Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

IBatch

Members
  • Posts

    21,791
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    6

Everything posted by IBatch

  1. Maybe they will steal our black colours and put a salmon or squidward (Kraken -have fun with that logo folks) and we can hate them immediately ha ha. Better yet call themselves the Orcas or Killer Whales ..and we can love them right away ha ha. Use the same colour scheme as the WCE era ones ha ha. In the end I’m sure the hate won’t take long , especially if we give them a good player in the ED.
  2. Only the Adams is voted by broadcasters - I suppose in that case your view makes sense although it’s not like the Canucks haven’t won the ones they should have. Quin and Vignault were the only deserving ones so far. Vezina the GMs do - does that also have an eastern bias? And all the rest including the Conn Smythe are done by the pro hockey writers association, 180ish members spread out all over Canada and the US. Like I said the only time bias would even matter would be these sort of things - and so far going back to the late 70’s at least the only robbery I remember was Lidstroms last Norris - and Perry winning the Hart over D Sedin and it was an eastern based company THN that wrote a convincing story as to why - using it as the example as to why not all Harts were created equal, and maybe Cujo and he was in TO everyone’s favourite jealousy meter when it comes to bias. Not sure how this started about a dialogue as to why “awards just bump players cap up” to a bias thing but I’d need some other examples to really feel it. THN is mostly based back east and they’ve been big supporters of JB and the team so don’t see it there other then a few wtf’s early on. Aside from awards what else would any bias real or imagined even effect? Lottery Balls? Scheduling? Influence maybe? Some of the announcers aren’t very good ... that’s for sure. I have always like Rhudey and he’s been pretty nice to us. Ferraro not as much and he’s from BC go figure.
  3. Seattle Rainboots. Or Seattle Umbrellas ha ha
  4. Sure. A PGP guy in a shortened rookie year at 18, one of the youngest Art Ross winners ever without Draisaitl’s help but please do educate me. Regular Hart candidate and aside from Kucherov recently the first player off any fantasy hockey board ... aside from Crosby and Ovi who else has managed as much has he has the past 20 years over the same span? For that matter not many ever have. I don’t say that lightly - wouldn’t call anyone else in the league other then Ovi and Crosby generational. His skill set is top tier, a level above even the best for the most part. On pace for his fourth consecutive 100 point season, this time close to 120 just like last year ... how many players have ever done that their first five years? MacKinnon has a much better supporting cast. Not sure if your joking or not. Only players I remember doing what he’s done are Hawerchuk, WG and Mario Lemieux. That’s a tiny list but please go on.
  5. Sure time zones are factor ... like back West most folks aren’t home in time to see the games let alone watch them when they are juggling kid pick-ups and making dinner etc. At best can watch the third period uninterrupted...yet it’s not that hard to watch the first period or two of western games out East and go to bed so I’d call that a wash at best (especially with PVR). In 94 game 7 I told my boss I had to be home by 4:30 to watch the game ... we finished close to 5:00 and I had to pedal my ass off to get home just in time to see the latter half of the first period and that’s without kids and a family...and no PVR...sucked so bad only time I cried over hockey in my life. As far as trophies go the only time I thought anyone was robbed was when Lidstrom won his last Norris and Perry took the Hart...both Western wins - and a little bit when Cujo didn’t beat Kolzig for the Vezina. Other then that not much to complain about close enough in my books. Sorry I don’t see the bias the same way. Pretty sure most who have split time in both coasts would agree. Nobody cares about the Canucks or TO where I live - it’s all about the Senators. Local media is in every NHL city concentrating on their team. Since half are in the western conference and half in the east what does it really matter? Sure some history around the original six team exists - mostly because before 1970 that’s all you had the cheer for... in our family you were either a Habs fan or a Leafs fan same as the rest of the country. Unfortunately most of that generation has died or seniors now. Guess those folks could have some bias for sure. But they aren’t working media jobs anymore unless your that old fossil who keeps comparing esoteric guys like Tiny Thompson to Rask (Fischler - do you know who I’m talking about) - and the few that remain are invaluable especially when it comes to all-time rankings as they saw it first hand (also why Sawchuk still is considered the best goalie ever - and why some that know better would say Bobby Hull was the fastest skater ever and had the hardest shot ever ... nobody has slapped a 120 mile an hour shot yet he was clocked doing it - and could supposedly skate 30mph faster then McDavid).... Anyways I see you logic but will just politely disagree. Leaving near OTT for just over a decade now I’ve never seen a Leaf or Canucks article - it’s all about and only about the Senators as it should be (poor me I know ha ha). For sure there are more teams closer together in the East and that’s where headquarters are but I’d don’t at all think they are out to get any franchise or that any one franchise is favoured. TO has 7.5 million people - it’s one of the biggest cities in Canada and the US. And it’s an original six team. Don’t confuse their market size for bias. It for sure is not.
