joe-max

I watched the game in the arena today and was sitting right behind the goal, 5th row perfect view on the goalie. Merzlikins did a lot of fancy warm-up moves, not much else. Couldn't do much on the first two goals, the third was a decent shot, but not unstoppable. Silovs looked very calm and steady, has a good presence in goal. Didn't have a lot to do, but neither did Merzlikins. He was quite slow when leaving to net to play the puck behind the goal, otherwise he was really gud. Hopefully he gets in another game.

If they are looking for a guy with championship pedigree, they should go after Jukka Jalonen. He has won everything on the international level, most recently the Olympics with FInland (for the first time on the history of the nation). 1994-1995 U18 EJC Gold Medal 1995-1996 U17 WHC Silver Medal 2001-2002 SM-liiga Bronze Medal 2002-2003 SM-liiga Bronze Medal 2004-2005 SM-liiga Bronze Medal 2005-2006 SM-liiga Champion SM-liiga Coach of the Year (Kalevi Numminen Trophy) 2006-2007 SM-liiga Bronze Medal 2007-2008 World Championship Bronze Medal 2009-2010 Olympic Bronze Medal 2010-2011 Finnish Coach of the Year (National team) World Championship Gold Medal 2011-2012 Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame (Jääkiekkoleijona) (#210) 2012-2013 KHL All-Star Game 2013-2014 KHL All-Star Game 2015-2016 Finnish Coach of the Year (U20 national team) U20 WJC Gold Medal 2017-2018 KHL All-Star Game 2018-2019 World Championship Gold Medal 2020-2021 World Championship Silver Medal 2021-2022 Olympic Gold Medal

The worst penalty killing in the history of the league under Green and Baumgartner: 64.6% every time they were shorthanded was like:

I*ll throw another name out there: Jukka Jalonen. Would be an interesting option if they are willing to take out-of-the-box options into consideration. A very experienced and successful coach from Finland. Has coached since 1992, worked in different European leagues, his teams are extremely well organized, defend well, he values team spirit and has had success on every level. Won Liiga in 2006 and basically anything on the international level. World champion with the Finnish U20 juniors, 2x world champions with the Finnish men's team, most recently the highly suprising Olympic gold medal for Finland, the first in the nation's history. Could fit in well with the progressive approach of the new administration. How about the first Finnish coach under the first Swedish GM in the NHL?

The Finnish Liiga lost talent in recent years and may not be as strong as it used to be, still quite remarkable that Jasek and Palmu both are the best players on their (very good) teams and are among the top point getters league wide. Palmu is currently 2nd in points, Jasek 3rd, but leads the league in assists. Both are still only 24...

I would at least add Motte and Dorsett to the list. Two players that JB traded for and that were immensely successful in their roles. Also Gränlund and Bärtschi were decent finds.

Actually, not quite. Who was Näslund moulded by? He played under three captains in his career before becoming one: Lemieux, Linden, Messier. Who of them spoiled him? It is certainly a point that one can make and if JR and his team come to the conclusion that they want to go into a different direction and move on from Bo, I will support that decision. They will know better than I. However, I wouldn't say that leadership or a lack thereof is the reason for the "last decade of failure, misery and country club culture". First of all, it was not the brightest last ten years, but they made the playoffs 4 out of 10 years. Not great, but far from a total disaster. The Oilers had 3 appearances during that span riding McJesus and Drysaddle, the Sabres not a single one and the Panthers haven't won a playoff series since 1996. That's disastrous. The team was also not very good through most of these years. If your topscorer has 50 points (13-14 season), your best goal scorers after Bo are Gränlund, Sutter and Bärtschi (15-16) or Del Zotto, Pouliot, Biega, Hutton and Gudbranson are regulars on your D (17-18), you'll have a rough ride.

I respect your opinion regarding the leadership style, but R U SERIOUS could have worded it without the elitist and racist undertone. As for the discussion itself, I only partially agree. It is not the cleverest decision to make the goalie captain nor does it have to be the best offensive player. It has to be a good leader on and off the ice, a positive role model, the perfect captain leads by example, is trusted, inspiring, strong-willed, but also calm, confident, sportsmanlike, can rally his troops, doesn't get rattled and is a good representative of the team. Unlike you, I think being an ambassador is a desired quality in a captain. For me, being aggressive or emotional is not a key attribute, not more than being a calm and steady influence. The perfect allround-jack-of-all-trades-captain can do both, ignite a fire when needed, but also make sure the team doesn't lose composure when things heat up. I find it hard to judge, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors, in training, behind the scenes, but for me Horvat excels in many of these areas. He is not the most extrovert, emotional guy, but if he takes up the calming, steady influence role, while JT brings in the aggression and emotions and it works for the leadership group and the team, why not? Would JT still be able to bring the same level of energy to the ice if he had all the other responsibilities of being the captain, e.g. answering the same stupid media questions repeatedly? Dunno. Malhotra, Öhlund, Mitchell or Bieksa instead of Luongo, Näslund or Henrik would probably have worked equally well as captains, maybe even better in some areas. Then again, it's all what-ifs. We don't know whether Nazzy and the Sedins would ever have reached their potential without the added responsibility. As for the Sedins, they were not soft. They were tough as nails, highly competitive and while the punching-bag incident was frustrating to watch, the Sedins' mistake here was trusting that the referees would do their job. But it was not the reason they lost, they were just finished physically and had nothing left. Can't blame them. I have always admired them for taking the high road and playing with integrity.

