Schedule

January 26, 2023

That a boy Karlsson. Snipe!

Somewhere Googlie is a proud pappa lol

January 25, 2023

3 hours ago, JamesB said:

I thought it was a possible concussion when I saw that he left the ice after the hit. But it could be a shoulder or something else. Sorry to see it happen but Di Giuseppe deserves a shot. He almost made the team coming out of pre-season. He has spent his career going up and down between the AHL and NHL and has 204 NHL games (including 3 playoff games). At age 29 he might not get a lot more chances. And even now he is probably 13th man, with Pederson slotting in ahead of him.

In some ways I don't like to see the chemistry in Abby broken up. It certainly makes sense to leave Podz, Hogz, and Aman on the farm where they are making good progress.

DiGiuseppe is one guy they can afford to lose. He has been injured quite a bit this year so they are used to him being gone at least. I like that they are calling up the vets and letting the kids play on the farm instead. They need as much ice time as they can get!

January 25, 2023

2 hours ago, RomanP said:

Small correction - he turned 20 on January 9th.

Do you still keep in touch with him Roman? He is having a great year. It's great to see his confidence growing so much. Totally different player than last year. I'm rooting for him hard! I think we all are.

January 24, 2023

2 hours ago, stawns said:

This is why teams don't have room for enforcers

That’s bull shit!! I didn’t realize he got suspended.

January 24, 2023

6 hours ago, stawns said:

he barely gets in the lineup in Abby, let alone Van.

He’s gonna replace Vinny Arsenealt soon. I love Vinny but he is really slowing down. He has protected our young guys for so many years now. Would love AKL to take his mantle.

That being said AKL is a long shot like you said to make the NHL. It’s changed so much even since Ryp was in the league. You gotta be able to play hockey and not just fight.

He is young enough tho that anything can happen. He is versatile. Last season he played defence and forward. I like him better at forward actually. He was pretty effective on the 4th line. That versatility may get him some games in the NHL one day.

January 24, 2023

1 hour ago, ToTellTheTruth said:

I liked JR's openness

It was just that he said one thing and Allvin ignored everything and did his thing, the opposite. Allvin runs the team period.

I hope Rutherford keeps informing fans about his thoughts anyway.

Allvin so far, was a bad hire. Trying to be too tough with other GMs. He is like Benning, unsure of himself and scared to make a mistake especially after that disastrous contract for Miller. Truly I think he knew he was losing both and that is why he signed Boeser and Miller to over priced contracts.

All this crud about not wanting to keep retention but do buyouts is so illogical.

I think they aren't trading Horvat before the TDL without letting other teams talk to his agent is because they are worried a team will trade and then flip him for more by letting other teams talk to his agent.

.

IMO they will wait until the 12th hour to make any trades just so that doesn't happen.

I knew technology was improving I just didn't think it extended to a hologram of Goncher at practices in the future

I have my doubts on Allvin, my personal feeling is he is just a puppet and JR is the wizard behind the curtain pulling the strings. But I’m sure he has his own individual thoughts on our current issues. Will see how it all pans out. I’m trying to keep an open mind. However so far, not impressed.

I’m resigned to just “wait and see” for another 2 seasons to see where it all goes. After that I am gonna go full crazy and want to see it all burnt down to the ground…go full absolute scorched earth rebuild

January 24, 2023

44 minutes ago, Jaimito said:

OMG the connection was right there the whole time, I was clueless…but yes this is it. JR had found his mini me LOL

This is hilarious

Mini me, you complete me :lol:

January 24, 2023

2 hours ago, Goal:thecup said:

yup

Don’t lose hope buddy, your energy is needed right now. We’re in a shit storm right now…but this team will get through it. Gotta keep the hope alive.

Where there is chaos there is also creation.

January 24, 2023

3 hours ago, Toews said:

Wayne is the best hockey player of all time but his character isn't anything to write home about. He was culpable in that gambling operation but ultimately he was just too big of a name to take the fall. The fact that he is still out there doing gambling commercials shows that he doesn't really care about anything but making money. Pay him enough money and he will wh*** himself out for anyone. Then of course there was Lemieux who was alleged to have been involved in some real vile stuff. A stone's throw away is Bobby Hull who was a virulent racist who nearly beat his wife to death. I created this account with this name years ago long before the guy that I admired turned out to be a gutless coward. Being a good hockey player on the ice has nothing to do with ones morals off the ice. The three secret Hockey Canada sexual assault funds with millions of dollars prove as much.

All fair points to make. Hockey players are notoriously douche…at least from my experience. Especially in Canada with how they are idolized.

