Here’s how to get a Stanley Cup to Vancouver, imho. First, Canadian NHL teams are at a disadvantage because of exchange rate and taxation. Vancouver has polarizing media and a fan base that is passionate, but essentially believes that something bad will always happen to their team. #Canucks
This is an NHL destination that is unlikely to be desired by any player, except perhaps for those who grew up here. They can’t compete with tax havens like Florida, or the sexier markets like NY, LA, Boston, or even Toronto and Montreal in Canada.
The bottom line is that it is hard to win by throwing money at free agents, or even to win trades when the Canucks are on a lot of no trade lists. Building the way a lot of other teams build outside the draft is not really a viable option.
Aquilini has tried to buy a winner. It’s not working. Yes, there is a model out there that says wise choices via trades and free agency wins cups, but not in Vancouver. Trying to buy a Cup in Vancouver will never succeed.
Why is Edmonton, a smaller Canadian market, a somewhat attractive destination? Only because they drafted two of the best players on the planet. The Canucks lucked into Quinn Hughes in the draft. But one top level player is not going to create the gravity for others to want to come here.
The bottom line is that the strategy for team building in this market has to be the draft. Not just with a couple of high picks, but a cohesive strategy to consistently draft high with as many picks as possible until you get that right core and collection of assets that you can then build around.
You have to have an owner and a fan base committed to that clear, slow evolution. Arizona, almost a joke franchise before moving to Utah, are perhaps a recent example, whether by design or inevitability, of a team building a core of players and assets through the draft that they can now run with.
So my fellow Canucks fans, enjoy watching Quinn Hughes while he’s here. Unfortunately, and I’ve said this many times, the Vancouver problem is a well-intentioned but impatient and sometimes meddling owner whose strategy dooms this franchise to mediocrity.