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Chris Higgins...


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A few questions for you guys.

- Why is Higgins still on the second line when he hasn't produced on that line in years?

- Why are people trying to trade away Kassian or play Burrows on the fourth line when Higgins is playing as poorly as he has?

- Do you guys enjoying watching Chris Higgins play?

- I don't get it. I've watched the Canucks play for a long time, but I do not understand how this guy keeps a top six stance when his entire team on the third line is out-producing him.

- Second line should be Kassian, Bonino, Burrows

Also, stop melting down so bad. The loss to the Flames counted, but 36 shots is a ridiculous amount of shots not to go in, their goalie went hard. You guys are still in a favorable postition to be in the playoffs based on games played, current points, and even trends. The Sedins are bouncing back and are close to 75 points on the year projected. Bonino is 23, and some people are saying he doesn't have long to develop. Those same people want to tank. Do you know how long it takes to tank and MAYBE benefit from it? Look at Edmonton.

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Totally agree about Higgins, WD is showing he cannot evaluate players properly by keeping him there and dragging that line down.

As for the Sedans, I disagree, they are getting very very slow, cannot work the boards like they used too and unfortunately age is not being kind to them like some other players. They will be lucky to get 60 points this year.

The best thing they could do is retire after this year, play in their homeland and the canucks will have some cap space.

Kassian - pissed at team, not trying (easy to see)

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It's sad that a Hurricanes fan is more optimistic than 90% of the people on here.

I don't disagree about Higgins but we don't have a tonne of LW options. I like your line projection though. Either that, or switch up the lineup. Mostly being, split the Sedins'. I don't understand why our coaches over the years are so loathe to do that. Is there something in their contract saying they have to play together?

Worst case scenario, it wakes them up. Best case scenario, it works. The opposition all watches tape too, they know how these guys play. Their passed are telegraphed into the middle, and their board play is still strong but generates next to no offense.

Burrows has had a great rebound season. It doesn't seem to matter where you put him in the lineup, he makes that line better. IMO...

Burrows - H Sedin - Vrbata

Burrows can still play catch with Henrik on the boards if need be, but provides a good screen for Vrbata to shoot through.

D Sedin - Bonino - Kassian

Lack of shooters here, but may force Daniel to regain his sniper form. If thrust into a position where he HAS to be the shooter, it may work.

Higgins - Richardson - Hansen

Steady veteran shutdown line. Not going to help your scoring numbers a tonne, but provides speed and defensive prowess.

Matthias - Horvat - Dorsett

I've liked the way the 4th line has played recentlh, but sometimes movement needs to be made. That being said I don't think this projection hurts anything. Have Vey as your 13th forward and cycle him out to rest vets.

This is the time where you scramble the lines and do something different. It sure can't hurt anything. We can't score to save our lives right now, and the players are lacking confidence in their shooting. Watching the Sedin's play catch game in game out is frustrating as all hell, and splitting them up would at least have a far different look to give opponents.

Thoughts?

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i disagree, higgins isn't scoring but no one on that line is....i love higgy and would rather keep him with bonino ...i can see the whole line sliding down a spot or to, when they are not producing...we really don't have a second line....just 3 third lines....kassian has shown flashes of consistency but he has done that before and then fallen off the edge of the world...let's wait and see...i don't see higgins dragging that line down...they need a bonified scorer on that line...we don't have one right now...i don't know if jensen's that guy or if virtanen is the right guy....i think willie know what he is doing....

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A few questions for you guys

- Why is Higgins still on the second line when he hasn't produced on that line in years?

- Why are people trying to trade away Kassian or play Burrows on the fourth line when Higgins is playing as poorly as he has?

- Do you guys enjoying watching Chris Higgins play?

- I don't get it. I've watched the Canucks play for a long time, but I do not understand how this guy keeps a top six stance when his entire team on the third line is out-producing him.

- Second line should be Kassian, Bonino, Burrows

Also, stop melting down so bad. The loss to the Flames counted, but 36 shots is a ridiculous amount of shots not to go in, their goalie went hard. You guys are still in a favorable postition to be in the playoffs based on games played, current points, and even trends. The Sedins are bouncing back and are close to 75 points on the year projected. Bonino is 23, and some people are saying he doesn't have long to develop. Those same people want to tank. Do you know how long it takes to tank and MAYBE benefit from it? Look at Edmonton.

First off.

Bonino is 26 years old. He's turning 27 in April. So maybe that's why you are hearing apparently hearing that he doesn't have long to develop.

Chris Higgins, has always been, a 40 point scorer, a decent mark to hit when playing on the second line. He's not a defensive liability, he makes smart and safe plays, and can chip in goals. He's a 20 goal scorer who's having a hard year due to inconsistency in his line.

