Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Enter Search Term. Use arrows to navigate between autocomplete results. If no results appear, use Enter to do a full site search.
Forum Closure ×
Canucks Community
Forum Closure

TOMapleLaughs

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    16,698

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    13

 Content Type 

Posts posted by TOMapleLaughs

    6th Pick: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

    in Prospects / Farm Team

    Posted

    At 17 years an 6 months old, a shoulder injury is NOT something I qorry about unless he has a similar injury later on.

    Jeez...at 17 years old I had a knee injury 2 broken arms a fractured wrist and a shattered jaw and I healed super quick.

    Now at 32 I get drunk I need 3 days to recover :P

    Pretty much. "I never used to develop permanent scars there before."

    Nikolaj Ehlers

    in Canucks Talk

    Posted

    Hockey IQ means what if the guy is undersized? Here's a comic book equivalent: Brainiac vs. The Hulk in competitive sports. If might take the Hulk awhile to figure out what to do, but as soon as he's coached "Hey, put that black rubber thing in the net and while you're at it, hit that skinny guy with the huge head." Hulk will absolutely dominate.

    Meanwhile, Lindros and Gretzky are from different eras. Gretzky required a lot of protection from other sources and that era is gone. Now star players need to battle on their own quite a lot more.

    Are the Canucks fans looking at how the Sedins constantly get pushed around the same ones who are inexplicably drooling over Ehlers and Nylander? Because that doesn't compute. Esp. when they're not near as skilled or as big as the Sedins.

    Schroeder... Coho... One-dimensional weak bs. It's as if we're totally not used to what winning-capable skill looks like anymore. The plan for skill should involve next years' draft, which is full of very, very talented players who aren't undersized. And i'm fairly certain that Linden wants to go that route if he selected some 'drafting guru' in Benning.

    Draft Virtanen!

    in Canucks Talk

    Posted

    Or rather, give you Gallagher over Ehlers any day of the weak?

    Ehlers is working out to gain as much mass as possible. Unfortunately his frame is awkward, so there's only so much we can expect in that department.

    But does this matter? Well, yes.

    I find it funny when some Canucks fans complain how their team gets physically dominated in playoffs after playoffs, yet drop all that come draft time to hype up some other physical non-factor. Oh, this guy's skill will be awesome to watch! ... Until the games actually matter.

    Suggestion: Look at what's actually happening.

    6th Pick: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

    in Prospects / Farm Team

    Posted

    Disagree. The Canucks may consider him because he's ranked 6th in CSS, has superior skating, shooting and the intangibles package that Linden was starting to refer to in his initial talks.

    Ritchie's superior hockey IQ, a myth, led to just 3 more points scored this season. And his superior power forward ability led to just 3 fights, and Virtanen fought more.

    One major factor is age. Virtanen's upside is higher because he's quite a bit younger. Leading team Canada with a shoulder injury? Not bad. Wonder what he would've done if he was 100%. Likely he'd be in the top-5.

    Ritchie's a bit overweight. Ehlers massively underweight. Virtanen at where you'd like players to be. Since he's just as fast as Ehlers with A-rated skating, at 40lbs more, wow, yes please. He also has a cannon of a shot. He can score in all sorts of ways and pushes defenders over instead of getting physically dominated. He's definitely worthy of consideration.

    • Upvote 1

    Draft Virtanen!

    in Canucks Talk

    Posted · Edited by TOMapleLaughs

    Why is Ritchie riskier then Ehlers to you?

    Injuries. Shoulder and concussion? But Ehlers being tossed around like a ragdoll doesn't lead me to believe that he'll be impervious.

    Virtanen had 3 fewer points than Ritchie this past season and was the best Canadian U18 player despite a shoulder ailment. He's still ranked fairly high because of his elite speed and shot. He's also quite a bit younger. The shoulder injury will be a total non-factor.

    For all this 'low hockey IQ' talk, the Red Line Report had that ranked B-. Sounds irrelevant to me. Size, speed and shot are way more important factors anyway.

    • Upvote 1

    Are the Playoffs Rigged? (Put on Your Tinfoil Hat, We're Going In...)

    in General Hockey Discussion

    Posted

    So sports is rigged for entertainment? Ya that was quite the entertaining ECF last year eh a sweep of Pittsburgh? I'm sure that was scripted to be entertaining. Or this year, the Price injury made that series so boring. Or How about teams who barely score in the playoffs? That must be so exciting as fans to watch.....

    LA and CHI are by far the two best teams in the West. That's why they go far every year. If NHL was rigged, Nashville would have a cup.

    Also, why would teams management get fired then if they followed a script? Pittsburgh collapsed and wasn't supposed to lose. If they were, Shero would still have a job.

    Not every series can be made awesome, but they have managed to create a large amount of storybook sweethearts over the past few seasons here nonetheless.

