EternalCanuckFan
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I never thought I would say this, but I am looking forward to Highmore getting healthy and getting back into the line-up. While neither Highmore or Motte are big guys, they are decent quality NHL 4th liners. Highmore was playing reasonably well before he got hurt.
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[Waivers] Justin Bailey
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
It's too bad. There was some promise for Bailey last season. He's had a good opportunity this season but has not looked good. Maybe it's partly because the rest of the team has been struggling so much. -
Assuming Eric Staal has any interest in playing in Vancouver, I can't see any harm with the Canucks signing him to a 1-year deal. Staal's older now and shouldn't be counted on to provide offence but he has been a responsible 2-way player over his career and is a proven effective NHL center. I don't know if Staal would help the Canucks PK much but he has killed penalties over the course of his career, so he could help in that regard. At the very least, Staal might give the Canucks a proven C who could take some of the burden of faceoffs from Horvat and Miller. Additionally, among many other things the Canucks seem to need, it feels like the Canucks need a veteran leader in the locker room which Staal should be able to provide.
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[PGT] Vancouver Canucks at Anaheim Ducks | Nov. 14, 2021
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Canucks Talk
The more this continues (and the worse it gets), the more likely there will be an actual change made. The whole organization from ownership to the players is under immense pressure right now. -
[Waivers] Kyle Clifford
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
I'm all for picking up Clifford at this point. What harm could it possibly do? He's a UFA next summer and his cap hit should be reasonably able to be absorbed. -
[Signing] Capitals re-sign Nic Dowd
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
The Stars are a better defensive team than the Canucks overall, so that should surely be a factor in Dickinson's numbers. I'm not Good for Dowd. I didn't mind Dowd in his only year with the Canucks. He didn't stand out or anything but again, that team was pretty bad, including depth players, so it's hard to fault him for not producing more. Wasn't bothered by the Canucks letting him walk but I could also see why commentators contrasted Dowd's contract with Beagle's since the only major difference between them was that Beagle had won a cup and had a lot of "intangibles" but at more than 4 times the cost. -
This won't fix Pettersson's penchant for falling so far this season, but I would be curious to see the Canucks play Pettersson on wing, as in actually leave C defensive responsibilities out of his scope of on-ice responsibilities. He can be moved back to C in the future, but right now he's really struggling and part of it may be positional.
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Dickinson has definitely not been playing well but I do think he can still be a useful player. Optically, Dickinson's play looks worse when compared with how Garland and OEL have played, but right now it just feels like the whole team is struggling immensely. There were always questions about whether Dickinson could in fact be a legitimate defensive C with some of that attributed to his low FO numbers over his career. He also has a track record of playing wing a lot during his time with Dallas. So far it's looking like this experiment is not working. The problem for the Canucks is that their C depth is absolutely terrible. Not having Sutter available just emphasized that lack of C depth. I'm including Pettersson in this as well. I think there should be some question about whether Pettersson is an elite C. I think Petterson has done enough to show that he has elite skills as a forward, but he is not playing C well. He'll either need to mature into a C or continue on as an elite W IMHO. It feels like there might be a similar issue with Dickinson - he may be a more effective winger than C.
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The lack of an identifiable standard has always been the problem such that I don't think we can even call things a double standard. There is no articulable standard. This is one of the few times I can remember of a hit like this without a resulting injury which ended up with a suspension. The one thing I think can generally be agreed on now is that a hit that results with contact primarily with the head is illegal - whether it results in discipline beyond a penalty is a crapshoot. There are certain kinds of hits that are more likely to result in the head being the primary point of contact and more likely to be suspended (this being one of them), but there's no consistency. Personally I don't think Sergachev meant to hit Marner in the head but this is the kind of approach on a hit that the NHL has been warning about for awhile now, so Sergachev should have been aware of that. He had time to identify that Hedman had already taken a penalty to take away a chance by Marner so there also wasn't really a need to check Marner in that fashion. I think it's fair to suspend Sergachev for the hit but we'll see if this leads to anything resembling a more consistent approach to further discipline for hits to head.
