The New York Islanders Model - circa 1973

[BlueGreen]

I don't see the comparison. Gillies was like a quiet bear that you didn't provoke - else he could get mean (not unlike our own Curt Fraser - on a smaller scale obviously). Guy could play in any style game (whether it be against the hall of fame skating 70s Habs teams or the "Broad Street Bullies" Flyers). I'd think a closer comparable might be Brent Sutter maybe?

Yes my bad, that comparison was not very good, but in terms of effectiveness and being a core player EP is going to be rock solid.

 

[Jyrki21]

Clearly NYI acquired most of their Stanley Cup winning teams through the draft.

Is it possible that the Canucks could do a "NYI-oriented" team build?

Without even getting into the specifics, not really, because (1) there are considerably more teams now across which the top talent gets distributed, (2) a salary cap, and (3) all teams actually scout worldwide, and on relatively equal footing, whereas there used to be a lot more asymmetry. All of these factors conspire to prevent a single team from amassing considerably more talent than anybody else in the draft, and it's not really surprising that "dynasties" as such aren't really a thing anymore. There are really only going to be small variances among the upper tier of teams, with the variation mostly explained by luck, health and schedule. (And all the more obvious, in this environment, that using the small sample size and knockout format of playoffs as a gauge of "true" success is absolute insanity).

 

[brokenhole]

Cool post. I would say that Pettersson = Gillies, and if we were to magically get the 1st OA and draft Dahlin, well there's our very own Potvin. I like how you've included all of the draft positions here. It's not a coincidence that the core of the team was drafted mostly in the top 4 of the draft. We need that #1 OA this draft and by getting Dahlin we would drastically fast-forward this rebuild. The cool thing is we have some of this supporting players coming up, Lind, Gaudette, Juolevi, Dahlen and even Virtanen, but a core group of Horvat, Boeser, Pettersson, Demko, and Dahlin would be incredibly solid. I'm afraid without that #1 dman though that has eluded us since our very existence we prob won't ever win a cup.

That's why I'm on team tank rn and praying for Dahlin. Even if we don't get RD there are still some really good dmen in this draft so we can continue to build. You've just illustrated how important it is to build through the draft by acquiring high picks and even low picks for that matter. Tanking rn gets you those high picks. By building a strong core through the draft the team can be highend for a long time and win multiple cups, but If we just make it into the playoffs or just miss them we'll always be a mediocre team that will never win anything. I should also point out that all of this means nothing if the organizations management sucks as they will mess up the progress of the team moving forward and set it back even. High draft picks, good coaching and strong, competent management = success = Stanley cups.

Dahlin would be a dream, perfect fit for this team, but Potvin was a different.. a very nasty piece of work in a different time. Potvin put fear into anybody playing against him, he was the original prototype for d-men like Scott Stevens. I think it was Potvin taking Bill Derlago's knee out with a dirty low bridge hit in Derlago's rookie season.

 

[VanJack]

Building a team in the 'Slapshot' of 1973 is totally different than today.....besides, until the Canucks actually draft a d-man in the Denis Potvin mold, it's a moot point. But looking back, it's too bad the Canucks of the day could never dress the Hansons; Ogie Ogelthorpe or Tim McCracken for those games at the old Spectrum in Philly.

 

[Fire Benning]

They need a Potvin type #1 dman.