Do the Canucks make the playoffs in the 2019-2020 season? (#383)

[Fire Benning]

Assuming they're done any major reshaping to the roster.

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[bandwagonesque]

Possibly. There are way too many uncertainties to tell, in my opinion. The biggest is Quinn Hughes. He could score 50 points and lead a really good power play or he might score 25 and have trouble adjusting to the league. The team is clearly significantly improved, but it may not be enough.

 

[alternate]

Voted yes because power of positive thinking.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Voted yes, but it'll be close either way, IMO.

 

[y2kcanucks]

No, this team is still nowhere close to the playoffs. Their analytics last year had them still as a bottom 5 team. The only difference between last season and the one prior was they were more successful in the shootouts. Adding JT Miller will help, but adding Tyler Myers could offset the positives that Miller will bring. Myers struggled mightily despite being heavily sheltered last year, and if he's put in a role where he's expected to be a top pairing defenseman and take on tougher minutes he's going to flounder in that role.

Regardless of all that: those of you who are voting the Canucks will be a playoff team, who do they knock out?

In the Pacific, Calgary, San Jose, and Vegas look like strong bets to continue being playoff teams.

In the Central we have Nashville, St. Louis, and Colorado who I expect will be their top 3 divisional teams. Leaving Dallas, Winnipeg, and now with a new goalie Chicago in the mix for the Wild Card.

Arizona was 5 points ahead of Vancouver last season, despite also dealing with a lot of injuries. They also added Phil Kessel and improved their team this offseason. I would say it's reasonable to expect they will also continue to be better than the Canucks this year, though I'm not sure they are a playoff team either.

So tell me: who do the Canucks get in ahead of? It's easy to say they'll be a playoff team, but when you actually look at the teams they will have to pass I just don't see a route.

 

[Josepho]

I wouldn't be completely floored if they did, but as of now it's a no.

 

[HelloCookie]

if all goes really, really, really well they'll be an lucky, overachieving 3rd seed team in the pacific. I don't think they'll land a wild card spot in this reality.

 

[PG Canuck]

If the West was as garbage as it was last year, sure.

 

[opendoor]

It's certainly possible, but it's going to require a massive improvement over this year, much more than the 10 point gulf between them and a playoff spot would suggest. In terms of goal differential, they need to improve by about 40 goals to be a bubble team, and it's might to be tough to improve (or even maintain) the GA side of the ledger. So the team probably needs to get about 40 more goals out of its lineup.

And as it stands, the team has only 4 forwards who managed 30+ points last season in its lineup to start the year, so that might be a tall order. And that's just to get to the level of a bubble team where they're roughly 50/50 to make the playoffs, never mind a solid playoff team or contender.

Do they manage it? I'd bet no. The team was still bottom 5 in most statistical categories and was only propped up by getting a lot of games to OT/SO and Markstrom playing out of his mind. I think they'll see an uptick in offense with Miller and improvements from Pettersson and Boeser, but the defense is still pretty bad and Edler and Tanev are a year older.

 

[alternate]

Re: who they replace...every season some expected power plummets, and some expected doormat raises up. Hard to predict who it will be, but can pretty much guarantee it will be someone.

 

[Hemty]

On one hand i'd love for it to happen, on the other reality kicks in and shows me that we are still ways off, but hey, Aqua needs his playoff revenue amirite? So us squeaking in and getting wrecked in the first round is totally what we need.
For the sake of our sane minds i hope that we do, so we can give up our draft pick, instead of it sliding over to the year after.

 

[TruKnyte]

I miss playoff hockey, but still don't think this team will be good enough to make it. Still lack depth in most positions, so a couple of injuries is all it will take to derail us again.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

My prediction is that Markström comes down back to earth.

Edler / Tanev miss at least ½ a season combined. This puts Myers and Hughes in to roles they are not read / suited for.

This combines for us finishing where we finished this year. Well out of playoffs.

 

[Jyrki21]

On paper I don't see how, but at the same time if one or two rival clubs have injury issues it'd hardly be the world's craziest development.

Much as I think the notion is postively asinine and horrific business judgment for it to be the case that the team clearing the bar by a point should mean Benning gets extended, whereas missing by a point means getting fired... things pretty much always take the sour turn in the Pacific Northwest sports world, so I'm kind of terrified they do make it and we have another 3-4 years of Benning as a result.

 

[ErrantShepherd]

I'm gonna vote yes but that's really more preference than expectation. Think we are realistically another top six winger, top 4 dman out of being competitive still. If we can provide that from within, fantastic. If we can somehow not have a million injuries at key moments, perfect.

