bigbadcanucks
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For the current Canucks to have a chance at moving from Pretenders to Contenders, the following, IMHO, has to happen: Bo Horvat has to become Ryan O'Reilly or Patrice Bergeron Brock Boeser has to become Mikko Rantanen Connor Garland has to become Brad Marchand Elias Pettersson has to become Pavel Datsyuk JT Miller has to keep being the JT Miller of the three seasons he's been with the Canucks Vasily Podkolzin has to keep progressing on the path he's on Nils Hoglander has to become Victor Arvedsson Will Lockwood has to become the second coming of Tyler Motte Matthew Highmore has to become the third coming of Tyler Motte Juho Lammikko has to become Edmonton Oilers version of Esa Tikanen Tanner Pearson has to become Tanner Pearson of the 70s line Jason Dickinson needs to get the phuck out of Vancouver Quinn Hughes has to become Quinn Hughes OEL has to become OEL of the PHOENIX Coyotes days Tyler Myers has to become a poor man's version of Chris Pronger Luke Schenn has to become Luke Schenn of his Draft plus 1 and 2 years Jack Rathbone has to become Ryan Suter Travis Dermott has to become a decent no. 5/6 guy who gives you 16 minutes of unnoticeable hockey Kyle Burroughs has to become Kevin Bieksa Tucker Poolman has to become Chris Tanev Thatcher Demko has to be Thatcher Demko (Bubble Demko over 60 reg games and 20-25 playoff games would be ideal) Spencer Martin has to become Cory Schneider when he was backing up Bobby Lou when they shared the Jennings If the hockey gods miraculously grant all this to us long suffering Canucks fans, we can sit along West Georgia and watch the parade.
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Pure speculation on my part, but it could be that the Canucks are missing a driver in the likeness Sidney Crosby or a Nate McKinnon. Miller seems to want to be that guy, but who knows if others are allowing him to take on that role. Karl Alzner (of all people to quote) said something like how he couldn't believe how hard Matt Niskanen practiced and trained, and when asked, Niskanen said that's the standard that Crosby set. Apparently Jay Beagle was the hardest working Capital and Niskanen lapped him. I can't remember who said it among the new hockey ops group this past season (whether it was JR, Allvin or Boudreau?), but there was criticism about the intensity level at which the Canucks players practiced. If that was indeed the case, that's 100% on the leadership group. I remember the good old days when Kesler and Mitchell had their intense battles in practice. It's great that everyone on the team gets along, but a little internal circumstantial hate and fierce competition in practice is good for the team. I have a feeling that is what's missing with the current version of the Canucks. It's cliche, but I remember Scotty Bowman saying that you play games like you practice, and his dynasty team of the 1970s practiced harder than they played their games. So much so that Bowman was universally disliked (but respected) by the players he coached.
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"Crack media" in Vancouver. That is very much an oxymoron, don't you think?
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[Report] Evander Kane suspended 1 game
bigbadcanucks replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in General Hockey Discussion
Nazem Kadri...getting Kadried by Kane. Alternatively, Kane pulling a Kadri on Kadri. Oh the irony. Personally, I couldn't care less if Kadri was injured so bad that he couldn't play another game in the NHL. The Kadri I know is the same one that led with his elbow towards one of the Sedins, missing and nailing his teammate. Only thing good about Kane was when he ko'd Matt Cooke. Don't mind it at all that he tried to make Kadri ride shot gun on alf's scooter. Like most things in his life, Kane even failed at that. -
"We're playing like clowns. Now they've dressed us up like clowns." - Tiger Williams (circa 1982)
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Jason Dickinson -- probably a deal orchestrated by Gaglardi to stick it to Aquilini for stealing the Canucks from him. Gaglardi is an evil genius if he instructed Jim Nill to dump Dickinson on Benning. FTR, I'm just talking out of my ass.
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Eakins still sucks as an NHL coach. Was a lousy hockey player and an even worse coach. Sometimes all the carbon stuck in high heat and pressure turns out to be coal...sometimes diamonds. Eakins and Green would be the former.
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If Green is the point of comparison, that's not hard to do. Twitchy Willie and his handy clipboard and being outfoxed by Bob Hartley (of all people) was a sight to see. Tortorella...Desjardins...Green. Bunch of losers since AV.
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Pettersson's got a serious haircut. Now let's see if he's serious about being a superstar in the NHL. Don't need a limp wristed human zamboni that he was for the first 50 games last season...need Pettersson to be the "big game" player that he was for the final 32 games this past season.
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Came into this thread thinking it was about Jason Dickinson, and I find out that it's a Gudbrandson thread. Back to Dickinson...I am hopeful that JR and Allvin finds a sucker to take Dickinson off of their hands. I hate players who make a bunch of proclamations ("I'm a tough player to play against" -- turns out he's soft as a marshmallow; "I've got more to give offensively" -- turns out he couldn't put a puck into the Pacific Ocean) and then goes out there and does nothing to back it up. If he can't be moved, I'd be content having him be sent the Baby Canucks. IMO, the $1.125M cap saving by having him off the main roster is a win. Or better yet, just buy him out. Cap hit of nearly $1M for three of next four seasons and nearly $350K of one of next four seasons is well worth it to get rid of him. The guy is terrible at hockey.