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Eichel's still pretty young so there are still quite a few years for him to contribute positively to Vegas. They're clearly in "win now" mode though, even if all their top forwards are injured at the moment. The huge wildcard is whether Eichel will perform at the same level he did prior to his injury. There's good reason to believe he should be able to, but he's been out of action for awhile, so even if he is able to get back to that level, it might take awhile and may not even really happen this season. Considering Eichel's probably not going to be back until after the Olympic break, my guess is this season may be a bit of a "write-off" if the remaining healthy players on the team cannot keep pace to be competitive for the playoffs. They don't really have a great deal in the pipeline so they're going to need restock over the next few years. Personally I think this is an even trade. Yes, a healthy Eichel around 2-years ago would have probably rewarded the Sabres a lot more, but as far as his current situation goes, I don't think this is a slam dunk for Vegas. A disk replacement sounds very serious. I think Tuch is a good complimentary player but as others have pointed out, he is injury prone. Still, Tuch will provide the Sabres a deeper forward group and they are already playing more like a team than they have over the last few years. Krebs joins a team with a relatively large group of young players who might just be starting to find their game in the NHL. They are still far from a contender but the trade should at least translate an injured, disgruntled player with a huge contract into pieces that should help make them more difficult to play against in the immediate term. Obviously a "lost" trade if you compare the return with what Eichel was and could still be, but not terrible when considering the risk that Eichel may not return to full form after his surgery.
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[Waivers] Michael Amadio
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
lol If the Canucks claim Amadio, then maybe they can call up Di Giuseppe too. -
[Waivers] Michael Amadio
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
I have no dislike for Petan but yes, I think Amadio can provide at least as much of what the Canucks need as Petan, and possibly better. Petan is a smart player and productive at the AHL level but has already not been able to translate that into consistent success in the NHL. There are many players like Amadio around the league so, with all due respect to him, I don't think there's anything particularly unique about him that makes him better. He's a fairly big RH forward who has decent skating, can play C, and has been able to score in the past. What I think he might be able to provide is more hunger and urgency in the line-up which hopefully helps to energize the rest of the line-up. Bailey's been decent in the minutes he has received. I wouldn't mind seeing something like Lammikko-Amadio-Bailey on the 4th line. They might provide a good amount of energy while playing a simple, low risk game to try and generate momentum for the team. It would help if the rest of the team could take advantage of that on a consistent basis, or bring their own momentum so that the 4th line can build on it and help keep it going. -
[Waivers] Michael Amadio
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
IMHO, the Canucks should claim Amadio and send Petan down. With Highmore and Dowling out and Motte still out also (who knows whether Sutter will get healthy at all this season), I can't see any harm in claiming him. He played reasonably well with the Senators down the stretch last year (when they were actually winning some games). Worst case scenario is they lose Amadio on waivers if they have to waive him once they start getting healthy again. -
Fair point. But there was also a wholesale change to Vancouver's systems for that series. They intentionally relied entirely on Demko to try and steal that series. I'm not trying to take away anything from "Bubble Demko", but the team also intentionally shifted their system to play to his strengths. To Demko's credit, even when that broke down he still made some unbelievable saves.
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Oh I totally agree about the top line guys. Leaving aside systems, most of the top guys are in a slump. Boeser whiffing on one-timers and missing the net, Petey making weak or inaccurate passes, etc. Bo is the only one who at least still has flashes of his top self, but even he has had moments where he has looked off. Considering that all the rhetoric from players hasn't really indicated any rift between coaching and players, it just feels like whatever the players need from coaching, they're not receiving and whatever coaching is trying to communicate to the players isn't being understood/internalized by them. That's why I really feel like there may be a "fit" issue. As long as Green and his staff are coaching, the players need to take responsibility for their part in the equation to try and make it work. I don't think "fit" is something that can't change, but we have seen these recurrent issues over Green's tenure which is where the concern lies. At the same time, there have been moments to be encouraged. The 2020 Bubble Playoffs are an example - the team had its problems, which IMHO was mostly due to lack of depth, but the players pretty much all played with the urgency that I think we hope to see on a nightly basis. It was enough to push Vegas to 7 games. The Canucks weren't able to recapture that form last year and haven't shown signs of it so far this year either. Unfortunately for Green and the coaches, in the NHL it's usually easier to move on from a coach than it is to change your personnel, so I would think there's certainly some pressure on Green and the coaches to find a way to better connect and get to that level on a consistent basis.
