The State of the Vancouver Canucks - 2017

I'm not sure if the Canucks were trying to tank this year because if they were, it was mission accomplished on Sunday night when the final horn sounded triggering the end of the Canucks disappointing season. 

Not to state the obvious but the Canucks ownership and management is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Three years ago the Canucks fans wanted a youth movement. They got one, unfortunately the young players are making a impact at too slow of a rate. Injuries have set this team back and aging Swedish twins that refuse to wave their no trade clause have also hurt this team. 

When everything fits together it seems that the youth movement is working but the reality is, there is going to be growing pains. Jake Virtanen hasn't developed yet but their is still time. 

The coach was released of his duties yesterday. Finishing the season on a nine game losing streak will do that. GM Jim Benning is building something but no one knows quite what he has up his sleeve. 

The Canucks now have the second best odds of landing the #1 overall pick and having the option to pick Nolan Patrick. I'm not holding my breathe on this though, the Canucks have never had any luck during the NHL lotteries. 

There is a simulator website for that can be played here:http://nhllotterysimulator.com

I have clicked the button about four dozen times since Sunday night and Vancouver has only appeared in the Top 3 about 10 times. That's about 25% chance of only sneaking into the Top 3. 

Right now, the Canucks have too many pieces that they are not sure that fit yet. Banning built this team in the way that if all goes well they might have gotten in the playoffs. The double edged sword is, if things didn't pan out how they wanted, things were going to head south fast. They conceded the first goal in 53 out of the 82 games which was a portion of the problem. 

It has been a priority of the Canucks Management to get younger. It has taken awhile because the Canucks had to basically start from next to nothing. Here is their current prospect list. 

As the lists will indicate, the Canucks have pilled up a bunch of players that might be a fit in a year or two. My one criticism about the Canucks would be that they have been too afraid to baptize their players in the NHL or in other terms, throw the players in the deep end. 

This was a frustrating season. For whatever reason though I feel there is light at the end of the tunnel. Somehow. There have been glimpses of success, now the goal in 2018 will be to sustain it. 

AHL

ALEXANDRE GRENIER	R	25.186	AHL	UTICA	54	16	24	40	0.74	28.5	-12	46
CURTIS VALK	C	24.029	AHL	UTICA	57	14	23	37	0.65	25.0	-3	34
JORDAN SUBBAN	D	22.006	AHL	UTICA	47	14	16	30	0.64	24.6	-10	16
EVAN MCENENY	D	22.291	AHL	UTICA	46	6	12	18	0.39	15.1	-3	16
JOSEPH LABATE	C	23.327	AHL	UTICA	28	4	9	13	0.46	17.9	-6	63
MIKE ZALEWSKI	C	24.203	AHL	UTICA	37	2	10	12	0.32	12.5	12	24
JAKE VIRTANEN	RW	20.204	AHL	UTICA	47	6	6	12	0.26	9.8	-9	30
MICHAEL CARCONE	LW	20.294	AHL	UTICA	44	1	9	10	0.23	8.8	-3	29
COLE CASSELS	C	21.310	AHL	UTICA	49	5	5	10	0.20	7.9	3	24
ANDREY PEDAN	D	23.249	AHL	UTICA	38	4	4	8	0.21	8.1	1	67
ASHTON SAUTNER	D	22.286	AHL	UTICA	31	0	3	3	0.10	3.7

EUROPE

NAME	POS	AGE	LEAGUE	TEAM	GP	G	A	P	P/GP	NHLE	+/-	PIM
JONATHAN DAHLÉN	LW	19.079	ALLSVENSKAN	TIMRA	45	25	19	44	0.98	38.5	14	18
LUDWIG BLOMSTRAND	L	24.001	ALLSVENSKAN	ALMTUMA	43	22	6	28	0.65	25.6	7	30
ANTON CEDERHOLM	D	22.016	ALLSVENSKAN	AIK	33	2	5	7	0.21	8.3	1

NCAA

NAME	POS	AGE	LEAGUE	TEAM	GP	G	A	P	P/GP	NHLE	+/-	PIM	SOG	SH%	SOG/GP
ADAM GAUDETTE	C	20.152	NCAA-HE	NORTHEASTERN	35	26	26	52	1.49	45.1	+5	0	158	16.5%	4.51
BROCK BOESER	R	20.012	NCAA-NCHC	U OF NORTH DAKOTA	27	13	15	28	1.04	34.9	+5	0	94	13.8%	3.48
WILL LOCKWOOD	LW	18.262	NCAA-BIG10	U OF MICHIGAN	27	8	9	17	0.63	18.1	-12

CANADIAN HOCKEY LEAGE  

NAME	POS	AGE	LEAGUE	TEAM	GP	G	A	P	P/GP	NHLE	+/-	PIM
ZACK MACEWEN	RW	20.244	QMJHL	GATINEAU	62	28	39	67	1.08	23.0	-4	83
BRETT MCKENZIE	C	19.362	OHL	NORTH BAY	62	28	37	65	1.05	27.5	-11	56
CARL NEILL	D	20.246	QMJHL	CARL NEILL	62	13	51	64	1.03	22.0	18	46
DMITRI ZHUKENOV	C	19.350	QMJHL	CHICOUTIMI	58	17	43	60	1.03	22.1	-15	36
JAKOB STUKEL	RW	20.003	WHL	CALGARY	64	21	26	47	0.73	16.3	-16	34
RODRIGO ABOLS	C	21.064	QMJHL	ACADIE-BATHURST	47	15	29	44	0.94	20.0	10	41
GUILLAUME BRISEBOIS	D	19.231	QMJHL	CARL NEILL	56	8	35	43	0.77	16.4	38	30
OLLI JUOLEVI	D	18.308	OHL	LONDON	51	8	31	39	0.76	20.1	23	32
TATE OLSON	D	19.353	WHL	PRINCEGEORGE	63	7	18	25	0.40	8.8	9	58
COLE CANDELLA	D	19.024	OHL	HAMILTON	60	2	16	18	0.30	7.9