So is this season officially a success?

[krutovsdonut]

and yes, this season is a success by any measure except gate receipts for the owner.

the price we paid is the toffoli trade and the ferlund signing. with hindsight, we probably did not need to do either to get here.

by nhl standards, that is a small price to pay to get to the second round.

and offset against that on the balance sheet is the fact we clearly won the miller trade.

 

[VanJack]

We sold a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Madden to make the playoffs this season and we were going to miss the playoffs despite that if covid didn't happen.

The regular season was a failure.

The playoffs have been a success. Winning a round in the playoffs is always a success.

The way they played in that playoff round was a success too. Full buy in from the team, everyone playing all out, max effort and max commitment, you love to see it. You don't usually see that level of effort in a team that just spent 5 seasons as one of the worst teams in the league, we've avoided the buffalo/edmonton/florida locker room curse.

But we're in cap hell right now despite the fact that our #1C, #1D, and #1 goalie make 5.5 million combined.

There's no room for future growth in the cap world without a ton of the bloat leaving and not being replaced with more bloat. There's not even enough room to keep our current roster together.

So was this season a success? Yes. Are we closer to the cup next year as a result of what happened this season? Probably not. Are we the 2009 blackhawks? Lol not even close because of our cap situation.

Just to set the record straight, according to Cap Friendly the Canucks still have their third round pick, along with picks in rounds 4-6 in 2020. They traded their seventh rounder, but still own the Ducks 7th rounder.

 

[BB06]

Gotta love people trying to diminished this playoffs and speaking in absolutes as to what would've happen if Covid didn't hit. When pushing an agenda for so many years it's gotta hurt to have some stuff blow up in your face.

 

[Fatass]

No it’s not a success. Ask again when Bo is presented with the Cup.

 

[Hammer79]

Gotta love people trying to diminished this playoffs and speaking in absolutes as to what would've happen if Covid didn't hit. When pushing an agenda for so many years it's gotta hurt to have some stuff blow up in your face.

The JT Miller thing was embarrassing for them. The Vanek-Motte trade, no one is sticking up for their 'Dim Jim' opinion now about how horrible that trade was. Funny, because this board was frothing with anger at the time about it. Can't give credit where credit is due? The last thing they would want is for Juolevi to establish himself as a regular NHL'er this post-season. That would be a disaster of epic proportions as more and more arguments slip away.

 

[PavelBure10]

This season was a huge success no matter what happens from now on in these playoffs. This is the first playoffs for the Canucks in almost a decade, and they just defeated the defending champs.
It is also the first playoffs for our new young core of Pettersson, and Hughes, and both have been dynamite. Both right there amongst the top of the leaderboard for scoring these playoffs. This youth came up clutch against St Louis, and proved that they will not be bullied or pushed around. Infact Pettersson and Hughes stepped it up when there was adversity, and pressure, that both are widely considered franchise players around fanbases around the league. The Canucks are likeable again!

Not to mention trades and draft picks are starting to pan out.
- Vanek for Motte is now a winner
- JT Miller for our 1st, 2nd, Mazanec, is a beauty. The Canucks get a legitimate first line core player.
- Joulevi is "injury free" for once and is looking like a decent bottom pairing defenseman in the near future.
- Virtanen is showing that when he isn't being a dumbass that he can be a very usefull hockey player.

Markstrom has cemented himself as a top goaltender in the league. Also showed that he can take his game to the next level when it matters most.

So yes this season was a success. Even if the Knights eliminate us four game to none, it would still be a good finish to a very "POSITIVE" season, in the brutal year of 2020.

 

[F A N]

There are a lot of Benning haters who have not voted in this poll.

 

[PG Canuck]

There are a lot of Benning haters who have not voted in this poll.

Very selective on topics to post in.

