What 2019-20 a glimpse of what this team could become?

[Jess]

I recall that due to our precipitous drop off after the 2020 playoff, many fans considered that season a flash in the pan, much like the 2014-15 season with Willie D. However, now seeing much of the same core suceeding here in 2023-24, I wonder if what we saw then was a genuine teaser of what this team was capable of.

 

Miller, Petey, and Hughes were all hovering around a point per game in the playoffs and we were one game away from the Western Conference finals. Demko was incredible when he had to take over for Marky.

 

Was that season and playoff run a fluke or a sign of things to come? If it was a sign of things to come, why did it take four more years for things to rematerialize again? Bad management? Coaching? Plain old bad luck?

[Phil_314]

The core was definitely already in place at that time, just that the depth hadn't consolidated around them (Horvat as a 3rd C was great, but Hronek stabilizes the top of our RHD, and give credit to management for filling out the rest of the roster with smart signings of Suter/ Blueger/ Joshua/ Soucy/ Cole/ Mikheyev/ Kuzmenko, plus trades for the aforementioned Hronek, plus DeSmith as backup).  It's not that the lineup is perfect now, but management made a lot of savvy additions which IMO has brought the team this far.

[TheGuardian]

That team was not that good.

 

Markstrom and then Demko played otherworldly.

 

They played teams that were covid tired. Remember most Canadian teams could have their families around, US team's couldn't as easily. There was still separation but they were closer.

 

That year they had so muck plain luck. From being allowed to try at all. If thee league had stuck to the regular season rules for the play in games the Canucks would not have been allowed to ice the same group, they were 12 million over the cap. That is why so many were let go for nothing and the team was still over the cap.

 

BUT

 

Horvat was a beast

 

Demko was just starting, the same with Hughes and Pettersson four or five were playing for their next contract and I think Miller was playing to be traded. A trade that was rumoured to have been withdrawn at the draft table.

 

Rutherford/Allvin are certainly making Benning look more like a goof all the time. Too hard to make a trade? Overpaying for retirement contracts? Not knowing what will happen tomorrow? No plan, plan?

 

Now a fan can look at contract terms and get a sense of what might happen. EP needs a new deal, if it works out then great, there is time and cap space to make things works, just a couple more trades opening up 11.5 million more. If things go sour then a cleaner slate loads of cap space and many trade assets coming from a team that has a winning record, for a quick re-tool/rebuild

[AnthonyG]

3 hours ago, -AJ- said:

I recall that due to our precipitous drop off after the 2020 playoff, many fans considered that season a flash in the pan, much like the 2014-15 season with Willie D. However, now seeing much of the same core suceeding here in 2023-24, I wonder if what we saw then was a genuine teaser of what this team was capable of.

 

Miller, Petey, and Hughes were all hovering around a point per game in the playoffs and we were one game away from the Western Conference finals. Demko was incredible when he had to take over for Marky.

 

Was that season and playoff run a fluke or a sign of things to come? If it was a sign of things to come, why did it take four more years for things to rematerialize again? Bad management? Coaching? Plain old bad luck?

 2019-20 was a glimpse for sure, the last half of the 2021-22 season was the reassurance that this wasnt a flash in the pan. 2020-21 was a season from hell that nobody can really be blamed for. COVID destroyed our locker room, Pettersson missed 30 games, our gruelling schedule that was by far the toughest out of all 31 teams because of that mid season month long pause. 2021-22 it took some time for the whole team to come together and play to the level they are capable of. Most of the team was playing well, but Pettersson was struggling immensely for the first 40 games. He was held pointless 24 times and we lost 18 times times in those 24 games in regulation. When he finally caught fire we were one of the best teams the last half of that season, we were beating everybody and we weren’t getting stuck in slumps. Last year this team was still scoring at a high rate and we lost quite a few games by 1-2 goals against a lot of top teams. Our biggest issue was goaltending. Demko was battling injury to start and then went down and Spencer Martin fucking sucked ass, Delia wasnt really any better and then when Demko came back, we went right back to winning and having a solid record when he was healthy. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by AnthonyG

[Kevin Biestra]

I said at the time that the bubble playoff team reminded me of the 1988-89 Canucks when Linden was a rookie and they took the Stanley Cup champion Flames to overtime of game 7 in round one.