  6. Yep. Doesn’t mean he’s Hart worthy- but I would agree with this statement. He’s a very special player and the definition of generational - and the heir apparent of Crosby in many ways. If he had better teammates he could score 150 points in a year. If Carlson was dishing pucks. If Bouchard can do what he was supposed to, he’s going to add a ton of points from the back end...
  7. Agreed the NYR have no business in the playoffs... they should have been a bottom five team based on their roster without Panarin. Watched Zibanejad his entire career ... what he’s doing in NY is nothing like he was doing in OTT with the same chances (he got plenty in OTT too). He’s impressing ... guess we will see during the play-ins if they belong at all. It’s a fair tournament structure. For all those Kakko fans ... so far not much right?
  8. Nothing wrong with a little recognition for a well played season for these guys. It’s a little academy awards like I will give you that - but it does matter a lot later for folks interested in hockey history that want to get a feel for how good these guys were playing against their peer group at different times. First and second team all-star’s matter for that a lot too. Who cares about the cap - it is what it is. Players get paid for the most part fair market value. Factually McDavid compared to the big three best players is grossly underpaid (compared to their peers) and should have gone for the max (which for sure they would have given him) but did not hoping the extra money would help the team. Crosby did the same thing (and percentage wise were virtually identical deals). Hockey players as a bunch are not at all like Baseball and a Basketball players when it comes to greed. Definitely more team players. There is a saying that after a baseball game cabs are called for each player and they go to their hotel or airport like that. Where as hockey players will get on a bus and shuttle as a team. Hockey is the best sport on the planet by far - and these guys get paid nothing like the big three. And are nothing like them too. I hate it when I read the dis-respect towards some of the best in the sport. McDavid crashes into a goal post and blows his knee up. Instead of taking the surgical route recommended (which would require 12 months off) he re-habbed his knee the hard way - in fact was a pioneer on this making an entirely new procedure - it involved a ridiculous amount of commitment. He cried when he was told it could mean a year off. And sucked it up and literally created a new way to deal with those types of injuries. Incredible really and The information is available back East. Whenever I read about BB should be traded for this or that I also wonder how many fans understood what he went through with his back. These guys are above and beyond as far as pros go and deserve every penny. And if they win a trophy they have most definitely deserved it. Hes better then ever right now - in fact an Eastern based article was recently written about him on NHL.com - great read. This bull-crap about Eastern bias is funny too - because of how overblown it is. Move back East and find out more about it. It’s some sort of victim culture some fans have locked onto and seem to enjoy. I’d suggest for starters just subscribe to THN (Based in TO). Anyone who has would have enjoyed the real story of who found EP and not some of the silly stories floating around here. (Hint it’s not Delmore). And have enjoyed EP on the cover a couple of times - same as BB and QHs. 40 issues a year for $60ish bucks ... easy and cheap hockey fix. Eastern bias indeed. Maybe check out the Hart trophy winners the past 30 years and see how many came from the west, or the other awards too. The Mantra everyone hates us but we don’t care is ironic. If you really don’t care why bother even saying that.
  9. Easily? Hmmm. I’d say it’s pretty close but not heads and tails above. I’d even argue Crosby is still up there same with Ovi. The Hart has nothing to do with the best player anyways. Often it is not the best player that wins it. The best player in the league year to year is closer to what the Pearson/Lyndsay award says then the Hart. If cap wasn’t an issue and you could have any player for a dollar who would you really pick? For most that conversation starts with McDavid and ends with McDavid be honest. He’s one of a select few that was hyped and lived up to the hype. Crosby is another. MacKinnon is more like Kucherov who played a few seasons and then started to become elite. Right now I’m not even sure I’d take MacKinnon over Draisatl...why? He doesn’t have the same supporting class and still killed it and plays like a tank. I’d take any of these guys of course but it’s not cut and dried at all. Im not even convinced an early 30’s Crosby isn’t in the conversation too. Or a close to mid 30’s Ovi.
