RE: 1+2: Didn't hear he had retired a few hours before that post. But it is beside the point. Adding Prospal for scoring depth is one thing, but, it doesn't solve their issue of getting another top 6 scorer. To get one of those, you have to move key assets. Otherwise you are stuck. You either think you can win the cup with this core or you can't. If you do, you need to recognize that the Sedins and Luongo probably have two years as top notch NHL players. Kesler and Burrows aren't getting any younger either. With such borrowed time, you make a trade for someone that ideally isn't a rental player. If you don't think you can win with this core, then it's time to move some of them for new pieces. Staying the status quo is just going to get you knocked out by either LA or Anaheim.
3) Nichuskin is a little streaky because most NHL players are. He's also a rookie playing for Ruff. Ruff is kind of a skilled youth killer. It's criminal how he handled Thomas Vanek. Anyway, Nichuskin has 25 points in 50 games and is +15. Not bad for a guy who has played a lot on the 4th line and averages 19 shifts a game, which is the 267th best average amongst forwards. Meaning,he'd be down in the bottom half of the NHL for shifts per game if we included defense. But I am also a proponent of giving young goal scorers ice time on the big club. Especially if my team needs to score goals. So yeah, I think a 6'4 (and still growing), natural goal scorer who skates like the wind, has soft hands and plays wing is something that Canucks could definitely use.
4) That's a valid point. Though to be fair, I think Gillis got a good deal for the Schneider trade. It'll be fantastic if the Canucks don't botch Hovart like they have with other young and talented prospects. Schneider can't even wrestle the starting job away from Brodeur for God's sake.
6) I agree. But you don't hear Sharks and Blues fans complaining because you don't live in those respective cities. Blues fans got fed up with their playoffs failures they stopped going to games and the team almost folded in the early '00's. And Sharks fans have gone nutso over their team's constant choking in the playoffs.
7) I both agree and disagree with your statement. We're in a different NHL. And those teams you listed all had scoring. Philly had Carter,Giroux, Briere and Richards amongst others (and it didn't hurt to have Pronger on defense). We all know who Chicago had on that team. LA was only an 8 seed because they were plagued with a ton of injuries that year. That team also had Carter, Richards, Kopitar, Brown, Doughty and Quick (to name a few) on that team. These scorers strike more fear into me than the twins, Burrows, Kesler, Hansen, Kassian and Santorelli.
We're just not that good enough. Even if luck is on our side (ie: injuries), there's not enough scoring.
Well, Vinny Prospal has 581pts in 1018 NHL games which puts him about 47-50pt pace consistently each season (top 6 forward production). Not to mention at the age of 37 last season he put up 30pts in 48 games on a offensively challenged Blue Jackets team that basically rode Officer Bobrovsky into 9th place. He's probably one of the most underrated players who produced consistently while playing over 1000 games (Ray Whitney comes to mind as well). His game has never relied on speed and he scores a lot from inside the paint, which is something the Canucks are sorely lacking. While he would have been the definition of a band-aid, I would much prefer that to trading away assets for rentals this year. As I stated earlier I would be fine with slightly overpaying a higher profile UFA like Moulson this off season as the Canucks will have a fair amount of space to work with for the first time in years. I would say that offering Moulson 6M (just an arbitrary number for discussion purposes) is far more valuable than the assets (likely Jensen and a first) it would cost to acquire him plus 5-5.5M to resign him for the benefit of a few extra months.
As for the view of the core, this is going to go way back to where Gillis has even admitted he altered his original vision of the team (June 2010) when Kesler was a 25-goal, 75-point dominating two-way threat with the perfect package of size, speed, and skill. All this playing centre, for my money the most important position in hockey. Kesler was far and away in my opinion the best two-way player IN THE LEAGUE at that time.
HOWEVER...
It was obvious that his style of play was extremely aggressive and even then people said he'd be a great player for a short time (keep in mind these were outsiders saying this, not just us Canucks homers) and looking back at that point he was on his second (major?) surgery in two years. That June, specifically at the NHL Awards I believe Gillis realized his team was closer than he could have hoped. We all know what happened that off-season.
So, did Gillis bank on the Twins peak being higher or Kesler's? Only Gillis knows for certain, but considering what we do know, my money is on Kesler. Gillis took a big gamble and missed. That happens. Foresight be damned, I think he truly went all-in on 2011. Look at all of Gillis' deadline deals/FA deals (for the most part). The majority have been structured around the 2nd line, the failure with that thinking is that Kesler is a MARGINAL 2nd line player. He's not a great shooter, a below average passer and has limited offensive instincts. Kelser's best skills have been his tenacity, speed, physical play and 'fuck you'-ness. Unfortunately because of injuries his key attributes are limited at best and he's obviously lost a gear.
While a retool is certainly needed, tanking to rebuild is rarely ever the answer to change a team. For every Chicago or Pittsburgh there's an Edmonton, Florida, NYI, etc. I would rather suck with the core we have but never hitting the basement, invest better money in scouting and have mid-range picks. Allow the current core to insulate the kids so as to allow them time to develop properly against favourable match-ups instead of being thrown to the wolves like the kids in Edmonton.
Also, Schneider is getting royally fucked in Jersey by DeBoer. He literally said that he doesn't believe in goaltending statistics, while Cory rocks a .928 SV% and a 1.84 GAA on a team with some of the worst goal support in the league. It's all politics, it has nothing to do with Schneider not playing well enough to steal the job. I can't imagine he'll stay after next year when his contract is up.
