VC420

Boston U has a great development system, NCAA hockey in general has been producing some of the best talents in the league for around a decade now. Super excited to see Willander develop his game there. I think Tom could be a huge sleeper pick from this draft, not that his stock was low, but I think he could be the best dman from his class. He has everything going for him, he has the size, the skating and the hockey IQ. He has only played defense for a short time so his experience at the position is less than many other dmen who were taken in the draft yet still went higher than 99% of them. The kid has natural talent. Playing in Boston U will be great to give him more experience playing defense in a NA style of game.

Man, the first few pages on this thread have not aged well, lol. When we traded for JT I was adamant that we would be the winners, I was sure that JT would be 50-60 point guy, maybe more if he made the first line and that too many people were selling him short. Even myself, a big fan of the Miller didn't expect he would be where he is today. 61 games through the season, JT has 73 points and at his ppg pace this season has a legit chance to hit 100 points. When you consider his ppg pre-Boudreau vs post-Boudreau, his chances of scoring 100 points seem a lot more likely. I wonder. If JT hits 100pts and gets closer 110pts, AND the Canucks make the playoffs, should he be a Hart contender? I would say he should be the favourite to win the Hart if he meets the prior creds. People may say McDavid, but I think 99% of hockey fans would have considered Draisaitl to be more talented than anyone on our roster heading into this year. Some will say Mathews, again, he plays with Marner and Tavares, guys I assume 99% fans would consider more talented than anyone on our roster heading into this season. Most if not all the guys in the top 10 for points, arguably play for better teams and have better supporting players than JT (at least that would have been the perception at the start of this season). I would say Andersen from Carolina could be a big contender for the Hart and someone I could except over Miller, nobody would have considered Carolina to be a team that's hard to score against but Andersen has been shutting the door all season. I still think that he wont win the Hart even if he gets 110pts simply because he doesn't have that name recognition that other players have. Despite arguably being the best forward in the league since February, Miller still gets little national attention vs other teams top players. It seems that for a while the talk around sports media has been about who is trading for him and not about how spectacular he has actually been playing. Even during a 13 game point streak with 27pts in that time, he still hasn't been getting the national coverage. I think a lot of eastern hockey media and pundits has been underselling JT's performance this year in hopes that it affects his perceived value so that their teams can acquire him for less than he is actually worth. Right now I believe in Miller and I think he is the best forward if not the best player in the league. Right now it feels like anything is possible with JT Miller leading the charge. GO MILLER GO!!! GO CANUCKS GO!!!

In a full 82 game season that winning percentage adds up to something like 110 points. If we were playing like this at the start of the season then nobody would be talking about trading players. This roster is better than I think many give them credit for.

I understand the desire to see guilty people punished, but I believe that innocent people shouldn't be affected. Losing significant draft picks would substantially hurt Chicagos chances of building a competitive team. Is that fair to players who weren't on the team during what had happened to Kyle Beach? Is it fair to the fans who had no idea what was happening. I don't think players who have had nothing to do with a teams past mistakes should be stuck playing for said team that has had draft picks or salary cap space taken away from the league because of the mistakes of the their predecessors. In my opinion, what had happened should be criminal, those who were involved in the worst way should be held responsible under the law. The ownership group should be held accountable, any profits earned not being used for maintenance of the team/arena should be donated to charities that help victims of sexual assault. If Chicago makes say 50 million in profits all those profits should be forfeit and redistributed to worthy causes. Perhaps the NHL should have a rule in which owners lose their right to run the franchise if they are guilty of hiding or covering up criminal activity within their teams. I believe that stripping names of players who knew but were silent from the Stanley Cup is also appropriate. I just worry that stripping picks is really just punishing fans and players who had nothing to do with it and or no knowledge of it more than those most responsible, Ownership still goes home to fat mansions, Joe Quenville still gets to live in a nice home in the lap of luxury. Yet new up and coming players may have their shots at winning a cup hampered because of the mistakes of people whos luxurious lifestyles remain unaffected by stripping picks. Punishment should be handed out, but not punishment that affects people who had nothing to do with what had happened to Beach. Its a terrible situation, I just want to see the people responsible punished, not the people who weren't,