    Analysis of how LA and Chicago got to the positions they're at will reveal league favoritism. Meanwhile, pre-sold Phoenix making the playoffs while being awful is a clear example of the NHL determining which teams (they owned it) will succeed. As soon as they were sold, bam, out.

    GM's/coaches being fired and replaced is all part of the entertainment package.

    Are the Playoffs Rigged? (Put on Your Tinfoil Hat, We're Going In...)

    in General Hockey Discussion

    Posted

    Depends on how you define rigged. If you mean staged, WWE type matches with a pre-determined outcome, I doubt it is feasible or even possible. It would require player involvement, which involves too many people (the odds of a someone opening their mouth and blowing it is equal to the square of the number of people involved), it would also require the owners to share the take with the players (fat chance of Jeremy Jacobs sharing anything with anyone). It also puts a doomsday weapon in the NHLPA's hands next time the CBA expires. I have no doubt that the NHL does use some questionable officiating to increase the odds in favour of their preferred teams, not every game or even every series, just certain matchups and key games if required. Not really match fixing so much as stacking the deck in their favour. All it takes is a few refs, maybe not even with their knowledge. For example if they want a rough team like Boston or Philadelphia to win, assign refs that tend to stick the whistle up their arse and "let them play", if they want the finesse team to win assign the ref that calls it tight in regards to holding & interference.

    Player involvement is definitely far-fetched and complicated, but not completely out of the realm of possibility. Perhaps a few key players aren't involved directly, but they can smell something fishy. Every now and then you hear the odd one piping up about it. Like OV. Shane Doan. etc. But to claim they are all involved is reaching, I admit.

    With parity and how close games and series are these days, it's fairly easy to manage games and series through call/non-call control. This is how it's done in basketball at least. Soccer. Football. All easily-controlled. Why would hockey be any different?

    The reasoning is sound: Entertain the masses through creations of storybook playoffs (History will be MADE UP) while promoting the game in the league's large US markets and new southern US markets via extended playoff runs. This is for the betterment of the league, and it's happening whether you think it's rigged or not.

    Are the Playoffs Rigged? (Put on Your Tinfoil Hat, We're Going In...)

    in General Hockey Discussion

    Posted

    Your theory just hit a major snag.

    Why fake an injury if the games are scripted? Why not just have Price play good but come out short in the end. An injury serves no purposed in a pre determined outcome. It would bring out more exciting games/ better ratings if price was still in the net forcing the series to seven games.

    If the players are in on it, then why do the refs have to make bad calls? They shouldn't have to, as players acting the game out decides the outcome not bad calls.

    Not a major snag at all, as it ties into how our finals series with Boston played out. ie. Omg injuries! And how the Canucks looked like they were going to lose game 7 from shift one onward. Totally flat. They didn't like how the league rigs these things, but they have to tow the line.

    The Price injury was stupidly fake. Just look at his acting job. Hahahaha. Fake. That means the Habs, who probably should not have beaten Boston, even though I assumed they would be rigged past them just to make Canadian hockey fans feel a little better about themselves, are taking a dive against NYR, the 'team of destiny', as required.

    Key players and refs are all in on it. The games are managed to a degree that accomplishes the outcome. Obviously, not all series are made nail-biters. All series going to game seven OT or a 'miracle comeback' after being down 0-3 is just too ridiculous to believe, even to casual fan. (That being said, the amount of occurances of these super-exciting comebacks is statistically ridiculous these days regardless.)

    When so much bs hype was put into the Marty St. Louis mom funeral drama, you knew that Montreal didn't have a chance in hell in beating them.

    NYR's owner last season said his team was close. Not preseason hype. Mid-season. Just like LA's owner said his team was close. Wow. Prophets.

    [Confirmed] Jim Benning signs as new Canucks GM

    in Canucks Talk

    Posted

    Speculation re: Trotz/Weber/Trade is fairly easy to conjure, regardless of whatever made-up 'insider' info is out there.

    There's no doubt that we have interest in Shea Weber. But so does every other team.

    Perhaps Weber is traded elsewhere and it'll be spun on how we 'lost out', making that a story option too. We'll just have to wait and see.

    • Upvote 1

    Are the Playoffs Rigged? (Put on Your Tinfoil Hat, We're Going In...)

    in General Hockey Discussion

    Posted

    That Price injury is fake.

    Countless times is a goalie run into like that and with all the bloody padding there and knee flexibility with goaltenders in general, there's just no way that was a real injury. Just further rigging. Like how we lost Hamhuis to a ridiculous injury while he toppled over Lucic and so on. It's easier for Canadian teams to be shellacked by American O4 teams when they lose key players to unbelieveable injuries.

    It's of little concern though. Plenty of Canadian teams this year are without playoffs anyway. They'll be rescued by having good picks in upcoming drafts... Which are also rigged to suit southern teams. D'oh!

×
×
  • Create New...