Or your goalie can get hot at the right time and you have a relatively healthy roster.

Sometimes it’s not science, sometimes it’s just dumb luck. That’s sports for ya.
- bloatedmosquito

True, but usually those teams get exposed at some point during the run, or lose in the final. Then they spend like mad thinking they are "just right there, look we made the final!" Then come apart completely...ala Montreal, Ottawa, Canucks in 82', etc.
While I of course want to win a Cup, I would prefer a solid team ready to win year after year. I think this is a more tried and tested method

No, it was pretty well the opposite. They had to pay 1st round picks for other teams cheap players because they had no cap space. They made trades because they made errors in their own drafting. From 2014 till they won the cup in 19-20, it was Point and Cirelli on the team for prospects.
- manvanfan

So we should follow that model than and start shedding picks, because we are so close.

True, but usually those teams get exposed at some point during the run, or lose in the final. Then they spend like mad thinking they are "just right there, look we made the final!" Then come apart completely...ala Montreal, Ottawa, Canucks in 82', etc.
While I of course want to win a Cup, I would prefer a solid team ready to win year after year. I think this is a more tried and tested method
- carsonagenic

IF you want to take Tampa Bay, they were just smart enough to reverse the errors unlikely Benning would was very good at piling on top of his.

So we should follow that model than and start shedding picks, because we are so close.
- carsonagenic

What is it about people that think there is only one end or the other end of the spectrum?

There's a real difference between all in and tank. There's lots to do in the middle.

Just like sign free agents, no one is saying sign multiple free agents so you max out every $ of cap space but that's what some think .

What is it about people that think there is only one end or the other end of the spectrum?

There's a real difference between all in and tank. There's lots to do in the middle.
- manvanfan

Drafting in the middle is the best!
We can argue about this forever, You have your points and reasons, and I have mine.
What should be absolutely clear though is a team that is bottom 5, with all these great players on it (Petey, Miller, Hughes, Kuz, etal), capped out, and having a terrible prospect pool is not ready to compete for a Cup anytime soon.
I would like to be proven wrong, but to me this is not a quick fix, and spending more to try and fix this is just dumb.

IF you want to take Tampa Bay, they were just smart enough to reverse the errors unlikely Benning would was very good at piling on top of his.
- manvanfan

Like you’ve said before, for every good thing Jim Benning did, he turned around and did two dumb things. Things could’ve turned out so much different for him if Aquilini wouldn’t have been so meddling.

At the end of the day the team won’t be competitive until they build a better, bottom six, overhaul the defence and build organizational depth. That’s gonna take some time. So trading Miller is probably the wise thing to do, which we all know they won’t do.

Drafting in the middle is the best!
We can argue about this forever, You have your points and reasons, and I have mine.
What should be absolutely clear though is a team that is bottom 5, with all these great players on it (Petey, Miller, Hughes, Kuz, etal), capped out, and having a terrible prospect pool is not ready to compete for a Cup anytime soon.
I would like to be proven wrong, but to me this is not a quick fix, and spending more to try and fix this is just dumb.
- carsonagenic

Colorado and Tampa Bay both bottomed out in the middle. (Makar, Drouin)

Must be on the right path.

In the end, you are going to have make the perfect decisions. Beau has come in nicely and complimented in small sample size. He is also a type of player Van did not have in their top 6.

It's entirely possible that maybe Lekkerimaki is swapped for a D. Rutherford traded a 6th round pick for John Marino. Maybe he does the same for Henry Thrun and Filip Johansson turns out to be better than expected like Nils Aman, who no one thought would even be a half decent AHLer. Not even the team that drafted him and didn't bother to sign him. Who could definitely use some capable NHLer's right now in their bid to just make the playoffs.

Where did it come from in Tampa Bay?

Gourde, the type of winger some Canuck fans love to mock. Free agent.
Coleman, trade 1st round pick.
Sergachev, swapped high 1st round picks
Johnson, another halfling. free agent
Goodrow trade 1st round pick.
Cernak trade.
McDonough trade.
Savard 1st round pick.

The rest drafted and had been the same core for quite a while. Add in some a nice prospect in Point and Cirelli.
- manvanfan

Just looked at some of this players and deals
Gourde, undrafted F/A minimum deal
Johnson, undrafted F/A minimum deal
So great value adds. Small skilled players that cost you nothing to add except minimal cap space. Not 1st round drafts...
Cernak, part of a goalie trade really, Bishop for Budaj and it cost them a 5th to get Cernak. Great deal!
Sergachev was for Drouin. Turned out to be a homerun, but still a top pick for a top pick deal at the time.
The Savard deal was a mess, so ya that sucked. But they won the Cup with him on the squad.
And the Colaman, Goodrow, and McDonagh deals were all completed by a team that was in Cup contention. Identified a need, and paid the price at the right time. Its what you do when its time win.
Canucks are not in that position at all.

