The 2023-24 Season Has been a Massive Success

[WTG]

Apologies if this is a cringe post. Emotions are high right now, analyzing how the team has played game 6 and game 7. But I think a lot of people need to take a more holistic approach to the season.

The goal was to be a wildcard team
I think everyone would agree that before the season, nobody expected this team to win their division and almost challenge for the president's trophy. Management has done an excellent job adding the right players to the team. Some of them underperformed when it came down to crunch time, but it's not like they were committing to them long-term or giving them big, long-term contracts.

Inexperienced Teams Almost Never Win the Cup.
I think a big thing to consider is experience. This includes both the coach and the players. Teams that don't have playoff experience never win the cup. I am going to self plaguirize a post in January about teams in the past 10+ seasons.

Has there ever been an inexperienced NHL team that goes out and wins the Stanley Cup after they haven't been in the playoffs?

2023 Vegas had shit ton of experience (made playoffs all but one year)
2022 Colorado had shit ton of experience (made playoffs 4 years prior to winning cup)
2020 Tampa had shit ton of experience (under Cooper only out of the playoffs once since 2023-24)
2019 St Louis had shit ton of experience (Didn't make it the year before but 6 consecutive seasons they were in the playoffs)
2018 Capitals had shit ton of experience (only once missed the playoffs in 10 seasons prior to winning the cup)
2009 Pittsburgh had shit ton of experience (basically never miss the playoffs)
2010 Chicago had experience (One deep run the year prior in the 3rd round prior to winning the cup in 2009-10)
2012 LA had experience (made the playoffs twice before their first cup run.

You can argue the first cup runs from Chicago and LA were teams that didn't have much playoff experience from their core before winning a cup. But that's over a decade ago now. The core (except for Miller) has no playoff experience other than a gimmick season without any fans.

The window just opened
Take a look at the age of the core:

Hughes 24, Pettersson 25, Boeser 27, Demko 28. The only one that might have a shorter window is Miller at 31. But I think still he has plenty left in the tank.



This team will be better because of what happened in this playoffs and season.

Click to read more...

 

[DCantheDDad]

Yup. There is work to do. There are improvements to be made, but this is a step forward. Hopefully this season is not an anomaly and we can make the right decisions this offseason and then take another step next year.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

hughes scored over 100 pts, rs and playoffs combined

unreal

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Great season! We have finally arrived! The Bar has been significantly raised to WCF next season, we won’t be playing with house money anymore and have to build upon a successful season, with these higher expectations comes higher pressure to perform.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Definitely a massive success, and some of the quotes from Tocchet and the media really resonate - Tocchet saying this team brought pride back to the crest and the jersey, iMac and Lalji saying this team really reconnected with its fanbase...it was amazing to see Rogers Arena rocking again, the jerseys all around the province, and playoff hockey back in Vancouver.

Now just build on it and keep working towards something special.

 

[Raistlin]

I've never enjoyed watching a season as much as this one.

After the first round, I really felt no anxiety for the team to achieve more. Every bit of extra distance they traveled is a bonus for their future success. Would be amazing to beat the Oilers in gm 7, but I really felt losing Boeser unexpectedly was too much of a distraction at the end, after endless speculation that Demko is going to be back. You need luck to advance in the playoffs, and Oilers got break after break.

It's an immense success of a season.

- Division title

- 2 goals away from conference final

- GM of the year?

- Coach of the year

- Best defenseman

- Vezina candidate

- Byng candidate

All these out of left field.

Enjoyed this crazy ride with you guys this year. The future is bright.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I've never enjoyed watching a season as much as this one.

After the first round, I really felt no anxiety for the team to achieve more. Every bit of extra distance they traveled is a bonus for their future success. Would be amazing to beat the Oilers in gm 7, but I really felt losing Boeser unexpectedly was too much of a distraction at the end, after endless speculation that Demko is going to be back. You need luck to advance in the playoffs, and Oilers got break after break.

It's an immense success of a season.

- Division title

- 2 goals away from conference final

- GM of the year?

- Coach of the year

- Best defenseman

- Vezina candidate

- Byng candidate

All these out of left field.

Enjoyed this crazy ride with you guys this year. The future is bright.

