oldnews
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You're still making excuses for him though. 'Clogging up the neutral zone' does not dictate his giveaways. Ironically, that first pass to Tanev that's allegedly no longer there - is still there - if he moves the puck to Benn. No, Benn doesn't have Tanev's first pass - he's the #8 D on this team in the linep because #5 is injured (and #7 is a rookie). But let's not patronize Benn here - he's not a useless empty shirt - and he has played well (and has commited 3 mere giveaways). If the stretch pass is not there because teams are taking it away - and he's under pressure from the forecheck, which is always seeking to get a body on him - give the fn puck to Benn - who is not in the neutral zone - he becomes your first pass. But regardless, the fundamental point, again, was not to complain about Hughes - it's to stop complaining about who is no longer here. And really, I'm as justified to make that point as anyone on these boards, because no one advocated re-signing Tanev as much as I did. Tanev moving on is no excuse for trying to cheat the game - trying to force stretch passes that aren't there, constantly/predictably - and always trying to carry the puck in one on one situations inside your own blueline. There may be few players as capable of doing so as Hughes - but nevertheless, there are NHL forwards - some of them pretty bloody good players - that are going to beat you/take the puck from you on occasion. He needs to simplify - at least often enough that he isn't exceedingly predictable - or forcing what's not there.
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Hypothetically - take Hoglander out of the lineup - insert Toffoli - and take either Sutter or Beagle out - and insert Gaudette. Do you think the team performs better? I sure as hell do not. The reality is that the team intended to re-sign Toffoli - and it should be needless to say - things changed - radically. The other reality - is that while they had Hoglander - and Podkolzin - they have absolutely no one to step into those critical bottom six center roles - not effectively anyway - and when you have a group this young - at forward, on the blueline - and even half the nights in goal - that 'foundation' is critically important - and highly under-rated around here. If Beagle hasn't been the best Canuck thus far this season it's only because that GM who has made so many mistakes and miscalculations - stole Motte.
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(Rumour) Virtanen on the trade block
oldnews replied to Wayne Glensky's topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
those are just a couple of my personal 'favorite' targets.... Jenner, imo has been subjected to the Tortorella-effect devaluation, with misleading outcomes (which doesn't necessarily mean his market value would be low - but potentially. Nick Paul - it may be getting to late to act on acquiring him - at least at a reasonable value. My main point here is that a top 6 or bust, small to middleweight winger - isn't necessarily a team need - actually, I'd consider that near or at the bottom of a list of team needs. If I'm spending young assets - I want a RHD, or a natural center, and if they're acquiring a winger - they already have EP, Boeser and Hoglander in the top 6. Imo whether a forward is for the 2nd line, or the 3rd - I want some heaviness to their game, ideally at least a natural center (winger conversion is ok, but with a natural centers' development/game, and some versatility - so they have value regardless of where they play in the middle or bottom six (and having Podkolzin in cue also impacts perceived team need imo. I may really like Sven Baertschi as well, but even had he not suffered concussions, and having a good skillset, particularly once he started applying himself, is he the type of player that complements a Horvat Hoglander pair on the 2nd line? I'd look for a different type of winger there. I really like some of the aspect of DeBrusk's game - he has good speed, he can finish, and in spite of relatively poor/weak grit outcomes, his game is a bit grittier than those may indicate - but nevertheless, he wouldn't be a target - and additionally when it comes to his contract/terms, they reflect production on a contending 2nd line - in other words, he's at market value - when I think this team needs to target guys that are less costly and yet to emerge. That is the real value of solid pro-scouting - to identify guys that will uptick. -
well - when you propose a 'thought exercise' for 'everyone' but can't be bothered to read what anyone else has posted - the smarm might be earned.
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mushy minded stories are what are filling this media market. the idea that the expansion draft (which precluded re-signing Markstrom, or alternatively would have resulted in the end of Demko here), or covid cap stall (precluding re-signing Toffoli) is all Benning's fault - and laughably - has reduced their chances of "winning a cup in their careers" - is exactly the kind of drama I'm talking about. For me - the real loss was Tanev (and Leivo) - but the fact remains that the core are primarily 20 and 21 year olds - with some potential core still on the way - so their 'real' window is when these guys are closer to the 25 range....If the team sustains it's ability to produce young talent - this past offseason sure as hell did not represent any kind of closing window on this team - that strikes me as borderline absurd.
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(Rumour) Virtanen on the trade block
oldnews replied to Wayne Glensky's topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
that you believe Benning had no intention of re-signing Toffoli when that deal was made....shows you haven't changed a whiff. welcome back Mr Sunshine. -
then there would be no one else to credit then - 100% to his credit - when this core grows up - if this team were to win a Cup. that - of course - would also be nonsense. The reality is that Linden deserves credit, Gillis who acquired Horvat, deserves credit - this team is not 100% Benning built - Edler predated Benning as well, was drafted in the summer between the Burke and Nonis, who deserve credit, Green deserves credit, Ron Delorme deserves credit, Thomas Gradin deserves credit - and on and on - and vice versa.
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there's a lot of whisper campaign material there I can't take seriously / or share your assumptions. "JV failed to appreciate how desperate they felt".... subjective story telling that is unqualifiable. Second paragraph - couldn't disagree more = Toffoli was absolutely not 'priority 1' for all kinds of reasons I'm not going to repeat. This story of losing because they're (still) sad about the veterans that left - is just too soft soap. Simplify your puck movement, support the puck - things they did for the most part tonight and put themselves in a very good position to win. Mushy minded stories - do not.
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the Canucks beat up on Toronto forever, before that. including knocking them off in the WCF on route to a loss in the SCF. they had a very long brown paper bag era - arguably about as long as any team. so what goes around..... But lucky for them, they won't have to pay any more young talent - that 40 million they're spending on 4 forwards won't hurt them until they produce some new prospects. In other words - I'm not sure how long their 'window' is gonna be - so they might want to take advantage asap.
