Provost

Except he didn't really. There was a translation and headlines going around that were misleading. The actual reporter he spoke to did interviews here and clarified what was said. The thrust was: - He loved the city, the organization, and his team mates - He was surprised about East Hastings - A lot more people smoked dope here than at home (was apparently said jokingly with a laugh) - He never understood why he got or didn't get playing time. This repeated what he said in an earlier interview. He would have a good game and then get benched, he would have a bad game and get more minutes the next game... no one explained any expectations of him and what he did right or wrong. - He is a cheerleader for all the Russian guys because he is patriotic and didn't understand why Goldobin wasn't played more late in the year when the team couldn't score goals. Those things don't seem to scream lack of character. If you listen to any of the players this year including Henrik they rave about the current coaching system and how they know what is expected. That is throwing the exact same shade at WD except with a bit more sophistication from knowing the media.

He has been selected for their national Euro Cup team (Karjala Cup). He probably has a really good shot of playing for them in the Olympics on a team that has to be one of the favorites. Reports are Gaudette has been contacted about the US Olympic team and Juolevi for Finland. It could have more Canucks property players in the tournament than if the NHL was playing. A little but glad we didn’t have to see a Swedish team where the Sedins were left off.

This seems more of his message when he left. He had no idea why he was playing or it playing. He would have a good game and the. Get scratched. He went further to talk about the same thing with Goldobin. I don't know many of us that didn't have the same issues with WD. He had a plan and made decisions about players and deployment and didn't change it regardless of how badly it was working. Megna in the PP, sure give it a whirl. Doesn't score in a dozen games... maybe change it? Nope. Larsen is a terrible D? Play him anyways. Guddy and Hutton not working? Keep them together. Tryamkin comes in and is a better D than a few guys getting minutes, sit him for periods and games. This may be part of why he was fired. Other players this season have talked about how there is no grey area with Green and how he tell them exactly what he expects. That is clearly "subtle" way of contrasting it with the previous regime otherwise it could ha e been left unsaid.

With a little development I could actually see him playing a Patrick Maroon type role on a future first line: Gadjovich-Petterson-Boeser

Here is the pic

Looking at the Instagram of the kids river rafting.... I am assuming this is the short guy in the front. He looks like a refrigerator, as wide as he is tall. I am less worried about his height now.

If Biega and Pedan are full time on the roster, we need some more ready D on the farm. Not sure if they plan on having him move over this year or next to the AHL, but it make sense. The Swedish touch sure shows which scout has clout and trust in the organization

Exact feeling from when we picked Virtanen, probably too high and at least maybe we could have traded down and still gotten him. With Vilardi and Mittelstadt still on the board, we could have dropped a few spots and still gotten our guy. Lets hope picking the highest skill level works. I would have picked Vilardi with that selection.

He is by far my favourite storyline and the biggest reason I am watching games right now. I am enjoying the fact that no one has any idea of what player he is going to become... probably including himself. With most other players you know what their game will be and it is just a question of how good they will become at it. He has shown flashes of serious physicality, and some really good offensive ability. Those times when you see the opposition back off a step and he takes a lane right to the offensive zone... wow. I am not saying he IS going to become something special, but that is legitimately inside of him with his skillset and he has a chance to become a true #1 in the league. There are only a handful of those. When was the last time we could say that about a Canucks defenceman?

Another invisible game

Are you really that sure we won't be a cap team next year? There are many scenarios where we are at or near the cap. We could trade for players from teams that are in a big cap crunch and ...like an Erhoff kind of deal. We can sign UFAs to bolster our lineup. I suspect a combination of the two and we will at best only have a little cap space to give us flexibility at the trade deadline to take on salary again if needed. Don't be surprised if we see two of: Boedker; Eriksson; Stamkos; Lucic; Okposo; Schenn; Demers signing with our team in the summer.

I just can't see Demko deciding the stay in college next season. He has a golden opportunity with the Canucks which is lining up perfectly for him. He plays a year in Utica proving himself at another level. At the end of that year we magically have a goalie spot open in the NHL where it is entirely conceivable that he could be backing up Markstrom. If Demko's play deserves in in the AHL, there really isn't another place with an opportunity worth losing a year of being pro and taking tangible strides closer to the big show. If Demko looks like he needed another season after that in the AHL, we probably sign a short term back up on a 1yr deal... which still gives Demko all the opportunity in the world to play himself onto the Canucks. The only other consideration would be looking at how Utica might be as a team next year, you might not want to go somewhere that has a porous defence and risk getting ventilated every night.

I do have to say that watching him at the end made it tough to think he might not be back. Just watching him so excited for Etem after scoring the shootout goal and high fiving all the youngsters. Couldn't ask for a better team guy... maybe worth keeping for another year at a tough cap hit just to keep him in the fold and maybe signing good value deals for another couple years as he ends his career. He has a lot to offer the young guys.

