Phat Fingers

Well, this guy is going to be a heck of a player to watch. I get a Mats Sundin Vibe from him. We may need to draft more defenders to contain this league rival now.

Hey I was being polite and at least Dwali actually has conversations with managers, agents and players. Sekeres is the one I dislike and find Price reasonable and Donnie is just Donnie from back in the Sports Page TV days. Bush league is BC and Sports Media to the majority of Canada and the US. Its supernatural Bush League… Normal hair clippers just won’t cut it… lol

Jake is most likely the most divisive pick ever selected in a draft with Pasternak in it. We traded away the wrong 1st rounder for a useless d man. JV was the teammate that created the gaff that destroyed Brock Boeser’s back, he partied too hard and was a player that took down the team as a whole not as much on the ice by off the ice. He never grew up after getting drafted, So to give him props after so much failure and stat watching may have been the reason no other NHL team came near him with a 25 foot pole after Vancouver cut him loose. Not one.

Guys, we are a week out from the last draft… give us until August… lol

Down and Under… Podz has the same trajectory that a lot of Power Forwards get into with a surge and then crash then figure out what they can and the next time some figure it out and then the others Virtannen. I see the work ethic and thinking that some power forwards lack and never gain. Reps will ease players into things better than any other cure. If he is shredded already, by the interview, it sounds like Tochett isn’t worried about the things most coach’s worry about with their players, the work is being done. ‘Podz, go out a party a bit, just not too much.’ Is basically what Tochett said…

Want to thank the response to this thread. been reading the comments and we are having a discussion, cool. want to say first off, I don’t endorse any media outlets or follow any, other than updates on roster moves and or signings. I live out east, so it’s just a way to keep up on things. Having one perspective is that we have bad media which has led to a reactionary push pull so to speak with management and fans. That works if you only go back to the last regime with Benning. While the fringe management group under JB was well outside the NHL clubhouse, we have had some very connected managers in our history most notably Pat Quinn and his list of junior managers is almost a who’s who in the NHL, Brian Burke, Dave Nonis, George McPhee etc… throw in Dale Tallon and we have a decent history of well respected voices in Hockey. That group has a real history too of messing up and or over/under valuing contracts and players… but it changed after the Aqualini’s bought out their competitors in the team ownership bids. Which led to Tom Galardi buying the Dallas Stars. How the business people in the hockey world view the two different ownership groups is pretty clear. Dallas, even in bad seasons is generally well received in the press, while Vancouver, always a bit of target playing in Canada’s LaLa land, has eaten more garbage in the sports media than way worse franchises. What we don’t know about the friendships and fractures in ownership spats in the Private Boxes and how that impacts a number of things in the league. There is another long time element in the Vancouver Media market. A near shameless use of every fallacious argument possible when speaking about futures. Maybe it’s the inevitable sense that the world is dark and grey, which of your not from BC, is what winter feels like to easterners. Snow is white and spreads light over the dark winter months. The rain in BC can drive people nuts. But really it’s a bunch of folks trying to pay the rent and make a living gossiping for the most part, with a smidge of reporting. They must get together at least once a week to sort out what the angle and spins are, which players can be green lit to be targets, which can’t.. and then chorus the ‘Sky is falling and so and so did this and someone said that and rumour has it as this. But it’s all bad… has to be…’ We don’t live in Ukraine and we have open stores and clean air. We don’t have Nacros taking over City Hall and the Police…. There are serious problems on the streets and more doing with less and less, while these guys get further out of touch with creating problems where there are none. This team will be success or fail based on its management. The owners have paid a price for failure in the past and with the hiring of Rutherford, and then Alvin with the addition of Tochett, Foote and Gonchar, it’s a rebranding and or rehabilitating the clubs image with other clubs and the eastern media, who loves Jim Rutherford. Tochett is a losing coach, in Zona…? so what, who wouldn’t be? But he worked the bench in Pittsburg for a cup run and his staff has been in a few runs themselves too as players. We have to keep a fresh look for each new effort made. Its a top to bottom make over and it’s going to take this season to see it’s they got the mix right or not. until then, we need to enjoy the show and so does the media. WTF they are ginning up fear that Elias won’t resign with no reason too other than Calgary’s issues. It’s been a long time since this team could not resign a player because the player choose elsewhere, Bo would have taken the Islanders money in Van happily. Van choose to move on from him. We have had a Johnny hockey issue since Bure, he resigned. It’s bad story management and or they hit bottom…

