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Everything posted by IBatch
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Don’t be mean. Some of us really aren’t fond of the Orca. Suppose your too young to know why - and if they changed it permanently you’d be a little heart broken and none too happy about it for a long time either. Orca entertainment says hi. God bless the mighty Quin for this team not being called the Orcas and in Seattle right now too.
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Stands for sucks.
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Skate Jersey Petition For Qualifying Round/Playoffs
IBatch replied to djheer's topic in Canucks Talk
Your wrong about Canuck having a connection to lumberjacks - Johnny Canuck has been around since before Canada unified - used as a political cartoon to counter Uncle Sam and US influences as far back as the late 1850’s... and used periodically right through the Second World War to defend Canadians against the Nazis...pretty sure a burly lumberjack with an axe would have made an intimidating cartoon against a silver haired skinny dude in a top hat - and nazi Germany given how ferocious our troops were considered (Nazis hated going against us - considered us as shock troops - more capable and fearless compared to the French, British and US in their minds anyways) talking to my grandad about this he said the US troops were over fed - they’d get steak and eggs every breakfast - and spoiled, and ran and hid at the first sign of a tank- and that they had to bayonet them to get them off their landing crafts (sure he wasn’t too fond of them). Johnny Canuck made the word Canuck have more meaning - it made Canuck buffoon logger type - at least for a time- and definitely was a derogatory term to US citizens (which is changing but it still can be used that way now) and an affectionate one for Canadians and our British Allies. Edit: the influence in modern times still exists - Wolverine, a Canadian is often called a Canuck or Canucklehead and was depicted as a logger in one of their films...the logger connection still has merit today - and definitely makes sense as far as BC goes given our forrests and the industry carries so many towns in the interior. He looks like a logger in his films too ha ha. As an aside my favourite scene ever was a credit scene where a young Xavier and Magnito found him in a bar and went in to recruit him for the x-men - they go to introduce themselves and he just says “f!ck off” and they retreat with their tails between their legs with looks of astonishment on their faces - which were absolutely real because Hugh Jackman didn’t go with his lines at all. They loved the scene so much it took one take and used it - also the only time a Marvel character ever swore like that ... until Deadpool of course. If that’s how the media still wants to see us I’m cool with that. Edit: as far as our namesake goes, a logger would be just fine - and a throwback to our roots the old WHL as well. Represents the name well, and makes more sense then a constipated Orca. Edit: Man this is going on and on. The Sens have a senator on their logo - a Roman one but that’s a senator. The Boston Bruins have used a bear in their logo from time to time - so yeah they’ve done that. And the New York Rangers also go our their namesake despite it having little to do with New York. They were nicknamed after the Texas Rangers (a play on words with the owner at the time named Tex) - if you go look at the State of Texas flag and also do some research into the Rangers themselves the logo will make sense very quickly - so yeah they also are honouring their namesake despite it having zero to do with NY, a lot to do with the Rangers though. Won’t look too far into the other ones you’ve listed but bet if I did you could find a connection somewhere. As far as criticizing the orca - their is plenty of basis for it, anyone who watched them change then to those god awful Messier era ones knows what I’m talking about. The Sedin era ones were an improvement. Orca entertainment branded us. Literally wanted to change the name too but Quin was so vehemently opposed to the idea it didn’t happen. Not our best moment. And the stink will never wash off for some of us. -
Skate Jersey Petition For Qualifying Round/Playoffs
IBatch replied to djheer's topic in Canucks Talk