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Premature in all kinds of ways. The only definitive decision that I would make at this point is to move a player like Roussel if at all possible - and commit that cap to getting rid of bonus overage up front this year. Ideally Benn as well - but he's more vital/needed in the present. If the season doesn't turn around, I might move up to the top 6 (ie Pearson) in due course (not wait for the t.d.) for the same purpose. It looks like they are going to be/and remain very young on the blueline - imo it might make sense to concede similarly with their winger forward group.
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You're trying too hard. To reduce every micro incident to a fault of Green's. There was no problem with a 'matchup'. You have one of the league's best faceoff guys and defensive centers on the ice. Matthews found a high seam - it's not even evident whose 'fault' that was. Nothing there whatsoever to pin on Green. Hughes with a braincramp giveaway - which you're unable/unwilling to name - becomes a Green failure to call a timeout in your mind. You're stuck in spin - a blame spin - that prevents you from looking analytically at what is happening on the ice. No - a coach can't win a faceoff - or make a first pass. They can only put their team in the best position to win possible. Green did his job tonight - the team was in a very solid position to win that game - the rest - like the giveaway 3rd goal, or Miller ripping the puck off the crossbar - is literally out of his control. That's hockey - that's sport - you don't always win the games you outplay your opponent.
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they have a number of 'mentors' remaining But Marky was EP's mentor... and OEL wanted to play with Marky.... Irrelevent. The decision was - which goaltender is likely to fit better in your team's potential contending window. No bigger lover than Markstrom on these boards than myself - but I had to acknowledge that is was either Demko or Markstrom - and let it go. but you take it beyond that to but 'so-and-so was so-and-so's buddy'. Boohoo to that. It's a pro hockey team, not a clique or social club. Friends are going to move on - (and they're still your friends if you're real friends - which is what your off ice life is for - your business). Boohoo, Toffoli was Pearson's friend. No one disliked Leivo. None of that has a whiff to do with having to make decisions. Media can mope about it all as much as they want. Players need to grow up and be professionals - and I'm pretty sure they're far more emotionally mature than the twittiots surrounding the team.
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2nd - wasn't in the 'slots' - it was high enough to be a seam between the wingers - and debatable who 'should' have gotten there (imo only the coach and players know what system was in effect there). 3rd goal - no way you can hang that on Sutter on any level - 'failing to cover Kerfoot'. That was on Hughes 100%. That Sutter even got close to Kerfoot is because Sutter understands puck support. That giveaway on the 3rd goal is the number one symptom of their problems thus far - failing to make the simple first pass, trying to do too much, carrying the puck when you're the last man back and you're forechecked/1on1 - the majority of their lethal giveaways have comes in situations like that.
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If you read what you responded to as opposed to an inaccurate paraphrase, I clearly refered to the playoffs. Toffoli was limping badly. So badly that it's debatable whether he should have been in the lineup. Having 4 pts isn't as determinant as giving up more far more even strength goals than they produced... that's not a winning formula. I'm not blaming Toffoli for being a liability - he could barely skate - and that line got rekt. It wasn't simply Toffoli either - both Horvat and Pearson relatively disappeared at the end of the ST Louis series. It wasn't his fault - but that's the reality.
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Something that doesn't need figuring out. "I lost the puck - it wound up in the back of the net (again) - the insurance goal that put us down 2, 11 seconds after giving up the 2nd goal. I need to make better decisions with the puck." I don't care who he means - he needs to take care of his own play - that is what is within his control - and he's not as good as he was last season - so maybe the place to look is in the mirror, first and foremost. I'm not complaining about his play - I see him making some very good efforts - and more mistakes than we're used to seeing him make - but regardless, feeding into this 'we lost players' narrative is not the way out of their struggles.
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I'd take a Dorsett right about now. You need a guy that plays with rational anger. Normally Miller might bring that - but he hasn't looked himself thus far. I might be wrong about this - but I want to see more anger when things aren't going well. Not negativity - anger. At least the team played a serious game tonight. They're still making costly mistakes, but normally that effort would end in a better result.
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Who's "they" and what is their source? Whisper campaigns? Pretending to speak for players? I could understand if people are upset about Tanev, moving on - but in Markstrom's case, it's an either/or - so being angry about him is the equivalent of expecting Demko to have gotten dealt - and in Toffoli's case, he was here for a cup of coffee (and was limping/a liability in the playoffs) - and again, if they'd blocked Hoglander's path by re-signing Toffoli, people would simply have a reverse angle on their fury over that. The funny thing for me - Boeser has 9 goals right now and no one cares. It's all a chorus of whining about Toffoli, instead. If Toffoli were here, it would not change a thing - the team's mistakes - almost exclusively braincramp giveaways in lethal areas - can't really be 'defended' effectively. He's no magic bean in spite of wrecking this team (and only this team) head to head thus far. I don't buy the story - of pretender, smarm media speaking for the players - and even were that the case, if the players are failing in the present because they're still distracted thinking they'd make better GMs - they would need to pull their heads out of their asses and make like professionals. I don't buy that - I don't think they are as petty as the Van media - I think it's more likely projection and a flake attempt to utilize phantom players voices to peddle a hypocritical, contradictory agenda. How many media were clamouring for Markstrom and Tanev to be re-signed at the time? Right. It comes down to needing to play the game the right way, which they haven't been, recently.
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I'm not sure I agree with Cheech on that one - that was pretty high to be Beagle's responsibility...iirc both Roussel and Virtanen were closer to Matthews...? not sure what the system was there either - if they were in man, then perhaps Beagle lost Matthews, if it was a zone.... would like to see it again.