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

[VanJack]

Voted sixth, but if some of 'Zona's young guns take the next step, could easily see seventh....the silver lining?....Willie wouldn't survive another 6-7 finish in the Pacific, and Jimbo might not be too far behind.

 

[NuxFan09]

I voted 5th with no WC.

I think it's agiven the California teams will be ahead of us and I think the Oilers will FINALLY take a big step. As for Arizona and Calgary, I have a feeling we'll be better than them. Calgary got a new goalie but I just don't see how they're much better. They still have an overrated roster, in my opinion.

Arizona was only better than us because we really tanked to end the year. Assuming we're a little better this year, we'll finish ahead of them.

 

[NoShowWilly]

in the case of Edmonton, i think they are now a better team even though got killed in value by that trade.
Klefbom and McDavid stay somewhat healthy and i think they finally leap us.

Arizona is probably the team closest to us. so young

 

[Nucker101]

6th or 7th.

Without the Sedins we'd be arguably as bad as an expansion team.

 

[jeromemorrow]

I voted 3rd because I'm optimistic about our team's stability as an organization. We've hit rock bottom last year but we were still in the playoff race for a 1 to 3 week stretch last year.

And I'm going to say CGY is going to be the biggest surprise to move forward. Their roster is so balanced throughout. They addressed their goalie situation and has one of the most consistent defense corps in the NHL. That defense corps is also aided with a new influx of d prospects too in their system unlike ours (just yet).

So maybe ANA, CGY, VAN, SJS, ARZ, EDM, LA.... in this order. I just don't like LA's defensive depth to be honest. There's too much reliance on Doughty to generate offence. Also, the whole Dustin Brown captaincy thing.. I just don't know how that'll play out.

I think SJS won't do as well as they can as well because of the Stanley Cup hangover. Whenever you lose in a SCF, it's just harder to play the year after due to a longer playoffs ravaged by injury and their roster isn't that young anymore too.

I don't have a hard on for McDavid and the Oilers like most people do. Defence barely improved. They are still missing at least one more dman to have a stable reliable d corps (through a RNH/Eberle trade). But yeah their Center depth is pretty beastly though (McDavid, Draisatl and RNH). Love Draisatl as a Center... Damn you Oilers!! Hope you choke like you've always known how to.

 

[opendoor]

Yeah, I'm having trouble coming up with an argument that this team is going to finish higher than 6th in the division. That's not to say they can't finish higher, as teams surprise every year; I just don't see any reason why it'd be a probable outcome based on what we know at this point.

But who knows, maybe they have a repeat of 14-15 where they rode ridiculous luck in 1 goal games and a bunch of EN goals to the playoffs. But then what? We saw how a team that rode a lucky streak to get into the playoffs looked when the Canucks were embarrassed against a team as bad as Calgary.

 

[Snatcher Demko]

I voted 6th. I think we'll be in the playoff hunt during the first half of the season but regress during the second half. The Sedins are old and have faded each of the last two seasons. Injuries will pile up too and we'll end up in a tailspin shortly after the TDL.

The other factor is the Willie Factor. There were times last season when it was clear he lost the room and I was sure he'd be fired. That hasn't happened but I'm betting this will be his last with this team.

I think we finish ahead of Edmonton.

ANH, LA, SJS - all will finish top 3 and be in the playoffs. ANH is a real wild card - they could really blow up under Carlyle.

ARI - they're adding tons of talent and they have chemistry. Looks like a sleeper but could regress too (don't think they will thanks to OEL). Could be a surprise playoff team.

EDM - should improve but still a non-playoff team.

CGY - bit of a wildcard too. Elliott is a good goalie but how will he do outside of a strong system in STL? I think they could make the playoffs if they can start off well.

 

[DL44]

Things to be optimistic about...

Further development of Hutton, Virtanen, Tryamkin, Horvat, Baertschi.
How Etem finished the season.
Sutter playing more than he did last yr.
Eriksson being a huge upgrade on Vrbata.
Our goalie tandem.
We have the ability to roll 4 lines on paper.

Things to be concerned about...
Defensive scoring and mobility.
Second line scoring. Willie mentioned he's going to start with Eriksson with the Sedins and Hansen with Sutter.
Would like to see an East-West winger with those two - Baertschi..
So will it score consistently?

