Zalewski reassigned. Prust & McCann extras in practice

[Lastresort318]

7 hours ago, Mathew Barzal said:

I like the way Vey's been playing recently, I hope Sutter is on a short leash.

Sutter was great before his injury. Why would he be on a short leash?

[Alflives]

5 minutes ago, shayster007 said:

Do you have an opportunity to watch the games in Texas? Because if you did you would see that he's been one of the better players over the road trip. He has been skating hard, playing well on the PK and contributing offensively. Anyone ragging on him still needs to wash the taste of last year out of their mouth and look at Vey with an unbiased opinion. He has, so far, earned a spot in the lineup during this call up. 

And ignoring all that,  yes he would have to go on waivers. He would likely be claimed this time since he has been playing well,  and that would be terrible asset management. 

Vey is 24.  He is what we see.  He's a stop gap, fringe NHL player on a hopeful team.  His play off the puck is bloody awful.  He's only just okay when he has the puck.  For now, we need him though.  

[Lastresort318]

6 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

Very poor decision to not include McCann in the 3rd or 4th line.  This year is about development.   I hate to be debbie downer.... but we ain't gonna win lord stanley this year.......  McCann will be better developed is he is fully included in practise sessions and getting gametime....    Sometimes i do not understand Free Willy's decisions..... unless of course McFry is hurt....

They have him on a plan. When he is not playing, he has more time to get bigger and stronger and improve on things like faceoffs. That's why you don't trade all your vets and play your rookies every game. This gives them time to improve the little things that they are struggling on or lacking.

[Lastresort318]

4 hours ago, gameburn said:

You're right: Weber has been out at least 4 games, or is it 5 now?  If no one wants him, send him to Utica, we can always bring up the young guns there while we're at it: Pedan in particular.  

If someone picks him up, that is bad asset management. I am sure we could pick up a third or a fourth for him from a playoff team that needs depth players on defense incase of injuries.

[Lastresort318]

4 hours ago, Positive Canuck said:

Weber,Prust,Vrbata,Hamhuis Edler, Miller and Burrows =  30 Mil in cap space = Stammer + Buff+ Lucic ++ FFS.

 

 

Sedin-Sedin-Stamkos

Lucic-Horvat-Virtanen

Baerschi-Sutter-Grenier

Shinkaruk-McCann-Hansen

Dorsett,Gaunce,Etem

 

Hutton-Buff

Sbisa-Tanev

Pedan-Tryamkin

Subban,Biega

 

Markstrom

Vet Back up @2M.5

 

 

That is bad for multiple reasons.

1. We have too sign a few players who are going to want a raise.

2.Horvat is going to need new contract at the end of the next season. He is going to want like 4-5 mil a year. 

3.We have other rookies who are going to be ready soon and they will need spots. We should avoid signing players who would take their spot which hurts our future.

4.Lucic is a goon and I want him no where near the Canucks. Stammer is going to be way overpaid in free agency and to be way overpaid for 8 years? Bad Idea.

[Lastresort318]

2 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

What is mumbo jumbo ? I want to see our  future franchise players engaged in meaningful practise  - not used as Pylons in drills.   I think most Nuck fans agree that this season is a write off and we need to focus on developing our younger players.   Are you able to follow the canucks this season in Mexico ? In case you haven't  noticed, our D is terrible. Our vets are too old.  We are a transition hockey team a few years away from serious competing. This season is all about developing our kids - future core.

If they play every night, they don't get time to improve other intangibles. Mccann needs to get stronger and better faceoffs. He can't do that if he gets no time off to practise. Virtanen needs to work on his vision. The Canucks always have a tough travel schedule and the only way to get time to improve these things is be given a couple games off.

[oldnews]

6 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

Very poor decision to not include McCann in the 3rd or 4th line.  This year is about development.   I hate to be debbie downer.... but we ain't gonna win lord stanley this year.......  McCann will be better developed is he is fully included in practise sessions and getting gametime....    Sometimes i do not understand Free Willy's decisions..... unless of course McFry is hurt....

sounds like we have the return of Kotes,

 

[kingofsurrey]

Playing Cracknell - a 30yr old 9th round career AHL player over our young future core centres makes no sense at this point in the season.   We are clearly not contending for the cup at this time.  Keep playing the kids.    Do you think Hank and Danny were scratched their rookie year...  they were developed properly. They turned out to be decent players.    Stop scratching our future Core players Willy.  Scratch / rotate  Cracknell, Burrows and Vey.  I would even scratch Vrbata but sadly we need to pump up his stats so we can get more than a bag of pucks for him at the deadline.     

