-
Posts
11,262 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Gallery
Everything posted by Crabcakes
-
One of 2 scenarios likely happened last year: Jake played with the Canucks which was a case of misreading his maturity level and that he would grow into an NHL role, or They wanted him to be under the direct control of the Canucks group which mean't playing with the big club because he could not play in Utica. Either way, sending him to Utica this year is being patient. I give Benning credit for not making a decision and stubbornly sticking with it. He saw that playing with the Canucks wasn't working for Jake and sent him to Utica. Virtanens long term development must be front and centre.
-
These are statistical variances rather than a trend. There are a few exceptional cases of players contributing as teenagers out there right now like Ekblad, McDavid, Eichel, Matthews, Marner, etc who are the product of a couple of years in a row of very good drafts. On average, we're going to see a regression to the mean. Most young players don't contribute significantly and consistently until 22 or 23. It's the way it always has been. Players have to mature both physically and mentally. Now, stars like McDavid are under the spot light and are getting interviews (and are coached how) from age 15. This is new and is helping them deal with things at a younger age. Training methods may be better but players are still skinny and light when they are drafted.
-
Good for Jake!! There's a giant monkey off his back. Isn't he looking fit and trim
-
I just read the Hockey News article. I would like to give a little context to these comments: These quotes above are all old. They are taken from when Jake was first sent down, then recalled to be a healthy scratch, then sent down again. It looks odd and they didn't explain to Jake what they were doing. I think that in such cases, the Canuck management team like to discuss such things fully together and in person. Benning had been in Utica, Linden in Toronto and Willie with the team in Van. The long and the short of it is that they have made the right call. More recent quotes show that he is completely clear what the objectives of his stay in Utica are. I quote from the HN article: In order to earn another recall, Virtanen knows what he needs to work on. "They wanted me to come down, play lots of minutes, practice lots, it’s definitely a different league: faster down here, I feel," Virtanen said. "Guys are working 100 per cent every shift so you’ve got to be able to keep up with that and bring that back to Vancouver. "When I get that call hopefully back up to Van, I want to be up there as soon as possible and show that I belong."
-
Sorry, should have put a little /s at the end for sarcasm alert. I'll fix that now
-
Ya, he's a shorter version of Mich Marner. If you're that small, your skills have to be exceptional. Merely good, and he stays in the AHL. /s Besides, the Canucks are short on size up front. Horvat would be the only one over 200 lbs who gets more than 4th line minutes. This is why there was the internal debate (we assume) on whether to keep Virtanen up or do what was right and send him down to develop.
-
Valk is one of those Medicine Hat Tiger boys. He scored 46 and 47 goals in his final 2 seasons there but remained undrafted. He is small. The 23 year old is 5'9" 170 but played well enough at the Canucks training camp in 2014 to earn a 1 year minor league contract. To date he has played mostly in Kalamazoo. Last year he was a point a game player in the ECHL netting 16-17-33 in 30 games. This year he leads the Comets in goals with 7-5-12 in 14 games.
-
That's good to hear. So you think it's a question of effort for Jake? Or a question of not being intimidated by NHL players?
-
Sweet
-
Depends on Demko's development but I wouldn't be surprised to see Miller re-sign on a year by year basis for much less money. Despite the difference in stats, I see Miller and Markstrom as equals at this point in the season (15 game mark). Over time, it's clear to me that Markstrom will be playing a higher % of games. I think this is a good option if Demko isn't ready. I have no idea whether Miller would be open to playing another year in the $2-3M range.
-
The Bruins are rebuilding. The same way the Canucks are. They Hawks are. Every team should be.
-
Willie said today that Jake needs to develop. I think Jake is beyond his depth. He's physically there but not mentally. I see a guy who is too easily discouraged. Too easily put off by the chirping. I don't see him chirp back. I don't see him getting physical in the same way that he did before his suspension. He was certainly given a talking to by the league. Does he feel like he's an equal to the grown men he's playing against? The thing is, they wanted Jake to develop in the NHL because for one, he's physically up to it and two, they don't have another physical force in the forward group. Who among the forward group is >200 lbs? Horvat and Gaunce that's it. So they really want Jake to stay up and they're healthy scratching him as a wake up call. They'll give him another shot to be the aggressive wrecking ball that they know he can be. In in his heart though, if he feels like a boy against men, he's not going to develop in this role. No wake up calls or lecturing him are going to make a difference. Until he feels like a man in this league, he needs to develop in Utica. The main thing though, as Willie says, is that he develops.