 

If the pattern held, that would mean a couple rough years to follow (a brief step back) and then some great regular seasons like the 91-92 and 92-93 Canucks who were back to back division champs in the regular season, with some solid playoff performances those years even if they didn't get as far as round three.

 

The current team reminds me of the 91-92 Canucks so...hey if things keep going apples to apples then we're two years away from the final.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Kevin Biestra

[Jess]

6 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

I said at the time that the bubble playoff team reminded me of the 1988-89 Canucks when Linden was a rookie and they took the Stanley Cup champion Flames to overtime of game 7 in round one.

 

If the pattern held, that would mean a couple rough years to follow (a brief step back) and then some great regular seasons like the 91-92 and 92-93 Canucks who were back to back division champs in the regular season, with some solid playoff performances those years even if they didn't get as far as round three.

 

The current team reminds me of the 91-92 Canucks so...hey if things keep going apples to apples then we're two years away from the final.

 

 

 

This seems like a pretty good comparable. I could easily see us as contenders for the next few years if we keep this up. Let's just hope we can win one more game this time...

[The Aquaman]

5 hours ago, -AJ- said:

I recall that due to our precipitous drop off after the 2020 playoff, many fans considered that season a flash in the pan, much like the 2014-15 season with Willie D. However, now seeing much of the same core suceeding here in 2023-24, I wonder if what we saw then was a genuine teaser of what this team was capable of.

 

Miller, Petey, and Hughes were all hovering around a point per game in the playoffs and we were one game away from the Western Conference finals. Demko was incredible when he had to take over for Marky.

 

Was that season and playoff run a fluke or a sign of things to come? If it was a sign of things to come, why did it take four more years for things to rematerialize again? Bad management? Coaching? Plain old bad luck?

Core players, finally growing into their own. 
 

Demko

Hughes 

Pettersson

Miller. 
 

Build the team from net to defense to offence. 

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, The Aquaman said:

Core players, finally growing into their own. 
 

Demko

Hughes 

Pettersson

Miller. 
 

Build the team from net to defense to offence. 

Hronek and Bieser are core guys too. We actually have the top D man in the league and the guy who’s number 5. And Brock is elite too. 

[The Aquaman]

3 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Hronek and Bieser are core guys too. We actually have the top D man in the league and the guy who’s number 5. And Brock is elite too. 

Yeah forgot to mention Hronek, Boeser I’m still not a 100% percent sold on. Every player has a career year. I want to see what Brock does next year. 
 

But   Miller - Pettersson

         Hughes - Hronek

 

its very deadly. Amazing what a first paring defense men can do to a team.

[DownUndaCanuck]

I remember thinking we really caught lightning in a bottle then coaching-wise for some of those games and series. Think it was Green at the time - he played a very loose style of hockey but when it worked (very rarely), boy it was poetic on the ice at time. We were very offensive and very fluid - defence would interchange with forwards a lot and pinch a lot. It ended in defensive collapses and disasters like 80% of the time but during that stretch I remember watching thinking wow - we're moving so smoothly from defence to offence and rotating around so well. That probably only went on for a stretch of games before Vegas absolutely exposed us - we couldn't just skate through or around them, they controlled the puck and we broke down but Demko kept us in it.

 

Green was a terrible coach and that style was not suited to long-term success, it really neglected defence unlike Tocchet's style, but we mastered it for a brief period of time. Don't think it was luck either, we just finally got his system right and it worked against middle-table teams really well.

[IBatch]

In reality it was a much different team then it is today.  Miller, Myers as the vets,   QH, Brock, EP, Demko... who else is around?   Six players.   And those guys are now in their primes.   So yes we did get a glimpse, could say Edler and Tanev were part of that core, Markstrom too.    Really looking forward to seeing  what they can do and it was quite the ride (bubble) too.    Hope it was their version of 1989, and now we are 1994?   That would be something. 

Edited December 16, 2023 by IBatch