Plus the Messier era. Ugh. Shoot the whale/dolphin and bring back the spaghetti! -
Skate Jersey Petition For Qualifying Round/Playoffs
IBatch replied to djheer's topic in Canucks Talk
All the players current and from the Sedin era love them ... yeah they should just rip the Orca bandaid off - go back to those uniforms permanently - keep fin and make the prime Sedin era Orcas the 3rd jersey. Would be met with overwhelming approval - could hear the cheers across the province if that was announced ha ha. The new Orcas are not a big improvement- at best a sideways move (don’t get the green sleeve stripes) - they looked awesome wearing the black skates - that’s for sure. -
Why I don't want the Canucks winning the Cup this year
IBatch replied to EP40.'s topic in Canucks Talk
Hmmm. When I watch the cup winning game it’s the players reactions in watching, not what the fans might be doing (and enough road game wins where no fans are cheering right?)...it won’t suck one bit if the Canucks win - it will be overwhelming joyous fans or no fans - road or home win. -
Why I don't want the Canucks winning the Cup this year
IBatch replied to EP40.'s topic in Canucks Talk
No doubt. 98% of the fan base won’t be fortunate enough to be there live anyways - and I’m sure the pure joy after winning and the reactions of the players wouldn’t be any different if fans were there or not - obvious enough given how many teams win during road games. Did Boston not cheer when they beat us? The stands aren’t even that noticeable other then some of the lower bowl on most TV shots ... and sure by the time we get to the final all of us will be used to it...not to mention there is already talk about letting 1000 fans in for the finals ... which is enough to go around the bowl a couple rows socially distancing for sure ... which in Florida’s case doesn’t look much different anyways from a TV perspective ha ha -
Unpopular take, I never got the Ballard hate.
IBatch replied to CanadianRugby's topic in Canucks Talk
The guy that drove his own Zamboni around naked with two giggling naked Epsteinish young lady’s? Famously frugal same guy that didn’t re-up Vaive their best goal scorer three years in a row with over 50 goals? That Ballard? The one that laid praises on players face to face but then talks sh!t about them right after to the guy behind them on the plane often racially? He’d be slaughtered in today’s media ... absolutely murdered. -
Unpopular take, I never got the Ballard hate.
IBatch replied to CanadianRugby's topic in Canucks Talk
See above. More about what we lost - Willie Mitchell. One of the best defensive defenseman in the entire league at the time and for many more years to come. Defenseman like that aren’t done at close to 30. Idiotic idiotic idiotic. -
Unpopular take, I never got the Ballard hate.
IBatch replied to CanadianRugby's topic in Canucks Talk
For me it’s more about not being happy with MG at all. We had Mitchell, we could have re-upped him and instead let him walk (which he did straight into two cups) despite winning Pratt awards for us .... and then traded a first plus plus for Ballard - at over 4 million in cap space and eventually buy him out ha ha.. terrible idea (enough to say - hey why don’t we sign Mitchell? - he’s our best defenseman after all). To me this was by far the worst move MG made - and the Ballard trade is connected to it given the gaping hole in the locker room without him. Erhoff and Hamhuis were great though .... but still I don’t think Boston would have won if we had a healthy Mitchell instead of Rome ... or Ballard. -
Not really - but only because most of it could be under the Covid thread - which is setting a record for posts on this site that likely no other topic will beat ever. Surpassed the Burrows thread in what three months? - and it’s a off-topic thread. Maybe a cup winning thread will have enough legs one day. As for JV, he’s a grown man who can make his own decisions. BC is virtually free of Covid compared to any US state - and Ontario/and Quebec - and mental health breaks are factor in this - everyone needs to blow a little steam out sometimes and this is what people of his age do. The place was open to the public like it or not. What’s next? EP goes to a crowded restaurant and is caught not socially distancing? That should get another 10 or so pages of OMG the sky is falling.
