I'm Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver: Imitator of obscure Russian-born ex-Canucks grinders on Twitter, one-time CanucksArmy overlord, author and former NHL PR guy - AMA

[u/Artemchubarov]

Hey /r/Canucks! Thanks for hosting me over your lunch hour.

Happy to be here with all of you and I'm looking forward to talking some hockey and excited to answer any questions you can dream up. Shoot your shot!

And if you want to use my discount code to subscribe to The Athletic and support what we're getting up to this upcoming season, you can do so here: http://www.theathletic.com/welcomethomas

[u/NerdPunch]

Question: This team has made some moves that clearly indicate they are looking to seriously compete for a playoff spot this season. Do you think this team has turned the page and is ready to compete? Or is this team taking shortcuts which could provide short-term help but ultimately hurt the rebuild long-term. What are your thoughts on where this franchise currently is?

[u/Artemchubarov → u/NerdPunch]

Bringing the high heat!

Short-term I think they're a fringe playoff team, in tough to make the playoffs. They'll need to beat out one of Dallas, San Jose, Chicago or AZ in my view, and that's a pretty tall order, but they should be in that mix if Markstrom continues to progress.

Long-term, it'll depend on Hughes and Pettersson, but as I previously said, getting talents like that in consecutive drafts is the sort of thing that can open a legitimate competitive window. Will need some creative management and moves to flesh out their overall talent level, navigate a few self-inflicted wounds and get the young core under contracts that work, but if those two are as good as I think they might be, they should be a fun team to follow over the next half decade.

[u/NerdPunch → u/Artemchubarov]

Appreciate the response Drancer, and congrats on the new gig. Excited to have you back.