Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

Boudrias

Members
  • Posts

    15,561
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Boudrias

  1. The thing I like about Horvat is his size and his defense. He could play on a NHL roster on that basisand build his offense as he develops. He reminds me of Sutter in Pitt.
  2. Do you know how much he is making in the KHL? I doubt it is much. The only advantage to his playing there would be emotional as no cultural shock. Better for Canucks if he came to NA and got used to it.It would possibly prevent his staying in Russia later on. The better he gets the more the KHL will want to keep him. If it was not such a corrupt country I would not worry as much. As a rule I have not much use for Russian players as core.
  3. Not that I have seen much of the Prospects Camp but Jake V physically stands out. More excited about this kid than any player the Canucks have drafted in decades. Reminds me of LA's Carter but more physical.
  4. Polak seems to have a problem playing a full schedule.
  5. #6, Shink and a roster player for the #1? My kneejerk reaction is no because the Canucks are not deep enough. On reflection if Benning wants it then good enough. It signals a significant rebuild. Canucks don't do well next year and draft again in 2015 in a much deeper draft. Back to back #1's? One can dream.
  6. How many 'sure things' has Tallon drafted in Florida over the past 5 years?
  7. I suspect that if Kesler is dealt it will happen prior to draft week. As you suggest Benning has to know where he stands on that issue prior to drafting. I am starting to wonder if the Vancouver talks withKesler are including a contract extension. If Kesler had asked for a trade but is now dealing with knew management can they risk mending fences without an extension? Kesler could still walk as a UFA in two years. At some point the org has to realize value on vets who could bring back value to the org. In typical Naslund fashion he waffled on his hockey future and instead of Van getting a 3rd rounder or better he walked to the NYR as a UFA. The Canucks simply cannot afford this type of thing.
  8. A lot of tough years going back to the beginning. Top that with having to listen to the early games onradio because I couldn't get BC TV. Kurtenbach, Quinn, Wilkens and of course Andre Boudrias were pretty decent the first year. Howie Meeker! All Canadians knew Howie from HNIC and earlier as a star with the Laffers. I got to meet him in '74 in Russia during the WHA tourney against Red Army. Each morning Howie would hold court down in the lobby of Hotel Russia. Sports coat with tie and pants. His assemble set off by always wearing running shoes! Always with the cigar in his mouth! He was every bit the same in person as what was seen on TV. A real jock who had a pretty good idea of what he was talking about. Hockey strategy aside the thing I always remember about Howie's scrums in Russia was the us vs them paranoia (after the fact not so paranoid)about the Russians having the hotel rooms bugged. 'Did you hear that Gordie(Howe) found a bug in his room last night?' The disallowed goal in Game #6 where Bobby Hull and the team and hundreds of Canadian fans went after the Russian goal judge. Next game Russian police/KGB sitting one in every four seats in the Canadian section. God I loved that trip! Absolutely the best hockey road trip I was ever on!
  9. What kind of CAP space can Minny have? I suppose Heater and Ballard could be gone.
  10. I believe one could quote Bob McKenzie as a source. He has Ekblad as #1.
  11. I would agree with you on that. I have never seen a serious CUP contending team that did not have aneffective 4th line. A 4th line that gets 8 - 10 minutes a game.
  12. No public statements by either Gillis or Torts since they left. Have not heard that they interviewed forany other jobs. Ownership had to sign off on the Tort's contract and on Gillis's extension. I do not see a nefarious plan by the Acquillinis to tank the team. I can believe that every roster has a compete time line and Gillis had his shot in 2011. As a GM I liked his drafting (other than Schroeder) when Van got to pick higher in the draft. I have wondered how much of Gillis's judgement was impacted by his prior career as a player and agent. Gillis was a top pick but his NHL playing career was cut short by injury. As a rule I don't trust lawyers as most play the political angles more than sticking to the facts.
