Lack of hitting one of our BIGGEST problems

[Rink on Renfrew]

I find sometimes the players are instructed to not hit at ever oportunity, due to long road trips excessive travel and the overall wear and tear it has on the team as a whole.

Once the team has started hitting it incites the other team to more as well. With an 82 game season you must be weary of playing in too many of them playoff style contest.

The last game against the Wild is a perfect example where I saw a few players who usually finish their checks, do fly bys. This leads me to believe that they were instructed to tame it down a small bit, within reason of course.

[hearditall]

14 hours ago, TheRussianRocket. said:

I get you but that isn't a recipe for success and cdc has gone over the argument of size vs skill many times over the past few years. Truth be told, it can be any and/or a mixture of both.

And we have a good shot at bringing home Lucic in the Summer so maybe that answers your concern? 

 

14 hours ago, TheRussianRocket. said:

I get you but that isn't a recipe for success and cdc has gone over the argument of size vs skill many times over the past few years. Truth be told, it can be any and/or a mixture of both.

And we have a good shot at bringing home Lucic in the Summer so maybe that answers your concern? 

Our back end has no heavy weight physical presence. Sbisa is OK but he's a middle weight at best...

You may be able to get by in the Regular season but come Playoffs we definitely need a Byfuglien, Burns, Engelland, Scuderi, J.Johnson, Pardy, Seabrook, S.Stevens, Pronger, W.Mitchell, etc... or even a combo of them to compete in the other season. (playoffs) 

[The Lock]

Just now, hearditall said:

 

Our back end has no heavy weight physical presence. Sbisa is OK but he's a middle weight at best...

You may be able to get by in the Regular season but come Playoffs we definitely need a Byfuglien, Burns, Engelland, Scuderi, J.Johnson, Pardy, Seabrook, S.Stevens, Pronger, W.Mitchell, etc... or even a combo of them to compete in the other season. (playoffs) 

Considering Benning made a move to get Pedan and drafted Tryamkin, I'm willing to bet that Benning agrees with you.

[SilentSam]

1 minute ago, The Lock said:

Considering Benning made a move to get Pedan and drafted Tryamkin, I'm willing to bet that Benning agrees with you.

I second that Lock.

This is a topic that can not be addressed  overnight . . Although the moves And acquistions JB has made,  have the Canucks "sizing up" in 2-3 years (this being year one). Not only does this size us in a relative short period of time.. Cap -wise we get some longetivity out of it.. and a fresh template to follow .

anyone know what length JB's contract is?  .. Anyone know if Pedan is in?  (It is 3hrs before gametime)

[hearditall]

3 minutes ago, SilentSam said:

I second that Lock.

This is a topic that can not be addressed  overnight . . Although the moves And acquistions JB has made,  have the Canucks "sizing up" in 2-3 years (this being year one). Not only does this size us in a relative short period of time.. Cap -wise we get some longetivity out of it.. and a fresh template to follow .

anyone know what length JB's contract is?  .. Anyone know if Pedan is in?  (It is 3hrs before gametime)

4Hours 4Min..

[oldnews]

1 hour ago, Provost said:

Unfortunately the "hitting" stats are pretty much complete garbage since each arena counts them differently and some grossly inflate their own team statistics.

Having said that, we certainly lack players who make the opposition have to keep their head on a swivel while they are out there.  You definitely need a couple of D who can lay out big hits just to make the other team's forwards think about that instead of just focusing on making the perfect skill play in the offensive zone.

You almost never see anyone playing against us bail on the puck to avoid getting hit.

Some, dare I say, truculence on the back end is also useful in terms of being mean and dirty in battles clearing players out of the crease.  You see the Sedins getting cross checked, speared, punched, etc when they near the blue paint... but no one gets their hair messed up when standing on top of our goalies.

Sbisa brings an element of that and it makes a difference imo - certainly against team like Chicago whose key skill players like Kane can tend to disappear when the opposition has a train on their blueline.  Both Sbisa and Edler have had that effect - Edler however has perhaps stepped back a bit since dealing with his back injuries.

But Luca imo certainly has the ability to make people think twice.

[hearditall]

1 minute ago, oldnews said:

Sbisa brings an element of that and it makes a difference imo - certainly against team like Chicago whose key skill players like Kane can tend to disappear when the opposition has a train on their blueline.  Both Sbisa and Edler have had that effect - Edler however has perhaps stepped back a bit since dealing with his back injuries.

But Luca imo certainly has the ability to make people think twice.

Guys like Peluso will slow Sbisa's down ...

[oldnews]

Just now, hearditall said:

Guys like Peluso will slow Sbisa's down ...

funny you should claim that because the very next game Sbisa rocked a couple Hawks and had one of his best games as a Canuck.

Getting jumped/gooned is not going to stop Sbisa from running over people.

[hearditall]

9 minutes ago, oldnews said:

funny you should claim that because the very next game Sbisa rocked a couple Hawks and had one of his best games as a Canuck.

Getting jumped/gooned is not going to stop Sbisa from running over people.

So when playoffs start & a Ferlund, Byfuglien, D.Brown, Lucic, Chara, etc.  starts their role who's gonna step up? Sbisa had his chance last playoffs & I remember he lost most battles... Our D is the same except we've lost grit in Bieksa for Bartkowski..

Alls I'm saying is we need a bit more size & strength especially on the back end. If you can't see that then someone's got the wrong prescriptions...Yes we need more skill too.....