Very true, but none of us know what Miller wants. If by the end of next year we are top 5 team in the league that would definitely cause anyone to consider resigning at a lower price than the open market, and if we are bottom feeders still at that time then no way he resigns. Also if the assets we acquire for Miller turn out to be busts then that is no different than letting him walk for nothing, probably worse actually. No roster player likes it when you trade a top player like Miller and get picks and prospects. I doubt guys in their late 20's early 30s like hearing that they need to wait 3-4 more years before the team is competitive again. Im not against trading Miller, he may be my 2nd favourite Canuck right now but only a fool gets too attached in the sports world. Im just against trading him anytime soon. The boys are playing themselves back into playoff contention, Miller has been great, Boeser looks better playing with Miller, and the team finally seems to be enjoying the game again. I think we need to see how this team plays till the TDL. If we regress, then anything is on the table, if we progress then let it ride and see where we can go. im sure Rutherford and our next GM will have a clear idea of Millers future intentions and I will trust em to make the right decision.

I believe this team is good enough to compete. Trading Miller for picks and prospects will lengthen our competitive window but will also make it smaller. Trading Miller now makes the team less likely to find success but more likely to prolong success. The major point that I find many of the pro-trade Miller fans omit is that they make the trade Miller argument under the assumption that the picks/prospects we get for him are going to be top 6 forwards/top 4 dmen. Only playoff teams would be looking to add Miller which means a pick somewhere between 20 - 30th overall which is a player far from guaranteed to be as good as Miller. What if the player we pick is a bust? What if the prospect we get on top of the pick doesn't end up a top 6 forward/top 4 dman? I don't want our team to be selling out good players in a never ending quest to get better players. If we constantly sell out the present for the promise of the future then we find ourselves never succeeding in the present. People are arguing to trade a proven top line forward for a chance that we can get something better down the road. The fact is we were supposed to be a playoff team heading into this season. Underperformance from Petterson, Boeser and Bo (not Miller) among others early on greatly affected how the start of our season went. We have just one 6 games in a row with Miller being on a 6 game point streak and people are talking about trading him. How many teams seriously consider trading their best player for picks and prospects that MIGHT make the team better 3-4 years from now. There are guys who continue to excel into their mid 30s, and there are star prospects who never excel. I find it nonsensical to assume that the scenario you like the best to be the most likely. Miller might continue to perform well into his 30s or the guys we get could become great players, none of us know what will actually be best for this team. Hindsight is a b**** as they say. My personal opinion is that we keep Miller for the remainder of season and see if this team can get to the level many expected them to be at this year. Let it be known that Miller can be pried away for a high price during the offseason, keep the phone close by and see what other teams offer. If this team rebounds, makes the playoffs and finishes strong then obviously plans should change. I really like this team, and I really hope we can continue our strong play under Boudreau and would rather wait to see if he can coach this team back to being competitive rather than assume the worst and trade for a pretty picture of a brighter tomorrow. As I said, it all depends on how well we continue to play.

