Ugli Fruit

I like the development of the Booth - Richardson - Kassian line. Not only can all 3 play a in a grinding/forecheck line, they all compliment each other's styles effectively. From the past 2 weeks or so I've noticed that we've got some sort of WCE-style line: a small, tenacious center with playmaking ability, a power forward with some hands, and a speedy winger with a good shot. Of course, the similarities end at skill level but I think they will form good chemistry over time.

None of us have actually seen what Booth can do when he is fully healthy. I've maintained that he's got all the tools to be a really good hockey player if he is healthy. After putting together a string of games where nothing has been bothering him, I think we can all say that he will only continue to improve. 4M is a risk but we were all thinking the same way with Garrison, weren't we?

1. That is a load of crap. So if you can't see it, hence if it's "intangible", there is no such thing as factual analysis, only opinion? Way to make your argument self-supporting there. It's pretty obvious Hodgson is a smarter player than Kassian. This is just a widely accepted fact by any relevant person so I won't even touch on this again. 2. While I agree the comparison is absurd (mentioned in my previous post), this is also another steaming pile of crap. So Kassian is naturally talented while Hodgson's "smarts" somehow gives him first-round quality hockey sense, shot and passing ability. Even if that made sense, then why is Kassian's natural talent not shining through? 3. We have been talking about "intangibles". Both you and I, in this conversation. But ok. So, basically, you're saying if a point-producer is not producing, he is useless. Wow! You're a genius. And according to you, if Kassian, who is "naturally talented", is not producing, as long as he is fighting people, and hitting, and doing things $500k plugs do every night, he is fine? What a joke. So Kassian gets a free pass when he doesn't produce because he is big and can hit people, and Hodgson doesn't because he is small. Let's call this fair for the sake of argument. Kassian is not meant to be a plug 4th liner who hits and fights. None of that matters. His role is to be a big, intimidating scoring winger, like Lucic or Bertuzzi, not Tom Sestito. You are basically saying Kassian can be a Sestito and that is still better than having a struggling Hodgson or Hodgson equivalent. In the overarching result of the trade then, this team could receive another Steve Bernier and that would still be better than Hodgson because, hey, we got a big, physical guy who can hit! Both players have to become point producers. This organization took the trade knowing Kassian would take longer to develop. Right now Hodgson is producing more and is doing better at his own role than Kassian is. That won't mean anything in the long run, but you really have your head pretty far up yourself. Exactly: so why bother?

You haven't said one thing about the actual matter at hand: Is Hodgson "objectively" better than Kassian? I really wish all you schmucks would stop with all this "objectivity" crap. We are all human and this is a message board. You really think objectivity exists here? Hodgson has put up more points than Kassian, in more minutes. Simple. We can talk about point production rate, individual playing style, help from linemates, injuries, etc. But the bottom line is, Hodgson produced more points than Kassian. Not sure how much more "objective" we really can get given a comparison as absurd as this. Kassian doesn't produce at a high rate, or really, any rate, because he still is learning. If you watch him out there, he still does dumb stuff very often. However, he is still learning, and his size somewhat makes up for his blunders. Hodgson is a smarter player who is clearly more mature on the ice than Kassian. His lack of physical size seems to be his biggest drawback. In terms of raw skill or talent, I daresay Hodgson outclasses Kassian by a long shot. In terms of long-term value to their respective clubs, Kassian is obviously a better asset since big, skilled wingers are a rare commodity, at least here in Vancouver. You seem rather incapacitated by your homerism and its resulting tendency to defend current Canucks and flame former Canucks. I don't blame you, but face it: the team was forced to trade Hodgson and this meant that they would have to lose out at least slightly on the ensuing trade.

Yeah, it's not like there are any small players who are elite in this league. I for one am not making any conclusions about this trade even now, since to do so would be unwarranted. That said, if you think Hodgson will be a 60 point guy and not even a first liner, you need to give your head a shake. The guy may be small, but he has a hell of a shot, amazing vision and great passing ability. He has the potential be a first liner in his prime on almost any team. In 5 years, I'm pretty sure Hodgson will be captaining some team and Kassian will be tearing it up on whatever team he's on. The only reason this trade occurred was because Hodgson wanted out. Both are incredible assets and we can only speculate for the next few years if this trade was worth it, when both players actually develop fully.

