I Thought The Hodgson Trade Was Suppose To Make Us Better For The Playoffs

[spliced]

With the way Kesler is playing Hodgson could certainly have gotten some second line time.

[Vlas=d]

The Hodgson trade put a huge rock in front of our orginization if we wanted to trade Kesler.

Who's going to replace him? You have to trade for a centerman now. If we had kept Hodgson, he could simply replace the 2nd line center position. He obviously wouldn't be ready, but give him a year or two..

[sandman44]

"I Thought The Hodgson Trade Was Suppose To Make Us Better For The Playoffs"

Yes it was, so what's your problem buddy?

[Millerdraft]

The Hodgson trade put a huge rock in front of our orginization if we wanted to trade Kesler.

Who's going to replace him? You have to trade for a centerman now. If we had kept Hodgson, he could simply replace the 2nd line center position. He obviously wouldn't be ready, but give him a year or two..

[Millerdraft]

With the way Kesler is playing Hodgson could certainly have gotten some second line time.

[DreamHerO]

Which would've led to something like this?

I also find it funny that although Henrik, with his 3,267 minutes of powerplay experience in his career, can't do anything against the LA Kings PK somehow people think Cody Godson would be the answer to our powerplay woes.

[Gollumpus]

CODY DOESN'T PLAY ON THE 1ST LINE ON PP OUR 2ND LINE PP SUCKS BALLSACK.

[Heretic]

The Hodgson Trade Did Make Us Better For The Playoffs - just not a good as the Kings got.

[Millerdraft]

So your saying that if Kesler was about to get hit with his head low into the boards he'd somehow barrel roll like captain falcon and dodge the hit? He aint not Raffi Torres.

Henrik is very successful at the PP because of his brother, without him he's still an excellent play-maker but not as good, however CODY DOESN'T PLAY ON THE 1ST LINE ON PP OUR 2ND LINE PP SUCKS BALLSACK.

[sting]

The sad reality of the trade is that the Canucks have made a shift towards being a team of 2 scoring lines and 2 checking lines. The Detroit model and the speed transition game that MG promised and almost all the canadian teams employ has made way for more of a defensive approach. The bottom line is more 2-1 1-0 games for the Canuck faithful to slog through. In this i am deeply disappointed in the Canucks as MG has given up on playing hockey like Brazilians play soccer.

The reason Hodgson was dealt was to better cope with this in the future and make us a tougher team to play against. All you who react neurotically to the first indications of Zach Kassian not being an immediate incarnation of Milan Lucic and blame him for not living up to Cody"s offensive capabilities, you simply do not understand hockey. Kassian is gonna be a player Nucks fans are going to love but power forwards take time so be patient it's not his fault.

Personally i hated this trade........not because i am some Cody fanboy. I hated it because this deal was an admission that the Nucks were never going to unseed Kesler or Sedin as the top 2 centers and that 2 scoring lines were better than 3??? Hodgson has defensive deficiencies and his speed and endurance are works in progress . But were talking about a player with a tremendous hockey IQ and a great work ethic. A vision and IQ that Booth, Raymond just simply do not possess. A history and pedigree of winning in pressure games and as seen in a sample size a tremendously accurate shot.

The deal for the today was incomprehensible because we were the hunted in first place. We had a goalie that could resolve this need for toughness in our top 6 today and our best chance to win ever was seeemingly on the horizon. The future was looking bright we had a Canadian kid and World Junior captain poised to make an impact soon. We had a wealth of scoring depth after failing the previous season when key injuries to Kesler and Samuelsson crippled this team against the Bruins.( and we could not score) Then.....

MG trades away a 20 goal scoring rookie. D.Sedin gets hurt (we all knew someone would) and once again a hot goalie has an offensively challenged Canuck team on the brink of disaster.

Now for the towmorrow of this deal.....It was my belief that the budding prospects of this team were a couple seasons away and Cody was the one kid that was bridging this gap. As he got better Henrik would start to decline and as Higgins and Burrows and Raymonds contracts came up we could replace them with Schroeder, Jensen and Rodin when ready and maintain our excellence and offensive juggernaut.........now this shift in philosophy tells me that untill these young talents are ready for top 6 duty they will not be playing for the big club and even Kassian wont be playing anywhere but the 4th line untill he can be counted on by AV to be a steady producer.

