Can we please get over this obsession with size? Make Canuck Hockey fun to watch again

[etsen3]

You have to commit one way or the other, and right now the team is committing towards a bigger team that focuses more on fundamental hockey than puck possession. The team needs an identity more than anything, and it's a bit too late to return to 2011

This is what I'm starting to think. We should have stuck to skill after 2011, but it's too late now as we are moving towards a big, defensive team. Going back to a skill style would only dilute our style even more.

[xereau]

This team needs a solid scouting platform that does not involve algorithms, aka MoneyPuck.

Real people, boots on the ground, that know hockey and its players.

And a development system that doesn't involve head games.

Detroit is the system to model after, still, after all these years.

What I wouldn't do for a Helm or an Abdelkader in our system...

[mpt]

I'd prefer our 94 Canucks over the '11 Canucks, now that was entertaining hockey. A team that battled and tried hard every single night, even if they weren't the most skilled team in the ice. Canuck hockey has always been about using your butt, we've lost that the last 4 years

[Fred65]

And a development system that doesn't involve head games.

Detroit is the system to model after, still, after all these years.

I can't believe this fantasy that still exists about Detroit. It started with the drafting of Datsyuk, Zettersburg, and a couple of other EU players. These were playrs that even detroit passed on themselves numerous time. It was a time when there was NO Cap and Detroit bought their team and left their draft picks in the farm system. Detroit in the SFU study made on NHL teams darft success was ranked 21st in a league of 30 teams. The last vintages of the "buy a team" are on the descent in Detroit and guess what this fabulous scouting staff ( so we're asked to believe ) have been unable to produce and more sure fire prospects than any other team. Vcr by the way in the same study was ranked 20th !!

Detroit traded away it's 1st round pick in 2012, 2011 and 2009 that says a lot right there. In 2010 they drafted that Hall of Fame player Riley Shehan in 2008 they took McCollum...remember him and in 2007 they took Smith who has eventually found a roster spot on the team. 7 years later...but he's average

Get over Detroit already they're history. The succesful teams as we speak are Chicago, LA, St L, Boston, Anaheim. If you want to win the cup one way or another you have to beat these teams

[Evil Roach]

I just want to draft a good player.

[TheRussianRocket.]

Size is fun, watch the 94 playoffs.

This, and although I agree with you, think your under the wrong description of size OP. Bruins aren't just size, they have tons of skill. Looking at Nucks prospects right now, we have size and skill to match it so we won't just be a goon team. No need to worry, it's fine atm.

[Goal:thecup]

You are utterly obsessed with size.

Teams do not pass up on unusual skill just to have big guys crawling up and down the ice. Most teams have 'big guys' because we have something called the third and fourth line. Plus 7 defensemen.

The Canucks havent drafted this high in 15 years. We have an opportunity to draft an unusually gifted player in Ehlers or even Nylander . Why would we go get a lesser talent just so we can claim how well hung they are???

You can pick up big guys lower in the first round. Guys who have some scoring touch and can handle themselves. You dont get to draft someone like Ehlers or Nylander often.

You realize Ehlers first year in North America saw him get over 40 goals and 100 points and an eye popping +65 ? Im not saying he is better than Drouin or MacKinnon but many who are familiar with those three players are saying Ehlers is right there with them.

Why would anyone pass that up , especially as low as #6 ?

Anyways. This is just going around in circles. You guys want to be obsessed with SIZE like its WWF on the ice with bench clearing brawls and if we dont draft this ONE big guy then we might as well fold our puny weakling franchise.

Take the best player

You completely missed the entire point of my post which is not surprising as you seem incapable of coherent thought or analysis.

Your immature mind confuses a discussion about the NHL draft with your pubescent insecurities about the size of male genitalia.

These failings have led you to cross the line concerning appropriate behaviour.

There is no point arguing with you about the hockey issues as you are incapable of understanding what others say and mean.

Your points are consistently shallow, childish, and wrong.

No matter how many people patiently prove you wrong, you insist on promulgating your ridiculous ideas.

