It’s too early to tell. If the Canucks and Jayson Megna mutually agree to terminate their contract, it’ll be double-plus-real-good. Until such time, I wait with bated breath.
First and foremost, a coach’s job is to win hockey games. To that exact end, they’ll play the players they deem most able to help them accomplish that goal. There’s a truism in hockey that coaches and players never tank. If Canucks head coach Travis Green thinks young players are going to help the club win, he’ll play them more often than Willie Desjardins did in his role a season prior. I would expect the same of any coach.
All this is to say that I think your skepticism of Green’s commitment to a youth movement is warranted, but no more so than it would be had the Canucks hired any other coach. This just comes with the territory of the job. One reason I’d expect better of Green is that the young players on the Canucks roster are another year closer to their physical peak and there’s a larger pool of young players to draw from than in the last two seasons. Green might look better suited to a youth movement by default.
The current draft lottery system is absurd. It’s a complete overreaction to the Edmonton Oilers capturing first overall picks the way the Pittsburgh Penguins win Stanley Cups. As HockeyData’s CTO Garret Hohl loves to remind us, if you flip a coin enough times, eventually you’re going to get a run on heads or tails. This doesn’t change the probability of the event. In the case of the Oilers, they were the team who’s inept management landed them heads four times over. A team being that bad for that long isn’t something you need to alter the entire draft lottery system for to avoid. We’ll probably never see a run similar to it in our lifetime.
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I swear, you people keep asking me this same question as if my answer will change. Or, rather, you just missed an edition of the Monday Mailbag where I responded to that question, so I’ll humour you anyway. Olli Juolevi is my surprise player to make the Canucks out of camp. Jake Virtanen is my “surprise” cut to Utica.
Quinn Hughes.
I’d direct this question to Ryan Biech on Twitter if I were you. He’s far better qualified to answer this than I am.
I’d wager they’re not particularly good. It would make the Olympics a far better viewing experience for Canucks fans though.
If you think Elias Pettersson is an NHL centre, then he’s your guy. I just worry about whether he’s an NHL centre. He wasn’t a centre in the Allsvenskan for most of last season, and it doesn’t sound like he’ll play as a pivot for Vaxjo in the SHL this season.
Fairly high, though I’d think that Derek Dorsett will make the opening night roster if he’s healthy enough to play.
I see the Canucks in a similar scenario this season as the last. They’ve a wide range of possible outcomes, in my estimation. I could see the Canucks riding a PDO wave into eighth place in the Western Conference or finishing dead last in the entire league. Of course, I think them finishing in the league’s basement is the most likely outcome and by a not insignificant margin either.
I take the under, and I’ll bet my buying a Bo Horvat shirsey in that dreaded Spaghetti Plate 1994 Canucks logo.
I might miss Development Camp.
Clayton Keller.
It’s different on a per case basis. I think Nikolay Goldobin should be taking NHL reps and that Jake Virtanen should spend another year on the farm, to speak to the two specific examples you gave me.
Anton Rodin has about a 50/50 shot in my estimation, and if he makes the team, I could see him putting up 30-35 points if he stays healthy for an entire season.
I think you undersell Juolevi and the likelihood that Pettersson is a left wing at the NHL level, based on your two examples. The Canucks have done a good job in the last calendar year of building their prospect depth, but they’ve still a ways to go before anyone fears the future of this franchise. Getting there will take a volume approach to addressing their prospect pool. They need more of everything, frankly.
I don’t think you should ever “fear” how long it’s taking the Canucks to sign Horvat. They hold most of the leverage, and knowing what we do about both sides, I find it hard to believe this situation makes either sour on each other. What’s the worst that can happen? Horvat misses a month of hockey and the Canucks lose one or two extra games? If that’s what it takes to get Horvat signed to as agreeable a figure as possible, then Canucks fans should want them to take as much time as they deem necessary to get to that point.
In the Champions League hockey games in Europe, the team’s top scorers wear a different jersey from the rest of their team — or perhaps it’s the league’s top scorer, I can’t quite remember. Anyways, give Brock Boeser his own jersey, separate from the Canucks, and it will draw Alexander Edler’s attention.
Michael Chaput.
*extremely Dr. Evil voice* $1-billion.
Seriously, I have no clue. This would be an interesting article idea unto itself, but it’s not one I’m prepared to invest my time in researching.
Sorry, that’s Canucks Army favourite, Mason Raymond, to you. Why the hate for Raymond? He was a legitimately good top-six scorer for the Canucks in his prime before a severe back injury derailed his career. If he’s good enough for Team Canada, then why not?
I spoke to him in Chicago, so I’m going to go with yes.
This type of scenario wouldn’t play out in far less prestigious and esteemed career fields than the NHL, so why would we expect Canucks general manager Jim Benning to be okay with this in hockey? He might take on a scouting role with another franchise when he moves on from the Canucks, but I doubt he’d be willing to accept a demotion. He’s a proud man, after all.