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DownUndaCanuck

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Everything posted by DownUndaCanuck

  1. Problem is a lot of those <22 year old stud defencemen are untouchable and rightly so. I think if you want a solid young D-man you either make a massive trade (ie. Boeser/Pettersson for Provorov), you sign then when they're older through UFA or you draft them yourself.
  2. Incredible how all 4 lines have better chemistry with Eriksson. JB's got to look at something like a 2nd + LE for a 5th round pick or AHL player. A 1st would be too much to dump the 6M but I would consider LE + prospect in a heartbeat. Jett Woo?
  3. Got to think Green continues with Toffoli on Pearson's line to start the game: Miller - Pettersson - Boeser Pearson - Horvat - Toffoli Roussel - Gaudette - MacKewan Motte - Sutter - Eriksson I don't think Boeser will be ready for top line minutes and the chemistry won't be there (wasn't really there before he was injured) but Toffoli and Pearson were wrecking balls in the few minutes they were together at the end of the CBJ game, let's try to keep them together and roll two top lines. Forget about having a defensive 2nd line, Horvat can go head-to-head with any other top line and all 3 can play well defensively, but more importantly they can score some goals and hem opposing team's top lines in their defensive zone, not to mention knock them around and wear them down.
  4. Sadly we are currently sitting with a top 10 pick...don't throw away your lottery ticket just yet...
  5. I think we have too many middle tier games where we've struggled as well. This team has been interesting, getting up for some big games and flopping for others. I'm sure they'll get up for the Vegas and Lightning games but will probably get eaten up by the Coyotes or Flames...
  6. 4 games against bottom feeding Pacific teams should be 4 easy wins (but won't be for this team), the other 8 are against tough Playoff teams (2 against Arizona). If we win the winable ones we just need to go .500 to get 8/12 wins which should be enough for the playoffs. Problem is that this team has excelled against top teams and struggled against bad teams.
  7. Lose and it'll be hard to get back into the playoff mix. We're entering season-defining games now. 4-3 win in OT
  8. 8-9-2 since the All Star break for a team that was fighting for first in the division. This isn't all on Markstrom, Green has to get the boys more fired up because he's getting them outworked and outplayed nightly now. 1 win in the last 6 games is how you get fired.
  9. I hope this is the start of some strong play by Roussel, if he's playing well our team plays well but when he's invisible we struggle. He's a big spark plug and role guy for this squad and when he was on top of his game we were on a winning streak. Smart heads up play on the goals and some great forechecking against Colorado, hope he keeps it up and the 3rd line stay together.
  10. Scoring at a 40 point pace as a 3rd liner, Gaudette is arguably one of the most skilled bottom-6 players in the league right now. Defensively he's got a lot of room to grow and really needs to round out his game a bit more, but he's got some of the best hockey IQ on this team and very underrated skills. If he gets stronger and better next season he could be one to watch to have a breakout 50-60 point season and I can easily see him growing into our 2nd line.
  11. I understand all the gushing over MacEwan and don't get me wrong, I agree he had a strong game against Colorado, but Green isn't an idiot and knows who to play when. Zack has made some bad defensive mistakes in the past, has been on the wrong side and generated nothing at times. Against Colorado, he was an absolute beast, but let's not forget Gaudette had a hell of a game and Roussel had arguably his best game as a Canuck too. They were out there against some weak opposing 3rd lines as well. This is where someone like Zack can shine and where matchups favour us, because we are a deep team with solid 3rd and 4th liners. But let's not go out playing him 15 minutes because he's going to get caught out. Green's done a nice job of putting players in positions to succeed, and he did the same with MacEwan tonight, but if we push it we'll start to see the mistakes sift through his games. Of course I think he can handle a bit more, maybe 9-10 minutes a night, but we've got to be careful with him because if he and that 3rd line get caught defensively they'll give up big chances and goals.
  12. Most wins and by far highest win-percentage a Canucks goalie has ever seen, we really should do the honorable thing and retire him too. Markstrom's currently sitting on 99 wins but only just over 0.500, not even half as many wins as Luongo and nowhere near as good as his win % let alone save numbers. It's going to be a long long time before we get a goalie as good and consistent as Luongo was. Marky is not even half the way there. Regardless of whether they do or don't (they probably won't now), I don't think another goalie will take the number 1 purely out of respect to arguably the 2nd best goaltender of all time.
