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189lb enforcers?

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Everything posted by 189lb enforcers?

  1. Selfish move for a cripple to occupy a key roster spot. There are excellent options to go in his place. Hope I’m wrong, but... Guess my bias against the guy is showing.
  2. Plenty of players capable of eating the gravy Hunter has been feeding Hayton. I don’t think losing him makes a lick of difference. I wanted to see more from a healthy Byram. Playing with the flu is brutal. There might be standby medivac teams set to fly guys to hospital who suffer from a man cold today. The panel on TSN already covered the lack of defensive pressure and urgency of which the Canadians displayed against Russia in their blowout loss. Will we see a change in strategy? We used to tackle the super skilled, slippery Russians with a simple man-to-man approach, back when we didn’t have to call it person-to-person. The strategy was effective, but I doubt we’ll see a switch to this traditional defensive approach. Special teams might decide this game. Russia might be vulnerable to retaliatory penalties from Canadians taking runs at them after building up an ego as a team who easily mandled Canada and might try too hard maintain that persona if challenged. Team Canada could capitalize of this. I can’t imagine Canada handing over the puck and possession so readily in this game as it will be difficult to retrieve against a fast, physical and technically structured team. If Canada looks to facilitate a line change by continuing to chip the puck in, and hand over possession, I believe it will be a burden they won’t overcome and will be a possible adjustment or change to watch for. If we notice Russian Dmen using the boards and glass to advance the puck today, I think we’ll be witnessing an effective Canadian forecheck and a breakdown of the Russian transition game. Just came back from buddies Team Canada trophy case where his team captain sweater and Canadian flag is one of my favourite pieces of his case. Go Canada Go!
  3. But Edler didn’t maintain position on his check. Its his only job
  4. Also, Jake, with his GWG stat should be a front runner, as many have nominated already.
  5. Is Lemieux playing? This would be the game inside the game. The Rags can score. Let’s see how the coverage looks against them. Trouba should have been a Canuck.
  6. Excellent, defensive, rugged centerman, an extremely rare commodity - with a killer FO skillset to boot. Playoff hockey. Downside, he’s been oft injured and his playoff resume shows it. I’d like to get Anderson too, both, Jenner even, but... Fischer out of Arizona was another player I’ve advocated for, but with Jake becoming a player, maybe that’s not necessary now.
  7. Kamloops is, and since I’m a road warrior, the radius I draw around what I’d call homeland is a lit larger than most enjoy, so yes. Although, I’d say that of all directions, it’s my least frequented corner. I have plans for this spring/summer to change a lot of that. If you ever see a freak on a red, hot rod Waverunner in the Thompson River system, that’s me. I am looking to get in behind Quesnel Lake and into the Wells Gray systems in my side by side and by water this year. There is an enormous stretch of paradise in a triangle between that lake, Murtle and Canim lakes that I want to get more familiar with. I collect slate rock to use as flagstone in my yard from that area and frequent it for work and camping. I recommend it to anyone for its bugs, extreme weather changes, grizzlies, Sasquatches and fire bans. That cave area seems like you’d need a helicopter trip to trespass into. One thing about living here in Kamloops... I can draw a 180km radius around this river city and find myself in almost any and all awesome things to see and do, minus the ocean aspect, and it’s all very accessible, even the extremely remote stuff, if you’re capable of doing it in the first place. Revelstoke, Lillooet, Penticton, Vavenby.. it’s a massive recreational paradise, mostly 4 lanes to. Pretty cool. I get to travel for work for the rest. My weekend warrior stuff is unrivalled for choice, IMO, unless you’re an ocean guy, then I have nothing here for you. After work, I can fish or whatever I like in so many settings. Since I like classic cars, bikes and all things that make HP, what a place the desert is to get out and cruise. It’s all good until the Albortions come onto the roads and ruin everything, even the bush! Lol
  8. Look at Columbus bringing in a vet HC like MacLean. What you say can and does work.
  9. JB has granted almost all of my wishes for the past few seasons, so I assume he is a forum member, following my content. If we end up with Lowry and Edmundson, I’ll know he creeps on me here. This has been a fun season to be part of as a fan. Glad I kept my account here too.
  10. Maybe by the end of next season, yes, IMO. AG projects very well already as a 2C, perhaps more so than for the traditional view/duty of a 3C anyways. It’s just a line title at this point anyways - those labels mean far less today than they once did. Horvat is a great 2C and is already doing, as he always has, the 3C responsibilities too. Might as well make it official. The way I see it, if all goes well, eventually AG will effectively fill in offensively at 2C, freeing up Horvat for what he excels at and the roster benefits. A luxury of depth at C will allow for this unless AG doesn’t maintain his expected trajectory. It’s not that much of a stretch to imagine this scenario as the NHL continues to move on from traditional roles, lines and expectations. Horvat is a defensive star and possibly needed in that capacity than he is/might be in a secondary scoring C role with AG in the mix.
