You know the drill: Let's get the game review done so we can get some tinfoil hats. So, the Canucks cap off a big shootout win with another high scoring Blast in the Rog, captivating a 5-4 Canucks win. We lose to Anaheim, which shouldn't be expected, then take a big game against the Maple Leafs, one that many fans were hyped for. Afterwards, the Canucks take to New Jersey in an intense match that saw Zajac, I believe, tumble into the boards by a check by Michael Chaput. Later on, Hall injures Larsen, leading to a scrum. Poor Larsen. As the players were going at it, only goaltender Jacob Markstrom and forward Markus Granlund were protecting the Danish defensemen. On Thursday, thanks to some depth players stepping up in Jack Skille and Jayson Megna, the Canucks beat the Lightning in a blowout, captivating the collapse by the Bolts.
Now, time for something that I've been waiting for, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, get your tinfoil on. We're about to investigate a conspiracy theory.
The Vancouver Canucks were once a solid team. And no, I'm not referring to 2k11, I mean recently, the 2015 season. In case you were more hyped by the Lightning's upset of the Rangers, we made the playoffs that season! But, we still got a first round exit. This prompted Jim Benning to go full... china syndrome? On the team. Now, I am about to prove, that the reason why the management core has remained the same is because... the Canucks are tanking on purpose! Dun dun dun! I am about to justify and explain every single move.
Let's Begin with the first questionable choice: Trading away Lack for the 3rd round pick. Well, for one thing, this pick was, I believe the 65th overall pick. That's an early 3rd rounder, as well as what can be considered a late 2nd. Picks like these have a 75% chance of being a good player. With the lack of defensive depth for the Canucks, we overhaul and trade away Lack, being able to draft Brisebois. I'm not hyped for him, but I can see him as our top 6 in the future.
Then, the Canucks choose not to sign Richardson and Matthias. One of the biggest issues with the team was the amount of centres we have. This also supports the tanking conspiracy, as Rich and Matt were both excellent penalty killers. This leaves Henrik, who is set to stay until he chooses to retire, Bo, who has to remain. Bowie Horvat is the key to our post tank, our rebuild. He has to stay if Henrik retires. What's left? Bonino, Vey and Dorsett. Dorsett was signed to a bad deal, mainly to help us tank. We put in a multi million dollar contract for a career 4th liner, who only scores 5 goals a season? This is clearly to reduce our chances of making any big moves until later on in the tank. Sbisa's signing was to see if he can beat the critics. Worst case, he's a top 6 who didn't pan out but is still helping the tank.
Bonino was resigned to make sure we have something. We deal away Bonino and some others for Brandon Sutter, who played as the 3rd line centre for the Pens. Now, this is justifiable. Because Geno Malkin is a centre that, despite having franchise centres, is only a second liner below Crosby, Sutter has second line, heck, small first line potential. I see our acquiring of Sutter as a move for post tank.
Before we continue on, I would like to acknowledge this post came from research off of Yahoo! Sports. Check out their article for more detail.
Moving along, the injury was unexpected and not part of team tank. We close it out by trading Bieksa, an obvious team tank trade for what we got back. To replace him, we sign Matt Bartkowski, supposedly a top 4 defensemen. I've seen Bartkowski as more of a top 6/ minor top 2 to 4 player, to be honest. I believe that he was a team tank accquiring.
The Lack trade was capped off with a signing: Richard Bachman. Bachman will be our number 3, or 4, as he and Joe Cannata seem equal. However, value wise, I see Bachman as being more experienced than Joe, which is why, after a season, Bachman is still on and Cannata is gone. This is what we want: to give Demko a spot on the roster in Utica, so he can play in a few years. Now, this depends on the Miller situation. Also, if you've noticed, a lot of players are going to be released this season. That's not a coincidence.
In the end, I see that Benning has had a pattern. Rushing Virtanen may be bad, but with other players like Ehlers already having the green to play in the Chel, I think Benning wanted to see Virtanen. Let's also note that he was drafted higher than Horvat, yet they both got the same treatment: 1 more year in junior than the pro call up. Bo did play 10 or so games with Utica, but that makes no difference: they both got the treatment, but Horvat was more capable of making the league, I suppose.
After 2016 was capped off the Canucks were en route to a solid pathline: They had the 5th overall pick, and the 3rd pick of each other round. We draft Juolevi, who was a solid pick. Remember, Tkachuk was playing with some very good players, Dvorak and Marner. Juolevi wasn't paired with anyone, yet got 50 points, I believe. The 2nd round pick was traded away, but not to tank, but as a good pick. Getting Gudbranson was a good pick. He has shown he can fight for the game, and even though his point total isn't here, he still has the big frame needed. The 2nd was only a distraction, as the Panthers did trade it away for Kulikov, and fan favorite Tyler Benson was drafted before 33, meaning we shouldn't have panicked about not drafting Benson. Although I still wish we drafted Ty ronning.
Benning knew we weren't guaranteed to succeed. But the tank was well and next season we could tank for a top 10 player. Patrick and Liljegreen are hard to get. We have to place 29th or 30th, or else Vegas will out edge us, and we would drop to 4th best odds. Not too good, but we can still try for luck.
Still, top 10 should be solid. Perhaps benning drafts a less succesful defense to pair with Juolevi, or not. The Canucks have a young defensive core, and it doesn't need to get any younger, to be honest.
The Canucks can proceed with the rebuild, with baby steps. The picking of Loui Eriksson was impressive, for a player of his caliber. Although he started out slow, fix up the core by clearing the free agents and he should have enough tools to help him. Troy Stecher was the surprising addition, but he's proven effective. The defensive core looks well, and I can see Sbisa possibly getting moved in the expansion draft to make room for Juolevi. A move of Subban can also help. Garteig will fill in as number 3 goaltender, unless miller remains. Then he'd be #4.
The Canucks roster still doesn't look to strong, with the injuries, we've added struggling career 4th liners. But they've lit the lamp. Just look at Skille and Megna last night. They have potential, and hopefully this is more than a theory.