  10. I’d be game if they made a second Norris trophy ... seems like it just goes to the guy with the most points way too often and if they added one called the Langway or Stevens award which just focused on defensive excellence but see your point. MVP is a common sports theme so the Hart makes a lot of sense and after probably the Conn Smythe is definitely the most valuable personal hardware. Wayne Gretzky deserves his Harts even with a great supporting cast... was scoring 200 points when the next best was mostly scoring 100, and once he was traded it still was obvious how dominant he was with a lesser support. Same with Lemieux he turned 20 goal scorers into 50 goals scorers...pretty awesome. I do agree that often the Hart also goes to the same guy that wins the Pearson /Lyndsay ... for us Markstrom might be worthy of both on the same team but both Miller and EP would have something to say about that (Lyndsay award). I also believe that if Markstrom wasn’t injured he could be up for both the Vezina and Hart this year. I don’t mind the two ... the voting is often strange though - D Sedin was more worthy of the Hart then Perry according to THN, and sometimes a goalie wins the Vezina but doesn’t win the first all-star team slot go figure right? McDavid or MacKinnon are the obvious choices for the Lyndsay (Although Drasaitl might be this year too) like Crosby and Ovi used to be, but every year is a little different as far as the Hart goes. Panarin IMO is by far the most deserving of the finalists but doubt he will win it. Most Valuable to his team definitely doesn’t mean best player in the league year to year.
  11. There is a big difference between the two trophies. One is for the player that was the MVP league wide for his team...the other is for the best player in the league voted by their peers. Strange how WG won so many Harts and relatively few but still a lot Lyndsays as you’d think it would be the other way around ... The Hart is often given to a player like Panarin, who without the team would do a lot worse. Hall is a recent example. Price is another one. Same with Haseks, which are great examples.
  12. Him and Hawerchuk played behind the two best centers ever to lace them up in WG and Mario. For a decade WG won 9 and Mario 1....then Messier got his due with two with Hull getting his lone one and he was one of the best scoring wingers all-time ... even crazier is the Art Ross ... it took 22 years before someone not named Gretzky, Lemieux or Jagr won... and really I should have been 23 as WG tied with Dionne but did it in less games ... at least co-owned it his rookie season.
  13. NYR has the worst roster by far of these three teams. Zibanejad had a career year - no wonder given Panarins help... he was the best 5 x 5 player all year - doesn’t rely on special teams to pad his stats nearly as much as the other candidates. For sure EDM doesn’t look too good without their wonder twins - but COL is stacked right now, have elite-very good young stars in all positions plus Kadri and Landeskog...IMO only Tampa Bay can compare with them. Girard, Makar...they are loaded. McKinnon did his thing without Rantannen for long spells but certainly had top notch support everywhere else. Remove Panarin from their lineup and they are bottom well below average, remove both him and Zibanejad they’d be bottom dwellers. EDM managed fine with just one of them ... doubt NYR would even be in the play-ins without Zibanejad.
  14. I’d also prefer TT to Dadanov, the extra cap it will likely cost doesn’t seem worth it but for sure he’s a more established first line player, where as TT is an established middle six guy. That said I’m not sure he’s anything more then a rental...I hope JB can swing it but not if it costs us any of the 7 guys and picks etc. The cost seems too steep when we can wait a year and do it for nothing added. Ideally the money we can save can be used to help our defense. BB is on a mission and looks like he’s come to camp possessed - TG says he looks better then he has so far - better then this and last year for sure. The best I can figure is we swap out Pearson for TT , trade Roussel and Benn don’t sign Stetcher or Leivo and that should be enough as they won’t be getting as much as they might have had the cap went up. JV could be moved to L wing or Ferland and Bear could co-manage the L side ... pays for spooner and bonus overages too. Oh and I agree Hominic/Tanev are good comparables. Ceci ... well he’s ok too. Really really wonder what they’d get on the one market though. Remember last year it was either Myers or what’s his name in TO that ended up signing in CAR for a lot less then folks thought as the best D (Myers was better for sure even if they both played RHD) around 4 million? Wouldn’t be surprised at all if all three of these guys in the market would get deals in the 3-4 range for 2-3 years and that’s it including Tanev. At least with us he has history - I see it as a flat cap one year deal.