-
Stecher may play against the speedy Oilers but I would like to see Tryamkin get in OV's grill on Saturday night.
-
Moj hit on something earlier. Virtanen grew up bigger than most and was able to dominate physically. Now he gets to the NHL, he no longer has such a size advantage (last year he was listed at 207). This year, he comes back and weighs in at 229. This looks to me like a player who wants to regain his size advantage. Muscle or not, it's a lot of extra weight to carry around and a person reaches a point where it starts to affect their performance. I just have to wonder because people like Dave Tomlinson insist that his shoulder is ok. There are other theories like not playing instinctively because he's thinking through the new system which may better explain his lack lustre performance so far.
-
Jake is a relative smurf at a mere 223. Lightweight.
-
Look out Pizza Man, you're about to tumble down the depth charts. You're going to wish you didn't make team Europe and miss camp. Lol, Tryamkin is one Russian with ambition.
-
Do you think this guy understands what it's going to take to be an NHL player? And a good one!
-
One day Alf, it will be time for you to go......
-
Good Grasshopper
-
Jeez Alf, what's wrong with Tanev? Give it a rest. They've finally got a real top 4 after 2 years without one. So Stecher has done well against novices. How about they invite him to main camp and see how it goes? When he can take the pebble from the masters hand, then we've got something. So far, he's only taken candy from a baby.
-
Stecher is listed at 5-11, 192 on Elite Prospects. You could call that undersized if you like but as long as his positioning is sound, his size won't be an issue. We're going to see his current dimensions at the weigh in later this week before main camp. From watching a couple of periods (streamed) on Friday, the guy is nothing if not quick. His vision looked good and if zone exits are going to be a priority, it looks like he can be part of the solution. I think he's in Utica this year if only because depth is much better on D this year. He's likely behind Biega on the right side and 10 on the depth chart. So I wouldn't rule out a call up. Subban had better be paying attention. And yes, things can change at camp.
-
There's always the -1 vote. I haven't been using it. You've changed my mind.
-
I probably quoted the wrong poster. You were agreeing with this Does anybody really think that having a Fin on the roster is going to make the smallest bit of difference to whoever the Canucks drafted? There were 3 good Fins available in the draft but I would suggest that it's a bit of a long shot that Benning wanted to draft a Fin just because he likes Fins. He says he likes BPA's. Everybody knew going in that there was a draft lottery and even if a team finished dead last in the standings, there was a more likely chance of picking outside of the top 3 than in the top 3. So the chance of picking the player you wanted was not great. It is well known that Benning had a list of 6 players that he would have drafted depending on the lottery draw and the picks of other teams. There was plenty of talk about Benning wanted Dubois who is Canadian of all things. Players were played as the coach saw fit. Benning doesn't tell Dejardins how to do his job. Players were selected to play because Dejardins was trying to win games. There were many injured players. Granlund was traded for because they were short on experienced centre depth. Cracknell's face off wins were less than 40%. McCanns were not much better and he wasn't handling the physical side of the game very well. Zalewski had only 3 games experience. And Granlund was seen as a better long term prospect than Shinkaruk because Shink was more of a long shot. I posted the tin foil hat for the conspiracy theory (or it's endorsement) that they tanked on purpose. This is preposterous and has been argued to death on CDC. Dejardins was hired for his coaching ability and his good character. Not on his willingness to throw games. Happy now? If you still believe this crap then fill your boots. FWIW Ruutu isn't getting a PTO just to make Juolevi feel at home. He's depth for the preseason and has a very long shot at being signed.
-
Seiously, they didn't tank. Higgins and Prust were injured and Vrbata checked out because he wasn't given what he was promised when he signed on with the Canucks.
-
You'd better update your profile then, it says Vancouver. Don't you mean Melmac?