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10 Games Into the Season ...


BigRedMachine

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At least a few CDCers said they were going to wait until 10 games into the season before they started to pass judgment on the team.

So now that we've reached that milestone, what do people think of the Canucks' performance so far?

The team is 6-2-2, and, after a bit of a slow start, they are riding a four game win streak. They have beaten some strong teams (Chicago) and lost to some weaker ones (Edmonton, for example) And while they have not been dominant like, say, Boston has, their records is still good enough for Division Lead (albeit in a weak division).

Goaltending has been an obvious strength so far. After a shaky start against Anaheim, Schneids seems to have settled down and looked great the other night against the Wild. Luongo has looked fairly solid throughout.

For a team missing most of their second line, they have been getting decent secondary scoring. Defence also looked shaky the first few games but seems to be settling in.

Thoughts?

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I gotta say, the team being 4 games above .500 at the 10 game mark far exceeds my expectation from the Canucks, given the missing pieces. Even with Kes and Booth in the line up, I would have considered being 6-2-2 at this stage as a bonus.

There are some surprises (some pleasant, some not)...

(1) How long it's taking (taken?) the Sedins to find their game legs.

(2) Play of Kass, Schroeder, Raymond, Tanev, Ballard, Volpatti.

(3) Play of Lu and Schneider (take away CS's starts against the Ducks season opener and Sharks).

(4) Just how bad our PP is (function of no. 1).

(5)
Just how good our PK is
. EDIT: Just did a check and we are ranked 20th in PK...so this needs improvement, though it's looked good the last couple of games.

(6) The sloppiness that is Edler and Bieksa's game.

(7) The quiet efficiency of Tanev's game...he looks like a young right handed Hamhuis to me. And he certainly outplayed Justin Schultz the other night.

(8) Lack of improvement among our NW rivals. I thought for sure each of the teams in our division improved a lot, but so far, from what we have seen, this does not seem to be the case.

So, those are my observations at the 20% mark...still not really representative of what is to come this season, but things look much better than it did after game 2.
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Usual slow start and now the team is coming together (I think Bieksa and Edler looked better last game). Not bad considering we don't really have a second line. It will only improve as our second line returns. I'm not thinking top of conferance this year, but probably division leaders.

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We've been lucky. If it weren't for Luongo playing like he has, our record would look more like 3-5-2.

We have a pretty decent 2.8 GPG, however this stat is inflated because we had one blowout and another big win. 9 goals reserved for two games, and suddenly we only scored an average of 2.38 GPG in the other 8.

Our offense is hurting without Kesler and Booth. We owe huge thanks to Luongo for where we are in the standings.

I just thought I'd make this known since Roberto is seldom given credit for anything he does.

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We've been lucky. If it weren't for Luongo playing like he has, our record would look more like 3-5-2.

We have a pretty decent 2.8 GPG, however this stat is inflated because we had one blowout and another big win. 9 goals reserved for two games, and suddenly we only scored an average of 2.38 GPG in the other 8.

Our offense is hurting without Kesler and Booth. We owe huge thanks to Luongo for where we are in the standings.

I just thought I'd make this known since Roberto is seldom given credit for anything he does.

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We've been lucky. If it weren't for Luongo playing like he has, our record would look more like 3-5-2.

We have a pretty decent 2.8 GPG, however this stat is inflated because we had one blowout and another big win. 9 goals reserved for two games, and suddenly we only scored an average of 2.38 GPG in the other 8.

Our offense is hurting without Kesler and Booth. We owe huge thanks to Luongo for where we are in the standings.

I just thought I'd make this known since Roberto is seldom given credit for anything he does.

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We are almost one-quarter of the way through the shortened season and our team is showing reasonably well. This is a real test for all teams and the Canucks are performing better than most. I think the goalie situation will sort itself out on or before April 3. Here's to a great Hockey Day in Canada. Cheers!

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I think the best thing to look at is we have 14 points out of a possible 20 WITHOUT OUR BEST COMPLETE PLAYER. No one skater is more important to the success of this team then Ryan Kesler. He eases the scoring pressure of the Sedins, Eases the defensive faceoffs off Manny. Brings the depth that we are lacking at this moment. Our 'third' pairing of Ballard and Tanev look terrific. Im developing a Bromance for him.

And with lack of Improvement among our rivals the Oilers are not a terrible team anymore. Dubnyk has been real good, They are playing like what i thought the wild would.

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10 games in and most of the team is getting up to speed coming off a long layoff. Without going into individual players I like the strength from the net out. The d-core looks better each game out. The forwards still have production issues as we wait for Kesler and Booth to return.

Questions;

Goaltending: Can MG find a top 6 by trading Lou that will make enough of a dif going into playoffs? Does he stick with what he has and gamble that Kesler and Booth will return with production.

Defence: As good as this group looks and it is a CUP quality group IMO, does it need a physical banger on the back end? I do not consider Ballard or Bieksa big enough to play that game on a consistant basis. Edler is but not inclined. The defence has to generate more offence off the points.

Forwards: Without a trade Raymond moves to 2LW and tires another round with Kes and Booth. A gamble by MG because that line has not ever been consistant. The 2nd line will determine the success of the season. It is not currently CUP quality with no guarantee of it being so when reconstituted.

As poorly as Minnie played on Thursday one has to give credit to the Canuck forwards. All four lines were rolling with authority. Their physical game stood out.

The biggest issue with the Canucks and their evaluation is always the regular season play vs playoffs. The current roster is one or two short of serious CUP contention. I predicted that Gillis would trade Lou between games #10 to #15. The Canucks know which teams have interest by now and all teams have a better idea of their needs. The issue is valuation.

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At least a few CDCers said they were going to wait until 10 games into the season before they started to pass judgment on the team.

So now that we've reached that milestone, what do people think of the Canucks' performance so far?

The team is 6-2-2, and, after a bit of a slow start, they are riding a four game win streak. They have beaten some strong teams (Chicago) and lost to some weaker ones (Edmonton, for example) And while they have not been dominant like, say, Boston has, their records is still good enough for Division Lead (albeit in a weak division).

Goaltending has been an obvious strength so far. After a shaky start against Anaheim, Schneids seems to have settled down and looked great the other night against the Wild. Luongo has looked fairly solid throughout.

For a team missing most of their second line, they have been getting decent secondary scoring. Defence also looked shaky the first few games but seems to be settling in.

Thoughts?

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