Speculation: What do you think about the whole canadian division

[bossram]

The best part is if the Canucks make it through the CDN division playoffs they likely won't be as banged up as the winner for any of the other 3 divisions. Opens up a window of opportunity for the Canucks that wasn't there before.

COVID-19 is the best thing that ever happened to Jim Benning's career. Seriously.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Yep. I don't get this sentiment the Canadian division will make it tougher for the Canucks. It's a blessing for their playoff hopes. The other realigned divisions will be much more difficult.

It's basically Toronto (who aren't even true contenders) and a mixed bag of mediocre teams. Lots of open playoff slots.

In a West division, the Canucks aren't getting ahead of Dallas, Colorado, or Vegas. Tampa, Boston, or Carolina? Oh good god. CBJ, PIT, WAS, and the New Yorks would be tough to get points off of too.

Ya the toughest part is that there are so many mediocre teams in the Canadian division. A few will miss out. Any team that is actually a contender would be licking their chops to play in this division.

 

[iFan]

I just want to watch hockey again... let’s get the season going, having something good to watch might be a good way to get all of us to stay home

 

[Didalee Hed]

COVID-19 is the best thing that ever happened to Jim Benning's career. Seriously.

Hundy p

 

[VanJack]

Yep. I don't get this sentiment the Canadian division will make it tougher for the Canucks. It's a blessing for their playoff hopes. The other realigned divisions will be much more difficult.

It's basically Toronto (who aren't even true contenders) and a mixed bag of mediocre teams. Lots of open playoff slots.

In a West division, the Canucks aren't getting ahead of Dallas, Colorado, or Vegas. Tampa, Boston, or Carolina? Oh good god. CBJ, PIT, WAS, and the New Yorks would be tough to get points off of too.

It may not mean anything, but if I read last year's standings right, the Canucks didn't have a winning record against any team in the what is now the new Canadian division. They couldn't even win the season series versus Ottawa. Against the Leafs and the Habs they were downright lousy. And they never beat the Jets at home or away. They basically split with the Flames and Oilers.

So no matter what the teams look like on paper, if the Canucks can't improve their record against Canadian clubs, they'll be on the outside looking in at season's end.

 

[Disappointed EP40]

These will be the standings after the end of the season:

Vancouver
Edmonton
Calgary
Toronto
Montreal
Winnipeg
Ottawa

makes a heap of sense

 

[Disappointed EP40]

The Canadian division will be by far the easiest division. There isn't a single team in there that's a legit contender. And you got Ottawa and Winnipeg who are honestly pretty bad.

I think a Canadian division will be fun (if not gimmicky but I get why they need to do it in these times), but it's an absolute blessing for the Canuck's playoff chances.

Absolutely this.

No idea it was even in the realm of opinion that a Canadian division would be the hardest. Tough to argue it's not the easiest.

Did he mean the easiest?

 

[bossram]

It may not mean anything, but if I read last year's standings right, the Canucks didn't have a winning record against any team in the what is now the new Canadian division. They couldn't even win the season series versus Ottawa. Against the Leafs and the Habs they were downright lousy. And they never beat the Jets at home or away. They basically split with the Flames and Oilers.

So no matter what the teams look like on paper, if the Canucks can't improve their record against Canadian clubs, they'll be on the outside looking in at season's end.

I'll take my chances against a boatload of mediocre teams than having to play Vegas/Colorado/Dallas for half the season.

 

[Raistlin]

Calgary
Toronto
Edmonton
Vancouver
Montreal
Winnipeg
Ottawa

All the signs this offseason points to a bridge year while we wait for JB's cap screw-ups to expire. Travel will destroy us, so expecting a marked improvement from this current group will be unwise. All that said, even with losing our best goalie in Markstrom and best stay-at-home D in Tanev, you cannot discount the two burgeoning franchise talents in 40 and 43. I think we eek over the rising Canadiens still whereas Winnipeg takes a step back when Hellebuyck comes back down to earth. Toronto edges over Edm due to less travel, and I like the Calgary closet raiding moves this offseason, I think they take the middling division.

