CaptainLinden16

I had no idea Casey Mittelstadt looked like this. That is an incredibly goofy looking kid. I say hard pass on this guy. That is a face only a mother would love.

isn't Glass rising because he is the "smart" guy?

everything deserves context. If you are suggesting he is faster or even close to as fast as Drouin then I think we are watching two different channels when the hockey game is on. My point is that in the AHL and pre-season his speed looks good. That because players are slower at that level. The game is slower overall mentally and physically as the best hockey players play in the NHL. I don't really think that is a point that needs to be argued. I don't know was Drouin at the end of his shift? Was he tired? Was he not trying all that hard? Context is important. I can say with a fair bit of confidence that Drouin is faster than Gaunce, so if he is and you accept that as true then something must have been impacting Drouin on that highlight as he did have time to close the gap. If that is the case then showing it is completely irrelevant to highlight his "speed." I hope he is a good player. Again, he is a good dude; and plays a lunch pail style that anyone can appreciate.

I didn't even realize that Sibsa was a part of this Gaunce argument. Why does everyone hate on this dude? He can skate really well, hits, sticks up for his teammates, and he has cut down on his mistakes dramatically. He has 465 games of NHL experience as a 27 year old. Ganuce is 23 and has less than 80. Sbisa has made the show. He will be an NHL player for the next 5 years. He may even crack 1,000 games played. Nothing elite about his game, but everyone can't be Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson right? In todays NHL that is your defensive physical presence player. The 6'4 230 pound guy who cant skate isn't making the league any more. Pedan, Pedan, Pedan right? gross... Games played is easily the most underrated stat in sports. It is very difficult to not get injured and most importantly be deemed good enough to crack the lineup every night. Not to mention he has done it spanning 3 teams. You can't say its due to some coach favoritism. Why wouldn't Vegas take him? Team always need defense and after the expansion draft at least 8 teams will need to get their 4-6th guy back right? The smartest thing Vegas can do is pick as many defensemen as possible then trade the ones that they don't like after their training camp or before. Doesn't really matter too much.

its not if we are talking about 1st line players, but when you get limited ice time it does make a big difference. It also impacts your flow of play. I mean look at how Michael Chaput of instance does everything Gaunce can do, and he is faster, and he has better offensive numbers in the NHL and AHL. And yet everyone wants Gaunce over Chaput because we drafted Gaunce. If I were vegas and I were offered those two, I would take Chaput and run. He is better in every way possible really. Forget Malhotra that's rainbows and unicorns kind of stuff at this point.

what do you mean later? he scored 19 goals in his first 206 games that 7.5 goals per 82 games played. Now that's not eye watering offense, but its a lot more than Gaunce out of the gate. I am not saying that Burrows and Tanev aren't good productive NHL hockey players being undrafted. What I am saying is that a player like Kopitar, Couturier and Barkov are a lot better offensively than the roles they play on their team or their stats would indicate. They are high picks because they have high skill. That's a component that never really leaves someone's game. An organization can choose and a head coach can choose to deploy that player differently. Kopitar can be a top 10 scorer or a Selke winner. Maybe he can do both because he is that good, but that's the trade off. Malhotra could've been a 2nd line offensive center based off of his skill, but he choose and the organizations he played for saw more value in him being a shutdown guy who is a faceoff specialist. Gaunce could never be a 2nd line center he lacks speed an skill. I know that a fair amount of this is hypothetical as none of that happened, but I think you can see my point. A one dimensional slow hockey player with a great personality isn't much of a player at all. As sad as it is I think in todays NHL the player he most resembles is Adam Cracknell. Cracknell has a better shot and Gaunce is bigger, but overall about the same.

I could careless how many assist a defensive specialist gets. Most of their goals are going to come off of the rush and on the counter. Gaunce has no goals and Manny did score a reasonable rate for a 3-4th line player. You are twisting the argument instead of addressing points head on. Where you get drafted does matter. It relates to what skills you actually have when you hit the league. Some player because of a lack of skill have to make themselves into something like Burrows, and some player who have all the skill in the world get slotted into different roles based off of team need or organizational preference. I would rather have Malhotra on a breakaway or two on one versus Gaunce any day of the week and twice on gameday. Its a moot point as you are fairly dug into your opinion. I hope Gaunce is better than what I think he is and what his numbers have shown so far. Personality wise these are the type of players you would like to build a team around.

I guess we will agree to disagree. Malhotra was much better skater overall than Gaunce not just speed wise. He was also a 7th overall pick. He had a more skill than Gaunce. Manny pretty consistently hit 8-11 goals per year. I mean he did it in year one. You cant chalk all that up to deployment. To me he reminds me so much of Dave Scatchard. Same size, same speed or lack thereof, same intangibles. I do think that Gaunce would have more offense if he was just born 15-20 years prior. The league was different then.

I am not trying to be funny. Maybe you are...Really where do you see any speed in his game at all? I get the defensive capabilities and character. He seems like a swell guy. I just don't see any quickness. With todays league, that is why he isn't scoring. Its not deployment that has caused 1 goal in almost a full season worth of play. Even if I concede that then you still have to understand that if his main asset is his defensive ability that means he will always predominantly be deployed that way. If you think tactically, why would you have a slow player playing on the counter all the time? Most defensive specialists in this league are fast or at least quick because that's the only way they can get their offense and because most offensive players are also very fast. Being slow is never good unless you have really high end offensive skills like Joe Thornton or the Sedins. I don't I just don't see anything special in him. I am not saying he cant be Pat Maroon, Marcus Foligno or some other jumbo guy with no wheels; but then he better get a lot meaner fast and learn how to tip pucks dig for gold in-front of the net. That maybe another argument maybe he isn't being developed correctly based off of what he can be to maximize his utility in the NHL. Now you have me arguing with myself. hahahaha

I am with you 100%. I think everyone wants him to be good as he is fast going forward, big and is one of the meaner players I have ever seen in the canucks system. But he looks lost and overwhelmed every time he is on the ice. Maybe its a composure and pressure thing that can be worked out by telling him he made the team and giving him 15 minutes a night for 20 games to figure it out, but maybe its because the game is too fast for his brain at this level. Even if we were to give him the 20 game look what's his max ceiling? 5th defenseman? Is that worth it? What are we talking about really with a guy like this. Luke Schenn is a better player, and he is terrible.

I am always confused by people that say anything positive or even neutral about Gaunce's speed. Are we watching the same person? He is the slowest guy on the ice every night. With the Sedins playing, that's saying a lot!

Hahaha the guy is top two in shots from the blue line on this team for almost a decade. Nice try though...

No man you are just not getting it. Edler in his career has an Olympic gold medal. He is also has been an all star. I like brisebois. He looked great in camp, but why can't we just enjoy him without him having the expectations of being better than a first pairing, 40 point player, gold medalist, who statistically is a top 5 defenseman in this orginizations history. again, if he plays defensively as well as Edler AND can get his shot through than damn that's quite a player. Just interesting that he didn't even make his world junior team but he is going to dominate men in the NHL some day.

Hahahaha you do realize Edler was 40+ point a season player and has played 23+ min a night for the majority of his career. If Brisebois gets anywhere near that, he would be massively exceeding expectations. It's really comical how literally every prospect is garaunteed better than an NHLer with 600 games of experience. Even at Brisebois current positive trajectory if we get 100 games out of him than that would be statistical oddity. Shinny new toy...has to be better!