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DownUndaCanuck

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Everything posted by DownUndaCanuck

  1. I know Hughes will rack up the PP points easily but am excited to see how his defensive and physical game get better next season. He's proving you don't have to be massive to win puck battles and I hope this continues. I wonder if the Sedins have chimed in a bit because they were two of the best at puck battles along the boards using just their cores as relatively smaller guys.
  2. That was a nifty high skill play on the PP. His game is really rounding out nicely, reminds me of a playmaker version of Kesler in his prime.
  3. No surprise this team goes on a winning streak when Edler returns. He's scoring at a 50 point pace and is by far our MVP. This team can score without Petey, Brock or Miller, but with Edler out we've seen the team crumble. With him back he gives us so much confidence.
  4. Lots of unsung heroes on this team but in all honesty I'd say Edler. He is IMO this teams MVP and no one gives him credit. We won hardly any games with him out of the lineup and it's no coincidence as soon as he returns we go on a 6 game winning streak. No one else has that much of an impact on this team. Most minutes on the team and he's quietly scoring at a 50 point pace as well. Still doesn't get enough credit for what he does to this team.
  5. Wild game, our top guys came out better than theirs, both goalies were leaky tonight but Gaudette with a massive goal, he's scored some big clutch goals of late. Keep the streak going, Green nailed it by saying this young team either gets really down and hard to break out of a losing mentality but when they're confident they rip through teams and that's what we're seeing. When we're confident like this, 4-2 and on the powerplay, we know we're going to win the game.
  6. Big game against a team who is always tricky against us. Have to keep the streak going because all the other Pacific teams are dropping points, now is the time to aim for first in the division! 4-2 Canucks
  7. Huge 4 point swing obviously and one of the biggest games of the year to date, I know we're on a 4 game win streak but the 2nd of back to backs will be hard. We need to come out strong and hope our goalies can hold us in it. This is one for the PP to get us over the line. 4-3 Canucks. With games in hand we can top the division if we win a few more...
  8. I'm surprised they're not giving Baer or Goldy another chance. Top-6 winger goes down, they call up a bottom-6 grinder? I think Baertschi at the very least deserves another chance to play with Bo.
  9. 4 points from a playoff spot but 4 points from last in the conference, it's a tight year and anything can happen but we need a big change in a bad way.
  10. Anyone know our record with vs without Edler? It's getting ugly without our top defender
  11. Baertschi/Goldy swap for another similar player? Or big move for Hall? Virtanen + Brisebois enough?
  12. Repeatedly concussed at a young age is scary. Canucks cant catch a break. Is it silly to consider protecting Markstrom and trying to draft another top goalie and leaving Demko unprotected? Marky would get gobbled up and if Demko gets injured again our seasons done...
  13. Getting close to must win territory to keep up with the rest of the Pacific. We need at least a point and the Canes are hard to beat at home, plus we've been leaky defensively of late without Eddy. 5-4 gong show in OT Boeser with the winner.
  14. Boeser has been abysmal lately to say the least and everyone secretly knows it but doesn't want to admit it because he's one of the golden boys in the team. He's been cruising of late 5-on-5, racking up cheap points on the PP but he's not skating as well as he has usually, doesn't have the drive and his passes are ruining the play for the rest of the top line. Whether it be due to his father or something else, I think Green has to try and change things up a bit. Leivo and Pettersson looked good, why not simply swap Leivo for Boeser for a few games and see what happens? Boeser looks like he needs a shakeup or wakeup call.
  15. If we make the playoffs that 1st rounder is likely to be 15-20th overall which is a pretty good deal for a 1st line winger who plays 1st line PP and PK minutes as well on pace for 85 points. Smart condition put in place by JB, he's clearly got a good nose for these players and knows where to put them to be successful. Tampa were obviously overloaded with talent at the time and had nowhere for him, and NYR didn't have enough to complement him, but with the Canucks as he's developing as a better player, he's getting slotted alongside some of the best young talent in the league and they're each making each other better players.
