Cap'N Bo

WOW! That is right up there with his lacrosse goal, especially since he pulls that off in traffic! Unbelievable, what a week for the Hog! He only has one or two more games of his loan, and it looks like he's just playing around out there at the SHL level. I never expected him to. make the team this year, but if he plays anything close to this at training camp he might even take Virtanen's spot in the top 6!

Awesome game for the Canucks! This is the team game that I had been looking forward to for months! It's so refreshing to see a Canuck team that plays tough and sticks up for each other. Loved Miller jumping Hartman after that cheap hit on Petey, and Stetcher and Sutter going after Fiala. Myers has also been great the past two games, sure he could work on the discipline a little but he's playing tough in the crease, and a lot of the calls have been really soft. Other underrated players that had great games were Motte, Sutter, Tanev, Edler, and even Fantenburg was steady. It's just incredible to see Hughes seamlessly adapt to playoff hockey as a 1D in his rookie year. Such a special talent, and I really hope he plays the bulk of his career here. The fact that Boeser and Pettersson are able to continue putting up points in the playoffs despite all the tight checking is a great sign for the future! And I haven't even mentioned Markstrom's shutout, so solid and steady. He looks huge in the net when he's on. Besides Markstrom, I'd say the three stars of the game were Boeser (23), Pettersson (21) and Hughes (20). It's gonna be an awesome decade of Canucks hockey!!

Those are pretty good numbers! From the eye test, Eriksson is checking well and providing a defensive conscious for that line which is freeing up Horvat and Pearson to attack up ice a little more. Still, I wouldn't have expected that line to be putting up such dominant goals for % especially with the matchups they have been getting. Since Louie is pretty much untradeable, it's awesome for him to find a role on the team where he can add some value

Rafferty had 1+3 last night to bump his season totals up to 20 points in 25 games as a rookie D in the AHL! Lind had 3 points for Utica last night, and is also up to 20 points in 25 games, huge step forward

I've always been a big fan of prospects and future potential/young teams. Our prospect pool has lost some of its top-end magic from graduations, but the depth is better than I ever remember it being! #1 Podkolzin -Hasn't shown as much as some have hoped so far, but remember he's only about 18.5 years old and recently played over 11 mins in the KHL, has all the tools #2 Madden - His rise has been shocking, and tied for 4th in the NCAA in goals as of a few days ago. If you watch his condensed highlights, he dangles like 5 players a game! #3 Hoglander - He also hasn't put up quite the numbers I was expecting, but has a candidate for goal of the year in SHL, and is heating up and playing 18 mins/game lately in a mens league right after being drafted. He's on pace to put up a decent goal scoring season, but I think he only has 1 apple. Goes to the hard areas as a smaller guy #4 Juolevi - Hard to rank Juolevi with the repetitive injuries wiping out development time. He could never make the NHL or become a Top 3 D, hard to say #5 Woo - After being touted as a throwback, physical D man, put up monster numbers last year. Stats aren't quite as good this year after the trade, but he's starting to roll now #6 Rathbone -Almost put him above Woo. He looks amazing this season, and actually had a really impressive year last season. He would probably be our second best skater on the blueline already, after Hughes of course (Myers can skate as well). #7 Dipietro - He has been better than I expected for Utica this season. I would say he's pretty close to being their #1 tendy as a 20 year old rookie. If you haven't seen it already check out his pad save from his last start! We have unreal goalie depth #8 Lind - Having a great year in Utica this season, I love his ability to agitate, skate, and score. Its remarkable to have a prospect like Lind at #8 #9 Rafferty - He looked good in training camp, and I've heard him mentioned as a rookie of the year candidate for the AHL (although he is 24) #10 Brisebois - He also looked impressive at camp, he was a captain in junior and I think he will be a solid #5 D man

The first was decent, rest of the game was brutal. They maybe had 3 scoring chances after the first and that's being generous

I think the lineup is perfect except for Louie in over Zack. Its not like Louie hasn't been given a chance with many games in a row, he's not hitting or even averaging one shot per game, and is getting under 10 mins of ice time now. Big Zack could fill that same role with more speed, size and aggression and I don't see the point in calling him up just to park him in the press box, give him a chance to play 10 minutes on the fourth line and get some size and pushback! I do love baer-gaudette-leivo as the third line, they have looked awesome together and if we can get three scoring lines going this is going to be an exciting team to watch! Pearson-Horvat-Virtanen is the second line and they haven't been great, but as soon as Horvat gets back in his groove I think that is three solid lines, after the big lotto line

Those are not great numbers lol. He's definitely not a top 6 player, but I don't think its ridiculous to include him as a complementary player on a skilled line for his board work alone. This season he has flubbed many chances in tight, and he's still at a 35 point pace. I think he's a solid 3rd liner.

I've seen lots of hate for Leivo on the top line and praise for Virtanen. Both players have 8 points and a +5, while seeing time on primarily the second and third lines this season. I think Leivo has even struggled a little so far and has another level to his game. I get it, Virtanen is younger and has more potential and I too would prefer to see him higher in the lineup compared to Leivo. But to act like Green is completely out to lunch for playing Leivo in the top 6 is a little silly. Leivo has .38PPG playing with Vancouver (67 games) which is solid third line production, he's pretty solid defensively and is a beast along the boards. As a few others have mentioned, he can rip it if he's open to. It totally makes sense to play a strong boards player with Petey and Boeser to try and keep some sustained offensive zone pressure, its not like the puck is going to be in Leivo's hands much with those two either. I think when the team is healthy, Leivo is best suited with Sutter on the 3rd line, but its a good idea to promote Leivo for now to try and get Bo's line going.

That's a good point and its a silly move but still, the instincts on this kid to even try that when he's not completely wide open is unreal! Having said that, in a 1-1 game I'm sure the coach would be a little rattled and its not the best play for the moment but damn the Hog has hands for days!

Beautiful that is exactly the lineup I was hoping to see! Big opportunity for both Baer and Virtanen

It makes sense that those who just track Podz stats might get concerned about the pick, but his game isn't based entirely on offence. I've watched a lot of his condensed game highlights and he seems comparable to Virtanen in junior, except he maintains that aggression and dog on a bone mentality when playing against men, while Virtanen became a little more passive after junior. Also, he has much better vision than Virtanen, and frequently blows down the wing only to buttonhook and hit the trailing dman with a pass for a quality chance. As far as the points, I've seen him set his linemates up for so many chances just to have them fumble the puck or miss, but I've also seen Podz fumble a few breakaway chances, including a game in the KHL where he dangled the goalie but just lost the puck before he could tuck it in the open corner. The points will come, he is playing well. I don't think Podkolzin is a prospect that we should follow his stats super closely due to his unique deployment situation, and we shouldn't worry about the pick until seeing him play in the World juniors at the earliest. Matthew Boldy who was the next forward picked after Podz only has 1 goal playing college hockey. I still think Podz was the right pick based off the massive potential, and he might not figure out his offensive tool kit until he's 22-23 but he has potential to be a 50-60 point player in the NHL, and definitely even higher than that if he can make it onto Pettersson's line at some point

I don't think he's really putting down Pettersson, but for a player to win the ultimate team award in his rookie season and complain about not winning an individual award speaks a lot to his character. Especially when he didn't even play half the season and the voting wasn't even remotely close, just makes Binnington seem so entitled and whiny lol

WOW what a goal! Probably one the best lacrosse goals I've seen because of the way he banked the puck off the net and avoided the poke check as he lifted it up on his stick! This isn't a goal where he has time and space to make his move, he's under pressure and also still quite young in a mens league. Love the hog!

Utica comets are now 6-0 with Kole Lind scoring again!