Bo053 Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Gudbransen is about the only legit toughness we have, and he;s been hurt all year 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBatch Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Bennings done a decent job bringing a toughness to the team with drafting Tryamkin and bringing in Guddy, Dorsett and even Sbisa and Biega. Losing Beiksa hurt a bit. Virtanen was also picked to help with this same with Pedan although both may never make it. Once Guddy is back and firing in all cylinders our defense should have a tree on the ice most of the time which will definitely help playing in our conference and division. However my hope is that Benning doesn't make the same mistakes at the draft table and picks the best player available in the the first round regardless of his position or toughness. ( I am still a bit perturbed that we didn't get Dubious last year it seemed like a done deal at the time with our position and that Benning was beating his drum about a tough forward that could score publicly). After the first round selecting some tough forwards wouldn't hurt. We are pretty small upfront although soon the Sedins will retire and two spots will open up that could be that extra umph the forward group needs if they are big bodies that can skate and score. Personally I prefer to watch a tough team than a soft one, love the hitting and the occasional Doney Brook. We are a much bigger team than we were for years and years and years but don't have a true enforcer which is ok. A nice mix of big punishing guys that can skate well with some skilled water bugs would be ideal...Would be tough to defend against and even tougher to score against. More work to do but definitely headed in the right direction. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianRugby Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 It doesn't matter if you build a team based on toughness or skill, both can win. Kings/Bruins - Tough (not to say they didn't have skill) Hawks/Pens - Skilled (not to say they didn't have toughness) Right now the Canucks don't have skill OR toughness so it can go either way how they build their team. It depends what prospects develop well, who they draft in upcoming years and what free agents sign here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) The sad thing is that even during the paper bag of shame years in the 80s and the mid to late 90s this team always had some really tough customers. They got beat on the scoreboard often but if the game wet to the gutter the Canucks usually laid out some beatings. It seems that for the better part of the past 10 years this team has been much softer than most Canuck teams of the past. Look at this roster from 1997 - in that season they dressed Odjick, Crowder (anybody remember him? scary dude) and Brashear - and they also had a scrappy guy in Scott Walker. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000391997.html They cant only rely on Gudbranson, its not smart for a D man to take himself out of the play for 5 minutes and put the team down to 5 d. They need a couple more guys up front that can actually scare people. Its probably not too easy to find guys that can actually play and make other teams pay if they do something stupid. EDIT: lol. I found some footage from 1997. Keep in mind that Crowder was one of the first guys to beat down Probert back in 1990. They had lots of scraps in the 90s and Crowder got the better of him a few times. Probert was probably one of the toughest guys of all time. Edited March 31, 2017 by Darius71 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuckchuks Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 9 hours ago, PhillipBlunt said: Uncontrolled trembling? These players aren't Chihuahuas. Trembling may be an exaggeration but as Burrows said, he feels 6 inches taller when Gudbranson is on the ice. Skill players play more comfortably when protected. 9 hours ago, PhillipBlunt said: Treliving didn't beat Benning, he merely picked a player that Benning didn't take. The question is why Benning didn't take Tkachuk. He is tough and has the pedigree. Benning likes to pick skill players. He could have gone for Troy Brouwer or Andrew Ladd when Lucic fell through. Instead he went for Eriksson. That is not what the team needs. That is why we are having a discussion on toughness. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcons Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 we all know the elephant in the room are the sedins. They are players that seem to have too much influence on the way this team looks. Great leaders lead by example. We need more of that . