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DownUndaCanuck

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Everything posted by DownUndaCanuck

  1. Assuming Beagle injured after the shot block, any word of what happened? Hoping for just a bruise but he's a warrior, would expect him to play through something soft tissue...
  2. I expect Vegas to be about the same, Edmonton will get better as their kids get experience, I think Calgary is in a precarious stage where they're not getting any better for some reason so wil likely be another fringe playoff team, Arizona will likely tank next year and the Californian teams will all still stink. I expect our core to get better, our prime guys will still be in their prime except for Edler and Tanev on the downeards slope, but I think we'll be top 3 in the Pacific next season.
  3. The main issue is that the last 3 games the Canucks have played and battled hard, they have just lost them on one or two plays here or there. I'm confident they'll improve, but you can see other teams are just battling harder this time or year and we need our bottom 9 guys to match their intensity. Miller looks like the only guy out there on the right level. I'm confident we won't slip out of the playoffs but it's going to be a dog fight in the last 10 games.
  4. As great as Markstrom has been, Miller has been a beast out there. He hits, he forechecks, he sets up his linemates who play one-dimensional hockey and of course he scores. He's reminding me of a more skilled Kesler in his prime right now. The guy is playing the way I was hoping Bo would play, and hopefully the way Virtanen will play eventually. At 50 points with NYR and TBL he was a solid 2nd-3rd line player, but with the Canucks he is our 1st line center/winger really and arguably one of the best two-way players in the game. The man does it all just the way Kes did in his 40 goal year, and not many players in the league can do that.
  5. Highest point scorer by all defencemen since the All Star break? Hughes is ramping up his play and getting better and better every game. If he doesn't have a sophmore slump next season and puts on some beef he'll be one of the best D-men in the entire NHL next year. Lately he's playing like one of the best, not just offensively but making some neat defensive plays at times. Looks like he's stealing the Calder from Makar at the moment.
  6. Gillis made some atrocious trades later on, but we can't forget that he constructed one of the league's best regular season teams. Not many teams go back-to-back President's Trophy winners and Gillis made those guys out of not very much. Yes, Luongo, the Sedins and Kesler were a prime core that Gillis had to work with, but he put the rest of the pieces together.
  7. Edler took a rough knee that could have been serious but they surely would have called up a defenceman, I think this must have been the shot block that stung Beagle which could be a big blow to this team. Bailey is a bottom-6 forward. I hope Mack gets some 4th line minutes if Beagle is out to be honest. Got to feel for guys like Baertschi, Goldobin and especially Boucher who have worked their arses off in Utica to be ignored time and time again. I know, we need gritty guys to replace bottom-6 forwards, but when Eriksson and Roussel are just skating around doing very little, it'd be nice to see what Utica's top line players can do. I always thought Boucher and Baertschi deserved another chance. Boucher and Goldobin were rough defensively at times but Baertschi had that side of his game polished and deserves some ice-time with an NHL team.
  8. Would take AV back in a heartbeat. He's a quality coach, struggles in matchups in playoffs and needs to be able to adjust on the fly the way guys like Babcock and Quinneville do time and time again, but he's one of the best regular season coaches out there. Solid defensive structure, decent offensive pressure coach, not much forecheck but gets a lot of goals through gritty point shots and net front presence. His modest structure would really bode well with the Canucks right now.
  9. Green needs to shakeup our lineup, we're too good to fall out of conrention for 1st in the Pacific. We played well in Toronto, I expect a big bounce back character game. 5-1 Canucks
  10. I think JB has done a brilliant job making a team that can win now, in the near future and in the far future. This season was bound to be a fringe-playoff year but after JB made some big moves, in a tight pathetic Pacific we really should make top-3 in the division. Expectations changed midway through the year and Green needs to adapt. I think if we fall out of playoff contention a lot will come down to our coach and he might stay for the first 20 games of next season, but if they're not in a playoff spot after then he's gone. If we don't make the playoffs I'd like to see an off season change personally. The personel JB has put together are fantastic, this team should be playing top-10 NHL hockey with the names he's put together, most of whom are in their primes as well.
  11. Next game I'd like Green to mix things up: Pearson - Miller - Toffoli Pettersson - Horvat - Virtanen Gaudette - Sutter - Eriksson Motte - Beagle - Roussel
  12. I wonder, with Demko letting in softies after softies, whether we should give DiPietro another chance? How many losses will Green take from our goalies before he changes things up?