That was his first games as a Canuck or at least one of his very early ones after the deadline trade.

That's bad for a backup. I'd rather take Lack, who is putting up good numbers for way less than what Schneider made as a backup.

Boston has a reputation for seriously injuring other players in very questionable ways. Even way back when, Donald Brashear of the Canucks was injured by Marty McSorely, a Bruin. Fast forward to today and we see Boychuk's spine-crushing hit on Mason Raymond, or Marchand's obvious cheapshot on Sami Salo, and hits on players from other teams like Lucic's hit on Miller, Chara's murder attempt on Pacioretty, etc. Say what you will about CDC users hypocrites, but the level of damage done by both team and fan alike is strongly pitched towards the Boston side. And I would argue that sensible Canucks fans are actually some of the most intelligent hockey fans around.

You had to quote the entire OP

None of you have actually proven why Santorelli should not be here next year. The prospect argument is a joke. Santorelli had 20 goals on a sh*t Florida team (basically 10 less than Booth but over 3M less cost) He is 4th on the team in points with 17 and 5th in goals with 6. He is on pace for 17 goals and 49 points for half a million dollars. He is the BEST 3rd line centre we have had since pre-injury Malhotra, and Santo I daresay is better than Malhotra offensively. On top of that he plays with the likes of Weise and an injury-riddled Booth (funnily enough, Booth has a slightly higher shot% than Ryan Kesler). Give me a f**king break. You think he's a rental or something, like Roy? Roy walked because he didn't do anything for the team. Santorelli, on the other hand... He played a crucial role in bringing this team's secondary scoring to life. Without players like him, Torts would have struggled just like AV. Only on CDC does bs like this happen.

If he signs for lses than 1.5M, for sure yes. Okay, look at our top 6 at this point: Sedin Sedin Burrows Higgins Kesler Kassian Booth Santorelli Weise Richardson Welsh Hansen Everybody talks about how the rookies need to take the roster spot but look: If Kassian does not show flashes of promise this season he really doesn't deserve to take a roster spot from someone who wants it more. Kassian's spot could be empty next season, or at least he could be playing 4th line. Weise playing well but I would take Santo over Weise any day. Weise is MUCH easier to expend than Santorelli because there are enough players similar to Weise, but not enough similar to Santorelli (at least ones who perform consistently). Richardson probably will be gone too but it would be nice for him to stay; he's quietly contributing when the team needs someone to step up. Who will make the team next year? Gaunce? Horvat? Give me a break. Horvat may have a chance, but I would rather have him play another year playing top minutes in every situation with Schroeder and Jensen. I firmly think they need to play a lot together so they will naturally have chemistry in the NHL and rely on each other more. The number of people hating on Santorelli is TOO DAMN HIGH.

Hodgson would help this team out so much right now. I don't dislike Kassian but so far the Sabres have EASILY won his trade, and it seems they will be the final winner.

Django Unchained Take it as how you will, I for one see it as the team being Django, with all his strengths and weaknesses, and Torts being the new "master" of Django by killing AV, Schultz. Ocean's 11 Daniel Ocean, played by John Tortorella, must find the best crew possible to win it all. Henrik is the blonde-haired, always-eating counterpart Rusty.

I live in Kingston, ON USE THE INTERNET PEOPLE (cbc.ca online streaming that is )

He scores unexpectedly - not sure whether that's a good thing or bad. So far on the PP he has been underwhelming, and overall he has been good enough for us. He still isn't playing at his cap hit, and needs to be better on the PP, but stat-wise he looks a good signing. He's pretty decent in most aspects, a solid all-round D-man. I still think he's worth no more than 4M, though.

Garrison is playing at Ballad's cap hit, not his. That said, nobody this year is really pulling their contracts, except maybe Schneider, Higgins and Hansen.

He's been average. I thought he was pretty solid defensively, though, considering the top 4 has been shaky at best.

Agh i guess ill post again

Also a wrist shot of Markus Naslund, the slapshot of Sami Salo, the defense of Dan Hamhuis, and the Salary of Oreskovich