  16. Green has to learn as well that this team needs some sort of change up in its defensive structure because for the last 20 games we've been getting victimized time and time again, in particular our forwards moving the puck out of the defensive zone. Surprisingly it's the forwards we brought in to play well defensively who are making mistakes and I think Green needs to address this ASAP.
  17. Hall on a line with Horvat and Pearson for the playoffs would be monstrous but I doubt JB is going to go for it. We'd probably have to give up Virtanen + defensive prospect and Hall is far too over-rated considering his inconsistencies. I do see him going to Edmonton sadly or Arizona which will make the playoff hunt a bit harder for us.
  18. In all honesty I think the pieces are all there, we just need to learn how to use them. This team up front is as deep as most teams in the league, with a 40-point scorer Ferland on our 4th line. The middle-6 is full of potential 20 goal, 40 point scorers. Sure it'd be nice to have some real firepower like a 30 goal scorer in the mix on Bo's line but we are as deep as they come. On defence we have a lovely mix of veterans, youth, physical and puck moving defencemen. In net we've got Markstrom who is arguably a top-10 goalie in the league and Demko a future top-5 goalie. I believe we just need to learn how to play properly defensively and this team will be a contender. We're up there in the league in scoring stats, powerplay and faceoffs. We can pretty much score at will and any line, defensive combo or PP can do it. The real worry is playing with a lead and defending. A lot of that comes from coaching and the leadership team. Our coaches need to get these guys playing stiff defensive playoff hockey and practicing it from now. It'll be fun to watch our big bodies go to town in the playoffs if we make it, they will crash and bang with the best of them, but they need to learn how to make the smart play defensively and get the puck out of their own zone and through the neutral zone. Time and time again all of our lines get hemmed in defensively, make stupid turnovers which lead to rushes back the other way and sustained pressure against us. This is not singling out the defence, but mainly the forwards in clearing the puck. When you watch the teams in their prime in the playoffs, they can easily evade two heavy forecheckers and swiftly move the puck up and out of their own zone. This is the most important aspect of the game IMO, especially in the playoffs, and right now it is our weak-link. When we get it in the offensive zone we do serious damage but when we get hemmed in like we did against a pretty average road team like Buffalo, we make mistakes and surrender leads. Green's got to start working on that now. Sure a top-6 winger would be nice but we don't need extra offence right now. We've got a couple of studs in Utica as well who can fill in in case of injury. We've also got some great defensive forwards on paper, we just need to learn how to play defensively again. I'm not saying fire Green but I wouldn't be entirely opposed to mixing up the coaching staff a bit if they don't get the message that they have to play better defensively. Surprising because we have a great leadership group.
  19. To be fair all the teams around the league have been leaky this season, there's far more offence and far more comebacks than ever before. That being said we play scared with the lead, can't get the puck out of our own zone and that has to change.
  20. Miller may be the best all round player this team has seen for a while, maybe even better than Kesler in his prime. He's good on PP, PK and IMO as good as Petey and Boeser are, Miller makes them better. Great scouting, great trade.
  21. Hate to say it but every single one of their pieces is better than ours and a year or two further down the development. The only wild card we have is goaltending and when it becomes time, in say 2-3 years if Demko gets into his groove he may be the difference maker.
