The 2023-24 Season Has been a Massive Success

[bandwagonesque]

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.

There's an effect there, but I think this is a pretty big leap. This team looked completely outmatched in nearly every game it played this postseason.

 

[racerjoe]

There's an effect there, but I think this is a pretty big leap. This team looked completely outmatched in nearly every game it played this postseason.

I don't completely agree with that. Yes overall. No doubt, but a lot of games were closer than they seemed. Like this game, we were actually doing well in the first despite the shot total difference. We had out shot them... it was our terrible pp that let us down.

Or the Nashville game that they outshot us by a ton, if you looked at the chances instead it was much closer.

You can make a case for us playing a better style, or system, but that was our system and it worked for a while.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Calgary and Seattle missing was very likely, Vegas stepping back was a common prediction, Avs 2C and injury woes were known, Edmonton was seen as a 2 man team, that still hadn't won the division. Nucks owned LA in previous years.

Nucks were always ripe to leapfrog a long list of teams, but reasonable takes were seen as hopium and drowned out by the unwashed masses.

Also, if there had been a pre-season poll, about which Nucks were most likely to miss games due to injury, Boeser and Demko would have been voted #1 and #2 no doubt. It wasn't just bad luck there. There was very poor handling of our winger depth. Not much you can do about goalies, but that wasn't our downfall.

 

[WTG]

I don't completely agree with that. Yes overall. No doubt, but a lot of games were closer than they seemed. Like this game, we were actually doing well in the first despite the shot total difference. We had out shot them... it was our terrible pp that let us down.

Or the Nashville game that they outshot us by a ton, if you looked at the chances instead it was much closer.

You can make a case for us playing a better style, or system, but that was our system and it worked for a while.

I agree with you. I think it has a lot to do with the psychology of scoring.
If player A has one scoring chance a game but scores on his scoring chance, while player B has 3 scoring chances but misses on all of them, then the perception is that player A must have had a better game than player B despite player B generating a bunch of chances.

The team was much better in the second half of the season than the first when you look at the underlying numbers. However, since people got used to the ridiculous PDO run that they had in the first half, the perception was that they played poorly in the second half. Which isn't true.

 

[racerjoe]

I agree with you. I think it has a lot to do with the psychology of scoring.
If player A has one scoring chance a game but scores on his scoring chance, while player B has 3 scoring chances but misses on all of them, then the perception is that player A must have had a better game than player B despite player B generating a bunch of chances.

The team was much better in the second half of the season than the first when you look at the underlying numbers. However, since people got used to the ridiculous PDO run that they had in the first half, the perception was that they played poorly in the second half. Which isn't true.

The first part of this funny enough also describes Mik... hahahaha

 

[WTG]

The first part of this funny enough also describes Mik... hahahaha

He puts himself in positions to score, but with his stone hand, we can savely assume that a scoring chance turns into more of a shot then a chance

Manifesting Destiny: The 2023-24 Playoffs Thread

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I have a feeling in my bones that this year is playoff year. I've been manifesting this so hard for the past week it's unbelievable. It has had great success because they have won their last two games. Not only that, I've put the Canucks playoffs run on...

forums.hfboards.com

I made this thread as a bit of a joke, but plenty of people thought they would make the playoffs early on in the season.

EDIT: why is this not it's own post

 

[racerjoe]

He puts himself in positions to score, but with his stone hand, we can savely assume that a scoring chance turns into more of a shot then a chance

Manifesting Destiny: The 2023-24 Playoffs Thread

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I have a feeling in my bones that this year is playoff year. I've been manifesting this so hard for the past week it's unbelievable. It has had great success because they have won their last two games. Not only that, I've put the Canucks playoffs run on...

forums.hfboards.com

I made this thread as a bit of a joke, but plenty of people thought they would make the playoffs early on in the season.

EDIT: why is this not it's own post

Yeah I think the people that had a good feeling on us were still looking at a wildcard type season, maybe Pacific seed 3.

 

[Hodgy]

I agree with you. I think it has a lot to do with the psychology of scoring.
If player A has one scoring chance a game but scores on his scoring chance, while player B has 3 scoring chances but misses on all of them, then the perception is that player A must have had a better game than player B despite player B generating a bunch of chances.

To an extent this is true, but converting on scoring chances isn't a random event. There is, obviously, some chance to it, but more talented players are going to be able to convert on more scoring chances, so ya, a supremely talented player who converts on 50% of his scoring chances, and scores on his one scoring chance of a game, had a better game than an extremely untalented player who converts on 5% of his coring chances but had three scoring chances (i.e., Mikheyev, poor guy),

 

[Flik]

He puts himself in positions to score, but with his stone hand, we can savely assume that a scoring chance turns into more of a shot then a chance

Manifesting Destiny: The 2023-24 Playoffs Thread

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I have a feeling in my bones that this year is playoff year. I've been manifesting this so hard for the past week it's unbelievable. It has had great success because they have won their last two games. Not only that, I've put the Canucks playoffs run on...

forums.hfboards.com

I made this thread as a bit of a joke, but plenty of people thought they would make the playoffs early on in the season.

EDIT: why is this not it's own post

Great thread, and I love the optimism. You called it. Kudos!

 

[VanJack]

Sometimes you have to look backwards at where you've come from to appreciate where you are today.

At the start of the season most every prognostication that I saw had the Canucks finishing anywhere from 85-91 points. They'd be in the wildcard consideration but little more.

Even the team president predicted that just 'about everything would have to go right' , for them to make the playoffs."

