Post by gmcanucks on Oct 19, 2012 7:42:10 GMT -5
While most of the Canucks' off-season work was preparing for future years, club management thinks the club will be competitive this season.
Canucks GM Joe MacDonald said the club should be ok up front and in goal, but admitted the defense is not up to playoff standards at the moment.
"We have some solid players up front, although we lack natural goal scorers", said MacDonald. "Our goaltending tandem is definitely competitive, but we do lack a little bit of quality and depth on defense. We definitely expect our club to continue to develop and be a much better team this time next year."
Here is the club's projected opening night line-up (barring any last minute deals):
Forwards:
Drew Stafford - Paul Stastny - Martin Havlat
Derrick Brassard - Ryan Getzlaf - Kyle Okposo
Raffi Torres - Frans Nielsen - Jordin Tootoo
T.J. Galiardi - Andrew Desjardins - Zack Kassian
Defense
Trevor Daley - Christian Ehrhoff
Derek Engelland - Mark Flood
Matt Taormina - Stefan Elliott
Goal
Jimmy Howard
Josh Harding
MacDonald said what really has the organization excited is the group of blue-chip prospects the club has assembled over the past couple of seasons. "Our prospect depth chart isn't quite at the Calgary Flames' level, yet, but we feel we have the pieces in place to develop a championship calibre team in the not too distant future", said MacDonald.
The Club's list of blue chip prospects includes forwards Charlie Coyle, Zack Phillips, Brendan Gaunce, Tyler Toffoli, Teuvo Teravainen and Kirill Kabanov; defenseman Morgan Rielly, Brandon Gormley, Jacob Trouba, David Rundblad and Jonas Brodin; and goaltenders Jonathan Bernier, Matt Hackett and Eddie Lack.
"We consider all of these players along with guys like Zack Kassian and Stefan Elliott, who've already cracked the opening day line-up, to be the future of our team, and we think that future is very bright. It should be exciting to see them develop over the next couple of years."
Canucks GM Joe MacDonald said the club should be ok up front and in goal, but admitted the defense is not up to playoff standards at the moment.
"We have some solid players up front, although we lack natural goal scorers", said MacDonald. "Our goaltending tandem is definitely competitive, but we do lack a little bit of quality and depth on defense. We definitely expect our club to continue to develop and be a much better team this time next year."
Here is the club's projected opening night line-up (barring any last minute deals):
Forwards:
Drew Stafford - Paul Stastny - Martin Havlat
Derrick Brassard - Ryan Getzlaf - Kyle Okposo
Raffi Torres - Frans Nielsen - Jordin Tootoo
T.J. Galiardi - Andrew Desjardins - Zack Kassian
Defense
Trevor Daley - Christian Ehrhoff
Derek Engelland - Mark Flood
Matt Taormina - Stefan Elliott
Goal
Jimmy Howard
Josh Harding
MacDonald said what really has the organization excited is the group of blue-chip prospects the club has assembled over the past couple of seasons. "Our prospect depth chart isn't quite at the Calgary Flames' level, yet, but we feel we have the pieces in place to develop a championship calibre team in the not too distant future", said MacDonald.
The Club's list of blue chip prospects includes forwards Charlie Coyle, Zack Phillips, Brendan Gaunce, Tyler Toffoli, Teuvo Teravainen and Kirill Kabanov; defenseman Morgan Rielly, Brandon Gormley, Jacob Trouba, David Rundblad and Jonas Brodin; and goaltenders Jonathan Bernier, Matt Hackett and Eddie Lack.
"We consider all of these players along with guys like Zack Kassian and Stefan Elliott, who've already cracked the opening day line-up, to be the future of our team, and we think that future is very bright. It should be exciting to see them develop over the next couple of years."