This is Getting Harder to Ignore

[City-in-state-of-emergency]

14 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.

While your in the future can you give me lotto #s before March... also can you find my dog it's not lost but the crapper always gets away somehow so I wanna future proof in case the bugger does. Thanks Future Man!

[Gator]

If we had a Luongo type goalie we would for sure be a playoff team this year. Wish Florida would trade him back to us.. he'd be a great mentor for Demko

[Rob_Zepp]

12 hours 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.  

I always take a crazy face as a badge of honour as it indicates that the "right" people don't get it.   

[stawns]

14 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.

I don't get the "this isn't sustainable" argument, or that they aren't "ready to be consistent in march/april and will miss the playoffs" argument.  Last season, they were playing very well, and in the same style as this season, and were sitting in a playoff spot (or close to) into December.  When catastrophic injuries hit, they didn't have the depth to weather them.......they are a much better, faster, aggressive, skilled team this season and I see no reason to think that they won't continue to play aggressive, in your face hockey and be a serious challenger for a playoff spot.

[stawns]

9 minutes ago, Brock Botanen said:

If we had a Luongo type goalie we would for sure be a playoff team this year. Wish Florida would trade him back to us.. he'd be a great mentor for Demko

I don't have any issue with marky or Nilsson.  Both have played very well this year, minus the short stretch early on. 

[Rob_Zepp]

11 hours ago, Down by the River said:

Who exactly are you talking to here? 

Largely media but seemingly many on other discussion boards related to this team.   The lack of consistent understanding that this team has done a very good job in building a strong base to build a contender upon is pervasive if you get up beyond CDC.   I wasn't "talking to" anyone in specific but was sitting with some hockey types in Eastern time zone last night who were using the term "getting harder to ignore" and a thread was launched.    Wiggly pops were part of the inspiration.   

[chon derry]

this good chemistry is going to be out of balance when sutter , beagle, baertchi , edler,  boeser  come back, were screwed.

[Gaudette Celly]

12 hours ago, Down by the River said:

Who exactly are you talking to here? 

HFBoards and a few assorted others here.

[BCNate]

This is not a fluke.  They have beaten some legit teams, have had the most key injuries, played the most road games, and scored the second most goals.  I don't really care if they keep this up or not....the way the team has played so far is a glimpse of a very bright future.  If we make the playoffs, it is the start of the rise, if we miss, we end up with a high pick in a loaded draft.  I think the hockey gods may reward us for not tanking and playing hard.

 

Regardless of how this year shakes out, I feel we will be the best team in our division next year.

-We have 30 Mill in cap space

 -Sign Boeser 8x8

 -Sign RFA forwards: Granlund, Motte, Goldobin, Gaunce  at 5 mill in raises, let Archibald and Leipsic walk or trade

- Sign Hutton and Pouliot to 3 mil in raises, let Edler and Del Zotto walk or trade

-Let Nilsson walk or trade

 

14 Million left, 

-Add Q. Hughes

-Add Demko

-Sign one of Panarin, long term at 8Mil (Duchene or Stone as backups)

-Sign Trouba at 7 (Myers at 6 as a backup)

 

Goldobin-Pettersson- Boeser

Panarin-Horvat-Baertschi

Virtanen-Sutter-Eriksson

Schaller-Beagle-Rousell

Spares/callups : Granlund, Motte,Gaunce, Gaudette, Dahlen

 

Hughes-Tanev

Stecher-Trouba

Hutton-Gudbranson

Spares/Callups: Joulevi, Pouliot, Biega

 

Markstrom

Demko

 

 

 

 

[Rob_Zepp]

10 hours ago, oldnews said:

thanks for coming back from the future to let us know.

 

I guess we can turn to focusing on the draft. 

 

 

Anytime, just don't ask about the stock market as I don't want to talk to securities commissioners when I tell you what to buy or sell.   

 

PS - that doctor's visit you keep ignoring will come back to bite you.   Spoiler alert.   

[Gaudette Celly]

47 minutes ago, Rob_Zepp said:

Give me a clue HW, who is Dave Pratt?   His dad Tracey Pratt of Canucks?

Let's just say, best you don't know.  A local blowhard who always talks in absolutes while contradicting himself, and constantly chuckles and chortles, calling everyone "brother".

[Gaudette Celly]

10 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.

