stonecoldstevebernier
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With free agency approaching and a recent increase in transactions affecting the Comets, I figured it was about time to get this thread going. The Comets 2017-18 season came to an end in the first round of the playoffs, pushing the eventual Calder Cup winning Toronto Marlies to a deciding fifth game and falling in the series 3-2. Utica saw a number of exciting prospects test the waters late in the season, including Lukas Jasek, Kole Lind, and Jonathan Dahlen. All figure to be given ample opportunity this year with Utica who are poised to have the most young talent they’ve had in their lineup since their inception, as Olli Juolevi, Jonah Gadjovich, Petrus Palmu, and perhaps Adam Gaudette could join their ranks. On the flip side, Utica currently faces some question marks at centre as well as being without a true #1 defenseman. Last year’s number one pivot Michael Chaput was flipped to Chicago for Tanner Kero, whose AHL numbers are slightly inferior to Chaput’s while being more of a proven NHL contributor. Cole Cassels did not receive a qualifying offer, and longtime Comet Wacey Hamilton has not been re-signed – although neither is a big loss offensively. Cam Darcy returns, but ideally he is a good #3 guy who can fill in as a #2 on occasion. There’s also the possibility that Adam Gaudette could spend time in Utica, or perhaps Zack MacEwen could be utilized at centre after spending most of his rookie season on the wing. Tyler Motte retains his ability to pass through waivers and could be an option if he fails to make the Canucks out of training camp. To me, the centre ice position is going to be more of a factor than ever this season with the large influx of young wingers – Dahlen, Lind, Jasek, Gadjovich, and Palmu will all be figuring out the pro game and they need skilled centres who can support them through the inevitable learning curve. As of now, it appears that the tandem of Demko and Bachman will return in net, barring the Canucks moving Nilsson or Demko outplaying him in training camp. Evan McEneny will look to have a bounce back season after being sidelined for almost the entire 2017-18 campaign and will likely see some big minutes as he helps anchor what is shaping up to be a young defense group. They lack a true #1 but with McEneny, Sautner, Brisebois, Chatfield, and possibly Juolevi all on the roster, all will need playing time, and all have valuable pro experience under their belts already. Sifers is the lone vet on the back end, with Blujus returning as well to make 7 capable AHL defensemen. COMETS THIS YEAR (as of 3/24): 31-29-6-2, 70 pts (6th in the North) Top scorers: Reid Boucher (49) 28-29-57 Tanner Kero (62) 24-30-54 Zack MacEwen (61) 20-28-48 Brendan Gaunce (52) 16-19-35 Evan McEneny (58) 8-23-31 CURRENT ROSTER: [*recalled, (+) injured] Forwards: #9 Lukas Jasek #10 Tanner Kero #11 Cam Darcy #13 Kole Lind (+) #14 Reid Gardiner #15 Zack MacEwen #16 Brendan Gaunce #18 Vincent Arseneau #19 Seamus Malone #20 Tom Pyatt #21 Brendan Woods #22 Jonah Gadjovich (+) #24 Reid Boucher #28 Kyle Thomas #34 Carter Bancks #36 Wacey Hamilton (+) #37 Dyson Stevenson Defencemen: #2 Evan McEneny (+) #3 Stefan LeBlanc #5 Jalen Chatfield (+) #6 Ashton Sautner* #7 Brandon Anselmini #8 Dylan Blujus #23 Luke Schenn* #26 Jaime Sifers #38 Matt Petgrave #39 Colton Saucerman #48 Olli Juolevi (+) #55 Guillaume Brisebois* #64 Jesse Graham Goaltenders: #32 Richard Bachman (+) #33 Marek Mazanec #49 Michael Leighton IN THE MINORS: Brendan Bradley Ivan Kulbakov Jagger Dirk Yan-Pavel LaPlante (+)
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That was the best Canucks game I've ever seen live, despite the loss. That whole third period was amazing to watch. I got chills several times throughout the night... gonna miss the Sedins a lot. Class acts all the way.
