Beluga Whale Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 Yeah, the fact that we haven't fallen apart after all the injuries is remarkable. Sure, I suppose it isn't likely we make the playoffs but anything is possible. Look at the Knights last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 22 minutes ago, Rob_Zepp said: Disagree, not enough depth yet and you can’t win in April with .900 goaltending but you can see the strides. I am am sure they believe. I plan on rooting for them. My guess is 85 points seems attainable. It's more of a parsing words I think than what we actually believe. Do most realistic fans think they'll be rattling wins this easily in March/April? No, but until they play the games it will always be in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rindiculous Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 Hey, history, or specifically Pettersson history can repeat itself. Pettersson's season in Vaxjo, he started off at an okay pace, but then he had a breakout 5 point game and went on to with the league MVP, rookie of the year, scoring title, and helped his team to a league championship. This year with the Canucks he's now gotten the 5 point game. If he breaks out even more, he's gonna with the Hart, Calder, and lead this team to the Stanley Cup. You never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Crossbar Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 7 minutes ago, Rob_Zepp said: Sorry, cannot even begin to agree that they are “there” yet but this progress has been impressive. There are still too many defensive issues and their team save % won’t get it done but can see with OJ and Hughes on the back end and improved netminding, this is a team to be reckoned with. Soon. Enjoyable now no doubt. I get where you're coming from, brother! I'm not saying we're there in terms of what people perceive to be "contenders". I guess I'm questioning the need to apply absolutes based on previous teams and conventional wisdom. We are right now therefore we are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xereau Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 For once, I think the Canucks aren't being ignored. All I hear about is Pettersson on the hockey chat programs, and a few are tossing around Green as hands down best coach so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekker Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 I've been dead against going after and signing Erik Karlson. But one has to wonder what this team would look like with EK and Quinn Hughes added to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekker Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 3 minutes ago, xereau said: For once, I think the Canucks aren't being ignored. All I hear about is Pettersson on the hockey chat programs, and a few are tossing around Green as hands down best coach so far. Yip. NHL Network is constantly going on about EP, Brock, and Bo. The team is turning heads and tonight's game will be talked about a lot tomorrow. Good times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 2 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said: There is no question the Canucks are not ready to be consistently competitive in the March/April sense and will fall short of the playoffs this year but the game in and game out effort, style of play and general growth of their young players is beyond anyone's expectation I am certain. I would say, without doubt, they are the surprise of the league and if Green isn't seen as being the best coach out of the gate in the entire league, then someone isn't paying enough attention to what is happening out of west coast of Canada. What is remarkable is that NO other team in the NHL, let alone the teams near them in the standings in the West like Calgary and Edmonton, are: Without arguable their best Dman who is also (for better or worse) their PP QB - he has only played in 10 or 17 games so far this year Without arguably their best goal scorer who isn't a freak of nature Swedish rookie - he has played 13 of 17 games this year and arguably many of them hampered Without arguably their most important free agent signing and one of the best face-off and PK specialists in the entire league and who has only played only 5 of 17 games Have had their other best Dman play in 13 of 17 games Have their third line center, and huge presence on PK, missing for past four games and counting Have their first line left winger only in 10 games so far this and likely gone for quite a while longer Their only NHL ready other goalie gone for several weeks already 10 of their first 17 games on the road and included on that would be against teams like Tampa, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Boston..... IF you took those items above and said that was going to happen over the first 17 games, after coming off the one win exhibition season where goals were harder to come by than decorum at a White House press gathering, who would have projected this team to be four games over 500 and scoring at a rate they haven't done since winning President's trophies. I think this is getting harder to ignore. I know they will hit a wall soon - they have to. However, anyone who thinks this is not a team on the rise is nuts. Watching players like Virtanen emerge, Hutton's resurrection, Horvat become part of the league's elite (in Boston he goes 14-16 in the dot and has 4 points....not star, SUPERstar), Guddy returning to the form they traded for and so forth is so inspiring but when you add in the very phenomena that is EP40 and know what is still coming from Utica and US College etc. - I guess "impossible to ignore" is more the right thing to say. Who are two posters that gave you the crazy faces? What are they thinking? We are great, and your post shows that. Canucks fans I doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down by the River Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 2 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said: However, anyone who thinks this is not a team on the rise is nuts. Watching players like Virtanen emerge, Hutton's resurrection, Horvat become part of the league's elite (in Boston he goes 14-16 in the dot and has 4 points....not star, SUPERstar), Guddy returning to the form they traded for and so forth is so inspiring but when you add in the very phenomena that is EP40 and know what is still coming from Utica and US College etc. - I guess "impossible to ignore" is more the right thing to say. Who exactly are you talking to here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerrDrFunk Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 9 hours ago, Down by the River said: Who exactly are you talking to here? Possibly some kind of Protector or Sentinal. Or another type of person who stands watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_314 Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 It's crazy, the team's scoring in boatloads to offset some terrible defending all the while missing some key roster guys... We're also the only current division leading team to give up more goals than we've scored (57 for, 58 against) and Markstrom's goals against is pretty high at 3.28. If the scoring hits a cold streak for whatever reason this thing could tailspin. Hope the team keeps it up though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'NucK™ Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 57 minutes ago, Alflives said: Who are two posters that gave you the crazy faces? What are they thinking? We are great, and your post shows that. Canucks fans I doubt. you can click on them and see... possibly starting with "There is no question the Canucks are not ready to be consistently competitive in the March/April sense and will fall short of the playoffs this year" confused some people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apollo Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 I really don't see how you assume we'll be missing the dance... This team has clearly demonstrated that they can and will compete in March and April. The only question now is, can we win a cup this year or not? We have lots of young budding stars on the team... If This group keeps on clicking, they'll dominate. Would love to knock out SJ and then have Karlsson realize he has to sign with us at a discount if he wants to be part of the only dynasty in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 4 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said: There is no question the Canucks are not ready to be consistently competitive in the March/April sense and will fall short of the playoffs this year thanks for coming back from the future to let us know. I guess we can turn to focusing on the draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 3 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said: Disagree, not enough depth yet Disagree - depth is one of the team's better strengths this year. I would have been impressed with a 10-6-1 start if they were healthy. But to be there with losses of Edler, Tanev, Pettersson, Sutter, Boeser, Beagle, Baertschi, Roussel - is plain remarkable. Sorry, but you don't get those results without depth. This team does actually have a realistic hope of competing deep into the season. Their biggest question mark would be whether they would have the young scoring talent - and even with mulitple losses of top 6 forwards, bottom six forwards, and top 4 D - they are scoring - and defending - and are competitive. They may or may not sustain that - but pretending to know one way or the other is just that - pretense. You can assume they will 'hit a wall' - but imo that would be to assume that they keep losing players at a higher rate than they are returning imo. They are actually so many players down that the odds are likely to even out lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry Goose Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 Early on after TG's hiring it was stated that he is trying to build a program here, and the player's are clearly buying in. You've heard guys speak about playing against TG's team in Utica and how they respected that. Hard to play against in both sides of the rink- I just love it. You've got to give JB and co credit too for identifying the right types of players to buy into that culture as well. I only wish whatever fractured TL's relationship with the team didnt happen and he was here to enjoy it too. As far as predictions go Ive never really been one to get to into that in sports. Fun to do but sports can be very unpredictable at times. Im just here for the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 The .900 sv % is another misleading reference - as if that's disqualifying. There are only 30 goaltenders in the NHL right now over .899 sv% - and that includes a number of backups and tandems. Last year there were 63. I think it's premature to assume that Markstrom at 34th (,896) and Nilsson at .912 (23rd) represent enough of a (small) sample and 'bottom line' to disqualify this team from making a run at getting into the playoffs. The team is 2nd in the NHL with 56 goals - 2 goals behind the Tampa Lightning. So before we go predicting results - ask yourself how predictable that fact was? In the end it will be wins that determine that, as well as the 18 players in front of them on any given night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 The 2nd half is more of a grind, reffs often throwing whistles away. 1 more big fwd & D-man(by TDL) might be worthwhile. Always seems like 2 seasons in 1(before/after holidays). To make deals, we should have the requisite depth & lots of cap-room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 5 hours ago, oldnews said: The .900 sv % is another misleading reference - as if that's disqualifying. There are only 30 goaltenders in the NHL right now over .899 sv% - and that includes a number of backups and tandems. Last year there were 63. I think it's premature to assume that Markstrom at 34th (,896) and Nilsson at .912 (23rd) represent enough of a (small) sample and 'bottom line' to disqualify this team from making a run at getting into the playoffs. The team is 2nd in the NHL with 56 goals - 2 goals behind the Tampa Lightning. So before we go predicting results - ask yourself how predictable that fact was? In the end it will be wins that determine that, as well as the 18 players in front of them on any given night. Are we going to outscore the opp every night though? these high scoring games are new around here. Last night, while fun, I doubt is a sustainable method of success. I love it. Don’t get me wrong. maybe it’s just me but I felt the refs were atrocious last night for both teams. It kind of became part Boston part Canucks and part kozari on the entertainment docket.... I felt it contributed greatly to the score considering Boston’s at home pp percentage and the number of pps the Canucks seem to be getting. early on in the game I attributed a call maybe two to the Canucks pressing the play and initiating the contact. But in the latter stages of the season and the playoffs we know the calls will stop, the games will be close and our dline and goalie will really see the test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boziffous Posted November 9, 2018 Share Posted November 9, 2018 Markstrom's save% should be greatly helped/improved once the Canucks start getting back key defensive players such as Sutter, Beagle and Edler as they will help reduce the quality of chances being given up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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