oldnews
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it may be necessary too - because Pearson's cap might be needed elsewhere (and like Hoglander, Podkolzin could be the next case of a young winger emerging and making re-signing a veteran not such a no-brainer). It might make sense to sign more of a Leivo type than Pearson moving forward, although it might depend on what kind of terms Pearson expects/commands.
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He's also not a replacement journeyman like Megna or Chaput - he's a highly talented guy that broke straight out of college at age 21 into hard minutes for Quenneville in Chicago - who isn't exactly known for trusting young rookies in general like that - that was notable imo. Like AV - who was notorious for expecting players to have developed an NHL defensive game before earning NHL minutes. Burrows was 25 by the time he was an NHL rookie - was 26 when he first topped 10 goals - so it's not that far-fetched to think Motte could have a similar trajectory - but for me it doesn't matter because imo Motte can be every bit as valuable as a 'bottom six'....
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everyone struggled against Vegas, though - and I'd look more at the MIller injury, Toffoli hobbing, Sutter on the wing of the 4th line (and Gaudette exposed) - I think the only line 'rolling' was the Beagle Motte line in the Vegas series - and that was extreme uphill for them. I think the blueline was far too maligned under the circumstances - what looked like 'bad defense' was as much a hobbling forward group (who also were unable to maintain any pressure/possession, putting that much more pressure on the backend - and playing defense is a unit game. Still, I thought the harm reduction rope-a-dope worked about as well as it could hope to under the circumstances. I don't see the Habs as an opportune team to get guys that can't handle speed into the lineup...I think Benn struggled with moving the puck primarily last regular season - but he's looked a lot less 'Ben Hutton' since the bubble - hope it stays that way.
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that calling out was absurd - but it had nothing to do with his actual performance and everything to do with those people gazing at a couple penalties. I agree with you about Hoglander though - one of the things that make Motte such a high end shutdown forward is his relentless puck hounding, and he's a great skater (his pivoting is high end. He engages like Burrows did, but arguably has the gift of a step on Burrows - and Hoglander also has that 'edging' / pivoting, lateral movement - and attacks the play. I love the fact that they're going to have that element in the 'top 6' with Hoglander - I think he's s a great complement to Horvat - and he's already a reliable enough defensive forward imo - and will only get better. Green must be pretty happy with that fit - because those seem like his 'kind of players'.
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That's incorrect. Motte played wing his entire NHL career thus far - was a winger in Chicago and a winger in his short stint in Columbus as well - before coming here (wasn't converted to wing upon arrival in Vancouver). As I said - Motte is a natural center - he was a center at the amateur/ and college levels - but it's looking like Green is starting to test platooning him/perhaps a sign that they're considering him closer to ready to playing that role in the NHL. I realize MacEwen was a center in Utica - but moving from the AHL to taking dzone draws on a bottom six shutdown line at the NHL level is a huge jump - and thus young natural centers tend to break in as wingers - largely because it's difficult to win draws as a young NHL center (and having your shutdown lines lose a lot of draws is not one of the ingredients in competitiveness).
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Hoglander has some special upside for sure (and works hard without the puck as well) - but in fairness to Motte, he was a 32 goal and 56 pt scorer (in 38 games in Michigan) and Hobey Baker finalist... He may be breaking into the league in a bottom six hard minutes role - but he's a skilled guy himself /may not have Hoglander's upside in the end, but conversely, it's unlikely that Hoglander becomes quite the shutdown force that Motte is (a highly skilled defensive shutdown forward - arguably as difficult a role as there is among skaters). Players that are that good in those kind of minutes at Motte's age are rare as well. Motte has 22 goals in 148 games in Vancouver - when you factor in that those have come with 28.1% ozone starts in pretty much exclusively a hard minutes shutdown role - that is impressive production.
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I was a bit concerned a few days ago when Green opted to go (back) to a bottom six with separate Beagle and Sutter lines {which I really agree with, because I think they're a better, more balanced team with the two veteran centered bottom six lines) - but when Sutter wound up on the wing with MacEwen taking draws, was wondering about Sutter's health once again....but looks like he's alright. Tonight noticed Motte taking the odd defensive zone draw with Beagle on the ice (not on a Beagle wave-out) - and it's starting to look like Green et al are working on/developing their young natural centers (who've been primarily on the wing early in their careers) - Motte and MacEwen taking primary draws is interesting - maybe building some base for the possibility that one or both develop back into centers in due course (or at the very least, making those lines more versatile. Regardless of that - did those shutdown guys ever look unreal again tonight - not just Sutter - but Beagle and Motte, once again - getting the best of opponents on the counerpunch.
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I like those two 'bottom six' lines when EP in particular is struggling to produce. First - they'll be able to continue to provide him lots of opportunities with that many effective shutdown options (and should generate a decent amount of ozone starts) and second, they should give up less in the process, reducing the pressure on EP and Hughes to produce.... Not sure about the Hughes/Benn pairing - but we're already down to #5RHD with Hamonic and Chatfield injured - so at least they have a veteran element in Benn (and I suspect Myers or Schmidt will see their share of minutes with Hughes)... I thought Benn played alright the other night, considering he apparently recovered from Covid and was jumping into an already challenging situation (hadn't played in a while...)
