RayCathode

Lane is like Horvat, he’s a shooter, not a play maker (well, not so much as he is a shooter). He looks good here with Petey, but who wouldn’t tonight.

I wonder why Pettersson is the only untouchable on this team?

He really made a quantum leap in his play in Abby this year. He was a good AHL player before this year, but he took it to another level. Abby, with its new coach, plays a really structured game - so sound defensively that they are able to sit Woo and Rathbone - even though they were playing reasonably well. Brisebois might be the least mobile of the Abby D - but if you recall, he looked fine in his stint up here. Wolanin has been extra-ordinary.

Or Stillman. Too many people blaming goaltending - Demko, an elite goalie, looked just this bad (minus the first goal tonight). We knew at the beginning of the year that this D would suck, unsurprisingly, it does. The one guy added by management that helps is sitting tonight.

Yeah, on this team we only have two D with any mobility: Bear and Hughes. The rest have no first three step quickness at all, which is why we chase the play in our end all night long. As long as you can pair a skater with a fireplug, you might survive the shift, but put two of them on the ice together and you can start your own frozen molasses business.

They are both playing well in Abby, who I believe have won every game since they’ve been there. Pods the best two way player in their last game. Just as well to keep the young guys away from this crap show.

Abbotsford dominates Manitoba 7-0 Silovs with the shutout. Here is the scoring: SCORING 1st 1:29 Lane Pederson (13) Phil Di Giuseppe (7), Jack Rathbone (1) 5:33 Lane Pederson (14) Christian Wolanin (21), Justin Dowling (12) (PP) 14:11 Linus Karlsson (6) None 16:42 Danila Klimovich (3) Chase Wouters (4), Tristen Nielsen (10) 2nd No Scoring 3rd 7:41 Will Lockwood (9) None 12:59 Will Lockwood (10) Justin Dowling (13), Jack Rathbone (2) 16:45 Tristen Nielsen (4) Danila Klimovich (6), Chase Wouters (5)

The only defenceman who is not a minus for the Canucks is the one with the least minutes.

There are three guys in Abby that are tearing it up - Wolanin, Pederson, and Lockwood. Do we have to keep watching Stillman, Studnicka, and Boeser. Two other guys that could clearly do with a rest - Miller and OEL - clearly these old men are just too tired to defend or not make careless plays. Is Miller so conceited that he doesn't believe that other teams have figured out his stupid blind drop pass - both intercepted on the same shift? Or he just doesn't give a crap.

The period isn't over. This version of the Canucks seems to feel that they have no responsibilities in their own end of the rink. Then there is Miller, the guy who truly doesn't give a crap so long as he gets his points.

Roussel and Beagle were 3 mil 4th line players compared with Lazar, Amon, and Joshua at a mil or less. It is extremely unlikely that they were even marginally better. The 4 mil plus excess spent on just those two players and using a Burroughs rather than a Stillman, for instance, buys a Mikheyev. Eriksson was 31 when JB gave him a 6year 6 mil contract. Most players enter a rapid decline in performance after 29 - it was inevitable that this contract would not age well. Much better to sink in the standings and acquire draft picks to generate new players - especially wingers like Roussel and Eriksson. Then there is the Pearson contract - another massive mistake. The fact that there were more deals like the Eriksson deal that ended badly, is just more evidence that those (big money to aging players) are not the kind of deals to enter into. We still haven't even gotten to the worst of these errors - the OEL deal. OEL already had years of declining production, yet JB went after him with a single-minded obsession that is almost incomprehensible. Yet, we have the new management duplicating the worst of Benning's mistakes - the Miller contract is just as likely to not age well as the ERIKSSON deal, yet here we are. Anyone watching the World juniors in which Forsling competed was able to observe a very promising pick, there was no urgent need to move him. Drafting players is already somewhat of a crap shoot (the odds improve with superior scouting and player development) but you waste all of your gains when you move the prospects with promise. As for the Virtanen draft year, on the consensus of draft rankings, Virtanen was 16th, so taking him at 5 was a serious overreach. This was offset somewhat by picking up McCann at 24 while his consensus ranking was 11th. But, it was McCann, the center, that was traded along with a second and a fourth for Gudbranson - a player that was entirely useless in Vancouver. Now the 2016 pick that Florida took was a washout, but the very next player taken was Alex DeBriincat. 2014 NHL Draft Prospect Consensus Rankings (mynhldraft.com)

Hughes has played enough hockey to know the consequence of playing with a broken stick, doing so can only mean that he doesn't give a damn. Scotty Bowman would have benched him, he'd have benched Myers, he'd have benched OEL, he'd have benched Miller earlier, it would not matter to him how much money they make - they are part of the team, but when they don't play for the benefit of the team, they sat.

Time for Myers to watch from the press box for a couple of weeks. He won't be missed.

Oh est is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet, and neither will Myers and discipline.

Hughes learning to be undisciplined from the veteran D on this team. As a modest proposal: players taking penalties where the opposition scores should get a minus on their +/-. After all, they are a necessary cause of the short-handed goal against. Players that successfully kill penalties get a plus. Helps to measure value to their team.

Myers showing the young guys how to be disciplined??? Great example on the 14 million dollar pairing - one no discipline, and the other doesn't give a darn - great examples for our young players.

Clearly wanted no part of Schenn.

Strong backcheck by Hoglander.

But, but, Boeser doesn't have ten goals, whatever do you mean?

I like what Dries brings.

Yeah, Greer was too chicken to fight Schenn, he decided to pick on a young, non-fighter,

Didn't Lockhart have a couple of goals at Young Stars playing on a patched together line?

Yeah, a Benning IED. Rathbone is good going forward, but he needs to play with a guy with solid structure - like Schenn broke in Hughes, Unfortunately, Hughes still needs Schenn and Myers is just not a structured guy, and Bear is kind of an advanced form of Rathbone. I like Burroughs on either side, he strikes me as a sort of future Schenn - he'll do whatever the team requires without question or complaint, and for a young player, he plays a smart game. Brisebois has paid his dues, but is only effective on the left side, still in my mind, he is a much better seventh D than the hapless Stillman. Of course, I only see it from the perspective of a fan, I suppose management has an entirely different perspective that is totally mysterious to me. O suppose when previous management has stuck you with fourteen million a year in ill-spent cap on defense and you can't move them, you have to play them... don't you?

Lockwood hot as the fires in Hades in Abby, coach's favorite player, basically he said that when Lockwood's on the ice Abby has the puck. Intelligence, speed and pressure.

I thought Brisebois acquitted himself far better than Stillman on his call up. Stillman is just awful.