Not at all actually. Not about this topic nor in general. If anything the post that I responded to is overly emotional, but above all it is just stupid. I saw the post and considering that the poster implied to speak for all Canucks fans I felt it shouldn't be let go unchallenged. In about a day nobody else said anything, so now I felt I had to do it, so that R U SERIOUS does not come to believe his weird thoughts are accepted as general truth.

Oh boy. I get that you're not happy with Bo as captain, that you want someone that shows more emotion, more bite, more aggression and generally want the more violent old school hockey back. But "soft Euro hockey culture" with "spoiled, entitled and inconsistant players" from "some overly neutered European city"? Demanding that the Sedins be kept away from the team, so they do not "spread any influence [...] in any way"? And then claiming "we all know" it "needs to be done"? This post reeks of narrow-mindedness and arrogance. Are you saying if not for the soft Swedes like Näslund, Sundin, Öhlund, the Sedins, Gradin or Pettersson or other useless Europeans like Bure, Salo, Lumme or Mogilny the Canucks would long have won a cup? Are you saying Europeans in general and European hockey culture is soft, you know, soft like Esa Tikkanen or Jarkko Ruutu. But maybe they will finally get a good Canadian kid to captain the team that can lead the team to the promised land. Horvat doesn't count, right? But they had this other one, what's his name again? Lulongo or something. Nah, doesn't count, his father is Italian, the mother half-Irish, no wonder it never worked out with him. But hey, they had this other one. Good Canadian kid, strong leader, tough as nails, surrounded by a number of tough fighters like Brashear, May, Odjick, Walker Staios, McAllister, Strudwick and other imposing players like Bertuzzi, Öhlund and Tervor Linden. All on the team in the same year! Easy cup win, no? What was his name again? Was it Mark Messitupier? I wonder how you can stand living in Vancouver as its population is mainly comprised of people with European origin and the city is generally regarded as having a strong European flavour. Btw, Trevor Linden's family emigrated from the Netherlands. Luckily they didn't take useless European diplomacy skills with them...

It's nice to see Gaunce do well. Good character guy and I thought he could have been given more of an opportunity when he was here. But let's also not forget that he turns 28 next month and has played a total of 125 NHL games in his career (21 points), 10 of which came in the last three years. He would not be in the Canucks top 12 this year.

The main reason I hate losing is because CDC is unbearable after a loss.

Aaah, you mean that versatile, quick and agile, defensively aware player with an excellent all around skillset, who can play on either wing and at center equally well. I wonder who holds his rights and how expensive he would be...

Why not go after the leading scorer of the Finnish Liiga instead? He is younger, cheaper, quick, built like a fire hydrant and extremely skilled. He gets praised by his coach Olli Jokinen for his work ethic and leadership. Would fit in perfectly. His name? That would be Palmu. Petrus Palmu.

8 points in 38 games while playing 15:04 on average. Jurmo seems to be coming along nicely. He is listed at 192cm and 94kg. His team is doing great (sitting in 2nd place after years at or near the bottom), new coach Olli Jokinen has turned the ship around in his first season. He introduced an NHL-style of coaching, which means more pace, more battling, more 1on1 than usual in Finland and it seems to have paid off. Some playoff experience coming up.

Palmu is having a fantastic year in Finland. He leads the league in points (40 in 43), is a leader and cornerstone on a team that had for years been at or near the bottom of the league and suddenly sits in 2nd place. His coach Olli Jokinen called him a character guy with a great attitude. He is still only 24...

If I were the Oilers, I'd start playing with 4 forwards and one dmen. Turning a weakness into a strength and taking the opponent by surprise.

Future considerations?

...and that's what it's all about!

In his last 10 games in the KHL Jake had 1 assist and is -2, sitting at 9 goals, 7 assist and is -5 in 36 games. Currently tied for 9th on his team in scoring. One cannot exactly say that he has taken the KHL by storm... https://en.khl.ru/stat/players/1097/all/spartak/