16-17: Pacific Division : Changes : Where do the Canucks rank going in?

[DL44]

Let's do an early evaluation of what the teams of the Pacific have done so far..
Their significant changes..
Whether they have improved or taken a step back compared to their previous season..
And where the Canucks slot into the Pacific picture..

(please help me with player movement, it would be appreciated)


Anaheim (103pts)
In: Carlyle, Raymond, Guenin, Boll
Out: Boudreau, Andersen, Khudobin, McGuinn, Perron, Stewart, Pirri

San Jose (102pts)
In: Boedker, Schlemko
Out: Polak, Reimer

LA (98pts)
In: Purcell, Zatkoff, Gilbert
Out: Lucic, Greene, Lecavalier

Arizona (77pts)
In: Goligoski, McBain, McGuinn
Out: Gordon, Sekec

Calgary (77pts)
In: Elliot, Johnson, Brouwer, Chiasson
Out: Ortio, Ramo, Hiller, Colbourne, Jooris, Raymond,

Vancouver (75pts)
In: Eriksson, Gudbranson, Rodin, Larsen
Out: Vrbata, Hamhuis, Higgins, Vey, Weber, Bartkowski, McCann

Edmonton (70pts)
In: Lucic, Larsson, Gustavsson, Beck
Out: Hall, Korpikoski, Klinkhammer, Nilsson, Clendenning



***Looking for SOME constructive discussion specifically about what the the other Pacific teams have done/are doing.

There are many OTHER threads to discuss Benning.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From RandV Post #37 http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=120464391&postcount=37



Ritchie (?) - Getzlaf - Perry
Cogliano - Kesler - Silfverberg
Garbutt - Rakell - Noesen (?)
Boll - Wagner - Sorensen (?)
Kerdiles (?) Tropp

Lindholm - Vatanen
Fowler - Despres
Theodore - Bieksa
Stoner

Gibson
Tokarski (?)



Meier * - Thornton - Pavelski
Boedeker - Couture - Donskoi
Marleau - Hertl - Goldobin *
Nieto/Wingels/Karlsson - Tierney - Ward

Vlasic - Braun
Martin - Burns
Dillon/Schlemko - DeMelo/Schlemko

Jones
Dell*



Gaborik-Kopitar-Toffoli
Pearson-Carter-Purcell
King-Lewis-Brown
Clifford-Latta-Andrehoff

McNabb-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Gravel-Gilbert


Quick
Zatkoff



Domi-Hanzal-Duclair
Rieder-Strome-Doan
McGinn-Vermette-Dvorak
Martinook-Richardson-White

OEL-Murphy
Goligoski-Stone
Connauton-Michalek
Dahlbeck

Smith/Domingue




Gaudreau - Monahan - Brouwer
Stajan - Backlund - Frolik
Tkachuk - Bennett - Chiasson
Bouma - F.Hamilton - Ferland
Bollig

Brodie - D.Hamilton
Giordano - Engelland
Jokipakka - Wideman
Wotherspoon

Elliott
Johnson


(OP's version of the lines)

Sedin - Sedin - Eriksson
Baertschi - Sutter - Hansen
Etem - Horvat - Virtanen
Burrows - Granlund - Dorsett
Rodin

Edler - Tanev
Hutton - Gudbranson
Sbisa - Tryamkin
Larsen/Pedan

Miller
Markstrom




Lucic - McDavid - Eberle
Pouliot - Nuge - Puljujarvi
Maroon - Draisaitl - Yakupov
Hendricks - Letestu - Kassian
(Pakarinen, Lander)

Klefbom-Larsson
Sekera-Davidson
Nurse-Fayne
(Oesterle, Reinhart [likely AHL])

Talbot
Gustavsson/Brossoit

Click to read more...

 

[Icebreakers]

3rd last ahead of Arizona and EDM. Being optimistic lol.

 

[Scholarships]

Last.

 

[DL44]

It looks like at least we added the best forward in the division.

Best Dmen added to the division (in no particular order):
Gudbranson, Goligoski, and Larsson..


Edmonton lost the best forward.. But added the 2nd best forward of the ones lost by Pac teams (Lucic)..
Hamhuis looks like the best dman lost by any of the Pac teams.

