DownUndaCanuck Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 For all you people ragging on Komisarek, sure he may not be a good defenceman but even a world-class defenceman like Phaneuf is looking pretty bad playing on one of if not the worst defensive teams in the league. To me our defence needs to become bigger, more physical and stronger. Look at all the Cup winning defences over the last few years - sure you need to be big up front, but more importantly you need big bruisers on the back end who punish opposing teams forwards. Ballard is nowhere near that guy, Komisarek is at least a bit closer to what Cup-winning defences are made of. You look at Boston's defence, they had a great top 4 obviously but even their bottom pairing consisted of a guy like McQuaid - not great defensively but a physical monster who ground down forwards during a series. Now take a look at Los Angeles. Guys like Mitchell and especially Greene pounded forwards all series long. Our bottom pairing right now is Ballard and Tanev, two tiny guys who don't pose a threat to anyone. For those of you who say Ballard is a great hip-checker, he WAS a good hip checker, but the worst thing is that hip checking does next to nothing in the playoffs. It's a one-hit-wonder that sends a forward flying, but doesn't appear to hurt or grind them down as much as consistently banging their bodies against the boards or down to the ice, which is how Los Angeles and Boston played in the playoffs. You don't tire out forwards by throwing one hip check a game in a 7 game series, you do it by riding them hard into the boards every single shift. That's how our forwards were destroyed against Boston, and that's what L.A did to every single team. Of all of Komisarek's bad traits, this is one good thing about him that the Canucks desperately need if they want to start thinking about playoff hockey as opposed to regular season success. Komi's game is built for the playoffs, not the regular season, and would fit in perfectly in our bottom-4. Edler - Garrison Hamhuis - Bieksa Komisarek - Tanev Alberts His size complements Tanev's lack thereof and just like the past 2 Cup winners have shown us, you don't need a small, fast, mobile defence to win a Cup, you need a strong stay-at-home type with maybe one or two puck movers. Even going back to Chicago, they had Keith and Campbell as their puck movers, the rest were strong stay-at-home guys. Boston had Chara and Kaberle as their offensive defencemen, the rest were all physical shut down guys (Chara included). Look at Los Angeles, Doughty and Voynov were the only real offensive defencemen. Now with Komisarek in the mix, we suddenly have that same magic formula that has worked time and time again. You win Cups with grit and size on the BACK END, not just forwards which is something that has been neglected by the Canucks over the last 3 or 4 years and has been IMO our biggest downfall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossram Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I'd still take Ballard over Komisarek. Ballard can still be a good player. But he is being terribly utilized. They're playing him outside his strengths and outside what should be his role. Ballard is still an NHL player and should be treated as such. Gillis won't waive him. He'll find his best to find a taker if he has to move him. And maybe there will be an amnesty buyout to give Keith a chance to rejuvenate his NHL career at a lower salary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disisdayear Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I would agree with DownUnda that we need better balance between size and skill; but that can be said for both forwards and defence. But, Komisarek is not the answer...he's over-priced, slow-footed, and though >235 pounds, he's not one of those oversized d-men who can impose his will by grinding down the opposing forwards. He's demonstrated that he can take a bunch of shots to the melon from Lucic, though. It seems that Ballard has polarized the Canucks faithful...I'm in the camp that believes that we haven't seen him at his best in a Canucks uniform. He came to us injured, and it seems that he hasn't had the opportunity to heal properly. Hopefully he benefits from the lock out by being able to fully heal from all of his injuries. From what I know of Ballard, he doesn't have the same issues that Shane O'Brien had...Ballard is not known for late nights at the Roxy, so I think this so-called dislike AV has for Ballard is overblown, though Ballard did have issues while playing for DeBoer as a Panther. At 5'11" and 208 lbs., I would say that Ballard has decent size to play a grinding game. Not the tallest, but at his height/weight, he has the low center of gravity that should allow him to take on guys who are bigger than him. But trade him for Komisarek? No thanks. Waive him? Only good reason to do this would be to bury his cap hit in the minors. If you waived him, who would you replace him with? The depth isn't there right now (may be there is a year or two), so we are limited with interchangeable parts from within, though Ballard may be a casualty of the new CBA (wishful thinking that there will be a CBA anytime soon). I think we need to see a nearly 100% healthy Ballard to see what he can really do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Komisarek or waivers... Dumb and dumber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattJVD Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 I think Ballard