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Not sure what the “ many criticisms” that he was a bottom six player was about - definitely not from any hockey people. Toffoli and Pearson are middle six players and JT Miller was definitely a higher regarded player then those two guys have been given he’s not a winger and his track record speaks for itself - second line player means top six. Every hockey guy in the world can figure out pretty quick the centering the third line on one of the deepest teams in the league doesn’t make you a bottom six player (for what one year too?) - and still putting up great points for that role (like to get 50 points out of Sutter right? That’s elite production for a third liner even with PP time ). Admit I was a bit shocked when it happened, but having seen him play before enough in the playoffs I knew a little of how he played the game. Didn’t realize he played the same game more or less in the regular season too - lucky us. Agree that at the time it was a fair deal, a deadline trade to a contender with space for him might have been a lot steeper. Look at what Tatar cost Vegas for example - and he was only on contract for two more years not four. That trade didn’t work out for them well - couldn’t even crack their lineup so it was more of a depth add...don’t read anything blasting Vegas for it so why would there be a bunch of people blasting JB for JT Miller? It was a fair deal adding another Horvat type (which is what I kept saying once the initial shock wore off - almost exactly the same stats as a Horvat - but a guy with more of an edge though)...on all but maybe two or three NHL teams deep enough to have the luxury to make him a third line guy playing 14 minutes a game...imagine if JV could do that or AG)... Also agree that a lot of folks believed he’d get 60-65 points playing first line minutes - virtually every fantasy guide at the start of the year pegged him around there as did a lot of folks on the CDC prediction thread too. Pretty sure JB would have believed that was what he was going to get - definitely a fair value trade. Read quite a bit on this thread about JB getting criticized at the time media wise about this - can’t speak for Vancouver media as I don’t live around there anymore - but can say I’m definitely having a hard time recalling any negative things on national media and definitely nothing bad said about it back East on print media that I’ve read for sure. Even at the draft don’t think any negative things were said at the time. And Burke liked the deal .. Finally id like to add we went from one of the worst face off teams to one of the best (2nd in the entire league) thanks to this trade too. Not many teams have a one two dot punch like we do. And that’s with giving EP some and AG time to get better as well.
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Re-signing Toffoli means someone else has to go - unless LE retires I suppose then it’s possible, but think it’s unlikely we will be able to re-up Pearson too with EP and QH up as well. So at best it would give us next season with most of everyone minus LE - at worst we’d also have to factor in the loss of Pearson right away (and then our left side would have a gigantic hole in it) and or JV - a modest improvement at best - about the same would be likely - even worse also a possibility especially if Pearson is traded before the season starts to fit Toffoli in. Who’s going to play L W on the second line? Roussel? Hmmm...well not great for sure. Edit: It’s possible Bear could come back and fill that spot and re-unite the triple B’s or Killer Bees or whatever you want to call it ... not the worst thing in the world but still it definitely comes with some risk. If Toffoli wants to sign then maybe it’s a cap dump that fixes this for us but then that also has to be factored in, risky especially if the prospect ends up having a good career.
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For me anyways I see Markstrom as a must sign both for now and the long term. He’s only 30, has low miles compared to a lot of goalies his age - and entered his prime this season. Can’t see how he won’t still be a capable goalie at 35 ... However Toffoli could be another bad signing ... or he could be great or just ok. We don’t really need him ... and if we do sign him might as well say goodbye to either Pearson or JV. Like you said can’t afford them all. The list of mid level guys who lost their mojo soon after or a year or two into their UFA deal is very very long. For every Tavares, Panarin or Stamkos there is five guys like Neal, Lucic, LE, Foligno, Ladd, Skinner, Duchene, Clarkson etc.. Karlsson maybe too. I do feel pretty good about adding Toffoli - but not sure we win if that means Pearson or JV have to go and how it could affect BB’s development too...glad I don’t have to make the tough decisions for sure. Edit: Pretty sure if Toffoli wants to stay we will offer him a contract - and that it’s a exit strategy for Pearson (we trade him while his stock is high - and get a modest upgrade in his old linemate Toffoli). If we don’t sign him then we can offer the contract to Pearson instead - win win.
