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Everything posted by Kevin Biestra
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I'd cheer for them over Boston or Chicago...two teams I actually used to really like before the 2000s...loved Tony Esposito, Doug Wilson, Denis Savard, Troy Murray, Ray Bourque, Andy Moog, Rick Middleton, Reggie Let em in, Gerry Cheevers, Stan Mikita, Dennis Hull, the only two teams Bobby Orr ever played for, Rogie Vachon finished up as a Bruin, etc. Did not care much for the later iterations of the team. Anyway I was saying I wouldn't cheer for Toronto against anyone but...the truth is they haven't gotten far enough in the playoffs for that to even be tested. If they ever made it to something like round three, who knows. The last time they did that was against us I think. Who knows...if they were the last Canadian team standing...maybe. But my god we would never hear the end of it. They haven't won a cup in 60 years and look at how they are force fed to us. It's like a duck being stuffed by gavage for its foie gras,
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Quinn Hughes watch...Coming after Lidster
Kevin Biestra replied to Kevin Biestra's topic in Canucks Talk
Quinn Hughes catches Jyrki Lumme with point #55. Only five names above him with eight games left. -
Yeah somewhere along the way Calgary won me over. We always had to go through each other to get to the final...82, 89, 94, 03 or 04 whichever it was. I even started to like all the players I used to dislike once they got old and were on their last legs in the league...Fleury, Nattress, Peplinski, Macoun, Otto, etc. And I always liked Vernon, Lanny, Gilmour, Mullen, McCrimmon, Wamsley, Lemelin...
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Any idea what the asterisk means for Leetch? Howe of course had a whole career in the WHA already so a bit of an advantage...or disadvantage one could say I guess since nobody gets credit for their WHA numbers. Suter really wouldn't be too out of place in the HOF. I might have him next up on the waiting list I suppose...him or Carlyle. They are the only retired defensemen with an 80 point season (other than Steve Duchesne) not in the HOF. And Suter has a 90 point season (and multiple 80 point seasons).
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Definitely the NHL's version of don't know what you got till it's gone. Pave paradise, put up a Matt Murray... The Canucks almost did that to Kirk McLean in 1991 when he had an off year and Troy Gamble outplayed him for the year. The fans wanted McLean gone but I doubt any of them would admit to it now.
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The bubble reminded me a fair bit of the 1989 Canucks. Big coming out party with their new rookie (Linden) and their new goalie (McLean) and even their new tandem (McLean and Weeks). 1989 was substantially more veteran laden but the same thing happened in general...they were awesome for the playoffs while they were in it, and then the very next year they were bottom feeding garbage. In fact they turned into bottom feeding garbage while ADDING Larionov and Krutov. And then they weren't much to write home about the next year either. But 1989 + 3 seasons they were division champs back to back and then Cup finalists...and as much as I didn't want to see any of the players go, during those years from the 1989 playoffs to the 1991-92 season (first division banner) they moved on from all of the following...ALL players that I held in very high regard and had been long serving NHLers and many of them long serving Canucks... Stan Smyl Harold Snepsts Petri Skriko Tony Tanti Barry Pederson Garth Butcher Mel Bridgman Paul Reinhart That's probably eight of my 100 favorite hockey players of all time gone in one fell swoop. Plus other players that I liked...Rich Sutter, Steve Weeks, Jim Sandlak, Brian Bradley, Steve Bozek and even Jim Benning. And Tanti / Skriko / Pederson WAS the Canucks offense for the second half of the 80s. Without those three guys the Canucks would have gone something like 5 wins and 75 losses every year. This was just in the year or two immediately following the 1989 Game 7 OT series with the Cup champion Flames...something roughly on par with the bubble run in terms of showing promise. But by the 1994 run (only five years later) the only players left were Linden, Adams and McLean. I think anyway. That's it...three players. And guys like Skriko, Pederson, Tanti...were no older than JT Miller is now. I guess the point is they traded or moved on from everybody except two forwards and a goalie...and it worked out. Maybe the bubble did get people too attached to some players...but fans and management were starved for just a tiny bit of success.