The video up on the home page is definitely reassuring. Planning on training here with the resources of the Canucks is going to be huge I think and speaks to his commitment level. Some nutrition, strength training, and conditioning is going to make a huge difference. A tiny bit more speed will let him get in position for laying out hits, as well as some added muscle to clear guys from in front of the crease. It won't hurt that he and his wife will get the chance to see the city at its nicest and hopefully fall in love with it.

There were numerous reports of him struggling in practices during drills and a low level bag skate when he first arrived. He does not appear to be nearly as toned as most NHL players, the KHL is a lot less demanding. It will be really interesting to see what happens during the summer and whether he responds to whatever nutrition, strength, and conditioning regime they put him on. I think that may have been part of the desire to have him come and play a few games... open his eyes to what the league is like so he can prepare for next season. Even dropping 10lbs of fat and replacing it with the same amount of muscle would probably give him an extra half a step of speed which could help him get into position for some nasty hits. None of that is to say his fitness has been a problem in games... just that he actually has room to improve once the full resources of an NHL team are used on him.

As much as it is still really good to temper expectations, I think that it is very impressive that he hasn't looked out of place even so early on. After a handful of games he is already above Weber, Bartkowski, and Biega on the depth chart and it could be argued even with a healthy defence he and Hutton would make up a 2nd pairing. Lets hope that he continues to progress and we find a way to add another top 4 D in the offseason.

I think he really means for folks to not get their hopes up... because that tends to turn quickly into cries about him being a complete bust. He is a kid who has never played an NHL game. If he can be a marginal 3rd pairing guy in his first year then that is a pretty good success to build on.

Gotta say, I don't complain about moves the Canucks make often since I believe the GMs know their jobs better than me... but it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize we had two of the top 10 goalies in the league and let them both go. Schneider is probably in the top 5, if he was on a powerhouse team with solid defence... his numbers would be astronomical.

Yep, we often have used 13 different defencemen over the course of a season due to injuries. It totally makes sense to have Hutton play in the minors and be available for call up. If you DON'T do that, then you probably have to waive one of the other guys (Corrado, Weber, Bartkowski) to make room on the roster.... any of them could easily get claimed as a depth guy on another team or to replace one of their injured players. All that does is reduce the number of NHL capable guys available to you over the season. I say Hutton goes down to the AHL and we see him up for some games before Christmas. If we make some tweaking roster deals that open up a spot (even by moving out a forward or two so you can carry 8 D) before the start of the season things could change obviously.

Hutton may save our bacon when it comes to having injury replacements this year, I highly doubt he makes the roster barring injury. We need the depth with guys that come come up and down without being exposed to waivers, so getting rid of a roster guy to make room for Hutton hurts us organizationally. We go through 11-13 defencemen in a season historically and our depth isn't really up to the task... Edler Tanev Hamhuis Sbisa Weber Corrado Bartkowski Then callups: Hutton Biega Pedan Fedun Cederholm There aren't a lot of depth guys on that list I would want to be playing top 4 minutes (heck I don;t think we have 4 roster players who I want to be playing top 4 minutes)... but without Hutton barging into the mix, it would look downright scary.

Erhoff is going to make what he wants to make... he could probably make $6 million, but also probably doesn't want to go to another crappy team trying to tank. My money is actually on him going to Tampa. There are plenty of options for another D available and I fully expect we get one. Burrows disappeared yes.. he is not a 30+ goal scorer, he did that once. He is probably a 20 goal scorer in reality. We are re-making the team so pieces have to move out.

Well I hope Maclean is wrong. I have been on the bandwagon to sign Hiller instead because I am worried about the price and more importantly term for Miller. I think someone will offer him stupid term. Sure pay him $6 million... but limit it to a 2-3 year term. Say a contract $6, $6, $3. = $5 million AAV and a cheap buyout at the end for the last year if Lack is good to go as a starter. As with a couple of posters before, I am not too terribly worried about the cap hit... we have enough players on good value deals we can afford to overpay a little for shorter term.

I would laugh when a lineup like this beat Anaheim in the playoffs and the camera went onto Kesler's face. Daniel Sedin ($7.000m) / Henrik Sedin ($7.000m) / Jarome Iginla ($6.000m) Milan Michalek ($4.000m) / Nick Bonino ($1.900m) / Linden Vey ($1.250m) Bo Horvat ($0.894m) / Shawn Matthias ($1.750m) / Derek Dorsett ($1.633m) Chris Higgins ($2.500m) / Brad Richardson ($1.150m) / Zack Kassian ($1.250m) Tom Sestito ($0.750m) / DEFENSEMEN Dan Hamhuis ($4.500m) / Kevin Bieksa ($4.600m) Alexander Edler ($5.000m) / Christian Ehrhoff ($4.000m) Luca Sbisa ($2.175m) / Chris Tanev ($2.500m) Ryan Stanton ($0.550m) / GOALTENDERS Ryan Miller ($4.500m) Eddie Lack ($1.150m) RETAINED SALARIES (1.16% of upper limit) Roberto Luongo ($0.800m—15.00%) SALARY CAP: $69,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $66,852,500; BONUSES: $850,000 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $2,147,500

Yep... Nope... I am not wrong. Will this thread get locked or moved now that it isn't Canucks talk?