SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

McDonough picked up an assist (primary) in a 4-2 loss earlier today (or yesterday now). Remains at a point per game on the season. 10G 10A 20GP

10/10 thread. Would read again.

I just hope JB’s plan isn’t as passive as it sounds. I chalk some of this up to him just not being the best public speaker, and just his general “aw shucks” kind of style. But man, did Benning ever talk a lot about planning to “wait and see.” Waiting on the market to reveal itself, waiting to see what other teams do, waiting for teams to be willing to make trades, just waiting, waiting, waiting. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Hopefully, the internal plan is much more detailed and far less passive than the cards he’s showing in public. The best returns on rentals always happen with the players sold ahead of the deadline. The market rarely improves from waiting. So, if Benning hopes to sell off any assets, he needs to be out in front, and starting those trade negotiations now, not waiting around for another GM to call him with an offer of a sweetheart of a deal, and certainly not waiting for other teams to set the schedule and define the market.

In terms of his edges, 4 direction mobility, and general escapability, I’d say no. Quinn Hughes is just something special, and probably top-10 on the planet. JR excels in these areas, and is certainly “plus” rated, but he’s not at QH’s level. In terms of straight line, both acceleration and top speed, I’d say you have a case for Rathbone being the superior skater (possibly backward as well). And when it comes to that bomb of a shot, you’ll get no argument from me.

It all goes back to a little known MoU that Bettman drafted years ago. The document itself is quite simple and actually only three words long. It reads “**** the Canucks.” This agreement renews annually, in perpetuity, and copies are sent out, at the start of each season, to every department within the league, all the other teams, and various media outlets.

Since Seabrook was born in Richmond, and lives in the Okanagan, I’m sure Bettman will announce shortly that the Canucks will be covering any remaining cap hit on his contract.

Wonder if the extra 850k (ELC bonuses get full cap charge on recalls) will have an effect on whether or not they recall Juolevi? Probably not, as they have enough space in the LTIR relief pools to cover it. But if another injury happens, another player comes up, and they start pushing against the limits, could be that the cheaper hits for Brisebois, Sautner, Rafferty (700K each) eventually come into play, versus recalling OJ, who now becomes something like a $1.7M cap hit, versus the other taxi squad Ds, at just 700K.

Yeah, I’d agree with that. And if you actually put them in the NHL for a bit, Rathbone probably leapfrogs Rafferty fairly quickly in readiness, once he gets his feet wet and gets used to the pace and competition. I really don’t think it would take Jack too long to find his NHL game, if given the chance. But still, I like taking it a little slow, rather than rushing him, especially given the team struggles right now.

Over 6 minutes TOI in just the first period for Podkolzin, in what’s ostensibly a 4th line role plus special teams. Not too long ago when 6 minutes would be on the higher end of his whole game TOI, so nice to see him getting good icetime during these playoffs. No points yet. 1 SOG for Vasily so far, and was in position on one play for what could’ve easily been a tap-in, but his teammate passed the puck into Podkolzin’s skates, which killed the scoring chance. Podz also picked up a -1 on a goal against, but he wasn’t part of the play that created the turnover and goal, so can’t really hang the minus on him.

It’s true. Player quality has been lowered some this season, with most organizations stashing the cream of their AHL crop (or, at least, their most “NHL ready” farmhands) on taxi squads. Hard to say to what degree this has affected overall competition, but it’s definitely a weaker than usual AHL. On the positive side, it’s created great opportunities for younger, drafted prospects to take on front line, top of the lineup roles, that might have otherwise been given to AHL lifer types.

Rathbone’s PNHLe chart these days (not sure he’ll maintain 1.67 AHL points/GP though, but still...)

Looks to me like they’ve got a bunch of pink boyds playing on every line.

7 shots on goal for Will Lockwood tonight. One of these days, he gonna score his first AHL goal. Too bad it wasn’t tonight. Comets could’ve used one when they were down 3-2, before the 4-2 EN goal decided things.

Wow, hats off to the Comets’ social media team on this one:

I read a quote from Kevin Woodley over at The Athletic saying that Holtby is putting in a lot of time and working very hard with Ian Clark, and that Woodley expects this will start to really pay off in the second half of this season. It’s very true that these things take time. Especially when you’re talking about making adjustments to a veteran goalie’s technique. And even more so in the rather unique conditions of this compressed schedule and pandemic rules. It’s hard to say how much success Clark will have with Holtby, but I don’t think we’ve really seen the results yet. Quite often, these things get worse before they get better, and when a goalie is working through technical adjustments, he’s going to have a period where he looks uncomfortable, and moments where he looks completely lost, as he’s trying to implement coaching, versus just playing naturally. But once the technique becomes second nature, you start to see the results, and they can be dramatic. Unfortunately, this is not the best season to have a goalie work through technical changes. The games keep coming, fast and furious, and there’s no place to hide weakness, especially when there are many other issues teamwide. But, if I’m gonna put my optimist cap on for a minute, hopefully Holtby is getting closer to becoming comfortable with the changes Clark is asking him to make, and eventually, a switch will flip, and he’ll have incorporated the techniques, he’ll have the muscle memory and repetition, they’ll become natural for him, and he’ll be able to have an “unconscious” game with sound technique, backed up by his natural athleticism, and Clark will have once again “worked his magic.” But it does take time. It’s just really hard to be patient this year (and I’m as guilty as anyone), given everything we’re seeing from this team.

There are some interesting future roster options where playing Podkolzin at LW make a tonne of sense. For example, if Kole Lind becomes a top-6 quality RW, and Boeser, Virtanen, and MacEwen are all still components of the team, then RW could be awfully crowded (especially if Gaudette is also in the RW mix, if he’s not at centre). Could make for a situation where Podkolzin fills a greater need at LW. And, with Höglander and Podkolzin at LW in the top-6, and good overall depth on the wings, it could open up JT Miller to be used as a centre option for an offensively productive third line, resulting in a very deep top-9 that can score in waves.

Can’t think of any Canucks who’s worn #92, and couldn’t find one in the database, so probably it would be a first.

Let’s get another one and start putting together some wins! Go Canucks Go!!! (Bonus content: here’s a long, rambling draft of a post I’d started writing for the other thread.)

Minny had a pretty solid 2020 draft (although some of their early picks were no-brainers that kinda fell into their laps), but I was surprised that Judd didn’t find a way to snag a late pick to draft Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, who seemed like the prototypical “Brackett pick” for that year’s class (unless all those late round “Brackett picks” in previous years were actually Canucks Scouting picks?).

JB as in Judd Brackett?

I think Tryamkin will sign any fair contract offered by the Canucks. He wants to come back to the NHL. And while there’s been lots of chatter about bad blood, I’ve really seen no evidence of this being any real factor (and most of it is just fan rumouring). Tryamkin and his agent know that the quickest route to the NHL runs through Vancouver, and they are motivated to make that happen as soon a possible.

That’s my understanding as well. The RFA deadline prevents him joining the team this season and renders this discussion moot. Was more just answering the hypothetical, in which Tryamkin did play this season, and therefore required protection for expansion. But everyone involved (Tryamkin, Diamond, Benning, etc) has been pretty clear that any contract will be for 2021-22 (although it may be signed as early as this April—but it will be effective next season).

Not a gif, but hope this helps.

Yeah, IIRC under the expansion rules, there’s no 10+ games played requirement for players over age 20, so a single game counts as a professional year for Tryamkin, and therefore him playing for Vancouver this season would make him a 3rd year professional, for expansion purposes.