-AJ-

I don't think he's underrated. He's in the same boat as Erik Cernak were maybe 2 years ago they were but now people realize how good they both are. 

Oh yeah, he's the real deal and a draft steal (he was drafted in the 7th round, 203rd overall in 2013... with the pick just after the Canucks selected Miles Liberati). He's a perfect complimentary piece for Ekblad and can handle big minutes. He's probably the best defensive defenseman since Chris Tanev.

Maybe I'm crazy, but both last year and this year, I've been considering him to be in the Norris conversation. I'd say there might even be a case to be made that he's the better half of Ekblad-Weegar.

Corsi doesn't account for shot quality.  The Natural Stat Trick model has them 30th in high danger corsi %.  23rd in scoring chances for % and 25th in expected goals for %.  There are limitations to the model (*) but it gives more of an indication of shot location.

(*) doesn't capture pre-shot movements, screens, and not all shots from a high danger areas are necessarily dangerous. 

Perhaps teams don't try that hard on 5on5 against the Canucks because they know they just have to wait for a couple of PPs and they will be up 2-0. Why put in a 60min effort when 4-6 mins of good PP time is more than enough against this team? We are 29th in GF/G, while we have the 6th highest GA/G.

I love how we've come to this point where we have to grab a magnifying glass and look for random minor stats to feel better ourselves. It's never a good sign when your whole argument is "see, we don't suck that hard in this aspect of the game!". Problem is, we can't just cherry-pick. We have to look at the whole from a distance, and this team just sucks. We have some very good pieces in place, but the team as a whole is very poorly put together/coached.

Since Benning took over, we play a very boring style of hockey, we get pushed over, we get shutout all the time and we constantly rank as one of the worst when it comes to scoring:

GF/G

2014-15: 8th

2015-16: 29th

2016-17: 29th

2017-18: 26th

2018-19: 26th

2019-20: 8th

2020-21: 24th

2021-22: 29th

I couldn't find a year-to-year stat for getting shutout (perhaps you can help me?), but I swear we would lead that as well or at least would be at the very top almost every year. This team is just bad, don't sugar coat it.

And of course I realize that this core came together around the 2018-19 season, so they don't responsible for what had happened before that, but it just gives you a general idea of the team's overall direction and the competence of our management/coaching staff.

Benning and his coaches had their chances, time to move on and start fresh.

To @mll's point, our shooting percentage is 2nd worst in the NHL. Sometimes that's an indicator of poor luck, but it seems like stats suggest it's an indicator of poor shooting. We can control the puck just fine, but we can't get any sort of threat once we have the puck for some reason.

I did the same last week.  It took four days for me to recover.  

I finally came back two weeks ago, kept telling myself that gyms were closed anyways without checking haha 

I had a good thing going on at home for a while.  I would watch Canucks games or play video games and do pushups/situps in between whistles/games.  

@-AJ- Just skip leg day, problem solved 

I feel for you, you had to experience that twice 

You! This is Your fault

I’m just kidding! We’ll be better. Right? Right?!

just wondering how your initial reactions lined up with how the picks panned out

@JM_ Well I'm only confident in the 2014 and 2015 drafts. In the end, the 2014 draft was better than I realized and the 2015 one was worse than I realized. 

Virtanen wasn't quite as good as hoped in 2014, but we had a lot of other solid picks outside of him. McCann and Demko were solid, Tryamkin was okay, and Forsling was a steal in the 5th.

Boeser and Gaudette were good in 2015, but we had nothing at all outside of that. Brisebois was fairly disappointing for a 3rd round pick and has played very little, showing little promise. Zhukenov, Neill, Jasek, and Olsen also didn't play a single NHL game. The one caveat is that I didn't consider AHL success. Jasek was a decent pick in that he was at least a good player for Utica. 

I like the Breezy pick a lot, I thought he might be a regular by now. Jake seemed like a good bet at the time too.

LMAO. Agreed.

So whats up with titles? Are they going to come back or replaced with the logo?

Once the signings are official you bet it will crash. 

@Ghostsof1915 Because it's somewhat leaked out already (assuming it's even true/final), the reaction might be more muted. If the deals are different than rumoured, then I could see a crash.

Oh the stress of college I remember those days... but I certainly don't miss them lol

My son is working on getting his CPA as well. Has his Bachelor of Business Admin. behind him now.

Congrats man!

Got mine a couple weeks back. Felt like crap for a couple days but all good after that. 

I have a sore arm for now. If I'm lucky, it'll just be that.

@-AJ- That lasted about a week for me. Pretty painful Day 2 and 3. 

Three years in a row.

Lol that would help

I have bad days.... LOL

Was never realistic without our best player.  Looking forward to a good draft pick and our assistant coaches replaced with people actually capable of doing the job.

It was extremely unrealistic to begin with. 

Since our 6 - 11 start the Canucks have a .604 point percentage over the last 24 games.  If they play at the same point percentage over the next 15 games they wind up with 59 points.  If MTL goes 5 - 5 in their last 10 we are tied in points. It should be close down the stretch.

Not necessarily.

I'd love it if Montreal went .300 for their next 10 games, but I've had too many disappointments to get that optimistic to think that a .500 record would realistically get us in. Montreal will likely improve at some point, even if they don't get key players back.

