Blömqvist
-
Posts
2,613 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Posts posted by Blömqvist
-
-
Just playing Devil's Advocate, even though I really want to see Stecher up here in the show because he brings a dynamic skillset that our team just doesn't have at the moment (Larsen might have it but hasn't shown it yet), what would Stecher's game evolve into in the AHL.
Looking at the transformation of Gaunce, how would Stecher look like with a year under coach Travis Green. He would for sure get the green light in Utica to provide offense from the backend, but would he round his game further and become a more complete consistent player?
Hutton came in from the NCAA and for the first few months looked real good, but around December and early January he slowed down, before picking it up again in February and then slowing down in the last 15 games of the season.
Would Stecher develop better if he's in the AHL, where he can play top minutes in all situations and refine his craft, than up here in the NHL, where he may be given sheltered minutes and only in opportunities where he can succeed (for example, heavy offensive zone starts, playing against lower quality NHLers, and usage on the power play)?
-
2
-
-
Granlund skating alongside Sutter and Rodin on the top line tonight. I'm hoping he can showcase his offensive ability by setting up Rodin who has the hot hand so far this preseason.
Heck, looking ahead if he plays well with Sutter could have 3 really good lines:
Daniel - Henrik - Eriksson
Baertschi - Horvat - Rodin/Hansen
Granlund - Sutter - Hansen/Rodin
Labate/Virtanen/PTO - Gaunce - Dorsett
Burrows
-
1 hour ago, IBacon Strips said:
Granlund has looked fast and aggressive in the pre season so far and has solidified his spot on the 4th line imo. With the way Gaunce has been playing I think they'll move Granlund to LW and that leaves Etem or Burrows as the odd man out at this point.
Granlund and Gaunce have both got seemingy faster and stronger. I would put Burrows on that line as RW and that trio could cause a lot of turnovers on the forecheck and produce some quality chances
-
3 hours ago, ThrustyPrusty89 said:
I was surprised by his speed. He definitely looks stronger: he was harder to push off the puck and even gave a couple coilers a small shove or two. He had a few really good chances charging the net and freezing the goalie. He is in dire need of improving his faceoffs though. I think I only saw him win a couple, and he was playing top line minutes (he was facing off against McJesus though so I don't begrudge him that).
Overall he looked much improved. More comfortable on the ice and more confident. I'm excited to watch his continued development. C'mon Granny, don't let us down!
Those were definitely the things Granlund needed to work on over the summer: getting stronger and a bit faster. He isn't a speedster, but he is quick and smart. He already has the offensive skill and good hockey IQ to play a defensive role, but if he can continue to get a bit bigger and stronger and improve his faceoff skill, then he'll be a real good two-way middle 6 centre or winger. Hopefully Manny can get him stronger on the dot.
-
3
-
-
4 hours ago, Hutton Wink said:
Canucks recently listed him at 207 and Wikipedia at 208.
29 minutes ago, Boudrias said:Sounds and looks about right to me. I some video of him back home during a workout. He was pretty thick through the torso which made me wonder if he was adding muscle or just enjoying some beer. Don't get me wrong the pics were not showing any flab. Even at 205 with his speed he will be a force.
WOW 207 lbs and still skating like that! Knowing that, he could probably comfortably play at 210-215 lbs and not lose a step.
-
1 hour ago, Boudrias said:
I wanted to watch Hutton because he has put on 10 pounds. He was flying last night. Obviously coaching wants to pair him with EG which should give him more of an ability to rush up ice. I also noticed that Hutton was doing more physical battles for puck retrieval rather than fishing for the puck. His ability to puck handle in a crowd is as strong as ever.
What is Hutton up to now? Training camp and Elite Prospects numbers have him at 6'2" and 183 lbs. Is he at 190/195 lbs now?
-
2 hours ago, junglesniper said:
I thought he was adequate defensively. I'd say everyone but Biega was more solid on the backend - he had a lot of missed pinches and got beat outside a few times. When he had the puck he was solid. Made a few nice plays but obviously had to adjust to speed so his decision making was slow down it seemed.
I thought he had a little bit of trouble adjusting to the speed of the game too. Nothing terrible, but just a little thing that we notice. He looked to be generate more offense later on in the game, but for his first preseason NHL action on home ice he did ok. Nothing impressive, but did ok.
-
Hutton and Gudbranson did really well keeping McDavid and Lucic off the scoresheet tonight. They definitely had the top defensive duties and played very well defensively.
Hutton looked great everywhere tonight. He definitely has a lot of confidence in his skills right now and I can't wait to see all the other tricks he has up his sleeves!