So we go forward hoping that something will change without changing anything. After years of supporting a mediocre team we looked to have one capable of a cup and this is what makes this trade so hard to digest

[Millerdraft]

The sad reality of the trade is that the Canucks have made a shift towards being a team of 2 scoring lines and 2 checking lines. The Detroit model and the speed transition game that MG promised and almost all the canadian teams employ has made way for more of a defensive approach. The bottom line is more 2-1 1-0 games for the Canuck faithful to slog through. In this i am deeply disappointed in the Canucks as MG has given up on playing hockey like Brazilians play soccer.

The reason Hodgson was dealt was to better cope with this in the future and make us a tougher team to play against. All you who react neurotically to the first indications of Zach Kassian not being an immediate incarnation of Milan Lucic and blame him for not living up to Cody"s offensive capabilities, you simply do not understand hockey. Kassian is gonna be a player Nucks fans are going to love but power forwards take time so be patient it's not his fault.

Personally i hated this trade........not because i am some Cody fanboy. I hated it because this deal was an admission that the Nucks were never going to unseed Kesler or Sedin as the top 2 centers and that 2 scoring lines were better than 3??? Hodgson has defensive deficiencies and his speed and endurance are works in progress . But were talking about a player with a tremendous hockey IQ and a great work ethic. A vision and IQ that Booth, Raymond just simply do not possess. A history and pedigree of winning in pressure games and as seen in a sample size a tremendously accurate shot.

The deal for the today was incomprehensible because we were the hunted in first place. We had a goalie that could resolve this need for toughness in our top 6 today and our best chance to win ever was seeemingly on the horizon. The future was looking bright we had a Canadian kid and World Junior captain poised to make an impact soon. We had a wealth of scoring depth after failing the previous season when key injuries to Kesler and Samuelsson crippled this team against the Bruins.( and we could not score) Then.....

MG trades away a 20 goal scoring rookie. D.Sedin gets hurt (we all knew someone would) and once again a hot goalie has an offensively challenged Canuck team on the brink of disaster.

Now for the towmorrow of this deal.....It was my belief that the budding prospects of this team were a couple seasons away and Cody was the one kid that was bridging this gap. As he got better Henrik would start to decline and as Higgins and Burrows and Raymonds contracts came up we could replace them with Schroeder, Jensen and Rodin when ready and maintain our excellence and offensive juggernaut.........now this shift in philosophy tells me that untill these young talents are ready for top 6 duty they will not be playing for the big club and even Kassian wont be playing anywhere but the 4th line untill he can be counted on by AV to be a steady producer.

So we go forward hoping that something will change without changing anything. After years of supporting a mediocre team we looked to have one capable of a cup and this is what makes this trade so hard to digest

[Tangerines]

The Kings have the 2nd best goals against in the regular season with 179. They play a tight, defensive, checking style game. Its very hard to score on them as we have witnessed first hand in this series so far. I don't think any team would have really lit it up against them if we hadn't played them and someone else did in the first round, and I really doubt that Hodgson would have matched up well with their Big center men either. Richards, Stoll, or Kopitar would have ate him up IMO. The reality is that our top scorers aren't scoring, so what makes you think Hodgson would. He has been shutdown and is a -7 with Buffalo since the trade, and did very little to help them in their final dash for the playoffs. Daniel is our strongest scoring weapon offensively. To bad that rat Duncan Keith injured him or the outcome may of been different for us.

[Haidacanuck]

Finally someone said it. Instantly I thought he could be our next captain. Right now I would've slid him into keslers spot and put kesler up in first now that d Sedin is out. Coho was a smart puck handler Kassian has done nothing to impress me

The number of people calling CoHo a bust compared to the number of people calling Kassian a bust right now is like a 1:10 ratio. The comparison is not even close. Also, CoHo was a draft pick, we didn't have to trade a proven player for him.

Even in 2009, people could see CoHo being a future captain. He was leadership material because he was captain 3 times in his hockey career. The guy was smart, calm, and composed. In some ways, he was like Hank, except he can score. The downside is that he isn't very physical, but that means he takes little penalties.