Don’t date yourself, I remember Mc Rea too, Botchfords ghost.

Itch, Of course it’s a low bar. Not f**king up is the whole goal now with FA while addressing gaps in a lineup. We have a Number 1 D man, the club believes that we have a number 2 guy and the number 4 guy got hurt, Ian Cole is a 3rd guy in Tampa Bay, he is a 3rd on our roster, for 3 mil on one year. we did not over spend and took on no deal over 3 years. Whew. what a relief and A+ for not screwing up the future for an FA… priceless.

Exactly… another winger with out size and or a line driver. I think our bus is full atm.

I know you are but what am I…?

I know that in some ways this is a necessary evil of the sports news, especially in a market like Vancouver with no play offs. Shit season for the media fisherman this year, in a boom or bust economy where the playoffs is so beneficial to the secondary media and needed promoters of the sports and entertainment industry in Vancouver. I get the limits of the market, but it is really a rebranded Crypt Keeper style of ‘journalism’ with more hand wringing and less wit and venom. Gallagher could but on a clinic and played the Heel better than most. But save the fretting and anxiety worded stuff. Things are getting harder out there, we have a right wing agenda that uses the same tactics and rhetoric in their political campaigns and adds with some Fox News level broadcasting styles know fully found on CTV news and others. the heart bear style music at intros and using words like massive, exteme and one sided framing to only look at the worst possible outcome and make it appear like it is already happening. When this year in BC and Canada and the world and legit fears that Putin may just blow up the largest Nuclear Power Station in Europe as hissing fit of spoiled child turned megalomaniac, I would prefer a more realistic and less hyperbolic and hysterical approach to non serous and life threatening situations.