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One of my favourite/most underrated Sedin plays... for some reason I've always remembered this goal really vividly. Gonna miss watching those tape to tape, no look, perfect passes.
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@Brad Marchand sheesh. Their accuracy with being able to put pucks wherever they want has always been incredible. Those years around 2010 were special to watch for sure.
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Korbinian Holzer with the twitter reply of the year after the gold medal game
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Its still early, but the Pedan-Pouliot deal is looking like a smart one so far. He's a good skater and puck mover, doesn't look out of place at all on the powerplay. Pedan was always too erratic for my liking in Utica, a guy who had all the physical tools you could ask for but lacked the hockey sense to use them. There haven't been too many mistakes so far for Pouliot, although his minutes have been sheltered. That will probably change with the Stecher injury, if he's out for a while... gonna be a big test for Pouliot to see if he can handle a bigger role.
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tfw you have Wheeler and Scheifele in your pool, the Canucks lose, and they get nothing
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Rick Dhaliwal shutting down bs 1040 "rumours" is my new favourite thing on twitter.
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Boeser, Molino, and Juolevi all looked like they were a step ahead of the competition tonight imo. Very good showings from Lind, Carcone, and Chatfield as well.
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Unfollowing all the constantly negative Canucks media scribes on Twitter feels great. Too many of them are just focused on always finding something bad to say no matter what the team does.
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You nailed it Art. I never followed Paterson but didn't really have an opinion on him until this past season. Even when we started playing the kids like everyone wanted to see at the end of the year he always seemed to have something snarky to say.
Also, agree on Taylor. Would be nice to see him and Sportsnet make up. Think Farhan would stay for football coverage though.
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What are everyone's thoughts on Jordan Weal? Is he worth signing or have you had enough of the NHL/AHL tweener projects? In fairness to him, he does have better numbers than any of the guys we've taken flyers on (albeit in a small sample size).
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He's 25 and 5'10". In a vacuum, I wouldn't mind taking him on, but I'd prefer the Canucks look in a different direction to add depth to their lineup.
I also hesitate to pick guys up based on late-season play because we've seen several players (including Etem, incidentally) produce late in the year and fail to carry that momentum into the following season. Weal is better than Etem, though.
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So who's everyone got at 33? Lots of potential good picks still out there. Hague, Comtois, Lind, Gadjovich, Popugaev, Anderson-Dolan, Ratcliffe, Mismash, etc.
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Timmins or Ratcliffe - thanks @smithers joe
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Why is Paul Romanuk still doing commentary in the conference finals? Should be Hughson and Cole.
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I watched Romanuk do a few Leafs games this year. It was him and Millen doing the games and they were just terrible together. It was like watching Dumb and Dumber. They used to try and top each other for the number of mistakes they would make. I recall Greg Millen went through two periods referring to the Sabres coach as "Lindy Ruff". Someone finally told him in the second intermission and he admitted his mistake at the start of the 3rd. Whats funny is that Millen occupies the spot between the benches, Dan Bylsma was literally a few feet away from him.
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So THN decided to spend a good chunk of Rasmussen's profile in their draft preview calling Canucks fans "crazy" and "paranoid". I mean, there's certainly a portion of us that are but I'd rather read about the actual prospects than read more eastern media pot shots at our fanbase given the very limited amount of space there is to write about each one. (And I think the concerns on Rasmussen are justified and not outlandish at all.)
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The Leafs lost like 15 straight against us, we were the best team in Canada for about a decade and they're butthurt crybabies. - @-Stammer-
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@-Stammer- Stigma from the riots, reputation of being a dirty team in the 2011 era, being good while other Canadian teams were terrible, etc... plus the no Cups will always make us an easy target, until we finally win one. (Fingers crossed)
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Adam Cracknell with the hat trick for Dallas tonight.... what a moment for a great guy. Safe to say the Cracknell has been released.