I think I can say out loud now that there was a large part of me that just thought "well, that's the season" when the Demko news came down. Didn't feel DeSmith had it in him, and Silovs was a complete wildcard - so for Silovs to come in and for the team to gut out a first round victory over the Preds, I was ecstatic. I felt we matched up better with the Oilers than the pundits did, and I would have been happy to win a few games - for us to push it to 7 games and take it to the limit the way we did was absolutely awesome. We were the best team on the ice in Games 1 and 5, and we stole Game 3. You usually need to steal at least 1 game to win a series, and we put ourselves in a position to do so.

I understand the agonizing because this Oilers team, to me, was vulnerable and had some weaknesses we could have exploited better. It's not a situation like the Vegas Bubble series where we were just damn lucky to have brought it to 7 - I thought we had a legitimate shot to win the series, too. But I think given everything that happened and transpired with this team, it's still an incredible season to have been proud of.

But now we can't just rest on it, we need to use it as a foundation to move forward. Continuous improvement, and make damn sure we're back in the playoffs next year to start the fight all over again.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

I see this season akin to 2009 for the previous core. Young inexperienced core taking the next step

 

[Pure West]

The season was absolutely a success. They had a terrific regular season and scrapped and clawed their way to game 7 in round 2 against the cup favourites and did this all without their superstar vezina goaltender. It was finally fun again to be a fan after watching the garbage death marches down the stretch for so many years. We were even robbed of a stretch playoff chase during the COVID year where we were basically 50-50 to make it.

That doesn't mean there isn't more work to do. This will be a challenging offseason with lots of turnover and decisions to make. Not unusual for any team in a cap league though. JR and Allvin did a great job in a short time rebuilding the defense and finding some useful players on bargain deals last year. We'll see what they can do now.

 

[TruGr1t]

I see this season akin to 2009 for the previous core. Young inexperienced core taking the next step

I don't see it really comparable to 2011-style events. That was more an exercise in adding one or two complimentary pieces to a strong offensive and defensive core group that was able to stay together over a few seasons to coalesce. There will be serious turnover on this roster and a few "core" guys may be on the way out. Nobody has any idea what the roster will look like next season, whereas in that 2009-2011 window, you could basically chart out the roster year-on-year with a few minor additions or specific holes to fill. The current situation is much more an acute cap management exercise where you will have a hard time keeping most of the line-up and will need an equal quantity of strategy and luck to ice an improved roster.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I see this season akin to 2009 for the previous core. Young inexperienced core taking the next step

I actually thought 2009 was a group that should have gone deeper, and blew it against an inexperienced Chicago team on the rise. We had veterans at all positions, we were loaded top to bottom, we had Mats Sundin playing for us, and unfortunately just blew it against Chicago. Different team and different circumstance, IMO.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Plenty of people predicted this team to challenge for the division and conference.

2x 100p centers, a 40g guy, several players capable of 20g+, one of the best Dmen and goalies in the league. All these things were true before the season started. The 'wild card at best' was always a bad take.

Not addressing clear needs since the 1/3 part of the season did them in.

There's a lot of raises upcoming, cap penalties, players with constant injuries etc. For all the 'lol OIlers cup or bust' talk, this team is very much in the same territory.

The window opened years ago, they just pissed away a few of em. You don't get to just add them onto the back. I was pretty adamant that this year may be a more ideal season for things to all align than they might be going forward. If this team has shown us anything, it's that you can't take years for granted. 'House money' is no different than 'Games in hand'.

 

[DS7]

Before the start of season I had a wildcard spot as my barometer for success.

I'm happy.

And for once I look forward to how management builds on this. It's great not having that uncertainty and anxiety around how management is going to fumble the ball next year.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Plenty of people predicted this team to challenge for the division and conference.

Who?

 

[valkynax]

Team pushed further than I thought, a wonderful and surprising season with lots of ups and downs. Proud of what they achieved, and it's something we can build on.

- Lindholm and Zadorov have to be top priority for extension, as long as the price isn't outrageous.
- Mik needs to how to speak Marsian or Solarian, as his own expense of course, because those two are the preferred destination of where he should end up.
- Hronek, oh Filip...you really did shoot yourself in the foot multiple times this playoffs. Can be extended, but it most decidedly will not be as expensive as he demanded.
- Tocchet, as much as I love the guy, putting Mik with Pete and Miller is treasonous.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Who?

I sure fuggin did, and I wasn't alone. Some people actually looked at the teams around the league, rather than spending all off season complaining about Miller

 

[PuckMunchkin]

I sure fuggin did, and I wasn't alone. Some people actually looked at the teams around the league, rather than spending all off season complaining about Miller

Yeah.