Like you’ve said before, for every good thing Jim Benning did, he turned around and did two dumb things. Things could’ve turned out so much different for him if Aquilini wouldn’t have been so meddling.

At the end of the day the team won’t be competitive until they build a better, bottom six, overhaul the defence and build organizational depth. That’s gonna take some time. So trading Miller is probably the wise thing to do, which we all know they won’t do.
- LeftCoaster

That bottom 6 probably improves from some developing prospects and a steady vet or 2.

With defence so hard to acquire now a days. Free agency one of the only places to get them.

D-Petey playing 15 minutes a night vs men already is a real good sign. Truscott is 20 and was playing top pairing in College. More defenders and not really puck movers or offensive guys.

Adding two first round picks this year adds a lot unless they (frank) it up and pick a small winger

Colorado and Tampa Bay both bottomed out in the middle. (Makar, Drouin)

Must be on the right path.

In the end, you are going to have make the perfect decisions. Beau has come in nicely and complimented in small sample size. He is also a type of player Van did not have in their top 6.

It's entirely possible that maybe Lekkerimaki is swapped for a D. Rutherford traded a 6th round pick for John Marino. Maybe he does the same for Henry Thrun and Filip Johansson turns out to be better than expected like Nils Aman, who no one thought would even be a half decent AHLer. Not even the team that drafted him and didn't bother to sign him. Who could definitely use some capable NHLer's right now in their bid to just make the playoffs.
- manvanfan

You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to make more good decisions than bad ones, which every organization makes. Keep going down the path of acquiring draft picks and or young players and building towards the future.

Just looked at some of this players and deals
Gourde, undrafted F/A minimum deal
Johnson, undrafted F/A minimum deal
So great value adds. Small skilled players that cost you nothing to add except minimal cap space. Not 1st round drafts...
Cernak, part of a goalie trade really, Bishop for Budaj and it cost them a 5th to get Cernak. Great deal!
Sergachev was for Drouin. Turned out to be a homerun, but still a top pick for a top pick deal at the time.
The Savard deal was a mess, so ya that sucked. But they won the Cup with him on the squad.
And the Colaman, Goodrow, and McDonagh deals were all completed by a team that was in Cup contention. Identified a need, and paid the price at the right time. Its what you do when its time win.
Canucks are not in that position at all.
- carsonagenic

I never said go all in.

Colorado and Tampa Bay both bottomed out in the middle. (Makar, Drouin)

Must be on the right path.

In the end, you are going to have make the perfect decisions. Beau has come in nicely and complimented in small sample size. He is also a type of player Van did not have in their top 6.

It's entirely possible that maybe Lekkerimaki is swapped for a D. Rutherford traded a 6th round pick for John Marino. Maybe he does the same for Henry Thrun and Filip Johansson turns out to be better than expected like Nils Aman, who no one thought would even be a half decent AHLer. Not even the team that drafted him and didn't bother to sign him. Who could definitely use some capable NHLer's right now in their bid to just make the playoffs.
- manvanfan

You got to be more realistic and stop comparing the Canucks to Colorado and TB for everything. Hey they lost, and then won the Cup...Same with Buffalo's worst case scenario with rebuilding. Trusting the most tried and true methods of building through the draft, drafting critical positions, taking value added contracts cheap, etc. F/A is a dead end to building a team, except for adding cheap undrafted diamonds in the rough, and adding a top player when it is time to go for a run.

I never said go all in.
- manvanfan

Didn't say you did.

Didn't say you did.
- carsonagenic

Yeah but you don't seem to see the process of how they got there over a time period. It wasn't wake up and were on the verge of the cup.

Some seem to think the Canucks are just going to draft for 2 years then wake up and the cup is going to be in their grasp or out of nowhere without doing anything the team is going to be turned around.

Yeah but you don't seem to see the process of how they got there over a time period. It wasn't wake up and were on the verge of the cup.

Some seem to think the Canucks are just going to draft for 2 years then wake up and the cup is going to be in their grasp or out of nowhere without doing anything the team is going to be turned around.
- manvanfan

Well that isn't me
Way longer than 2 years to lipstick this pig. Hence why, imo, resigning Kuz and Miller was the wrong move.

The goal now is to waste the last good years of Miller and two prime years of Hughes and Pettersson because? Plus the last two cheap years of Kuzmenko now too.
- manvanfan

What good years of Miller? He's already regressed and declining now and we have him for 8 years at 8 mil per season. This team isn't going to be able to contend within Petey and Hughes prime anyways, not unless a miracle happens and we suddenly catch fire in a bottle with draft picks/bargain contracts.