I don't mind the idea. People are worried about EP or Brock getting injured while blocking shots but have never seemed to mind it when JT Miller blocks a shot on the PK and he literally is our leading scorer. Nobody deserves to miss out on games because a blocked shot, but its a reality that its a part of hockey and I don't think you can call yourself a hockey player if you don't block shots. I agree that recognizing which players are best at what and using their talents effectively is extremely important, but as I said, blocking shots is a part of hockey and is something ALL hockey players should do. Some guys like Tanev make a career out of it while some only block when absolutely necessary, and either is fine. Just don't shelter guys from the reality of being a hockey player, make them embrace it. I think its important to remind guys like EP, Brock and Hughes that even though you have special skills, you are still a hockey player first. You are not a pointman first, you are not a one-timer specialist first, you are a hockey player first and sometimes you gotta go out there and just play some damn hockey. Kill some penalties, crash the net, get into scrums, throw a hit, take a hit, block a shot, and get involved. Garland is tiny looking out there, he is smaller then Petey but he is getting involved in the play WAY more than Petey because Garland is playing hockey and EP is only specific parts of hockey. I think this could go a long way to helping a guy like Petey relax and not worry about whether or not he is contributing enough. Playing more defensive minutes and helping out in other areas can help a guy feel like he is still a part of the team, it can give you something to feel god about at the end of a game, even though you didn't get a point, you still helped kill off a key penalty or block a dangerous shot. You aren't as down on yourself at the end of a game which helps to bring in a more relaxed and confident attitude to the next game which can only help your overall game and your chances of finding the score sheet. When you don't play important defensive roles AND you aren't scoring points you really have nothing to feel good about. I hope that playing the PK can remind some of these guys what being a hockey player is all about and re-spark their passion and confidence, get them feeling better about themselves and their contributions to the team. It may all backfire, but I believe it can really work. Besides, when you hit rock bottom you got nowhere to go but up (Lets hope that proves true). Lets see a big win tonight boys!!!! Beat the Bruins!!!! Go Canucks Go!!!

A lot of heat as been generated by Hirsch. I don't think he is a suitable colour commentator, but you don't make it to the NHL, even as a backup without having more ability and knowledge than 99.9% of regular people. People say he shouldn't have said what he said, but you also don't want guys to be like that dog in the burning house meme and be like "This is fine" when things are burning down around you. Rather than saying what he said as a statement of fact, he should've suggested it as a possibility. Player X will know Hirsch is talking about him and so will coaching and management while giving management the opportunity to declare it as conjecture and not true even if it is. As for the guy mentioned, its tough to say. I can see it being Miller, the guy has a fiery attitude and could be hard for certain coaches to handle. That said Miller is the only forward putting up points consistently and when that is the case I will give a player the benefit of the doubt. Miller is also 28/29 he has played for great New York and Tampa Bay teams, he has seen the best players in the world and the best coaches. He is playing the best hockey of his career and wants to play in the playoffs. If it is Miller, we also don't know if it is a selfish disagreement with the coach like "I don't like the system" or if its a selfless disagreement like "This team isn't liking the system". There are people who hate their situations but will never show it or voice it, sometimes more timid guys need someone with an attitude to say what they cant. Sometimes you need to be selfish and say what needs to be said. Green is the 7th longest tenured coach in the league, if he cant get players to buy in after all these years than maybe Green doesn't have the charisma or presence to control star players or big ego's. Getting guys to buy in the coaches job, so Green needs to do his job and inspire the uninspired. As for who else Hirsch could be talking about it could be Bo or EP. Horvat doesn't look like a leader out there and I have seen people commenting that he may not be enthusiastic about playing in Van, his play has left much to be desired, the fact the Miller is usually out on the PK before Bo is concerning. EP looks invisible out there, he seems lethargic with the puck, he is still back checking but he isn't showing the urgency we saw from his rookie campaign. In the end we can all have our own opinions about Hirsch, but he isn't the reason we are struggling, he is not the guy who is implementing the systems or playing in them so I will save my criticisms for members of the team who aren't doing their jobs. If comments like this are a problem, then you obviously have major issues, because a team that is confident in their play and their system isn't going to be bothered by comments like this. I cant say if it is coaching or the players but all I know is there have been better coaches fired for less. Bylsma got fired from Pittsburgh because he couldn't get past the conference finals after having won a cup with the team. Green has had one good playoff run and has overseen the steady decline of EP. From the AHL to NHL Green has only had success when he has had great goaltending. You can say this team doesn't have the talent yet that didn't stop Barry Trotz form getting a talentless Nashville team into the playoffs almost every year. St.Louis was the worst team in the league when they fired their coach and gave Pederson the reigns and they did a complete 180 and won the cup, sometimes it is coaching. I have no personal issues with Green, he seems like a nice guy, but the Stanley Cup isn't awarded to the nicest coach.

