Schmautzie

I guess we’ll find out the answer to who is the first to sit after Schaller very soon. Ferland is apparently expected back after the all-star break.

Except JB said his injury was not even “concussion-related”.

Schaller is already sitting even before Ferland returns. Someone else has to go.

It’s great to see the team playing great and firing on all cylinders. But what happens when Ferland and Leivo are healthy? With Loui’s resurgence its going to be a difficult decision. The obvious choices other than Schaller are Motte and/or Beagle but they are both contributing to the current success. Thoughts?

I think he meant that if we had 56 points instead of 58 we’d be outside of the playoff picture.

There’s no way that Boeser deserves to be demoted to the third line for an extended period of time. I do like Green’s idea of evening things out to create three scoring lines and making it tougher for opposing teams to line match. I think he should try: Miller - Pettersson - Virtanen Eriksson - Horvat - Boeser Pearson - Gaudette - Sutter Roussel - Beagle - Motte

They played like they were trying to get the coach fired. Maybe they saw how it worked for the Leafs. No excuse for that effort.

LE is not an energy guy that the fourth line needs. He is a more of a cerebral player that should be given a chance on the first or second line with Horvat or Pettersson. If he is given the chance but fails in that role he should be banished to the press box or Utica.

Bo needs some help on his wings. He is looking invisible at times lately. Time to give Sven a shot with him to try and get his mojo back.

Gotta agree with you on this. First time in years that we’ve had the depth to have three scoring lines and Green has chosen to go with only two. As long as Sutter and Beagle are both playing Centre I think we’re doomed to be mediocre at best.

Might be preseason but Demko is letting in some soft goals.

The reason that I think Ferland will mesh with Pettersson and Boeser is his propensity for driving to the net. This will create time and space for his linemates and should result in great scoring chances. Ferland’s toughness as a deterrent for messing with Petey and Brock is just an added bonus.

I would rather have a top nine than a top six. It’s the way the NHL has been trending. The Horvat and Miller lines could play equal minutes behind Pettersson’s. Sutter is incapable of centering a scoring line and neither is Beagle.

We don’t need to acquire him because we already have him - J.T. Miller!

I like Sutter as a shut-down guy but he doesn’t have the offensive ability to be a legitimate third line centre on a successful team. A good team can have either one Brandon Sutter or Jay Beagle type of player but not both.

I think Miller should be the third line centre ahead of Sutter. It would give us both a matchup and scoring third line. A successful team in the modern NHL cannot have both Sutter and Beagle as two of its four centres. If Sutter can’t be moved then put him on the fourth line as a right winger with Beagle. Hopefully Gaudette will be ready to assume the third line centre role by next season.

It’s tough seeing Johnathan Dahlen with Pettersson and realizing that they’ll never get a chance to play together with the Canucks. I still can’t believe that the Canuck’s management didn’t ever give them a chance to re-establish their chemistry together before giving up on Dahlen.

I wonder if playing Ferland on his line would give Goldobin that courage. Try Ferland - Pettersson - Goldobin in the preseason and see how it works out.

I think that the Canuck’s playoff chances are totally dependent on the health of Elias Pettersson. He is the one player that they cannot lose for any extended period of time.

I think Gaudette is a legitimate “cant miss” prospect. He does, however, appear to be stuck in the Canucks system behind Pettersson and Horvat and the probably immovable contracts of Sutter and Beagle. I’m not sure how the Islanders are stacked up for Centres but I would do a Gaudette for Noah Dobson deal. I would even include Chris Tanev as a sweetener.

Except coach Green tends to use his third line as a matchup line. It often gets more ice time than the so-called top two lines.

Ferland - Pettersson - Eriksson Pearson - Horvat - Boeser Miller - Sutter - Virtanen Baertschi - Beagle - Leivo Motte Edler - Myers Hughes - Tanev Benn - Stecher Fantenberg Give Eriksson a chance to play with some talented linemates for a change. At the very least it will build up his stats for a trade deadline deal. Plus having Ferland on his line will give him a little more courage in the corners and we may see the player he once was again.

Revisiting this proposal. The Canucks would have ended up with Byram, Podkolzin, Newhook and Jost. The J.T. Miller trade would have provided the replacement for Horvat. Giving up next year’s first rounder wouldn’t seem so bad given the influx of young talent. In hindsight this deal would have been a steal for the Canucks.

Part of the reason that I don’t like the trade is that is reminiscent of another trade in Canuck history. When Cam Neely was traded to Boston for Barry Pedersen a first round pick was also included. It was Boston’s choice whether to take the pick that year (7th overall) or the following year. Canuck nation was happy that Boston chose to wait because they knew that with the addition of Pedersen the Canucks would finish much higher in the standings than the previous year and the pick would not be as valuable. Instead the Canucks used their pick to select Dan Woodley who would play five career NHL games. Boston used the Canuck’s pick (which ended up being 3rd overall) the following year to select Glen Wesley who would play nearly 1500 career games. Not saying the same scenario will play out this time but I’m reading the same arguments from some fans that the pick is bound to be a low one in the next two years and history says it might not be.

Except Miller cost us a first and third rounder and Panarin would only cost salary.