Nichushkin off to KHL on a two year deal. Gone are the Nuke and Horvat comparisons / I wishes

Stars' Nichushkin signs two-year KHL deal - Article - TSN

just for fun

going back to the 2010 entry draft
if you have the power to go back in time, knowing what you know today, and draft anyone we we didn't draft at that position (ie. you can't draft anyone already drafted before our pick)
what would our lineup look like today?

limit to 2 changes per draft year to keep things simple

I'm going to go with Kuznetsov, and maybe Smith-Pelly. He's a bargain for what he brings to any team he's on.

Seguin, Hall, Tarasenko all in the first round. That was a pretty strong draft year.

I love how the Canucks took Adam Polasek at pick # 145. What is with the Canucks and picking Polaseks?

:spamarama:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_Pol%C3%A1%C5%A1ek

Worst. Pick. Evar.

this is what I came up with

2010 (instead of McNally and Polasek)
J. Klingberg - D
B. Gallagher - RW
stand pat on other picks

2011 (instead of Jensen and Honzik)
B. Saad - LW
J. Gaudreau - LW
stand pat on other picks

2012 (instead of Mallet)
D. Severson - D
stand pat on other picks

2013
stand pat

2014 (instead of Virtanen)
D. Larkin
stand pat on other picks

Sedin Sedin Eriksson
Saad Larkin Gallagher
Gaudreau Horvat Hansen
Baertschi Sutter Burrows

extra: Dorsett, Etem, Granlund

Edler-Tanev
Klingberg-Gudbranson
Hutton-Tryamkin
Severson-Sbisa

extra: Pedan, Stecher, Larsen

goalies:
Markstrom, Miller, Demko


Is this team good enough to go the distance?

2010 - klingberg, stone
2011 - saad gaudreau
2012- Gostisbehere
2013- Theodore (no shink, no granlund trade)
2014 -larkin, demko (24th), Montour (no McCann, no gudbranson trade)

sedin-sedin-eriksson
gudreau-larkin-stone
saad-horvat-rodin
baer-sutter-hansen

edler-tanev
hutton-klingberg
ghost-tryamkin
Theodore

miller
markstrom

2.8mil over cap :( assuming gaud gets 7mil

Thanks for reminding us how terrible Canucks scouting is.

:derp:
totally forgot about Ghost

damn...if only the D pairings looked like that

the only real miss we had was saad. he was higher ranked, more of the offensive player gillis liked, amazing how he wasn't picked. aqua decision?

couldn't have projected the others at the time. Virtanen is still too early to complain about

with those guys we drafter in those years are any of them still with the canucks?

2010-2013. 4 drafts. 25 picks.
friesen 2010 6th -ahl
grenier 2011 3rd -ahl
labate 2011 4th -ahl
gaunce 2012 1st -ahl
hutton 2012 5th -nhl
horvat 2013 1st -nhl
cassels 2013 3rd -ahl
subban 2013 4th -ahl
cederholm 2013 5th -loan to shl

rest have been traded for others/let go
2013 1st shinkaruk for granlund (2nd 2011)
2011 1st Jensen for etem (2010 1st)
2011 4th McNally for 2015 7th

all I can think of

Remember we could've drafted kopitar!!!!! Lol

It's all hindsight. But what frustrates me is that we didn't really see any overhaul of the scouting department. We've seen coaches come and go but scouting? Only minor changes.

Scouting for benning so far has been pretty good. Need some time to see how it pans out but virtanen, demko, boeser, juolevi, tryamkin. It's been way better than gillis, no is era.

Benning is going to try his best to take some heat off Willie and let him do his job. This is Vancouver, fans and media will go all batshit without a declared #1 citing Lu/Schneids 2.0. You have to say it otherwise goalies and their delicate egos get butthurt, ala Lu saying outright he wasn't part of the Canucks future after losing the game 5 start to Schneider in 2012.

Winning a few games over a couple weeks behind a stacked team =/= being able to endure the grind of the 82 game season as a #1 backstopping a team that held the 3rd worst record in the league last year.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Markstrom is the goalie of the next 2-4 years, and likely Demko after 3+ years beyond. If you're Markstrom you just go about your job and do what you can to take that #1 away from Miller

How is the GM announcing that 1) Miller is the undisputed #1 on this team and 2) saying Miller will start about 55 games this year letting Willie do his job? Shouldn't it be the coach who decides who plays and how much?

Letting Willie do his job would be responding with, "That's up to Willie."

Boldly announcing BEFORE TRAINING CAMP that Miller is the #1 and he's already penciled in for 55 games is taking over/preventing Willie from doing his job ... and creates the optics of a rift between coaching and management if Markstrom starts more than Miller.

It would be different had Miller substantially outplayed Markstrom, but that wasn't the case last season.