But I’m still perplexed about how Rick is so vile…it’s a gambling ring. Yes it was illegal but so is setting up a basement poker ring…which I swear in every town you go to there is one. Wasn’t it sports betting on football or something? Like how nefarious is that? Maybe my moral compass is broken but I could care less about stuff like that. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t seem serious to me. He isn’t going around like this hockey Canada shit or wife beating or belittling a team mate for trying to bring to lite sexual advances by the teams video coach…in no way is this in the same sphere at all…why the hell are we connecting him to that stuff to make a point?

I get us fans are frustrated with all the stuff going on, it’s a shit show, an absolute mess. Which has been a mess for years and years now. We have went thru GMs, coaches, training staff, players of different types over an 8 year period with no damn success…it’s absolutely tiring…but how the hell is any of this Tochetts issue? We are literally turning on a guy before even seeing what he can do for this team.

If he falls on his face flame away, which probably is gonna happen. But I’ll save my pissing in his corn flakes till the time he actually deserves it.

January 23, 2023

14 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

The problem is that Aqua isn't pushing back and forcing management to act like professionals. I can't support any team that I don't respect from ownership down to coaching staff. Sometimes you need to walk away because you realize just how toxic things are

...I'm unfortunately a sucker for punishment lol

January 23, 2023

On 1/22/2023 at 9:21 AM, stawns said:

Gilbert threw a suspension worthy elbow to the head of Karlsson and AKzl best the ever loving shite out of him........AKL's second fight of the game. This kid can fight

Obviously they messed up the time in the box score

Apparently they didn't get the memo that AKL is also a mixed martial arts guy, I think he has his black belt. However I can't seem to find any article on it. I remember hearing about it on one of Abbys broadcasts this year. He is so good at fighting apparently that guys in the WHL just stopped trying to fight him lol. Pretty cool he's born in Thailand as well.

January 23, 2023

1 hour ago, King Heffy said:

He has no problem hiring a convicted felon. He's absolute vermin and there's no limit for how low this scumbag will sink.

A convicted felon who kept wayne gretzky plus others out of jail. Is wayne vermin too? There were some very high profile names linked to this gambling ring, Rick never spilled the beans. I think this is being over blown too much to be honest.

I feel like we are connecting Tochett to the firing of Bruce, but he has nothing to do with his firing. He is just the replacement/fall guy. This management team is pretty cut throat and maybe it looks ugly but it looks like we finally have a group of guys in place who will push back against Aqua and his over bearing ways.

I've been a fan of this team way too long to tune it out. Maybe it's a bad marriage...but i've always been told if you stick the bad times out the good times will come.

January 23, 2023

1 hour ago, Fanuck said:

Wasn't Torts supposed to be that kind of coach? His style didn't work out here and it's certainly not working in Philly either. One wonders if that style of coaching works on today's modern athlete or if another type of method is more effective in motivating these guys? Do any of the elite teams in the league employ that type of coach who has that philosophy? I'm not saying it hasn't worked in the past, your example of your own team obviously backed up the method, but in today's NHL is that still applicable?

I think Torts is on an island all alone when it comes to "type". Yes he is a hard ass, but he is also half nuts. There are some crazy stories about him if you go back to his year here. To me it was a red flag when he wouldn't even move to Canada and decided to live in Point Roberts instead...he literally refused to come to Canada.

Yes Tochett is a hard ass, but he wants to come to Vancouver and try to make a difference. I'm gonna see this out...it's not like whatever we have been trying has been working anyways. Also I want to be clear I am not a fan of how Bruce was treated at all, but this isn't Tochetts issue, that's on management.

Also when Torts come in, we had the Sedins, well seasoned leadership, they both held high standards for the team, no one slacked around the Sedins. It's why we were a winning team so long with them.

Our current team doesn't have that same kind of leadership, as much as I like Bo his captaincy hasn't resulted in much change on the ice. Yes he's having a career year but I don't see him lifting the entire team up, just himself...that's a hard task to do, but great captains can literally lift their entire team on their shoulders and will them to win. Henrik Sedin was amazing at this, so was Trevor Linden.

So Tochett has to be the hard ass and set the standards, as the players have shown they are not ready to do that themselves yet. I think Petey if he stays will have the chops to do so, but let him grow into his game a bit more before slapping the C on his chest.

I'm not ready to walk away from this team yet, not when i've been through the Messier years lol. I still don't think this is as bad as back then. We have some great building blocks here and if we rebuild properly we still have a chance to be a great team in the future.

January 22, 2023

4 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

But integrity and morals usually don't.

We'll see. I'm tired of negativity and now that I've put my thoughts on how Bruce was treated out there, I'm facing forward. I live by the hate/drinking poison and expecting someone else to die deal.