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So many throw away late round picks by Benning. 2014-Nikita Tryamkin, Gustav Forsling, Kyle Pettit, Mackenze Stewart 2015-Dmitry Zhukenov, Carl Neill, Lukas Jasek, Tate Olson 2016-Cole Candella, Jakob Stukel, Rodrigo Abols, Brett McKenzie 2017-Kristoffer Gunnarson, Petrus Palmu, Matt Brassard 2018-Toni Utunen, Artem Manukyan, Matthew Thiessen Imagine if one or two of the list of these stellar picks turned out in the Canucks favor.
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[Report] Canucks enhance player development department
bigbadcanucks replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Canucks Talk
Wut? Komisarek's career 81 points in 551 games may suggest something different. Just a hunch, but I'm going bet the Mike Komisarek has been brought in to help develop defensive skills, something he had plenty of during his playing days. And also, teach the kids how to drive monkeys like Lucic crazy. In all seriousness, Sedins, Samuelsson and Komisarek are great hires, for all the reasons everyone has listed. Looking forward to seeing how the young prospects develop under the watchful eye of Granato, Johnson, and the new hires. -
Thanks for making a list to prove my point about the losers Benning brought into the organization. Tell me, which one of those are a "diamond in the rough"? LMFAO...gives a list, and writes "given the Canucks stunk during most of those players times here". Just a hunch, but I'm guessing making the connection between the Canucks stinking and this stellar list of players making up the team when they did is way too challenging for you and above your pay grade.
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Aquilini actually did with the hiring of Trevor Linden, and then subsequently parted ways with him because there was a difference in opinion of how to build the team. I initially liked what Benning was trying to do -- bringing in players in the 23-25 year old group (Baertschi, Clendening, Pouliot, Sbisa, Vey, Pedan, Etem, Granlund) since Gillis didn't leave him with much with players in this age group. But who would have thought that he was such a piss-poor judge of pro talent? None of the guys Benning brought in in this demographic amounted to anything. Then, he showed his pure lack of pro talent knowledge with signing UFAs like Er iksson, Gagner, Vrbata, Del Zotto, Beagle, Roussel, etc. His only UFA signing wins were Ryan Miller, and Thomas Vanek (Vanek, only because he yielded Tyler Motte). Benning talked til he was blue in the face about character and he ended up with punks like Virtanen, Boucher, Leipsic. And for all his bravado about being a whiz at the amateur draft table, his only wins were Pettersson, Hughes, Demko, Boeser and Podkolzin. And possibly Rathbone , Klimovich, McDonough, and Hoglander. Listening the Benning give his pressers wasn't even worth anyone's time. He'd say one thing and do the opposite and sounded like that buffoon alf who's as senile as they come. At the very least, JR sounds intelligent and is articulate when answering the inane questions that the Vancouver media throw at him. Gillis was the same when he first got here, but after a few years of the idiocy of Patterson, Sekeres, Price, MacIntyre, Gallagher, Botchford, et. al., it was evident that he had nothing but disdain for the media. Give JR time. He'll will grow to hate the Vancouver media and lose his patience with them just like Gillis did. Benning was just too stupid to know he was getting played by the Vancouver media. And yeah, his choice of coaches (Willie D and Travis Green) didn't do him any favours.
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Could only happen to a Canuck. Hockey Gods indiscriminate about when and where they go after a Canuck player. I've had two in my lifetime (both in the past five years and in the exact same spot on my left foot) and they heal pretty quickly and with very little side effects. Only complaints were it hurt like hell when waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and walking boot was a pain in the ass. But I'm no professional athlete that relies on my feet for a living and have no idea how severe OEL's fracture is, so all I can say is that I hope he heals fast and well.
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Do you remember the old Lange and Micron fortified plastic boot that defencemen were wearing back in the 70s and early 80s? It's been invented and tried. Wasn't very good (I remember a couple of dmen on my minor bantam team played on Lange skates...hard as a rock, but stiff as a, well, pair of Lange skates).