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, kingofsurrey said:

Playing Cracknell - a 30yr old 9th round career AHL player over our young future core centres makes no sense at this point in the season.   We are clearly not contending for the cup at this time.  Keep playing the kids.    Do you think Hank and Danny were scratched their rookie year...  they were developed properly. They turned out to be decent players.    Stop scratching our future Core players Willy.  Scratch / rotate  Cracknell, Burrows and Vey.  I would even scratch Vrbata but sadly we need to pump up his stats so we can get more than a bag of pucks for him at the deadline.     

The game has gotten a lot faster since the twins came in. Players are bigger and stronger. If they develop the rookies the right way they will become more effective players in a shorter amount of time and less chance of getting injured. Just my opinion.

[N4ZZY]

45 minutes ago, Lastresort318 said:

That is bad for multiple reasons.

1. We have too sign a few players who are going to want a raise.

2.Horvat is going to need new contract at the end of the next season. He is going to want like 4-5 mil a year. 

3.We have other rookies who are going to be ready soon and they will need spots. We should avoid signing players who would take their spot which hurts our future.

4.Lucic is a goon and I want him no where near the Canucks. Stammer is going to be way overpaid in free agency and to be way overpaid for 8 years? Bad Idea.

I would disagree that Horvat is given 4-5 million for his next contract. I can't see that happening. I think Horvat is on pace for 40 points maybe this season. entering into his third year in the league. I'm thinking a bridge contract. maybe 3-3.5 mil for 3-4 years. and see how he produces and what kind of player he established himself at that time to warrant what type of contract. 4-5 million is a lot for what we know now to be a 40ish point player. 

[Boddy604]

1 hour ago, kingofsurrey said:

Playing Cracknell - a 30yr old 9th round career AHL player over our young future core centres makes no sense at this point in the season.   We are clearly not contending for the cup at this time.  Keep playing the kids.    Do you think Hank and Danny were scratched their rookie year...  they were developed properly. They turned out to be decent players.    Stop scratching our future Core players Willy.  Scratch / rotate  Cracknell, Burrows and Vey.  I would even scratch Vrbata but sadly we need to pump up his stats so we can get more than a bag of pucks for him at the deadline.     

I like Cracknell for what he is. A 30 year old the NHL had given up on. Benning gave him a chance and he came in and exceeded expectations. Benning himself said Cracknell was supposed to be for the Comets. The problem is now we have McCann, Zalewski, and Vey all showing they can contribute at an NHL level. We've seen the most we'll ever see from Cracknell. Those other 3 still have more to offer. So as cool as it is that Cracknell defied the odds and has been a respectable 4th liner, he's now a barrier for the team's future. 

[dank.sinatra]

I wonder if Vey is going to take Cracknell's spot after the all-star break

[kingofsurrey]

4 minutes ago, Boddy604 said:

I like Cracknell for what he is. A 30 year old the NHL had given up on. Benning gave him a chance and he came in and exceeded expectations. Benning himself said Cracknell was supposed to be for the Comets. The problem is now we have McCann, Zalewski, and Vey all showing they can contribute at an NHL level. We've seen the most we'll ever see from Cracknell. Those other 3 still have more to offer. So as cool as it is that Cracknell defied the odds and has been a respectable 4th liner, he's now a barrier for the team's future. 

 

Totally agree.  Cracknell was catastrophe insurance.  Just in case McCann and Vey were not nhl ready.   Cracknell has played great.   Unfortunately he is  career AHL  / ECHL  player   - 9th rounder.  He has over achieved but at 30 has clearly reached his ceiling.   We need to give his minutes to our young guns..  Character player from what i have seen  and could be great role model for the youngsters at Utica for the rest of this year.  Utica seems pretty weak at the Centre  position. 

[dorrcoq]

10 hours ago, riffraff said:

I like that fourth line.

It was a hell of a lot better with Zalewski in the middle.