I will welcome the new "team" in and see what they do and, also important to me, how they do it.

Winning isn't everything to me...I want a team I can be proud of for how they conduct themselves too. Some don't care...winning at all costs. I do though...it's a personal thing. The Sedins didn't "win it all" but that doesn't take away what they are in my eyes. True champions in life. A guy raising a cup doesn't get a free pass from me...there's more to it than that. What kind of human being are you? That matters too.

But, cheers to the future...let's see what it holds.

Same Deb, i'm taking the wait and see approach.

The other thing to remember before we burn Tochett at the cross is lots of other high profile names were caught up in that gambling ring as well...like Wayne Gretzky. Tochett gave up no one and took it all on the chin...not sure whether that's admirable or not, but it fits his tough guy trait. Something we have been really pushing for as fans is to have some back bone again.

January 22, 2023

25 minutes ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

Rick Tocchet deleted his Twitter account this morning.

To be fair, whether he did this because of Daniels tweet...I don't blame him for getting rid of it knowing how much of a fire he's coming into. Can't people dig up old tweets and likes anyways? So I doubt he did it because of Daniel. Not that I know much beyond this with twitter...I don't have any online social presence...only this site lol. I guess that counts.

EDIT, nevermind I see you addressed this!

January 22, 2023

1 minute ago, stawns said:

True enough, they do.

I'm very much enjoying and, though I'd rather not pay to watch hockey, it's a much needed spirit lifter and I still get to support my team.

If they weren't playing well, I wouldn't have done it, but watching podz and hogz gaining confidence and becoming difference makers is worth it.........not to mention the other prospects as well.

I think all those who said the prospect cupboard is bare should sign up.

For sure, well said. There is a lot to like on our farm right now. I've been watching AHL hockey since the manitoba moose days...now that was hard to find on TV back then lol. Utica was fun to watch because of the crowds, they come out and completely supported the team. To be honest most years our AHL club has always performed above 500 and barely ever misses the playoffs. A lot of early exits, but some good ones exist too. Cory Schnieder taking us all the way to the Calder cup finals with the Moose, same with Markstrom in Utica...that was some fun hockey to watch.

January 22, 2023

51 minutes ago, stawns said:

I just paid for the Abby feed on ahltv.......just the reg season, but it was only $30 I think

It's come down a lot since AHLTV was first started. One thing to note. They charge you in USD, so it's a bit more than 30 if I remember correctly. Still worth it I think. I really enjoy the AHL brand.

January 21, 2023

1 hour ago, stawns said:

I said I was more or less done with Van, so I went out and got the Abby AHLTV subscription for the rest of the year. So far, so good, they've got a solid team and they play a tight game........a welcome change from the parent team

Awesome to hear good sir. Maybe the camera angles aren’t the best but it reminds me of old fashioned hockey in your local rink broadcast by your local TV station like back in the day.

Great hockey as well. I have grown to appreciate the career AHL vets as well. Without them fostering our young kids on the farm there would no growth. It literally takes a team effort to get these kids to the NHL one day.

January 21, 2023

31 minutes ago, stawns said:

I didn't realize Silovs looked so much like Eddie Lack

He really does!

Noticed you’ve been watching a lot more farm games lately. Nice to watch some positive Canucks hockey for a change eh!

January 19, 2023

1 minute ago, -DLC- said:

They played Pink Floyd earlier.

Ususususususus......

and

Themthemthemthemthemthemthem

and after all we're only ordinary men

I'm trying hard to stay positive but that period was ass.

sigh

goals please

Honestly they are pushing hard. Elliot has been the difference. Our goalie different story. Hoping for more of that in the next 2 periods. Keep pressing on Elliot and they will start going in.

January 17, 2023

1 hour ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

I honestly don’t believe the OEL-Tocchet relationship and their past history in Arizona would be much of an issue, if Rick Tocchet is hired as the next Canucks head coach.

Lots has been said and written about the “rift.” And it’s true that Tocchet wanted OEL to be more “fiery” and play with more intensity and passion. He definitely challenged OEL to be a stronger and more vocal leader and tried to push some buttons with him. And sometimes that backfired. But for all the talk about Tocchet embarrassing and disrespecting OEL, it seems like Coyotes fans were more upset than Ekman-Larsson himself.

For OEL’s part, here are some quotes where he discusses his relationship with Tocchet:

(2020 interview)

“I think we have a great relationship. I think he’s a great coach and I’m excited to play for him again.