Ana lost the best goalie in Anderson..
Cgy brought in the best goalie in Elliot.

 

[MS]

I find it difficult to slot us in anywhere other than 7th right now.

Edmonton should be hugely improved with a full season of McDavid, an upgraded blueline, and some coaching consistency for the first time in forever.

Calgary was a good team last year with terrible goaltending, and now they've got a good goaltender.

Arizona have improved themselves and have a completely different vibe about them - which is huge.

Anaheim, SJ, and LA are clearly better than us. Anaheim and LA have gotten worse, but not nearly enough to close a 30-point gap.

Some team will probably be hit by injuries and do surprisingly poorly, but we're staring up from the bottom going into things.

 

[VanillaCoke]

I think we only finish ahead of Arizona... but there's time this summer for plenty to happen.

 

[Josepho]

This may sound weird, but Anaheim is the only team who I can picture finishing lower than us.

 

[DL44]

I find it difficult to slot us in anywhere other than 7th right now.

Edmonton should be hugely improved with a full season of McDavid, an upgraded blueline, and some coaching consistency for the first time in forever.

Calgary was a good team last year with terrible goaltending, and now they've got a good goaltender.

Arizona have improved themselves and have a completely different vibe about them - which is huge.

Anaheim, SJ, and LA are clearly better than us. Anaheim and LA have gotten worse, but not nearly enough to close a 30-point gap.

Some team will probably be hit by injuries and do surprisingly poorly, but we're staring up from the bottom going into things.

Does anything change in your mind about the Canucks finishing 7th if there was a magical hypothetcical that the Canucks remained 100% healthy this season?

 

[DL44]

My favorite signing of the additions is Jamie McGuinn... I think Arizona got a him a great price and term... would of loved him squeezed into the lineup here.

 

[NoShowWilly]

This may sound weird, but Anaheim is the only team who I can picture finishing lower than us.

does seem awfully farfetch'd considering they gave up 50 less goals than we did while scoring 29 more.

 

[pitseleh]

I think there is a clear top three (the California teams) and a bottom four (the rest).

I don't think any of the bottom four teams has significantly moved the needle compared to each other based on their additions/subtractions.

The biggest difference maker is probably going to be improvement by young players. I'd bank on Edmonton and Calgary getting the most improvement, with Vancouver and Arizona trailing. So 6/7 is where I peg them currently.

 

[Cupless44]

I find it difficult to slot us in anywhere other than 7th right now.

Edmonton should be hugely improved with a full season of McDavid, an upgraded blueline, and some coaching consistency for the first time in forever.

Calgary was a good team last year with terrible goaltending, and now they've got a good goaltender.

Arizona have improved themselves and have a completely different vibe about them - which is huge.

Anaheim, SJ, and LA are clearly better than us. Anaheim and LA have gotten worse, but not nearly enough to close a 30-point gap.

Some team will probably be hit by injuries and do surprisingly poorly, but we're staring up from the bottom going into things.

I have to agree with you. Short of everything falling into place, no injuries, improvement from youth etc i think that's where we are. Even then...we could be ahead of Arizona.

 

[Intoewsables]

I could see all of Anaheim, San Jose, and Los Angeles regressing but still making the playoffs. Anaheim and LA are clearly worse on paper, and I'd be surprised if Thornton and, to a lesser extent Marleau, were able to play as well as last season.

Edmonton and Calgary may make it interesting and push for a wildcard spot, though that's probably unlikely. Arizona's a bit of a darkhorse as well -- they have a ton of good, young forwards ready to make the jump, and adding a guy like Goligoski is a big boost to their back end.

Unless another team gets ridiculously unlucky and/or gets hit hard by the injury bug, I can't see us outperforming any of these teams.

 

[MS]

Does anything change in your mind about the Canucks finishing 7th if there was a magical hypothetcical that the Canucks remained 100% healthy this season?

If the team stays magically 100% healthy and everyone else suffers normal injuries, sure! We might move up a couple spots.