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Hey I'll take some pleasure in the wins if there's an actual chance of catching 3rd in the division, which there just barely is. But when in the last...let's say 20 years to keep it a nice round number...when in the last 20 years have the Canucks snuck into the playoffs by winning at the end? Their story is one of repeated winning streaks at the end of the year once they're already out of the playoffs or practically out of the playoffs, which does nothing but hurt draft position. Heh, remember a few years ago when they were mathematically eliminated and people were saying that winning four meaningless games at the end of the year was going to have HUGE implications for Bo Horvat's development and a winning culture. Anyway who knows...maybe this is the year they sneak in.
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Anyone else finding it hard to get excited for next year?
Kevin Biestra replied to Canuckfanforlife82's topic in Canucks Talk
Yeah the writing was on the wall for Bertuzzi. He was clearly in decline and not returning to his previous heights. And needed a change of scenery. The consensus I remember was largely amazement that Nonis was able to get something as good as Luongo for him. Bertuzzi was close to where Naslund was when the Canucks didn't re-sign him...still a decent player but it was time to move on. Getting Mogilny was a surprise too. I didn't really know that much about Peca at the time so it seemed like a superstar for some guy that hadn't yet really distinguished himself from Garry Valk or Dane Jackson or Roman Oksiuta. I suppose re-acquiring Linden was a trade that got me equally pumped up. -
Yeah I threw in the towel after those two games but...then the Bruce There it Is Canucks came back and won a few more in a row so...I suppose I can indulge a tiny bit of cautious cautious cautious optimism.
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Yeah to be fair, unlike a wild card spot, grabbing 3rd in the division is at least a non-negligible possibility...but I'm not holding my breath. If the season had 100 games, I would give the Canucks something like 50/50 but I think they are just going to run out of runway.
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Blackhawks to retire Marian Hossa’s No. 81
Kevin Biestra replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in General Hockey Discussion
Kind of weird to see a Blackhawks forward with 400 points getting his number retired but he does have three Cups. Guarantees that Kane, Toews and Keith will be going up there at a minimum. But there are all kinds of long serving Blackhawks that didn't get that treatment. I think Dennis Hull might be more deserving. Doug Wilson is definitely more deserving. So is Steve Larmer. Bill Mosienko? Chris Chelios? Just for the recent Hawks dynasty alone I would have Hossa behind the three guys I named and probably Seabrook as well for longevity and maybe Sharp too. -
Yeah with the way the playoff system is now it will probably be easier to finish 3rd in our own division than take one of the wild card spots held by teams from the other division. He is basically saying we need to catch LA and also beat Vegas as well (if we catch LA but not Vegas then Vegas would be in 3rd for the division instead of us).
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It's not true at all. If we go 9-0 then it's 100% minus the probability of the relevant other teams playing well enough to still finish ahead of us...and that probability is significant.
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I think 5% is generous. I haven't done the math but if we run the present scenario, making it once every twenty times feels a little optimistic.
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It was pretty impressive that Luongo was known as a top three goalie for most of a decade without ever making the playoffs once in Florida.
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JT Miller Watch...Climbing the Ladder...
Kevin Biestra replied to Kevin Biestra's topic in Canucks Talk
Yeah, but Bure getting away with his elbow in 1994 was enough good luck for me to not complain too much. -
JT Miller Watch...Climbing the Ladder...
Kevin Biestra replied to Kevin Biestra's topic in Canucks Talk
Yeah I sometimes wonder if a washed up Jimmy Carson or a rookie Mike Peca might have been more effective than a broken Ronning. -
Just want to know you guys' opinion about Canucks identity
Kevin Biestra replied to tan's topic in Canucks Talk
I suppose it's worth mentioning that the 1982 squad had Gradin, Boldirev and Hlinka at C, plus Lupul or Minor as the 4th guy. Of course given the centers of the day or even in the division (Gretzky, Hawerchuk, Dionne, Nilsson - a 130 point guy on each team) we never had a primo Art Ross kind of guy but we had depth anyway. -
JT Miller Watch...Climbing the Ladder...
Kevin Biestra replied to Kevin Biestra's topic in Canucks Talk
For sure. Bert may have actually had my vote for the Hart that year. I think I had him ahead of Naslund anyway...about 7 points difference or something with Bert's added physicality. -
JT Miller Watch...Climbing the Ladder...
Kevin Biestra replied to Kevin Biestra's topic in Canucks Talk
Yeah once you get to Cliff it's a nice little run of Canucks legends if you get three more points. Then once you shoot for 90 and above it's like the death zone of Everest or K2.