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stetty2

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  1. stetty2

    Better Without Edler

    By stetty2,

    Are the Vancouver Canucks better without Alex Edler in the lineup this year? The Canucks don't appear to be struggling in his absence.

    Think about this. There are 767 players that have played in the NHL this year according to NHL.com. Out of those 767, Alex Edler ranks 753 in plus/minus at -12. Mike Stanton is a +4 and Kevin Bieksa is a team high +10, so you can't blame it on the lack of goals.

    Now granted, many don't believe in the plus/minus statistic. There is more to the story however.

    Alex Edler is an offensive defensemen. The Canucks have him pegged to help create offence, which is why he was on the first unit power play. It's also why he has the highest salary cap hit out of all the Canucks defensemen at 5 million per season.

    Out of the top 6 D-men on the Canucks, Edler ranks 6th in scoring with 6 points. Even Stanton has 8 points.

    Unfortunately Edler has not helped generate the offence with his untimely pinches that create odd man rushes the other way.

    That's not to say Edler doesn't have the potential to be a star in the league. He has shown brilliance at times, just not consistently. Edler's best season came in 2011-12 when he had 49 points and was in the discussion for the Norris trophy. He finished 15th in league voting.

    The problem with Edler is that he doesn't show up with his top game every night. We see spurts of him being the Canucks leader on the back end, but there appears to be a lack of motivation. Edler just signed his new contract and has a no trade clause, which doesn't mean he cannot be traded, it just means he has the upper hand if he were asked by GM Mike Gillis to be traded.

    It will be an interesting month without Edler in the lineup. Only time will tell if the Canucks need Edler more than Edler needs the Canucks money.

    I will leave you with a quote from Torts that sum's up the season before the injury.

    John Tortorella on Alex Edler, "That’s when I get angrier with players, it’s how much I know it’s there.

    “To make that play (in New York), it was hard for me. We had three scoring chances. We had been fighting uphill all year long. Then we give one away.

    “It’s something I don’t want to do. I really don’t. It’s not something I’m preparing to do. But five feet outside the blueline, not getting it out, it needs to get done by a guy of that calibre."

    The soft-spoken Edler said he took the benching, and the raging coach, in stride.

    “It’s not personal,” Edler said. “We need everyone to play (well) to get the win.

    “That’s Torts style. He’s very emotional on the bench. It’s to get you going to help the team.”
  2. stetty2
    Zack Kassian is on the bench for the power play. Still.

    Does anyone remember Dustin Byfuglien? There was a purpose for the big guy. Go to the net and cause trouble.

    Kassian should be in front of the net. Hiding shots from the point by Garrison or Edler, making sure the goalie can't see them. The goaltender might save the initial shot but there is more chance for a loose puck.

    Kassian should also be able to have at least one, if not two defencemen on him in front of the net. Essentially blocking the goalie's way so the twins can dance around, finishing off the play with a softly bedded goal.

    It worked for Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison. They teamed with 'Big Burt' stone hands Todd Burtuzzi. The purpose of Todd was to create opportunities and "free up space" for the star players.

    That's the beauty of the big man. Go to the net, cause some traffic and put in the junk goals.

    Kassian should be pushing and shoving in front of the net, getting the goalie moving and getting in his line of sight.

    The Canucks power play is currently in 29th place out of 30, so there is no risk to try it.

    They are also 19th in the league in the goals per game department at 2.56.

    The Defence is however within the top 16 playoff spots when it comes to giving them up at 2.48 goals per game. Good enough for 14th best in the league.

    What they desperately need is a power play goal per game. The league average for power play percentage is just over 20%. That's 1 goal every 5 power plays or 1 goal per game. Toronto is clicking along at a rate of 32.4% or 1 goal every 3 power plays. Vancouver sits at 11.5%.

    Imagine 1 more goal in each of the last 7 games for the Canucks?

    Nov 23 '13 CHICAGO 2 VANCOUVER 1
    Nov 22 '13 COLUMBUS 2 VANCOUVER 6
    Nov 19 '13 FLORIDA 3 VANCOUVER 2 SO
    Nov 17 '13 DALLAS 2 VANCOUVER 1
    Nov 14 '13 SAN JOSE 2 VANCOUVER 1 OT
    Nov 10 '13 VANCOUVER 1 ANAHEIM 3
    Nov 09 '13 VANCOUVER 1 LOS ANGELES 5

    Instead of being 1-4-2, they would have been somewhat improved to 3-2-2. An extra 4 points in the standings.

