Even if Demko gets hurt for a stretch, as long as the backup goaltending is competent, I can see them making the playoffs. It's only a severe injury to one of our superstar players in Pettersson or Hughes where I'd be legitimately concerned about the team's playoff chances, but every team goes into the season with this caveat

Dach could absolutely be a 2c next season

Maybe Boeser is a second liner, but Beau and Garland are third liner. Their comparable is Dvorak.

Ylonen and Pitlick are better than 99% of the players you named in the same category

Roy might not be nhl ready, but Beck 100% is. Could also add Slaf in that category

Monahan is fragile, but when healthy, he is better than Boeser by a lottt. And Anderson’s bad contract doesn’t define that he is a bad player. He is better than Garland and Beau

Guhle showed last season that he was a top 4 D. The question is more : is he a top pairing D. And Harris has prove that he is a good shutdown middle pairing D. Barron hasn’t been consistent enough to be regarded as a top 4, but he had some good games. Probably a top 4 by the end of next season. But if you prefer, add him to cheap labor.

Try again. Vancouver isn’t close to competing. They might get second wildcard just to get erase in four by the Oilers

Brock Boeser is definitely a top 6 forward. He put up 55 points in 74 games which is a 60 point pace in what is considered to be a down year. Mikheyev more of a middle 6 forward, but works well enough with Pettersson and Kuzmenko that the line is super effectivey. Mikheyev can easily score 25 goals and 50 points. Garland also puts up 50 points with not much PP time, and not much time in general.

Hughes and Hronek are both fantastic. Cole had ELITE analytics last year. He may be old, but his defensive metrics are top of the league. He also had the 3rd highest time on ice on the playoff contender Tampa Bay Lightning. I'd say that is top 4 worthy. Now Soucy is not as proven in the top 4, but it is still better than whatever the Habs have got going on. Also every single player you listed in each category is worse than what the Canucks have. There is a reason that the Habs were bottom 5 last season

Beau and Garland are both much much better than Dvorak. Dvorak has not hit 40 points ever in his career whereas Beauvillier and Garland both did it this year. Dvorak is also one of the worst defensive forwards in the entire league (you even admitted it yourself). Dvorak is not a comparable for these players.

Ylonen and Pitlick aren't better than anybody in our top 9

You are also count on very young rookies to make an instant impact.

Also Monahan better than Boeser by A LOT? Now you have me laughing. Monahan hasn't been a top 6 caliber forward since his healthy days in Calgary. Come on now. Boeser had more points this season than Monahan has in the past 2 seasons combined

Guhle is pretty good with upside, but you are basically counting on him to be your #1 defenseman which he is not. The Habs have a lot of holes on defense (Yes they have a very good prospect pool, but those guys aren't ready yet)

Saying the Canucks aren't close to competing and then using this very terrible counterexample does not help your argument at all. Canucks are basically a good 3C, and top 4 defenseman away from having a legit team

Miller-Pettersson-Boeser
Pearson-Horvat-Toffoli
Roussel-Sutter-Gaudette
Motte-Beagle-Eriksson
Hughes-Tanev
Edler-Myers
Fantenberg-Stecher
Markstrom
Demko

This is the roster that somehow won 2 playoff series 3 years ago including taking out the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Comparing this roster to what we have now, it is very clear that the current roster is much better

The point is this is pretty close. Montreal is a bottom 5 team. Vancouver is a bottom 15 team. They aren’t making the playoff unless Winnipeg, Nashville and Calgary choke. I also don’t remember saying Dvorak is a bad defensive player. I said Caufield, Hoffman, Gallagher, Dach and Drouin are bad, but never Dvorak

Vancouver IS better than all three of Winnipeg, Nashville, and Calgary, heck, they're better than St. Louis and arguably Minnesota and Seattle as well. Just because Sutter is no longer there doesn't mean Calgary will get back to being a top team in the Pacific, not to mention if the unfinished business going in both Calgary and Winnipeg bleeds into the season, it could become distracting for both locker rooms

Well you probably should add him to the list because he is arguably the worst alongside Anderson. Still, using the current Habs to compare to the Canucks doesn’t make any sense.

No way Vancouver is better than Seattle and Minnesota. They are proven playoff team. Their star player is better than Vancouver’s (at least at the end of next season for Beniers). Vancouver has bad defense and too much middle 6 guys. Seattle has one of the best D in the league.

It makes a lot of sense. Habs roster is worse, but not by a lot. So Vancouver fans should not expect to compete anytime soon

Habs roster is worse BY ALOT. Not a little. A lot. Don’t even justify saying that. Habs may have the better future with their prospects, but they are a tire fire right now and that’s fine because they are rebuilding. Looks like you ignored the entire argument because the Canucks have a lot of good pieces in place. Their finished with a winning record despite playing 2 AHL goalies for half the year, and with a terrible defense core. Canucks added Hronek, Cole, and Soucy which is a huge upgrade over OEL, Schenn, Stillman. A huge upgrade.

Habs might have a stronger prospect pool, but Vancouver has more foundational pieces in place on their roster

No such thing as too many middle six guys, and Vancouver's defense is not bad. Look at Seattle AND the first year Vegas Golden Knights. Minnesota is a proven playoff contender I agree, Seattle however, is not. Tell me Beniers is better than Pettersson without telling me Beniers is better than Pettersson

Vancouver defense is awful. Hughes is excellent, Hronek is an incredible 2 but the rest is bad. Cole and Soucy are bottom pairing guy. Myers is a 6 D. Pretty unlikely Dumba sign in Vancouver. The rest is ahl caliber.

