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RogersTowell

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Everything posted by RogersTowell

  1. Anyone who would voluntarily go to somebodies graduation deserves a medal. 3 hours of your life you'll never get back.
  2. I'm thinking something a little more primal:
  3. It's great to have so many guys who could be that impact player this season. I'm leaning towards Hughes, and for sure he's the answer long term. Myers could be the guy but I'm expecting a solid but not amazing performance from the big guy. Miller could be a guy who puts up some big numbers depending on chemistry with his line mates. I expect Ferland's impact to be more stuff that doesn't always show up on the score board, but it will be great to have another guy who can play Roussel's role, and maybe even do it better. Combined, the new additions should make for a team that can make the playoffs and make some noise once they are in. I like what Benning has done so far this off season.
  4. You keep Bo on PP1 with Petey and Brock. You want to win the FO and control the puck and not waste time on zone entries. After that you can design some plays around the personnel. I might go with 1 defender on pp1 (Hughes eventually although he'll have to earn that time). If you go with 1 defender, then Miller or Baertschi are good options for the 5th man. Hopefully we won't need a second unit often.
  5. Arizona's got a better chance than a number on that list. I think Vancouver has a solid shot at 2nd or 3rd in the Pacific this year. Gotta beat out Arizona and Vegas for it (possibly SJ, but they lost key pieces without much to replace em). LA isn't in the mix.
  6. Bo had the best season of his career in pretty much every aspect. Faceoffs, points, you name it. If his skating was suffering, I didn't see it - if it did, and it improves this year, well, that would be something.
  7. With the Ferland signing, I wonder what the plan is in terms of cap space? Only around 5 million of cap space available this year, although IR relief should provide more.
  8. Part of developing as a player is learning that your ice time is earned.
  9. Some of you limit the definition to the point that there are probably only a hand full of players that meet your criteria in the entire league.
  10. Benning's got his wins and his losses as a GM. Eriksson was paid too much for too long, though to be fair, he tanked unexpectedly and far too early in his career. He claims it's being used incorrectly by the coach, but I can't see his point. He's under performed in almost every role. I wonder what Miller will do? Gudbranson didn't turn out like many of us hoped. Here's hoping Myers isn't another. Sutter hasn't really impressed me a lot, but his contract isn't too onerous. Same with Beagle. Schaller is a waste of a roster spot. Roussel was exactly what we needed. Petey and Brock were amazing picks and Hughes looks to be as well. Bo has been developed very well, not that he really needed much developing that he didn't do himself. Stecher was a good college FA signing. Hutton was an OK freebie stopgap. Got unlucky with Tryamkin going back to Russia. Last year, despite another year of crazy amounts of injuries, the Canucks made some strong steps in the right direction, both in the standings and in the entertainment value of the on ice product. There is no doubt that this year's Canucks will be a better team than last year. Even if the injuries continue, they should be in the race for a playoff spot. If they stay healthy, they could very well be a big surprise to almost everyone. Benning has not done an excellent job, nor has he done a terrible job. It's somewhere in between these two extremes. I'd call it a 'good job' considering what he was handed. If the Canucks are healthy and don't make the playoffs, maybe it's time for new blood at the top. I expect to see somewhere above 90 points in the standings this year.
  11. It's a tough call who to hate more. Honestly, you kind of hope both team buses crash into each other, both teams are put on permanent IR with incurably bruised egos and nobody wins.
  12. This is almost exactly what I filled in for my work hockey bracket. How wrong were we, huh? Only difference I had was Caps knocking off the Pens and I think the sharks taking out vegas.
  13. Other than a one year anomaly during the lockout year, Toronto sucked for a decade before hitting the lottery and making changes. Their new management did make the best of that situation, but they had terrible management for years before that to get them to the point where it could 'all of a sudden' turn around. As to Louie, terrible contract, but I suspect it wasn't Benning's idea to sign a big FA that summer. Someone behind the scenes wanted that playoff revenue, but it didn't pan out. Next year we make the playoffs and the year after we might start making noise, but we'll need a line up that's a bit harder than it is currently.
  14. Congratulations to @Roberts on a great race this season and thanks to @Canuck_fan_52 for putting this contest on again this year.
