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Everything posted by IBatch
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You can show a horse to water but you can’t make it drink or whatever the saying is. Some people just don’t get what being a human is to most people right now in this continent. Cancel this cancel that stay at home in mommies basement or with your trust fund and the rest can risk their lives keeping the economy going - but you have the right to pass judgement or assume things. Venting ha ha Mental health is important too - and the Canucks and the rest of the league will be providing an important break for a lot of folks. If they don’t want to participate then fine. What is the grand total at so far? One bottom pairing D and an AHLer who was on waivers twice and nobody picked up? Hmmm. With 400ish players tested (more then half) I’d say the overwhelming majority are fine with the risks. Maybe it will go up, maybe it won’t. These guys have a lot to lose and they know it. The only people not working have enough money to feed themselves and wait it out, or have a possible rich and overly careful employer (ahem government) - not a lot of folks. Easy to sit back in your private paradise and pass judgement when your not hungry or homeless... These guys should be safer then 95% of the work force that is providing us with the necessary things to survive - and also know that millions or potentially (billions) are on the line depending on whether they do or don’t play - they aren’t stupid and aren’t just playing for the last three paycheques they got. Have zero sympathy for anyone who’s not out there doing their job and or sitting at home passing judgement on these or anyone else who’s doing their jobs - without the supply line good luck. Your not part of the vast majority who have bills to pay, mouths to feed and take risks just like everyone else who’s leaving there house on a daily basis. That’s enough Covid soap box for now.
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Yeah and who gives a f right for the grocery teller making 15$ who feeds you once a week or anyone else who had to work or who could stay home but has the balls to do it anyways.
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Aside from cap reasons there is zero reason to trade BB. His PGP is close to Laine..on par with the Sedins and Naslund and he’s just getting started. Give the guy a chance ... sure it might be a good idea - but it could just as easily become very regrettable. Trade Pearson ... or just don’t sign TT. In a similar role I doubt he will outperform BB over the next five years. Terrible idea to trade our proven youth just to get a tiny little bit better short term. IF we trade BB it has to be for a guy like Bouchard or Dobson. RHD with a tiny cap hit. Otherwise just maintain the status quo and in two years all the cap space we need will be there. Hate the idea of cap dumping... just take our lumps do our best and organically it should all work out. Don’t want to lose another good prospect just so next year could be better (Sutter and lose Lind and a second for say a fifth back for example). Just idiotic. TT wont become a PGP player ... maybe he can match .85 or BB production playing on our first line for a few years at the very most. His shooting percentage isn’t sustainable... most of his points were in the first half of his games and he started to level out near the end. Wake up. Sure we can’t keep everyone - just trade Roussel..or Pearson ... UFAs aren’t going to get big deals this year ... take our medicine and move on . Edit: BTW I like Pearson / but TT is an upgrade. Little chance we can keep both long term ... trade high buy low.. nobody wants Bear but between him and Ferland I’m sure we can manage.. if TT goes elsewhere then no big deal keep Pearson and trade Roussel it shouldn’t cost us much ... I am not a fan at all of trading BB. He’s already a leader in our group and is very young. Stupid stupid stupid. Let’s see what we have at least first. If we have to trade him do it when his stock is higher too - doubt he won’t be a top RW for years once he hits his prime.
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Hope we get to play them. EP showed his rookie year that he can be an absolute beast too - and think advantage goes to us with him rested (EP)... The most exciting games the past few years have been against COL... would be a treat to see us go against them and truly wouldn’t bet on either team (too close).. Edit: not sure if this poll is public but I answered we’d lose in the conference final...means we win two rounds. However I’d be satisfied we won two games in round one - and happy if we got out of round one too. Watching this club for years I won’t be surprised if we go further then expected. Our forward group is monster sized built for the playoffs ... and our defense when healthy is good enough... goaltending is top five ... like our chances
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Me too. He did a great job in the AHL - same as Markstrom... for those that doubt or worry about his performance when it really counts (playoffs) he does have some experience with this in Utica - I think he will do great. The best goaltending we’ve seen since Luongo left for sure. Didn’t he break McLean’s record for shots on net and a shutout this year? He can and will be a big difference maker - no slight on Demko he played some great games too - however Markstrom gives the team swagger.
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Absolutely. Point is he’s not there yet - however I love Demko and hope he’s the it back-up or ideally wins the starter spot based on ability once he hits his prime. He’s a very valuable player for us... but he’s also not a top 30’goalie yet...heck Markstrom didn’t make the cut at the start of this season either and didn’t until maybe 1/4 or the way through ...