[aGENT]

1 minute ago, hearditall said:

So when playoffs start & a Ferlund, Byfuglien, D.Brown, Lucic, Chara, etc.  starts their role who's gonna step up? Our D is the same except we've lost grit in Bieksa for Bartkowski..

Alls I'm saying is we need a bit more size & strength especially on the back end. If you can't see that then someone's got the wrong prescriptions...Yes we need more skill too.....

Haven't looked at the numbers but I'd wager Bartowski actually hits more (and better IMO) than Bieksa while also being MUCH faster and far better at transitioning the puck out of our zone.

Bieksa may be a better fighter but most of the game isn't played with the gloves off. I'd swap Bart for Bieksa again and twice on Sundays, especially once you factor in their pay cheques.

[The Lock]

11 minutes ago, oldnews said:

funny you should claim that because the very next game Sbisa rocked a couple Hawks and had one of his best games as a Canuck.

Getting jumped/gooned is not going to stop Sbisa from running over people.

Sbisa is and will be a good player for us moving forward in my opinion, but I do think it's pretty evident there are other pieces of the puzzle in our defense that could use improving. I don't really see Sbisa as someone who can do it alone. He could benefit with some help at the same time.

[CANUCK-EXPRESS]

This hit changed the series and cost us a cup... IMO anyways. 

[oldnews]

39 minutes ago, hearditall said:

 

Our back end has no heavy weight physical presence. Sbisa is OK but he's a middle weight at best...

You may be able to get by in the Regular season but come Playoffs we definitely need a Byfuglien, Burns, Engelland, Scuderi, J.Johnson, Pardy, Seabrook, S.Stevens, Pronger, W.Mitchell, etc... or even a combo of them to compete in the other season. (playoffs) 

Seabrook is the same size as Edler - and is out-hitting Edler by a full 30-29 margin.  I think this is overstated tbh.  And among the handful of examples you draw upon, there are a few retired guys, Engelland who has literally no impact,  Scuderi (who has thrown 8 hits this year, 41 last year, 18 and 30 the two previous years - not a very good example tbh)...

I think folks here are gripping onto a single aspect of the game and blowing it a bit out of proportion.

[oldnews]

13 minutes ago, hearditall said:

So when playoffs start & a Ferlund, Byfuglien, D.Brown, Lucic, Chara, etc.  starts their role who's gonna step up? Sbisa had his chance last playoffs & I remember he lost most battles... Our D is the same except we've lost grit in Bieksa for Bartkowski..

Alls I'm saying is we need a bit more size & strength especially on the back end. If you can't see that then someone's got the wrong prescriptions...Yes we need more skill too.....

that is an ignorant comment - that doesn't compensate for your own lack of perspective.

and when it comes to players running yours, it's a forward that you want answering that bell - your blueline is too valuable to be assigned the task of "stepping up".  Ironically, Bieksa is fully capable of "stepping up" to Ferland - the problem wasn't a lack of grit - it was a lack of mobility, which is precisely what Bartkowski uprgrades over Bieksa.

And ironically, Bartkowski's 33 hits are as many or more than guys like Seabrook, Scuderi and Engelland have put up this year - the type of guys you apparently think are the answer for this team's needs.

[The Lock]

4 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Haven't looked at the numbers but I'd wager Bartowski actually hits more (and better IMO) than Bieksa while also being MUCH faster and far better at transitioning the puck out of our zone.

Bieksa may be a better fighter but most of the game isn't played with the gloves off. I'd swap Bart for Bieksa again and twice on Sundays, especially once you factor in their pay cheques.

I just checked and Bieksa has 62 hits for Anaheim while Bart as 33 so far this season.

I think they're 2 different players really. Bart's more of a puck moving defenseman while Bieksa's more physical.

[aGENT]

Just now, The Lock said:

I just checked and Bieksa has 62 hits for Anaheim while Bart as 33 so far this season.

I think they're 2 different players really. Bart's more of a puck moving defenseman while Bieksa's more physical.

Hit statistics....

About as worthwhile as +/- 

But yes, they are different players. Bart's harder to play against, Bieksa's harder to fight against  

[The Lock]

Just now, J.R. said:

Hit statistics....

About as worthwhile as +/- 

But yes, they are different players. Bart's harder to play against, Bieksa's harder to fight against  

You wagered that Bart hits more so I looked it up. You asked about hit statistics so I gave them. lol

Personally, I'm not willing to come up with such an opinion on Bart at the moment. He is somewhat physical though at least, but I think his puck moving skills was what brought him over here in the first place.

[oldnews]

https://youtu.be/K54HtDndEPk

[oldnews]

https://youtu.be/e7JdzlhP9PU

https://youtu.be/SgCd8iMrXEs

https://youtu.be/XgTj8VpV3q4

https://youtu.be/NILNt-bXcS4

https://youtu.be/fufNnrk0aHQ

[aGENT]

Just now, The Lock said:

You wagered that Bart hits more so I looked it up. You asked about hit statistics so I gave them. lol

Personally, I'm not willing to come up with such an opinion on Bart at the moment. He is somewhat physical though at least, but I think his puck moving skills was what brought him over here in the first place.

Oh, for sure, his ability to skate and transition out of our zone (while bringing a somewhat physical game) is obviously why Benning nabbed him.

Hit stats though... While I'm a bit surprised (AKA wrong) that Juice is at nearly double, those stats vary far too much from building to building to be overly worthwhile in forming an opinion. Never mind there's no data on the quality of the hits. I'd rather have the guy who lays say 12 of his 33 hits SOLIDLY than 6 of his 62. I love Juice but I don't recall him ever being a devastating hitter.