Sekeres is abusing the word Concern over and over in this clip. as a person that understands the importance of language which is ironic cuz I am dyslexic as f**k, but it actually makes me more aware, but this guy sounds like my ex wife before I am about to go up a ladder to fix the roof… She has concerns but I built the god dammed house and put the roof on in the first place and mounted a ladder and had fall arrest equipment on…. So she was only really concerned that I would come back down safely…. As I latter found out. Sowing doubts is actually what it was and over time it eroded our understanding of what a real concern was and what a exaggeration was. Constant exaggeration is a tactic in gaslighting and in law in in propaganda, with some truth and a lot of unscientific and or unspecific vague words like ‘Concerns’ ’Fears’ and ‘If’. Now it’s fear that Elias Pettersson will pull one of the rarest moves in hockey, pulling a Johnny Hockey and screwing over the team that drafted him, developed him and gave the wee fiend a top spot on the line up and built a line around him to make his career take off as much as he worked his ass off too. Now how many players walk to FA? How many super stars who are 1st line centres? Statements like ‘It’s not like this team has ever prioritized Elias Pettersson…’ are beyond ridiculous. he could have said that about Quinn Hughes after Luke Schenn was dealt and Hronek was on the shelf after the trade, but not after this draft and FA, so forget Podzkolsin, forget JT Miller, forget Kuzemenko, forget bringing the Sedins into the management and coaching and mentoring roles, forget getting totally Pro Coaching Bench with how many Cup Rings and or play off games between them, Tochett as a coach, Adam Foote and Gonchar? Last season showed the division in the Locker Room, with Bruce and Horvat having this love in when last year it JT an Bruce, with it causing friction. Unless Bruce was directed by Alvin to ‘Pump and Dump’ but it looked like Bruce wanted JT to be the secondary second choice behind Elias and while Horvat scored a ton of goals, he was not a generator of offence with his line mates with a 2-1 goals to assist ratio last year. it also made Horvat unaffordable for Vancouver to sign and was a change from last season where the offence went thru Elias to JT to Horvat. but the idea that keeping Brock is not also for Elias, as they are close friends and Alvin addressing the long term deficit this team has had on Defence since the Mike Gillis days in terms of any development after Tanev. Until Quinn Hughes. So whether we have fixed the gaping hole on the back end, and over developed our forwards and forward depth much to benefit the offence and that is mostly Elias, it’s absurd to claim the club has rarely prioritized Pettersson. Listen to Dwali, just don’t look at the shirt he is wearing it may cause a headache, and hear the interview with JP Barry, it was very chill and all parties understand that the deal is their to be made and they all needed to re charge and take whatever vacation time they have and come back in a month or 6 weeks. Don Taylor was playing the role of Sekeres then and he quit pretty fast when it was just ignored by JP Barry after it was shot down the first time. Next it will be ‘Is Demko healed or will he be as bad as the start to last season…?’ Which would make sense if Demko finished the year injured instead of playing very well, maybe too good as we slipped from 5th to 11th in the draft… and he was injured and had corrective treatment and therapies in between his bad play, due to the injury that didn’t heal from the end of last season, and he returned look g like our Number One Goalie. We bring in a solid number 5 D man that can bring a missing element to our game, being big and mean and able to back it up, while also having a scoring touch. Then we bring in a solid veteran number 3 d man in Ian Cole and another depth d man with 500 games who is a local guy… Plus add drafted players who are RHD and able to be effective players beyond their peers, especially Willander. All positive steps and exactly the type of solid sound prudent moves we had to make after buying out OEL. A+ Hronek was the big move and now the media are hand wringing about whether he will be ‘as advertised’ while only being stat watching, not having reviewed his play in Detroit and just on the 4 games or so he played solid sound minutes but was shut down for next season. what is there to worry about, go look at the YouTube Highlights and scouting videos and you’ll see he looks pretty decent and he was a sought after player by Alvin and Rutherford. So if you are doubting Hronek and that deal without any reason too, your really just stirring the pot of controversy to drum up hits and listens and views. Hey, it’s sports newscasting, so there is always an entertainment aspect and a tinge of theatre. This is also what super shady news and or propaganda sites and media outlets spew all the time and we can do better and so can this crew. Sekeres and Price are pretty good mostly and Patterson is fair enough, so is Dwali, if not a bit comic. Just need to look optimistic in the middle of the off season about the unknown and really, if the Club and Bear have made a hand shake deal, which would truly benefit both sides in his unfortunately timed injury could be a silver lining scenario where it allowed Ian Cole to be added and have Soucy and Myers share the 4 spot minutes in a 4/5 role and not over work either unless the two streaky big guys get hot for a few games. Alvin and the club view Bear as a legit 4th RHD guy, a capable defender and able to contribute on the score sheet too. We have a much stronger team with Bear and it’s likely to go down with him being signed as the LTIR kicks in on Poolman. The only fear, concern and if other than Bear atm I have about this off-season other than the usual ahl and or RFA players still left to work into the roster, is dumping a 4-6 million dollar surplus winger contract, or figuring out who can best step into a face off role and light duty as a Center cause we have some work left to make the cap and balance our top 4 lines… lol.

I like this and Garland needs to be moved, as we have a near equal but cheaper player fin Hoglander, . We need to think long term and with the preseason as the real test, and the inevitable injuries and roster shuffles, Garland should be moveable. Even if we lose on the deal, I would take a 7th and give up a 3rd to move that contract.