Zack Kassian has a greater value than Higgins, although Kassian has not proven jack that he can earn 2nd line minutes. Benning has stated numerous times that if a good package comes along and it involves Kassian, he will not hesitate to pull the trigger.

Otherwise, I don't know why you think Higgins is a bad second liner when he's put up second line numbers all of his career.

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Chris Higgins plays a full-rink game. Who's the first forward back on his line when the opponent is attacking our zone? He is. Who makes the breakout pass from our blue line to Bonino or whoever is rushing the opposing zone? When it's not the D, it's usually him. He'll even carry the puck from time to time to rush the zone himself, often as his linemates are changing.

There's a reason why he's playing in the top 6 / top 9 on our team, and it has to do with his full-rink style of play.

No disagreement here. I'm not hating on Higgins for his play. He's steady. There's another thread where someone was generous enough to post his underlying numbers and they're very good. But on most teams, he's a solid 3rd liner who can play 2nd in a pinch.

Problem with our team is he's 2nd line because we have no one more offensively skilled to play there. He's not the problem, but he's certainly not a solution.

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Higgins has always been a streaky player. Could the Canucks do without him? Yes. However, at 2.5 million a year his contract is a good one considering what he can bring on both ends of the rink. I don't think we should worry too much about him. There are bigger fish to fry on this team right now.

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Higgins has always been a streaky player. Could the Canucks do without him? Yes. However, at 2.5 million a year his contract is a good one considering what he can bring on both ends of the rink. I don't think we should worry too much about him. There are bigger fish to fry on this team right now.

That's a helluva bargain for a second liner.

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Bonino is 26. He is a decent cap hit and is playing to that. But to think that he, a stop-gap, negates a rebuild process is plain wrong.

Higgins is on the top-6 because he's defensively responsible. He may be playing hurt though, and so may Bonino. You don't vanish for a month, production-wise, without something being drastically wrong.

I don't envy our second line, because they're being a bit overused against better competition. But at least they have good underlyiiiiinggg numbeerrrrrrrssssss.

Sedins aren't the problem per se, but 35 goals combined in a season for around 20% of the cap is fairly inefficient. We're going to need to replace them. Best way to do that is through the draft, which is how we got them in the first place.

Meanwhile, Carolina is tanking, bigtime while having several core players already in place. Are they now automatically the Edmonton Oilers as well?

I do wish fans from other teams would stop commenting on this one when they have no bloody clue.

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That's a helluva bargain for a second liner.

He's not even a 2nd liner but with the lack of bonafide top 6 players on the team he fills the void just fine. His numbers the past couple seasons indicate he is a very good 3rd liner/marginal 2nd liner IMO. At 2.5 mill I'm more than happy with this.

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Nobody just figured out the Sedins. That's dumb they have been doing the exact same thing as they did in Juniors. Heck they probably passed the lutefisk back and forth as kids. They have played 1100 games and 13 seasons in the NHL! Their game footage has been studied extensively. We were a Presidents Trophy winning team (2). We have definitely been researched and targeted. As far as them being slow, that is dumb too. The knock on the Sedins coming into the league was that they were way too slow for the NHL. They have actually gotten a weeeeeee bit faster since their rookie season. All that is irrelevant in the style that they play. Both Henrik and Daniel have always been pass first players.

People really forget all the time the absolutely most important reason why the Sedins are declining, and it actually has nothing to do with them or their linemates. They made Anson Carter famous!

its the DDDDDD!!!!!

We were one of the highest scoring teams in the NHL from the blueline for like 6 season in a row. That coincided with their increase in production. When you are a pass first player(s), you need options. You can get a lot more creative when their is a threat from different parts of the ice. Edler was great offensive player at one point, Erhoff was a stud, Salo was a bomber, Bieksa was putting up better numbers,

We badly need an offense from the backend. Sbisa, Hamhuis, Stanton, Tanev are all very defensive. Edler has clearly concentrated on destroying people this year and being solid in his own end. Good for him, but we actually need old Edler back, especially with him being paired with safe and sound Tanev.

If we got Leddy and Yandle on this team, you would see the twins with 90-100pts. That you can take to the bank. They will be the same quality of players (Sedins) when they are 45. They will still be slower than dirt, but it doesn't matter. Give them O-zone starts and you will get points with very limited giveaways. They are the best plus/minus players on this team, and they are plus 200 all time.

Our team has regressed overall since 2011. The twins are better players when playing with a lead as they force the opposition to chase their swedish whirling dirvish.

Lastly, Vrbata doesn't matter. Any linemate will score on that line if they adopt their game to the Sedins. The team is actually better off putting Dorsett or Hansen on that line. Someone brought it up before that Hansen had the highest PPG and analytics playing with the twins. Vrbata is better used elsewhere in the lineup where more help is needed.

