Vancouver Canucks - Improve or Regress?

[PeteEakins]

I don’t understand you people.

They lost Elias Lindholm who was Kuzmenko for most of the regular season and replaced them with Jake DeBrusk. The rest of their forward additions were players no one wanted. And somehow, they’re “better” up front?

I don’t understand HF logic.

They got worse on defense. They got worse on forwards. Demko is always injured. Just tell the truth.

 

[Three On Zero]

Forwards - improved
Defence - regressed due to lack of puck movers in a faster league
Goaltending - same

Doubt they win the division but they’ll make the playoffs

 

[Stive Morgan]

Pretty much the same. I see the core group doing the same/maybe a bit better (specifically Boeser/Petey) but maybe they don't finish as high in the standings as they did last year. I doubt they get 50 wins again, but I see them making the playoffs though, or at least in the race, especially with how weak the Pacific looks.

 

[jackjohnson]

Fringe playoff team. They're gonna regress, hard.

Didnt know losing Zadorov was like losing a bonafide numver 1 Dman like Hughes

 

[jackjohnson]

The lineup is slightly worse, and they were really lucky last year. It’s hard to imagine they don’t regress, but they’ll still be a solid team

We had Petersson injury in January which made him ineffective, soucy injury for months and Demko being out 2 months along with others yet we made not only the playoffs but won the division. How were we really "lucky"?? If anything Oilers were lucky with schedule last year and McDavid being only injured for a week while the rest of the oilers lineup was healthy

 

[Mrfenn92]

A bit of a regression

 

[jackjohnson]

Canucks didn’t have demko, no boeser for game 7 and an injury that was easily plaguing EP and they got within a goal to force overtime to go to the conf final. They will be in the mix again if they can be healthy

Yep, people really underestimate Canucks depth and they forget we had injuries to key players. Canucks might trade for another 3rd line C and another top 4 D during the season otherwise they are solid and will be better in future once Walinder, Lekker, E. pettersson join the team

 

[nowhereman]

I don’t understand you people.

They lost Elias Lindholm who was Kuzmenko for most of the regular season and replaced them with Jake DeBrusk. The rest of their forward additions were players no one wanted. And somehow, they’re “better” up front?

I don’t understand HF logic.

They got worse on defense. They got worse on forwards. Demko is always injured. Just tell the truth.

Just because you don't know anything about any of the players they signed, doesn't mean they aren't improved. Unless you think Sam Lafferty and Phillip Di Giuseppe are better than Danton Heinen and Keifer Sherwood. Debrusk is a wash, at worst, and will probably fit in better than Lindholm.

Their depth improved, without a doubt. And if Pettersson bounces back to his dominant self, they are very clearly better.

 

[jackjohnson]

Other than Demko the Nucks suffered zero significant injuries, and even that injury didn’t happen until near the end of the season. Unlikely to be repeated obviously, but if Demko stays healthy and the other injuries aren’t too bad then they probably won’t regress much if at all.

Soucy being injured for multiple months and Pettersson knee injury in January rendering him ineffective are serious key injuries.

 

[jackjohnson]

The Pacific stinks. You actually think there are 3 teams better than them?

That guy is off his rocker and too biased against Canucks so i would not take him seriously

 

[I am not exposed]

Regress but should still make the playoffs

 

[VanillaCoke]

Top three Pacific Division.

 

[jackjohnson]

Forwards are better
D is worse
Goaltending the same

They will be in the playoffs

D is slightly worst but they will trade like last season to improve or maybe one of our D prospects or Brisbois who was injured last year makes the team. Zadorov only showed up in playoffs and was pretty average in regular season getting scratched sometimes or playing as the 5th D so it wont be a huge drop off as some people think.

 

[jackjohnson]

Pretty much the same. I see the core group doing the same/maybe a bit better (specifically Boeser/Petey) but maybe they don't finish as high in the standings as they did last year. I doubt they get 50 wins again, but I see them making the playoffs though, or at least in the race, especially with how weak the Pacific looks.

They will be top 3 in the division as the division is super weak and it wont be a race. Anaheim is awful, San Jose is terrible, Seattle improved a bit but not a major playoff team and probably bubble team, Calgary is worst than last year with players they lost in Markstrom, zadorov, lindholm and possibly Kadri, vegas will regress big time due to loss of Marchy, Stephenson, Carrier, etc. LA isnt that great since they lost depth due to PLD trade then traded PLD for bag of pucks. So whp do we have left?? Vancouver and Edmonton. I mean where is the competition in pacific since most teams regressed in this division?

 

[jackjohnson]

I don’t understand you people.

They lost Elias Lindholm who was Kuzmenko for most of the regular season and replaced them with Jake DeBrusk. The rest of their forward additions were players no one wanted. And somehow, they’re “better” up front?

I don’t understand HF logic.

They got worse on defense. They got worse on forwards. Demko is always injured. Just tell the truth.

