JustAFan33

They should really be taking advantage of his ability to get pucks through on the power play. The number of times I've seen a play develop where the puck comes back to Stetcher and you know he's going to one time it, just by everyone's positioning on the ice, and not one Canuck player collapses to the net is pretty frustrating. His one-timers are also often low and result in rebounds that our forwards are rarely in position to take advantage of. I obviously have no idea if the Canuck power play has some actual overarching strategy, but the sense I get is that they are either taking the path of least resistance in their pass targets or try to force low percentage plays that often result in turnovers. They have a guy that can get the puck on net now. Start working the puck with the intention of pulling defenders low to get some room, move it out, and collapse. I think Stetcher would look even better on a team that had a consistent net-front presence.

I *think* it was Horvat, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it was Drouin that Tryamkin was chasing. I actually was watching the game on PVR, but was too lazy to rewind enough to see why the centre was out of position on that play. All I know is if your winger is covering the slot and there's still a point man open, you have a problem. It's not that I disagree with your approach to defense and as a good argument why what he did there wasn't a good idea, I just think that it potentially masks the real issue and breakdown that occurred earlier. I think Tryamkin is potentially one of the best dmen the Canucks have had for a long, long time and while his game certainly isn't perfect, putting all the blame for this particular goal on a bad decision on his part wasn't really fair (as a lot of the media were saying as well). All the Canuck's forwards have been guilty of not back checking hard enough or paying attention to their assignments, and I think that was the bigger issue here. If he hadn't followed Drouin behind the net, you suddenly potentially have a 6'7" screen with Drouin as a pass outlet on the side of that net on that play. That's not that much better as an alternative. Always bugged me when a forward screwing up their assignment left a dman trying to cover more than one person and people blame the damn for not picking the right guy to cover.

While he definitely shouldn't have been chasing behind the net, I'd put more of that goal on the centre on that line. Burrows was covering a man in the high slot, leaving Hedman open on the point. That point pass would have been made regardless of where Tryamkin went (unless he got lucky and cut it off), and he would have been left trying to block a shot similar to what Sbisa had to do on the Lightning power play goal. Point men are the winger's responsibility, but only when they're not covering for a centre that's out of position. Canucks players get caught puck watching a lot, instead of anticipating and planning for where that puck could go.

I never watched him in Florida, so I can't really comment on the comparison. But $&!#ty calls like the charging one he took in the Carolina game probably don't really help. And by $&!#ty, I mean the ref that made the call, not the hit itself. The hit was fine. NHL officiating is inconsistent, to say the least.

Gudbransen's major weakness is his skating. It's terrible, particularly with respect to mobility and direction changes. He's a big, strong guy that can't hit all that effectively or at least consistently, because every time he has to change direction before delivering it, he loses all the power while fighting to stay on his feet. It also takes him forever to pivot or adjust compared to the average he's facing, never mind some of the elite skaters. He's strong in front of the net when everyone is standing still, but at that point, the puck is usually already frozen by the goalie or in the back of the net. It puts him out of position on a pretty regular basis or forces him to leave a ridiculously big gap so he doesn't get caught. He has to hold back on hits because he regularly gets caught out of position when he misses, or ends up more off balance than the guy who got hit. He's an average d-man at best. If he wants to be better than that, he needs to improve his skating.

I think he needs to use a stick with less flex. If you watch slow-mos of his shot attempts, his aim is fine, but the sitck is flexing so much, the puck is often rolling off the toe and off-target, which is why so many of his shots are missing the net. That much flex also makes it difficult to consistently aim a shot on one-timers since the speed and angle of the pass is variable. He might lose some power on his shot, but at least it'll start hitting the net and closer to where he's aiming at.

I think he's a decent D-man overall and his skating ability doesn't really seem to hinder his play at all. I just wish he'd get better at keeping the puck low on his one timers and hit the net more consistently. Some of these guys need to figure out that they don't need 100+ mph wild bombs, that no one knows where they're going, when there's traffic in front. An 85-90 mph low shot that actually hits the net will usually be better. Better chance to tip, less chance of hurting your own forwards, and any rebounds are more likely to stay in scoring areas. Save the hammers for when no one is in front and you're trying to beat the goalie clean while he's repositioning laterally.