Jiggs50 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Vrbata has been the biggest surprise of this season. Like I knew he was good, but didn't know he was THIS good. Yeah same here. I thought solid signing, but he's just insane. His skill level and hockey iq is probably up there with the best in the nhl. His skating is much better than I thought too. Andddd a underrated 2 way game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drive-By Body Pierce Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Not only do the EN goals mean the Canucks are winning games, but winning close games, where it is a battle right to the end. That's what the playoffs are all about! EDIT: In addition, I feel that moving Vrbata back with the Sedins, full-time, would be a move to help one player. Keeping him on the 2nd line spreads out the scoring making two dangerous lines. The opposing coach then has to worry more about matching up his top defenders against two lines inevitably taking some of the defensive pressure off the Sedins. And there is always the power play for Vrbata to shine with the Sedins. The whole scenario gives the Canucks a bunch of different looks on the ice and avoids the situation where other teams "have the book" on how to cover the Sedin line and shut them down, now and in the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canacks1970 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 In the last 3 games, the Canucks have scored a mind boggling 5 empty net goals. That is 5/12 of their offence. I don't know whether I should be scared of that for little offence during the game, or happy for that with the Canucks really being able to seal it. What is your take on it? As for Radim Vrbata, I think he should be paired back with the Sedins, and Burrows, Bonino, and Matthias should be the second line. Vrbata somewhat lacked in offence lately on the second, but the first shift he gets back with the Sedins, he scores a beauty of a goal. It might be that playing with the Sedins motivates him, but I think he should be put back on that first line...at least for now with the Canucks needing the most scoring possible heading into the playoffs. Anyone else agree with this? A Win is a win. There is always somebody or in the media that has to be concerned about something one way or another . Win or not. They're not happy!!! If its not Management ,Its the coaching staff .They're concern about our offence ,Our goaltending, Our Defense, Our Drafting , Our aging core. Our injuries . Why didn't we get this person?? Why did they pay this much for this UFA???? Why didn't we traded this player for that? Look at the other teams have gotten better at the trade deadline..etc etc etc And yet here we are seeing this year team going through a transition stage by adding some youth and changes to our lineup to an AGING Core group. For a month and ahalf we looked like a mash unit. I would think you be more concern with the amount of injuries this team has taken on. When you lose as many players that they have and still see this team in second place in a tough division and still contending for a spot for the post season should be applauded for their efforts not concerns. As for your concern about Vrbada . He's doing fine with or without the SEDINS. I don't know what your expectations are from this player. In the last five games he has 8 points . Four of them are goals. I couldn't imagine when he does get motivated. What do you suggest they should do with Kassian once he returns to the lineup. He seems to have spark since playing with the twins? This team will get getter in time under T.L, J.B and W.D. Last year this team would have folded like a cheap tent under Tortorella. Can you honestly say that at the beginning of the year that Vancouver would be in this situation after last year's mess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 EN goals are getting so bad that there needs to be a major statline on nhl.com. (freakin' hate the new format there btw. They added 'advanced stats', which are all junk, then de-evolved the stats available that have some real meaning. This development only drives people away to other sources, the exact opposite of what they want to happen.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronalds.Kenins41 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 You will see the Sedins and Vrbata together in the playoffs. Willie realized early on that this line was gold. If there is little to no video on them going into the playoffs, then they will be a force that will be a bit harder to handle when he throws them together. I am a conspiracy guy. I am sure that the Canucks have been sluffing off on the Power play all year. Just like in the last few playoff years the league wouldn't give us a chance because they knew it would be in the net. The Canucks used the PP just enough here and there. Come playoffs I bet they will have the #1 Power play. Goals are a lot harder to get in the playoffs, they will make PP's count. I doubt this. The sedins always give 110% effort to try and get the goals on the power play. Its when they are at their best. I can't see them purposely trying to not score on them like you are suggesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Karlsson Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 There is one reason I think Vrbata will remain on the second line / is not the best fit for the Sedins - something Henrik brought up recently. With Vrbata on that line, it's up to the Sedins to get in on the forecheck and generate space for Vrbata. With Burrows or Kassian on the Sedins line, it's the other way around. Aside from that he's a great, pitch and catch puck possession, two way match for them. But that's a pretty pivotal aspect that I think is preferable to have a player with the Sedins who does more of the hard areas work for them. I'm not sure that Vrbata's goal tonight with them was as much an intention to reunite them as it was a situational line change thing. In any event, HIggins Bonino