We have talked about this before, but it’s always hard for a new coach to come in and get to know all of his players and there’s always going to be times when I look at it one way and he looks at it another, but you’ve got to have that respect for the person and the coach and it goes the other way around with Toc for his players. I feel like that’s not an issue. We have a good relationship and we have been talking about a lot of stuff. It’s not like we agree on everything but at least we talk and at the end we have a good relationship. I don’t see that as a problem.”

(2021 interview, after Tocchet was fired)

"He just loves the game. He just wants to get better every day, it doesn't matter if he's a player or a coach," Ekman-Larsson said. "I feel like he made all of the players and guys around him better."

Coyotes fans (and many other fans and analysts around the league) have talked a lot about how OEL’s decline coincided with Tocchet’s coaching tenure in Arizona. And it’s true that a couple years before Tocchet’s arrival, OEL enjoyed his best season, and he was, at his peak during 2015-16, arguably one of the best players in the NHL (fancy stats that year, for instance, had him at around 6 wins above replacement and a player value north of $20 million). However, contrary to the popular narrative, OEL actually had a great first season, under Tocchet, in 2017-18 (it was, in fact, the second best season of his entire career, at least by the analytics).

Ekman-Larsson’s overall career chart paints a pretty clear picture. It’s really a textbook case of age-related decline. And not Rick Tocchet’s systems, or some personal rift, that saw OEL change from one of the league’a most valuable defencemen to a player on one of the NHL’s worst contracts.

OEL’s decline has actually played out over two teams and four different head coaches.

So Tocchet didn’t “break” OEL.

Father Time did.

None of this is meant as a “pro” argument for hiring Tocchet (just to be clear). More meant to make the point that any concerns about their relationship being a major issue are likely overstated. Handwringing is not warranted IMO. I doubt OEL is going to cry and sulk if he suddenly finds himself reunited with his former coach. He’s too good a person and pro for that. And he’s certainly not going to retire and quit hockey because of any coach (he has $10.5 million reasons, paid both this year and next year, not to, plus an additional $18.5 million in salary his final three years of this contract).

And I also doubt Tocchet is going come in and single out OEL for his “whipping boy” (although some other Canucks may not be so lucky). I think any buttons Tocchet wanted to push with OEL are done and in the past now. And OEL is also no longer the best player and leader on his team. Tocchet will likely be focused elsewhere, if he’s looking to challenge key Canucks players to be better.

When it comes to OEL, I think the more critical factor will be whoever Tocchet picks (if he’s hired) as his assistant to run the D. That relationship is going to be far more important, when it comes to how much value the Canucks can get out of the remaining years on OEL’s deal, and how happy OEL is with his role and playing in Vancouver.

That all said, I do think it’s still a fair assumption that Tocchet probably wouldn’t be OEL’s first choice for a new head coach. But he knows what he’s getting in Tocchet, so if it happens, it’s probably going to be an easier adjustment for OEL than most of his current teammates. And, when it comes to their “rift,” it would seem that most of these personal issues are well in the past. Both Tocchet and OEL seem to agree that they’ve always had good communication, had many productive conversations, and have worked through any issues or conflicts. And some time has passed, which also tends to help. They’re both adults and pros. Whatever the history, they should still be able to have a decent enough working relationship.

And for all the talk about the “rift” and these two “hating” each other, OEL has never really said anything to suggest that he ever wanted to leave Arizona because of Rick Tocchet. He agreed to a trade because Coyotes management made it very clear that they didn’t want him. That probably hurt his feeling more than anything Tocchet ever did (even the famous story about him getting knock on his ass during practice). Had things played out differently with that front office, I actually think Ekman-Larsson would have happily remained a Coyote for the remainder of his career, even with Tocchet as his coach.

If Tocchet becomes the next head coach in Vancouver, I really doubt it’s going to make OEL want to get out of town. I think that’s just wishful thinking for people who want to dump the contract. Which I can easily understand. But OEL picked Vancouver and I don’t see him requesting another trade, regardless of the coach. And his contract is all but unmovable, at this point, so he’s probably here for the duration of his deal and we just have to accept that.

(Sorry this post is long and rambling. I’m thumb-typing it on my phone during some spare moments, while focused on a dozen other things, so it’s probably pretty repetitive and clumsy, but just going to submit this mess as it is. Credit to anyone who made it through the whole thing. )

I’m a fan of long posts, all good Sid. Great points to bring up.

OEL is here long term unless bought out I would think. I hope that Tocchet can get some fire back in OEL. Maybe they can get on the same page quickly and work things out with his game…I think he plays well with an edge. We have seen him get a little nasty here and there and when he’s playing like that he seems more confident to me..I compare him directly to Edler at this age. Still a 5 M dman but cannot provide the offence like he used to so is over paid a bit. Edler really provided value as a vet and a solid dman during his plateau, I mean he’s still a very user guy on the blue line, just ask LA… hopefully OEL can do the same and still provide that 5 M value to our team.