Miller has, on several occasions since joining the Canucks, complained of fatigue while playing 96 games over 2 seasons (avg. 48 games/season; 45 + 51) ...

So, on one hand, we have a guy who admittedly can't handle a #1 workload in the Western Conference (and the GM penciling him in for more games than he's ever played in a Canucks uniform) ... and, on the other hand, we have a question mark who has never been a #1.

And the point is that Markstrom is the #2 on a top team in the World Cup (also was the #1 in the World Championships in May) while Miller wasn't even a consideration (Yes, I'm aware Sweden has fewer options in goal).

So Miller is the GM-proclaimed, undisputed #1 goaltender on this team in September 2016 yet, by July 1, 2017, he's not going to be worth keeping around or relegated to backup status? Seems a bit insincere if that's truly Benning's plan.

Why do people bother arguing with Jmac...

While there is projected talent from a draft. How great is the affect of post draft development?

I'm just throwing in the hypothetical of maybe said player from another team wouldn't have developed as well due to management, on ice leadership, etc.

Or someone we drafted would have flourished with specific guidance from teammates, playing environment from another team, etc.

Thoughts/opinions on that?

We've also seen willie coach, and make the decisions. 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,4,4,4,3,2,1. sedins not taking offensive faceoffs, no line matching, bad scratches etc. those are all 100% coaching decision in the end.

He also has to point it out, because in Vancouver they love to take goal tending controversies to the next level. We all know that by the end of the year, the one who plays the most will be the one thats playing best, and that will be Markstrom. Yet its difficult for goalies to jump from the ahl to nhl even if its 30 games. then theres another jump from 30 to 50 games. By slowly increasing their amount of games while not putting pressure on them and saying "hey, hes out number 1. instead of 31 games, hes gonna play 60 and carry us to the playoffs" it helps them progress.

Florida basically threw markstrom to the wolves when he didnt have the experience or stamina for 30 games, and it destroyed his confidence, and play. you dont want that happening again, when hes bounced back. let him flourish slowly, and take over with a veteran backup next year who can cover 25-40games if need be.


Miller has always complained, about everything. Do you really want a guy making 6mil whos supposed to be an older mentor pouting about not knowing his direction or place on the team because management didnt show him the confidence? Im sure vrbata showed young players how well to be a pro by mailing it in last year and ruining any trade value

Post-draft development is huge, IMO. Guys who aren't picked high usually have a handful of question marks surrounding them and they don't generally overcome those deficiencies on their own.

:lawl:

http://i.giphy.com/fDzM81OYrNjJC.gif

Well, that's enough internet for me today.
RIP US Hockey.

It wasnt hindsight. He was rated top european and TSN panel were all going crazy like :rukidding: everybody skipping him. It was people think that solvenia is not a hockey country

I think its the complete opposite; gm and coach and staff sit down, have meetings, come up with a PLAN and expectations for performance of the players.

By saying its all up to Willie, you're basically pre-throwing him under the bus if the players don't deliver. Based on the previous 2 seasons, expecting miller to start ONLY 55 is perfectly reasonable, and allows him to keep the #1 title deservedly or not. Last 2 seasons he's probably pencilled in for 65-70 games due to the relative unknowns in the backups. The coach is given limits on how much he can ride miller bc we saw last season at times miller being over played when he got strings of consecutive games. He'll inevitably battle at least an injury or 2, so realistically the split will be close to 50/50.

Once again IMO when Miller was fresh and rested, I think his play was notably better than Markstrom's. By planning for miller to have a reduced workload, he can have his rest and perform better in the more limited starts. I do expect Markstrom to be better this year though and that in and of itself will also push miller to be better. If Markstrom is consistently better and gives the team the better chance to win, I don't think anybody has problems with giving him more games especially if there is even a sniff of the playoffs

Its just a title, get over it. Let miller feel good, perform well, move him at the deadline for a middling draft pick and give him a chance to win. You are proposing we crown Markstrom the default starter? Or 1a and 1b? We've seen how that story ends in this market...

Miller's no dummy. He knows he's old. He knows he won't be worth 6m a season come next contract in a young mans game. But if Markstrom can't deliver next season, I wouldn't be surprised if Benning offers miller a year or two at 3-4m as a stopgap measure waiting for Markstrom/demko to develop. Its a business, sincerity isn't a requirement

Hard to say Bourdon was a bad pick though. Thought he was just rounding into form right before the accident.

I always hate seeing the kopitar example because we sadly never got to see what Luc could have done.

The Kopitar example is more for the Blue Jackets
They really fucked up with Brule

Bourdon could've became the #1 dman Edler never was. lol

But fuck sakes...PATRICK FUCKING WHITE...why did we even draft him in the first round?

lol.