Goodbye, Absent Canuck (the nicest way of saying what I really mean).

[Honky Cat]

No comparing ho-hum Ehlers to superstar Bure is ridiculous. I'm just amplifying that fact with a picture spread. Bure's legs were tree trunks, not toothpicks.

Gretzky was the best or 2nd best prospect ever, and he doesn't even look like a girl there.

Gretzky claims in his biography that he always came dead last on strength tests on all of the pro teams he played on..

[Gollumpus]

" etsen3, on 24 Apr 2014 - 08:25 AM, said:

This is what I'm starting to think. We should have stuck to skill after 2011, but it's too late now as we are moving towards a big, defensive team. Going back to a skill style would only dilute our style even more."

Skaters out (from 2011 playoff team):

Ballard, Bolduc, Ehrhoff, Glass, Hodgson, Lapierre, Malhotra, Oreskovich, Raymond, Rome, Salo, Samuelsson, Tambellini, Torres

The bolded names are the ones I'm assuming are generally seen as those players most missed and/or for whom the team has not found a replacement.

Skaters in (2014):

Archibald, Booth, Corrado, Dalpe, Ferriero, Garrison, Jensen, Kassian, Lain, Matthias, Pelletier, Richardson, Santorelli, Sauve, Schroeder, Sestito, Stanton, Weber, Welsh, Zalewski

Yes, there are guys who came and went in between these periods. Don't care.

I don't see a tremendous drop off in skill from 2011.

1.) The bottom-6 center situation has been bad. The loss of Malhotra (eye) was perhaps the most significant inury the team has faced in quite some time (both in the loss of the player and the timing of the injury). I also miss Lapierre as 4C, even though he did have penalty issues, and had an off year 2012 from how he played over that Cup run.

It has taken a while to get the bottom-6 center situation straightened out, but I think they're getting there. The team has acquired what may be an excellent 3C in Matthias, and following him possibly Gaunce. What they lack at the moment is experience. Richardson is an excellent 3C/4C and I look forward to him being here next year. Santorelli has shown that he can be useful at both 2C and 3C. In addition, Horvat may well put in some time as 3C before he moves up to a top-6 center position in years to come.

2.) Salo (age/man of glass) and Ballard (on-going injury issues) were the biggest defensive losses from the team of 2011. Salo was the big security blanket for the team. I was sorry to see him go, but I was not sorry to see him go as he was wanting a 35+ contract with term. Too risky. As Gillis had said, he'd gladly have signed Salo to a string of one year deals, but he wouldn't commit to a multi-year contract. I agree with him on this.

Rome is also missed. He was an good 6th/7th d-man.

An argument can be made for Ehrhoff, however, regardless of what he might have brought to the table in offense over the last couple of seasons, I would not want to risk that he could keep performing at that level for the next 10 years (7 years left). And should he decide to retire early then the team is stuck with that cap hit for the remainder of his term. Further to the team missing Ehrhoff, how much of the team's lack of success in areas like the PP had to do with other teams figuring out what the Canucks were doing, and then the coaches not tweaking their system? If the system was "bad" who cares if Ehrhoff was still here as they would still be unsuccessful?

Seeing the ongoing improvement of Tanev, the emergence of Corrado and the excellent pick up of Stanton makes me miss (some of) the d-men from 2011 a little bit less.

3.) Hodgson being traded did take a certain amount of offensive talent away from the team. That talent was all one dimensional and lacked adequate defensive play, physicality, face off success and at best average skating. Him still being here over the last couple of years very likely wouldn't have made any difference. I prefer the potential we are seeing from Kassian. Further, with the addition of Horvat I am not missing Hodgson at all.

4.) Bolduc, Glass, Oreskovich, Raymond, Samuelsson and Torres are not missed. There was a mixture of not enough talent, not enough drive or too much dumb to make them desirable assets, even if they could come up with the occasional timely goal or were good at Scrabble.

Samuelsson was a tough and gritty player, as long as the other team wasn't. In his latter two years here he reverted to being at best a 3rd liner rather than a top-6 winger. On going injury issues were also a negative in retaining him.