 

[krutovsdonut]

i'll go against the flow here. i think a canadian division will be much more competitive than the us divisions in the regular season and also much more entertaining. sportsnet and hnic are going to have a field day hyping all the matchups.

i also think the finish order is a total crap shoot.

playoffs perhaps a different story, but i like the chances of canadian teams coming out of the regular season with good momentum.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Calgary
Toronto
Edmonton
Vancouver
Montreal
Winnipeg
Ottawa

All the signs this offseason points to a bridge year while we wait for JB's cap screw-ups to expire. Travel will destroy us, so expecting a marked improvement from this current group will be unwise. All that said, even with losing our best goalie in Markstrom and best stay-at-home D in Tanev, you cannot discount the two burgeoning franchise talents in 40 and 43. I think we eek over the rising Canadiens still whereas Winnipeg takes a step back when Hellebuyck comes back down to earth. Toronto edges over Edm due to less travel, and I like the Calgary closet raiding moves this offseason, I think they take the middling division.

If all the Canadian teams were in one division, why would travel destroy us..?...The eastern teams would have to slog their way over to the west, just as much as we would to the east.

 

[Raistlin]

If all the Canadian teams were in one division, why would travel destroy us..?...The eastern teams would have to slog their way over to the west, just as much as we would to the east.

because there are three western teams, and one west coast team. whereas Toronto doesn't really need to travel much to play Ottawa and Montreal. Canucks need to travel to all other 6 cities for 60 games.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

because there are three western teams, and one west coast team. whereas Toronto doesn't really need to travel much to play Ottawa and Montreal. Canucks need to travel to all other 6 cities for 60 games.

I dont know..sitting on private jet for 45 minutes flying to Edmonton or Calgary fromVancouver does not really constitute a lot of travel in my mind...The only team with the travel advantage would be the Jets.

 

[Raistlin]

I dont know..sitting on private jet for 45 minutes flying to Edmonton or Calgary fromVancouver does not really constitute a lot of travel in my mind...The only team with the travel advantage would be the Jets.

I think you need to think about net miles traveled and extrapolate it to after 60 games come playoff time, since I think of the Canucks as a bubble team in 2021. Every factor matters, every edge counts in a division as this.

 

[CantStoptheBrock]

I really don't get the underrating of Winnipeg. They're still scary offensively, decent defensively, and great in goal. If they trade Laine for a top defender, they'll be a real threat in this division. So much parity in this division makes it difficult to predict standings. It will really depend on injuries, and whether all the new acquisitions can find chemistry quickly.

Toronto
Calgary
Winnipeg
Vancouver
Montreal
Edmonton
Ottawa

 

[RandV]

Is it written in stone that all the games in the upcoming season will be played in every Canadian city's rink? I thought the first first part of the season might have be played in 'bubble cities' like the recent Stanley Cup playoffs?

It that's the case, then the travel won't be too onerous for the Canucks. The problem is that there are no patsies in this Canadian Division. Every game will be a nail-biter. The Canucks could be be 20 percent better than they were last season, and still miss the playoffs.

My gut tells me that this could turn into a 'development year' for the Canucks as they transition from aging, slowing veterans by introducing young guys into the lineup, ready or not.

They're not going to do a bubble again. It was easy to ask the players to enter a bubble for a condensed playoffs, another thing entirely to get all 31 teams in for a full NHL season.

 

[deckercky]

i'll go against the flow here. i think a canadian division will be much more competitive than the us divisions in the regular season and also much more entertaining. sportsnet and hnic are going to have a field day hyping all the matchups.

i also think the finish order is a total crap shoot.

playoffs perhaps a different story, but i like the chances of canadian teams coming out of the regular season with good momentum.

It will definitely be the most competitive division. There's no true contender, and no putrid teams (Ottawa is definitely the bottom of the barrel, but they added a lot of quality this offseason). I expect Toronto to make playoffs and Ottawa to miss playoffs.

In my opinion, the rest of the division will come down to a few hot/cold streaks and injury luck. Theres certainly better and worse teams within that group, but they're close enough.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Surprised to see Winnipeg so low on most peoples' lists. They still have arguably both the best goaltender in the league and one of the best forward cores in the league (and this is without factoring in Perfetti, who looks to be a legit top 6 forward). Their defence took a huge hit with both Trouba and Byfuglien leaving, but a top 4 of Morrissey, DeMelo, Pionk, and Beaulieu isn't that terrible, and they still have intriguing defence prospects like Niku, Heinola, Chrisholm, Gawanke, Stanley (doesn't look good but too early to call), and Lundmark.