Hope the flash chemistry of Etem-Horvat remains a bit from the end the previous season.. with Virtanen on the other wing.

If Rodin is legit, put him with Sutter and bounce Baertschi back with Horvat and Etem with Burrows to surround Granlund bouncing Dorsett in and out of the lineup...

I like the healthy depth of the team upfront..
2 forward injuries away from reaching past Gaunce for a callup.

Now let's see how they all come into camp...

 

[Gaunce4gm]

Everyone keeps saying the Oilers lost 25-35 goals when they traded hall... They added 20-25 with Lucic and thy get a older more experienced healthy McJesus. They'll be better.

 

[M2Beezy]

I see three tears here

1 San Jose/Edmonton
2 Edmonton/San Jose

3 LA
4 Calgary
5 Anahiem

6 Arizona
7 Vancity

-BUT if Elliott is no good for the Flames thatll bump em down to the final tear
-Edmonton has just gotten so much better and with more experience PLUS the best player in the game they are gonna be lights out fantastic
-thell finish ahead of the Sharks if San Jose cant get over the cup disaster
-LA seems to not address there weaknessess so not sure there really a top notch team no more
-Ducks i think are like the Rangers and going down hill fast and may only make the playoffs cause of cruddy division
-Arizona is Arizona and Benning is Vancity so hes gonna Benning up the team even more

Patrick will be a sweet present tho

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

Really depends on the health of the Sedins. If they struggle with injuries again we're a lottery team. Somewhat healthy we could be as high as fourth and maybe get a wildcard slot. If my money were on the line I'd say 6th.

 

[RandV]

Taking from fans on the main board here's a projected lineup for each team (in no particular order):



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
Greene

Quick
Zatkoff



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

Lindholm - Vatanen
Fowler - Despres
Theodore - Bieksa
Stoner

Gibson
Tokarski (?)



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



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

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

Elliott
Johnson



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

OEL-Murphy
Goligoski-Stone
Connauton-Michalek
Dahlbeck

Smith/Domingue



Sedin - Sedin - Eriksson
Baertschi - Horvat - Virtanen
Burrows - Sutter - Hansen
Gaunce/Etem - Granlund - Dorsett
(Rodin)

Edler - Tanev
Hutton - Gudbranson
Sbisa - Tryamkin
(Larsen)

Miller
Markstrom

Sharks a clear cut above. Kings and Ducks have the veteran experience and should stay 2/3, but they could fall. From the bottom 4, while the Canucks could certainly climb into a playoff spot I think the Oilers, Flames, and Coyotes have more going for them.

Man last season was the first in 15 years I picked the Canucks to miss the playoffs, now I'm going for last in the division.

 

[MS]

Everyone keeps saying the Oilers lost 25-35 goals when they traded hall... They added 20-25 with Lucic and thy get a older more experienced healthy McJesus. They'll be better.

They'll be fine offensively.

Biggest thing for me is that they - for the first time this decade - have a quality coach returning with a familiar system. And he'll actually have a matchup defensive pairing for the first time this decade as well.

It wasn't really reflected in the standings, but Edmonton made big strides under McLellan last year - went from a -85 goal differential to -42.

For the last 5 years, I've disagreed with people when they said 'this is the year Edmonton turns it around!'. This year, I think they actually will - at least enough to be competing for a playoff spot down to the wire.

 

[M2Beezy]

Things to be optimistic about...

Further development of Hutton, Virtanen, Tryamkin, Horvat, Baertschi.
How Etem finished the season.
Sutter playing more than he did last yr.
Eriksson being a huge upgrade on Vrbata.
Our goalie tandem.
We have the ability to roll 4 lines on paper.

Things to be concerned about...
Defensive scoring and mobility.
Second line scoring. Willie mentioned he's going to start with Eriksson with the Sedins and Hansen with Sutter.
Would like to see an East-West winger with those two - Baertschi..
So will it score consistently?

Hope the flash chemistry of Etem-Horvat remains a bit from the end the previous season.. with Virtanen on the other wing.

If Rodin is legit, put him with Sutter and bounce Baertschi back with Horvat and Etem with Burrows to surround Granlund bouncing Dorsett in and out of the lineup...

I like the healthy depth of the team upfront..
2 forward injuries away from reaching past Gaunce for a callup.

Now let's see how they all come into camp...

