Where do you think the Canucks will finish this year?

[biturbo19]

The injuries probably hurt the PK the most last yr..
This season:
PKers: Sutter, Burrows, Hansen, Horvat, Granlund, Dorsett

PK needs to get back into the top 8.


PP needs to find a way back into the top 10-12 range.

Can't overstate the potential impact this sort of stuff could have on the team's fortunes this season, if the Special Teams improve like that.


The PK was absolutely decimated by the Sutter injury in particular last year. Horvat taking over, was absolutely catastrophic on the PK for a good chunk of last season. Looked way in over his head. He should be better himself this season, and just getting Sutter healthy for the season as our lead-off PK Center should be a huge boost. If they can get it back to the sort of effectiveness we had in 2014-15, that's big.


The PP as well, certainly has a ton of room to improve. Basically went all of last year without finding a viable RH shooting point man. If Larsen can mesh on that unit, even if that's all he really does well (a la Weber during that one freak hot streak on the PP in late 2014-15), that would be big as well. Also, Eriksson should be a real help there...something more like the results we saw from Vrbata there in 2014-15. We've also got young guys like Bae/Bo/Hutton/Virtanen who have the upside and potential to make a real impact on the 2nd PP Unit, giving us a viable 1-2 punch if they can get the 1st Unit firing on all cylinders again.


A lot of things have to go right...but if they do, just getting our Special Teams game back on track can go a long ways for a bubble-ish team in this parity-driven league. Like 2014-15 where a lot of things went right, and this team had enough to eek out a divisional playoff berth.

 

[racerjoe]

28-23 is where I see it. Our defense isn't the best at moving the puck, and that will hold our offense back, and probably strain an already weak defense. We aren't better than last season, so to expect a big jump even if healthy is a bit crazy to me.

 

[Lemmiwinks]

Unfortunately I see us winding up in no man's land, 21-25th in the league.

 

[geebaan]

Unfortunately I see us winding up in no man's land, 21-25th in the league.

yea I was gonnna say 19-24, a perfect place to never want to be. Pure mediocrity.

 

[PM]

Our most important players are either old or injury prone so you can pretty much count on injuries happening. Once the usual injuries start piling up on Tanev, Edler and Gudbranson our lack of depth will sink us. An injury to either Sedin will kill our offense and if Horvat or Sutter get injured we have no one to reasonably fill in for them either. That is why I think we will finish 26th to 29th. Even fully healthy I don't see this roster making the playoffs.

 

[BROCK HUGHES]

i voted 23 to dead last.We have the worst coach,bad goaltending,mediocre defense,and we are again a 1 line team.Jim benning you are the man!!!

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Teams I think we are clearly better than:

Arizona
Carolina
Toronto

Teams we may or may not be better than:

Boston
Buffalo
Columbus
Edmonton
Minnesota
New Jersey
Winnipeg

3 of those 7 I think we'll beat. So 6th or 7th last.

 

[Josepho]

Teams I think we are clearly better than:

Arizona
Carolina
Toronto

Teams we may or may not be better than:

Boston
Buffalo
Columbus
Edmonton
Minnesota
New Jersey
Winnipeg

3 of those 7 I think we'll beat. So 6th or 7th last.

Both of those teams finished above us this past season and improved their rosters. Carolina in particular I'm sure will finish above us. Peters is a fantastic coach running a fantastic system for them.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Both of those teams finished above us this past season and improved their rosters. Carolina in particular I'm sure will finish above us. Peters is a fantastic coach running a fantastic system for them.

Meh. We are a better team as well though. Carolina might be better than us looking at it further, but I don't think Arizona is. They gotta lose Smith.

 

[RandV]

Meh. We are a better team as well though. Carolina might be better than us looking at it further, but I don't think Arizona is. They gotta lose Smith.

What Carolina and Arizona have going for them is 3 balanced scoring lines, featuring a lot of fresh young faces with big upside, and more importantly much stronger offensive support from the blueline. Especially Arizona.

What could really sink them is goaltending over 82 games, but otherwise they're easily on par with us right now and much more injury resilient.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

What Carolina and Arizona have going for them is 3 balanced scoring lines, featuring a lot of fresh young faces with big upside, and more importantly much stronger offensive support from the blueline. Especially Arizona.

