Perhaps I might have been too optimistic with my Sharks in 6 prediction.
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Originally Posted by Textcritic
This is a very, very average playoff team.
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I think the Canucks have a pretty far hill to climb before they can be worthy of the title "average". An average team can at least manage to put up a couple of goals and win a few games.
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Originally Posted by Textcritic
I think it is pretty clear that the Sedins are very steadily trending down. This team was a Stanley Cup threat because they were top-five players in the League. Now that they are top-thirty, the Canucks are a fairly average playoff team. I predict that beginning next season, with another step towards retirement for the Sedins and a lower cap, the Canucks will be a playoff bubble team. They won't make it in 2015.
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Don't really agree with this. The only thing that's really trending down is their PP production. Their ES production has been extremely consistent over the last 3 seasons. H. Sedin only put up about 5 fewer points over 82 games between 10-11 and this season. They're not going to win an Art Ross Trophy again to be sure, but suggesting a steep and short decline is exceedingly premature.
Not to mention it's not like the new division is going to be a real powerhouse. Calgary and Phoenix aren't going to compete anytime soon, Edmonton might have to start another rebuild, San Jose is just as old as Vancouver, and Anaheim is going to have have trouble when they're giving up a 1/4 of their cap to Getzlaf and Perry and after Selanne is gone. LA is the only real lock in the next few years and the other 3 spots should be up for grabs to any team that can play decently.
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Originally Posted by Textcritic
I wouldn't count on that. I'm not that sure the Canucks are that far behind n the same cycle from where the Flames were heading into this season.
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The Flames went nearly 20 years without drafting a top 6 forward and went 9 years without getting out of the 1st round before making changes. Their best regular season in the last 15 years saw them finish in the same spot an apparently declining Vancouver finished this year. Even mediocre drafting as well as passable goaltending in some of those seasons would've made the Flames' fall less hard. Not every team is going to do that or consistently ride replacement level goaltending to poor finishes so other teams won't necessarily have the Flames' problems.
There's also far less of a cult of personality with the Canucks' players as there was with Iginla, so it's not really an analogous situation at all IMO. The Canucks will have far less difficulty cutting ties with the old guard than the Flames did. That doesn't mean the Canucks won't have a painful rebuilding period, but blanket comparisons to the Flames are just a lazy way to frame things.