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Sarcasm meter isn’t so good but I can tell your view ain’t hopeful. Canada isn’t the US ... 3/4 of the league teams would be safer here then in the cities they play in. Why don’t we just give it three weeks and see how it goes before worrying about what if’s. There is absolutely no way Trump will get re-elected ... it will be a landslide the other way. The US is dealing with huge wake up calls all over the place. Educated citizens know that their rhetoric that they are the greatest is a big pile of BS and change is coming. There is enough division in their own party to safely bet he’s down in the fall. He’s been watched very closely by an element within his party for most to understand he’s on very thin ice - he won’t survive much more stupid crap. Literally won’t. Yes I agree their numbers won’t peter out until the states put a stop to it - which easily could happen before the election but most definitely after. Or 400ish tested players 26 so far have it - all upon arrival and have been isolated. Maybe a few stragglers will come in and miss the play-ins that’s what the math is saying. Both EDM and TO will be ready...not panic time not even close as far as the rest of this season goes....next year? Well I agree it could be a write off completely until they get their sh!t together.
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Yep. Until the last season neither was Markstrom. Guys and gals there are only 31 starter spots and a lot of experienced vets like Allen (former starters) are back-ups. Demko would be ranked in the lower range of those players at the moment - at best average so in the 45 range ... likely around 50.
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There is always radio....game 7 94 against Calgary we were camping ... sitting like you say by the lake a bunch of friends (pre-booked and we decided to go ) and it was pretty cool actually. Back then the radio announcers were better then the TV ones so a bit of an added bonus too... best of both worlds for your lake house holiday
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? D. CV CD That’s crabby-talk. He’s not that bad ... better the most talking heads - if you were talking about Kypreos or Stomopopobobpologitus then yeah for sure. Hrudey and Ferraro aren’t bad either (although i don’t always agree with them) ... Burke has a lot more hockey knowledge then some of the talking heads, has a connection to the Canucks and thank god we still have guys around like him ... not everyone has to be vanilla personality wise and stroke all the current events just right. If he sells out maybe I will change my mind. Him and Lowe going at it is classic stuff now. “That’s a small body gentleman”... go Hughes!
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Seed potatoes are the easiest to acquire... just buy Wal-mart quality potatoes a month before planting time and stick them in your basement ... you get four times the “seed potatoes” for a fraction of the cost plus don’t have to eat the grossest “spring “ ones
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Thanks for sharing Deb... I also took it for granted spending my summers in the Kootenays and Okanagon eating can fruit and fresh veggies and bringing home 50 quarts of peaches, pears and cherries ... so much better then Del Monte... garlic is easy - even their sprouts are good as a substitute for chives ... each plant should grow a bulb ... onion like (also easy to hang and use later especially on the island and lower mainland)... it’s not for everyone but I think and wish it was for everyone ... so healthy - a nice hobby .. and if it saves money ... you can let one or two plants go to seed and use them the following year .. once the garden is made it just gets better with composting too... Edit: If space is an issue try growing pole beans and cukes up a trellace...one pole bean can produce 4-6 pounds of beans ... corn needs space but you can use them as a trellace too (or sunflowers) and grow the beans up them and get 2-3 cobs a plant too...
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[Discussion] Getting out of Cap Mess
IBatch replied to Provost's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
5...7..8..9.......10! Thx. One of the better posts I’ve read today. And completely agree. Do we have cap issues? No. Not really. To me cap issues are like the ones MG created good for a cup. Which stink followed us around until the Sedins retired and I don’t blame or regret this one bit he did his job well. If we won a cup the following decade would have been worth every second. CHI had to re-invent their team and send fan favourites away four times ... we have done it twice over the same time period ... the re-tool was foolhardy in retro-spect but because of MG their was no better path. If JB decided to give ultimatums and tear up NMC/NTC ... what free agent would ever sign with us while he was around ? Even the he still did it a little to boost our chances. Overall I’m happy we still have him - he’s a breath of fresh air after MG who had the personality of a dead fish. Well liked and respected. And earned the chance to get this next core as close to the top as possible. Already our team is better the average or average at the least..what can we do once the core matures and the rest of the competent prospects join the team? More then I thought even the best GM could do - really I had zero hopes for the next core given we were starting from scratch...better odds as an expansion team under the we old rules ... how many playoff appearances has Columbus made again? Figured at best part of this core and the next one might have a chance (and that could still be the case)...at best. Unrealistic expectations permeate this forum - which is fine - hard not to have that if you became a fan during the WCE era ... all we did was win and win and win...more games then anyone but SJ over a 15 year period ... now we have paid the piper - 2-3 years quicker then I expected.. let’s enjoy the heck out of it!! -