Either way, I'm excited to see the young guys play, and hopefully see the new acquisitions bring it.

 

[Lindgren]

I expect that they won't make the playoffs, and, as an addendum, I'll predict that management will fail to acquire any picks at the deadline.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

No. Vegas, Calgary, and San Jose are locks in the Pacific. To make a wildcard spot they'll have to jump past 3 of Arizona, Chicago, Dallas, and Colorado. All of those teams improved more than the Canucks did. It's not happening.

 

[Diamonddog01]

We are a few years away imo. Think we might finish 10th or 11th if the stars align perfectly but they rarely do with this franchise. One of two injuries, Markstrom coming back down to earth, Petterson sophomore slump, etc and we won’t be close.

 

[maroon 6]

Yes as long as our young core can stay healthy. If Edler and Tanev can give us 70+ games each then its even more likely but that might be asking for too much.

 

[krutovsdonut]

i have no idea. it would not shock me if we got 100 or 75 points. the west has enough parity that a lot depends on the fate of other teams and on our own injuries and streaks and on who makes good.

the most i can say is that i believe we are in the mix to possibly get in if all things click, and i would also expect us to be a better team than we were last year (although i am not confident that translates into more points since i think we actually had some good bounces last year).

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

I don't see it unless Pettersson and Boeser have a Mackinnon/Rantanen like increase in production and the defence stays healthy.

 

[ginner classic]

The team is better on paper, but we were not as good as we looked last year. I don't think we can compete for the WC spots as those are pretty much locks for Central teams. We basicially have to hope for injuries in San Jose or Vegas coming back to earth. Realistically we have to target Vegas and stay ahead of Arizona and Edmonton (not a given). Anaheim looks worse and LA is a lottery team for the next three to four years. We also need Pettersson and Markstrom to be as good as last year which is a tough ask.

Given all that....I say we miss.

 

[bandwagonesque]

I think the direction of the team is suspect and that poor decisions are being made, but I am excited to finally watch decent hockey after two or three years of seeing an AHL team with a hangover trying to play in the NHL. The team has more speed and skill than it has had in a long time.

 

[krutovsdonut]

I don't see it unless Pettersson and Boeser have a Mackinnon/Rantanen like increase in production and the defence stays healthy.

those two plus horvat, plus hughes need to be better than last year. then we need miller, pearson and any two of gaudette, leivo, goldobin or baertschi to play very well. plus we need sutter to bounce back, edler to stay healthy, either stecher or myers to play well enough to play in front of tanev, plus either juolevi steps up or tryamkin comes back.

so hardly anything really.

 

[Canucks5551]

No, this team is still nowhere close to the playoffs. Their analytics last year had them still as a bottom 5 team. The only difference between last season and the one prior was they were more successful in the shootouts. Adding JT Miller will help, but adding Tyler Myers could offset the positives that Miller will bring. Myers struggled mightily despite being heavily sheltered last year, and if he's put in a role where he's expected to be a top pairing defenseman and take on tougher minutes he's going to flounder in that role.

Regardless of all that: those of you who are voting the Canucks will be a playoff team, who do they knock out?

In the Pacific, Calgary, San Jose, and Vegas look like strong bets to continue being playoff teams.

In the Central we have Nashville, St. Louis, and Colorado who I expect will be their top 3 divisional teams. Leaving Dallas, Winnipeg, and now with a new goalie Chicago in the mix for the Wild Card.

Arizona was 5 points ahead of Vancouver last season, despite also dealing with a lot of injuries. They also added Phil Kessel and improved their team this offseason. I would say it's reasonable to expect they will also continue to be better than the Canucks this year, though I'm not sure they are a playoff team either.

So tell me: who do the Canucks get in ahead of? It's easy to say they'll be a playoff team, but when you actually look at the teams they will have to pass I just don't see a route.

I agree that they’ll likely miss the playoffs this year, but I don’t think this section is a fair representation of the changes to the defence in this offseason. Effectively, we’re replacing Gudbranson, Pouliot, and Hutton with Hughes, Myers, and Benn. I'd call Hutton and Myers a wash and Benn and Hughes a clear upgrade over Gudbranson and Pouliot. The number of goals the latter pair cost the team last season was staggering.

We do have to factor in Edler and Tanev being a year older, but I don’t think they’re at the age where we can expect their play to nosedive. Stecher being a year older is a positive.