-
1
-
-
I loved Stecher's game tonight. He did everything right and made some high-end plays the offensive zone.
In defense of Larsen, however, Stecher was paired with Edler and played behind Hutton and Gudbranson all game. Whereas Larsen was paired with Tryamkin I think and played top defensive duties against the Sharks (albeit, a much less talented squad).
I can't wait to see the next few games as Larsen gets back in and Stecher looks to remain consistent. Really good competition for that last RD spot, and so far, based on what management wanted from that last spot, Stecher has shown that he can produce points on even strength and on the powerpla and drive the transition and offense from the backend.
-
A Granlund - Gaunce - Etem line would look nice in the near future. Gaunce would play pivot and and if he could use his size and play in front of the net more combined with Etem's size and speed they could really open up room for Granlund. Hopefully by then, all three would have taken strides defensively so we could ice two "third lines" with the other being Sven, Bo, and Jake.
-
28 minutes ago, Incursio said:
How much better has the game gotten since release? I only played for a couple months, and stopped before the first expansion
I'm in the same boat as you too.
I played a ton but stopped cuz of work. Did things get better?
-
7 hours ago, Boudrias said:
Tanev had a great World Cup. I am in the trade Tanev camp based on what comes back. It has to be significant. My reasoning for making a deal is Tanev's long term ability to withstand physical play especially in playoffs. Top that with his mentioning above of his shot blocking. He is very good at it but it also takes a toll. Canuck d-core will be bigger this fall and how that helps Tanev's game will be very interesting to watch. It has the potential of doing away with any trade rumors as he plays more physically sheltered TOI.
This year, if Tanev develops an offensive game (30+ points with elite shutdown ability) I would keep him, but if he doesn't and we see progression from Gudbranson and Tryamkin then I would definitely trade Tanev for the right price.
-
Holy cow Matt Bartkowski had 6 goals last year??!? Wowwwwwwww
I'm hoping the D-Core as a whole generates more offense and better transition game with the addition of Gudbranson, considering he gives us another solid defense pair and, as Tanev says, moves well and is a smart player.
-
On 9/2/2016 at 4:03 PM, Boudrias said:
On the old Habs teams the rookies always started on the 4th line and worked their way up if they developed a scoring touch. I would be absolutely stoked if Gaunce could play the season as 4C or 4LW. Gaunce-Etem-Virtanen-Horvat all 200 pounds+ playing up front. When you look at the opposition this is almost a necessity.
We're full of bottom 6 depth currently, but hopefully all 3 of Gaunce, Etem, and Virtanen get regular spots on the team like Horvat.
Daniel - Henrik - Eriksson
Baertschi - Sutter - Hansen
Burrows - Horvat - Virtanen
Etem - Gaunce - Dorsett
Granlund? Rodin?
Maybe Virtanen is sent to the AHL, and Granlund jumps up to 4LW or even 3LW with Burrows on 3RW? And even then there's the issue of SHL MVP Rodin and where he will play.
-
1 hour ago, Smashian Kassian said:
I gotta say my initial thought on the pick was wrong.
I'm glad we selected Juolevi, and I think the idea of trading down looking back at it now is preposterous because Juolevi is totally worth of a #5 selection.
He was thought of early on in the year as an offensive defenseman, and he showed the impact he can bring at the World Junior, while he didn't show it as much early on in London just look at his playoff run and his memorial cup, another couple of big stages that came through in all areas of the ice for his team.
He has the ability to play his best hockey when you need him too, so does Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser seems capable of being a consistent force aswell, and Hutton is the same way always cool. I like these are the types of character guys we are building around.
Honestly for all the flak I've given Benning and Linden. I actually like them alot right now, I think they have a good vision for this team, especially Jim Benning in how he wants this team to play, then Linden kinda is at the helm and he adds that character element and some of his personal beliefs as a natural leader.
I earlier on and at first they badly misjudged some things, in part from knowing how ownership wanted to go it influenced some of the decision making perhaps and stuff and some of their other judgement are off as far as some trades maybe.
But I think now if Lindeninning can just do it there way and if Benning can really just have his vision be the course followed (with other input of course) we will be in good hands going forward.
We don't have the star power of McDavid (Even though I think we have mulitple future stars in our own right) but we have an intangible edge to us and some special talents. That could allow us to compete and be a contender in the West one day I think.
In my opinion, I think Lindenning (are we actually combining them now? lol) are banking heavily into different aspects of rebuilding a team. We don't have the star power that comes at the top of the draft, but compared to the teams that do (think Edmonton, Bufallo, and Toronto's upcoming team), we might be in a better position to find consistent success.