[Discussion] Getting out of Cap Mess
IBatch replied to Provost's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
LE going down saves us at most 300k as someone else has to replace his spot ... for this reason plus TG will want his best lineup I’m not sure he’s going anywhere ... maybe your right - but if you were him would you leave 5 million on the table - still a solid bottom six guy on most NHL teams because your afraid of Covid? NY was one of the hardest hit states and they have tons of pushback towards their president and his leadership at the moment...they are taking this a lot more seriously then other states...most of the bus rides aren’t long ... and Canada would have to approve to let them in to play in Belleville (ONT) and in Laval (Quebec) ... two massive question marks. Many fans said he’d be on the bus this year and I completely disagreed...not so sure I suppose it depends on both TT and JV more then anything..and even then it’s not for sure .. don’t worry too much ... two more years and both him and Luongo plus 70% of the team is off the books. Still plenty of time to take advantage of a 20,20,22,23,24,26,28etc year core ... -
[Discussion] Getting out of Cap Mess
IBatch replied to Provost's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
Maybe .... but who’s the guy we trade to fit TT in then? JV? Not enough still have to add. Agreed that the play-ins will help management make a decision ... and if somehow JB keeps both Pearson and TT and we are solidly in the playoffs that he won’t trade him ... someone has to go though and why do a cap dump when we don’t need too? Hate to lose Lind or Hoglander just for one more year or Pearson....plus Sutter or Roussel or even AG....makes zero sense -
Those weren’t very good - good old days ... COL was a perrenial contender and just warmed up with Naslund and Co to take on their true rival which was Detroit. Kind of like warming up with Vancouver in my good old days - playing against CAL or EDM ... so they could warm up to play each other - winner wins a the cup or automatic bye to the final ha because they were that good ha ha ha. Yes one time we were up and Minny came back and spanked us ... thx to Cloutier who has the honour of owning the worst playoff sp of any goalie who got to play 25 or more playoff games ... .875 ugh. Ugly is more like it. Don’t feel nostalgic and one bit or need any reminders either. Up 2-0 against a top ten all-time team - for that there is a Cloutier too. Hire him as our goaltending coach - seems to me for everything that could go wrong there is a Cloutier - key the beachball memes.... Lidstrom should write him thank you cards every year. At least he could fight though right?
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That’s really sad I’m sorry for you loss Deb. Growing and harvesting your own food has many rewards and we are so fortunate to live in a country where natural resources can still proved wildlife for food. I’m not much of a hunter for sport - but can appreciate the buzz some folks get it because as far as fishing goes there is nothing more exciting then watching your rod tip go down. Thousands of tourist hunters come from all over the world to hunt in Canada - a lot from Germany and the US and pay a lot to do it. Black Bear on the Island are the largest in the world (bigger then some breeds of Grizzly) and the population is very healthy... largest Elk in the world too but only a few hunters get each year (on the island) - both are delicious if you know what your doing - better then pork and beef. For me it’s all about the meat - it can be smoked, canned and Vacuumed sealed to last the year ... and better for you...a relatively small investment to get all the red meat your family needs if you have good access and or are willing to take the time. We are so extremely fortunate to live where we do was my main point. Getting outside and into nature is rewarding just by itself - adding a cooler full of fish or a couple hundred pounds of wild game is a bonus. Used to rent a charter once a year with a buddy, catch our limit and each come home with 200lbs of salmon and halibut ... well worth the $1000 .... If you can’t do this you don’t know where and it’s a secret ha ha ... as far as veggies go grew up on fresh ones in the summer - and have had my own garden since I was 20...first one was only 10 x 12 in Victoria ( not a great climate for one) which fed all my roommates plus my another 4 people .... by rotating and staggering it a little. Now it’s 15 x 100...we make salsa and marrinaire sauce for the next year - can pickled cukes, carrots, beans and beets (60 jars approx) ... freeze beans and corn too (two medium/large cobs is the same as a bag of green giant corn BTW - culled has of course) ... potatoes we eat until March are stored in cold storage - just like the ones you buy at the supermarket... if done right you want and need not 95% of your veggies and spices ... dry our own herbs too (5 times more potent the stuff you buy at the store). Garlic ... a very long list. Again I’m saying this because for a generation that’s so concerned about the environment and what they put in their bodies .... that’s all but abandoned how things used to be food wise I find both ironic and more then a little sad. We are so fortunate to live where we do. Barely touched on the ocean either ... clams, shrimp, crab (it’s crazy easy to catch and eat as much crab as you want if you have access to the ocean).... not many countries have the luxury we do. Even condos that have a patio can produce quite a lot of tomatoes, cukes, beans and herbs...