Nobody whose opinion I respect did, as far as I know

 

[bandwagonesque]

I wouldn't call this season a massive success. The team that could barely hold its own against Nashville and couldn't keep up with Edmonton at all was a continuation of the last several weeks of the season, something just changed and the team lost structure and didn't win battles or get to them first. The playoffs revealed some significant problems that will be very difficult to ameliorate:

1. The many people who claim Quinn Hughes isn't a "playoff performer" or whatever due to his size and playstyle ... might be right. In the 2nd round, when time and space to make plays dried up as it always does and he stopped getting calls, he wasn't able to quarterback the team at even strength like he does in the regular season. He was still very good and still a top-pairing defenceman, but I don't think he can dominate in the playoffs where forwards much bigger than him are forechecking as if their lives depend on it. And that will be a problem in every postseason. He can get the team there practically on his own but not the rest of the way.

2. Thatcher Demko isn't healthy most of the time.

3. EP is an incredibly smart player who raises the team's floor but isn't the gamebreaking forward who can score from anywhere that we saw earlier in his career.

4. We lost a shitload of draft capital trying to get over the hump and will lose more trying to stay close to it.

 

[Zaddy91]

I'd say it was a disappointing success. Game 6 and 7 super winnable if people showed up.

Tocc needs to learn how to line match better and identify when someone like mikheyev is just cursed. Petey and Lindholm should have been together all playoffs.

Was a fun run and glad I can stop drinking for awhile.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I'd say it was a disappointing success. Game 6 and 7 super winnable if people showed up.

Tocc needs to learn how to line match better and identify when someone like mikheyev is just cursed. Petey and Lindholm should have been together all playoffs.

Was a fun run and glad I can stop drinking for awhile.

I do think there's some lessons learned for Tocchet here, but also for the players.

IMO, they played Game 6 and Game 7 scared and like a team looking for a break. Once they finally got that break in Game 7 (the turnover leading to the Garland goal) it's like they came to life and played.

Certainly makes you wonder about the Mikheyev chance early on. Hell, even makes you wonder about Game 7 in 2011 and if we could have gotten an early break how that may have gone.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I'll also use this platform to tout what I thought was one of the best things to emerge this year for the Canucks - the "Canucks Alternate Highlights" YouTube channel, done in the style of MXC (Most Xtreme Elimination Challenge).

https://www.youtube.com/@VancouverHockey

This became a must watch for me, and I cracked up hard at it so often. I hope they keep doing it next year.

 

[racerjoe]

Who?

Yeah, I think I was one of the most positive people on this board by far... and I didn't expect them to be this good...

As a season it is a success, things to worry about like Demko injuries lead to bright spot like hopefully finding his successor.

I would have loved more, and I still think a healthy team takes this series easily... hell a game 7 with Brock may have been able to, so I am proud and happy there.

Didn't like the lineup changes at all last night... Hated Mik with Petey and Miller. If you felt you needed Suter as a center, why not try PDG back up with them?

Also hated the two defensemen on the PP look.

Great season though....

 

[bandwagonesque]

As a season it is a success, things to worry about like Demko injuries lead to bright spot like hopefully finding his successor.

I think everyone's dream at this point is Silovs playing 30-35 games next year with a .910 or so.

I would have loved more, and I still think a healthy team takes this series easily... hell a game 7 with Brock may have been able to, so I am proud and happy there.

I just have no real hunch on how big a role injuries played apart from Demko's and there's a big range of possibilities. I do know that the team has looked vulnerable for a few months now even when they've been successful.

 

[racerjoe]

I think everyone's dream at this point is Silovs playing 30-35 games next year with a .910 or so.

I just have no real hunch on how big a role injuries played apart from Demko's and there's a big range of possibilities. I do know that the team has looked vulnerable for a few months now even when they've been successful.

I think the team plays so differently in front of Demko... Silovs was amazing... better than we could have hoped, but we just play better in front of Demko... we would not have been the low shot team.

 

[Shareefruck]

The biggest concern for me moving forward is that in these playoffs, it felt like everything was dependent on Miller instead of Hughes who didn't seem to be able to do his thing in the playoffs, and Miller's window is very short/closing. If Miller starts to lose his legs, how is that core going to be effective in the playoffs without him? Even the production of Boeser in the playoffs (despite huge success) is a big question-mark without Miller.