I'm betting Montreal goes about 6-4 or 5-5 in their last 10. If they're worse, then great, but I'm not betting on it. I'll hope for the best, but expect the worst.

-AJ- to his priest:  Father, it's been six months since my last confession & I have to confess that I wished for the Edmonton Oilers to win a game.

Priest:  Say ten million hail Mary's my son.
 

I can't bring myself to root for the Oilers.  I just can't.

@King HeffyThink of it as rooting against the Canadiens.

I had a dream last night...

(but I don't want to get an infraction by explaining any further ).

not only do we need mtl to crap the bed, they probably have to beat calgary and so do we. we are more likely to finish last in the division than make the playoffs

oh man thats for sure Herb. I could handle BT here, but I think Podkolzin is going to bring a lot of, if not as much, physical presence as BT. 

@Drakrami that song is so "mood" for how he's drifting around out there 

Ya I'm taking Tkachuk. 

Yes 

It's all Green and Benning's fault. And the goalies. And the defense and forwards. And the refs, and Bettman. And covid. And Donald Trump. And Bill Gates. And the illuminati.

The curse of Sergei Shirokov

This would be really interesting. 40-50 points in each of the last 3 seasons. Leaving Edmonton was the best thing for him.

I've been trying to cut back on sugar/ sodium/ processed foods, and while many condiments have lots of those, there's some whole/ low amount replacements (e.g. been using Worchestershire sauce, cane vinegar and others) and it helps to retain some good flavor while having better nutritional value.

I'm not being super strict with my diet, just making small subtle changes. I'm blessed to have a pretty fast metabolism, so I can get away with a lot, but I also realize that as I get to my 30s and beyond, that won't last forever, so I'm trying to learn some better habits earlier.

It's easy to do once conditioned and you'll never go back. I felt like a slug eating crap the last three days and got back to the gym and a sense of normalcy today. 

@Chicken. Yep. The module went great all term long but this exam killed me. Sucks that 100% of the pass/fail is on the exam.

Well browsing reddit everyone seems to be saying the same thing about the Finance exam, the first case felt OK to answer, manageable, but the second case was just ridiculous. the plant purchase offer I just rambled about some qualitative stuff and said we lose like $3M but save $1M and to accept since the division is about to start losing cash lol . the curve will save us, enjoy the holidays!

Rofl, okay that makes me feel much better, haha. I was pretty much the same. Not too bad on the first case, was a bit tight for time, but the second one was an unmitigated disaster.

Could BE anxiety...funny how absolutely debilitating it can be at times if we're subconsciously worrying about something.

The blue screen light is supposed to interfere with sleep.  I rarely sleep a full night, ever and do exactly what Rubik does at times.  Last night I fell asleep during Colbert and woke up at 4:15 (that's a usual for me).  Couldn't sleep so turned on Just For Laughs (watched it at first then turned the volume way down)...then dozed off before it ended at 5.

I am struggling over having to work in a school and, with what's happening with Dad, have a whole lot on my plate.  I'm wrestling with it all. So I totally get the "have stuff to do" and why this always happens then...instead of when there's nothing going on and it doesn't matter!  It's daunting when you "have" to rest and focus and something gets in the way of that.  Especially when we can't pinpoint it.

I've recently done a lot of work on anxiety (10 weeks+).  A lot of mindfulness, meditation and re-scripting thoughts.  It's quite helpful if I start to spiral in the wee hours...some good techniques are out there.  My favourite is the deep breath in, imagine it "rolling over" at the top (instead of the usual "hold", which was a struggle) and then exhale.  Focus on it and it's super relaxing and smooth.  Even JUST trying to focus on a new technique is enough to distract us and relax us.  I take my b/p and pulse at home and it makes a HUGE difference in before and after readings.

Good luck to you...you'll be fine no matter what happens!  Just remember that nothing is TOO big a worry on the grand scale of it all - COVID certainly puts that into perspective.  Take care of yourself.  Learn to drink tea (if you don't)...can be very soothing.  But mostly just stay in the moment and focus on something that relaxes you.  This'll all be past you in no time, keep that in mind.

Hope you feel better soon! <3

Pain is a bit better and I got more sleep last night, thanks for the comments and thoughts everyone <3.

@goalie13 that is based on speculation. If you look at the trailer video each team has a number and that the year they are throwing it back to. Canucks was 01 and people are suggesting its going to be based on the moorn orca and that why that fan made that concept, 

I would like @goalie13 jersey. Our green isn't a really nice main colour for a jersey, so I'm hoping for a fade like that.

@Squamfan I'm well aware of what 'concept' means.  But thanks for pointing out the obvious.

if i had a dollar for every dream that was of louie traded, i’ld be able to open a letter i haven’t received yet. AJ and his famous dreams.  

do you ever have any non hockey dreams?  do you have hockey puck burgers before bed?

was anyone naked? 

@goalie13 I think it's an accountant thing. 

I had a dream that I had a shower, but could not wash my feet

My dreams actually also consist of lmm in the shower.  I can't elaborate any further.

i've been to the future heres what it looks like...……….