    The Canucks have 28 points right now. Adding 4 would give them 32. Good enough for 8th in the league, even after this latest loss. It would also tie Boston who currently sit with 32 points at the top of the East.

    I know you don't look at stats and standings Torts, but try something different please. The power play is what is hurting this team and it's time for a change.
  3. stetty2
    http://youtu.be/qePKiGYqbkY

    Shawn Thornton. Remember him? He won a Stanley Cup right here on Vancouver ice. He also ambushed The Province's Tony Gallagher on a Boston sports show. Gallagher did not do a good job defending himself either.

    The same Shawn Thornton is now flirting with a Bertuzzi like suspension after his UFC style take down, followed by a ground and pound that knocked the Penguins Brooks Orpik out cold. Orpik required a stretcher to remove his limp body from the ice.

    Orpik was standing in a scrum at the whistle when Thornton came up from behind him, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down before punching his face into the ice.

    Don Cherry was quoted on Hockey Night in Canada as saying, "This was not a fight."

    Sidney Crosby spoke in the post game scrum, "It's hard to think about hockey when someone gets hurt like that."

    In little defence to Thornton, there was a lead up to his reckless behaviour. In the first shift of the game, Orpik hit Bruins forward Loui Eriksson awkwardly, causing Eriksson to leave the game with an apparent head injury.

    Crosby also said he also believes the original hit led to the incident. "I think Orp's (Orpik) hit on Eriksson led to what happened with Thornton."

    Thornton chased Orpik around the ice trying to fight him, but Orpik wanted nothing to do with the challenger. It was almost 10 minutes after the Orpik hit on Eriksson when Thornton went stupid.

    The question is, should Orpik have fought Thornton on the original challenge? Because it would be safe to say, had they fought immediately after the Eriksson hit at the beginning of the game, there wouldn't have been the sucker punch later. In no way am I condoning Thornton's actions, he shouldn't have done what he did.

    Should a player have to fight if they make a big hit? I don't think so, hitting is part of the game.

    Here is what Bob Mckenzie had to say about it,

    "Orpik's hit on Eriksson was a hockey play, could've been a minor for interference, but well within context of game action. Orpik shouldn't necessarily be obliged to answer the bell to Thornton on that hit. It wasn't that egregious."

    Regardless of what side you are on, I think we can all agree Thornton will get suspended, and will probably miss the game against the Canucks on December 14th because of it. Mckenzie believes the suspension will range from 6 to double digit games.

    Bertuzzi had 20 games for his hit on Moore. The longest suspension in league history was Washington Capitals forward Chris Simon. He stomped on former Canuck Jarko Ruutu's leg while he was with Pittsburgh. Simon also has the second longest suspension of 25 games for his two hander to the face of Ryan Hollweg.

    Shawn Thornton, believe it or not, has not been suspended by the NHL previous to this.


  4. stetty2
    follow the link at the bottom to see full list on Forbes.

    So who are the richest teams in the world, and where do the Canucks rank?

    Which major sporting league of the big 6 is more prosperous and where does the NHL fit in to the mix?

    I'll tell you.

    The richest, most valuable team in the world title belongs to Real Madrid at #1. They are worth an estimated 3.3 billion dollars.

    Manchester United comes in at #2 with an estimated worth of 3.165 billion dollars.

    The top 2 revenue machines in the world are both soccer teams. That suggests that European Soccer is the top sporting event in the world. Wouldn't you agree Chappy? (Team 1040 reference)

    Barcalona is not far behind at #3. Still trending.

    The Yankees and Dallas Cowboys round out the top five at 2.3 and 2.1 billion dollars respectively.

    The Patriots of the NFL, the Dodgers in MLB. Makes sense as 6 and 7.

    Washington Redskins are #8. Surprising.



    Quoting from Forbes, "Robert Griffin III delivered by leading the 'Skins to their first division title since 1999. His jersey set a single season record for most sales on NFLShop.com."


    San Francisco Giants and Arsenal round out the top 10.

    European Soccer, NFL, MLB.

    No NHL yet. No NBA yet. No MLS.

    The Canucks didn't even make the list, but according to Forbes, they rank 7th in the NHL, worth approx. 342 million dollars. The link for Forbes' full list of NHL teams is at the bottom of the page.

    Toronto came in #1 out of all the NHL teams, with a revenue of 1 billion. Good for #31 on the top teams in the world.