  15. Hate to have to agree to this because at least he has a lion heart - but when it comes to size - Burke is correct in thinking it does matter for defenseman. It’s ok to go with the current trend of fast excellent skating small PMDs, unfortunately for Stetcher he doesn’t offer much offensively and I don’t think it would be too hard to replace Stecher with a one year pro deal like JB did with Fatenburg last year. Save us a couple million and by signing Tanev as well for a year you know Rafferty will get some games too ... plus it forces Rafferty to beat out the new signing and not get gifted a spot like what happens in TO these days just to save on cap. Rafferty is 6’2”......
  16. Linden at 18 was already a playoff driver ... that was one of the most thrilling Canuck series ever (Otto kicked it in), Vernon saved their bacon or no cup for Calgary yet - and without it no rivalry either. Then it seemed like every year with Linden we’d get an automatic bye in the first round - guaranteed to win a series pretty much for years. Know we don’t have the same support but it really was something... how many years did the WCE team win a series (was it one time?) Although they did win with Luongo his first year but that was, well all Luongo and guess who - Linden near retirement. How many series did the Sedin era team win a series? Naslund was still captain with Luongo/Linden vs Turco. We can only hope that this core can win as many series as the Linden teams did ... even with all the youth that’s a tall order, especially with soon to be 32 teams.
  17. Well, yes we actually did in Bure and Linden. And Nedved would have made three. These two back then were considered future stars ... Linden joined right away but they were only a year apart, Nedved and Bure were the same age. Have some old books from the early 90’s with the league future stars and both Linden and Bure were considered possible HHOF material at the time. Point is we did have the potential to have three young future stars at one point - Nedved did score 38 goals for us his third year... but it didn’t quite go as we thought it would. One year of QHs, two of EP and three of BB...what Linden and Bure accomplished their first three years was also very impressive. That’s the only other time that so far really matches up ... Nedved was unbelievable his CHL season pre-draft.
  18. RW Hoffman and Dadanov are a tier above TT as far as the rest of the league is concerned with this years crop of available forwards - enough to likely command a bit better money although I guess that’s subjective. Also TT age is good for a longer term deal then Dadanov but he’s definitely proved his value. Three seasons in a row close to 30 goals over a full season and 60-70 - a lot better then TT has managed over his career. That said as far a dollars goes they are all in for a bit of a reality check. Tanev was listed as an honourable mention in this class of top 20 UFAs by SN, TT 10 and Markstrom 6. Of the three partial to Hoffman having watched him the most but would be stoked if we could afford the luxury to add any of them. Alex P is probably not going anywhere ... what a coup though if we did get him. Don’t have any interest in Barrie - would prefer to stick with Tanev and sign JV for likely the same money.
  19. What a ridinculous idea ha ha. Yes that’s true to a degree. The top UFAs will still likely garner a lot of interest and get their pay-days - unfortunately for us Markstrom is one of them ... fortunately TT and definitely Tanev are not. It should help overall but it won’t help enough to sign all of them without quite a lot of movement. Do a spreadsheet if need be. Even if Markstrom and TT and Tanev all sign for 3 million collectively combined for less then expected it’s just a start. Best case IMO is Tanev signs a one year contract at flat cap. And TT agrees to a 4.5 x 4 deal also basically flat. Markstrom 5 x 4 (and a NMC). We are still short by a fair amount and haven’t done Stecher, JV, AG yet. Stecher can be replaced. JV cap will go up around 1 million almost the same with AG. Benn and Stecher both have to go, as does another 3-4 million to pay for the rest. IMO Pearson is the likely casualty IF we sign TT. If not no big deal we still have Pearson. Would be a x-mas miracle if all it cost was Roussel, Leivo, Stetcher and Benn to fit the rest in. Don’t forget the bonuses and Spooner.
