It seems that the Canucks want a massive massive Dcore. Much like the 2019 St Louis D-Core that ground and pounded their way to a cup.
2019: Blues D
Alex Pietrangelo: 6'3- 215lbs
Colton Parayko: 6'6 - 230lbs
Jay Bouwmeester: 6'4- 205lbs
Joel Edmundson: 6'5 220 lbs
Carl Gunnarson- 6'2- 200lbs
*Vince Dunn- 6'0- 200 lbs
2024/25 Canucks Dcore
Tyler Myers: 6'8 225lbs
Carson Soucy: 6'5 210lbs
V Desharnais: 6'6 220lbs
D Forbort: 6'4 210 lbs
N Juulsen 6'2 205lbs
Hronek 6'0 190 lbs
Q Hughes 5'10 180lbs
Do you think this ground and pound system can be successfull? even in the regular season? If i recall , the 2018/19 St Louis Blues struggled at the first part of that year and it wasnt until the 2nd half and playoffs ( when reffs tend to swallow the whistle) that their Dcore became more successful.
Can this blue print be successful the way the game is played in 2024 which is with speed and more speed. Is there enough puck movers? An option would be to separate Hughes and Hronek and pair each of them with a Giant.
Of note, the past playoffs, the Canucks iced a pretty similar D Core. They had Zadorov and Ian Cole as part of the core before they had to replace them with Desharnais and Forbort.
This D Core "bully" system "Held down" Mcdavid to 9 pts in 7 games and held him pointless in 2 of the 7 playoff games including game 7.
One thing is certain, much like the 2019 Blues Team, i dont think anybody will be excited to play the Canucks because win or lose, the opponent will not be coming out of that series healthy, much like the Oilers did not come out healthy vs the Canucks in the 2nd round this season.
We all know it a copy cat league but im trully curious if this is a plausible path to the Cup in today's hockey.