[Haidacanuck]

Finally hockey smarts are not with every player. Coho was in the right place a lot of the time. You get that or you don't . He would've found way to match up with the physicality of LA. Thats why hank and Dan have made this league they are not incredible physical specimens. Anywho it's over and nothing we can do now I just wanted the brown nosers to know that you don't have to agree with everything Mg and Av do. I still believe

[sting]

I gave you a +1because you are right about much of it but where does Rich Winter's demands play into this? He set this whole scenario into motion, did he not? He himself wrote on his blog that he thinks Hodgson will be the best player to come out of the 2008 draft. The guy has a history of doing things his clients don't even know that he is doing (ie. telling an Edmonton newspaper that his client Radek Dvorak disliked the city and that he didn't want to re-sign there, despite the truth being the exact opposite).

[CanadianRugby]

I can't believe there are still clowns in here saying Kassian is helping. He's been invisible. Burrows has had to do the fighting on this team when the Sedins go down. That was supposed to be Kassians job. If he can't do it 'till 2015 I'll go out on a limb and say it'll be to late.

That said..

I have nothing against Kassian or any Canuck. He was brought into a situation where he had no chance. It's not his fault he's being asked to be a player that he isn't (yet). I obviously hope he becomes a solid power forward for us. My beef is with some of the fans around here that overrate him as of right now.

[Dildo Faggins]

Imagine how awesome this team would be if it had kept Grabner and Hodgson? The offensive power would be deadly. They are giving away too many valuable prospects and getting jack s**t in return except a waste of cap space. And Gillis should have definitiely kept Torres and at least have tried a little harder to find a way to keep Ehrhoff. If I recall the negotiations ended rather abruptly, and it makes me wonder if Gillis gave up too quickly. Puck moving d men of his calibre dont come around often and he was so important to the power play. Then Bitz and Duco would fit nicely on the 4th line with Lapierre and provide the needed grit and toughness, and then all they would need to focus on is finding another good solid defenseman and they would be set. Presto, there you have a real contender.

[Millerdraft]

The closed door negotiating and posturing by agents goes on with lots of high profile clients. There is no denying that there was some bad blood between Hodgson's camp and the Canucks (especially AV) regarding the back injury and IMO the handling of Hodgson in tha playoffs last season(AV refusing to play him 1 game in the final which had we won he would not have gotten his name on the cup) that may or may not have had them asking to be traded.

The facts we know though are ....Cody changed agents ,trained with Gary Roberts,hired Claude Lemieux and genuinly made an effort to improve as a player and person to prove himself an NHL regular.

People on this board are uneducated hockey fans when they say that Hodgson wanting more ice time had a bearing on this move. To think Cody would not play while under contract to the Canucks as they seemed fit is IMO rediculous (if so good riddance and I hope Aaron Rome Nathan Hortons you next time we play) The Canucks could have waited to make this move but they genuinly thought they would be better with Pahlsson, Kassian and Gragnani. AV wanted a traditional shut down 3rd line, Kassian replaced Hodgson's youth and promise while bringing a nasty presence they needed and Gragnani gave them depth on D.

Problem is none of these guys have lived up to what the management thought they would bring. Kassian will be good just not ready yet. Pahlsson brings NOTHING offensively creative and Lapierre IMO outplayed him last year as our 3rd line center and he was here already. Gragnani really needs no response.

[لني]

I can't believe there are still clowns in here saying Kassian is helping. He's been invisible. Burrows has had to do the fighting on this team when the Sedins go down. That was supposed to be Kassians job. If he can't do it 'till 2015 I'll go out on a limb and say it'll be to late.

That said..

I have nothing against Kassian or any Canuck. He was brought into a situation where he had no chance. It's not his fault he's being asked to be a player that he isn't (yet). I obviously hope he becomes a solid power forward for us. My beef is with some of the fans around here that overrate him as of right now.

[لني]

Ah, but when you look at Gillis' comments he was addressing all of the deals made on trade deadline day and in that case he's mostly referring to the decision to go with Pahlsson over Hodgson. They even asked him a few days/weeks later on team radio:

"Mike, did you make this move begrudgingly - you know - moving towards a more defensive team?"

Gillis emphatically: "Yes. I think high paced offensive style of hockey is highly entertaining and what this league should be all about but players are learning how to obstruct without taking a penalty and our conference is moving in that same direction. We felt that we had to do this in order to compete in the playoffs with those teams."