Do you plan to watch more, less or the same amount of Canucks hockey this season?

[Madcombinepilot]

to answer Cornhiolio..

I am single. I work, eat, drink whiskey and watch hockey.

This is the way.

[Madcombinepilot]

You know if Demko is healthy all year, a big if, we could very well be a wildcard team. He is that good.

Its not just Demko..

If Petey gets back to PPG, and Debrusk scores 5v5, Brock paces for 30G, and there is any kind of defensive system and we dont get major injuries.. we are a wildcard team.

So, the media will be yelling all year:
"trade petey, Boesser and Debrusk must go!, trade Demko!"

[2Fingers]

I will watch the same, when I can I do.

I have never changed in 40 years and I won't change now, the only difference is that I can change to Netflix with a push of a button.

[Todd Bersnoozi]

Its not just Demko..

If Petey gets back to PPG, and Debrusk scores 5v5, Brock paces for 30G, and there is any kind of defensive system and we dont get major injuries.. we are a wildcard team.

Yah, I wouldn't bet on it, but there's always a chance. Every season is a new yr and a clean slate for everyone. Also, if the young guns develop faster than expected (ie: Buiuum, Willander, D-Petey, Raty, Lick-her-maki, etc) and take some huge steps forward, it would really help the chances.

Ideally though for the long run, another tank yr and a top draft pick would be the best for this franchise going forward.

[Topper]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

And if thy offends thee

Pluck them out

- Gods Little Monkeys

[Ronning's Ghost]

So, the media will be yelling all year:
"trade petey, Boesser and Debrusk must go!, trade Demko!"

I don't know about the media, but I sure would be.

I'd much rather see the Canucks build towards a team that has a reasonable shot over a sustained window than watch a team of audacious young upstarts and veterans on the rebound over-perform for a round or two.

Ideally though for the long run, another tank yr and a top draft pick would be the best for this franchise going forward.

I agree.

[Picker of Cherries]

I’ll watch the same as always, but more often in the background. I’ll be more interested in management’s moves more than the team’s play.
They only started rebuilding part way through last season. This new management gets a mulligan this one season.
This coming season should be the last of management’s strategic tank as it clears out the non-core players and brings in more prospects and picks that meet their long term vision.
Next summer, Lankinen’s and DeBrusk’s NMC become limited NTC, so they’ll be more easily moved sometime before the 27/28 season begins.
This new management has this season to make long term moves to set their vision for the team regardless of wins and loses. Fan’s will want to see a culture change and more effort this season, but fans know this team lacks the horses to do anything important in the standings.
The season after this, fans will want to start seeing progress and some movement up the standings. Management’s purposeful tank should be over by the 27/28 season, though they will likely still be a lottery team as they incorporate youth. There should be an influx of top rookies (Malhotra and DuPont among others hopefully) and management should be identifying the next core and starting to build around it.

[Ronning's Ghost]

The season after this, fans will want to start seeing progress and some movement up the standings.

I claim no expertise in what fans will want to see, but two season's worth of draft picks in the difference-maker part of the draft would seem like a really fast turnaround on a re-build to me.

Now, maybe that's possible with the equivalent of four 1st-rounders from the Hughes trade, if they get great returns from other parts of the legacy roster they are are trying to move, and if the Canucks are trying for a flatter talent/salary team structure, but if I were the architect of this re-build, I would hope for latitude for at least one more bottom-5 finish in 27/28.

[Meds]

This team will be bottom-5 contenders for at least 2 more seasons.

[rockalt]

I might watch if I still lived in Vancouver but I'm probably just going to resort to watching extended highlights in the morning to check on how the younger players progress. I just can't find the time to watch full games anymore, especially knowing the team is going to be a bottom feeder. We'll see though - I signed up for NHL package last year only to see it all fall apart so quickly.

[Madcombinepilot]

I might watch if I still lived in Vancouver but I'm probably just going to resort to watching extended highlights in the morning to check on how the younger players progress. I just can't find the time to watch full games anymore, especially knowing the team is going to be a bottom feeder. We'll see though - I signed up for NHL package last year only to see it all fall apart so quickly.

... so it was all your fault??!??

[rockalt]

I might watch if I still lived in Vancouver but I'm probably just going to resort to watching extended highlights in the morning to check on how the younger players progress. I just can't find the time to watch full games anymore, especially knowing the team is going to be a bottom feeder. We'll see though - I signed up for NHL package last year only to see it all fall apart so quickly.

... so it was all your fault??!??

I gave up those superstitions years ago! I'll give myself a pass in 2011 midway through the first period of game 3.... first time I felt a sense of calm with a quiet confidence the Canucks were going to win the Stanley Cup - even after the Horton hit (the Canucks killed off that 5 min major and left the period even 0-0 which is hard to believe now). I don't think I was alone in allowing myself to believe though hence the pass

[donlever]

Yeah rockalt I've told this story here and Central more than once but likely not to you.

When Burrows scored in game 2 I looked at the folks I was at the game with and proclaimed...

"...we're going to win the Stanley Cup...."

I was 100% sure....... something I was not in '82 (obviously) but also in '94 when I never felt we were going to win that series even after McLeans performance and Adams goal in game 1.

[Cousin Strawberry]

And then one of the most profound internal collapses in sports history occured between the ears of the tender between the Vancouver pipes.

And here we are

[MJN]

The amount of hockey I watch seems to decline year after year. It isn't just the Canucks' poor play on the ice; it's the game itself.

With the decline of fighting and the enforcer, hockey has lost some of its edge. For all its faults, there was an element of legitimate danger to the game that made the players more admirable to me.

I still remember Peca turning Selanne inside-out at centre ice. If memory serves, Linden ended up hanging on to Domi when it came time to answer for the hit. There was something about watching players compete knowing that, at some point, they might very well end up hanging on to Tie Domi for dear life. It added another dimension to what they were doing. It wasn't just skill; there was courage needed.

The move away from that kind of hockey was warranted. Knowing what we know about concussions and the long-term consequences of repeated head trauma, I don't think there's any reasonable argument for going back to the way things were.

But something was lost with it.

Today's game is faster, more skilled and probably better hockey in a technical sense, but at times it feels closer to an extended All-Star Game than the sport I fell in love with. The danger, hatred, intimidation and possibility that a game might genuinely get out of hand created tension that simply isn't there to the same degree anymore.

I think that's part of why my interest in the NBA has declined as well. LeBron is an extraordinary player, but he never had to go through the same kind of crucible Jordan did on his way to becoming the dominant player of his era. Jordan had to get through the Bad Boy Pistons, knowing that going to the basket meant he was probably going to get physically punished for it. He had to fight for supremacy in a way the modern game simply doesn't ask of its stars.

That's not LeBron's fault, and I'm not suggesting the NBA should bring that style of basketball back either. It's just harder for me to separate the obstacle from the achievement. Part of what made those stars so admirable was what they had to endure in order to become stars.

Sports used to be a soap opera for men, and apparently I liked my soap the way it was.