I dunno, to me it seems like Edmonton, Bufallo, and Toronto are building a team of stars, especially if you look at Edmonton. Maybe their philosophy was to gain talent and let your star dominate the game, but unless that star is a Crosby or Ovechkin that philosophy might not work out, hence the 2nd rebuild of Edmonton.
Looking at the Canucks, Lindenning seem to be investing heavily into player drafting, player development, and player transitioning. Benning and co have found gems late and in the later rounds of drafts. They've let them develop in their respective leagues, but even then the Canucks will hire consultants to help develop players even more (think Melanson and Cloutier, and most recently Malhotra). The Canucks have also kept a leadership group and gotten other key players that can grow with the new core and provide mentorship but also give immediate help so as to not throw the young players into lions den (think Sutter and Gudbranson). Team cohesiveness and transitioning players into specific roles seems like what Lindenning are going after.
I'm sure eventually we'll get a legit stud (if we don't have one on our hands already), but I really like what Lindenning are doing. I mean, even if we did go the traditional "tank" route it doesn't necessarily guarantee the 1st overall pick and even then the player that you get could bust or the team you get afterwards would still just suck despite the star power (cough Edmonton cough).
-
2
-
-
18 hours ago, greetingsfrombrazil said:
Sergachev is #38. He has Fabbro (#21), Bean (#23), Chabot (#26), Chychrun (#32) and Theodore (#34) ahead of him.
But Boeser's #40. So who knows
Ohhhhhhh interesting interesting.... especially Theodore's and Boeser's rankings.
-
On 8/30/2016 at 10:59 AM, TheHockeyNerds said:
Found it pretty interesting Corey pronman has Juolevi as the 14th best prospect. 2nd dman behind Werenski (12) but ahead of Provorov (18)
I feel slow for bringing this up cuz it was last week's news, but any idea where Sergachev is ranked on this list? Just for giggles lol
-
IIRC Olli Juolevi and a few other London Knights did not participate in some Draft Combine festivities.
(SOURCE: http://thehockeywriters.com/2016-combine-heights-weights)
I think the numbers that we have are definitely prior to the combine and are likely at start of the season or from mid-season. Those numbers range but depending on the site it is relatively safe to say that at that time he is between 6'2" to 6'3" in height and weighs somewhere between 179 lbs to 182 lbs.
(SOURCE: ISS Hockey, The Hockey Writers, The Hockey News, Elite Prospects, Hockey's Future)
I read or heard somewhere that Juolevi, during the season, did weight training and gained as much as 10 lbs. I can't remember where I saw it, BUT an article on Sportsnet from the Draft Combine has Juolevi stating his weight:
Quote
“That bike is pretty scary,” said Juolevi. “And also for me, a pretty skinny guy, the bench press is one of the tough ones. I still weigh almost 190 (pounds) but I don’t have big muscles, so it’s pretty scary to go there – especially because I don’t usually do bench presses."
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/olli-juolevi-talks-combine-scouting-report-laine-puljujarvi/
So I think it's safe to assume that, with this summer of offseason training coming to a close, he's likely ~6'3" and ~190 lbs. Keep in mind he just turned 18 in May, and still has room too grow. By comparison, in his draft+1 year Brisebois grew 1 inch and gained 10-15 lbs.
Whatever the case, we'll have a big and very mobile defenseman with excellent puck movement and offensive instincts, and any extra growth is just a bonus... I think anyways haha
-
Hmmm the article and Linden's comments from July are saying a few good things about him. According to Linden he's now 6'3" and the most recent article states that he weighs 190 lbs. Not bad at all! He's already bigger and heavier than Tanev and Hutton, and still has a few more years to grow more, fill out, and get stronger.
It sounds like he has a good 200 ft game and plays it simple. If he could end up being a bigger and stronger left-handed version of Tanev with a better shot then that would be huge for us.
-
3
-
-
1 hour ago, Maniwaki Canuck said:
This. I'm impressed that he rates Juolevi over Provorov, who's had an extra year of development that went well by any standard.
I wonder if Pronman took heavily into consideration WJC, CHL playoffs, and the Memorial Cup performances, and the fact that Juolevi shined in all and at a younger age.
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, Nuckles80 said:
I don't think Gaunce has the offensive game to be a 2nd liner. And what I mean by that is not that I don't think he has a good hockey mind, but rather he just doesn't have enough 'finesse' to his game or assets that translate to him being 'exceptional' in any offensive skill at the NHL level (ie not a superior skater, shot, elite passer etc), and you really do need to be 'exceptional' at some part of your offensive game to be a legit second liner vs a Higgins during his best years.
