canucklehead44

He was with Archibald and I believe MacEewan. Edit: my initial thought was Carcone - Mac played with them on the PP and had doubts when Carcone and Archie were both listed as LW MacEwan and Macmaster are the most under the radar guys in our system. Big Mac looks great. Speed, size and skill. Reminds me of Grenier but plays a smoother game.

I was at the game - very entertaining! Kulbakov was great then he let in the first goal, and had a very strange reaction. Just crouched over sideways for a good 20 seconds then he sucked after. Gaudette looked great. Was hoping to see more out of Dahlen but he wasn't bad. I like Palmu - he is very strong and his edgework is great. Juolevi was good and bad, he has potential but there is still work to do. It is funny how Salo was wanting to work on his body language - between whistles he sometimes looks like an annoyed teenager told to go clean his room. It is strange. Boucher and Archibald are very good AHL players. I got a chance to meet Jonah Gadjovich breifly. He was just chilling in the concourse. I am used to these games being boring and very physical, this game was high flying.

I am going to the game today! Does anyone know the lineup? I am guessing Dahlen and Palmu back in, Lind and Gadjovich scratched?

Mix of both but probably more bad luck

Hutton is one of two players last season to score zero goals with over 100 shots on goal. The other is Nick Jensen, who scored twice tonight.

He started more in the defensive zone than any other player in the NHL. If anything I think he just tried to get the puck on net for a whistle.

I wouldn't mind seeing Leipsic - Horvat - Virtanen / Baertschi - Pettersson - Boeser either. Leipsic looked great on that line last year.

I am super pumped for this draft. I am probably going to fly back to Vancouver to watch it. Regardless this looks like it will be a good one: 1. The Hughes storyline cannot be beat for obvious reasons 2. Byram - A BC boy who plays for the Giants getting drafted by the Canucks in Vancouver? Also Vancouver in need of another top D, this is a great match. 3. Kakko - This is the type of player who often goes 1st in a draft that doesn't have a clear cut guy (2017, 2014, 2011?, 2006 etc). High level skill with good size. Drafting a point per game player in Vancouver would always be remembered fondly. Cozens and Dach would make nice consolation prices. Also with Tag Bertuzzi looking like he is going to go late first/early second I would love to move our 2nd up a few spots and snag him late in the 1st. Although you can only imagine the pressure he would be under so I doubt we will draft him unless his final ranking is mid 20s and he is still available in the 2nd round. Here is hoping Edler can waive his NTC so we can get another quality draft pick. Del Zotto, Hutton, Pouliot, probably won't even be tradable - maybe get a 4th round pick tops.

I much prefer Leipsic over Goldobin. Skill-wise they are similar but Leipsic plays with a lot more drive. Ideally we would have them both on the roster. I also think that Motte has earned a spot on the opening night roster but the space isn't there. He has been probably the 5th or 6th best forward thus far.

I think Markstrom is a good goalie who just needs to be more consistent. At one point last year when Vancouver was in a wild card spot I remember his save pct being around .920, and .912 really isn't horrible for a bad team. He made a few blunders on some goals but overall was pretty decent. Compared to other starters (most games played) on bottom feeders: Lehner - .908 Ward - .906 / Darling .888 Price - .900 Anderson - .898 Raanta - .930 (most underrated goalie in the league IMO - thought he was a brilliant acquisition for Arizona) Howard - .910 Forsberg - .908 Lundqvist - .915 Talbot - .908 Halak - .908 I think Markstrom is a 1A or 1B - IE he is better than a backup but isn't "the guy" for a starting role. This is perfect for a tandem with a young future #1 like Demko. He provides the stability if Demko fails, but also gives Demko the opportunity to be the #1 without having to displace an overpriced legit starter. Nilsson is a borderline AHL goalie though - and is not good enough to make up a tandem with a starter of Markstrom's calibre.

no muscle or fat protecting his bones.. or much surface area to get in front of a puck. Impressive indeed.

In Toronto Leafs fans give me the hardest time about Olli Juolevi. This draft in particular we were picking from the OHL - Tkachuk, Sergachev, Chychrun the other potential picks. Plus who have Keller coming off of an outstanding rookie year. McAvoy adds salt to the wound. That said, is it justified? Major Canucks Fan broke down his game and he does a lot of little things right. Identifying this over the flashiness, big hits, and points is what separates real scouts from fans. But on the topic of points, his season/playoffs in Finland were pretty good. He still played pro, but going to Europe while other guys jumped to the NHL made him drop off the radar a bit. In total he had a .53 PPG. Here are a few other dmen in their +2 draft eligible year with a few other draft eligible years thrown in: Lindell - .12 PPG / .28 PPG NHL Career (27 points last season) Vatanen - .55 PPG / .46 PPG NHL Career (28 points last season .34 - 0.50PPG ) Lydman - .29 PPG / .28 PPG career NHL Pitkanen (+1 year) - .57 PPG / .53 PPG Career NHL Niinimaa - .40PPG / .43 PPG career NHL Timonen (+3) - .50 PPG / .515 PPG Career NHL Salo (+3) - .44 PPG / .39 PPG Career NHL A couple things to note: 1. There are way less Finnish players than I expected and that is looking to change. In 2017 there were 6 Finns selected in the first round. In 2016 there were four, with three in the top six. 2. In the past Finnish defenseman seemed to get overlooked, with studs like Niinimaa, Timonen and Salo having long, solid careers despite being drafted in rounds that no longer exist. 3. Another easy comparable is Olli Maata who played on the same team in the OHL. He had .52 PPG vs Juolevi who had .73 PPG. Maata has averaged .31 PPG in the NHL. 4. The Finnish league is not an easy place to rack up points, and the PPG numbers are quite comparable in +2 and +3 years to the NHL. So lets first look at Maata. Juolevi had 40% higher production in the OHL - if that translates to the NHL he will average .44 PPG or 36 points/ 82 games. Next I am going to look at Finnish numbers. I am going to use Lindell's +3 year as he skews the stats, and I'd rather go conservative (.61 ppg). AVG PPG Finland = .48 AVG PPG NHL = .42 = -12.5% .53 PPG - 12.5% = .46 PPG. So when we distill it down based on his performance to date, Juolevi is trending to be a 38 point per year defenseman, which is actually in line with what Sergachev and McAvoy did last year. Now they are young and should improve, but that doesn't see to always be the case with defenseman as we know with Hutton & Stecher. Maata for example has played four full seasons and his rookie campaign was his best.