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Why I don't want the Canucks winning the Cup this year
IBatch replied to EP40.'s topic in Canucks Talk
Bet you could hear BC collectively cheering from Calgary. Every small town to city to big city in the province will be cheering and making a fuss. Pure joy. Personally it would be so unexpected that any run would rival 94’s... We have more fans then ever now ... four generations of them ... I’d consider coming home even if it meant quarantining if we make it to the final just to be part of that. Just not sure where to go whether it be Castlegar celebrating with the entire town including the Greens and some cousins, or the Island with family , or Vancouver with family ... All the places I’ve lived had hard core fans in BC and would miss the fun... Even here in Ontario I’ve met people born and raised that became fans because of Linden/Bure teams (Bure often their favourite player growing up - wow didn’t know that until I moved here thought it was all about TO and the Sens)... And watching Sens games in the peak Sedin years up to 50% of the arena was blue and green and black and yellow - good times (that’s faded a lot but still a lot of Canuck fans every game)... Canada needs a cup too, wouldn’t be at all surprised if the country gets behind us this year - as long as it isn’t TO on the other end ha ha. -
[Article] Top 10 Seasons for Canuck Goaltenders
IBatch replied to -AJ-'s topic in General Hockey Discussion
Good job AJ - always fun to read your write-ups. As of a few years ago hockey historians have gone back and down save percentages right back to 1953....some would be surprised to know the following - which sheds some light on how great the best of the business were back then, and how incredible some of their seasons were compared to the best post Roy. 9/10 pucks were scored along the ice ... drop down every time and cover the posts gives anyone with a modest athletic ability a huge advantage doing the butterfly over stand-up styles and became the great equalizer for less talented athletes and the best got that much better .. it takes a very special type of athlete that could stand up - wear leather pads and cover a much smaller amount of net relative today and post the following gaudy career sp. Start with Roy just for reference .910 66 SO and Hasek .922 sp 81 SO 1. Plante .919 sp 82 SO (1953-73) 2. Dryden .922 sp 46 SO 258-57-74 (in 9 years ... he won 7 individual awards and 6 cups) 3. Parent (as a flyer) .919 sp 4. Esposito .906sp 76 SO virtually the same as Belfour .906sp 76 SO And my personal favourites 6. Johnny Bower .921sp 37 SO starting his NHL career at 33-34.... and Sawchuk no career sp (yet) but you can bet it will come in and blow some socks away. Famously quoted for “you could tie one hand behind his back, throw a handful of rice at him and he’d stop every single one from going in the net”. 103 SO ... in several hundreds of less games then Broduer. Still considered by most the best to ever play the game. Considering the “average” sp didn’t creep up to above .9 until the dead puck era, what the above guys accomplished compared to their peers was simply unreal. Hasek is the most recent modern era goalie that managed the most .... what he did might have been the best six-seven year stretch ever - that said he was helped by the dead puck era .... and what he did wasn’t much different then what Parent and Dryden did in the 70’s either. Sawchuk posted entire playoff series with under 1.00 GAA ... closest thing to that would be the Luongo/Turco showdown in the modern era probably. Would be curious as to where CDCers would rank the best we’ve had all-time compared to the all-time goalie lists ... I’d have Luongo in the mid 20’s....part of that is that no individual hardware/no cups, and make SO losses ties and SO wins ties his gaudy win totals drop significantly compared to his peers ...he definitely was a top five goalie for most of his career...robbed of one Vezina for sure too. But not a top 20 guy. He’s the Joe Thornton of goalies. McLean in the 65 range, Brouder in the 80’s...still top 100 all-time nothing wrong with that. -
If you want to spend the time pretty much anyone in BC can use the luxury of being a resident to catch your own fish, fill the freezer with red meat every fall and grow and preserve enough veggies and fruit for the entire year. Need a little land to do the past part but less then one might thing (1/4 acre per couple is plenty for both fruit and veggies) ... BC has it’s own built in grocery store ... but instead it’s too easy to get a part-time job to pay for that and get stuck online or on a device I suppose... ONT too...
