Jump to content
The Official Site of the Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Community

*Buzzsaw*

Members
  • Posts

    4,111
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Everything posted by *Buzzsaw*

  1. Almost whatever series I am watching, I am seeing physicality define the play, and usually its the physical team which is ahead. We have the two top teams in the regular season down in games. And one of the major reasons why both Tampa Bay and Calgary are down is they are being physically dominated in their own ends. If you look at Calgary, they had the better performing offensive player in Johnny Gaudreau in the regular season, but in the playoffs we are seeing MacKinnon dominate while Gaudreau is -1 with one assist, generally invisible and quite likely injured because of the physical attention he's getting from Colorado. And for Tampa, Nikita Kucherov, who is likely the regular season MVP, is -2 and no points... and suspended for a game. So I really hope that Jim Benning is watching and not thinking about acquiring another smurf.... I am really happy with Hughes and Petey, but now the team needs some size to back up these guys and their skills. If we somehow win the lottery then pick the BPA, but if we are drafting 9/10, then get some size.
  2. If the kid was trying to inspire his team, he did good... because the Canes were on fire after that fight. But if the kid was trying to actually beat Ovie, then he made the biggest miscalculation of his hockey career. Ovie did nothing wrong.... the kid wanted to fight, Ovie could be seen asking him if he really wanted to go... the kid nodded his head, and then Ovie simply did what any pro hockey player does at that point, he used all his physical power in the fight. I feel sorry for the kid, but he brought it on himself. Maybe his sacrifice did benefit his team in this game, but if Svechnikov is out with head injuries as a result, it might backfire on the Canes in the long run.
  3. They aren't going to give a GM they plan to fire a chance to pick players in the draft. Logically they fire Jim right now or they fire him next year at season end if they fail to make the playoffs. And its pretty clear they are not firing him this year.
  4. Maybe so... but I still think the Canucks should trade him this year for defensive help.
  5. I think some of the posters are undervaluing what it would cost to sign Boeser. He will get minimum what Horvat is receiving... (5.5 mil) and probably another 1 mil on top of that. Its fairly obvious Brock is a 35 goal scorer with the potential to hit 40+ and that means his price is north of Bo's. Same thing with Edler... it will take at least 6 mil to sign him... unless they give him a no-trade clause which they do not want to do. I don't think Hutton gets any more than $3 mil per year... in fact maybe he gets the same deal as before, 2.8 mil... he has not proved himself over the long term yet. With Leivo, he is currently getting $600,000.... I would expect he would sign for 1.5 mil for a couple years. Luke Schenn is a question... personally I think they would be best to sign him for a two year/two way deal.... 1 mil in the NHL and $200,000 in the AHL. That way if he regresses, they can send him to the farm. I would expect Tyler Motte gets 1.25 mil. I personally think Marcus Granlund is worth keeping around... unless they have the opportunity to deal him for a good defenseman or propect. He is an NHL player and can do almost everything that is asked of him... whether it is scoring, PK, PP, shutdown or whatever. That is valuable in the NHL, either on the Canucks or as trade bait.
  6. Jake Virtanen is already as good as Kassian. He has matched Zack's best goal output at age 22. Zack is 28. The real question is whether Jake takes another step and goes to the 25 goal mark... which is entirely possible considering his raw physical talent. He has a lot more speed than Kassian, hits harder than Kassian and is better defensively. The only thing stopping Jake from being what he could be is between his ears.... if he can get it into his head that driving the net and challenging the opposition is the way to succeed, he will make the transition into a bonafide NHL top six player. If he doesn't then he will still be a 15 goal a year scorer who contributes physically and is sound defensively. Which is valued on any team in the league.
  7. Sutter looks really tired... his colour is bad... big circles under his eyes. He's had a huge amount of time off... he should be rested. I gotta wonder whether there is something else.
  8. And how many threads are you going to badmouth because you don't have the imagination to create one yourself?
  9. We all know Petey can dangle and we all know he can shoot... but he is a beanpole and he does get knocked down in the corners regularly. (even though he can lay the hits too... ) So the question for all you EP40 fans.... How much muscle is he going to pack on during the summer? We can revisit this at Training Camp and see if the majority opinion was right and who predicted correctly.
  10. Something I didn't mention in my OP: I felt when Goldobin was playing on Petey's line, there was much more entry into the zone with the puck in Canuck possession... it wasn't always a case of 'Dump and Chase'. There were a lot fewer goals scored on the rush after he was removed from the line. I am not saying Goldobin was a perfect player or that he didn't have faults. But he did show an ability to gain entry with the puck and sometimes to make passes which worked. He also showed a lot more lateral and criss cross movement... and creative play... without him on the line, the line seems to play straight lines... there is not a lot of interplay. Sometimes you need to temporarily tolerate the defensive liabilities of a player in order to get the creativity. I feel that Green is very unimaginative in his offensive thinking... he likes straight up and down, Dump and Chase hockey. Goldobin didn't fit that mold.