Torres could skate fast, check hard, get some really timely goals and could make the game really exciting to watch. And then he'd also get an untimely penalty which erased all of the energy he had created for the team. I wouldn't have been too upset if he had hung around for another year or two, but I was also not that upset that he chose to seek employment elsewhere.

I liked Raymond, and it was a shame to see him regress as a player after that '09 - '10 season, however, a broken thumb screwed up his shot for a time and a broken back took away a lot of what desire he had to play a physical game.

Incoming are guys like Kassian, Jensen and likely a winger from this year's draft. I'm not missing the wingers who have left the team.

As I see it, this team has gotten younger (yes, the core has gotten older), and if there is any substantial decrease in talent then that has more to do with the introduction of younger players still learning their craft rather than the blind assumption that just because a couple of skilled players have left then everyone new is a 4th liner/AHL'er.

regards,

G.

[Gollumpus]

I can't believe this fantasy that still exists about Detroit. It started with the drafting of Datsyuk, Zettersburg, and a couple of other EU players. These were playrs that even detroit passed on themselves numerous time. It was a time when there was NO Cap and Detroit bought their team and left their draft picks in the farm system. Detroit in the SFU study made on NHL teams darft success was ranked 21st in a league of 30 teams. The last vintages of the "buy a team" are on the descent in Detroit and guess what this fabulous scouting staff ( so we're asked to believe ) have been unable to produce and more sure fire prospects than any other team. Vcr by the way in the same study was ranked 20th !!

Detroit traded away it's 1st round pick in 2012, 2011 and 2009 that says a lot right there. In 2010 they drafted that Hall of Fame player Riley Shehan in 2008 they took McCollum...remember him and in 2007 they took Smith who has eventually found a roster spot on the team. 7 years later...but he's average

Get over Detroit already they're history. The succesful teams as we speak are Chicago, LA, St L, Boston, Anaheim. If you want to win the cup one way or another you have to beat these teams

I'll +1 this when the system allows me.

regards,

G.

[Smashian Kassian]

I'd like to once again feel confident that our team can score two goals in a game.

[geebster]

The title of this thread reminds me of a conversation I had with my wife once...

T.T

[Gollumpus]

The title of this thread reminds me of a conversation I had with my wife once...

T.T

Yeah. It's not the size of the diamond in the ring that matters... you were talking about diamonds, right?

regards,

G.

[CanuckleHorse]

Home / Hockey / Five Minutes With Top Shelf Prospect Nick Ritchie

Five Minutes With Top Shelf Prospect Nick Ritchie

By Ben Kerr, Admin

Updated: February 22, 2014

Nick Ritchie is one of the top prospects for this June’s NHL draft. In early February we ranked him at number seven in our draft rankings, and he’s a player who has been on the rise all season. Here is what I had to say about Ritchie a few weeks ago.

Nick Ritchie, LW, Peterborough Petes, (6’2″ 215 lbs): The brother of Dallas Stars draft pick, and 2013 WJC Team Canada member Brett Ritchie, Nick is finding his own way as a power forward prospect winning gold with Team Canada at the 2013 IIHF Under 18 tournament, and again at this summer’s Ivan Hlinka tournament. Due to shoulder issues, he played in just 41 games last season, but managed to put up 35 points on an understaffed Peterborough team. He seems to have answered the questions about any lingering injury issues with 23 goals and 48 points in 42 games this season. A power forward prospect who finishes his checks, and plays a very straight line game, taking the puck right to the front of the net and not caring if he has to go through a defenceman to do it. He has a powerful skating stride, and excellent balance, but could stand to work on his speed as it is just average (for this draft class) right now. He loves to stand in front of the net and has the quick, soft hands necessary to score on rebounds and deflections. Ritchie might have the best wrist shot in this draft class. It is tremendously powerful, and features a very good release. It can be in the back of the net before the goaltender even knows that he’s shot the puck.

In an update to that, Ritchie is now at 32 goals and 62 points in 51 games. He’s been on quiet the streak with nine goals and 14 points in his last nine games.