Seattle just beat cup favorite Avs in first round. And their team is better than ever. If that is not proven playoff contender, I don’t know what it is. Beniers could score 90 points this season, while being good defensively. That is pretty close to Pettersson. Don’t act like Pettersson is a top 10 player in the league.

Huge upgrade but other teams upgraded also. Seattle destroys Vancouver. They have no chance at contending unless Pettersson become the reincarnation of Wayne Gretzky.

Seattle is good, I don’t see how they are a threat since we wouldn’t even play them in the first round. As for the Pacific, Calgary got worse so we leap frog them. Seattle also had an unhealthy high case of luck with their goals above expected. They are bound to regress. Will still be good but the Canucks have 2 more superstars than they do. Not saying this is a contender, but saying that they can’t compete is a terrible take. Even so, Montreal isn’t close to competing. I don’t see their future being better than Buffalo, Ottawa, or Detroit, all of whom are better now and have a better future

Seattle is a threat because they will take the wildcard. Vancouver would have to take the other wild card. And while Calgary lost Toffoli, I think they will be better than last year. Huberdeau will certainly be better, Weegar too. I wouldn’t count them beat. And other teams like Anaheim have got way better. If a team in the pacific surprise us next season, it’s them. Seattle have gone better next season. Also, I don’t think there is much difference between Hughes and Dunn. Seattle defense is A LOT better than Vancouver. Their offense too, even if it’s closer. Vancouver beat them in net, but Grubauer could surprise us. Seattle has the upper edge on Vancouver. Canucks can compete for second wildcard, but they won’t make it.

Montreal is much closer to competing than you think. In 3 years, we could make the playoffs. Ottawa has a good core, it I’m afraid they will be the new Calgary. And Detroit seems to always rebuild, then trade assets for win-now players, then rebuild. Buffalo has the greatest future in nhl in my mind. But Montreal is close

You can’t tell me Cole is bottom pairing. My guy he was playing 20 minutes a night on the Tampa Bay Lightning. He literally was 3rd in minutes in Tampa. He was literally playing top 4 on a contender. He is better than any d man the Habs have got. Soucy I agree is a lot more unproven, but a superstar d man, a top pair d man, a second pair d man, and a #5 is not as bad as you think. You are way downplaying the Canucks. They made significant improvements to the back end. I like Beniers a lot, and yes he COULD score 90 and be in the Selke race, but Pettersson has already proven to score 100 while being in the Selke race as well. Seattle’s top players aren’t even close to Vancouver. What they have is a lot of depth. Scoring is more spread out. All your arguments have failed. Pettersson is easily a top 10 center in the league. You could ask most people and they’d agree. How many 100 point centers are putting up Selke numbers?

Dunn had a fantastic season, but come on now… Comparing him to Hughes? That’s a rough look buddy since Hughes is better at just about everything. Even defense somehow! No point in arguing if these are the atrocious takes you’re going to make. Clearly you have something against the Canucks if you think Dunn is comparable to Hughes and Beniers is comparable to Pettersson 😂. Not even in the same tier. Also, your entire argument is based arohnd the fact that Seattle COULD COULD COULD. You’re counting on multiple players having career years because that’s what it would take for them to improve like you said. Seattle has been asleep this offseason, I don’t see how they improved.

. Why would Ottawa be the new Calgary? That makes no sense. As it stands, the Senators have 7-8 forwards capable of scoring 20 goals. Their defense core is going to be one of the best in the league with Chabot, Chychrun, Sanderson, Zub. That’s an elite top 4. I can’t see Montreal being better than Ottawa. With Detroit? No clue but they have all the pieces in place to become a bonafide contender

Pettersson isn’t a top 10 player
1. Mcdavid
2. Makar
3. Drai
4. Mack
5. Fox
6. Tkachuk
7. Matthews
8. Karlsson
9. Robo
10. Pasternak
11. Kucherov
12. Rantanen
13. Marner
14. Aho
15. Hughes (Jack)

He isn’t even top 15

Aho 😂 😂 😂

That is YOUR list which I guarantee you nobody would agree with. I said top 10 center, not top 10 player. Learn to read. Pettersson is easily a top 10 center. Better than Hughes by a bit, and better than Aho by a landslide. How can you even compare them??? Aho the guy put up 67 points with T
very poor defensive metrics is better than a 102 point player with Selke level defense? Get a grip buddy

Pettersson is a top 10 C. I said that he wasn’t a top 10 player. Learn too read you too. Hughes is there because he is more fun to watch and dynamic offensively than anybody. He makes his team better, unlike Pettersson. Aho is also better than Pettersson for the same reason. Better leader, makes his team better. And ask anybody (non biased) in the world who is better defensively between Pettersson and Aho and they will Aho. Analytics just don’t always say the truth.

If you’re measuring a player on “fun to watch” I don’t even know what to say than you… Pettersson is much better defensively than Aho. Come on, don’t be foolish. “Ask anyone”. You sure you want to do that?

Also, did you seriously just say Pettersson DOESNT make his team better? May be the most uneducated take I’ve ever seen on this site, and that takes a lot.

Remind me where his 102 points got the team? If he was a leader like you said, Vancouver should have been able to compete in the last few year. He doesn’t make his teammates better

Pettersson was 7th in Selke voting with 163 points. Aho was 28th... with 5 points. Pettersson may be better defensively