  11. Getting the extra point tonight made no difference to the Canucks draft position. In fact, winning would have made no difference. It was all settled by Anaheim not getting any points.
  12. So we have seen the end of the season, and quite possibly the end of Nikolai Goldobin's career with the Vancouver Canucks. It seems Travis Green had limited patience... he was not prepared to tolerate the errors, the occasional lack of focus and the lack of goal scoring production. What are the facts? Goldy had 7 goals and 27 points in 63 games. He was a -10. His shooting percentage was a horrible 6.7%... more like a defenseman than a forward. Advanced stats are here: https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/goldoni01.html He did improve on his play of last season based on the above... with one serious exception... shooting percentage which fell from a normal 16% in 2017/2018 to the above mentioned 6.7% this year. Goldobin, as anyone who has watched him play can confirm, is a talented puck handler and skater. His passing can be excellent, but he is also known for some gaffes and give aways, although not as much as might be suggested. From observing him, it seems clear to me he has a problem with self confidence... when he has it, he is capable of just about anything... when he lacks it, he is less than visible. At the beginning of the year he did show a lot of confidence and he was putting up points and scoring. His defensive play was less effective. At a certain point Green began to bench him as a penalty for his defensive play... and while his defensive play improved when he returned from those benchings, his offensive confidence disappeared... his shooting percentage shrank dramatically. At that point Green benched him permanently. The question I have to ask... might a little more positive encouragement and patience been rewarded with better results than Green's methods? Maybe playing him further down the lineup? He was actually known as a goal scorer in junior and the AHL... might not some encouragement bring him out of his slump? Obviously Green did not think so... So we come to the question... Who exactly was Goldobin replaced with? Ryan Spooner? Spooner has by far worse stats than Goldobin. He is 27 years old to Goldobin's 23, and has had at best mediocre career... his two best years were in Boston when he was lucky enough to be on a decent team. This year he has basically disappeared as a statistically important player. Tim Schaller has also had a mediocre season, not withstanding the last couple of games. He is also someone who the team is paying considerably more for. But because Goldobin has been benched, his value has basically almost disappeared. He will probably be lost to waivers or head for the KHL. Could the Travis Green have handled Nikolai Goldobin better?
  13. Hoping for Petey, but would not at all be surprised to see Binnington win if the Blues do well in the Playoffs and he wins games. It's Binnington's to win... Petey no longer has a way to improve his season, but Binnington can.
  14. I have noticed a very definite improvement in Brock's skating from where he was at the beginning of the season and where he is now. He has also improved his forecheck considerably... he is using his size and weight better and is harder on the puck. He does not have the same shooting confidence he had last year, but I predict he will come back strong next year. HIs performance this year has been entirely predictable... a very serious injury lower body injury requiring surgery... limited ability to train in the summer... results in a physical deficit... a general lack of jump in his skating, and with that a lack of confidence... the result was a really slow start to his season. But the good news is by any standard, 26 goals and 56 points is an excellent season in the NHL. And he accomplished that with all the above handicaps. So my prediction for next year is he will hit 35 goals and 60 points.... at least. And he will be a much bigger threat with his speed and dangle.
  15. One of the reasons the Pacific wasn't great was because the Canucks won a lot of games in our own Division.
  16. Good competitive game from the team. Would have been nice to see them win, but taking it to OT was good. (points didn't matter, their draft position was already settled) Demko had an overall good game, some really good saves, although he was very lucky on occasions, and did let in one bad goal. (Tarasenko) As I have said before, he is not as technically sound as Marky, but that is something you can learn... you can't teach reaction, competitiveness and fire in the belly. Which he has. By the way, I don't think Marky and Demko like each other... there is not the same friendly interactions I saw with Marky and Nilsson and Marky and Miller. But hey, competition is good. Nice to see Petey get off the schneid... he needed to get that goal so he won't be thinking too much at the start of next year. Lets hope that Tanner Pearson picks up his play next year on the same level as he ended this season... cause he is RED HOT. He definitely seems to have found a place with Bo on the #2 Checking Line. If Baertschi can come back and play with them, the Canucks will have a dual threat with their top two lines. Good game by Quinn Hughes... although what I find frustrating is that with Green's coaching system the other players are not taking advantage of his up ice rushes... several times he gained the zone and was ready to dish off to an uncovered Canuck... except there was no one there... they weren't anticipating what he could do. Although Edler did take two penalties and ended up -1... he made a lot of good plays in the D Zone and was physical... I love it when big guys like Maroon or Tarasenko, who outweigh Eddie by 10-15 lbs get tossed around by our deceptively strong Swede. And that Tarasenko line is a really good one... O'Reilly is a star although he doesn't get as much attention as he deserves. Also liked Rafferty's game. In my opinion he was not that impressive in his first start, but he improved this game. On to next season! Trending UP
  17. Overall, although I think Green's coaching systems could use a serious overhaul and he could have gotten better from Gudbranson, I would have to say the Gudbranson trade was a good one for the team. Tanner Pearson has clearly found a home here... he is young, and will fit in... maybe not permanently in a top six role, but he can play down the lineup too. It's a done deal, its over and time to move on.