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Yes, tough years for everyone. Tough for the recent graduates looking to join the workforce, instead bad to Mom and Dads... or recent retirees watching they life’s work go down in big chunks...not to mention small businesses. The Aqualini’s will divest themselves in certain areas and gobble up stocks while they are down grinning the entire time knowing full well when things swing the other way (which they most certainly will) that they’ve just added a pile of more wealth to their portfolio long term. This cycles happen once a decade or so and it’s not the rich that hurt from it - they gain the most and the middle class suffers through it unbeknownst to a lot they just handed it over to the 1%. Hard for the average folks to get in on, not impossible but not at all easy either. Pretty sure there isn’t an owner in the league that won’t have a many back ups to keep things going - and also bet that most will come out if this smelling like roses with a pile more holdings taken mostly from the middle class. Just how the world works. Worst case they lose one entire year of hockey - it’s possible. They did it in 2004....and can do it again if they have too - and this time they’ve enjoyed 15 years of growth and income on their investment(s) and don’t have a dozen or so franchises bleeding money. As far as NHLers go not worried about their finances either - sure a lot of them can add a lot to their portfolios too with good advice. Its the system the world runs on. If we were all rich who would do the work?
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The owners have had it great since the cap came in... first rolling back salaries and fixing them at I think 54%...then the next time they put them over a barrel and did it again going down to a 50/50 cut. Their collective “war chest” is massive .... plus new teams coming in lining their pockets with over 1 billion in expansion fees. It’s an elite club, that used to be a somewhat risky one that now is a streamlined cash cow...revenue splitting between franchises included. Not to mention off-book revenue the players never see and how collectively franchise value has more then doubled on average during that time period. Now rich people keep getting richer with minimal risk - and have the luxury and pride attached to owning one of only 32 franchises. So yeah they can afford it - and so far have been excellent bosses during Covid too. Have to give it to Bettman, he’s turned the NHL into a prospering well run business. Maybe the most influential person in the history of the NHL. Don’t like that he’s constantly booed ... he’s earned my respect despite not liking some of the things that have occurred during his reign.
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Markstrom too. Really we are one of the best positioned teams for this scenario as far as where we are in the competitive cycle. Two years a lot of money will be available and we will still be in the low spending - contracts remaining level and UFAs not getting what they might have if the cap continues to climb. Sure these guys need to be replaced - and a lot of them will with the “fab 7” JB believes will make the NHL from our prospect pool. I predict the following guys will be traded or not re-signed once they are up : LE, Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, Pearson, Benn, Leivo, and Bear. Maybe a hockey trade in there too. Love Pearson but he’s working towards getting his legacy contract and if he keeps it up will surely get it. Don’t think we can swing both Pearson and TT, will be one of the other past maybe next season. Stetcher might be out too, this off-season if Tree comes back. The team we have now and the next year or so won’t look anything like the one we will have three years from now. Yes I’m aware of the bonus money ... that said look at what happened to SJs lineup since acquiring Kalrsson...and TO...and EDM, CAL and Vegas and soon COL once their young guys get their second contract etc. We have some issues but it’s only going to get better. Love the quote that says as a GM if your not having trouble managing your cap that your not trying hard enough. Our cap issues won’t get serious until Horvat and other draft picks start getting to their third contracts ...that’s our best cap window ... thankfully they will be staggered..
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Recent epic beards - Phil Kessel grew a pretty great one - before him Mike Commodore treated fans to a full ginger beard with a crazy hair do to match...Clark Gillies might be the grandfather of all of this given it was the NYI dynasty that started all of this and his were fearsome... best one ever is probably Lanny McDonalds in 89... Hope Shea Weber makes it to game six or seven of the final one day - his beards are final worthy and he’s never made it to the third round. Edit: Gudas, Holtby, Burns and Thornton types don’t count - need to start from scratch and earn those
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Given Lanny has the most iconic moustache in hockey - you’d think he’d be a little more lenient with his brethren...have a 1982 sticker book from when I was a kid with Babych pretty much looking like a king .... was hoping to be able to flex one like that ... had an uncle that actually make them look like Crosby. Didn’t get the genes - probably a good thing given the 70’s were a long time ago ha ha .