[MeanSeanBean]

2 hours ago, Alflives said:

Vey is 24.  He is what we see.  He's a stop gap, fringe NHL player on a hopeful team.  His play off the puck is bloody awful.  He's only just okay when he has the puck.  For now, we need him though.  

Disagree, Vey has shown improvement since last year,  has he not?  Hell he's shown improvement since the start of this season when you said exactly the same thing. 24 isn't all that old and a lot of players keep developing long past that age. Biologically speaking there's a chance he's hasn't even physically stopped growing yet,  since that's 25 in men. 

And his play off the puck is not awful at all. Take off the Homer glasses alfy, the kid had been quite sound defensively and even doing well on the PK this road trip. Iv never said he was out future 1st liner, but I strongly believe he is a future part of this team in the 3rd or 4th position. 

[smokes]

11 hours ago, Fanuck said:

Sutter needs to get worked into the line-up gradually imo.  Putting him against the leagues top lines right off the bat might be asking too much.  The rest of the league is in mid-season form and he's essentially just getting back into full game shape nevermind mid-season conditioning. 

Sometimes the best way to start swimming after time off from the pool is to jump in the pool.

[tyhee]

3 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

Playing Cracknell - a 30yr old 9th round career AHL player over our young future core centres makes no sense at this point in the season.   We are clearly not contending for the cup at this time.  Keep playing the kids.    Do you think Hank and Danny were scratched their rookie year...  they were developed properly. They turned out to be decent players.    Stop scratching our future Core players Willy.  Scratch / rotate  Cracknell, Burrows and Vey.  I would even scratch Vrbata but sadly we need to pump up his stats so we can get more than a bag of pucks for him at the deadline.     

You're assuming that playing full time is the best way for McCann to develop.  The Canucks brain trust-and I think that includes management-have decided otherwise and have him on a development plan that involves him sitting out some of the time.

Is there a reason why playing 60 NHL games (plus preseason) while practising full time with the NHL team and getting extra work on things the team feels he needs to improve isn't going to help him as much as full time play?

Last spring people on CDC were upset when Ben Hutton reported to the Comets, played 4 games and was sent to work on things the team felt he needed to  work on.  He played a total of 43 games last season, 39 in the NCAA and 4 in the AHL.  The two seasons before that he played 35 and 34 games the entire season.  This season he seems to be ahead of where almost everyone expected.

It isn't about Cracknell and it isn't about someone playing ahead of McCann.  It is simply the path the Canucks have chosen for McCann's development.  Barring information to the contrary I don't see any reason to believe they are wrong.

[Goal:thecup]

I think Vey will stay up even with Hank and Sutter back.

He can play on the wing if need be, say with McCann at centre, and take face-offs when Canner needs help (both have been better on face-offs).

I also like Vey's chemistry with Etem; those two have obviously had some time together and each play better when playing with the other.

"Z" got his taste and got to play in front of his folks, can be sent down, and will continue to play well in the A, recallable if needed.

Prust is slow and may not get back in the lineup; and all lineup predictions are in limbo until after the TDL.

 

[alfstonker]

10 hours ago, kingofsurrey said:

Have you been paying attention. Using our up and coming franchise future number 1 Centre as a PRACTICE PYLON is not  good development practise.     He needs to developing chemistry with linemates and honing his skills in practise.  I don't think we need to rotate McCann and Virtanan this year, so far they have both shown themselves to be starters.  Playing plugs / dusters  like Cracknell , Prust and Burrows is not going to help develop our future leaders. I guess you are the kind of fan that wants to go all out with our vets for a possible 8-10 place finish.  

Funny, I looked at this ridiculous statement and just knew the authors posts would be under 100. 

[hobart16]

9 hours ago, ashbury said:

I wonder if Vey is going to take Cracknell's spot after the all-star break

I would think so.  He seems to be slotting in well with Etem and Burrows.  Cracknell has done well but I think Vey has better face-off, Corsi, etc.  I wasn't high on Vey as he seemed uninspired at first in Utica, and I had heard he was sulking about being beaten out by Crack in preseason, although I don't know if that is really true.  But Vey has shown well in his time up there.  He is faster than Cracknell and that is what Benning wants.  Speed.  Crack may have been slightly disadvantaged having to play between Prust and Dorsett.  Hard to shine as a playmaker there.