Yesterday, I had another opportunity to watch him live as his Peterborough Petes team was in Mississauga facing the Steelheads. The Petes won 4-0 and Ritchie scored a second period goal utilizing that tremendous wrist shot and release from the top of the slot. I can’t say enough about that release, it is tremendously quick, and might be at an NHL level right now. He gets the puck off so quickly, and it was in the back of the net before anyone in the rink knew what happened, including Steelheads’ goalie Spencer Martin. Ritchie also impressed me with his strength on the boards, as he was overpowering Steelheads defencemen in board battles. One other thing I noticed about Ritchie last night was that his first step quickness is also very good. While he is merely average when we talk about straight line speed and skating a long distance, he is very agile and has a great first step which helps him beat other players to loose pucks in the offensive zone.

After the game I had the opportunity to catch up with Ritchie and he was nice enough to answer a few quick questions for me.

LWOS: Hi Nick, thanks for taking the time to speak to us at Last Word.

Ritchie: No problem, thank you.

LWOS: How has coming up in a hockey family, with an older brother already having gone through the OHL, and drafted by the Dallas Stars helped you going through your draft season?

Ritchie: It’s helped quite a bit. Anytime you have someone to lean on for stuff like that, its pretty cool and he’s gone through the things I’m starting to go through now and its great to have him to talk to.

LWOS: You scored a nice goal tonight, can you take us through that play?

Ritchie: We had a clean entry out of our zone, and (Eric) Cornel drove the net and left the puck for me. I let a pretty good shot go, and it went in.

LWOS: Your team made a trade at mid-season to bring in Hunter Garlant from Guelph. He’s been playing with you on the top line, and it looks like the two of you have some immediate chemistry. Can you tell me about working with your new linemate?

Ritchie: It’s been great. Ever since he came over its been awesome. We’ve really been on a roll since the move and we are hoping that continues heading into the playoffs here.

LWOS: You certainly have size and play a physical game out there. Is there any NHL player you are a fan of, or try to model your game after?

Ritchie: I dont think there is any one particular guy, I just try to look at a few of the bigger guys and take a little bit from each of them. I watch guys like Jamie Benn, Ryan Getzlaf, Milan Lucic, they are great players who use their body well.

LWOS: You have some international hockey experience with two gold medals last summer in the Under 18 and the Ivan Hlinka tournament. Can you tell us what a gold medal game is like, and leave us a prediction for Sunday’s Olympic Game between Canada and Sweden?

Ritchie: Obviously the level I played at isn’t even close to the same stage as what we will see Sunday. Still its a one-game thing and you have to put it all out there. I like the way Canada has played so far and I predict that they will get it done and bring home the gold.

LWOS: Thanks for doing this Nick, and good luck down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Ritchie: Thank you for having me.

You can follow the Peterborough Petes as they head down the stretch of the OHL season at their website and on their twitter account – @PetesOHLhockey. You can follow Nick Ritchie on twitter - @ritchboiii

[oldnews]

I can't believe this fantasy that still exists about Detroit. It started with the drafting of Datsyuk, Zettersburg, and a couple of other EU players. These were playrs that even detroit passed on themselves numerous time. It was a time when there was NO Cap and Detroit bought their team and left their draft picks in the farm system. Detroit in the SFU study made on NHL teams darft success was ranked 21st in a league of 30 teams. The last vintages of the "buy a team" are on the descent in Detroit and guess what this fabulous scouting staff ( so we're asked to believe ) have been unable to produce and more sure fire prospects than any other team. Vcr by the way in the same study was ranked 20th !!

Detroit traded away it's 1st round pick in 2012, 2011 and 2009 that says a lot right there. In 2010 they drafted that Hall of Fame player Riley Shehan in 2008 they took McCollum...remember him and in 2007 they took Smith who has eventually found a roster spot on the team. 7 years later...but he's average

Get over Detroit already they're history. The succesful teams as we speak are Chicago, LA, St L, Boston, Anaheim. If you want to win the cup one way or another you have to beat these teams

I know eh!