What could really sink them is goaltending over 82 games, but otherwise they're easily on par with us right now and much more injury resilient.

You're not actually going to make me defend the Canucks are you? I got a reputation as a hater to uphold!

 

[Jumptheshark]

as an outsider I think the nucks will be one of the surprise teams--just outside of the playoffs

 

[racerjoe]

as an outsider I think the nucks will be one of the surprise teams--just outside of the playoffs

Just curious at how and why?

 

[oyvey]

Just out of the playoffs. IMO a first-round exit is slightly more likely than a lottery position like last year.

 

[Street Hawk]

I think they miss the playoffs. I guess bottom 10 in the NHL. Could be bottom 5 if a lot goes wrong and other teams get better.

Why, is because although they do not need an outstanding year from one or two players, they need good years from a lot of guys, and I do not think it will all work out for them. Exampe, need twins to be around 65 point guys, Miller and markstrom to be solid, but depends how Willie handles the duties. Have to keep Miller under 50 starts. Defense, lack depth. Know what you will get from Edler and tanev. The others, not too sure what you will get and history is not on the side of the canucks defense when it comes to remaining healthy for an entire season. Up front, need three of Hansen, Bo, Sven, Sutter, Jake, Rodin to hit the 20 goal mark while the others hit into the teens to provide balanced scoring.

So, overall, I feel they need a lot of smaller things to go right and they are not going to be that lucky with health.

I do not believe they will be last.

Toronto is depending on a lot of rookies for scoring. Plus Anderson is switching from the ducks structured team defense to the leafs.

Edmonton, need to prove it. 6/7 years they have been in the bottom 3. Only time they were not, they were 7th worst because it was a shortened season. So, this group hasn't shown an ability to be consistent or prevent long slumps. Also, have not see new additions be able to break the oilers cycle of poor defense. Fayne had strong analytics in NJ, yet arrives in Edmonton and looks horrible.

Columbus, Bob was terrible. They need better goaltending.

Calgary, need better goaltending and defense. I have questions s whether Elliott can handle a true number one job.

Winnipeg, goaltending as well. Pavelec is not.good. will they actually make the switch to Hellebyuck?

Arizona, goaltending as well. Been like 3 years since Smith played well. Depending on young players to lead the way.

Buffalo, goaltending. Lehner has not shown the ability to remain Healthy not proven he can be a number one.

Any of these other teams could finish last overall.

Goaltending seems to be the overriding theme with them.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Probably 19th-23rd or so. Not bad enough for a lottery spot, not good enough for playoffs.

Another wasted season watching our rivals build something special.

 

[RandV]

You're not actually going to make me defend the Canucks are you? I got a reputation as a hater to uphold!

I don't think I'm saying anything too outrageous that needs to be defended. Last season Arizona and Carolina both finished higher in the standings and with more goals than us. And my main point of emphasis is while Edler and Tanev are an exceptional shut down pairing, you can't really emphasis enough how much having a guy like OEL on the back end helps the offense. And in Carolina not on the same tier as OEL but they have Justin Faulk, who's much better here than anyone we have.

The defense Benning is building will make it painful for the other team playing in front of the net, but there's not much emphasis in personal on helping out the forwards in the other end. That's really going to hurt our offensive production.

 

[racerjoe]

I don't think I'm saying anything too outrageous that needs to be defended. Last season Arizona and Carolina both finished higher in the standings and with more goals than us. And my main point of emphasis is while Edler and Tanev are an exceptional shut down pairing, you can't really emphasis enough how much having a guy like OEL on the back end helps the offense. And in Carolina not on the same tier as OEL but they have Justin Faulk, who's much better here than anyone we have.

The defense Benning is building will make it painful for the other team playing in front of the net, but there's not much emphasis in personal on helping out the forwards in the other end. That's really going to hurt our offensive production.

Our offence is strong enough it can afford to make things harder...

 

[Huggy]

probably like 5-10

dont see baertshi horvat and hansen scoring 20 goals each. if they do playoffs