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Canucks, Julien and Blues part of three predictions for 2017

December 29, 2016, 11:12 PM ET [31 Comments]
Adam Proteau
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Now that the horrendous year of 2016 is basically done – and thank god it’s done; just as the world-at-large lost icons Prince, David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, Carrie Fisher and too many others, hockey lost legend and hockey Mount Rushmore member Gordie Howe – let’s look ahead to the calendar year of 2017 and make a few educated guesses as to what some NHL fans can expect. (As always, these predictions can only be gambled on with my permission, and you’ll only get my permission if the bets involve Schrute Bucks.):



Prediction One: The Vancouver Canucks will flirt with a playoff spot the rest of this season, but ultimately finish 10th in the Western Conference. Only then will they fire head coach Willie Desjardins and fully begin the process of a major rebuild. You have to feel for Canucks fans – just about everyone recognizes their team should’ve started a vast roster refurbishing months, if not years ago. However, the only ones who don’t are Vancouver’s management and ownership, and until their minds change, this team looks like it’s on a fast track to the worst place you can be in the NHL: out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but not nearly close enough to the bottom of the standings (thus earning better odds at drafting better young players).



Yes, the arguments against a full-on rebuild – most of which seem to center around not disrespecting the Sedin Twins – have a certain appeal to them. Yes, a complete teardown isn’t a guarantor of anything. But as we’ve seen in numerous markets now, a mixture of aging stars and a prospect pool that (a) isn’t deep; and (b) hasn’t blossomed enough to complement and drive those stars is pretty much a guarantor that nothing of true import will be accomplished in the post-season. In other words, you work as hard as you can to tread water and the off-chance you catch fire with a low playoff seed.

As anyone who’s ever treaded water for an extended period will tell you, you can’t do that forever. And though they really should’ve recognized this in Vancouver quite some time ago, there will be no excuse for president Trevor Linden and GM Jim Benning not to pull the trigger on big-time change. It will take longer than it should’ve to eventually acquire a generational-type forward and defenseman or two, but at least the situation will come to a head, and further stalling will be indefensible.

Prediction Two: Claude Julien era ends in Boston at season's end, begins on Long Island next year. The future in Boston of Julien has been the subject of speculation for almost as long as the Bruins head coach has been behind their bench, but with the team in a tailspin, talk of the veteran moving on has `increased. If the Bs fail to make the playoffs, it would mark three straight years of post-season misses, and in a hockey market like Boston, Julien’s previous successes can only protect him for so long.

That said, Julien would be out of a job for about a quarter-millisecond. And which team would be likely to be pushing others out of the way to get to the front of the line for his services? The Islanders, naturally: they’re enduring a dismal season, and head coach Jack Capuano has spent seven largely fruitless years on Long Island and in Brooklyn. Without going out and changing the entire roster, what can owner Jon Ledecky do to assure his customers complacency hasn’t set in? Why, he can go and give Julien a Mike Babcock-like contract to establish a firm chain-of-command for the next 3-5 years, that’s what.

Julien can’t score goals or play better defense for the Isles, but he is a technical guru who would command respect. Every coach eventually runs out of runway no matter the market, and if Julien’s days in Boston are close to being over, the Islanders should be making a priority of snapping him up before anyone else does.

Prediction Three: The St. Louis Blues will continue to dominate at home, and take a step backward in the playoffs with a first-round exit due to their shabby road record. In their final season under the helm of head coach Ken Hitchcock, the Blues have been one of the league’s most dominant home teams, with a 14-2-4 mark. But in a division where the two teams ahead of them have similarly-stellar records in their own building – and of course, I’m talking about Chicago (13-4-4) and Minnesota (12-3-0) – the Blues’ road play will make a big difference when it comes to deciding their playoff status.



With five points separating them from the second-place Wild and eight points separating them from the first-place Blackhawks, the Blues need to gain ground – and improve their gruesome 5-10-1 road mark – if they want to have home ice advantage to start the post-season. And though the playoffs are a ways away and a lot can happen between now and then, the people of St. Louis know only too well how quickly their Cup aspirations can evaporate in the early rounds of the tournament. 



Home ice advantage probably means the most in this division, and unless they can turn around their efforts away from Scottrade Centre, it’s not difficult to see them falling to Minny or the Hawks by the slimmest of margins that home ice can provide.
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