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bad alice french Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 There are lots of reasons why we can't win games right now and haven't been able to for a couple years, but right at the very top of that list is that we are easy to play against. Plain and simple. We can skate with the Montreals and the Minnesotas but these opponents are the exception and far from the norm. Most teams simply dump the puck into our end and retrieve it effortlessly, especially if the twins get caught on the back check, and take it to the net. It's a problem all through the line up but most importantly, as a few bang-on posters have noted here, it's a team mentality. Our current leadership is hurting this team. I can't wait for the new era of Canucks. Sorry to harp on the obvious players but I'm fed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIBdaQUIB Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 9 minutes ago, falcons said: we all know the elephant in the room are the sedins. They are players that seem to have too much influence on the way this team looks. Great leaders lead by example. We need more of that . Actually...in the case of the Sedins and team toughness...we need less of that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 2 hours ago, Darius71 said: The sad thing is that even during the paper bag of shame years in the 80s and the mid to late 90s this team always had some really tough customers. They probably got beat on the scoreboard but they didnt do too bad if the game went to the gutter. It seems that for the better part of the past 10 years this team has been much softer than Canuck teams of the past. Look at this roster from 1997 - in that season they dressed Odjick, Crowder (anybody remember him? scary dude) and Brashear - and they also had a scrappy guy in Scott Walker. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000391997.html They cant only rely on Gudbranson, its not smart for a D man to take himself out of the play for 5 minutes and put the team down to 5 d. They need a couple more guys up front that can actually scare people. Its probably not too easy to find guys that can actually play and make other teams pay if they do something stupid. EDIT: lol. I found some footage from 1997. Keep in mind that Crowder was one of the first guys to beat down Probert back in 1990. They had lots of scraps in the 90s and Crowder got the better of him a few times. Probert was probably one of the toughest guys of all time. To be fair. This wasn't prime red wing probert. And if it was he would kill anyone on the ice then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dumb Nuck Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny in Vancouver Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Nolan Patrick's not a bad fighter. Just sayin'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipBlunt Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 1 hour ago, Nuckchuks said: Trembling may be an exaggeration but as Burrows said, he feels 6 inches taller when Gudbranson is on the ice. Skill players play more comfortably when protected. I totally agree with you. Having a player with both size and fearlessness is of great benefit to the team. Gudbranson is a keeper. 1 hour ago, Nuckchuks said: The question is why Benning didn't take Tkachuk. He is tough and has the pedigree. Benning likes to pick skill players. He could have gone for Troy Brouwer or Andrew Ladd when Lucic fell through. Instead he went for Eriksson. That is not what the team needs. That is why we are having a discussion on toughness. Benning saw the need for a skilled defenseman being of greater need than a forward like Tkachucklehead. And a talented puck mover on the blueline is far more of a rare commodity than sandpaper on the forward corps. I think Benning saw an offensively strong player in Eriksson, who had outperformed both Brouwer and Ladd the previous year. Clearly Eriksson sucked this year, but may rebound next year. May. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTG Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Toughness isn't the problem, it's the fact this team doesn't have an identity. We aren't a fast team, we aren't a checking team, we aren't a tough team, we aren't a skilled team. We are a team without an identity. Also, toughness doesn't matter. You can be the toughest team in the league, but look how team "toughness" gets you knowhere if you don't have a good team. Toughness is a accessory not a necessity for good regular season teams. A team like Winnipeg can't beat you up, but it's all for nothing if they can't beat you on the score sheet. In that sense team toughness isn't necessary. It shouldn't be a point of focus until we get a good young competitive core together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, riffraff said: To be fair. This wasn't prime red wing probert. And if it was he would kill anyone on the ice then. Crowder made a name for himself by fighting Probert in 1990 (in his prime) and getting the better of him. It was kind of a shocker because Probert would maul practically anyone back then and crowder was relatively unknown in the NHL. Crowder then reinforced his first victory with another one in round two...I think Crowder was a little cheap in this one and suckered him at the beginning. There were other subsequent fights where Probert won but Crowder did beat prime Probert more than once. Crowder eventually played for the Canucks with Gino Odjick. Back then if you touched the star player on the Canucks all hell broke loose: (BTW - Simpson was a dirt bag and wore that red sweater well. He injured Bure in game one of the season. my hate for the c of red douches goes back decades) Edited March 31, 2017 by Darius71 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckylager Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 On 3/29/2017 at 8:16 PM, Nuxfanabroad said: Apologies if a similar thread has already been served up. But I'd like to see fan's assessments/analysis of what we should do here. Watching Cal, Edm & Ana recently, it seems these teams have been built with plenty of grit, alongside their young skill. Likely the Desert Dawgs will be following suit. Our division is looking (increasingly) that size & attitude will be required. 