Thanks, good find
- belcherbd

I can't believe nobody explained the "Looou" thing to Eriksson until they were out there

The Blues were bad for a long, long time......as were the Kings.
- golfingsince

Trying to think of top 5 picks from either of those teams (apart from Doughty with the Kings) that are still on the team helping them win today. Or were at least traded for something of good value today.

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/789573239131348993

Henriks leadership on display
- NorthNuck

That was very cool, thanks!

- Yeti1181

Flagged.

You don't HAVE to draft in the top five, but history shows it certainly increases your odds of finding an elite talent.

Boston just drafted well and surrounded those guys with great players when they won in 2011. They drafted Bergeron in 2003 high in the second round, that draft is a bit of an outlier though, they drafted Krejci in the second round, Lucic in the second round, Marchand in the third round, they traded their first round pick for Nathan Horton, they drafted Seguin second overall.

Krejci won the Conn Smythe for leading the playoffs in scoring in 2011 and their top point scorers in the playoffs were;

Krejci - 23
Bergeron - 20
Marchand - 19
Horton - 17
Ryder - 17
Reechi - 14
Lucic - 12
- LeftCoaster

Definitely, I would say that they have drafted well even though they haven't acquired top picks for the most part when Pitsburgh for example I don't think has drafted well for the most part and yet they have two cup wins in the past 10 years.

No argument from me, elite talent almost always come from the top 5 picks. I just don't think that elite talent is necessarily more important than Depth when trying to win a Cup.

Leafs Oilers Flames Islanders Hurricanes Buffalo have been drafting high for most of the decade genius . How they doing?
- VANTEL

Actually they're doing really well, except maybe the Leafs lol. Carolina won a Stanley Cup ten years ago, or did you forget? They also haven't picked any higher than 5th overall in the past ten years, their first round picks are good solid picks though, they're building a solid team.

Islanders have a 100+ point team and a few star players, I'd say they're doing just fine.

The Flames have only picked high for the past three years, four drafts, which doesn't equate to ten years of drafting, if you'd have bother to look.

The Oilers are an anomaly from poor management and the Leafs picks kinda look like the Canucks picks to be honest. In the past nine years they've drafted 5th, 7th, 5th, 8th, 4th and 1st overall. It's only recently where they've had the good fortune and luck of picking 1st overall....but they worked hard for that.

Trying to think of top 5 picks from either of those teams (apart from Doughty with the Kings) that are still on the team helping them win today. Or were at least traded for something of good value today.
- RonPielep

Pietrangelo, Erik Johnson are the only top 5 picks they have drafted since 1979 and both are helping or were moved for help.

Schenn as well for LA

Oil are a good example of why it takes a lot more than just simply drafting high. There has to be a lot of things setup properly beforehand and some smart moves need to be made afterwards to streamline the turn-around. The Oil had/did neither of those things.

However, you and Lefty need to find some middle ground, all of your 'current' examples are still in the process of turning things around, so it's no wonder they aren't contenders yet (e.g., Oil, Sabres, Leafs, Canes, Yotes). So your 'current' examples are actually 'premature' examples that you have already deemed failures, although some of those teams could definitely find success in the not so distant future.

The true current examples would be the Pens, Hawks, Bolts... etc. Whereas teams like the Sharks, Kings, Ducks, Blues are probably the current examples of teams that didn't need to tank to become contenders.
- RonPielep

Great post


To add to this what path a team uses to get there is a bit by design and a bit by circumstance....

for the "we need to draft high for years to come" points what should JB do with all the current players on the team right now ..?

Last I heard they were 4-0 and Looking for more ...

If they stumble and fail then well we will get another JV or OJ and if not they can always draft well with a BB or Demko... right...?

Win or lose the drafting throughout will be done .... the plan to build and have a competitive team that has the capability of winning makes a season and why we play the games .... come PLayoffs it's anyone's guess who survives what and how

Trying to think of top 5 picks from either of those teams (apart from Doughty with the Kings) that are still on the team helping them win today. Or were at least traded for something of good value today.
- RonPielep

The Blues just flat-out draft well, they also have good asset management skills (Runblad for Tarasenko), they've drafted a really good team, Pietrangelo was drafted 4th overall I believe. I think they have trouble getting over the hump because they don't have an elite center that most championship teams have...but what do I know

Trying to think of top 5 picks from either of those teams (apart from Doughty with the Kings) that are still on the team helping them win today. Or were at least traded for something of good value today.
- RonPielep

Wasn't Schenn a top 5 pick?

