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Was team toughness and size oversold?


Lui's Knob

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Not really. It just hasn't been implemented properly.

We would have been fine just keeping Torres and Salo and then adding one more guy with some toughness and skill.

Instead, we loaded up on 4th liners to the point that we're losing them on waivers and gave up Hodgson for Kassian.

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Well; In context I think its great we swapped Jeff Tambelini for Tom Sestito.

Who we really miss;

220 & 215 lb seasoned veterans Manny Malhotra and Raffi Torres. Gone, and no depth defensive line with speed and size you can trust to play againdt Getzlaf or Joe Thornton!

Erhoff; his ability to move the puck and get everyone involved (our 3rd best play maker also, behind Danny & Hank!)

Kesler; MIA

Salo

This week, Bieksa also...

Aside from that it is great we have Kassian! :bigblush:

edit; sarcasm > we're probably tougher OP, we're just pale by comparison to two years ago?

Thinking talent still wins over size and toughness? Did we add the wrong type players and lost our identity of 4 running lines?

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they dumped skill for size to a degree but are playing the same cowardly "play for the powerplay" type of game.

this team is convinced that the only thing broken is the powerplay and have therefore invested all their time and efforts in trying to fix it, when in reality they should be saying "to hell with powerplays, let's win 5 on 5 and treat powerplays like a bonus" like every other team with a pair of balls does.

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they dumped skill for size to a degree but are playing the same cowardly "play for the powerplay" type of game.

this team is convinced that the only thing broken is the powerplay and have therefore invested all their time and efforts in trying to fix it, when in reality they should be saying "to hell with powerplays, let's win 5 on 5 and treat powerplays like a bonus" like every other team with a pair of balls does.

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If I was constructing a team I'd take pure offensive talent over grit and then make sure that the offensive talent develops toughness and defensive skills. It seems like the Canucks would rather have forwards that are defensively sound first then develop offense later which I think is wrong especially with fairly strong goaltending. A winning team should be trained to kill on offense and depending on who the team is, play defense accordingly. Either sit back then explode in transition or take it to them and demoralize them. The Canucks just want to keep things close though then hope for a bounce which I think is high effort, low value and demoralizing for the players and the fans.

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It was misunderstood. People were focused on toughness deep in the line up but the main issue was with the Sedins. Many people just can't face this reality so they focus elsewhere.

On the Sedins behalf I will say they were relied on to carry a lot of the scoring. If the team had given them better support with some quality prospects that could shoulder more the load against the big physical playoff teams things may have been different.

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It's easier to teach a gifted scorer to play defence than to get a grinder to develop offensive skill. Sadly, people look at how Kesler blossomed and think it's possible for anyone. It all goes back to the Hodgson trade for me, here is the one guy in the entire system with untapped scoring potential, hockey smarts, the intangibles you can't teach and that no forward on the team not named Sedin really has. And Gillis trades him away for a big body. Naslund for Stojanov in reverse.

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Overblown. Boston isn't even THAT big. The pug twins in Lucic/Horton are big. Their 4th line is big. Their D is big. Recchi/Krejci/Marchand/Bergeron/Seguin/Kelly/Ryder....not exactly. Their team is gritty/chippy compared to us.

LA on the other hand...is a pretty big team.

Building things for the future, adding a bit of size and grit is a good way to go.

This team could stand to add a bit of size+skill to its top 6/core.

Kassian is a step in the right direction.

Of course, skill is more important than size or toughness.

You don't want to sacrifice too much skill for size.

A super talented team of midgets will almost always lose to an almost as talented, team of giants.

Answer lies somewhere in the middle.

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