  11. Miller doesn’t get enough credit? Come now... His name is front and Center in every PGT and he has been largely heralded as the team MVP along with EP and Marky. Should he get more credit? Possibly, but he certainly isn’t suffering from a lack of recognition from the fanbase as a stud hero. (Even the media is raving about him and that trade) As far as a true-unsung hero, I’m going with Stetcher, who has been punching above his weight class, being forced up the depth chart to cover for injuries, while playing a gritty, gutsy, selfless game. He might not be our best Dman, but he has defended as well as anyone, while remaining disciplined and healthy. Tanev and others are the pillars of our collective trust back there and they get plenty of recognition, thus are disqualified from the OP’s task of selecting an unsung hero. Troy Stetcher, unsung hero through the first half of 2019-2020. Runner-up, Adam Gaudette, clutch centerman, soon to be our 2C.
  12. JB selected the coach, knowing which styles would be used for his roster. If anything, I’d be including JB in any criticism of Baumer, etc, because JB had a large hand in selecting which systems his players would best execute as a team when he selected TG as head coach. I like the 2-1-2, but not the passive D gap seen immediately by the opposition during transition play. QH alone was reason to address the D system in the off-season, IMO. The offensive structure remains a puzzle to me, given the roster composition, but what do I know... Special teams are tougher to nail down due to several fluid factors, which aren’t applicable here. TG looks good in a win, but generally in a loss, the high-vis breakdowns and errors are undeniably linkable to coaching and the growing body of work allows room for concern or criticisms. I’m not on the fire TG wagon, but I understand the mob’s misplaced rage and hope to remind them that TG was a JB selection, so spread some blame to him also. It’s been an interesting year. I’m already intrigued just thinking about the off-season. Coaching and deployment must be central to JB’s vision and execution. I wouldn’t be surprised to see wholesale coaching changes this summer as the team continues it’s trajectory out of a rebuild phase, which TG and his staff have done well with, but a new approach is likely part of JB’s vision for his young core. How often do we see NHL coaches adapt new philosophies or approaches to their systems? Might have to think on that for a bit for an appropriate response. I mean to say that I wouldn’t bet on the evolution or rebirth of TG as a coach, nor do I see him suited for the emerging Canucks roster, but again, it’s just a passing opinion of mine.
  13. Toews reminds me of Linden here, minus the hardware, of course. Tough to watch warriors like those two battle in meaningless games, seasons and then to end their careers on losing or rebuilding rosters. Linden certainly continued to block shots with his face in the final minutes of an 8-2 loss, but without the zillion dollars Toews now has to cry himself to sleep on over his ‘deteriorating’ career. I only feel sorry for the waste of that player/warrior, nothing else... Horvat has a longggg ways to go to be compared, even in the slightest, to the dedication Linden brought as a Canuck, let alone captain. No offence to Horvat.
  14. I’d have to look up their ages, deployment and team stats to dig into those numbers. The D position and stats is tricky without the big picture, of course. IMO, our Utica D isn’t all that young or capable, as a whole, but consist of several smallish, yet serviceable call-up Dmen who will provide depth-depth. Woo isn’t even on the radar yet, although Edler isn’t going anywhere soon, so his game isn’t needed quite yet. OJ, hopefully, has a different trajectory than those options. Our future D looks to be getting smaller, which I’m not at all interested in unless they play like QH. Even then, a balance is required. JB has some work to do in securing quality options, IMO, but meanwhile he has a decent collection of guys who can compliment the existing Canucks Dcore. Always nice to have options, even if they are simply depth-depth and JB has done well in that regard. I trust he has a plan to address the quality aspect, like he seemed to have last summer for the NHL roster. Fanta and Benn have been awesome additions. Meyers is great today, but I think by the end he’ll be our next whipping boy like LE. Still, those were terrific additions to that pathetically pussified roster of yesteryear.
  15. Chicago is suffering through a long season of being bottom feeder. Gotta feel some for warriors like Toews. I also liked watching Boqvist out there, he was my pick over Hughes for a long period leading up to the draft, but by the end, Bouchard, Dobson and Hughes were healthier options, for one. I still hope the best for Boqvist, but am thrilled the scouts got it absolutely right and picked QH. The Canucks need a few games with the best teams to temper their blade for the coming push towards the playoffs. We’ve had some quality opposition lately, but also a large selection of the league’s worst to pad stats with. Now is the time to look at the plan and adapt, which is on TG and JB to explore their options prior to the TDL. This is the half-way point of the season, where they typically go on a slide due injuries. JB must have anticipated this in the offseason, since quality players remain undressed. I still feel that AG will eventually earn that 2C role and BH will be used more effectively on special teams, match-ups and relied on less to do everything. AG looks to be every bit as offensively suited for top 6 duty and his FO capacity isn’t any worse than other star C’s in the league, if you want to split hairs. He’ll get there. Am I ever glad they stuck it out with Markstrom. He’s one heck of a good goalie, even when he’s bad, he’s nowhere near as bad as Cloochie and the other disasters we’ve had in goal here, and there has been a lot of them. That Pod kid looks to be another Miller-type player; a guy capable of puck retrieval and setup man for EP, the sniper.
  16. https://www.livescience.com/biggest-archaeology-discoveries-2019.html Take with a grain of salt, but still cool.
  17. Was the wrong time to load up with UFAs, but glad we did, but mostly because those were big, rugged signings.
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