Well that isn't me
Way longer than 2 years to lipstick this pig.
- carsonagenic

I mean if they aren't going to try then yeah, like some want them not too. I'd like to see them be more proactive in building over that time.

That bottom 6 probably improves from some developing prospects and a steady vet or 2.

With defence so hard to acquire now a days. Free agency one of the only places to get them.

D-Petey playing 15 minutes a night vs men already is a real good sign. Truscott is 20 and was playing top pairing in College. More defenders and not really puck movers or offensive guys.

Adding two first round picks this year adds a lot unless they (frank) it up and pick a small winger
- manvanfan

Looks like NYI will keep this years 1st as of now. Keep selling ffs.

You don’t need to be perfect, you just need to make more good decisions than bad ones, which every organization makes. Keep going down the path of acquiring draft picks and or young players and building towards the future.
- LeftCoaster

Starting now.

Looks like NYI will keep this years 1st as of now. Keep selling ffs.
- VanHockeyGuy

This year or next year. If it's not top 10 then I doubt they take the chance to of giving up a higher pick next season.

Mathew Barzal out indefinitely with a lower body injury, per Islanders.

Devastating news.

Ok next season

I mean if they aren't going to try then yeah, like some want them not too. I'd like to see them be more proactive in building over that time.
- manvanfan

HOW?
With what cap space, depth and ELC contracts?
If they traded Miller before resigning him, lets say they got a 1st, a prospect and a player. ignoring the player, the prospect would have added depth to Abby and we would have 3 1st possible all this year to play with.
Trading Kuz. Like I said before, having him drop into the team was pure mana from heaven for an extra rebuild piece. Say you got another 1st for him, based on his tiny salary and great production this year.
So 4st rounders plus any other Players like Schenn, etc for 2nd thru 7ths picks.
Then we are talking about a way better turn around.
4 first gets you possibly 1 of the top C in the draft plus 3 dmen. Instant influx of prospects to develop in Junior then Abby.
Instead you have these players signed, still suck, no extra cap space and no extra picks.

.
@DhaliwalSports
on Aidan McDonough:

"Northeastern sources tell me McDonough has not made up his mind yet...I was told the McDonough camp was impressed with Allvin in that meeting...the #Canucks really want to sign him."

Colorado and Tampa Bay both bottomed out in the middle. (Makar, Drouin)

Must be on the right path.

In the end, you are going to have make the perfect decisions. Beau has come in nicely and complimented in small sample size. He is also a type of player Van did not have in their top 6.

It's entirely possible that maybe Lekkerimaki is swapped for a D. Rutherford traded a 6th round pick for John Marino. Maybe he does the same for Henry Thrun and Filip Johansson turns out to be better than expected like Nils Aman, who no one thought would even be a half decent AHLer. Not even the team that drafted him and didn't bother to sign him. Who could definitely use some capable NHLer's right now in their bid to just make the playoffs.
- manvanfan

I'm not saying it's where the canucks are currently but I think it's often overlooked by fans how both Colorado and TB bottomed out with their "superstar" cores before winning.

Fans compare their own team, be it the canucks/leafs/whomever, to these cup winnings forgetting the path they took to become champs. Colorado were annual playoff busts (1st round outs or missing) for most of MacKinnon's tenure prior to winning. (after totally bottoming out a season and ending up with Makar.)

HOW?
With what cap space, depth and ELC contracts?
If they traded Miller before resigning him, lets say they got a 1st, a prospect and a player. ignoring the player, the prospect would have added depth to Abby and we would have 3 1st possible all this year to play with.
Trading Kuz. Like I said before, having him drop into the team was pure mana from heaven for an extra rebuild piece. Say you got another 1st for him, based on his tiny salary and great production this year.
So 4st rounders plus any other Players like Schenn, etc for 2nd thru 7ths picks.
Then we are talking about a way better turn around.
4 first gets you possibly 1 of the top C in the draft plus 3 dmen. Instant influx of prospects to develop in Junior then Abby.
Instead you have these players signed, still suck, no extra cap space and no extra picks.
- carsonagenic

Your fantasy of how prospects turn out is truly amazing.

I'm not saying it's where the canucks are currently but I think it's often overlooked by fans how both Colorado and TB bottomed out with their "superstar" cores before winning.

Fans compare their own team, be it the canucks/leafs/whomever, to these cup winnings forgetting the path they took to become champs. Colorado were annual playoff busts (1st round outs or missing) for most of MacKinnon's tenure prior to winning. (after totally bottoming out a season and ending up with Makar.)
- Aaron_85

Flash in the pan teams are way better strategy to take.
Spend like a drunken Trudeau government on all the F/A's possible.
Trade all picks and prospects for 29 year old vets as a bottom 5 team.
Treat your players like a cocaine bear.
WINNING!