  13. It is popular right now to shoot Torts full of holes and that might be fair. Torts appeared to be a old school type of guy. Intense to the point that he would lose it at times. He obviously tried to controlhis temper and was much more successful than in NY. The Calgary incident was a obvious meltdown but his body language on the bench when things were not going well was a telling exhibition. The unexplored/unknown aspect of Tort's tenure was the pressure to win by both Gillis and ownership. He rode his stars and everyone was happy while they won but became coaching experts about his shortcomings when loses mounted. Did Gillis caution Tort's about his direction during the season when injuries started and vet's performance floundered. The win now was obvious and seemed to permeate the org far beyond just Torts. It appeared to me that Gillis threw his coach under the bus last spring and Torts seeing the writing on the wall tried to finish by making playoffs. As an experienced coach he had to know that his team did not have enough depth to be any kind of CUP contender. At the end he said as much. How does this impact the new management of Linden/Benning and possibly new coach Desjardin? A clean sweep of coach and GM and poor seasons for the past few years (Van standards) have prepared fans for what inevitably had to happen. New management will have more time and flexibility to revamp this roster than did Torts to show what he could do. I like the direction the club is going. I do not care if they have another poor year and draft in the top 10 again next year. I doubt that happens. Van is still in a very enviable position of having vets with reasonably high market value. Van has the real potential of establishing a org depth that has never really existed here before. Watching Utica might be as much fun as watching the Canucks over the next 3 - 5 years.
  14. When the best hockey player on the team and maybe in the NHL shouts it out with the coach his days werenumbered. Who knows what is really going on there. Who would have thought they would hire Rutherford. The fact that Bylsma was left hanging for as long as he was is not exactly a star for the org.
  15. I think Spezza's d-game gets him a lot of negative comment in Canadian hockey circles. He can put uppoints which is all some clubs are looking for. He would fit right in with the Laffers.
  16. Agree. S-P can be a 'monster'. the 10th gives Benning a lot more flexibility. Don't know enough aboutthe ANA d-core prospects.
  17. For sure the Blues are feeling the competitive pressure on the ice but I suggest it might go beyond that. It was not that many years ago that the franchise was in trouble at the box office which in turn affected the amount of money they could spend on players. Davidson did a nice job of changing thataround. That does not mean that St. Louis will not slide backwards. It could have a significant role in how they deal with their off season trades.
  18. Both Spezza and Kesler bring different games to the table. Spezza might have better scoring stats butthee is no doubt that Kesler has a far superior two way game. That fits well with the Blues game.
  19. No doubt a steep price. Ottawa wants a top 6, a quality prospect and a 1st Rounder for Spezza. He is older, more of a one way player and a much higher CAP hit. Tarasenko definitely has top 6 potential,loved Rattie at WJ (prospect) and a 1st Rounder. Huge price. Probably will not happen unless a bidding war for Kesler happens which it could. Big question for ST. Louis is whether Kesler takes them to the next playoiff level and whether they force Van into adding a player to make it happen.
  20. The grass is always greener. Maybe Garrison thinks differently about playing in Van now. Who knows? FLAis much further along in their rebuild than Vancouver is. Might want to jump back on.
  21. Isn't that the sad reality? Montreal doesn't want him and Brodeur doesn't realize it. IMHO his options are very limited to nil. What is the going rate for back-ups?
  22. Mike Weaver is a UFA. Tallon gets Garrison back and reunites him with Weaver. Solid pairing a few years ago. Lu in net! Things are looking better in Florida.
  23. I am starting to consider Tanev a 4D. Your description above is more of a top 2 dman. Tanev finished his 2nd full season last year and has shown significant improvement each season. Physically he is not muchdifferent than Bieksa when he broke in. The upcoming season might really show where Tanev could mature to. What also has to be considered is Stanton's development. His 1st NHL season and he was in the rookie dmen scoring race until his injury. Very curious to watch his sophomore year.
  24. The Canuck first round pick, #2, Dale Tallon was a stud.
×
×
  • Create New...