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The lack of fit is what I feel is the most likely explanation given how many years Green has been here. It's not static, so maybe things might click, but then again, they may not and time isn't on the side of projecting that things will suddenly click on a consistent basis. This is one of the reasons why I really admire a coach like Barry Trotz. He just seems like he is able to get the most of out of any roster he receives. Sure Trotz had a pretty stacked team in Washington and also had some bad years in Nashville, but I don't think I ever watched a Trotz coached team and consistently felt like they didn't have enough urgency. The personnel on those early Predators' teams was pretty bad (with all due respect to Cliff Ronning), but my recollection is that they were always difficult to play against even if they lost a lot. Now with the Islanders, he's coaching a team that feels like it's basically comprised mostly of underrated players, and he's having success. We'll see if Green ever gets there, with or without the Canucks.
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I'll preface my comments by saying that I'm not a big Green fan, have my concerns, and wouldn't mind a coaching change. I'm not clamoring for a coaching change however. At the risk of seeming like I'm just making excuses for the team, I think what the Canucks are going through is something all teams go through. Every team faces a challenge of being ready for a game, especially after the first game after a long road trip. They are dealing with injuries just like all teams and their stars are experiencing slumps just like the stars of other teams do from time to time. As far as a league average experience, I think the Canucks are basically just going through what the average team does. They have had below average results partly as a factor of lack of depth of talent. The other part of the below average results is tougher to pin down - is it the make-up of the on-ice personnel or the coaches? Theoretically speaking, coaches can devise the best systems in the world but if the on-ice personnel cannot execute those systems, then it doesn't really matter how good those systems are. The corollary is true too with coaches having terrible systems with great on-ice personnel who execute those systems but still get negative results because the systems are ineffective. As far as on-ice personnel go, I think there's no doubt that the Canucks have the most depth of talent in their lineup than they have had in many years, outside of the thinner depth on D. What seems to be consistently lacking, IMHO, is what appears to be a lack of urgency from the players. Is that the system or is it the players? The roster has seen considerable upheaval over the last few seasons, yet the problem remains. IMHO, I think what might be an issue is that Green's coaching style and systems just may not be that consistently effective with the core of this team, for whatever reason. I don't think there's any disdain between coaching and players, but there might just not be a fit. We might get spurts of excellence, but until something clicks so that the players are showing up at puck drop with urgency more often than they aren't, I suspect we might see more of the middling performances that have been more common over the last few years. It would not surprise me that if the Canucks were to fire Green, he will find success elsewhere in the league. It happens often enough in this league. Rick Bowness has had success with Tampa and Dallas, Mike Sullivan with Pittsburgh, etc. I don't think the team needs a guy like Torts but when Quenneville and Gallant were available, it seemed like an opportunity to bring in a more experienced coach with a proven ability to maximize the play of a variety of rosters filled with various personalities (although in the case of Quenneville, perhaps a good thing we passed). Green might get there someday, but unless something clicks with the Canucks, that day may have to come elsewhere. Again, I'm not calling for Green to be fired. At this point I think it depends on how much longer management wants to give Green and his staff a chance to get this team playing consistently at the level they need to be at to not be an average to below average team in this league.
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Makes sense. My guess is 3 games before he is called up so some time mid or late next week? Could be longer of course, but I assume the team would prefer to have him up as soon as possible. As well as Burroughs has played, Myers, Hamonic and Poolman is a preferable nightly RHD crew. Would allow for more even minutes among the RHD.
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I think Makar is just having to figure out how to deal with even more attention being placed on him as the guy on the Av's blue line, especially without Ryan Graves. I think that's a huge change for him as Graves is a big, steady LHD partner whereas none of Byram, Girard or Toews really fit that bill. Makar was OK for the most part last year (obviously aided by Mackinnon's presence but even in games that Mackinnon missed), but the whole team is struggling a bit this year with Mackinnon out.
