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guntrix

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Everything posted by guntrix

  1. Being a keyboard warrior won't do a damn thing either, no matter how much you say you care about this team. In fact, nothing anyone says on this forum will affect anything in the organization. Fans can and will be real about certain player's fortunes. Living in a bubble world where everything is fine and dandy is far more problematic. Schroeder definitely deserved criticism, as do other players. Defending them till the death only shields you from reality. Please point out to me a fan base in ANY sport that never critiques their players' performance and/or development (hint: you won't). Stop trying to reinvent the wheel here and accept the reality of differing opinions.
  2. Okay so the past two pages have been filled with auto-defence rhetoric against Jake "haters." It's like people are afraid to open their eyes. There's nothing wrong with discussing how Jake is currently playing. Heck, most people would agree that updates on Jake's progression are ideal, is that not true? Jake has continued to coast in Utica and hasn't even been able to play positionally well, despite standing completely still at times and waiting for the board battles to subside. Few people would be complaining if, despite his constant coasting, he were able to find himself in scoring slots and score consistently. What's problematic is that this is his play style since his draft year with the Hitmen. I don't understand how people expect him to be a 20 goal scorer in the NHL if he doesn't change. I also don't understand why people are saying that it's okay if he doesn't produce as long as he's doing the little things right. He's getting PP time now. He needs to produce at least more than goddamn Demko.
  3. Seriously? Ehlers and Nylander can put up all the points in the world but Virtanen can hit so it's all good? And you say this in a time when we're so void of young elite skill? Man, the Boston series really scarred some of us...
  4. We can't be sure about that last statement until we see how they pan out. Tbf to Gillis, he showed improvement up until the 2013 draft (coinciding with his look into analytics). His 2013 draft alone looked like a home run with Horvat, Shinkaruk, Cederholm, Subban and Cassels. We saw first-hand though how picks rarely reach their hype/potential.
  5. I think we should gauge his performance in a few years on all four of Boeser, Juolevi, Virtanen and McCann + whoever else he drafts. It's not looking too good for the latter two atm.
  6. I don't think he's ever been compared to Ovie in he slightest. The whole problem with this pick was the fact that we could've missed out on a cornerstone franchise player that would've accelerated the rebuild (yes, Nylander and Ehlers are headed that way no matter how hard it hurts to acknowledge it)... to make it worse, there's little hindsight to this observation. When we first drafted him, one of the first excuses was his shoulder injury (quite laughably, it's still being used today in some aspects). Next, people were saying that he was a "power forward" (using CDC's very own parameters for what constituted a power forward) and that he would take longer to develop. Once proven that most "power forwards" show early signs of elite skill (despite not being as productive), people have moved onto comparing him to the best late-blooming power forward they could think of. In this case, Ladd. But alas, expectations will keep being lowered, as they should. Few see Virtanen as a plausible top-6 forward anymore, as initially projected by many on here (you know who you are). Soon, we'll consider Virtanen making the NHL as a fourth line bit-part player a success. Again, this is not Virtanen's fault; He can only do so much. This is not Willie's fault either; nor Green's. This is Benning's fault. As has been said before by many historians, history has a tendency of repeating itself. Benning was disastrous drafting in the first round with Buffalo - it's happening again with the Canucks. The one thing I'll give him is that he's very good at finding diamonds in the rough in the latter rounds. However, with the Sedins on the decline, we need to find our next first and second liners, and the best opportunity of doing that is through the first round.
  7. You're trying too hard. Qualms surrounding Jake are warranted given how he's played so far. You should actually watch the Comets before curling up in your shell and hurling the 'typical CDC' rhetoric. Boeser will also be judged based on his development in the AHL and NHL. I hope, for this organization's sake, that's it's not as regressive as Jake's.
  8. I remember being devastated at Dubois being taken off the board. Nonetheless, I wasn't happy nor sad at Juo being taken by us. I just didn't want Tkachuk. Tkachuk will not become as great as he's looking like now, you can quote me on it. He's good in a bunch of aspects but not great at anything. His point totals right now are a reflection of his overabundance of PP time and the fact that he's found a lot of chemistry with two guys who are having great seasons. Bennett is a better player and even he's stagnated. Given who we had to pick, I'm content with Juo. I'm hoping that he becomes a good dman for us although I'm skeptical that he's top 2 quality.
  9. I'd say that it's because you'd have to be pretty gifted offensively to be suspect defensively in the NHL and get away with it. Jake is no Patrick Kane, Backstrom or Ovie. He will have to carry his weight defensively in the NHL at least to an extent if he wants to have a career, just like most other players.
  10. If this thread were dedicated to reporting on his progress, it'd be empty. Not just because there's so few of us who actually watch the Utica games but because he's actually regressed play-wise. Forums are about expressing views and opinions about said topics and that's pretty much what makes them entertaining. It's no coincidence that this thread and the Burrows thread have been two of the hottest threads on this forum since their inception.
  11. If he can put up 50 points I don't think anyone would be complaining. That's a bit ambitious though imo. I remember when this board would get defensive when the Booth comparisons came up. Now I think most of us would take that and run.