So

Sedin Sedin Eriksson
Baertchi Sutter Hansen
Etem Horvat Virtanen
Burrows Granlund Rodin

??

Nahh

Gaunce has gotta be in there instead of Granlund and Rodin apparently is a scorer so should be with Horvat and bump Jake to the 4th line

Also when Eriksson gets his annual concussion or injury and Jake finally gets sent back to Utica then:

Sedin Sedin Hansen
Baertchi Sutter Rodin
Etem Horvat Burrows
Granlund Gaunce Dorset

Brutal

 

[y2kcanucks]

LA, Anaheim, and San Jose are the clear cut top 3 teams in the division.
Calgary isn't too far behind, and actually wouldn't surprise me if they unseed one of those three if they stay healthy and one of the three suffer more injuries.

At 5 I have Edmonton. I think they are addressing their defense (don't think they're done yet), they are bigger up front, and with a full year of McDavid and another year of progression from Draisaitl they should be decent. Not quite there yet to contend for a playoff spot, but definitely out of the basement.

At 6 I would have Arizona. I think they're a team that could go either way. They could surprise and play beyond expectations, or they could completely tank and fall apart. I do like the good young talent they have and I do love the acquisition of Goligoski on the back end. Goaltending is still a big question mark.

As such, I have the Canucks at 7th. I could see us moving as high as 5th if everything goes right for us, but more than likely this is the worst team in the division (and likely the worst team in the Conference). Subbing Eriksson in for Vrbata helps the offense, but our defense has declined by a similar amount with the loss of Hamhuis and replacing his roster spot with Gudbranson.

 

[VanillaCoke]

I think the relief in the dressing room about finally having a competent defenseman and a real hard nosed forward will add to the hype train and motivate the oilers to play better.
Everyone giving it an extra 5% instead of going into games expecting a loss should make a huge difference

 

[DL44]

I'm expecting more pressers of McLennen expressing his frustrations of his players 'just not getting it'.

Around which holiday do you ya think he blows up... Canadian or american thanksgiving? Christmas? MLK day?

 

[WetcoastOrca]

As last year showed it's a fine line between 4th and last. 7 points.
The top three are beyond our reach: SJ, LA and the Ducks.
After that, I think Calgary takes a step this year with even average goaltending.
So we could be anywhere from 5th to 7th. I'll say 5th.
I don't like the moves the Oilers made and I'm tired of predicting every year that they take the next step.
Arizona and Vancouver is really a coin flip.

 

[NuxFan09]

San Jose's roster is ridiculous, especially with Boedker added and Meier potentially being a great fit on the Thornton line.

They're going to do well again this year.

 

[m9]

I think based on most odds places we are predicted to be fighting with Arizona at the bottom of the conference. So, bottom of the division seems likely.

 

[PM]

If Willie is actually planning on using Sbisa and Gudbranson as our 2nd pairing then we have 7th place locked up.

 

[MikeK]

6th or 7th. With yet another year added to our already older core I expect another long and frustrating season. I have no doubts we're a lottery team.

 

[jeromemorrow]

Whoa after seeing the lineups (Thanks RandV!). SJ looks stackeddd. That's quality all four lines and d pairings.

We'll have to see if their old guys have anything left in the tank after an arduous and long extra playoff run for nothing this past season.

My biggest question is which team has the best size & speed combination in this division after their off-season moves?

I don't know how to read the Canucks because we have yet to see how Rodin and Larsen will add to our transition game.

It's kinda sad that our hope is in Rodin and Larsen but who knows!! Maybe it could work. Time will tell

 

[Catamarca Livin]

As last year showed it's a fine line between 4th and last. 7 points.
The top three are beyond our reach: SJ, LA and the Ducks.
After that, I think Calgary takes a step this year with even average goaltending.
So we could be anywhere from 5th to 7th. I'll say 5th.
I don't like the moves the Oilers made and I'm tired of predicting every year that they take the next step.
Arizona and Vancouver is really a coin flip.

I think LA and Anaheim could drop a lot this year. LA is getting older with nothing coming from below. They missed two years ago no reason why they are guaranteed for next year.

 

[VanillaCoke]

I think LA and Anaheim could drop a lot this year. LA is getting older with nothing coming from below. They missed two years ago no reason why they are guaranteed for next year.

Quick, doughty, and Kopitar.