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Yep and I remember both Federko and Gillies inductions been questioned by some at the time (THN in particular has a button on keeping the bar as high as possible). I’m with you though - think that all these guys did something special in their own way - and look forward to looking at their pictures and reading what they have to say about them next time I go there (past five-six year inductees especially). No low hanging fruit left from the 80-2005 players left ... still some out there though (Mogilny, Nichols, Turgeon, Fluery, and maybe Roenick - plus Barasso, Osgood and Vernon that deserve consideration) - until the current crop of guys like Thornton, Keith, Sedins etc start to age I’m expecting a few more years like we’ve had where guys who’ve waited awhile get the call finally. Edit: One thing Lowe never did better then Huddy was grow a moustache.
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Having watched him play I wouldn’t say the that it’s a massive bias - other then he’s got enough rings for two hands almost (who wears them on their thumbs anyways). But would say what you said about Mitchell and Foote has merit - if they managed 4-6 rings maybe they’d be in too. They aren’t the only players that have been lucky enough to play on great teams that are in the HHOF. Sometimes it’s just about been at the right place at the right time (see Carbonneau) - the bar was lowered before he got his call already. Could add Recchi and Andreychuk too...wingers that rarely came close to personal hardware or first or second star all-star selections. If I had to pick a date and time the bar lowered it would have been Gilles induction. Right there it went from the Hall of the elite to the Hall of the very good. Thing is I really don’t have a problem with it. Longevity, cup rings, expertise at certain things does matter too - not just elite skill. Gainey never got much more then 40 points a season but could shut down anyone. Watching Carbonneau in Dallas I remember thinking wow this guys like Gainey... Walter was pretty good at that too... Tonneli was the missing part on the NYI dynasty- at some point won’t be surprised or upset at all if he gets the call. Think prime Kesler, after Miller the best player on the silver medal team gave everyone opponent and Canada’s team fits and super dangerous around the net. Plus Tonneli has a bunch or rings and some other props ... and as Ovi says cups are cups.
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I have to bite my tongue a lot lately - thanks for understanding. Within 100miles of where I live there have been more cases then all of B.C. Still 3 of the four in our household go out to work every day - and one of us would probably end up in the ICU if and when it comes home (me actually). Balancing the value of work with teenagers is important enough for me to risk it. No testing every day.... so yes it rubs me a little when I read about some CDCers getting on a soap box in a very safe area relatively and worrying about what could happen if hockey goes back. My grandad got off a boat twice including Dieppe ... Johnny Bower almost did too but fortunately he was sick and didn’t otherwise he’d have a 50% chance of dying or getting captured. And (Grandad) shovelled coal all day into a train car to earn just enough money to eat during the Great Depression. My life wasn’t that easy either - but you can bet I had a lot to live up too. Had to do it myself as there was there wasn’t any options otherwise. So no I don’t have much empathy for lazy a holes that probably haven’t to do anything without Mommy or Daddy helping them or a nice lift in life because of status or whatever ... nobody I know is complaining or worrying about millionaires going back to hockey to ensure they can still make their millions - and the players aren’t either - they know how fortunate they are and that the next three years pay-cheque’s depend on it. I’d do the same in an instant plus anyone else I know if we had the chance. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
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Yep. Nailed it. I wonder how many people on this site that are so very concerned about the safety of the players are even spending any time to see what they (NHLers) themselves are saying about it. They want to play. They consider this as possibly the hardest cup to win in the history of the NHL...so no asterisk required. .... whenever any of us go out to get food thank the supply chain for risking themselves to get it into our mouths. These guys also know their paycheques are at risk too. They want to play why should we be worried about the logistics of it - just let them do it. Of course ANY scenario is possible. A lot of folks live hand to mouth. BC has had the luxury (so far) to barely be in this pandemic. Funny thing is the effects of it socially-economically are causing a lot of damage too. Ugh. My Grandad enlisted in 39, fought in Africa, Dieppe, Italy and Germany...also shovelled coal all day into a train car during the Great Depression. Thankfully he’s provided some perspective- anyone who’s never lived hand to mouth can sit back and criticize all they want but have no clue how a lot of folks live. Sure would be nice if everytime you went to work you got a Covid test right? And made at least 700k to do that.