Are the Canucks trying to replicate the 2019 St Louis Blues Gigantic Dcore that won the Cup? Can it be successful in todays Hockey.

[UrbanImpact]

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.

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[GirardSpinorama]

No because the big guys in Vancouver lack the puck skills, mobility and hockey intelligence of JayBo, Pie and to a lessor extent Paraynko.

 

[tfwnogf]

all those big bodies...

 

[Frank the Tank]

all those big bodies...
View attachment 891891

I see a photographer captured the moment where someone let Pierre know that a Double Dion was in his future.

 

[PuckG]

A d-core that size holding an injured McDavid to 9 points in 7 games isn’t exactly good…

And the d-core got worse.

Nobody is frightened of the Canucks defence like you’re making it out to be.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Yes but only the part where they were in last place

 

[Mr Kot]

OP literally cannot stop thinking about the Oilers

 

[Reality Czech]

No because the big guys in Vancouver lack the puck skills, mobility and hockey intelligence of JayBo, Pie and to a lessor extent Paraynko.

Pretty much this. The Blues D had size and took up a lot of space but weren't really bruising, physical players aside from Eddy/Bortuzzo who were the 6/7 guys. They were just really good all around players.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

Boston is going the same way. Their top 6 average size is now 6'4" 220 lbs

Lindholm - 6'4, 224 lbs
Zadorov - 6'6, 248 lbs
Lohrei - 6'5, 211 lbs
McAvoy - 6'1, 209 lbs
Carlo - 6'5, 217 lbs
Peeke - 6'3, 214 lbs

 

[K1984]

All of the Nuck d men over 6 feet other than maybe Soucy suck.

That's why they aren't the Blues.

 

[oXo Cube]

Yes. Vancouver cracked the code. The secret to a Stanley Cup was to add Vincent Desharnais.

Thread is especially funny given that the one defender the Canucks have who actually does the heavy lifting also happens to be by far the smallest of the bunch.

 

[UrbanImpact]

No because the big guys in Vancouver lack the puck skills, mobility and hockey intelligence of JayBo, Pie and to a lessor extent Paraynko.

I cant say too much about Forbort or Deharnais yet because i havent been able to watch them closely, but mobility is a non issue for Soucy, Juulsen and Myers.

As for puck skills, again i want to re-iterate that Zadorov and Cole are the ones that primarily got replaced from last season in which the Canucks finished 6th in Goals for and 4th best Goals Against. How much more Puck skills is Zadorov/Cole going to have over Desharnais/Forbort. Zadorov despite a hot playoffs, only had 20 pts in the regular season last year.

 

[Juxtaposer]

The only D worth a damn on that entire blue line are 5’10” and 6’0”. So I’m gonna say no.

 

[Soundwave]

I don't think it really makes that much of a difference, it's a speed based league now, having a bunch of slower moving D can be a liability in the playoffs, it's one reason Desharnais was healthy scratched from the round 3 onwards, he couldn't keep up with the speed.

Other teams are tall too, it's not some super rare thing. The Oilers back end is

Ekholm 6'3
Bouchard 6'3
Nurse 6'4
Kulak 6'2
Broberg 6'4
Ceci 6'2

 

[Mez]

 

[Rydgar]

Highly unlikely, the Canucks play nothing like the 2019 St. Louis Blues.

 

[UrbanImpact]

The only D worth a damn on that entire blue line are 5’10” and 6’0”. So I’m gonna say no.

Soucy-Myers pairing under Tochett's system has been very good as a shutdown pair.

5'10 is Norris
6'0 is very very good

They can role with

Hronek-Forbort
Soucy-Myers
Hughes- Desharnais

Then when losing they can go nuclear and put Hughes-Hronek pairing back together.

The Blues 2019 D core probably only had 2 "stars" in Pietrangelo and Payarko. Vince Dunn didnt even really have his glow up yet at that time.

 

[UrbanImpact]

I don't think it really makes that much of a difference, it's a speed based league now, having a bunch of slower moving D can be a liability in the playoffs, it's one reason Desharnais was healthy scratched from the round 3 onwards, he couldn't keep up with the speed.

Other teams are tall too, it's not some super rare thing. The Oilers back end is

Ekholm 6'3
Bouchard 6'3
Nurse 6'4
Kulak 6'2
Broberg 6'4
Ceci 6'2

That is not the same as 6'8, 6'6, 6'5

Nurse being the biggest Oiler would be smaller than Myers, Soucy, Desharnais and equal to Forbort

 

[Soundwave]

That is not the same as 6'8, 6'6, 6'5

Nurse being the biggest Oiler would be smaller than Myers, Soucy, Desharnais and equal to Forbort

That would be great ... if they were playing basketball. In hockey the difference between being 6'4 and 6'6 is negligible. I'd rather be 6'4 and a step quicker than 6'6 where it's rare to have great movement. And even in modern basketball, height isn't what it used to be, small ball is all the rage.

The Oilers D are all relatively tall across the board too, the Canucks have Hughes who's a midget and Hronek who's not big as their main pairing.

 

[K1984]

That is not the same as 6'8, 6'6, 6'5

Nurse being the biggest Oiler would be smaller than Myers, Soucy, Desharnais and equal to Forbort

You're right, except those players on the Nucks aren't any good.

 

[UrbanImpact]

That would be great ... if they were playing basketball. In hockey the difference between 6'4 and 6'6 is negligible. And even in modern basketball, height isn't what it used to be, small ball is all the rage.

The Oilers D are all relatively tall across the board too, the Canucks have Hughes who's a midget and Hronek who's not big as their main pairing.

No its not negligible as " reach " is a big thing that comes along with Height along with Weight.

 

[Soundwave]

No its not negligible as " reach " is a big thing that comes along with Height along with Weight.

Height doesn't correspond 1:1 with wingspan, again this is common knowledge if you're an NBA fan, in the NBA draft there's always guys who are bit shorter but have a longer wingspan than taller players.

As it relates to hockey, I find most guys over 6'4 are slow, which isn't great. Being over 6'3 or 6'4 in hockey doesn't have a lot of advantage.

 

[UrbanImpact]

You're right, except those players on the Nucks aren't any good.

I beg to differ but sure.

Like i said i reserve judgement on Forbort/Desharnais but you wont be able to convince me that the top 2 pairings which includes a Norris winner arent any good considering like i mentioned, the Canucks finished tied for 3rd with Bruins in least goals given up last season.

Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers

 

[MS]

2019 is 'today's NHL' and it was successful for the Canucks last year.

They're far from the only team doing this although possibly the most extreme at this point. The pendulum on tiny defenders went one way in the 2010s and is going the opposite way in the 2020s as teams focus on limiting shot quality and protecting high-danger areas of the ice.

 

[HockeyVirus]

I mean, it is pretty evident the difference. The Blues best dmen were those monsters. The Canucks monsters listed are mostly bottom of the lineup dmen. Their best guys are their smallest