  18. I somewhat dislike the Leafs... but the team is actually quite good.... the problem is the biased media sucking up to that market and pumping their tires. And that causes all the Leaf's fans to think they are the second coming... which of course is not the case... we'll see how quickly they exit the playoffs. I used to be angry about the bias of the Refs and the NHL disciplinary committee during the 2011 Cup run, especially what the Bruins were able to get away with, (like the near career ending injury Boychuk inflicted on Mason Raymond) but its been 8 years since the finals and its hard to stay angry. The person I dislike the most is Ron Maclean... that scumbag is supposed to be an objective journalist... and he should know he is on the national stage and should be respectful of all sides and all fans... but in fact he is the most underhanded and biased weasel that exists. He pretends to be honest and comes out with these sanctimonious pronouncements, but underneath all that his axe grinding and insinuations are very clear. And as has been mentioned, he will stab anyone in the back to get a reaction if he thinks it will benefit his own reputation. The good news is that even the brass in the East are getting wise to his hypocrisy and he is being shuffled to the sidelines and his role in Kraft Hockeyville. When Cherry retires, Maclean will be gone. When he is, I will laugh long and hard.
  19. What we see referenced with the articles linked above re. Gudbranson and his comments about how the Pens 'Support the puck' is exactly the opposite of what we are watching in Vancouver. Green's system is seriously lacking in the way the forwards provide the defenders with support. With the exception of the defensive pair, Puck support seems to be completely haphazard... no system apparent to link the D pair's actions with the forwards. What I see a lot of is puck chasing... reactive play.... there is no anticipation, no system which allows players to occupy the critical points which will allow the disruption of the other team's attack. This is why the Canucks are continually trapped in their own D-Zone. The team's play shorthanded in the D-Zone is actually better than their play at even strength, because the players have clearly defined roles. There do not seem to be any defined roles for the forwards at even strength. The same thing seems apparent when you look at the offense and the breakout. There is no system for a breakout... there is no system to encourage creative play... it is all dump and chase, which is exactly the style the team should not be playing. The young stars should be encouraged within a system which focuses on passing and creative interaction. I don't see any of the typical criss cross movement by forwards to confuse and disorganize the defense, I don't see any creative use of the drop pass after zone entry, I rarely see any button hooks. Almost every single zone entry is either a dump in.... or an immediate pass to the winger... at which point the puck gets tied up on the boards and we generally see a ineffective puck battle. This is particularly the case with the Pettersson line... this line, especially Petey, are too small to win puck battles on the boards. The only line which should employ dump and chase is the Horvat line. The rest should be attempting to gain entry with the puck. This team has players which have the skills, but those skills are not being nurtured.
  20. Don't know about a name... but here are some adjectives, (some made up) to describe him. Quintessential... as in "...a quintessential deke." Quintastic Quinultimate You get the idea.
  21. Petey has unfortunately lost his timing and confidence... not sure he will break the Canuck rookie goal scoring mark. Full NHL season is a grind and he is not the biggest and strongest guy out there. I am sure he will work hard on building muscle and conditioning over the summer and come back stronger next year.
  22. Don't know why this thread is still here. Obviously Benning is not perfect... No GM is... but overall his tenure is a positive one and the team is trending up. The most important decisions he had to make... i.e. the first round picks in the draft... were almost all excellent. Especially considering Benning never had any better than a top 5. A little bit of luck, like Winnipeg with their Laine pick or Toronto with their Mathews pick and we'd be contending for a divisional championship. Despite not having great picks he has emerged from the draft with two bonafide stars... Boeser and Pettersson, the latter could be a superstar. He has another potential star in Quinn Hughes, a good journeyman D in Juolevi, (could be better if his injuries heal properly) and a solid 3rd liner in Virtanen... who is still developing and who could be a 2nd liner if his improvements continue. His Free Agent signings or trades have been mixed... some good, some not so good... but none of them are team breakers, we are well under the CAP. Some good signings which saw players produce well have turned into disappointments, (like Sutter or Baertschi) as a result of injuries and cannot be blamed on Benning. My biggest disappointment was and continues to be the failure to sign Tryamkin... I think this player would have improved the Canucks D immensely and they should have made his a better offer to stay... but again, his reasons for leaving were to do with his wife's opinions and WD's stupid coaching style more than Benning and maybe nothing could have been done. I would still like Benning to make a BIG effort to get him to return... including offering to pay the KHL salary.
  23. One more point and there's gonna be a need for a EP40 Display Case at the Coliseum.
×
×
  • Create New...