  13. To be fair the guys played hard, this was a very evenly matched game, both teams play a very similar style but goaltending was the difference in the end. 1) Pettersson is done, he's losing puck battles, his shot has disappeared and he's costing our top line scoring opportunities. I think Green should grow a pair and demote Pettersson for a $&!# here and there. Miller is a workhorse, trying to carry that line, and Toffoli is a true goal scorer, not going to generate much himself. Hand it to Miller though for carrying the others. 2) Horvat and Pearson started strong but as they usually do, Eriksson sucked the life out of that line as well. Our top-6 need a big shakeup. 3) I thought Gaudette and Virtanen had good games, didn't generate much offence but had their chances. 4) Fourth line had one of their best games, Motte was great as usual and all the guys were solid on the PK. 5) Solid game by our defence all around. Edler, Tanev, Fantenberg and Stecher all had very safe, quick games where they managed to beat a fast forecheck, which is great to see. Myers was an absolute beast tonight physically and offensively, one of his best games, and Hughes was buzzing all night long and made two great defensive plays against Nylander. 6) The big stinger was Demko. I understand he's coming in cold but these are high-pressure games and I hate to say it but he cost us this game and the Ottawa game with easy goals. The first goal was through a mild bit of traffic but Marky would have stopped it easily. The second goal was flat-out unacceptable, any goalie should have stopped that, and was at a huge moment. The game winner was a mess, he over-comitted to the shot that hit the post and left the net wide-open, which is the main problem with Demko. He over-comitted on most of the shots he faced tonight, and was lucky throughout the 2nd, but it didn't take long for it to catch up with him. Demko doesn't have long to get better, let's hope the new guy can play well tomorrow because if he does he should steal the starter role. There's a good possibility the Canucks drop from 1st in the Pacific down to out of the playoff race purely down to one player - Demko, which would hurt. I thought we were solid defensively tonight as well, really limited a high-octane offence, but 3 easy goals is a joke. This is a bad situation for Demko but we need our backup goalies to be better because tonight the team in front of him played a solid game.
  14. Was a pretty even game, not going to lie if Markstrom's in net we win this 2-1. We played great, tight defensively, our first line didn't generate enough and the Leafs blocked a lot of shots but 3 weak goals sealed the deal.
  15. Dreadful game by Toffoli and Pettersson, Miller is just about carrying this team.
  16. Vegas keep winning, we have games in hand but need to keep up to maintain home ice during the first couple of rounds, so surprisingly big game. Our defence is going to have its hands full so need to bounce back. 4-3 Canucks in OT
  17. Hate to say it but Green isn't adjusting his game, putting a lot of pressure on Demko and therefore our season on the line in the next 10 crucial games...
  18. Hate to/love to bring this up again but here comes another round of Virtanen vs Nylander How the years have separated the picks... Don't get me wrong I'm a big Jake fan but imagine Nylander and his 40 goal pace on a line with Pettersson and Miller.
  19. I think Toffoli will demand and dose deserve 6M, Tanev hopefully takes a pay cut and deserves 4M, Stecher deserves 2M and should stay (best 5th Dman who can play in our top 4 in case of injuries), Benn can be replaced by an ELC AHL guy, Virtanen will probably command 3.5M and deserves it (hope we get him for 3) and I think Gaudette and Motte are both about the same, 1.5-2M. JB is good, I do hope he can squeeze everyone in. Sutter is still extremely underrated and hard to replace, as is a guy like Motte, but here's hoping Gaudette can step up another level.
  20. Hoping for a breakout game from Pettersson who could use some points. We've been defending like crap lately though so expecting a shootout. 6-3 Canucks
  21. The personel aren't the issue, it's the system. We've got 7 great defencemen, 5 of whom can play 20 minutes comfortably. This team is deep, and there's Rafferty in Utica as a rookie just about leading the league in scoring not to mention Juolevi and Brisebois. That's 3 quality call ups who probably aren't NHL ready but are close. We haven't had 10 solid defencemen in a long time. Green's offensive system exposes them though, looks great for guys like Hughes but makes it hard on guys like Stecher and our goalies. I think we need to change our system up a big now Marky is out, rather than personel. If we've got a 2nd forechecker, hang both D back. If we've got one defenceman up in the rush, hang one forward back. We too commonly go all in on rushes, which was great against a tired Boston team, but doesn't always work.
  22. I think Demko is going to cause a controversy. He's going to likely play 10 games, 2 for the backup with back to backs, amd they're mostly non divisional games except for two Coyotes games. They're hard matchups including a Tampa game, and if Demko can win at least 6 games I'll be happy. Let's hope for something like 6-3-1. If he does any better, and Marky comes in cold, those final Vegas games and Game 1 will be a tricky choice... As for our defence I hope Green realizes that this team needs to sacrifice some offence to tighten up defensively. The Pastrnak goal was a classic example, had a 2nd forechecker Sutter whiff, defenceman was up in the play and we spring the league's best goal scorer for a breakaway at a big time. Sure, the offence comes through that game, but that is too risky to play with Demko. Hopefully having our offence clicking and Toffoli in the mix means Green will play a bit more conservatively. I'd like to see a one man forecheck and center hang deep defending. Might be a recipe for success leading into the playoffs as well. Big silver lining if Green uses it. If he just keeps us playing the way we are and leaves Demko out to dry then we're really living and dying by our backup goalie.
  23. Good pick for the Flames but if they don't pair him with a solid defensive guy they're in trouble. I like his game but you can't play like he does in the playoffs, even pairing him with Tanev wouldn't be good enough. Troy is better defensively than him and Barrie combined, glad we stuck with him and we'll see why - in the playoffs, offensive defencemen disappear, big strong two way forwards and defensive defencemen thrive.
  24. Hoping JB doesn't think it's too serious an injury or you'd think he would have gone hard for Lehner.
  25. Got to hope JB isn't sugar coating the Marky injury the way he did Boeser's. If Markstrom os out 6-8 weeks then we live and die by Demko, if he's back in 3 weeks for the two massive Vegas games then we ride him hot hopefully into the playoffs. Here's hoping this and not trading Stecher bonds the team defence...
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