sedin’s team. Benning just burned pics through a rebuild in a completely non-sensible fashion which prolonged the rebuild and put is in a position of depleted pics, poor prospect pool but a few really good pieces too build around but nothing coming behind them. 
‘Allvin is doing what he should be doing and doing a good job of it but a team that needs to build a D in the UFA market every season and that needs to fill 4-5 holes up front in the UFA market every season is not a team that is going to be great for long. You are just going to get some players that don’t work just on probability. PA has done a great job of moving on from those players though. 
Again, in the balance PA is doing a great job, these are minor observations more than complaints, we are working like a JR managed team and JR hates draft pics with a passion. Our prospect pool is extremely thin from the incompetence of Benning and the general philosophy of JR and so we are over-reliant on UFAs. At least now our prospects have to prove it before making the team unlike under Benning and our pro scouting is extremely competent. 
It has taken a couple years (and faster than could reasonably be expected) but we have reached the point we don’t really have any bad contracts and our overall salary structure looks really good over the next few years even with the OEL penalty. 
Next off-season the poaching of management begins. Foote or Gonchar will be off to a HC job and EC may be looking for a full GM position(though this seems less likely).

 

I agree with your assessment of how the Canucks got here.  Your post sounds a lot like the criticisms that I was making 10 years ago.   I just hope this version of the Canucks get a shot at the cup before they reach 30 like the Sedins

 

I know Miller is already there but the essential players to build around with this group are Pettersson (25) and Hughes (24).  They are to this team what the Sedin's were to the 2011 team.

[Johnny]

I had already accepted the rea possibility that the team would take a big step back this year by losing a few key UFAs and needing to unload a couple players.

 

Im very impressed that basically the only player that started on the roster last year who played well and isnt there any more is Cole.

 

The management has done a great job by keeping a good roster and having room for prospects to push for a spot

[Gawdzukes]

18 hours ago, Hammertime said:

Absolutely. I usually feel quality over quantity. We played Descharnais. His on ice presence in the payoffs was not comparable to Zads. 

 

No, but Desharnais did improve and had a presence too. I think they will be more comparable this season as Zads definitely isn't going to score 51 points this season as per his playoff ppg. I think he'll revert back to being inconsistent, get about 18-20 points, and take a lot of bad penalties. He had 102 min in 54 games with us last year alone, my gawd that's brutal. I get the quality over quantity debate but we also needed to fill the squad with players. You don't get much lower than Forbort at $1.5 ... at most you could save $750,000 and play some crap player but that's self defeating.

 

The biggest thing for me is we didn't lose much size at all, and our new players are pretty nasty and hit hard and often as well.  I understand your stance though. We'll see how it plays out. For me making smart cap decisions was more important than retaining Zads.

[Gawdzukes]

On 8/1/2024 at 11:35 PM, Tocchet.A.Hockey.God said:

I feel that everyone that cheers for the Sprong signing, and to some extent the DeBrusk signing is unknowingly allowing the management to feel save parting ways with Boeser and that kind of makes me sad. If Sprong is able to hit 25 goals and Debrusk the 30-35 goal mark, management is going to play hard ball with Boeser even if he hits 40 goals again. Their thinking will probably come done to "we can find the next Brock." we have heard them say it before. I believer Boeser in bodies what a Canuck is. As the currently longest serving Canucks and a draft product of the Canucks it will be sad to see him go. 

 

I don't agree on Boeser at all. They did not sign Debrusk and Sprong  just to let go of Boeser, nor do the have any intent on not re-signing him. This group doesn't just let top line core players go for no reason.

Edited August 3 by Gawdzukes

[Silent Man]

Meanwhile, the training camp stars next month.

Just saying…

[Canuckfanforlife82]

On 8/2/2024 at 5:34 AM, WillisD said:

Wow being positive only gets you one page lol. I'm looking forward to seeing how these guys can play also and am thinking they will be a better overall. Our defence is a bit up in the air but no doubt we will be tougher to play against and I love that. 

I hate soft teams. 

Well I hope it’s not true that they are thinking of playing Desharnais with Hughes. There was a reason he played as a seventh d man in Edmonton and they aren’t exactly a team deep at d. They have to find someone better than that. Maybe McWard will surprise. I really like him.

Edited August 8 by Canuckfanforlife82

[WillisD]

5 hours ago, Canuckfanforlife82 said:

Well I hope it’s not true that they are thinking of playing Desharnais with Hughes. There was a reason he played as a seventh d man in Edmonton and they aren’t exactly a team deep at d. They have to find someone better than that. Maybe McWard will surprise. I really like him.

Yeah I read that too and said wtf? Can't see Desharnais having that kinda talent to pair w Huggy. Love to see him prove me wrong though.