  12. Benning generally didn't draft well in the first round in his 8 years at Buffalo. People shouldn't be surprised that it may happen again. It's like he overthinks his first round draft picks. What's funny is that people think we've already hit rock bottom and that it's all up from here. Just wait and see what happens when the Sedins retire and we don't have any elite forwards to replace them.
  13. The comparisons will always be there, especially between players drafted so close together. That much is a given for all fan bases, not just this one. In this particular case, it's interesting because three (maybe even four if Fleury keeps ascending slowly) players drafted in succession after Jake could turn out to be better. No matter how much certain posters give merit to the possibility of Jake being a serviceable bottom six player, that's a knock on a GM who was supposedly brought in to alleviate our drafting woes. Using phrases and words like "whine" or "writing him off" is what's delusional on here. Jake never had the hockey IQ to be a top six player, as proven throughout his entire career. Like someone said before, you can't expect him to all of a sudden see the light and become a totally different player than what he's been his whole life. Holding out for this epic revitalization of Jake despite the poor guy not even having the IQ to meet that expectation is the epitome of unfair expectations. Like someone said, you can't even hate the guy. You can tell he's trying (although his work ethic off the ice may not completely reflect that). It's not his fault he was drafted as high as he was. Rather, frustration should be directed at the guy who made the decision. ... and as proven before, Benning had an astoundingly poor first round record with Buffalo during his time there.
  14. What you don't understand is that all those superb physical traits will never be maximized due to his lack of hockey IQ. We saw it in junior, we saw it with the Canucks and we're seeing it now with the Comets. I think coasting is far more accurate a word to describe much of Virtanen's play.
  15. Should either of Nylander or Ehlers be Canucks, nobody on here would define them as complimentary. They're not the same small forwards they used to be when they were drafted. Granlund is three years older and Baer is four years older than them yet both have already been surpassed production-wise by Nylander and Ehlers. Minor tidbit you forgot to mention there. Lastly, what has Virtanen done since being drafted to indicate that he'll be "much more" than just an energy player? Before you pull the whole power forward angle, remember that even guys like Bertuzzi showed promise in their early years despite not breaking out until later on. Virtanen not only failed to produce, he was actually a liability most shifts he was out there with the main team. All I see here is the downplaying of other team's prospects and the undeserving propping up of ours.
  16. Complimentary? Comparing them with the likes of Granlund and Baer? (Giving Boeser a chance to prove himself in the NHL). Let's not downplay their merit to make us feel better, they're on track to become first liners, or at the very least second liners. Top six skill guys who produce will always be more valuable to a team than middle to bottom six energy players - what Virtanen projects to be, especially in today's NHL. If anyone were a complimentary piece here it'd be Jake.
  17. I'd argue that acquiring Stecher softened our need for defensive prospects, especially considering our lack of offensive prospects with NHL upside. Don't get me wrong, we still need D prospects but I think our need for F prospects is more pressing. I was clamouring for the org to stay away from Tkachuk so I can't act hypocritical and say that we should've picked him. I liked Jost though and still think he would've been a nice addition.
  18. The problem is not the fact that he was mediocre with the main team but that he looks just as mediocre with the Comets. There would be much less hate should he have shown noticeable improvement. The problem, as someone above mentioned, was the fact that he was never that good in junior. He had one good goalscoring season (stressing on the goalscoring and not on the playmaking) that yielded many alarms based on the clear tunnel vision of his plays as well as the perennial coasting. Blame the shoulder injury or whatever flavour of the month excuse (despite professionals in the field deeming him healthy enough to play), his production doesn't lie. What's worse is that he should've played much much better - the guy looked like a man amongst kids physically. GP - G - A - TP 2011-12 Calgary Hitmen WHL 9 3 1 4 2012-13 Calgary Hitmen WHL 62 16 18 34 2013-14 Calgary Hitmen WHL 71 45 26 71 2014-15 Calgary Hitmen WHL 50 21 31 52 Am I rooting for Virtanen? Yes, it would benefit the club greatly to see him become a serviceable player. Do I acknowledge that he probably shouldn't have been taken at 6OA? Yes, that too.
  19. This. I clearly recall Button being made out to be a fool two years ago. Of course, that changed when the board saw that his evaluation of Juolevi was consistent with what people wanted to hear.
  20. I think most of us would've been happy with him staying with the Hitmen last year and moving onto the Comets. It was very clear from the beginning that he wasn't ready for the NHL.
  21. All these blanket statements make me believe you've yet to watch a Utica game (or Hitmen game) with him in it.
  22. The problem with these boards is the fact that any criticism or critique of certain fan-adored players garners this kind of insight and tags posters with the "hater" or "bitter" tag. I find his posts insightful and thoughtful. Unlike 99% of posters on here who claim to know about Jake's progress, he actually watches the Utica games.
  23. Jake has been coasting a lot and has shown the occasional moment of brilliance with the Comets. Nothing too over the top. Mixed with their love for nightlife, I don't see how the comparisons with Kassian are unwarranted.
  24. It's always the same people dishing out the auto-defence mechanisms though, despite no heated debates. Makes you wonder who's really worried.
  25. Thankfully, your low bar for success isn't either... Tryamkin? Really?
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