Quoting: Skyraider112
Demko is still growing, he will get better. Cannot say the same about either Koskinen or Smith. Vancouver has better depth than Edmonton. Edmonton addressed it quite well with Kahun, Turris and Barrie but they still don't match the depth of Vancouver imo. Guys like Haas and Nygard are really only getting minutes in the NHL because Edmonton doesn't have any better options. Vancouver has 4 solid lines that can defend and put the puck in the net. Again this is all my opinion. I did have Edmonton over Vancouver in the standings so you clearly see that I think Edmonton will be the better team. Solely in terms of depth (and depth wins championships) I think Vancouver is better
Well, I already showed you that Vancouver does NOT have better forward depth. I'll show you another way - by looking at CapFriendly's projected lines along with last year's scoring rates:
1. Pettersson - Miller - Boeser = 2.80 P/GP
2. Pearson - Horvat - Eriksson = 1.69
3. Roussel - Gaudette - Sutter = 1.27
4. Motte - Beagle - Virtanen = 0.91
https://www.capfriendly.com/depth-charts/canucks
I'm not sure that's accurate as Edmonton's depth chart isn't, so let me know what is off and I'll adjust it. CF's Edmonton depth chart misses Kahun altogether, so I'll construct the lines as they likely will be:
1. Nugent-Hopkins - McDavid - Kassian = 3.04 P/GP
2. Kahun - Draisaitl - Yamamoto = 3.06
3. Ennis - Turris - Puljujarvi = 1.46
4. Neal - Khaira - Chiasson = 1.09
Edmonton has TWO lines that are better than Vancouver's first line, and Edmonton's 3rd and 4th lines are better than Vancouvers. Edmonton's depth is so good that a guy like Josh Archibald (12 goals in each of the past 2 seasons) could find himself in the pressbox. If not him then Alex Chiasson, who has averaged 16 goals per 82 over the past 4 seasons.