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oldnews

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Everything posted by oldnews

  1. What a great season for Stecher. Obviously wants to be one of those guys you can pencil in moving forward.
  2. We used to hear this all the time about AV's 'system' as well. But then....the team lead the league in scoring, gave up the fewest goals against (something only matched by a dynasty Habs team) - and were an elite puck possession team..... AV's systems - from the moderately aggressive forecheck, to high end zone entries, to defending the neutral zone, and their aggressive d-zone (overloads) and puck pursuit in general - were rarely if ever as described here. Just saying that people may want to have some patience with (and maybe more insight into) what appears to be Green's 'system'. When a roster is half youth, part replacement placeholders and missing key foundational veterans, it's not going to look as effective, period - and coaches may have to make situational concessions - can't be as aggressive as they may otherwise prefer. It's not as pronounced as the harm-reduction hockey that was necessary at times under WD. I've been impressed with how aggressive overall Green has managed to keep this group given the circumstances they've faced for much of the season. And the fact they're right at/near the .500 mark - I think is an excellent overall result - exceeded my personal expectations under the circumstances. Some people may see that as a tank deficit - but the players are there to compete and improve, and it's looking like there's a fair measure of both.
  3. Blues might be the best team in the West heading into the playoffs. Timing lining up awfully well for them. People there were talking about big changes earlier in the season. Looks like some patience is paying off.
  4. Yeah - at least he maintains a baseline level of effectiveness. He's a very good 'possession' player. He's a very good defensive forward. 38.2% ozone starts, 47.% corsi 29 takeaways, 10 giveaways, +19 11 goals 29 pts in that context is quite good (14 minutes/game)....the kind of underlying numbers and production that would make him a high end third line two-way/shutdown veteran. As a 3-4 million versatile middle six, he'd be a decent to good contract. So he's more in the range of 2-3 million overpayment relative to performance - but there are a fair amount of players out there running far higher than that - near complete write-offs/buyout candidates, whose terms are just too long and heavy to be in a buyout comfort zone, so teams live with it. A lot of contracts I wouldn't trade LE's for - and he didn't even make the expresso/msn slideshow of the worst players in the NHL lol, so there's that.
  5. I think if Dahlin were playing a more 'complete' game - he might have had an edge with that kind of production. But he, like EP, is relatively 'sheltered' - with fairly high ozone starts, doesn't necessarily play 'harder' minutes, doesn't kill penalties....and his production leans heavily towards the powerplay = 19 of his 42 pts are powerplay points. I agree that EP's production may give him the edge for those reasons. It would have been really interesting to see what he'd have been capable of, though, if the team were healthier - had more time to play with both Sutter and Beagle in the lineup - with Horvat's line being one that opponents have to matchup against as opposed to a matchup line handling, big, harder minutes....and if the blueline hadn't been such a patchwork, with Tanev and Edler only playing 55 games, Gud gone after 57, Hutton missing a fair stretch...MDZ flipped (played only 23 games here)....really, Stecher is the only guy that's been a steady presence on the blueline this year. Imo all of that in part limited EP's opportunities.
  6. Jeff Cowan was a 29/30 year old journeyman when he was here. So yeah - the Jeff Cowan thing was also a terrible analogy actually - that wanders as far into opposing fantasy as a Toews analogy. McCann is a 22 year old on the other hand - with likely a fair amount of development at the NHL level still before him - not necessarily anywhere near his prime yet - having a 19 goal, 34 pt season - far better than anything Cowan ever produced in the NHL. The idea that he's necessarily going to 'revert to his average performance' is blind to the fact there isn't a great deal of "average peformance" to 'revert to' - he's played the equivalent of 3 NHL seasons - as a young player that arguably wasn't really ready for the NHL through a fair measure of that. I don't think his trajectory indicates a Calder, Selke, Conn Smythe type player - but he could become a hell of a two way NHL center. I always thought he was relatively 'young-minded' - that is likely to emerge later at the NHL level if he does eventually reach his potential. At the same time - all three of these guys are playing quite well in their new circumstances - obviously Benning simply knows a good player when he sees one - and is willing to move one to acquire another when the fit appears right. Nice to see Pearson looking like such a good fit with Horvat - 8 goals in 18 games in their deployment is pretty promising (as good as what McCann is doing in Pittsburgh)....then again....he's likely to just revert to his revert to his average of course.....contexts mean little to a player's performance.