While he clearly has a high hockey IQ, he will never be a great skater (he has improved and his work ethic will ensure he keeps doing so but he'll never be great in that manner, I think we can all agree. He will find a way however to be a 'decent' skater I believe). However, in my view, he is simply just a smart player with size who needs to find a way to maximize his various 'good' but no exceptional assets to carve out a role/career in the NHL.
That being said, with his size, his smarts, and ability to play a solid 2 way game with decent enough hands to contribute, I would hope that he can find a way to eventually be our #3 or #4 center long term. His size, while he's not a big hitter, is very useful down the middle, makes it hard for opposing forwards because he does still play a heavy game. He can skate well enough and is smart enough positionally to keep up with the best centers in the league, and if he can work on his faceoffs, as all players do, perhaps we can create a poor man's Manny 2.0
If he can provide that type of role for the Canucks I would be estatic. I certainly hope he gets a chance at 4c this year and that he and Granlund battle it out. Not a huge fan of Granlund personally, a bit of tweener. Not a top 6 but no big enough or gritty enough to play a bottom 6 role. I think Granlund is really an stop gap upgrade on Vey while they wait and hope Gaunce can step into that 4c role. If he's ready you play him this year, giving him maybe 35-40 games, Granlund with the rest. If not, another year in Utica as a call up and hope next year that occurs.
I was thinking that, a solid 3rd liner and if developed correctly and taking the next steps in advancing the skillset he does have he might be able to reach 2nd line production in a complementary role during his prime, like a Higgins or Burrows. I don't think he has the offensive game to drive the offense at the NHL level, however.
What he does have is hockey IQ and a good shot, and if he can use his size and strength more and position himself in the dirty areas he could have a couple seasons with 2nd line production.
-
2
-
-
I think Gaunce has a legitimate shot at being a defense-first 3rd liner that can consistently put up points, but maybe also has an outside shot at developing into a quality two-way 2nd liner capable of 40-50 points in his prime.
-
1
-
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
13 hours ago, Hutton Wink said:How many hits did Hutton take last year? Not to say he's physically ready, but Olli is listed as but 4lbs lighter than Ben and is already at least as tall. They don't play like Tanev, they rely on skating, agility, and quick puck movement.
The difference between Hutton and Juolevi is that Hutton played in a man's body, whereas Juolevi is still an 18 year old kid. Meaning Hutton, although still needing to put on muscle, has most if not all his body structures fully developed. Juolevi, on the other hand, still has his body structures developing. Defencemen are prone to hits despite their playstyle. Some get hit more than others. I wouldn't want my future stud defenseman getting eaten alive in the corners and developing recurring back or shoulder issues later on in his career. Especially out in here in the Pacific Division where we face Lucic, Kassian, Brown, King, Ferland (is he still with Calgary?), Getzlaf, Kesler, Stewart. etc. every so often?
If he does well at camp, then reward him with max 9 NHL games, professional-level training and coaching, and NHL salary. Give him a taste so he gets even hungrier, but also limit the amount of risk you subject him to.
7 hours ago, J.R. said:Clearly hasn't seen or read about how Juolevi plays.
Elusive.
Plays elusve among junior aged players, who most likely do not play at the NHL speed and pace. He could very well take some hits as he starts out, as he adjusts to the pro speed and pace.
-
13
-
I think he needs to be back down in junior with the London Knights. He still has a lot to prove down there. Yes, he has won World Junior Gold, OHL Championship, and the Memorial Cup, but he still meeds to prove that he can handle a mkre focused role and drive and create offense from the back end. As well, this past season fellow draftee Mikhail Sergachev was the OHL Defenseman of the Year. If Juolevi does consider himself better than Sergachev and Chychrun, he will for sure be trying to prove it.
The kid will be a gem for sure, and having him in North America and the London organization for another year will help him moreso than being in Europe. The physicality, fast-paced game, and limited decision making times will help him more than playing in a low-physicality, open-ice league against men. I think anyways. Well I mean, that's why we have questions about Euro-league players right? If they can adapt to the size and speed and physicality of the North American game.
-
1
-
Troy Stecher | #51 | D
in Alumni
Posted · Edited by Blömqvist
For what it's worth, Craig Button was on TSN 1040 a couple of hours ago and said that he would take Stecher over Larsen in a heartbeat. Starts talking about Troy Stecher and Phil Larsen at the 13 minute mark.
http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040-i-1410/bmac-donnie-the-moj-oct-4-hour-5-1.579727