Pretty clear that the new equipment is having a significant effect on goalscoring so far.  Will be interesting to see which and how many goalies can make the adjustments and how quickly.  In the meantime, most of us don't care -- makes for exciting games and far more fun than 2:1 defensive snoozers.  Even the coaches (at least Green) seem to be enjoying it and they are typically the last ones that do aside from goalies but even Rask was cheeky about it last night.

[coolboarder]

9 hours ago, Nuxfanabroad said:

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.

It doesn't matter because we have had a hard time scoring goals on PP in last 10 games or so before last night's game and we have been scoring mainly 5 on 5 and SHG for a long while now.   We finally got two PP goals last night which helped a lot.  Things will get tougher but we knows that they can play 5 on 5 and goals can come unexpectedly.   They can PK without Horvat last night as well especially with 3 straight penalties which yielded a PP goal against and 5 on 3 without our best PKers.   

[Rob_Zepp]

10 hours ago, oldnews said:

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.

We can agree to disagree.   There is not enough:

• Goaltending depth
• Defense depth
• Center ice depth
• Scoring winger depth
• Realistic fan depth

In the CAP era, very few teams have lots of depth but if you look at Utica where they have a young team too, you can see a Canuck organization that as early as next season but most certainly in two seasons from now that will be pretty solid assuming players at each of those positions seeing nice development trends.    As far as the fan depth - that is a crapshoot.

[Rob_Zepp]

28 minutes ago, stawns said:

I don't get the "this isn't sustainable" argument, or that they aren't "ready to be consistent in march/april and will miss the playoffs" argument.  Last season, they were playing very well, and in the same style as this season, and were sitting in a playoff spot (or close to) into December.  When catastrophic injuries hit, they didn't have the depth to weather them.......they are a much better, faster, aggressive, skilled team this season and I see no reason to think that they won't continue to play aggressive, in your face hockey and be a serious challenger for a playoff spot.

I still don't think the depth is there yet as I note in a post above.   Will be happy to be proven wrong but I just don't think Canuck's depth is quite there but certainly given the trend of many of the prospects/young players and the FA additions past two summers, there is more depth than there has been in a long while for this team.

[Hero1]

enjoying every minute of it. hockey is fun to watch again!

[higgyfan]

6 minutes ago, Rob_Zepp said:

I still don't think the depth is there yet as I note in a post above.   Will be happy to be proven wrong but I just don't think Canuck's depth is quite there but certainly given the trend of many of the prospects/young players and the FA additions past two summers, there is more depth than there has been in a long while for this team.

Given the severity of the injuries to the significant players that are still out, I have to agree.  Any team losing such important players for so many weeks would certainly have a huge effect on team depth; especially when they happen around the same time.  It has been great to see that regulars have upped their game, while rookies are fitting in well.

 

When the injured guys return, I think the overall team depth will look pretty good.  Next season will be even better.

[aGENT]

1 hour ago, Goal:thecup said:

But the power play is better without Edler, for example.

PP was 24% with Edler. It's been at 20% since he went down with injury and (particularly PP1) has looked far more clumsy, disorganized and clearly less (4%) effective. And that's despite IMO, many of those younger players actually improving their play the last few weeks.

 

So no.

 

Haven't checked our defensive, PK, GA etc numbers but I'd imagine a similar tale would arise from having the likes of Sutter and Beagle out (not to mention less offensive opportunity to Horvat...though he's certainly shouldering that load admirably).

[Gaudette Celly]

25 minutes ago, Rob_Zepp said:

I still don't think the depth is there yet as I note in a post above.   Will be happy to be proven wrong but I just don't think Canuck's depth is quite there but certainly given the trend of many of the prospects/young players and the FA additions past two summers, there is more depth than there has been in a long while for this team.

I'd say the Canucks are doing that right now, with injuries to key players underlining that reality.

[EP Phone Home]

The league is noticing our up and coming team (and how could you not) but I am really shocked to hear other teams broadcasts gush about our rising core of players. It’s great to be acknowledged for a westcoast team and at the end of the day, if we fall short then the draft is in our city and we get another foundational piece to our embarrassment of riches. Or we keep this up and are this years Vegas surprise and make some noise in the playoffs because our young players don’t know any better. Like everyone here, just going to sit back and enjoy this remarkable ride and see where it goes.