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Value of Speed


Jiggs50

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Watching the Canucks play is usally boring to say the least. Aside from a couple notable games (Boston, Toronto) and about 15 minutes of the Anaheim game the Canucks have looked old and slow.

It's frustrating to see teams like Colorado, Chicago, Anaheim etc etc skate us out of the rink. We get dominated in the transition aspect of the game almost every night.

Booth, Kesler, Kassian, Hansen, Higgins and Burr are some pretty good skaters but none have that game breaking speed. We need a guy who can play top 6 minutes and skate circles around the other team. Our defence is terribly slow as well. As evident on our pp when the defencemen dump it in despite failing 900 times before.

What do you guys think? Who are some ufa game breakers that play top 6 or any pp qb smooth skating defencemen? Are we one of the slowest teams in the Nhl?

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I don't think we're one of the slowest teams in the league, but you're right, we definitely haven't been ooutskating any opponents this year.

Shinkaruk might help in that department a little bit next year if he makes the team, assuming his hip is back to 100%.

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A good pmd or a solid breakout pass would be of better benefit IMO.

Gaborik wouldn't help much I don't think.

Totally forgot about the defence. Yeah I'm not suggesting we sign Gaborik. He's just one of the only top 6 guys in this year's ufa class, with speed, I could remember
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Like Duchene? I know this is unlikely but whatabout a trade of Kesler and Edler for Duchene. Assuming they all waive obviously. Kesler would waive to be on a younger team and a team that with him and Edler would be a contender for years. And Edler waives for that reason and that he would be their #1 d man and he needs a change of sscenery. We get a young, fast game breaker in return. Colorado has lots of scoring but they don't have defense. And Kesler can do both and he's gritty and a great leader for the young guys.

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Speed isn't everything, Dale Weise is fast and he still isn't very good. But yeah I agree with the OP, we could definitely use some speedy skilled players. They can make it very hard on defenders to check them. With more speed you can also break the game open and have more odd man rushes. The Canucks being the team that tries to slow down the pace makes for boring hockey,but it increases our chances of winning.

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Speed is not where its at on a Torts team. Its block that shot and the rest will fall into place.

Calgary allows fewer shots on net than the Canucks and they block way more shots. It's an overrated stat. Edmonton is #7 in blocked shots Van is #6.

Plus Torts has had a few teams where the blocked shots where in the late 20's and bottom half of the NHL

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I'd rather have game-breaking scoring than just game-breaking speed. Raymond was one of the fastest skaters he's fast on the outside and in going down easily (sounds like a leaf). Hansen and Booth have jets but without hands they don't contribute offensively as much as they could.

Of course it's all about balance: even with all skill but no size teams often can't overcome the physical disadvantage (Oilers), but fast skaters can overtake the Douglas Murray's of the world, and a team full of Raymond's, Hansen's and Booth's likely won't get very far. This may sound obvious but it's about having guys who can move quickly enough, have enough skill to make it happen offensively and enough sandpaper to compete in the playoffs when checking tightens up. OH and don't forget about having puck luck and hot goaltending at the right stretches.

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We are slow because our defense is slow. At least that is the conclusion that I come to. Sedins are slow but they will appear much faster if defense can skate the puck up the ice or knows how to make good passes out of the zone.

Sorry to beat the dead horse (again and again) but Ehrhoff is missed much more than originally anticipated. Garrison somewhat replaces Salo but no one replaced Ehrhoff.

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Speed is an asset. Of course Skill> Speed. But still, speed makes you more difficult to play against.

IMO, we've never been THAT fast of a team.(Booth, Raymond, Hansen are fast) but what we used to excel at was a quick transition game....

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