 

[DFAC]

Surprised to see Winnipeg so low on most peoples' lists. They still have arguably both the best goaltender in the league and one of the best forward cores in the league (and this is without factoring in Perfetti, who looks to be a legit top 6 forward). Their defence took a huge hit with both Trouba and Byfuglien leaving, but a top 4 of Morrissey, DeMelo, Pionk, and Beaulieu isn't that terrible, and they still have intriguing defence prospects like Niku, Heinola, Chrisholm, Gawanke, Stanley (doesn't look good but too early to call), and Lundmark.

Agreed on Hellebuyck but their defence is pretty atrocious....

 

[ChilliBilly]

So what are the bets on whether or not there will be a season.

It sounds like the players don't want to concede any more money, but I don't see a lot of other jobs for them.

If there are no fans in the seats, revenues are down a ton. Pretty sure if the players don't make more concessions, there won't be a season. The owners are going to take a bath either way, I suspect there won't be much enthusiasm from most of the owners to give away money to be kind to the players. Too bad, I was looking forward to a Canadian division .... a different sort of season.

And the players basically agreed to a 50 - 50 split of revenues ... Right now they have agreed to what amounts to a 28% pay cut, but I am pretty sure revenues will be down about 28% because of a reduced season; and down a further 40 % because no ticket revenue.

If the players are getting 50% of revenue, that means a salary cut of over 55%. But where else are they going to get paid that well?

 

[Fatass]

Calgary
Toronto
Edmonton
Montreal
Winnipeg
Vancouver
Ottawa
That’s how I see the division finishing. Then Aquilini will have a decision on Benning/Brod. Green will likely be gone during the season.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I think the top five teams are essentially a coin flip. Then Montreal and Ottawa.
I really don’t get the hype with Montreal. They added some offense but lost Domi and they rely heavily on Price and Weber who are both older and injury prone. Last year they wouldn’t have even been close to the playoffs in a normal season.

 

[deckercky]

So what are the bets on whether or not there will be a season.

It sounds like the players don't want to concede any more money, but I don't see a lot of other jobs for them.

If there are no fans in the seats, revenues are down a ton. Pretty sure if the players don't make more concessions, there won't be a season. The owners are going to take a bath either way, I suspect there won't be much enthusiasm from most of the owners to give away money to be kind to the players. Too bad, I was looking forward to a Canadian division .... a different sort of season.

And the players basically agreed to a 50 - 50 split of revenues ... Right now they have agreed to what amounts to a 28% pay cut, but I am pretty sure revenues will be down about 28% because of a reduced season; and down a further 40 % because no ticket revenue.

If the players are getting 50% of revenue, that means a salary cut of over 55%. But where else are they going to get paid that well?

The agreement is literally for 50/50 revenues, but there's provisions in the CBA for the salary/revenue ratio to balance over a longer time period. The dispute is really over who bears the brunt of what it is expected to be a short-term disruption of income. According to the agreement owners signed ~6 months ago, the owners are responsible for it.

 

[deckercky]

I think the top five teams are essentially a coin flip. Then Montreal and Ottawa.
I really don’t get the hype with Montreal. They added some offense but lost Domi and they rely heavily on Price and Weber who are both older and injury prone. Last year they wouldn’t have even been close to the playoffs in a normal season.

I don't buy into the hype for price, but he's clearly a top 3 goaltender in the division (along with Hellebuyck and Marstrom), which will be an advantage most nights. With Allen in the mix on a compressed schedule, Montreal is probably the best goaltending in the division.

Montreal defence relies on Weber, obviously, but is solid overall. Its probably 3rd or 4th best defence in the division.

Montreal lacks top end talent at forward, but has some good young talent and oodles of quality depth.

Montreal may end up missing playoffs, but they should be in the mix.

 

[J Corso]

It blows, but there's no other choice.

They really need to get going on this thing, it's only a month away, and we don't even have a schedule yet.