is turning it around, He was good through January and February until he suffered that "cap-cussion" and he seemed like the only D man who showed up in some of the games against LA. He plays well with Tanev and is good for his developement, shame he doesn't get used on the PP, his passing and speed are good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillyFox Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Ballard has the ability to be a top four guy just with his great skating ability to move the puck out of the defense zone. However he's been misused since day one with the Canucks and lacks the confidence to be a top four defenseman. He is a reliable 6 guy but why waste 4 million on a player who will play 14 minutes a night while we could invest that into a topix forward that could feed the puck to Kesler. I do think Ballards time in Vancouver has been underwhelming but he hasn't been put into a situation to succeed. I put the blame on AV for not giving Ballard a chance to prove himself in his 2 years he's been here. I do agree though its time to part ways with Ballard and move on, but I wouldn't even think to trade him for that pylon komasarik that's laughable.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monteeun Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 If only Ballard made half of the money that he does, then I would have no complaints. I think he's a decent player and a good guy in the locker room, just not worth his contract. It also hurts a bit given what we gave up for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillyFox Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 yea, what exactly did we give up for Ballard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoneypuckOverlord Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 He's barely making it alive in Toronto. Barely making it alive in Toronto, is not making it at all for Vancouver. Ballard can at least play some offence. As for Komasarek, he's a frickin Punching bag. Just ask Lucic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashian Kassian Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Terrible, so basicly we make our team worse for what reason? As for DownUndaCanucks point about big bruising defense's, our defense was fine until all our mobile guys were injured and couldn't play to there capabilities (Some not at all) Then when the big bruising guys (Alberts) Were given bigger minutes look what happened. This also goes against everything that we have seen from the game in terms of when it is now and where it is going, skating is becoming one of the biggest factors in aqcuiring players. This trade does nothing but make us worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baggins Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 or we could fire AV... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00bxQb Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Ballard may have had a rough couple of years, but he's still twice the defenseman that Komisarek is ... We already have Andrew Alberts, why do we want a slightly bigger Andrew Alberts at 4 times the price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang Bang Boogie Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 A misused Ballard > Komisarek. One can skate, the other is a pylon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonberries Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Well, Vigneault utilizes Ballard as if he were Komisarek anyway so we we are truly wedded to Vig for life then why not trade for the real thing??!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice orca Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 How will that change anything? Unless Ballard magically finds a way to comfortably play right side, he's behind Hamhuis and Edler on the left side no matter who the coach is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73 Percent Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 though i don't think ballard is as bad as.many think he is. it would be nice to ditch his contract to free up edler money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Ballard for Teubert straight up. Problem solved. We trade a mobile defenseman to a team that likes mobile defensemen, and we get young right handed d-man in return. Did I mention Teubert is 6'4", 195 lbs. and from White Rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SergioMomesso Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 How about give Ballard one injury free season to see how he performs. I thought he played very well until his injury last year. If Ballard's cap was only 2-3 million, everyone would love him. The guy can skate the puck out of our own end as good as any d-man in the league. He just needs more playing time. And unfortunately playing behind Edler and Hamhuis, he won't get it. I think he was brought here for plan B if MG couldnt rope in Hamhuis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogbyte Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 How about we trade and s for a c and call it a day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorrcoq Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Grabner and Quiton Howden who looks like a promising prospect. It really sucks to think we could have grabners dynamic speed on this team he just needs to learn how to finish and he could become a similar player to gaborik but obviously not on his level.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.