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Curmudgeon

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Everything posted by Curmudgeon

  1. So far from Rutherford and Allvin all I've heard is talk, and to be honest, I kind of hear the same things Benning said when he first came aboard. No need to tear it down, we can improve on the fly, we have good players and we're not that far away, we're having our scouting meetings to assess our players and will look at the market and if a deal makes sense and makes us a better team, we'll do it. I hear essentially the same things coming from Rutherford; only the style and underlying experience favour Rutherford. I am also not enthused yet about Allvin, but it is early yet and I expect more action after the Stanley Cup is awarded and teams begin tinkering with their rosters in earnest. So, to everyone who has jumped with both feet on the Rutherford/Allvin bandwagon, why don't we all wait and see what happens in July, August and September before anointing them as saviours. Because after all is said and done, usually more is said than done.
  2. I think you are probably spot on, although I think Hoglander will draw the short straw, simply because he's younger, cheaper and plays a similar game to Garland's. I really like Hoglander, but he's too small for the kind of team Allvin and Company want to build. you can afford maybe one (Garland) but no more than that.
  3. Yes, but they used Long-Term Injury to stay under the cap. If everyone under contract had been on the active roster, they would have exceeded the cap by about $10 million. When the trade was made, I talked about the Eichel Curse: Any team he is on does not make the playoffs. Seven years in the league, never made the playoffs, and with Calgary and Edmonton already being better teams than Vegas, along with improvements in LA, Vancouver and Anaheim, I could see Vegas finishing 6th or 7th next season. Who are they going fire then?
  4. You are partly correct; the real problem with Vegas is the approach adopted by ownership. I have said this before, and at the risk of sounding repetitive, I say again that Vegas is for winners. Winners at the tables and at the slots, winners in the entertainment business, and now winners in pro sports. Vegas collectively hates and has no patience with losers of any kind. Losing is unacceptable, so the pressure is on the hockey team to be a championship calibre club each and every year. This means they have no time for developing players that need two or three seasons to be ready for the NHL; they want players who can play at a high level right now. This obviously costs a lot of money so they go out and chase the marquee names that will both fill the arena and (they hope) guarantee wins. Now in order to bring in high powered names, they have to send good players, prospects and draft picks the other way. Hence, you lose Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, Eric Brannstrom, Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch and other futures for older, far more expensive players at or on the downside of their peak. Vegas ownership seems to believe in the idea that you can buy a championship team and compete every year. Yeah, that doesn't work in a hard cap system. And I would say that in the fullness of time, they will come to regret acquiring Jack Eichel, if for no other reason than he has cost them Tuch, Krebs and more as they scramble to get under the cap this summer. And one more thing: look at Vegas' farm team and tell me that if there is anyone in Henderson ready to play regularly in the NHL next season. I'll wait.
  5. It is far easier to simply ignore him. Seriously, if nobody listened to him then his sponsors wouldn't be keen to continue funding him, then he would go away to perhaps stand on the corner of Granville and Georgia trying to tell strangers about how he knows exactly what the Canucks management and coaching staff need to do to win his approval.
  6. Refresh my memory: which NHL team has signed an RFA, then traded him? I can't remember when it happened, even though people talk about it every year.
  7. I'm on the sign Stecher train, and have been ever since I realized he would be UFA this year, can provide reliable service from the right side, and can play up and down the lineup. You can disparage his size all you want, but he's a tireless worker with a keen hockey mind. Better than Hamonic, better than Poolman, better than Hunt, so why not?
  8. Neither did I. If anything, I thought the Islanders problem was that they were an older team with players on the down side of their careers. Then again, when you are 79 going on 80, everybody 45 to 50 years younger than you seems like a youngster. I can't understand why ownership didn't fire Uncle Lou. He's brought in aging veterans (Parise, Palmieri, Pageau, Greene, Chara) to play key roles when virtually every other team is actively trying to get younger and more skilled. But firing Barry Trotz? The guy is third on the all-time list of wins with 914, behind only Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville. In cash-strapped Nashville his teams were playoff contenders every year and with Washington he won a Cup. If Bruce decides to move on, Trotz would be my preferred candidate. But Trotz would probably be EVERYONE'S preferred guy.
  9. I wouldn't be upset if Allvin signed him for 850K. You will never get less than 100% effort from Troy, and he is a better player than Poolman or Hunt.
  10. Yes, people do get caught up in the idea that if a guy is fired, then nothing he ever did was any good. I'm not a great Benning fan, but the guy made some pretty good moves that are paying dividends right now. The team that went 32-15-10 to finish the season is pretty much the same roster that Benning built. The end of Benning was the hideous July when Markstrom, Tanev, Toffoli and Stecher walked because he ran out of time. Not a good look.
  11. And yet he apparently participated when management interviewed Andrei Kuzmenko on Thursday or Friday. Can't recall where I read that, but if he was in on the interview, I'd think he's likely decided to come back. And remember that he has four assistant coaches, a video coach and Stan Smyl, the Sedins, and Doug Jarvis to help him figure out how to exit the defensive zone more effectively. I think of Rutherford's comments about not being very good at exiting the zone as giving direction for the future, not finding fault with the past. Ultimately, if Bruce decides he can't meet management's expectations, then he'll choose to move on to another team. There will be a few vacancies this summer.
  12. Yes, although Karlsson was 22 years old with three years of pro experience. Pettersson had his great rookie season at 20 after two partial seasons pro experience. Still excellent, though, no matter how old he is.
  13. I'd bring back the best 10-12 and leave space for new guys (and rookies) who are either Europeans or graduating juniors. I'm thinking Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson, Chase Wouters (good penalty killer), Carson Focht and maybe Joni Jurmo, plus any other free agents they manage to sign. They have to balance the need to be a top AHL team and the need to be a developmental place for their prospects to learn what it takes to become a professional. Abbotsford clearly has the luxury of being an hour from the big club, so can make use of coaching, training, conditioning and medical staff. So, as I say, bring back your best 10-12 and inject six or seven young guys into the mix. Either way, the AHL is a really high calibre league and I will definitely book a bigger ticket package next season.
  14. I hope not, too, but if the Canucks crash and burn at the draft, they have a built-in excuse: well, we are short of scouts, so we didn't know about a lot of players.
  15. Why? What about a guy losing his job make you happy? Is it because of his last name? Really?
  16. Oddity: Last year Carolina won their first two games in the playoffs, with GWG by Niederreiter and Aho. This year they won their first two games, with GWG by Neiderreiter and Aho. 