  15. I'm pretty satisfied with my prognostications, although I'd like to have been more wrong in a winning direction. Pretty much nailed it on final standing, underestimated Petey a bit even after the edit. Instead of adjusting and getting better over the season, he Peteyed out toward the end a bit, at least in goal production. I was wrong about OJ, maybe next year. I whiffed on Nillsson, although he seems to have to picked up his game in Ottawa. Hutton and Stecher improved. Gaudette stuck, but although I didn't say it I was thinking his offensive production would be up. I have a feeling the draft lottery will be good to us by the way. Next year will be even better. Playoffs next.
  16. If I were in charge, he'd start next season with the "C" on his jersey. I'm not entirely sure that Bo needs much in the way of wingers. He tends to carry the play all by himself just fine. Maybe a couple of guys to draw attention away from him so he can go more one on one instead of one on five - and do their part in the d-zone.
  17. Wait, you knew Dorsett would have a career ending injury in advance? And that Baertschi would have repeated concussion issues that might end his career as well? Show us the quotes.
  18. I thought to myself that to be fair, before passing judgement I should compare Markstrom's career stats so far with an 'elite' goalie up to age 28. I decided I'd look at a guy most of us would agree was elite - Patrick Roy. Surprisingly to me, Roy's early career wasn't statistically all that good and pretty comparable to our boy Marky. For statistical comparison I looked almost exclusively at save percentage, since goals against doesn't take into account how bad your defense is at suppressing shots. In the end, however, you can't just use these metrics. Bad defense can also lead to higher quality shots as well as more shots. Roy didn't really become a dominant goalie until his 30's, when, not surprisingly, he played on an elite team. We put a lot of emphasis on goal tenders and not completely without good reason. In the end, however, we have to realize that they are only one part of a much bigger whole and on their own, they aren't going to turn a team from a bottom feeder to a cup contender. My final verdict: he's getting better (or the team in front of him is) and we won't know for sure until he's in his mid-30s and his career is almost over. He certainly doesn't get a lot of SO's for an 'elite' tender. My eye test says he's good and trending upwards.
  19. Vegas did nothing like that. You can pick up guys who are just at the fully developed stage and are ready for playoff runs. The problem is, they aren't cheap. As UFAs they cost cash and term, for RFAs they cost you really good prospects, similarly good players or draft picks. That said, I'm happy to see us develop those players from within. I don't think Gaudette is quite ready to fill Sutter's role, but he's not terribly far off. The third line got owned in the first period against Vegas last night with Pearson being the most experienced player. They looked much better the rest of the game - but some times that's what it takes to learn. If we can get something good for Sutter, then great. Otherwise, he's still one of the best defensive forwards in the game. A bit redundant with Beagle around, but we're a better team when both of them are healthy.
  20. I don't think anyone is arguing that Biega can't ever make the jump to the full time starting roster, just that he's a great choice for 7/8D. It wasn't until this season that he showed consistency over time in his game. In past years he was good for a couple or a few games and then the wheels would come off the truck. This season he's learned how to keep the intensity up and seems to have added some important bits to his game - getting the shot through from the point, skating the puck up the ice and gaining entry into the attacking zone for example. He still can work on his defensive positioning especially by not over committing physically on the boards, but it's very nice to see that you can teach an old (bull)dog new tricks. At 30 years old, this is very uncommon.
  21. Yes, he had a bad period, but this year he's been much more consistent. There's no doubt he's consistently been the best d-man on the team all season long. You can't hang the whole 1st period of that game on Edler - he made a couple of mistakes that cost, but so did just about every other defence man on the team. It was an atrocious 1st for the d and not really a good one for Marky either. Two of those 5 he should have had.
  22. Hell, I'd settle for being 8D. I'd still dream of working up from there, but it's better than 99.99% of hockey players ever achieve. Imagine, a million a year. You still get to practice with an NHL team and you get to play some times and have a chance to work in to a regular position. Would you rather play big minutes in the AHL at 65k/year? Anyway, Biega has been pretty good this year compared to past years. Still not stellar - there are some gaps that cost us goals against. His offence has been the real surprise.
  23. Still a small sample size (6 games) but he's falling short of expectations right now. Maybe he just needs another off season to come back good to go?
  24. Schaller seems to have two modes: not noticeable in a bad way and not noticeable in a good way. I prefer the latter from him, which is what he delivered in his last game, but I'd prefer someone who was noticeable in a good say.
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