This is it! This could be our season defining game. Are we a team that cant get tough when things get going? Or are we the team that can take a hit and get back up? We need to build some positivity and wash that bad taste out of our mouths. Even if we lose I hope to see a solid 60 minute effort, start to finish. Im no fire Green bandwagoner, but this is a big test for Green. Is he the kind of coach that can hold the locker room? Is he the kind of coach that can lift his team up when they fall? Or is he a coach that can only perform when the players don't need him? Big game, we are only two games below .500 early in the season, this is an important moment to right the course before we sail off the deep end. Goals from Dickinson, Dowling and Pearson. because why not? lol GO Canucks Go!!!!!

The last sentence was "Stupid." Say it out loud and it sounds like its targeting an indivual. ex: "That's a dumb idea. Stupid" say it loud and it sounds bad like youre calling someone you respond to stupid. I struggle with reading so I read aloud and it sometimes puts things especially comments inot a perspective that may not have be intended. Sorry, if I took things too literal. But yes I would show a Nazi respect. Showing respect doesn't mean you don't think someone shouldn't be punished for a crime or that you like them. I would escort Hitler to his jail cell without harassing him, I would feed him without spitting in his food, all while I await his execution. I find the whole Nazi history to be extraordinarily sad as well. Its sad that people who were once happy bouncing little babies could fall so far from grace and stop respecting other human beings because of religion or politics. Im a human and they were human. Treat others the way you would want the people you love treated I say, because unfortunately there are people who hate themselves. The worst offenders among the Nazis deserved the death penalty, nothing less and nothing more. There was a german fighter pilot who escorted a damaged US bomber out of battle defying his orders to shoot it down, I cant remember his name at the moment (there is a Sabaton song about him) but I think he deserves loads of respect. Also Nazi has started to become a catch all-term, when Jews are getting called Nazi's these days it shows how little people care about what actual Nazi's did. When you say Nazi do you mean german soldiers, anyone who voted for the party or just the top brass, guys like Himler. I just thought a canucks forum topic just to dogpile some lady whos event got cancelled to be in poor taste. Her event got cancelled, she lost, let it go and maybe instead start building up and supporting things we love. Im no fan of AOC, but I don't go around gloating when she takes an L or create topics to rag on her. Spend more time supporting the things you love and less time cra**ing on things you hate. I was miserable and angry for years, hating everyone and thing that didn't support or agree with me, I was always looking for someone or to argue with or something to be angry about. I went through a major depression but have started fight my way out of it by doing the things I love. Its why I have only recently gotten back onto the forums, I love hockey and I wanted to get back to the community and share my thoughts with fellow Canuck fans. This hatred isn't something I like to see and it upsets me when I see people I would like to believe are kind, compassionate and caring hockey fans spend their time attacking some girl none of us have ever met. Maybe, I asked for it clicking on this thread, I thought it was going to be troll or joke forum and instead I see nothing but lizard folk this and garbage human that. I don't know, maybe I am the bad guy for advocating love and compassion, maybe I am stupid. But I would rather be stupid that loves instead of stupid that hates. Sorry to get preachy, I just see so much of my old self I would rather forget in this topic that I may have taken to it too personally. I have always been the devils advocate as well, so that doesn't help. Im not trying to judge anyone, you are free to believe what you want and I support your right to do so Maybe I should take a break and practice some guitar or something. Take it easy and have a good one. Hopefully I will see you end everyone else around on the Post Game thread with something good to talk about. Go Canucks Go!!!

Why are you calling me stupid? I have never done or said anything bad to you or about you. I hope that you would be a nice person if we ever met in person.