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Heard statues of Christopher Columbus getting trashed in the states. People need to back off and think about context. Use some empathy and respect for the people that came before us too - not just current events. Imagine if you were born back then - whatever views they had I’m sure you’d be exposed to regardless of moral compass and likely would have contributed knowingly or unknowingly. Are we supposed to hate our grandparents because they are bigots bt today’s standards but back then were just average folks? Or our parents? A lot of Covid and other transfer going on here ~ from whatever your unhappy about being expressed falsely as anti- whatever. Otherwise why wouldn’t this already be a thing... Never in human history has a people before us conquered a land and then given restitution for it. Survival of the fittest was how we evolved (at least that’s what we are taught right?). How long are we, our kids, grandkids and unborn children supposed to carry a shame most of us never directly participated in. There has to be a limit - this has been going on for half a century now (restitution) and the culture of shame for everyone included is all but embedded in our pyshces. No taxes ... free health care, free education and a box to tick that will get you at the head of the line regardless of your actual ability if it’s a public job. Equality doesn’t apply and I get that as things aren’t equal. Maybe when we are older anyone who used a gas operated vehicle will be looked at as garbage horribly backwards people. Same with meat eaters... and eventually people will clue into the scientific fact that plants also react to emotions (calming classical music makes them grow better - heavy metal or cacophonic music not as well, they have an electrical current that varies depending conditons - we don’t know much about it one day surely will) and could be viewed as feelings so five generations down the road no meat, no vegetables, only a man made paste like protein will be acceptable conduct and the people from the 21-22 centuries will be considered animals ethically. Sheesh. Vegacists, or something. Sarcastic for sure. But if things continue it could go way too far. Has anyone who’s pulling these statues down thought that maybe they should be up there as a reminder? Like remembrance day but all the time? Christopher Columbus - the explorer who’s discovery started all of this. When I was a kid the coolest thing ever would to be just like him or Maggelin - circumventing the world ... I suppose next up is Shakespeare... or maybe Leonardo Da Vinci. Colonialist/slavery connections and all.
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Takeaway on this : 1. BB is going to rip it up. Yeah we definitely haven’t seen the best of him yet despite having a career average higher then Lindens and comparable to the Sedins (can we hold off on the trade BB ideas for a bit - especially as far as who do you keep Boeser or Toffoli goes ... I’m sure BB will manage more then three 20 goal and one 30 goal seasons by the time he’s a UFA. Without injuries he’d already have done it. 2. Pandemic wise it’s safer to be playing hockey go figure. Maybe take a couple weeks off the Covid doom and gloom “all it takes is one player” crap. It’s already obvious that the players are at greater risk not participating. Sure would be nice if everyone got tested each and every day right? Edit: anyone who suggested Horvat wouldn’t play care to post a retraction?
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[Discussion] Getting out of Cap Mess
IBatch replied to Provost's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
I wouldn’t either (be thrilled). Question is does he have a long term future with the club - or will he parlay a career recovery into a legacy deal next off-season? His performance coming in wasn’t much different then TT’s was considering his line mates. Sutter and LE are cap dumps - this provides a solution both short and long term that doesn’t eat away at our prospect pool and actually gives something back (Pearson is no cap dump ATM / sell high buy low right ?!!). Worse case both Ferland and Bear get injured and Roussel needs to play that role - and someone has to come up from Utica to replace Roussel in the bottom six ... it’s a possibility. Best case Bear re-surges, same with Ferland and we make the playoffs next year - and even better at the TDL we can sell Bear too. Personally I think it’s mostly about surviving one more year before a lot of cap will shed naturally. We simply can’t afford everyone and I’d rather trade a player that’s not likely part of our long term plans then further deplete our pool just to sign more vets and have a short term better team / save the dough for when we can land a bigger fish like Stone or Patches or Hoffman or Dandanov this UFA crop. I don’t like it either. But we have to realistic about it too. Bear and Ferland both want another shot. Bear isn’t going anywhere- cleared waivers twice. Ferland isn’t either. Decent chance one of them can hold that spot or by committee. TG has to work with what he’s got - he had a crap line-up before so I doubt he’d complain much ...he didn’t have much issue with playing LE most of the season ahead of JV either / even though JV was by far the better option (but get he was needed in the bottom six too). Roussel did ok with the time he had on the second line (career year pretty sure). Ferland is used to getting second line minute as well and of course so is Bear. Don’t see much logic in not giving JV another contract - price wise he was a top producer last year ... McDavid would of had to score 300 points to compare.. baby steps right into 20/20 territory witj more bottom six then top six time / Hansen says hello right? TT is also an odd man out. Sure the team would be slightly improved with him in the lineup ... but not if by it means Pearson AND JV have to go. Sucks for sure - hard decision but I’d let TT walk, trade Pearson, let Leivo go (him or JV? See you later then) and replace Stetcher with Tree if possible otherwise a one year deal and that’s it. Plus sign Markstrom, AG, Tanev and JV. Any deal that allows us to sign TT will also have to factor in the subtraction to allow it. He’s a luxury I doubt we can afford. Let’s just hope we win a round or two ... and that better minds have this all figured out. This is the best I can do.