I didn’t think of it as a confidence killer, but more of a confidence booster. But the psychological aspect of the Hockey player is different than the Rugby Player. I do like his size and mobility on the wing, and think the log jam at wing might make an adaptable player who plays with a awareness of the defensive side of play and passing skills could be more effective, and in demand than a winger with a team short on NHL capable centers,but too many forwards. It has to be more complex than taken draws, that’s pretty straightforward and has to be easier than converting to defence, so if Podz is looking for an advantage and a edge, start taking draws…?

The manufacturing of story lines is a bit tired… which is what some decent sports news guys are spinning atm. First, Soucy is 3m a year and has ‘truculence’ which is what we lost with Luke Schenn. second, WTf is worried about Hronek. wait and see, then decide if you should be ‘worried’. Bad framing and the tales of the Crypt Keeper and his time honoured emotional framing. Ian Cole offers solid 3/4 minutes for 3 m too and hits harder than OEL. So we are in shape with Ethan Bear as a question mark, does the club find a way to fit him in on a bridge deal for one year with his injury and when he gets back, we have a solid top four with a good mix of players on the third pairing and a very tradeable Myers. if Bear isn’t signed, we are as good as we could be. but we have better depth than last year and Soucy is an upgrade on Bouroughs and also adds a big body like Luke Schenn and Ian Cole is a very reliable and capable defender and like I said more physical than OEL. Next year expect younger guys, maybe Woo and Willander make the jump, as cost effective players come in to offset wages until the buyouts 7ntil they are over.

Edler as the Scarecrow at times with finding his brain took over his play in the D zone? Willander is coming into the league a better defender already than Elder in man to man and sticking to his opponent and assignments. Elder was a great player and he is our best defender historically, but he was never our smartest in Game Speed. He was our Myers when he left. It is the fusion of Skating, personality, intelligence and with good size, plus I liked the integrity to his reply to an interview question at Development Camp. ’I hope the Canucks show the commitment in me that I am showing them and will show them.’ a thoughtful and insightful answer. He is exactly where he wants to be, with the team of his dreams and is committed to Vancouver, fully and with thought and purpose. He hopes for the same. This is a smart young man who is no fool and not lost in moment. This should also hopefully quell the pending panic… Is Willander going to opt out? LOL No Willander is a lot like Ohlund, who was a beast, but a standout Defender who thought the game incredibly well. So well he played nearly his entire career nearly blind in one eye after an injury in his Sophomore year in Vancouver. so we never got to see the best Ohlund could be, as eye injuries in Hockey typically end careers. blind sides are extremely dangerous. Just ask Bryan Berrad(sp?)

Zero Playoff success and wants to be paid like the best in the business as the third or fourth in depth on offence, With Marner, Mathew’s and Tavares as a Center all having significant roles that are less replaceable than Nylander. Maybe the Islanders will make a trade for him? So this is Nylander pushing the eject button and I think it could end up better for the Laughs than Nylander, or at least a equal spilt. He heard out last time, needed to be paid what Mathews and Marner were paid, while being a slight drop off in his impact on the club. Too much depth at forward, with more than enough scoring to offset moving Nylander even straight up for Karlsson in San Jose… It would bring fire and ice to the Battle of Ontario and crush the hearts of Senators fans… So win for the Laughs… And they need to re allocate money from forward to defensive depth. It was a similar situation in Edmonton and we still have a hangover of Forwards and cap space, not even centers but surplus middle six wingers without size, some gritty, but tons of skill. So out Top Six has tenacity with JT, Elias, and a ton of skill, but until we offset another winger at rock bottom prices? likely loosing a third and taking back some dead cap, or a over priced Minor Leaguer. So Injuries, contracts and Nylander make things shake up a bit. This will fester for a bit if Brad doesn’t just find a dancing partner quick and move Nylander to a Tax Free state and he can be happy.