  13. For some reason this team manages to elevate its game against the top teams in the leagues and struggles with anyone around or below the playoff bubble. I wonder if it's partly to do with intensity - the teams fighting for their playoff lives are beating us but the top teams like Boston, St. Louis and Colorado don't have to worry too much which is why we're beating them out of more desperation. We've got a lot of big middle-of-the-pack team matchups coming up against some hungry teams so I hope we elevate our play to how we played tonight and essentially just out-work the other teams. We have to be more desperate than the others going down the line.
  14. Those LDs sure are tempting and they've worked out well before. For some reason NCAA defencemen tend to do well, possibly because they've got a bit more experience than your average rookie. We're not as deep as we think on defence in the future. Rafferty and Juolevi look nice but we have no idea how their game will translate to the NHL.
  15. I think realistically it would be nice to: Resign Toffoli for 6M Resign Leivo for 1.5M Virtanen for 2.5-3M Gaudette for 1.5M McEwan for same amount Tanev for the same 4.4M Stecher for the same 2.3M Fantenberg for a bit more 1.5M Markstrom for 6M Motte deserves 1.5M That's an increase of about 9M sadly, something's still going to have to give and I think sadly it's all in our bottom-6. Eriksson, Sutter and Roussel are chewing up cap, it's time to move one/some of those guys. I'd start with Eriksson of course, then Roussel then Sutter. Would have to have to let Motte or Leivo go because of the veteran plugs eating up cap.
  16. 5 goals in 7 games so far, honestly if Toffoli re-signs and stays on our top line for a full season I think he'd hit 40 goals. Miller is in his prime and Pettersson will be better and tougher next season, Toffoli could be in for a real treat playing on our 1st line and 1st PP unit. Boeser drops down to our 2nd line and in a few years time replaces Toffoli.
  17. Hopefully this means we can give Marky and Toffoli the 6M each that they deserve and keep everyone on board.
  18. Demko's been better of late but he has to make a big save somewhere. I know it's a lot to ask of him, but this defence isn't bailing him out. Those 2 Coyotes goals were legitimate chances, great tip on the GWG, but you just know a top-10 goalie stops those and wins us the game whereas an average goalie like Demko lets them in. Not blaming him on the last two losses but unfortunately goaltending is the difference now between us winning and losing, and it looks like it's going to cost us the playoffs. This is eerily similar to watching the Canucks in 2007 when Luongo carried the team to the playoffs by himself. The unfortunate thing is, we've got some great players on this current squad, I just think Green isn't using them properly. We're far too aggressive, getting exposed time and time again and while Markstrom covered that up, Demko clearly can't and Green isn't adjusting at all.
  19. At this rate we might sadly end up with a top-10 pick. Time to start looking at some mock drafts again... Lundell (C), Sanderson (LD) or Holloway (C) look tempting. I bet someone will get sucked in to picking the goalie Askarov...
  20. I would rather see Baertschi right now in our bottom-6 than Roussel. People forget he's pretty solid defensively, and while he won't be able to crack our top-6, he'd be a great fit alongside Sutter and Gaudette.
  21. Because the Pacific is so weak, even if we do make the playoffs, the pick ends up being quite a high one. If we miss the playoffs we might be looking at 10th overall pick.
  22. Myers and Hughes both day-to-day, let's just hope they're ready to go for Arizona... Surprised Rafferty's not getting a chance but that's probably because of his physical and defensive play. The coaches are very good at informing Green who's more NHL-ready and despite his flashy numbers, I doubt Rafferty has filled out enough and can defend well in enough/battle along the boards against big strong NHLers.
  23. Calgary and Vegas, I'm not too worried about in the playoffs. Edmonton on the other hand, sure their defence and goaltending is sketchy but they've got two players who can take over a series by themselves, and they'll be hungry. Really hope we don't face them in the 1st round but I think we might.
  24. Sadly this is a season-defining game IMO. Oilers just made a statement putting up 8 on Nashville, Vegas have won 8 straight and even Calgary have started winning. The good teams are separating themselves from the bad in the high pressure games. These are the ones we need to be good in. Arizona still have a chance and will be fighting for their lives, as should we. Not much point getting into the playoffs as a bottom seed, but if we can just eek out an extra couple of points we get home ice advantage and can really slay these Pacific teams who suck on the road. Win and we're back in top-3 discussion, lose and we're in the Wildcard fight and will likely get picked off in 5 games in the first round. Hope Green and our leaders rally the guys for this game, still plenty of time for a winning streak and to enter the playoffs hot. 4-3 Canucks
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