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We need more defense than offense.


sedinsforever

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I honestly think the lack of scoring isn't the main problem.

It's our defense. Hamhuis is obviously our best D-man and with him out, we have to rely on others who aren't as good as him.

Let me get this out of my system.

Edler tries too many drop passes which end up being intercepted or not being connected fully. He definitely is not a playoff performer, as we've seen in the latter half of 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Bieksa, from what I've seen, tries to be fancy with his stickhandling. Hey, buddy, you're awesome and all, but you're not Duncan Keith or Pavel Datsyuk. You're a bloody D-man so stick to your job.

Tanev is actually pretty good. Sbisa is turning out to be a bust. We should've kept Ehrhoff.

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I honestly think the lack of scoring isn't the main problem.

It's our defense. Hamhuis is obviously our best D-man and with him out, we have to rely on others who aren't as good as him.

Let me get this out of my system.

Edler tries too many drop passes which end up being intercepted or not being connected fully. He definitely is not a playoff performer, as we've seen in the latter half of 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Bieksa, from what I've seen, tries to be fancy with his stickhandling. Hey, buddy, you're awesome and all, but you're not Duncan Keith or Pavel Datsyuk. You're a bloody D-man so stick to your job.

Tanev is actually pretty good. Sbisa is turning out to be a bust. We should've kept Ehrhoff.

Not for the amount and term that he wanted. People like to crap on Gillis' errors, which every GM makes, but do not applaud him for a lot of his smart decisions. Letting Ehrhoff walk was a smart move, and he tried to replace him with, what everyone thought at the time would be a good replacement in Garrison.

However, look what Ehrhoff is currently doing in Pittsburgh. 12 points in 36 games. If you can't produce in Pittsburgh, you've got major issues.

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I honestly think the lack of scoring isn't the main problem.

It's our defense. Hamhuis is obviously our best D-man and with him out, we have to rely on others who aren't as good as him.

Let me get this out of my system.

Edler tries too many drop passes which end up being intercepted or not being connected fully. He definitely is not a playoff performer, as we've seen in the latter half of 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Bieksa, from what I've seen, tries to be fancy with his stickhandling. Hey, buddy, you're awesome and all, but you're not Duncan Keith or Pavel Datsyuk. You're a bloody D-man so stick to your job.

Tanev is actually pretty good. Sbisa is turning out to be a bust. We should've kept Ehrhoff.

Edler is actually having an excellent season and is making far more outlet passes than drop passes these days. He and Tanev are the only pairing that truly matches up with top lines.

I agree that the defensive depth is poor. Sbisa is a joke. Weber is really good, but just lacks the size the team needs on the back end. Stanton and Corrado are still a tad raw. Clearly though Sbisa is the worst defenseman of the bunch. Irresponsible and erratic. Hopefully Benning can repackage him in whatever trades happen this year and relieve the Canucks of his ineptitude.

Bieksa may be a bit of a liability but his experience and grit are needed in a undersized and jumbled blue line. Once Hamhuis returns a clearer picture will emerge.

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Honestly, they need both.

Even with the best defence they are going to give up a goal or two per game which means they need to score at least 2 or 3 goals a game in order to win. With a poor defence, it just gets worse from there. With great D and no scoring they are going to lose a lot of games 1-0, 2-0, 2-1.

I think it's fair to say the Canucks are now a fair ways away from being strong in either area and to get back into contention they will need to address both over then next couple of years. To think they only need to fix one thing like secondary scoring or get a good first-pass d-man, or whatever is a bit naive in my view.

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Edler is actually having an excellent season and is making far more outlet passes than drop passes these days. He and Tanev are the only pairing that truly matches up with top lines.

I agree that the defensive depth is poor. Sbisa is a joke. Weber is really good, but just lacks the size the team needs on the back end. Stanton and Corrado are still a tad raw. Clearly though Sbisa is the worst defenseman of the bunch. Irresponsible and erratic. Hopefully Benning can repackage him in whatever trades happen this year and relieve the Canucks of his ineptitude.

Bieksa may be a bit of a liability but his experience and grit are needed in a undersized and jumbled blue line. Once Hamhuis returns a clearer picture will emerge.

I've been chatting with my bro about the Canucks' D and although he's a Hawks fan, he remained objective in our discussion.

The first few months of the season turned out to be a win for us in the Kesler trade, but clearly, that's not the case. Get rid of Sbisa...he was only traded because Bonino wasn't enough to equal the value of Kesler.

Weber and Stanton need to step up. Weber has a pretty hard slapper, from what I can tell. If the Canucks utilize that properly, he could be pretty scary from the blue line.

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Keeping Ehrhoff wasn't the answer.

As for your OP, we need equal parts offense and defense. The team has so many holes, it's like trying to send a 50 year old barge out to sea for international shipping. Sure it *might* be good enough, but can't do what you need nearly as well as it ought to.

Both our defense and offense are struggling, Hamhuis coming back won't fix the problem, it will merely stem the bleeding a little bit. Surgery needs to be performed on this team, but are too many things holding up the works at the moment.

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We've been outscored 4-1 in our last two games. I would say we need more offence.

I think it's because the forwards are trying to play defense a lot...from what I can tell. And the defense isn't doing their own jobs right. How can you score if most of your forwards are busy playing D? :P Just a thought.

I will watch tonight's game and focus on the D more than the offense. For those of you with sick minds, get a grip. You know what I mean.

Nashville is primarily a defensive team, but their offense is proving to be QUITE the threat, as seen in Los Angeles a week ago.

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I don't think it's that we need more defence, I think we need defence that can make a better first pass to get it out of the zone and transition to offence.

The problem is, those kinds of players don't exactly grow on trees. Salo was outstanding. Ehrhoff kind of fell in our laps. I am not sure where the next one will come from.

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True, but those monster D-men also can come from prospects.

Who would've though Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty would end up being the NHL's top two D-men in the game today? I'm sure there are others in the same category, but the names that keep popping out when talking about D-men are Keith and Doughty.

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Edler is oodles better than last year. Don't assume he's the same player he was last year. He and Tanev are currently our top two defenders and as such, are our top pairing.

Edler has been blossoming into a great offensive defenseman, but seems to lack consistency and polish to his game. His passing game is sublime and we all know how good his shot is, but for some reason, he's struggling to get up to the 40+ points level.

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Edler is actually having an excellent season and is making far more outlet passes than drop passes these days. He and Tanev are the only pairing that truly matches up with top lines.

Fixed. See D-Money's post below.

What we actually need is more offense from our defense.

Our entire D-corps has 54 points total, between all of them. That is pathetic.

Edler has 13 points this season, on pace for 27. Far from "excellent" and closer to "alright".

Now, PhillipBrunt, if we're going to compare Edler to say, Edler from last season? Then yes, he's excellent. Otherwise, he's on pace for one of his worst full NHL seasons since he first came into the league.

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For comparison's sake, here's how our points from defensemen rates among other Western teams:

Calgary - 108

Nashville - 104

St. Louis - 94

Los Angeles - 94

Winnipeg - 87

Colorado - 85

Dallas - 83

San Jose - 82

Anaheim - 80

Chicago - 76

Arizona - 76

Minnesota - 69

Vancouver - 54

Edmonton - 52

Again...pathetic.

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