Quoting: evelutions2
Please note before I start ai live on the eastern seaboard and rarely get to watch the Canucks unless they are in town, so my logic might be a bit off. I think before the Canucks start working on their bottom six, they start prioritizing defensive defensemen. Hughes is mainly a pp specialist, with some good 5v5 playing, but he isn’t that good defensively. OEL is a bit better defensively, but is better suited to offensive duties. Cole is very good defensively, plus he can play top pairing minutes if the need arises, as has been shown this season. Myers is ok, but the contract weighs the team down. I must say, the Canucks should have kept Tanev and Chatfield, as they have both been really good for their respective teams, albeit Chatfield has had limited ice time this season due to injury/depth.
In the drafts, the Canucks should really consider not taking the best player available at their pick, but to take a player who would fill an organizational need. From the looks of it, the areas of weakness include RD and G, albeit G is not as critical right now, with DiPietro being close to NHL ready, they need to start developing another goalie. You could also consider C to be a weakness, but that all depends on Horvat and where he ends up for his next contract. Look at what the Canes did in the most recent draft. With the 2021 draft being considered fairly weak, Canes made a show of trading a bunch of picks backwards and getting more players, and we ended up with Scott Morrow, who is projected to be better than Cale Makar. They also addressed their position of need (RD) with 2 big selections in the second round.
The Cancuks should probably just commit to the rebuild, and come out even stronger. The fans might not like it, as whether they win or lose (at least in the playoffs) the city burns. But jokes aside, if they had committed to the rebuild this year, they probably would be out of it in 3-4 years, whereas now they might be looking at 5-6 if they commit now. This is just my opinion, but I digress.
I’ve been hoping for a rebuild for at least the last 6 years, but I just don’t see the management/ownership group here committing to it. If they had of committed to a rebuild 6-7 years ago we would have already been out of it and possible be a contending team (if it was done right), instead we’re been near the bottom of the standings almost all those years.
I still feel the team should commit to a rebuild now, we may be a playoff contesting team (still don’t think we’re there) but I don’t want to be stuck in mediocrity. I want to be in late playoff runs each year.
With all that said, I feel the have the core in place to be a contender. EP although having a poor year is still in my eyes a franchise center, QH is definitely a number one defeseman and a possible Norris trophy winner some day, Demko made the All Star team this year. They also have some good young supporting pieces in Hoglander, Podkolzin, and I think Rathbone could potentially join that group, but the team needs a lot more pieces especially at defense.
If I were to commit to a full rebuild at this point, pretty much ever player on the team would be available that wasent listed above, assuming the price is right. Although players like Horvat, Boeser and Garland aren’t old, they would be available for the right price because they will be out of or exiting their prime when the team actually has the ability to contend.
One of the possible repercussions of committing to a rebuild is core players becoming sour on the organization for losing and wanting out.
Anyways with this team above, I tried to remain competitive for a playoff spot without selling assets and picking up some futures along the way. With Horvat becoming a UFA one season later I would definitely be opening to moving him as this season as well.