We lost Kuzmenko who had 10 goals in 50 games and was scratched for 25 games and replaced him with 30 goal scorer Debrusk who is very strong defensively, Danton Heinen who can put up 20 goals and Sprong who can put 20 goals and 40 points up along with Sherwood who is a banger on the 4th line. We lost Kuzmenko who barely played, we didnt lose Gretzky here and we added 4 to 5 good forwards to compensate for that, so i dont get how they got weaker in Forward. Please explain that part to me because it makes zero sense?

 

[credulous]

the pacific is awful so they'll make the playoffs pretty easily but the team is worse than last year. they need career years AGAIN out of hughes, miller and boeser to stay level with where they were

they added a bunch of forwards but none of them are very good. sprong and heinen have failed to stick anywhere, debrusk is a fringe top 6 winger and sherwood kind of came out of nowhere at age 27. the defense is just awful beyond hughes. hronek is the only guy who belongs anywhere other than the bottom pairing

 

[jackjohnson]

the pacific is awful so they'll make the playoffs pretty easily but the team is worse than last year. they need career years AGAIN out of hughes, miller and boeser to stay level with where they were

they added a bunch of forwards but none of them are very good. sprong and heinen have failed to stick anywhere, debrusk is a fringe top 6 winger and sherwood kind of came out of nowhere at age 27. the defense is just awful beyond hughes. hronek is the only guy who belongs anywhere other than the bottom pairing

I still dont get why our D is terrible and awful?? Is Soucy terrible? Myers improved last year and can be trusted as a 4th Dman. Deharnais and Forbort are great PKers and suitable bottom pair. Plus Hughes and Hronek can play 25 minutes plus since they are young and mobile. People also forget about Walinder, Pettersson, Brisbois, Kuds who can make the team soon. Juulsen will improve more and he is another 6'5 behmoth that adds depth. So saying the D is terrible is not correct. I would say average with potential to become above average to great D depending on improvements and development in D prospect

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Regress

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

I think one thing that people overlook is even in the case the Canucks fail to make the playoffs, they actually have a well-structured team to go through a short re-tool. They can trade Boeser and Demko at the deadline if they know they're missing, and most of their contracts aren't insane either.

 

[57special]

I think Miller and Boeser will regress somewhat. Tochett will probably be effective for another season or two, but sooner or later they will start to tune him out. Still will be a good team, however.

 

[ddawg1950]

I don’t understand you people.

They lost Elias Lindholm who was Kuzmenko for most of the regular season and replaced them with Jake DeBrusk. The rest of their forward additions were players no one wanted. And somehow, they’re “better” up front?

I don’t understand HF logic.

They got worse on defense. They got worse on forwards. Demko is always injured. Just tell the truth.

I don’t understand you people.

They lost Elias Lindholm who was Kuzmenko for most of the regular season and replaced them with Jake DeBrusk. The rest of their forward additions were players no one wanted. And somehow, they’re “better” up front?

I don’t understand HF logic.

They got worse on defense. They got worse on forwards. Demko is always injured. Just tell the truth.

Well the truth is your post is full of half truths and myopic vision. But, keep trying. It's the only way you'll get better.

 

[krutovsdonut]

they have excellent leadership and something to prove. most key players i would expect to progress or be as good. myers is the only significant player i expect to regress. they also seem to have landed the supporting players they wanted rather than scrambling to fill holes.

biggest loss is zadorov but they played well without him for most of last season. lindholm only played well in the playoffs so he's not the loss to the team people think he is.

if they are healthy and if garland/joshua in particular are able to sustain them as a three line team again then they will be a better team next year.

there is also reason to hope for more from others. pettersson can play better than he did most of the season and he can become better at face offs which improves his opportunities. garland in the playoffs looked like he found a next step, which would be huge. guys like joshua , podkholzin and hoglander have room to develop, and the canucks seem to think desharnais has room to grow.

goaltending to me is the biggest question-mark. they need to break the cycle of demko breaking down over a season which requires cutting back on his starts. i am not convinced silovs is ready to step in and play a lot of games. de smith was very steady last year for most of the season and had a lot to do with them sustaining success.

 

[Kryten]

Really depends on if the PP is fixed and Pettersson is healthy. The first half of the year Hughes ran the PP with great results until teams figured it out. Eventually Miller ran the PP to decent results but the whole style still folded with any man on pressure. Pettersson has the ability to take over games but needs to be healthy and happy and no full moon and preferably on days that dont end in y

 

[cc]

the pacific is awful so they'll make the playoffs pretty easily but the team is worse than last year. they need career years AGAIN out of hughes, miller and boeser to stay level with where they were

they added a bunch of forwards but none of them are very good. sprong and heinen have failed to stick anywhere, debrusk is a fringe top 6 winger and sherwood kind of came out of nowhere at age 27. the defense is just awful beyond hughes. hronek is the only guy who belongs anywhere other than the bottom pairing

Not sticking with their past clubs by itself is not an argument against their quality as players. By that measure, that must mean that zadorov sucks

If they were an older team, I would expect some regression there but JTM is the only forward over 30

 

[NVious]

They have the greatest athlete in all of major sports (JT Miller), I predict they win the Stanley Cup, Super Bowl, NBA championship, Orange Bowl, Grey Cup and probably Masters too. This is just a conservative prediction, so if I'm underselling them I apologize to Canucks fans.