 

[PG Canuck]

Hoping they can beat Vegas twice...I think this Canucks roster is better than the Hawks, so I feel like two wins should be possible. Going down in 5, I wouldn't be too ashamed of either. Good experience. I'd say season was definitely a success, I would've called you crazy if you told me they'd beat STL in round 1 of the playoffs.

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

I think the season can be seen as a success. However success is a continuum as opposed to a binary choice.


Its a bit weird (putting it politely) to argue the season is a success and alk the moves to get us here were "right" or "good" without consideration for the future.

The assumption is that we made the playoffs (though its debatabke whether we would have without Covid) and therefore will continue to make the playoffs much less get out of the first round.

There are question marks over:

- Virtanen
- Beagle
- Sutter
- Pearson
-Toffoli
- Eriksson
- and even Boeser

And thats without getting into the d corps.

And there limited room to move and makes changes where needed.

 

[Josepho]

The main things I wanted to see this season were big strides and strong contributions from Hughes -- this was extremely important to the future of this team.

So yes, on that basis, I consider this year a success.

 

[I am toxic]

Just to set the record straight, according to Cap Friendly the Canucks still have their third round pick, along with picks in rounds 4-6 in 2020. They traded their seventh rounder, but still own the Ducks 7th rounder.

We gave the 2019 3rd round pick to Tampa as part of the Miller deal.

 

[bossram]

There are a lot of Benning haters who have not voted in this poll.

The season is definitely a success. No question.

The question is whether they can improve upon it next year, given a dire cap situation upcoming.

 

[Grub]

I don't think it will be a success if we get spanked by Vegas in 4-5 games.

 

[Svencouver]

I don't think it will be a success if we get spanked by Vegas in 4-5 games.

What if every other team in the playoffs gets spanked by Vegas in 4-5 games though

 

[Dissonance Jr]

I believe this is only the 11th time in our 49-year history that we've made it to the second round of the playoffs, so yeah, on some level this season can already be counted as a success, although the bar for this franchise is low.

 

[Hollywood Burrows]

The Canucks are possibly the worst franchise in NHL history so yes winning one playoff round before getting destroyed by the salary cap is a "success."

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Yes, however how Benning manages the Cap in the off-season will be critical, he must manage the roster extremely well. Pointless taking 2 steps forward then 2 steps back.

 

[MS]

Relative to the Playoffs = Fake 2020 Stanley Cup goal that was set prior to the season and the team went all-in to accomplish, obviously the season is a success. It took some luck in terms of a pandemic cancelling the season when we were freefalling ... but in the end, they got the result they wanted, so it's a success. In the small picture.

In the bigger picture, where a successful season is one that lays a stepping stone toward the ongoing upward movement into becoming an legitimate contender and winning a Stanley Cup ... we'll find out next year. If we take a step backward after cutting multiple quality assets, this season will go down as a blip and a failure, because the assets wasted on it and poor cap planning involved in it actually hampered our ability to compete on a more meaningful level in future years.

 

[canucksfan]

I would say it is a success even if they get swept by Vegas. They made the playoffs and won a playoff round. They'll have to build on it next year which might be tough with the cap.

 

[timw33]

In the bigger picture, where a successful season is one that lays a stepping stone toward the ongoing upward movement into becoming an legitimate contender and winning a Stanley Cup ... we'll find out next year. If we take a step backward after cutting multiple quality assets, this season will go down as a blip and a failure, because the assets wasted on it and poor cap planning involved in it actually hampered our ability to compete on a more meaningful level in future years.

I think one of my biggest worries is that management will have some of their worst instincts, ideas, and moves, validated, and they won't make the necessary adjustments that will materially improve the team going forward. For example, they may pin these victories on their fantastic bottom-6 character players like Beagle and Sutter and refuse to upgrade on those positions/move money out, or think that they need to get big board-go-boom players to go deeper into the playoffs.

