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We need more defense than offense.


sedinsforever

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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.

Bingo. Defenseman are supposed to support offensive plays too. We definitely need offense via our D

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That's probably what I meant. Offensive defensemen and I have no idea what the bold means

The bolded part means we have some solid shut down/stay at home left handed D men. Edler our prime point producing lefty. We don't have any point producing and viable right handed or right shooting D men.

That's what it means. Points from the back end win games. And it's a HUGE reason we have trouble scoring goals period. Our most successful seasons come on the backs of productive back ends which we do not have

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Benning's already mentioned that we need to draft a defenseman. Preferably a solid two way guy with some speed. I'd love to get Hanifin here, but that's probably a stretch. Otherwise Provorov looks decent, and a player who's strangely not being talked about despite putting up great numbers is Rasmus Andersson. Hockeydb shows him as LW, but he is indeed a defenseman. 8g, 30a, 38pts +5 in 36gp for Barrie after playing quite well for the Swe-1 Malmo Redhawks prior. Big, fast, strong, he's been compared to Ekblad.

http://thehockeywriters.com/rasmus-andersson-aaron-ekblad-2-0/

The worry was that he'd have a bit of difficulty transitioning to NA game, but that's been a non-factor as he's been Barrie's stud this season. Fantastic prospect and I'm scratching my head as to how he's flying under the radar so much.

If we somehow acquire another first to be able to select both Hanifin and Andersson, then our defense is pretty much set. Make it so, GMJB. lol

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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.

And that's not even by a fraction that is clear cut that our back end is more tragic than basically 90% of the league. 2 points ahead of Edmonton on the back end is atrocious

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Who do you think is the closest to an offensive d-man that we have? Clearly Bieksa or Edler are not it.

edler IS it

Multiple 30 point season a couple of 40 point seasons and endless 20+ point seasons even on a hobbled back under tortorella. it helps to know your players

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Edler has put up points before, but he is focused on improving his defensive game. He is doing well. If he could produce a little more - lets say, in the 30-35 point range, and keep playing the hard match-ups, then he's not the problem.

Bieksa is definitely a big part of the problem. He used to be good for low-20s in a bad year, and low-40s in a good one. This year he's on pace for only 15.

I would like Benning to target a true offensive D-man (preferably RH), and pair him with Hamhuis. Hammer could cover for any defensive deficiencies, and is skilled enough to support the offense as well. As a 2nd pairing, Hammer is more than capable to make it work. But where to find such a piece? Who might be available? Wisniewski? Kulikov (LH)? Or, based on rumours, what about Krug??? People like to crap on the idea of Krug because he's 5'9, but Spurgeon is the same size and has been good for Minnesota.

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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.

I would like to see that same comparison for our offense please.

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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.

The cap hit from Garrison was pretty much the same as Ehrhoff, if not more. Sure, the length was a bit long and the upfront money was high, but it wasn't like the Canucks even tended a legit offer to Ehrhoff. They were committed to Bieksa, even though he's not as offensively gifted, same level in defensive coverage and older.... but he brings grit (sometimes) and leadership (supposedly). The Canucks messed up, clean and simple.

MG ignore the concept of chemistry. Ehrhoff didn't produce with Thornton, Vanek, Crosby or Malkin.... but it still doesn't take away what he did with the Sedins. He somehow was able to develop a strong affinity to the Sedins' game, something that cannot always be replicated elsewhere. Plus how Christian Ehrhoff was also Edler's safety blanket at time.

I believe the Canucks should find a way to bring back Ehrhoff. Sometimes it's better to take the tried and tested route than to venture off to a new one.

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Personally I think the Canucks have enough creative offensive skill and team defense. I think they lack the right kind of support.

Guys like Hansen and Santorelli, puck hounds who keep the puck in the offensive zone. Or Samuelsson who was good at making sure the goalie stopped play and got an offensive zone face off. Or Salo who made sure the puck got to the net not off the back boards turning the play around.

As simple as it sounds, keeping the puck away from your own net is the best way to increase offensive chances and the best way to decrease chances against.

Mason Raymond was the opposite of this, he would skate up the ice attempt to score every time and end up circling the net skating back at full speed. It's not at all Raymond's fault because he was under a lot of pressure to put up numbers and it's what coaches wanted from him. It's just not the right kind of support this team needs IMO.

On paper Raymond is a better scoring option than say Hansen. But he would need to be used accordingly, getting him space, offensive zone starts, PP time, etc... OTOH a player like Hansen is most effective in a supporting role and much better at creating his own chances. I think VAN needs more players like that.

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Wouldn't hurt to go after 2 stud d-man in this draft. If we can have 2 1st rounders and a high 2nd rounder, we can get Provorov or Nicolas Meloche in the first and then Rasmus Andersson, or Ryan Pilon in the second.

Would really help our d. Anyways, I think it's just that our d is pretty stale after Edler and Tanev.

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Edler is not the same player he has been the last few years. His play has been quite amazing to see this year, him and Tanev make the perfect duo for us. Then when Hamhuis gets back we should be pretty good. I mean lets face it Sbisia and Weber are getting more opportunities with the injury but they are not ready for it quite yet.

As for the Ehrhoff debate, well he rejected the same (or at least similar) deal to what Bieksa got. I understand that Ehrhoff had more points (although he and Bieksa were pretty close in the playoffs) and was the better player but when a player rejects a 4.6M deal for a team that came one game from winning the cup, you can see truly what he wants....money over winning.

Not ideal to be honest. I would rather the guy that takes a pay cut to help the team than a guy that thinks he should get more than his teammates - just my opinion of course!

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We actually need both (an actual point producing Dman; a gritty stay at home Dman not named Bieksa; and debatably a whole 1A/1B line to complement an aging Sedin line).

This is a marginal playoff team at best fighting for 8-11 spot in the West; Torts was a hot head but what he said was true; they need a full rebuild and injection of skilled energetic youth.

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...

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.

Are you equating points with excellence?

Edler's overall play has been really good this year.

His offensive production hasn't been, though. Unfortunately, none of the other defencemen have been producing at the offensive end either, so we have:

-good defensive d-men who aren't scoring a lot, and

-a few not so good defensive d-men who aren't scoring a lot.

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I would like to see that same comparison for our offense please.

Our goals/game is 13th in the league, so we're decent offensively. Over half a goal more per game than Edmonton, who is 27th.

So why does our D-core have only 2 more cumulative points than their horrible one?

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