I liked Leipsic with Horvat and Virtanen, a lot of speed on that line. If we put Baer with Pettersson and Boeser it would spread out the scoring although putting Pettersson with Boeser means he will get top defensive competition

86% defensive zone starts playing with With low skill players - almost impossible for a player to put up offence in that situation. He has more skill than he gets credit for and I believe he could hold his own as the size/defensive presence on a smaller skill line - more than Sutter or Beagle.

Maybe he would be a good compliment to EP and they can switch off center depending on the situation.

I actually believe that Gaunce has the most upside out of the three. His last year in the AHL his offensive totals were similar to Leipsic and Goldobin. He is big, plays a detailed game, and could turn into a very good checker. The fact he lead the entire NHL in defensive zone starts % doesn't get recognized enough. Despite that, he also finished with the 3rd best +/- out of our forwards with 20+ games. He had more shots on goal than Goldobin playing much less power play time and also contributed on the PK. Wasn't overly physical but still managed 1.29 hits per game which is decent (above average). If Gaunce could keep up his shooting pace over 82 games and manage to get just below the league average for shooting percentage we could expect 11 goals in 82 games. Not spectacular by any stretch but not bad for a defensively responsible 4th liner. He was on pace for 9 last year. He has been respectable on faceoffs and with work could probably be a 52-55% guy. Perhaps mould his game after Jay Beagle, and having Manny Malhotra on the coaching staff doesn't hurt either.

Imagine Tryamkin with Hughes, that would look so funny.

Man Leipsic with 9 points in 14 games, Green favorite, and great chemistry with Virtanen. Would hate to see him get waived. He was the Marchand of the WHL and could maybe bring that part of his game back. As for Goldobin, he is an undersized playmaking winger with zero bite to his game and atrocious defensive awareness. Goldobin's defensive game is much worse than Gaunce's offensive game, and Gaunce is solid defensively whereas Goldobin hasn't done much offensively. If he had 50% more offence last year I'd take more chances but Goldobin needs to score 25 to stick and make up for his horrible defensive game. I also don't really like the tempo in which he plays the game at. Fantastic passer and good sick handler but doesn't have what it takes to be a useful NHL player IMO. Didn't look dangerous at all in Utica but gets a lot of assists on the power play.

He lead the entire NHL in defensive zone starts, on a terrible team, yet finished even. He plays a very detailed game and is hugely underrated. He didn't get many offensive opportunities but still scored close to a 10 goal pace which is what you want from your 4th liners. If he played centre and was great at faceoffs it would drastically improve his value IMO. The year he took the most faceoffs he was 51.2% so he might not be bad given the opportunity to take more draws. I think he is somewhat comparable to Jay Beagle. Jay didn't even have 10 career NHL goals until he was 27 and didn't have a 5 goal or 10 point season until 28 where he broke out with 10/10. I like Gaunce and would like to see him stay healthy and perhaps develop into a more valuable bottom 6 player.

Even better - he would need to add leadership, size, and defensive awareness playing with two rookies. With 140 games under his belt I think Virt understands the pro game - he just needs more confidence offensively.

I'd be stoked! Would love to see a sheltered kid line of Pettersson - Gaudette - Virtanen

I'd give him a B. He was good but not dominant.

I don't see how there is any space at all for Gaudette. We already have too many forwards. He would have to kick Gagner out of a spot.

He was sixth on Vaxjo for total face offs at 133 and won just 40%. His neutral zone faceoffs were alright but he was just 37% offensive zone and 33% defensive zone. Gagner is a shade under 48% over the last two years. Not great but he makes the most sense (Henrik was 46.5% last season). Sutter has averaged around 53% since joining the Canucks, Jay Beagle was one of the best in the league at 58.5%, and of course Horvat is also a beast at 53.8% last season.

I think we will have a bounce back season from Hutton. His underlying numbers weren't too bad. This year he will be in better shape and on a mission to earn his spot. He has had a relatively easy ride to the NHL, skipping his last year of college and not having to play in the AHL. Also there is millions of dollars on the line. If he has a similar season to last he won't be qualified and will be lucky to make 1 million. If he has a 25-30 point year on the 2nd pairing with 20+ mins he gets himself a nice raise and likely 3.5 million per year. That is a lot on the line. 25 years is a critical juncture as sort of the last year a player is considered young. Not much of a market for a non-physical, 26 year old defenseman who can't even put up 10 points.