Quote:
Originally Posted by steveo
haha, I guess its more of an annoyance? After so many years of "this is our year, we are better than flames!" and end up falling flat they are now finally correct and act as if they were the best team the whole time and if history doesn't matter unless its "5 cups bro!" 
but I guess that's sports |
I vaguely remember the mood around Edmonton in 2010 when they started their rebuilding project. Oiler fans were over the moon after they drafted Hall and thought that Hall, Eberle, Paajarvi would be the nucleus of a future contender in a short amount of time; taking after the Capitals, Penguins, and Blackhawks who had rebuilt in a short period from basement dwellers to elite teams/champions.
I kept pointing out that the Oilers'- as impressive as some of their forward prospects looked- wouldn't be going anywhere without a high-end #1 goalie as well as a revamped d-core. Not to mention that their team as a whole lacked size, grit, physicality, etc. I was repeatedly told that "I don't know hockey" and that I should just wait and see how the Canucks would fall short in the playoffs yet again. I guess they were somewhat right on that last bit.
7 years later, it's a completely different dynamic with that team. McDavid, Draisaitl, and Puljujarvi coming up are surrounded by a borderline Vezina-contender between the pipes, a decent and improving defense, and the nice composition of size, grit, physicality, and good defensive forwards. Their drafting under Chiarelli in the later rounds has also impressed me thoroughly, provided those guys translate their games to the NHL level.
I'm also confident that the Canucks will be able to rebuild quicker than it took the Oilers. That Oiler team in 2010 didn't have D prospects like Juolevi or Stecher, a Demko coming up in the pipeline, or the gritty two-way forwards like Horvat, Boeser, Virtanen, etc. 1-2 more years of bottoming out to get the high-end forwards and we'll be in good shape, provided we can Benning and Linden.