  7. Maile can't lay a bunt down... Disappointing how many of these guys these days can't execute the fundamentals.
  8. that's a great handle. I might have to change my username. Go ahead and quote a post that was wrong.....
  9. Oh well - we may not know "how to use" them - but Green appears to.... Pearson has 8 goals in 18 games playing with Horvat in not particularly easy/opportune minutes - so Green appears to be doing ok with the result of this chain of trades. McCann never played for Green - and is on his 5th NHL coach....so, hard to say he was simply being 'used improperly'. He was a rookie here. Gudbranson - wasn't really used that differently than he was last year - when he achieved far better results - so who knows what that comes down to, but 'not knowing how to use him' doesn't appear to be at the root of it.
  10. This is where your post crashes hard imo. When you make fairly embellished overstatements like this - it's hard for people to take it seriously. As others have already pointed out, referring to players like Demko, Gaudette, etc as "no real quality' suggests you have pie-in-the-sky expectations - a seriously unrealistic perspective of what consitutes quality - or are simply uninformed about the Canucks prospects. It also presumes that the recent drafts will produce nothing - and ignores the reality - that some of the higher end picks, particularly those out of college - or those that develop in European leagues - don't develop in and through Utica. Secondly - no - it does not take years to develop AHL depth. AHL rosters fluctuate a lot from year to year. The AHL is a development league in any event - the point is to strip it of it's young depth - on route to the NHL - that is a best case scenario - it is there to feed the parent club - which it's done a fine job of imo. Not only have there been a healthy amount of prospects but the Canucks head coach also 'developed' through Utica on his NHL path. I think there's far more alarmism than necessary here. The team has far more young depth than you suggest - and it's far too early to assume that players like Madden, Utunen, etc will amount to nothing. Stay the course - keep at minimum a regular complement of picks each draft - and their trajectory is fine.
  11. Computer scientists, at least you'd think/hope, would have a better than average conception of how integrated logic and 'mathematics' are.... As you've identified, more time here means less time actually...learning. I wish I could grasp that.
  12. I think the problem - at least in part - is that logic is a discipline in philosophy..... However, when you google "logic": 1) you get the wiki of a musician 2) top stories and images of said musician 3) Bobby Bestseller's twitter 4) Logic: Supermarket album review 5) Logic's instagram photos 6) Logic Merch - official store. 7) Logic - Home - Facebook and 8) I read Logic's Books - the FADER And that's the end of page one, and no one goes to page 2 lol. "Logic" is personality / subjectivity, merchandise, instagram photos.
  13. But logic is just our interpretation of opinion, so how is there any irony involved? We're all just one individual among billions, in one place among relatively infinite space, in one time on a continuum of relative eternity. So yeah, none of us know much, and we tend to defend our 'truths' (there may not be singular "Truth" but there are certainly truths or there is no-thing). I'm just trying to figure out how there is "the real truth" if "There is no Truth"? That's why, when confronted with questions like this, I go to the greatest hockey philosopher of all time. The best (I'll produce the analytics later). “I’m very into the universe, you know like how was created, you know, like, what is it, you know? Solar system is so humongous big, right? But if you see like our solar system and our galaxy on the side, you know, like, we’re so small you can never see it. Our galaxy is like huge, but if you see the big picture our galaxy (is) like a small tiny-like dot in the universe. “
  14. Exactly. I'd be surprised how many are in here hyperventilating over the refutations....but....
  15. That is exactly it. What I reverse-troll are the 'this or that Canuck is trash/the worst in the NHL' commentary - take your pick - there is never a shortage of 'whipping boys' around here.
