Boudrias

White folds like a cheap accordion when subjected to physical pressure. Gets by during the regular season but cannot handle playoffs. Pass!

Since when did idle speculation go stale on this site. How many pages of trading Lu were there last season? Most of this 'stuff' will never be substantiated as our inside sources seem to have 'dried up'. My classic was 'someone' writing in that two ATV's with Arizona plates were seen parked in front of Shane Doan's mother-in-law's house during the draft Doan sweepstakes. That tidbit was good for 5 or 6 pages. It's August, dog days.

If your Gillis what ya do? You are talking to 3 or 4 players and telling them up front that Tanev has to sign before their deals can be finalized. Do you throw out a carrot and tell them that Booth goes on LTIR as soon as the CAP roster is OK'ed by the NHL and their deals can move forward? There has to be a lot of fairly talented unsigned players who are sweating bullets right now.

Cody has probably been whispering to him over the bar bells. It was obvious that Gary Roberts does not have a high opinion of the Canucks even before CoHo's trade to Buffalo. Maybe Tanev wants a trade back east. Read his bio and you see that he played with a lot of NHL players before his lack of size almost dropped him out of hockey. A lot of those same players now train with Roberts.

Look at Raymond. He went to arbitration and now where is he?

Keep it classy!

On the one hand CDC fans are bad mouthing Lou's contract as it was obviously too generous (let's ignore the circumstances at the time) and yet want to over pay for a young kid who really hasn't proven his worth yet. He is a 3rd pairing dman who has potential. If Gillis overpays for that then what is the limit? Tanev should sign as short a duration contract as he can and then renegociate based on a body of work that is longer than 90 games.

You have hit the key question I would have about Tanev. Yes, he is still developing but can he take the heavy physical play over the full season and playoffs. Building a CUP winner is the sole purpose of a org and Tanev does not have enough NHL games to form a long term decision on value. Right defense has been a problem since Ehrhoff and Salo left. Tanev and Corrado have promise but are just that. I do not consider Bieksa a #1 RD. On top of all this the Canucks have wanted a more physical presence on the back end and none of the current d-men have shown any consistency in that department. Edler has the most potential and hopefully Torts can bring it out. Van's most consistent physical player on the backend has been Alberts. As a 3rd pairing he rather impressed me last year. He is a Torts type player and I would not be surprised to see him resigned.

It might be the money but I am inclined to think it might be duration. This could drag on until camp.

"Bieksa has a NTC". NTC or NMC mean nothing. It simply gives the player a say in where he goes.

Isn't that one of the big questions around Tanev? His game to date has all been about calmly moving the puck out of the Van d-zone. He is a puck possession type player. It does leave him open for a tough physical forecheck. Fans were all marveling about how he could take a hit and bounce back up. Youth is a fabulous thing but the hurts are cumulative. At 180 to 185 pounds Tanev doesn't have a lot of cushion. I am sure none of this is new to Tanev and he will be adding pounds and refining his game.

It all about how much you want to spend on potential. For me all Tanev has done so far is prove that he can play NHL. It his body of work is not that great yet. He will be a 3rd pairing for a couple more seasons. Ultimately if he is good enough to play top 4 he could make Bieksa expendable. Being RD is a ideal situation for Tanev as Van is weak on that side. We don't know the detail of the negociations. If I was Tanev I would want a 2 year deal so that I could renegociate as a UFA. Gillis could be trying to get 3 or 4 years based on how the Canucks are evaluating his potential. All very tough considering the CAP situation.

Haven't seen him play other than hilights. He looks pretty solid physically. He looks like an NHLer already.

Schroeder has shown an ability to do what you suggest. Almost a given now that he centers the 3rd line come October.

He looks big! He looks like a NHLer all ready. Gillis seems to be saying that is 3C will be from within the org.

If Torts takes on the Van sports media all the more power to him. These guys try and set the agenda for what is important in the NHL and the result has been pretty sloppy. I can just imagine how Torts would have dealt with the Burrows/Auger situation and the smear job Ron MacLean of HNIC did on Burrows. MacLean and his useless band of cohorts would have been ran out of town (except Cherry). A Torts ran team will not see the Twins ran at every opportunity either. I can see a four line team with a 3rd and 4th line that has a very clear idea of what their job is.

I think Tort's style in the East was the exception. Western Conference play is generally more physical and more defensive than in the East. I think his game will translate easily. The issue is do you coach to your player's strengths or do you coach to a system and have your players adapt. To an extent I think it is a blend but there can never be any confusion who is in control. Who knows what went on behind closed doors but it seemed that AV had lost his control or direction and was hoping that his system would re-establish. Torts has a system and until the CBJ trade when his depth got moved the NYR were a very tough game to play. IMHO it was absolute BS that Van has not had a bottom 6 of consequence since Manny went down. I do not see that happening with Torts. Again this year AV sat his 4th line except for 3 - 4 minutes a game. You have to seriously ask yourself what message that sends to your entire roster.

What is the expectation for a coach in Van? AV tried to ride the season out hoping that Kesler's return would right his puck possession game. The team was way below 50% before Kesler's return and he did bring that average up. As the FO % improved so did Van's offense. The 3C never got fixed as the long term problem of offense on the 2nd line continued. Roy was moved there to plug the hole. IMO the team was second guessing their game from the goalies out. Could have AV changed his possession game enough to adjust to the poor FO %? Was the shortened season the big reason for no major moves by Gillis to fill the holes? He argued that many teams stayed in the race when in a normal season they would have been gone. I tend to believe him. There are no guarantees and Canuck fans should be the first to know all this.

It is obviously a plot by Gillis to have all the vets waive their NM and NT clauses. Now he can get about rebuilding the team with all the young talent the traded vets will bring in.

I loved the way he pulled his center high in the slot on the NYR PP. It forced a dman to come out to cover the center which allowed two wingers a 2 on 1 if it all worked. Innovative as I hadn't seen that before.

No tough coaches in Canada? Ernie 'Punch' Maclean. Enough said.

I think Stevens is the safer bet. Torts in Vancouver could deteriorate into a gong show pretty quickly if he isn't winning. At the end of the day I prefer a Canadian coach. I am not anti American. If I were to overweight a team it would be with Canadians since their lives center on this game and their development through juniors support that. Quite possible that ship has sailed long ago. It doesn't change my disappointment that Van has not drafted or signed more players from Western Canada.

How was Ruff to have any success in Buffalo when the money wasn't there to keep the talent he brought along. Briere was the obvious one but there was a regular trail of talent leaving the Sabres. New ownership is changing that but to late for Ruff. It reminds me of the Nashville situation but Barry Trotz has survived.

How many players did Garrison take out with his shot this season? I can think of four at least. You couldn't pay me enough money to sit in front of one of those shots.

I thought the puck possession game suffered because of the poor FO performances by the centers. It took a lot of options away from the Twins when they had to fight to regain possession. Their offence doesn't come totally from their cycle game. They actually did pretty well on the rush 2 years ago when their transition game was working. Very noticeable how well the teams offence picked up after Kesler came back.