So this team confounded the 'experts' and even their management group. And compared to where this franchise was headed during the lackluster Benning years, hope and expectations are once again at the heart of being a Canuck fan.

But all they're really done is reach one plateau. To get to the next level. a lot of changes to this roster have to happen. Some of the changes will be forced on them, considering the number of guys heading to free agency.

But you can see the basic building block are in place for this team to relevant in the Pacific Division for a lot more seasons. Allvin was one of the most active GM's in hockey last season....and he'll be just as active this off-season.

 

[Britton]

I think the the Benning years just straight up broke a lot of people. The amount of hand wringing and doom posting here is insane given that the season we just had should be considered a massive success.

In no world did we have any business getting as far as we did with Demko out of action basically since the end of February. The Canucks definitely played differently under Demko than the other goaltenders even when they were good. And lets face facts, Silovs came in a did a tremendous job, but he still had a save percentage under .900 and had a goals saved above expected below 0. We were playing with house money, and still got the game 7 in round 2.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

For anyone who wants to re-live some of the good moments, here's all the goals from our 2024 Playoff season;

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

And if you have a lot of time - here's every single goal from the 2023-2024 regular season, too.

 

[vancityluongo]

said this in the gdt, but i think i'd echo the comments made by bieksa post-game; the biggest win here is that the canucks managed to change the toxic, shitty culture that had set in here over the past decade. i didn't really think that was possible without adding another game breaking young player or two and shipping out the veterans who were around for the better part of the last 5-6 years - miller, myers, boeser, maybe even demko.

i was dead wrong on that. they added the right bottom-6/4 pieces and it was enough to get massive rejuvenation out of the above guys, additional development from hughes and petey, and even with petey slumping/injured/whatever for the back half of the year, tocchet and co. squeezed out a division title and almost two rounds from this group. that's a huge win.

really not too worried about losing zadorov or even lindholm. hopefully trader jim stays aggressive enough to add next year's lindholm at the deadline again. what a great thought to enter next season with, vs wondering if we can squeeze out some mid round picks for brock boeser.

 

[Canuckle1970]

One of the best things to discover from this post season run is finding out what we have in Silovs. He was not in bubble Demko territory, but now we know that, barring injuries, we have our reliable backup in tandem with Demko.

Under Ian Clarke's tutelage he can only get better. Allowing Demko to play fewer games down the stretch and be healthy for playoffs is critical for the future.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Feels like 2010 when we lost to the Blackhawks and everyone was debating who we should keep and who we should move on from in order to win the Stanley Cup. The optimism heading into next season is incredible!

 

[Vancouver_2010]

It is a success, but Skinner is such a terrible playoff goalie though. We should have beaten the oilers and then proceed to get destroyed by the stars.

In 2010, the chicago got a team that "doesn't know how to lose", i was kind of wishing we got our turn. Think about a 50 years old guy who never date a woman in his life, you got very desperate.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

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.

demko finishing as a vezina finalist is the only one that didn’t surprise me

 

[EpochLink]

Made to round 2, game 7 with a 3rd string goaltender (whom will be the back up next year).
Fun season, first time I said that in awhile since the Sedin/Luongo years.
Competent management, good coaching for a change.

See what happens next year, some tweaks here and there and we got this.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

It is a success, but Skinner is such a terrible playoff goalie though. We should have beaten the oilers and then proceed to get destroyed by the stars.

In 2010, the chicago got a team that "doesn't know how to lose", i was kind of wishing we got our turn. Think about a 50 years old guy who never date a woman in his life, you got very desperate.

Yeah, the Oilers seeming very beatable here adds a slightly different flavour. Not like 2001 where, in our first playoff appearance in five years, we got pummelled by an HOF laden Avs squad. McDavid and Draisaitl are superhuman, and props to guys like Bouchard, Ekholm and Hyman who also had a great series - but there was an opportunity for us to advance and we just failed to grab it.

Hopefully that burns and motivates this group next year and beyond.

 

[mathonwy]

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.

We got Byfugliened. It happens.

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.

Well. You really don’t want to hang your 3rd stringer out to dry.

 

[I am toxic]

To an extent this is true, but converting on scoring chances isn't a random event. There is, obviously, some chance to it, but more talented players are going to be able to convert on more scoring chances, so ya, a supremely talented player who converts on 50% of his scoring chances, and scores on his one scoring chance of a game, had a better game than an extremely untalented player who converts on 5% of his coring chances but had three scoring chances (i.e., Mikheyev, poor guy),

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Fun year. First season in the last ten I've cared enough to watch every game. Feels good. Hopefully they can build off it next year.

#ThankYouJim

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

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

pfffffft.. no reasonable person.

Calgary and Seattle missing was very likely, Vegas stepping back was a common prediction, Avs 2C and injury woes were known, Edmonton was seen as a 2 man team, that still hadn't won the division. Nucks owned LA in previous years.

Nucks were always ripe to leapfrog a long list of teams, but reasonable takes were seen as hopium and drowned out by the unwashed masses.

Also, if there had been a pre-season poll, about which Nucks were most likely to miss games due to injury, Boeser and Demko would have been voted #1 and #2 no doubt. It wasn't just bad luck there. There was very poor handling of our winger depth. Not much you can do about goalies, but that wasn't our downfall.

this is all cherry picking and reaching.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I don’t recall many (any?) pundits predicting Seattle to fall off the way they did. And I feel like most had Calgary still competing too, rather than entering a full blown rebuild.