-
Posts
5,665 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Everything posted by kloubek
-
Honestly, I don't have high hopes for OJ. I was hoping that once he emerged from what seemed like endless injury he would show better. Now, one might say that defensemen take longer to develop, or that he's still young, but I just don't see much to translate into NHL success. He has good breakout vision, but his passes seem ill-timed and often weak, his skating seems slow and he has shown limited creativity. To be honest, I've been more impressed with Chatfield. That kid has hustle and I notice him out there - even if he too may have rather limited upside...
-
Hughes is best at his game when he can pinch in and knows his butt is covered. Unfortunately with our team, it often isn't. So he tries to do it all - which he can't. Huggy will be fine. He actually has very good defensive acumen when the team is on. No, he doesn't knock man guys physically off the puck and he probably never will. His game is all about angles, position, and quickness in stickhandling and skating. Seems to me people are trying too hard to find scapegoats for our poor play. Our issue is primarily a team one.
-
[Discussion] Possible coaching candidates
kloubek replied to garthsbutcher's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
He's not exempt. But his job is to put up points and he is doing that. I do agree his size isn't ideal - though he's generally good at overcoming that... shortcoming... with his skills. As far as being a -10, I'm not surprised. I won't bother to look but I'm guessing nearly all the team isn't looking so great in that department. -
[Discussion] Possible coaching candidates
kloubek replied to garthsbutcher's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
Truthfully, you are both right. LE was brought in as a last hurrah for the twins, and to try to keep the team competitive. Thats on ownership too imo, and has hurt us the most. Overpaying for vets indeed did occur - though I think the reasoning for said vets was understandable. Last playoffs, it sure looked like we had the leadership we needed - though our D was still atrocious. Then with an unexpected flat cap and the Luongo penalty, JB's wiggle room became zero. I am no expert, but I feel last season Benning MUST have been able to move out cap space but was too stubborn to give up anything to do so and got handcuffed. I'm certain he mishandled it all. But, if you look at the team on paper, it's really not bad. It should be doing far better but it's completely out of sync. Watching them play out there is as awkward as NHL during covid itself. And while Benning made life difficult by not feeding Green extra star players, it's not like we have a shortage. We have a very strong top 6 that needs to play better as does Schmidt and the rest of the D not named Hughes. The coaches need to find systems that work with these players. This is not a bad lineup. Figure it out. -
[Signing] Canucks sign Travis Hamonic
kloubek replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Signing Hamonic was Benning's attempt to stop-gap Tanev's absence. Once backed into a corner, I felt it was a wise signing by Benning. It didn't work out yet, but s**t happens. Whether Tanev should have been re-signed is certainly up for debate. Injury issues and all. He is a big loss, no matter your position. Schmidt was a savvy play, but has done zero to ease the loss of Tanev. To trade assets for Toffoli then to not move out depreciated assets to facilitate him re-signing at a very reasonable price is a bad move, imo. Even if you need to pay a premium to move out a Baertschi, you gotta make it happen. I DO appreciate his faith in Hogz and Podz, but this is the year we could and should have cemented our foundation as a perennial playoff team. You can't tell me that a team like Ottawa couldn't have been convinced to take on Eriksson. Give up a Lind or something to do it. And a 3rd. Whatever. To be fair, this year was the perfect storm that killed teams taking on salary - though he should have pushed salary out last season. It was all seemingly poorly planned and executed. I do wish we could at least have Hamonic in the lineup. We clearly need some defensive assistance. To nobody's surprise. -
Sometimes when a young guy arrives on the scene and tears it up, it doesn't last for various reasons. That won't happen with Hoglander. He is where he is through his skill and 110% effort game in, game out. I don't expect that to change. I expected him to do well, but not so quickly. He has transitioned to the NHL game beautifully, and in my relatively uneducated opinion a top 6 career is inevitable for him. Yet another gem of a find by JB.
-
Our best game of the season imo. Jets started out well but fizzled fairly quickly. Entertaining game lots of skill out there. I don't want to read too much into it with Laine out and all, but I had put a lot of value into this game. I feel that getting on a winning streak was great, but continuing to play well against Winnipeg was important. Besides all this, its nice to just see the team play good hockey. Generally good passing, good speed, good forecheck and good goaltending. I may just be convinced this team has shrugged off the slow start. Still would be great to see Schmidt do something useful out there.
-
I was gonna say - I'm never confident against the Jets. Now I can see why. I'm sure our struggles against the Jets are well known in the room. IF we beat them, it should give us a big boost that this team is indeed on the right track. 3 out of 3 against Ottawa (while great - especially considering the convincing fashion) isn't really enough to have me convinced.
-
Now, I'm still in the same camp that Schmidt was a steal of a deal. His resume is solid. But I'm wondering how long it will take for him to gel with the rest of our team. So far, not so much. I barely notice him out there. When the real Schmidt comes to play, it will make this team that much more potent.
-
Truth. Unfortunately, for a guy with the physical attributes and skill he DOES have, "not hurting the team" is a terribly disappointing grade.
-
Now a few days from playing Montreal, I feel Benn has looked far better than I expected this season. With plays like his pass to Miller last night, playing relatively error free and actually shooting he looks much better than last year.
-
Oops. So he is! I thought all the brothers were tiny.
-
That would be the ultimate pairing. ...if one was looking for the smallest D pairing ever.