1) Do we have enough? 2 )Should we draft it? Summer-sign it? Trade for it? Or all of the above? I'm a little late to the show and didn't read the other pages yet, sorry if my post is painfully redundant. 1) No. Currently we don't have enough anything except plugs, we're plug rich, hope we got surge protection on that power bar. 2) All of the above. On 3/29/2017 at 8:16 PM, Nuxfanabroad said: Lastly, might the pendulum swing the other way? Might the league try to phase out most of this sanctioned violence? Thought this was trending(a few yrs back), but it appears to be reverting back to old patterns. JB has to know we need more "heavy hockey" players, but we also reallyreally need guys that can actually bury the puck. He recognized our need for some weight a while ago (drafting JV over "skill") , adding Dorset, Prust, Guddy,Tram (who needs to be more hostile). Spisa too. He's added some young skill that would benefit from a more "sheltered" environment, so it seems the easiest and most reliable route is to sign toughness and draft BPA. Side note- Having a brainfart can't remember his name, but I watched one of our D prospects (PG Cougar) a couple times this year. He's a tough kid, definitely not NHL ready as far as his play goes, but he's a tough kid. Pushed his way through 2 or 3 guys to scrap then absolutely tuned the guy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuckYa Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 16 minutes ago, luckylager said: I'm a little late to the show and didn't read the other pages yet, sorry if my post is painfully redundant. 1) No. Currently we don't have enough anything except plugs, we're plug rich, hope we got surge protection on that power bar. 2) All of the above. JB has to know we need more "heavy hockey" players, but we also reallyreally need guys that can actually bury the puck. He recognized our need for some weight a while ago (drafting JV over "skill") , adding Dorset, Prust, Guddy,Tram (who needs to be more hostile). Spisa too. He's added some young skill that would benefit from a more "sheltered" environment, so it seems the easiest and most reliable route is to sign toughness and draft BPA. Side note- Having a brainfart can't remember his name, but I watched one of our D prospects (PG Cougar) a couple times this year. He's a tough kid, definitely not NHL ready as far as his play goes, but he's a tough kid. Pushed his way through 2 or 3 guys to scrap then absolutely tuned the guy. Tate Olsen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny in Vancouver Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 9 hours ago, SliteriousBlackbeard said: I'm not a Calgary fan but I'll watch if Tkachuk keeps playing DIRTY hockey. So exciting.... FTFY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 We really need Gudbrandson back. He's our only player that can actually play significant minutes and punish other heavyweights when they take liberties with our team. That's why I've been shocked to see some suggestions over the last year that we should expose Gudbrandson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoast Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 There are always fast players in the late first,second round that bring some intangibles like toughness,defensive play,physicality that if you have multiple picks you can pick up as luxury bottom 6 Fwd projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 1 hour ago, Darius71 said: Crowder made a name for himself by fighting Probert in 1990 (in his prime) and getting the better of him. It was kind of a shocker because Probert would maul practically anyone back then and crowder was relatively unknown in the NHL. Crowder then reinforced his first victory with another one in round two...I think Crowder was a little cheap in this one and suckered him at the beginning. There were other subsequent fights where Probert won but Crowder did beat prime Probert more than once. Crowder eventually played for the Canucks with Gino Odjick. Back then if you touched the star player on the Canucks all hell broke loose: (BTW - Simpson was a dirt bag and wore that red sweater well. He injured Bure in game one of the season. my hate for the c of red douches goes back decades) Good call I forgot about the few rounds they went. Yeah I was mainly referring to probert as a hawk, by witch time he was not what he was as a wing. But you're right and I do recall the crowder probert events as "must see" hockey at that time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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