Pokecheque wrote:
For purely selfish reasons I hope they don't figure it out right away, but I do hope they figure it out. There may have been some debate a little while ago, but is absolute none now--the Canucks have by far their best center (and IMO best player PERIOD) in their history, and their best defenseman in their history, and it's not particularly close. And if he can stay healthy, Demko has a legit shot at being the greatest Canucks netminder ever. That's the three most important components toward building a contender IMO right there.
You're right, those are the three most important players for a contender. Thing is the next two most important are imo a #2 centre that plays to the level of #1 centre for most teams in the league. And a high quality #2 defencemen. A good 40 goal wing sniper would also be a big plus.
Well they lack that 40 goal sniper but Hronek is definitely a quality #2 dman. And JT Miller continues to play at a point production that would place him in the top 10 centres in the league. He's even added discipline to his defensive game. They have the key pieces now but lack the quality supporting players.
Their wingers are fine, whether their #3 and #4 centres are good enough remains to be seen. It's their defense that is the real problem. The question that I've been wondering for over a week is if they should go for it this year? Do they make a big trade for a high quality #3 RH dman and give up prospects or draft picks. I've been 10 years of yelling at Benning to not give up prospects, and now finding myself wondering if this is the time? They presently have more talented prospects then anytime I can ever recall in 20 years. You have to go back to the days of Kesler, Bieksa, and Burrows being on the farm team to find a time where they had more talent in the pipeline.
Would this be enough to be in contention? It's not like in the past where they'd be blowing their whole wad on giving up one quality prospect, and a 2nd round pick plus any or all of Garland/Beauvillier/Myers. I think it puts them in contention. But its fragile, I am doubtful they have the depth to handle an injury to one of their top people and still contend. Still I kind of think they have to do it this year, if only because they can't keep playing Hughes/Hronek 25 minutes a night. Improving the 2nd pair means less minutes for them, and strengthens the 3rd pairing by bumping Myer's out of the lineup. It also really helps with their zone control issues that are presently a significant concern.
Canucksarmy posted a piece today on whether they should go for it or not. They differ than me in that they're actually not willing to give up prospects for this. I'm not sure you get that high quality dman without giving up prospects. If you do, I think you have to give up Boeser or Kuzmenko for him. And I don't think if they want to contend that they can let either of these two go.
https://canucksarmy.com/news/second-no- ... canucks-go