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With all the turnover in personnel, I was expecting the team to take some time to find chemistry (which, IMHO, has been evident in the first few games), but the game last night was definitely a bit disconcerting with the lack of urgency in their game. They were so-so in the 1st but then the wheels fell off. Lack of urgency has been a theme with the team over the years even if they have had spurts where that's been OK. I get the mantra of trusting in the process but the team really needs to step up its sense of urgency from puck drop every single game.
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How Green's coaching and Benning's trades degraded this team
EternalCanuckFan replied to *Buzzsaw*'s topic in Canucks Talk
My thoughts thus far: Game 1 (Oilers) the Canucks were slow out of the gate but hung in there to earn a point in Edmonton. Overall they looked OK but out of sync, basically until the last 5-minutes of the game. Game 2 (Flyers) the Canucks were actually pretty good. They had what might be argued to be a collapse in the last 5-minutes, but some of the calls made against them were questionable. They ultimately salvaged the game in the shootout. Game 3 (Red Wings) the Canucks were actually pretty good but, as seems to happen a bit more often to the Canucks than I would like, ran into a hot goalie. Greiss, while not spectacular, does provided solid goaltending most of the time and has his moments. I guess the Canucks just ran into him at the wrong time and, again, some of the calls were questionable. Game 4 (Sabres) the Canucks started out reasonably well but then just seemed to fall out of sync. It felt like the team forgot how to execute their defensive systems. Demko wasn't terrible but last night was one of those games where it's clear that if the Canucks have any stretch in a game where they fail to execute their defensive systems, their goalie is probably going to need to make many saves on extremely high quality chances. Obviously the team is not trending in the right direction and just as there were signs for enthusiasm in the first few games, there are signs for concern as well. The team wasn't as terrible defensively in the first few games as what was feared, but it's definitely still going to be a struggle for them, especially as they deal with injuries. I think other posters have already said this, but I will just add my voice to whatever already existing chorus that is saying that Green should just keep Miller with Pettersson and Boeser now that Boeser is healthy. I get that the team wants more balance in the line-up, but right now it feels like that pursuit of balance is coming at a cost. Miller at C is a good idea in theory, and notwithstanding the fact that line scored last night, IMHO they should just stick with has worked. I'm not anti-Pearson but I'm also not a huge fan of pairing him with Horvat all the time. If Horvat is somehow making the call to have Pearson ride shotgun with him, then it would make wonder who is actually steering the "ship" of the team. At this point I think Horvat-Garland is the natural pairing rather than Horvat-Pearson and if they were willing to play Podkolzin with Miller, then they might as well give him a shot with Horvat-Garland. He's a better skater and passer than Pearson, notwithstanding the fact that he's still figuring out the NHL game. Shorthouse and Hirsch were mentioning how Hoglander played well with Dickinson so I wonder if the Dickinson-Hoglander pairing might be better suited to have Pearson play with them. It would be a defensively responsible line with the ability to contribute on offense since they should control the puck well. That would leave the 4th line as Dowling-Lammiko-Highmore, for now anyway, which I think is a perfectly fine 4th line. I'm not in the "sky is falling" mode quite yet as I think coaching is still experimenting with lines and the players themselves are still finding (or restoring) chemistry with one another. Let's just hope they figure it out sooner rather than later. -
[Waivers] Nic Petan
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
With Motte travelling with the team, a return soon sounds promising but who knows. Pretty sure Motte did play C before, but I don't think he's done much of that at the NHL level. It's possible that Dowling's versatility might make Chiasson the odd man out once Motte is healthy. It'll be interesting to see what coaching/management sees as more important: having a spare PP specialist or having a versatile spare forward. -
[Waivers] Nic Petan
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Makes sense. Dowling seems to have the trust of coaching to do more at the NHL-level. Nonetheless, I assume he's the next to be waived once Motte is healthy. Assuming Petan makes it to Abbotsford, he'll provide a big boost to their offense. -
[Report] Evander Kane suspended 21 games
EternalCanuckFan replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in General Hockey Discussion
Makes you wonder if the team might see if it can terminate the contract? The suspension is one thing but I would assume that there are some contractual clauses dealing with conduct that might kick in now that the league has basically found wrongdoing?