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I think he's taken a step forward regardless, which is promising. And that is a very solveable problem - of diet - yeast and refined sugars (white sugar, white flour, alcohol etc) in particular, eliminated - and rebuilding his digestive flora - lots of probiotics, higher quality carbs and roughage, garlic, ginger, citrus/bioflavonoids.... I wish I'd realized how s.a.d. my diet was at his age - once he adds those tools he might not get much heavier (his body type might actually be slight, naturally), but he'll get stronger and far more immune.
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Jim Benning, An Excellent Evaluator of Talent, BUT NO GM!
oldnews replied to Seeker1's topic in Canucks Talk
CDC: AN ABUNDANT SOURCE OF ALL-CAPS and ONE LINERS, but substance, not so much! -
[Signing] Canucks sign Travis Hamonic
oldnews replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
The only point I'd debate is the Toffoli vs Tanev one. I think prioritizing 1) Hughes' partner and 2) the high end shutdown pairing = should have taken priority over re-signing the veteran winger. Not only do I think it's more difficult to 'replace' a top 4 RHD like Tanev, but also the team has Boeser, Hoglander, Virtanen, Podkolzin (and possibly even Gaudette if he winds up a winger conversion). I think almost all things considered, Tanev would be the priority (in spite of what Toffoli just did in this 3 game stint). That said - that's the Toffoli the team needed in the playoffs last season....Add Toffoli to the 2nd line - and a healthy Miller to the top line (as well as a healthy Sutter in the bottom six as opposed to exposing Gaudette at 3C....take those top three lines and hobble them on the other hand - and it's a.b.c. why Vegas was so able to jump all over them. -
Jim Benning, An Excellent Evaluator of Talent, BUT NO GM!
oldnews replied to Seeker1's topic in Canucks Talk
I love the chickencrap one word "quotes" alleging "confused" and "shocking". Provide the questions if there were any - the actual responses - quoted in full (if they were in fact ever "admitted" lol) - and the rest of the context - amateurs. Twit-ter 'professionalism'. -
Apologies for the 'shortness' of my responses - but this is such a tired/overkilled discussion, beaten to death countless times around here. For me - the 'bottom line' is that it's nowhere near as simplistic as these binary conceptions / semantics - no #proper-rething form exists (certainly not in the typical tank nation vs 'retool' , either/or conception of the process) - and I don't know the future, tank nations don't know the future - and the idea that some of you know the #proper way to rething - is where you simply don't hold water, nor have you really tracked various successes and failures of various approaches - (because if we do that, we see that there a numerous ways to get to contention.
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[Signing] Blue Jackets re-sign Jack Roslovic
oldnews replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
look again. -
[Waivers] Tyler Ennis, Greg Pateryn
oldnews replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Pateryn would be a decent depth option if Hamonic (and Chatfield) remains out of the lineup.... Pair him with Juolevi, not Hughes, though. edit - (scratch that = at 2.25 million....not so much. Assumed he'd be on a covid contract...) -
(Trade) Laine to CBJ - Dubois to Jets
oldnews replied to MikeBossy's topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
I don't think it's the city - I think it's the organization. They were incompetent for the longest time - and then once they rethinged their management group and started building a hell of an asset base = they brought in a coach that has a tendency toward train wrecks. I don't think the lack of appeal of playing for the CBJ necessarily boils down to the city. -
(Trade) Laine to CBJ - Dubois to Jets
oldnews replied to MikeBossy's topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
he's a head case. picks favorites and whipping boys and everything in between. and seems to think he's the only set - or at least the biggest set - of balls in the room at all times. ballbuster, plain and simple. and that shat, naturally rubs many grown men the wrong way. but worse, he lets it leak all over the place at any time - live behind the bench during games, blows head gaskets in press conferences, winds up devaluing his own assets in the process. promised to get a handle on it, but clearly hasn't. And this from someone that doesn't mind Tortorella in general - I like when he rips certain media, and I think he generally has 'good intentions' - however, his methods are counterproductive in many cases, and he's never seemed to wrap his arrogant mind - or at least altered his practice - around that. -
[Signing] Canucks sign Travis Hamonic
oldnews replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
wat? He's 5th among the blueline in ice time - exactly where he 'should' be - what he was brought in to be. However, in those '3rd pairing' minutes he's still been 'exposed' / rusty / struggling to get up to speed. I would have retained Tanev - said it all along - (and would have spent an asset if necessary to move some moderately moveable cap ie Roussel, Benn) - but I still think the existing group - once it gels a bit better / gets more time to integrate the new guys and all the youth - will be competitive (and really, sustaining their regular season performance last year (bubble playoff race team) - is not unthinkable / possible. Where I don't expect them to match last season is if they make the postseason - it'll be after quite a grind, with a lot of young players. You never know, but I don't think heading straight into the playoffs would be as conducive as the time off beforehand last playoffs. Easy to hindsight on short term about Markstrom - but everyone knows the expansion draft looms - and you try being the GM that trades Demko after that Vegas series. The present whining about not re-signing him can't hold a candle to the pitchforks and mayhem that would have ensued if he dealt the young player. The media and fanbase here are primarily youth fluffers with noob perspectives - but they don't have the patience to ride out the development phases. Early success seems to have inflated their expectations prematurely (at the same time as not realizing the importance of the 'foundation' - and how badly this team performs when it loses key pieces of that base. The young 'core' - Horvat aside, for the most part has a few years still to develop before even beginning to approach their primes.