What excites me most about Boeser is that he seems to be the first guy that the Canucks have drafted in a long time that has an extremely high offensive hockey iq. He just has that instinct that you can't teach.
Derp is right.
You really don't believe some people are just born smarter than others? We're not all created equal, some people are stronger, some are better looking. You don't learn smart like you don't learn big.
Isn't that the exact role virtanen is in? Has he played in a scoring role at all yet? If there is no spot for gaunce then there sure iisn't a spot for virtanen, he isn't remotely close to being ready for a top 6 position.
there is now way you could have watched the pre-season and came to the conclusion that Virtanen earned a spot over Gaunce, Gaunce outplayed him in all aspects of the ice except hitting. The only reason Virtanen is here over Gaunce is because he has to go to juniors.
I don't think there are too many people upset at WD for not playing the rookies, it's just fun as a fan to see the young guys play so it's kinda frustrating having them ride the pine for an entire period
Also for a big, positionally intelligent guys like him and Horvat it's about learning to up the pace of their game to match with the pro level. From watching him and Horvat progress over the last couple years I'd say just learning how fast they need to play has had a much for important attribute to their games than actually getting faster on their skates.
I was about to argue then realized your kinda right and that's really really sad. Edler or Hamhuis might be better but it's pretty telling on the lack of creativity with the puck from our back end
Hes a one tricky pony. Skate fast, try wrap around.
As fast as he can skate he is not very good at handling the puck at speed. Not sure how he is going to put up points in the NHL.
When I first saw Gaunce play after he was drafted I pretty much blew him off at having any chance to play in the NHL as he looked so slow. You have to have some pretty amazing qualities to your game if you can't skate.
Thst being said I could not believe how much faster he looked this year in camp. I haven't really seen too many Utica games but I think Gaunce is a lot like horvat. Hes smart enough and physically talented to realize his weakness to work on it and making it a strength.
I think a lot of it has to do with how cerebral he is and how he just needs to adapt to the pace of the game. With Horvat you could see it. I'm not really sure if Horvat is that much better of a skater then last year but he just understood how much more pace he had to play at to keep up vs playing in Juniors. Gaunce plays the same type of Cerebral game thst Horvat does with just less skill. I don't think skating will be a problem for him in the future
Lol. What? You mean his coach, the older players he plays with and his off season surgery aren't to blame? Blasphemy. Hes obviously ready for the NHL Once all those go away.
I like how Ritchie only puts up points cause he's on the best team in the league but McCann putting up tonnes of points is just because he's awesome, not because he's on the best team in the league
Did Hutton even play in that last game? Stat line has zeros across the board and its crickets in here and in he Utica thread.
Guessing he didn't play too much. getting worked in slowly
Yep. And if we're lucky we'll get pre concussion booth, if not..post concussion.
I think Jakes defensive game is under rated though, at worst he will be a good third line guy