So many things get lumped together these days and so many things are just tossed to one side or the other, White privilege this, cancel culture that, critical race theory, white supremacy that, islamophobia this. I don't give two f***s about any of it, I don't care what side you belong to, what politics you believe, what skin colour you are, what religion you believe or any other crazy thing you believe or any of that gunk we use to judge people by. I don't know anything about the people involved, and I doubt most of us do as well. What is her favorite colour? Whats her favourite movie? What life has she lived? Who has she loved? So many people calling other human beings lizard folk while insisting we should treat people with respect. Respect should be given, not earned. If we all wait for the other side to show respect before giving it, then we end up with a world with no respect. People saying that the event could trigger violence, true, but canceling it could trigger violence from people who are upset by it being cancelled. Fact is that people who are prone to violence will take any excuse to cause it, we cant avoid that, you cant let fear decide those things because we are telling violent people that threats of violence work, that we allow ourselves to be controlled by violence. Those who are afraid of violence are doomed to be controlled by it. I say let people have their platforms for crazy ideas. Im not afraid of them, I will show up and laugh at them the whole time if I think their crazy. The thing we should all be warry of is that cancelling events we don't like sounds like a good idea until the people in charge decide the things you like aren't allowed. If you think that cancelling this event is good, then I expect no complaints from you if the shoe is ever on the other foot. I would agree however that events that actively promote engaging in violence and harm should be cancelled. It has to be obvious violence though, no reading between the line excuses because than there is no guideline and anyone could justify anything as violence with "I think" statements. Also I don't get why so many people now refer to the "okay" sign as a racist symbol now. The earliest mention about that was from a reddit user who started a thread claiming it was and then later stated that he wasn't serious and just trolling, yet for some reason its a thing now. Just like the first flat earther theories were trolls on the internet who got people looking for a conspiracy to believe dumb stuff. People who don't like this lady will find believe any reason to attack her and associate anything she does as "this equals bad". We all just assume that people we don't like are bad people because we all believe that we are good people and that we believe in good things therefore people who believe differently are bad and believe bad things. Its terrible logic and treats people like robots that are programmed wrong, it allows so much violence and I worry we are trending closer to world that believes "If youre not with me youre against me" I want to have nothing but love, compassion, respect and empathy for all people, whether its Lauren Southern or someone on the exact opposite side like an AOC. Though, im not so proud as to not admit that it isn't easy sometimes. Im not afraid of ideas, im not afraid of Lauren Southern and im not afraid of backlash I may receive for any comment I make. I would prefer a CDC forum that sticks to positive topics and spreading love anddoesn't start pages just to attack some girl or anyone just for being a little wacko unless its hockey related Anyhow, I would say keep your chin up for anyone who supports Ms.Southern and I would ask those who don't not to gloat too hard about her events getting cancelled. So how about that hockey sport, eh? I hear its pretty good. Saturday night and the Canucks need a big response, this could be the season defining game. Go Canuck Go!!! Hope you guys are amped up as well.

Watching this team tie it up late against Anaheim the other night tells me that we aren't as bad as we showed against Colorado. In the last five minutes against the Ducks we were hitting everything, we were closing the distance and jumping on every loose puck, we were skating hard and causing chaos around the net. Now why don't we play like that more? I have heard people saying that we wanted to shore up defensively, that we wanted to be more responsible and give our goalies more help and yet we are getting scorched on the PK and giving up 7 goals while struggling to score more than one or two. Its obvious that whatever we tried to change form last season isn't working. If we are going to give up 7 goals we should be scoring 5 or 6 ourselves. We have one the best offensive dmen in the league (Hughes), we have a guy scoring above a point per game (Miller), we have a good #2 dman (OEL) as well as a great goalie tandem with Demko and Halak, we also have gotten some pretty good play from Garland. We should be putting up better efforts than this. I liked the team going into this year, the only thing I though we were missing was another top 4 dman. Benning has assembled a decent team, one that should be playing better than this. I think the coaching needs to change. We have struggled to score first this year same as last year and before that. Playing from behind is exhausting and stressful and forces you to take risks that lead to goals in your own net. We want to better defensively, but you cant play a strict defensive style when playing from behind. A defense first mentality relies on having the lead. All the best defensive teams will start games with a big push early to get the first goal so they can set up neutral zone traps and create turnovers which lead to oddman rushes. PP or PK woes can be remedied by scoring first and forcing the other team to take chances that we can capitalize on. Our horrendous starts to games are inexcusable and have been a consistent issue. Green might be a smart coach, he might have great ideas, and a good system, but the most important thing for a coach is communication. Some of the worlds smartest people are terrible teachers and some less intelligent people can teach circles around them. Im not sure Green has inspired this team, they don't look like they are every ready to play and with a full camp and a dozen plus games into the season we shouldn't look as lost in the dzone as we do. Green seems like the conservative coach in the sense that he is the guy you bring in to keep a good thing going, he brings no radical ideas or creative systems, he just plays it safe and maintains the status quo. I think we need to bring in somebody with vision, somebody with a passion to try new things and a willingness to believe in his players and let them be creative. Green keeps preaching patience and a belief in the system, he says the same thing every postgame interview and we keep playing the same uninspired hockey most nights. I