  20. Look a little deeper. Those are some stats that do matter though. Let me ask you this though - if we could have Carlson, Hedman or Josi and cap didn’t matter (and it really doesn’t as they are close enough ) who would you want ? Even with Hedmans injuries I’d probably take him, then Josi then Carlson. That’s the order of who’s actually better defensively and all around too. Sure special teams matter... but so does defense...doesn’t it? Carslon reminds me of Mike Green when he was enjoying the awesome supporting cast ... same as it ever was in WSH...wonder how many points Carlson/Green would have without Ovi and supporting cast .who did Josi have again? Duchene and Forsberg ? How would he do in WSH I wonder too...Ha ha ha ha. Edit; oh and how many goals did Mike Green score again? Can’t remember but it was close or around 30 one year just like Burns recently... pretty sure Carlson is following a similar career path although it took him a lot longer to figure out who to pass the puck to. Will save you the trouble - 18,31,19 .over a three year period ... that’s who Carlson reminds me of.
  21. Yep. Cut our losses and move on. And hope this playoffs are worth it. JVs PPM were comparable. Just go with the devil we know on a much shorter term and less costly contract. The days of making this a UFA has been club are all but over (with the exception of the RHD - that’s where the money will need to be spent - but not quite yet).
  22. Stetcher will get a raise the team can’t afford. Well who knows really. That said Rafferty is the heir apparent and he won’t cost nearly as much. Or maybe we sign another cheaper option like Benn or Fatenburg last season. Agree he’s not so bad - but cost savings / Hutton treatment is all it’s about. And giving the guys like Rafferty a chance when the time comes.
  23. Our team defense is already bad if anyone hasn’t noticed. It’s ranked around 9 worst overall. Of course the forwards also have some responsibility in that which makes it even worse given the vets we have to help with that - shouldn’t we do better... oh yeah this teams built for the playoffs I forgot. Markstrom and Tanev are must haves next year IMO... how did the team do with TT in the lineup and Markstrom not? Demko didn’t do well during that stretch - maybe the pressure was too much - regardless the team won’t get in the playoffs next year without both those guys in the lineup. It’s ok if he doesn’t play a full season too as it gives us a look at Rafferty or whomever... maybe Rafferty gets a full time job and Stetcher is gone who knows. This team won’t compete and have the luxury to make mistakes without Markstrom and Tanev in the lineup. Why is 30 the new 35? Ageism only the NHL is a real issue right now as a result of the cap. A lot of defenseman have their best seasons in their 30’s including Edler’s best year in a long time. IMO the UFA musts are Markstrom then Tanev - TT could back-fire just as easily as work out ... Tanev on a flat cap one year deal makes a lot of sense for both parties. He’s not even listed in the top 20 best UFAs this year by SN. He won’t get a 3/4 year deal by anyone - and he knows it. Best he can hope for is working with our team in a descending scale of one or two year deals until he’s done. And fortunately for him and us it works as our r side is barren almost. So yes I agree on hard pass for Risto. Rather keep our picks and prospects and play a better defensive player then do that any day.
  24. Don’t be ridiculous. We still needed to ice a team and all those guys you’ve listed were fair deals with the exception of LE. Who was supposed to play instead? AG before he was ready instead of Beagle and ruin his development? Benn scored over 20 points in MTL and has good underlying stats - at 2 million what were you expecting? Sutter was never injured before he came here ... bad luck there. Surprised you didn’t add Ferland - he didn’t seem right last summer and felt we were stretching a bit id give you that. Even LE at the time seemed reasonable - a lot of fans were excited to have him. Fair warning for the future go big or don’t bother. These medium level stars are all over the board including Okposo, Neal, Lucic, Ryan and on and on. Spooner have us Schenn didn’t he? Funny thing is all these guys are off the books in one or two years so what’s the big worry. Oh crap we can’t sign TT who was BB replacement just to help the push to the playoffs ... we still lost a lot with him didnt we? He’s a rental. Why don’t we just wait until after the season is done to freak out too much and lay a bunch of blame on a GM who’s added so much to our hopes of becoming a playoff team again in the first place. He’s one year off on his timing - oh poor us his drafting is too good. It’s not that hard to work it - and I’m sure he will work it ... see my above post - the math works too.
×
×
  • Create New...