We heard it here first.

And prophetic it is.

Riley Sheahan is a joke. 24 points in 42 games as a rookie? pffttt.

Gustav Nyqvist is a no name that'll never make it in the NHL.

Who is Tomas Tatar btw? Is that a fish sauce?

Jurco is another one. Sounds like another Gustav Tatar.

Last year's Calder Cup is history. This team is a joke.

They can't draft. They are a myth that bought the playoffs.

[HC20.0]

I agree fully on this. The last 2 seasons have been the most painful Canucks hockey I ever watched. Sure 2012 sucked too, but that was still fun to watch, because we were still a filthy skilled and fast team. Look at the last few cup winners too. Chicago won twice because of skill. Detroit and Pittsburgh, same reason. Even Boston. Boston has the size, but they also have a ton of skill on their roster. Marchand, Bergeron, Kreijci, Eriksson, Chara.... Just to name a few. LA's run was a fluke, and it's showing. Quick was hot, and the Kings rode his hot streak. It's showing now, the Sharks are destroying them (well maybe not tonights game, but details.), the Hawks dismantled them last year, both with pure skill. The Canucks are falling fast because they're moving away from what made them so successful, their speed and skill. 2011 was the most entertaining year of hockey I'd ever watched. 2014? Probably the worst season I've ever witnessed, and I was a fan through the dark days. Canucks need to get that skill and speed back if they want to be successful, not try to build a tough guy defensive team.

[CanuckleHorse]

I agree fully on this. The last 2 seasons have been the most painful Canucks hockey I ever watched. Sure 2012 sucked too, but that was still fun to watch, because we were still a filthy skilled and fast team. Look at the last few cup winners too. Chicago won twice because of skill. Detroit and Pittsburgh, same reason. Even Boston. Boston has the size, but they also have a ton of skill on their roster. Marchand, Bergeron, Kreijci, Eriksson, Chara.... Just to name a few. LA's run was a fluke, and it's showing. Quick was hot, and the Kings rode his hot streak. It's showing now, the Sharks are destroying them (well maybe not tonights game, but details.), the Hawks dismantled them last year, both with pure skill. The Canucks are falling fast because they're moving away from what made them so successful, their speed and skill. 2011 was the most entertaining year of hockey I'd ever watched. 2014? Probably the worst season I've ever witnessed, and I was a fan through the dark days. Canucks need to get that skill and speed back if they want to be successful, not try to build a tough guy defensive team.

Sharp 6-1 198 Toews 6-2 208 Hossa 6-1 210 Saad 6-1 202 Hanzus 6-5 215 Bryan Bickell 6-4 233 Marcus Kruger 6 181 (played in the playoffs with chic V Stalberg 6-3 209) Seabrook 6-3 221 Keith 6-1 200 Leddy 6 190 Hjalmarsson 6-3 207 Oduya 6 190 Kane 5-11 181 I totally see where your coming from this championship team is full of dwarfs

[HC20.0]

Sharp 6-1 198 Toews 6-2 208 Hossa 6-1 210 Saad 6-1 202 Hanzus 6-5 215 Bryan Bickell 6-4 233 Marcus Kruger 6 181 (played in the playoffs with chic V Stalberg 6-3 209) Seabrook 6-3 221 Keith 6-1 200 Leddy 6 190 Hjalmarsson 6-3 207 Oduya 6 190 Kane 5-11 181 I totally see where your coming from this championship team is full of dwarfs

I never said the Hawks were tiny. I said they were skilled. They didn't model their style on toughness and size. They modeled their style on speed and skill and offense.

[CanuckleHorse]

I never said the Hawks were tiny. I said they were skilled. They didn't model their style on toughness and size. They modeled their style on speed and skill and offense.

So these guys are not tough? Im sure you see size is a factor this team dont have to many Ehlers or Nylander type players and their best players are wait for it ANADIAN also 1 European among their top 10 scorers

[tas]

The title of this thread reminds me of a conversation I had with my wife once...

T.T

cdc is a bunch of size queens.