Wasn't Schenn a top 5 pick?
- golfingsince

Both were, both 5th overall I think.

That was very cool, thanks!
- Marwood

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/789573239131348993

Henriks leadership on display
- NorthNuck

Nice...probably the best player to ever play for the team, not the most talented, but certainly one of the best, if not the best. Jeez I wonder how they acquired him, oh ya, they drafted him third overall.

Nice...probably the best player to ever play for the team, not the most talented, but certainly one of the best, if not the best. Jeez I wonder how they acquired him, oh ya, they drafted him third overall.
- LeftCoaster

Should we start the tank now? Or wait until we have a losing streak? Winning sucks!

Should we start the tank now? Or wait until we have a losing streak? Winning sucks!
- CanuckDon

I told you last week, wait until February and then make your decision, until then, you play to win the games. Anyone who starts a tank from week one of the season is doing it wrong

I told you last week, wait until February and then make your decision, until then, you play to win the games. Anyone who starts a tank from week one of the season is doing it wrong
- LeftCoaster

Agreed, reassess in February

Should we start the tank now? Or wait until we have a losing streak? Winning sucks!
- CanuckDon

I am too old to argue with someone that idolizes the Flames Leafs and Oilers.

I am too old to argue.
- VANTEL

I am too old to argue with someone that idolizes the Flames Leafs and Oilers.
- VANTEL

Vantel arguing with Lefty
Don arguing with Mosquito

Must be a non-game day

I think Benning has kicked ass so far.

He inherited a weak prospect pool and a load of NTC contracts. He's managed to turn the team younger, and remain competitive every year so far. Even last year the team was in it until the TDL and then purposely tanked. That's the way to do IMHO.

I really, really, really loved this write up by Money Puck (now in Florida).

http://canucksarmy.com/20...rt-card-part-4-conclusion

I think his trades have been overall good. I know he took a bath for the Gudbrandson trade, but I've never seen this kinda logjam in terms of defencemen before - a Hall for Larrson logjam. I think trading away Garrison was a far worse blunder (and really his only one), if only because Garrison was a scoring Dman and I think he could have gotten a lot more by waiting until like today.

Yes he got outbid on Hamhuis last year, but people forget there were only 7 deals on that day total and Hammer had a NTC. He went for the best deal with his only real option and lost out...would have been better to get something than nothing, but in the long run it's better to not get fleeced.

While he's been maligned for some of the signings, Miller hasn't been the worst, and Dorsett hasn't exactly handcuffed the team. Lbisa is right up his alley - he wants big on the backend to clear the net. He's not the best defenseman or even particularily good, but Benning is going for clear-the-net big.

His strategy seems to be two fold and I think all his moves point to this: "Benning showed a preference for heavy, two-way players, where as many of us would prefer the emphasis be placed on skill, speed, and hockey IQ. That said, we've seen Benning flip the script in subsequent trades for smaller, high-skilled guys like Baertschi and Clendening".

Benning has moved on from bad decisions (Vey and Etem) quickly and played the percentages well (a 2nd round pick has a 30% chance to pan out). He's loaded the pipeline pretty quickly at defence and centre. I'm looking forward to a day where the core is Horvat, Boeser, down the middle with Juolevi and Demko in the back.

Vantel arguing with Lefty
Don arguing with Mosquito

Must be a non-game day
- CanuckDon

it's hard to articulate on a keyboard, I hope people don't take the banter too seriously.

I am too old to argue with someone that idolizes the Flames Leafs and Oilers.
- VANTEL

I idolize good drafting in general. In 46 years my team has never won a Stanley Cup and they've historically been one of the worst drafting teams in the league...that empirical evidence, and correlation, is not lost upon me.

it's hard to articulate on a keyboard, I hope people don't take the banter too seriously.
- LeftCoaster

I don't .I argue with you and eyore the most but I really like both of you.

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/789573239131348993

Henriks leadership on display
- NorthNuck

I don't .I argue with you and eyore the most but I really like both of you.
- VANTEL

Having differing opinions is good for conversation purposes!