I just don’t see a trade here with any team. He has so much term left on his contract. Unless Vancouver retains he won’t be moved. On contrast, who knows, teams can get pretty crafty to make trades. Might just hurt too much to do so. We don’t need to mortgage the future just to get rid of OEL. Especially if you get his game turned around.

January 17, 2023

9 hours ago, DeNiro said:

He can’t win at this point.

The only way fans would be happy is if he said the word rebuild and said they’re tanking for Bedard.

I honestly don’t understand fans obsession with that word. Like it has to be said otherwise he’s an idiot and doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Theres gonna be a major overhaul of the roster, it takes time though. Only so much you can do when the last management signed players to bad contracts.

The biggest takeaway for me from this is that they’ve chosen a direction. They’re not gonna try desperately to save this season like in the past. And it’s pretty obvious they’re gonna make some moves at the deadline to get younger. I don’t know what else people were looking for.

It seems that some fans want to tank, but still want to able to bitch about said tank, while tank is actively going on… :rolleyes:

We are near the bottom of the standings so I think the tank is firmly in control in my opinion.

The players have pride, yes it’s been a bad year but they hate to lose. It’s hard to balance that plus tank at the same time.

Hard to keep everyone happy. Especially in this market. But at least good news is we are open for business it seems and that’s a sign of change to come.

Looking forward to it.

January 12, 2023

46 minutes ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Yeah, and he was also what, just 33 or 34 years old when he took over the Hawks, and for his first NHL gig? Only a few years older than their veteran core players, really. Still did quite well, under the circumstances. I’d imagine he’ll be more prepared and have an even greater command of the room whenever his second NHL stint happens.

For sure, he had that Blackhawks team playing pretty solid hockey I thought. I remember reading up on him when we hired him. He was playing in Europe and had a career ending injury (or something to that sort, my memory is terrible lol), he went straight into coaching right away as he apparently always felt he would have a knack for it. I honestly forgot how young he is. But 33/34 coaching in the NHL, you definitely don’t see that every day. As much I liked Cull as our AHL coach, he was very meat and potatoes system wise. It’s nice to see the structure Jeremy brings to the club. It’s exactly what management has talked about with its big club. Good fit!

January 12, 2023

9 hours ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Could very well be. When Colliton was hired, I really got the sense that management had him in their long term succession plans (and I said as much in a number of posts after the hiring). However, I also thought it would be a year or two longer before they actually moved him up. Allvin is reportedly really high on Colliton. And he’s done very well with the team in Abby, and seems to be coaching the AHL team to play the style that management wants, when it come to the whole “structure” thing. Meanwhile, the big club is struggling more than anyone expected this season, management clearly isn’t happy with the way the team plays, and Bruce seems to be on borrowed time. I really wouldn’t be surprised if Colliton becomes the next coach of the Vancouver Canucks. And it just might happen sooner than expected/planned.

He did the same thing in Chicago. He was coaching their AHL team and did very well for the Ice Hogs. The Blackhawks fire their coach and bring him up and he kept his head above water in Chicago for almost 3 seasons before signing with us. For a rebuilding team he kept Chicago around the 500 mark during his tenure. Some may say so what, but Chicago hasn’t been great for a while now and he didn’t have much to go on there player wise. At least in Vancouver he would inherit a team with some good young pieces in place. Players in Abby really like him too by all accounts.

January 11, 2023

2 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Were you around in the 1980's when there were 7,000 people showing up at Pacific Coliseum?

Yeah we have seen some sad times as a franchise. We actually as a franchise are a sub 500 team…apparently our total record is 1706 wins, 1796 losses…we have literally been a middling team forever. Younger fans have no idea the suffering the older fans have been through lol. The most recent era of west coast express and sedin years are the only years I truly remember this team being a playoff bound team year after year. In 94 we had a few good seasons but nothing much.

I think that’s why you see older fans act more chill to all these…we’re effing numb to it all lol. At least we have an owner now that wants to spend money and push this team to the next level.

Hopefully we clear the deck come TDL and start changing things for the better. We have some good pieces to build around long term and that’s a good start.

I’ll gladly watch more Canucks hockey if they commit to a rebuild. I want to see it done properly this time.

If done right you can turn things around in 3-5 years. Look at LA already…I counted 13 young drafted players that they just drafted in the last 5 years ALL playing on the team…and not all of then 1st round picks either. They got 7th rounders playing for them right now. Impressive.

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