It seems like anytime one of our not so good players on a terrible contracts has a blip of good play and might have any semblance of trade value in the moment...they see that good play and want to hold onto that player because it validates their thesis that they are the kind of player you need to win instead of capitalizing on a temporarily valuable asset.

Ultimately I think we're going to hear Benning say something along the lines of "well if Myers and Toffoli were healthy...." and completely miss the point.

 

[Raistlin]

I think we can look at it two ways.

1) lamenting the price we paid to get to this second round. In terms of absolute assets lost, it does put a damper to the euphoria of beating an intact cup champ that was not trending down when season ended.A run that unexpected will most likely extend the reign of a GM that is much better suited to run a franchise at the bottom of its cycle, not one that is rapidly ascending.

2) you got to pay the price of admission. The way the franchise was going prior to 2020, we were not supposed to be able to beat anyone in the playoffs yet. Hughes got to be leaned on the same way Heiskanen was leaned on now in his second playoffs. Our whole core (minus Podkolzin) got an extended experience boost on playoff hockey, the lows (gm4), and the highs (gm6).
Looking back and sharing, I got to ask Daniel a question about the little Sundin experiment, and he said he learnt so much from him for that half season in the twilight of his career, something that he takes with him the rest of his time. Naslund also used the word "instrumental" on something we all loathed in these boards (and that is the Messier debacle), these little experiences "grow" with the player too, just like an asset like a draft pick. Instead of spreading out your investments throughout your lineup, if we are to invest 10 million on our superstars, it makes sense also to divest opportunity assets like picks and invest in the players growth. Not many spunky upstart teams get to dethrone a cup champ, this experience will benefit our whole team in ways none of us can fathom. Our only hurdle now is the next year with the cap. we will be ready to continue our ascent after that roadbump. I cannot see how this remarkable run cannot be viewed as anything but as a slamdunk success.

 

[F A N]

I think one of my biggest worries is that management will have some of their worst instincts, ideas, and moves, validated, and they won't make the necessary adjustments that will materially improve the team going forward. For example, they may pin these victories on their fantastic bottom-6 character players like Beagle and Sutter and refuse to upgrade on those positions/move money out, or think that they need to get big board-go-boom players to go deeper into the playoffs.

It seems like anytime one of our not so good players on a terrible contracts has a blip of good play and might have any semblance of trade value in the moment...they see that good play and want to hold onto that player because it validates their thesis that they are the kind of player you need to win instead of capitalizing on a temporarily valuable asset.

Ultimately I think we're going to hear Benning say something along the lines of "well if Myers and Toffoli were healthy...." and completely miss the point.

But if you're only evaluating your players based on their regular season play you aren't properly evaluating those players. Just look at Calgary where their biggest problem is that their core group has failed to deliver in the playoffs. Of course simply looking at recent playoff performance alone can lead to mistakes (Bonino, for example, turned into a playoff beast after leaving here).

 

[Peter10]

I believe this is only the 11th time in our 49-year history that we've made it to the second round of the playoffs, so yeah, on some level this season can already be counted as a success, although the bar for this franchise is low.

So with Benning we made it to the second round in 1 of 6 years = 16.67%
Without Benning we made it to the second round in 10 of 43 years = 23.26%

Seems like Benning is a below average GM

 

[NoRaise4Brackett]

This is not a successful season because of Benning and Weisbrod, and like... excuses and stuff. The Wild weren't a playoff team so beating them meant nothing. The Blues clearly weren't trying and their goalie couldn't stop post-and-in shots, so beating them meant nothing either.

This whole season was just a waste that meant nothing, except for finally understanding the embarrassing depth of our overpayment for JT Miller.

Now this team is worse off for next year - our depth has proven to be pathetic in both the regular season and playoffs - so we will have to pay more now to get rid of them. The core just went through the motions and got lucky, clearly they didn't learn anything from this "mid-summer Covid Tourney".

Oh ya, and clearly we are exactly like the Oilers, and this team's spirit and character will tank hard again - guaranteed.