    Montreal is the only other Canadian team ahead of the Canucks, valued at over 500 million.

    Flames and Oilers are next as the top Canadian teams. The Flames holding a 20 million net worth advantage over Edmonton with 225.

    So what about actual take home profit?

    The Canucks are said to have taken approx 30 million dollars in profit for the year.

    However, 13 teams reported less than 0 dollars in profit, meaning their revenue didn't cover the cost to run the team.

    Of those teams that lost money; Nashville, Minnesota and the St. Louis Blues were the biggest surprises. Sharks and Capitals were squeekers that still lost money, just not a lot of it. Less than 1 million in debt.

    So how would you rate the top 5 or 6 sporting leagues in the world?

    Maybe we can get this as a poll question with Scott Rintoul on Team 1040 one morning. For now, your answers are accepted below.



    http://www.forbes.co.../1-real-madrid/
    http://www.forbes.com/nhl-valuations/
  5. stetty2
    What if Luongo actually was upset about all the negative comments he receives from writers. What if he was starting to think about what life would be like back in the hot sun in the east.

    How would you feel if every day that you went to work, there was a good chance it was front page news material? Everything you did, replayed in slow motion to you, people starting every sentence with "Why" and "What Happened" all the time.

    Why did you let in such a weak goal? Why did you play the puck behind the net? Why don't you seem happy to be here some days?

    When he was in Florida, all we ever heard was that he was the only reason the Panthers won games. When Florida lost a game or Luongo let in a bad goal, it wasn’t his fault. His save percentage was insanely high because he just got peppered every night. People just assumed it was acceptable for a few of the 45 to 50 shots to go in, right?

    Or is it really as it seems? How about this stat. In the last year Luongo played in Florida, his save percentage was .914 and his GAA was 2.97.

    Last year was a stellar year for Luongo. He killed those numbers with a .928 save percentage and a 2.11 goals against average.

    He's off to a bad start with an .896 percentage and a 2.97 goals against average. Which, oddly enough, is similar to the last season he played with the Panthers. We have gotten what we asked for.

    So, what if Luongo was upset with how the media has treated him?

    Maybe Florida isn’t so far from his mind.
  6. stetty2
    Vancouver just told the rest of the league, it is back. The Canucks embarrassed the Washington Capitals in a game that had no meaning. Take that how you like.

    The win against the supposed top team in the league got me thinking about how lucky we are to have a team that has a real chance at the cup again this year.

    And look at how great our fans are as well. The solid “ Lou” chants, even at other arena’s around the league. The fact that we sing the two versus of "Oh Canada" better than any other arena in the country.The fact that the fans started chanting “Ove” when we were up, just trying to get him to notice that we beat his team tonight. The fact that our fans were able to recognize that the stolen hat-trick goal from OVE might very well have saved the game. The fans applauded the very guy we love and love to hate. The whipping boy of Vancouver. The one we person we have to tell everyone we are upset with because no one wants to admit how lucky we are to have Luongo.

    We haven’t had a good goalie since Kirk Maclean. Irbe, Sean Burke, Alex Auld, Dan CLOUTIER! There was the best goalie we could get. We were guarunteed at least one bad goal a game. But we didn’t hold him to the same scrutiny as Luongo. We did, however, think Cloutier could play better than he did. But if you are capable of playing better every game and it doesn't happen on a consistant basis, maybe mediocre was the best he could play.

    Put yourself in Luongo's skates for a moment. How would you feel if you won your country a gold medal, took your team to a Stanley Cup final, and signed a lifetime contract with a great city? Then got boo’ed by the same fans that placed Martin Brodeur or Patrick Roy type expectations. You can't tell me that Roy or Martin didn't have bad games. Who can forgot the last game for Patrick in Montreal?

    And we already know Luongo has a high expectation on himself.

    Plus, he stayed here didn't he? He wouldn’t have stayed if he had to move his wife from the sun and surf year round in Florida, to Calgary or Edmonton.

    How excited were you when you found out we traded for Luongo? I know that was one of the most amazing feelings I’ve had with this team because we haven’t had a Franchise Player since Bure. The Sedin Twins combined are a Franchise player, and Kesler is building his case, but let’s see the twins go a whole year without the other.

    So do me one favor. The next time you are at a Canucks game and Luongo deserves a "Boo" instead of a "Lou", maybe make the" Boo", into a "BLou" so he feels it could be one way or the other.
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