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Nobody just figured out the Sedins. That's dumb they have been doing the exact same thing as they did in Juniors. Heck they probably passed the lutefisk back and forth as kids. They have played 1100 games and 13 seasons in the NHL! Their game footage has been studied extensively. We were a Presidents Trophy winning team (2). We have definitely been researched and targeted. As far as them being slow, that is dumb too. The knock on the Sedins coming into the league was that they were way too slow for the NHL. They have actually gotten a weeeeeee bit faster since their rookie season. All that is irrelevant in the style that they play. Both Henrik and Daniel have always been pass first players.

People really forget all the time the absolutely most important reason why the Sedins are declining, and it actually has nothing to do with them or their linemates. They made Anson Carter famous!

its the DDDDDD!!!!!

We were one of the highest scoring teams in the NHL from the blueline for like 6 season in a row. That coincided with their increase in production. When you are a pass first player(s), you need options. You can get a lot more creative when their is a threat from different parts of the ice. Edler was great offensive player at one point, Erhoff was a stud, Salo was a bomber, Bieksa was putting up better numbers,

We badly need an offense from the backend. Sbisa, Hamhuis, Stanton, Tanev are all very defensive. Edler has clearly concentrated on destroying people this year and being solid in his own end. Good for him, but we actually need old Edler back, especially with him being paired with safe and sound Tanev.

If we got Leddy and Yandle on this team, you would see the twins with 90-100pts. That you can take to the bank. They will be the same quality of players (Sedins) when they are 45. They will still be slower than dirt, but it doesn't matter. Give them O-zone starts and you will get points with very limited giveaways. They are the best plus/minus players on this team, and they are plus 200 all time.

Our team has regressed overall since 2011. The twins are better players when playing with a lead as they force the opposition to chase their swedish whirling dirvish.

Lastly, Vrbata doesn't matter. Any linemate will score on that line if they adopt their game to the Sedins. The team is actually better off putting Dorsett or Hansen on that line. Someone brought it up before that Hansen had the highest PPG and analytics playing with the twins. Vrbata is better used elsewhere in the lineup where more help is needed.

I can see the Sedins better with those guys, but the team might not be better off as Yandle in particular doesn't know how to play defense.

At the end of the day they're still declining due to age. It happens.

We've just tried Vrbata with Bonino for a bit and that went nowhere. He also got 'sick' upon hearing about his demotion. Vrbata needs o-zone starts with the twins it seems.

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The lines need to be reformulated.

Vrbata needs to be on the first.

Higgins and Bonino need to be split up. Bonino has to stay 2nd line centre.

Kassian and Matthias could be split up too, spread the size out.

Sedin Sedin Vrbata

Burrows Bonino Kassian

Matthias Richards Hansen

Higgins Horvat Dorsett

Why not try that out for 5 games?

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The problem with Higgins is that he is the same player as Hansen, Dorsett, Richardson, Horvat, and Matthias. They are all shoot first 200 foot players. Matthias is the pick of the litter because he is a big man, and he has recently woken up that fact and started taking it to the house on a regular occasion. Horvat will be better than all of them someday, but right now he is just one of the bunch.

too much of the same. That's why everyone says we have 3-3rd lines. I know Higgins and Bonino have solid numbers for 2nd line hockey players. That's fine...Solid means playoff bubble team. Stanley cup means you have to have a first line player or two playing on the 2nd line. That we absolutely don't have.

Kassian is never going to get 18min plus per game with us because we have 3-3rd lines. It only makes sense for the 3 bottom lines to play about the same. He should be getting some powerplay time, and now he is. He isn't going to get on the first unit as we have too many pass first players on that unit already.

The only real answer for Kass is getting traded. He will be a stud elsewhere, but he isn't going to make it here. This kid gets first line minutes, and you will see a 20G-40A-60PTS emerge. The question is whether or not he will play with an edge and whether or not he will be a plus hockey player. My guess is that 20-40-60 also comes with a -10. Who knows though? Rarely but sometimes players actually flourish when they are relied upon being the man and carrying the team. Send his butt to the Canes or the Oilers and lets get the popcorn ready.

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Its not about doing favors. Its about reality. I just don't think the recipe is right for him to become what he can be here. He has all the tools, but I just doing think it will happen in Vancouver. If I can send him in a package for Nino or Eriksson or another more vancouver appropriate 2nd line player then I would.

The only way I see him staying is if we decided we didn't want to contend in the next 3 years and blew up the team. Send Hansen, Higgins, Matthias, Richardson, Dorsett, Burrows off for picks.

Make the 2nd line

Jensen - Vey - Kassian or Jensen - Bonino - Kassian

give them 18 mins a night sunshine or rain.

That may be the better long term solution. I don't know...This isn't something a GM would likely get away with in this market.

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