  16. If you @oldnews, I'm less likely to miss your reference, sincere question. Two things: 1) I don't think you've actually read many of my posts if you believe the 'analysis' concludes that "we are such an amazing team". It's an entertaining paraphrase, but essentially made of straw. My 'analysis' is more about being realistic in a transition - and seeing the value in assets that other people see none in. It's not my job to sandbag every player that wears the uniform. I've seen enough Shinkaruk trade threads, Motte trade threads, enough Gud/Sbisa/Sutter/Bonino etc - ad infinitum - is 'the worst player/contract' threads - to see the value in posting counterpoints. People don't like it - I don't particularly care. 2) I actually quite frequently indicate where I think the team is 'deficient' or needs to improve - and the same is the case with particular players. Not one player has no room for improvement. If you want a Coles Notes - let me know and I'll summarize my particular views on Benning's moves/tenure - but really - they are all contained in my post history. Just to be clear - there are lots of examples of moves I was not really in favour of at the time - but at the same time, was wrong about my share of them. A few examples: 1) Don't sign Miller - wanted a Thomas Greiss type placeholder instead to tandem with Markstrom - Benning's take was far better informed - and the evidence is in Markstrom's trajectory - as well as the ways in which MIller enhanced the 'transition'. 2) I preferred a younger powerforward Okposo type signing over the Eriksson signing. In hindsight I'm not sure it would have made any material difference, and if anything, LE may actually be outperforming Okposo - as he is a striking amount of contracts around the league when people actually step back and look realistically at his relative to many in the NHL. 3) Didn't particularly like letting go of Kassian - understand that it was probably necessary - but not my favorite result. 4) Felt they 'should' have added more veteran center depth throughout the transition - but was highly supportive of what the team did the past offseason, particularly bringing in Beagle - and offered no shortage of 'precriptors' of why I thought they needed to do so. 5) Did not like the Sam Gagner signing - not hindsight - not a guy I would have targetted - wanted players more from the mold of last summer's signings. But unlike some people, I don't consider that mistake particularly consequential = at least it was a relatively mid/low cap to mid/short term deal. 6) Obviously not a big fan of moving Gudbranson (which is absolutely not to say that I don't like or value Pearson - who is also a clear organizational need, particularly in the present. Anyhow - that's a quick hit of some - while trying to be honest about what I thought at the time as opposed to easy hindsighting. I offered my views on what I thought they should do in free agency last summer - beforehand - and was pretty happy with the approach. Also no shortage of posts regarding what I think they need to do moving forward - down to who I think they should and should not target in the coming free agency and trade market -and the specific areas I think the team is weakest.
  17. That's quite a strange, limited story. Most people actually see it more in relation to a lack of prospect pool, a fairly long list of veteran limiting clauses, and a team that just took a lottery nosedive, before moving many of it's key assets. I don't know a single poster that sees no 'mistakes' in this tenure - perhaps @apollo aside - that is until Benning left Sbisa unprotected in the expansion draft - at which point even apollo was off the wagon haha. Anyhow - I think people's points about "narrative" is that one or two liners like this post of yours - don't really begin to tell a real 'story'. It's binary tit for tat, really.
  18. I'm glad I had my vaccinations or I may not be immune to this stuff lol. I find it ironic that the most unhinged responses - the most 'offended' - come from the likes of you - the types with a combination of high arrogance and thin fragility when contradicted - that pretend to know who the worst NHLers are.....(Might be a good fit over at msn/'espresso' making NHL's worst slide-shows propped up with weak one-liner 'analyticz'). Comes in here to endlessly belittle particular NHL whipping boys - and protests feverishly that you're being 'attacked', 'ridiculed', when your own little slide show comes into question. You've sure raised the bar on unemotional, rational commentary though - clearly above it yourself. How to be the change, Professor.
  19. ...and then this.... The ironing. Logic would be this: The ability to tell the difference between these two things: 1) "Honestly, I'm not too proud of it. I don't think I played very well. I worked hard every single day, came to the rink and tried to get it together." 2) 'I am one of the worst defensemen in the NHL.' The fact that a gaggle of you guys attempt to use Gudbranson's comments to substantiate moronic claims of your own - is not 'logic'. I respect that Gudbranson wanted to perform better - acknowledges that there was room for improvement. Most of us knew that - saw that - commented on it - even identified some of the areas where that could be the case - and others where he brought strengths to the lineup. Logic. Believing your one-liner narratives make you 'right' - and people who have looked far more in depth at his performance here 'wrong' - may not be 'emotional' but it's certainly laughable. Hey, if you're satisfied with that though - enjoy the 'logic'.
  20. Hey that's your prerogative - if you're satisfied with something as simplistic as plus/minus alone - but if you're going to call me out and that's all you've got...impossible to take you seriously. Evidently you're not just unwilling to look at what's unfolding in Pittsburgh - drawing the line of sight within convenient parameters when everything outside of them makes a mockery of the idea he's the NHL's worst....but you're also unable to look at what Gudbranson did the year before - here - or ask yourself where that significant variance comes from. Again your prerogative if you're not interested in gaining any insight - it's just hard to take you seriously when you call me out with 'er, look at his plus minus over half a season here'.
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