  17. Although he can be a real dick, Denis Potvin should be in the conversation. Nine all-star games, 1052 points in 1060 games, three Norris Trophies and a Calder Trophy, four Stanley Cups, 164 points in 185 playoff games and a career +/- of +456.
  18. Follow Chris Faber on Twitter and also his regular posts on Canucks Army. Abbotsford is his beat.
  19. Very disappointed that Abbotsford is done, but even more enraged by the idiocy of the AHL playoff structure. Imagine playing all year to make the playoffs, only to be subjected to a best of three, with all the games away from home (and I would feel exactly the same if it had been Abbotsford that hosted all three). And the tie breaker was a headscratcher. Both Abbotsford and Bakersfield had 84 points, with Abby winning 39 and Bakersfield winning 37. Two more wins should win, right? Wrong. Bakersfield had more regulation wins than Abbotsford. Put another way, Abbotsford won more in overtime. Other AHL teams facing this best-of-three on the road are Bridgeport, Hershey, Rochester, Texas, San Diego and now Abbotsford. Here's a radical idea: Adopt the NHL system with two conferences of two divisions. The top three in each division and the next two highest point total teams get in and all series are best of seven. It just might work. Otherwise, the AHL fans are stuck with a great game with a really stupid playoff system.
  20. Bingo. I don't see a fundamental difference in what we are hearing from the Rutherford regime than what we heard from the Benning regime. Improve the defence, get younger and faster, add skill, see what's available in free agency, see what the market looks like and if a deal makes our team better, we'll make a move. Seriously, when you look at the public utterances from Benning and Rutherford, they are/were saying pretty much the same thing. Using different words, but the message is the same. As always, as Higgyfan says, their actions will define their competence, not their words. Reminds me of the saying "After all is said and done, more is usually said than done." But do I think Rutherford is better than Benning? In many ways, yes, but taking personalities and personal communication styles out of the equation, how is the message different?
  21. I think those are good numbers, and reasonable as well. Not sure about term, but Rutherford mentioned that when signing an older player, you have to look at what he does in the first three years compared with the final three years. Does this not sound like Rutherford's starting position with Miller is no more than six years? Don't know about Brock, but I think his deal will be more about term than money. Interesting times ahead, but I am confident that Rutherford won't deviate from his plan to ice a team that is younger, faster, more skilled and are more structured in moving the puck out of their own zone.
  22. Honestly, Alf, have you seen him play? He is no Byfuglien and no Burns. Both those guys were big, strong, could hammer the puck and could play top four minutes on defence. Woo is a great skater, is fairly physical but not overpowering, and needs a road map and a bloodhound to find the net. He is nowhere near an NHL forward. Sadly, his career in the Canucks organization hasn't helped him, and he might be better off being moved somewhere else for a fresh start where he can learn the one position he's always played: defence.
  23. Uhhhh....Benning. Every year. And I'm glad somebody else noticed. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. Sounds to me like they really want to find defencemen who are better puck movers. I'm looking at you, Myers. And, btw, Jack Rathbone is extremely adept at moving the puck from his own zone. I really believe there is a spot for him in Vancouver next season. I don't understand all those who want to throw him in as a sweetener in any trade; wouldn't you want to see if he can make a difference in Vancouver before you trade him away?
  24. I am virtually certain that Kuzma writes his story before he even attends the media briefing, then looks for quotes to bolster what he needs to fit his pre-determined narrative. He gives it away in the way that he tells a long-winded story before he actually asks a question that, in his head, he has already answered. I don't know how he keeps a job in the shrinking newspaper business.
  25. Just watched Tyler Johnson score in the 7th round of the shootout to officially end Vegas' playoff hopes. Now, with a team in cap hell, it will be interesting to see how ownership reacts. Vegas don't tolerate no losers.

    1. TNucks1

      TNucks1

      F#CK THE KNIGHTS, F#CK EM!
       

       

    2. JM_

      JM_

      I wonder if we could poach Whitecloud from them, he might be a nice size upgrade for the bottom pair right side. 

    3. Curmudgeon

      Curmudgeon

      Good idea. I've always thought Whitecloud would look great paired with Hughes or (in the future) Rathbone.

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