But that simply isn't going to happen. Someone posted some great numbers in another thread:

2015-2016: 2 defensemen played more than 70 games. 3 played more than 60.
2014-2015: 2 defensemen played more than 70 games. 4 played more than 60.
2013-2014: 3 defensemen played more than 70 games. 6 played more than 60.
2011-2012: 3 defensemen played more than 70 games. 4 played more than 60.
2010-2011: 1 defensemen played more than 70 games. 4 played more than 60.
2009-2010: 2 defensemen played more than 70 games. 4 played more than 60.
2008-2009: 5 defensemen played more than 70 games. 5 played more than 60.
2007-2008: 2 defensemen played more than 70 games. 3 played more than 60.
2006-2007: 3 defensemen played more than 70 games. 5 played more than 60.
2005-2006: 3 defensemen played more than 70 games. 3 played more than 60.

Basically, our defense has been ravaged by injury in 10 of the last 11 years, with only 08-09 as an exception.

Moreover, we have no depth, so when we have these sorts of normal injuries now, we feel it that much more than when we were actually good.

Unfortunately, 'Magic No Injury Land' is where Jim Benning seems to make his management decisions from. And then gets caught with his pants down every year.

 

[canuckking1]

If Edmonton grabs another Dmen they will definitely finish ahead of us. Hopefully last and probably last lol

 

[iceburg]

Add McCann out for Vancouver.

When looking at other teams, the Nucks have had one of the better off-seasons so far.

 

[Scholarships]

To expand on why I think we will finish last:

Injuries hit every team, every year and this year will be no different. I predict the Sedins will face some injury trouble this year. They will be playing on the top line for Team Sweden in the World Cup which adds extra mileage. This adds up and may result in them slowing down during the season.

LA, San Jose, and Anaheim are all better teams than us.

As bad as the Taylor Hall trade was, Edmonton has gotten way better. They managed to drastically improve their blueline while also adding Lucic to fill the void trading Taylor Hall caused. With a healthy Mcdavid, I see no way that they do worse than us.

Calgary has added some forward help and upgraded their Goaltending. I see them getting better.

Arizona is a team that could possibly do worse than us. However, I wouldn't bet on it. I see them as a better team, and as MS said, they have a different "vibe" about them.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Calgary in and out looks good. Edmonton not so much, Hall stands out like a sore thumb

 

[pitseleh]

Calgary was a good team last year with terrible goaltending, and now they've got a good goaltender.

Good point about the goaltending - I was only thinking of rosters. Calgary's goaltending should save them something on the order of 25-30 goals against this year.

 

[Icebreakers]

How do you forget to add Lucic as in for EDM?

 

[Josepho]

does seem awfully farfetch'd considering they gave up 50 less goals than we did while scoring 29 more.

Downgrading from Boudreau to Carlyle was huge. Boudreau, in spite of his flaws, runs a great puck possession system and gets a ton out of his players in the regular season. Carlyle's "dump and chase without the chase" strategy leads to his teams being consistently bombarded with shots on a nightly basis. In Toronto, goaltending was the only thing keeping him relatively close to the playoffs. I think Gibson will be in for a bit of a shock when he's given the whole workload. Lost forward depth guys like Pirri, Perron and McGinn as well. IMO Kesler, Getzlaf, Perry and Lindholm all have to have really big years to get them back in the playoffs. And to be fair, I severely doubt that Anaheim finishes lower than us, I just see them as more likely to do it than any other Pacific team.

 

[MS]

Good point about the goaltending - I was only thinking of rosters. Calgary's goaltending should save them something on the order of 25-30 goals against this year.

Calgary's goaltending was absolutely horrendous last year, one of the worst performances we've seen from any team since the 2005 lockout. They were actually a good team otherwise.

If you took their 30th place goaltending last year and replaced it with a modest 20th overall ranking, they have a positive goal differential and probably edge out Minnesota for the 8th playoff position.

As long as Elliot doesn't completely implode, that team will have a huge rebound.

 

[NoShowWilly]

johnson is also a good backup.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Canucks dead last for sure.

Be close with Zona but I expect Calgary and Edmonton to both be better (potentially significantly).

Team can't score as is and defense is not really good as currently constructed either.

1 or 2 injuries and they are in the Top 3 convo for the 2017 draft.

 

[canucksfan]

I would say 6th