  22. Crazy game but good teams find ways to win these ones, bad teams find ways to lose them and we very nearly did. 1) Miller was brilliant tonight in every facet of the game from scoring to passing to faceoffs to defending, fitting to see him score the game winner on a rocket. He was superb defensively too and great on the PK when he was out there. Pettersson had a so-so game, fighting the shot a little but did some of the little things well. Boeser was absolutely brutal and easily the worst Canuck out there. All of his passes were missing, he couldn't get anything going, and IMO we need to consider dropping him to Horvat's line because he's been useless the last few games. 2) Horvat was a work-horse again tonight, matched up nicely against Eichel. Obviously an absolute joke to see him hit in the head, no-call and then get sent off the ice. I'm sure the refs will be penalized with a slap on their wrists but a clear-cut head hit fly by like that deserves a couple of games for Montour. I thought Pearson had a very quiet strong game actually, few good hits, played through well and was solid in the defensive zone. Obviously Leivo had a strong game, was skating well and two great shots. 3) Our third line was a classic double-edged sword tonight. Roussel, Virtanen and Gaudette had a lot of jump and energy, score a couple of huge goals but then give up a couple of stupid penalties. On a night where we know we've got suspect refs, we should be extra careful and sadly this line cost us in penalties. 4) Fourth line got absolutely ripped apart defensively tonight and was a major reason we couldn't close this out. It's nice to see Ferland rack up the hits but he, Schaller and Beagle got shelled. They couldn't get the puck out constantly, were pathetic at defending and ended up losing us the lead over and over. 5) Myers was a beast tonight defensively so it was nice to see him score a big goal against his former club. Hughes obviously had the puck on a string and controlled the entire flow of play and can so easily just open play up and move into areas to open up the ice for everyone. 6) I thought Benn had a strong defensive game but Tanev was fighting it a bit at times in terms of clearances. Fantenberg did well but again struggled to clear at times but Stetcher was brilliant, solid defensively and had a quiet game which is a good thing in an 11-goal fest. 7) Demko was pretty average tonight to be honest. He didn't have a chance against a couple of the goals, but the game tying goal was just a point shot with minimum traffic and no tip. Clutch goalies stop them. Getting 5 on you in not a whole lot of shots isn't great and he's got a long way to go but obviously didn't get much help tonight either. 8) Coaching wise, I think we have a lot of work to do. Dropping two 2-goal leads in the same game against a struggling team on the road is pathetic and not sustainable. Our offence is lovely but we can't keep playing this risky way, we need to learn how to calm down defensively and that goes for all the forwards, defencemen and goaltenders as well. When we're on the back heel we somehow struggle to string passes together and can't make the simple play and clear the puck off the glass. Too many forwards tried to make pretty little passes or whiffed on their clearances that lead straight to the Sabres players walking straight back in. This game could have easily been lost at our blueline, far too many stupid turnovers. We won't get away with this play long term and will easily bow out of the playoff picture unless our coaches tighten this up with every player. 9) Finally of course the refs were useless in this game, ended up dictating the game. They had to call the interference penalty at the end but the miss-call on Horvat and the no-call on Pettersson then Hughes for tripping was a farce and these guys should be judged fairly. Interesting to hear Shorty mention neither have reffed a playoff game and rightly so with this nonesense tonight. Still in the face of adversity we manage to win which is a testament to itself. On the whole, stressful game and the coaches shouldn't be happy with this terrible group mentality when defending leads. On the flip-side, the scoring is coming nicely in bunches across the group very evenly. If this team learns how to defend a lead and clear pucks out of their own zone they'll become a force to reckon with. If not, they simply won't make the playoffs at this rate.
  23. For arguments sake, what would it take? Podkolzin + Virtanen + Rafferty for Hall enough?
  24. I could see a deal around Byram/Timmins for Hall. Colorado throw in a middle 6 forward. Everyone will call the Avalanche the next dynasty but they'll end up getting bounced in the playoffs by a team with a hot goalie.
  25. Massive 2 games and 8 point swing. McDavid and Draisaitl were relatively shut down last game, they're going to look to explode and Demko and our defence just got blasted. This doesn't bode well for us. Hoping Marky starts the first game and sets the tone but I think this back to back rests on Edler. He's our top guy going up against McDavid and never does well against speed. This is a coaching dream, we've faced each other before and both teams know each others' weaknesses. This is as close to a playoff round as it gets so let's hope Green can out-coach the Oilers. We need to send a message, these 2 games are the turning point of the season. I predict we win one lose one but if we can nab 3 points that would be huge. 4-3 Canucks first game 6-5 OT loss 2nd game
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