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Gillis seemed to have some autonomy for the first four years of his run as POHO/GM. It seemed that the unconventional/progressive ideas (i.e., sleep doctor on staff, naming of Luongo as captain, improvements to locker room are a few that come to mind) Gillis had were well supported by Aquilini. Even the "bold" signings (i.e., Sundin, Sedins, Luongo) would obviously have had Aquilini's blessing. For me, and it's only an opinion, is that everyone in the organization overestimated the team's window of opportunity. I believe the window closed in 2012 when the Canucks were bounced by the Kings, but two seasons under Gillis and four seasons (and counting) under Benning, the Canucks were trying to re-tool to keep the dream alive while the Sedins were still on the roster. Gillis wanted to tear it down and rebuild after 2012, so it's safe to assume Aquilini became more involved in the hockey ops at that time. Linden wanted to do a proper rebuild, but was pushed out, so it's safe to assume Aquilini was more involved than he says he was and Benning was the ideal guy because he was a head bobber. I hope Jim Rutherford is the right guy for the job...the Pens under his watch didn't particularly draft very well (Mike Gillis has a better draft record when compared to JR during his time in Pittsburgh), he made some questionable signings (e.g., Jack Johnson), and traded away all but 2 first round draft picks, but with the benefit of franchise/high end players like Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Fleury, Geuntzel (players he inherited) he did manage to win some cups. I'm sure JR made the moves he did with his draft picks because the Pens have been in win now mode since they drafted Crosby and Malkin. JR has the history of being part of winning organizations, so that gives him street cred, which is more than what can be said for Benning and his bumbling ways (though I have to admit, I was enamored with what appeared to be a significant role he played with the Bruins cup winning team in 2011...oh how wrong I was). There's no evidence that JR is capable of building an organization from the ground up, but he's shown he can add and delete players from an organization to give it the best chance to win and win consistently over time. I suppose it's just a matter of having the faith that Aquilini will be true to his word and allow JR to have full control so he can do what he did in Pittsburgh and Hartford/Raleigh in Vancouver.
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[Signing] Canucks sign Linus Karlsson
bigbadcanucks replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
I don't necessarily think Hoglander has to change his style -- his skill set and style looks to be well suited for the role Tyler Motte has left vacant. Would agree with you that he's upside is a solid middle six player in the NHL...I think that time spent developing his game as an energy 4th liner in the likeness of Tyler Motte would serve him and the Canucks well. He's got that coveted combination of skill and edge (i.e., a mini power forward as his buddy Elias describes him as) that I believe would make him a natural replacement for Tyler Motte, someone who the Canucks may have a hard replacing. I can see a fourth line of Lammikko at centre, flanked by Hoglander and Lockwood being pretty effective, though at this stage, it looks like Highmore understands the responsibilities of a fourth line LW better than Hoglander. -
[Signing] Oilers sign Evander Kane
bigbadcanucks replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
What sort of fraud you talking about? Bernie Madoff type fraud? Prince Andrew type fraud? Bruce McNall type fraud? Alan Eagleson type fraud? Tax evasion? Tax avoidance? Lying about co-vid test type fraud? Taking a me day when you call the office and tell someone you're sick type fraud? Bre-X, Worldcomm, Enron type fraud? I'd do the same...I would sign Kane for simply laying out Matt Cooke, the biggest rat in the past 15 years; I wouldn't sign Virtanen because not only he a phat puke and a despicable human being, he's horrible at hockey. I hate Marchand with every fibre of my being, but he would have a spot my roster any day of the week. -
If anything, JR and Allvin will be given the benefit of doubt and some runway to right the ship by ownership, media and fans. I may sound salty about Benning in my posts, but I think the Canucks prospect pool is better than everyone makes it out to be. I'm pretty optimistic about the potential of players like Karlsson, Klimovich, Silovs, Dipietro, Woo, Rathbone, McDonough, Koskenvuo, Truscott and Jurmo. It's lacking in star power and quantity, but with proper development, maybe a couple will emerge as bonafide NHL players. It's possible.
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Torterella interviews for Flyers Head coaching job
bigbadcanucks replied to Toyotasfan's topic in General Hockey Discussion
I hope Philly hires Torts. Can't wait to see how Torts and Bobby Clarke co-exist. Can't wait to see how he gets along with the Philly media (the same group that got called out by Bryz). And as @nuckin_futz, mentioned, can't wait to see how he co-exists with the Philly fans. -
As others have noted, Colorado went through some dark days to where they are now. Same with Tampa Bay. Same with Chicago. Same with Pittsburgh. Your posts crack me up because of the Dane Fox reference you have in your signature. Makes me laugh every time.
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If you think high picks are a first and a second, the answer is none. He gave a first to get Ballard, who came to the team needing hip surgery...bad move; he gave up a second to get Steve Bernier who didn't amount to much; he gave up a second to Minnesota to get two picks in the third; and a second for Derek Roy when the team needed a second line center because Kesler was out rehabbing from either a hip or shoulder surgery (can't remember which one). You won't get argument from me about his piss poor performance at the draft table, and bungling of Luongo/Schneider goalie controversy, but I'd hardly call him incompetent. As far as Luongo contract, trade and early retirement, I wish I was a clairvoyant like you. The thing that was wrong with the contract and trade were the arbitrary nature of the cap recapture penalty and Luongo's early retirement due to injury - two things that were out of anyone's control (maybe if Aquilini had some balls, he would have made waves with the Board of Governors). You must have magical powers to be able to see the future.
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What you're describing is the cycle that teams go from pretenders to contenders to pretenders. For sure Gillis did a poor job of scouring the market and acquiring young undrafted players (the way Rutherford was able to do with the Pens) and picking crap in the amateur draft (only win = Bo Horvat), but he mortgaged the future to give the Canucks a decent run of 2-3 years where the team had a legit shot at winning the cup.