I agree…. until the 4th round and I think maybe Alvin and Rutherford were so pleased with Willander and our 3rd rounders that they let the staff out early… LOL. Nah… I think they knew more about Willander than most Scouts did. Homework was done on Tom ‘Just converted to Defence’ Willander and got drafted as the most Defensively sound and Best Skating Defender in the Draft… The ‘knock’ of Willander was that his scoring and offence was lower than ASP and Reinbacher. Looks like the stat watchers and me included and a lot of NA scouts missed a pretty significant detail to Tom Willander and also I did not know he had committed to BU until he was drafted. Huge details missed by many who should be in the know. most of my information talked about Tom Willander going to the SHL with Rogle. Safe to say, that the kid himself feels pretty confident with his path and his ability to defend and I don’t think we have to worry about a converted Forward to Defender being able to contribute to the Offensive Production on the Ice. All I want to know, can he take draws…. We need a Righty and since he can do everything else… LOL. Alien 3.0, Really want to see at least a pre season game in the next few years with Petterson Petterson and Willander on the ice with Hogslander and Linus Karlsson. I think it would be a pretty decent line up of some very interesting Swedes, The Area 51 Line?

Look at this video boys and girls. this is how you play defence. eyes on the puck, eyes on the play and laser focus on his man in the D zone. No space, no room and when the puck even gets close to his man, he is checking that player so tightly that the forward cannot move in the D zone with the puck. He could put on a D clinic for most of our prospects and nhl D men.

Hammer time… that’s for PTSD… not the Canucks Drafting…. Oh, wait…. Keep writing, and don’t let up until you can stop hearing the footsteps of past drafts… The anxiety and or reason to doubt is ridiculously valid, especially when this team drafts a defence and with the first over all pick.., Go knock on wood three times… Now I am anxious and oh, shit…. How long until we hear this on the CDC…. ’He hasn’t signed yet, he’s is going to take the college opt out path and sign somewhere not here….!’ I hope we never do, but it’s the CDC.., I think this kid is legit and after the 3 rd, I have zero idea what they were thinking, thus Tootsie’s is my theory… it’s at least funny as f#$k

I may have been a bit buzzed… but no where as much as the Nucks scouts after round 3… Hey am I right or am I right…? I am hear all week folks…

I wish… I will totally go to Vegas and report all… Former Bartender at the a local near you, and a medic and a guy that has closed down places and still made it thru the next day a bit buzzed until the caffeine kicked in. Everyone was still glowing and buzzed just a bit more than in other drafts I remember… The only people who weren’t talking about Tootsies were the kids drafted… What a fantastic example for all the kiddies watching at home… Next year it’s VEGAS BABY! I can’t tell if it’s going to be the Hangover 4 draft or Casino… but it’s going to have lots of strippers… I wonder if any one will mess up and invite a few into the draft to hang out and watch… If it happens in Vegas it stays in Vegas… Yeah Baby!

This kid is a very good interviewer and he only switched to defence from forward two seasons ago. His rookie season at BU will be his third season as a defender…. Willander was the best defensive defence man in this draft. and he was only in his second year at defence… that’s a talented hockey player and a guy that can switch back to forward I am sure too. Not your average prospect, that’s my impression and in a very positive way. He is intelligent and able to process at game speed while learning a whole new position, and then becoming one of the better draft picks at his off position that he just took up… plus he is a RHD as well. Does he take face offs, cause we need a Righty in the dot too!

Tom Willander is a no brainer. Our scouts got this pick right.

400 games played and on a two way deal, local kid. we just added Hronek, McWard, Hirose, Willander, Brewskie and have Woo with Ian Cole playing either side and Myers for now. in the last 6 months six new players who either play the right side and or are RHD. We can breathe a bit now, Willander is one to two years away with depth added to the club and farm with a top pair guy hear already. Getting a RH Center would be a bonus but we have the depth we lacked last season and better valued. Time to get RFA’s dealt with and ready for camp. Now onto Prospect Camp!