Dallas Cowboys O-Lineman Tyron Smith (Top 3 in his position) said that getting schooled daily in practice against Demarcus Ware(future HoF) helped him become one the best lineman in the game. There are lots of players from every sport who claim that practicing against their elite teammates directly impacted their success and made them better player. I would say the same would be mostly true in Hockey. Success breeds success. Though there are some issues to address, example being that guys like Miller play the PP and PK therefore Miller cant practice against the best PP we can ice since him being our leading scorer means our PP isn't the best we can ice if he's practicing on the PK, the same is true for a guy like Horvat. Also you don't want to be as physical in practice eg: hitting your own teammates and blocking shots. Hockey is a difficult sport regarding the multiple roles and jobs a single player will have to do in the ice depending on if your in the d-zone to o-zone etc. The difficulty to have your best PPers and PKers practice against each other probably hampers the ability to improve in practice like pure positional players in other sports can. That said I do believe improving our overall play and especially special teams should help, especially new guys and young players when practising, by how much? Who knows, only guys that have been in the NHL can say for certain.

I really don't care much for sample size this or that. The fact is that games #1 - #9 are worth the same amount of points as games #73 - #82. These are points we might regret not getting by the end of the year. Sure there are teams that catch fire late eg the St.Louis Blues, but we cant just tell ourselves that and expect it to be so. The Canucks cant let themselves devolve into the "We'll get em next time" team. If you keep saying "oh next game we will get better results" you will soon find out that there wont be a next game. This team needs to be better and needs to happen tomorrow. Anything can happen, we can catch fire late, but if anything can happen then that means the opposite could be true. If anything can happen then that means the hot teams could stay hot, the bad teams could stay bad, or any other infinite number of possibilities. I would like us to start making things happen vs believing anything can happen. Lets start mitigating the possible outcomes and play a more complete game. I think that getting the special teams going could go a long way and is without a doubt the #1 reason we are below .500 so far. 5v5 has been good enough (especially with Demko) but our powerplay should be better and it needs to start winning us games because as of yet, I don't feel confident in our PP to go out and get the game winner or the tying goal late in a game. Our PP isn't terrible, but it should be one of our strengths. Our penalty killing needs to be a lot better as well, there are times when it looks fantastic, but then on most PK's it looks really bad. its shocking how easily our structure collapses. I also want to start seeing fewer touches and faster break outs when we get the puck in our own end, too many times we wait to set up, but by doing so you also allow the other team to change and set up their defense. A well structured defense should stop any attack, so its important to strike before the defense gets set. We seem so focused on setting up set break outs that always take too long to develop and its killing our on-the-rush offense. The whole team looks too structured and rigid to be honest. The PP has the bumper play to Horvat and EP's one-of-these-days timers and that's it. There is no flow or creativity out there on the PP. The PK looks so reliant on structure as well that it cant seem to function as soon as the structure collapses. Lets cause a little more chaos and give our skill guys opportunities to get creative. Green isn't a bad coach, but if we don't turn it around soon it might be time to start asking if he's the right coach for us. In summary Special Teams, Special Team, Special Teams! Oh, and better break outs too. Lets get the Rangers and get back on track. GO CANUCKS GO!!!