Vrbata has been just fine - Vrbata's 6 other points in the last three games with those two would suggest that his production is alright without them - perhaps even makes the team more balanced and difficult to defend. It's too bad we can't split up the twins 5 on 5. A line of Burrows-H.Sedin-Vrbata would be awesome imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 In case you're wondering, empty net goal % is being tracked. Guess what team leads the pack. The Canucks have scored 22 EN goals this year. 22 out of 211. Holy sheepsht.http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-empty-net-goal-percentage/2014/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boudrias Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I am a diehard Canuck fan but that does not change my contention that this is not a serious playoff contender. I will never discount the ability of a Vancouver team to be motivated by a fan base that goes playoff wild. They could surprise me in playoffs its happened before. The driving imperative for the Canucks is the transition to the next Canuck core group that could be true CUP contenders. It means that Benning might have to make a transforming move leading to this draft. How well the Canucks do in playoffs might impact that move. My expectations from playoffs is the experience it gives to the younger players not a serious CUP run. I wanted JB to trade Miller before the March deadline. It is Lack's time to be a #1 and he has shown that ability. Miller has revived his career to an extent with his season in Van but he is a depreciating asset that could have possibly returned a 1st Round pick in June. Now he probably returns to the lineup at playoff time which will limit Lack's playoff experience. If Miller bombs his trade value tanks. If he bombs I guess it allows JB to make the deals. The 'bomb' term is not a good one as goal tenders are not always responsible for the scores. Van's d-core has real challenges. It is the fix that JB has to focus on. Moving Miller helps towards that fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pears Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Gross second line. I like our first how it is now, if not Kassian over Burrows when he returns. Vrbata gives our second line an identity. I think we should keep him there.Sedin - Sedin - Kassian Matthias - Bonino - Vrbata Higgins - Richardson - Burrows Kenins/Dorsett - Horvat - Hansen Vey That is some crazy depth once we're healthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenDrinkin Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I am a diehard Canuck fan but that does not change my contention that this is not a serious playoff contender. I will never discount the ability of a Vancouver team to be motivated by a fan base that goes playoff wild. They could surprise me in playoffs its happened before. The driving imperative for the Canucks is the transition to the next Canuck core group that could be true CUP contenders. It means that Benning might have to make a transforming move leading to this draft. How well the Canucks do in playoffs might impact that move. My expectations from playoffs is the experience it gives to the younger players not a serious CUP run. I wanted JB to trade Miller before the March deadline. It is Lack's time to be a #1 and he has shown that ability. Miller has revived his career to an extent with his season in Van but he is a depreciating asset that could have possibly returned a 1st Round pick in June. Now he probably returns to the lineup at playoff time which will limit Lack's playoff experience. If Miller bombs his trade value tanks. If he bombs I guess it allows JB to make the deals. The 'bomb' term is not a good one as goal tenders are not always responsible for the scores. Van's d-core has real challenges. It is the fix that JB has to focus on. Moving Miller helps towards that fix. No offense, but I'm fairly certain that Jim Benning knows better than some shmoe on CDC. You need more to your life if you are upset with what he has done so far (less than one full season). I'm pretty sure some of you would be upset with a cup win, if they saw something small they didn't like. Just stop, and enjoy the show. We're in good hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucks-4-Life Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Vrbata, he's so hot right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatedkid666 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-empty-net-goal-percentage/2014/ Canucks have 20 empty net goals this year, 5 more than anyone else in the league Henrik is tied first in the league with 5 empty netters Vrbata has 4 Hansen has 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadcanucks Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I am a diehard Canuck fan but that does not change my contention that this is not a serious playoff contender. I will never discount the ability of a Vancouver team to be motivated by a fan base that goes playoff wild. They could surprise me in playoffs its happened before. The driving imperative for the Canucks is the transition to the next Canuck core group that could be true CUP contenders. It means that Benning might have to make a transforming move leading to this draft. How well the Canucks do in playoffs might impact that move. My expectations from playoffs is the experience it gives to the younger players not a serious CUP run. I wanted JB to trade Miller before the March deadline. It is Lack's time to be a #1 and he has shown that ability. Miller has revived his career to an extent with his season in Van but he is a depreciating asset that could have possibly returned a 1st Round pick in June. Now he probably returns to the lineup at playoff time which will limit Lack's playoff experience. If Miller bombs his trade value tanks. If he bombs I guess it allows JB to make the deals. The 'bomb' term is not a good one as goal tenders are not always responsible for the scores. Van's d-core has real challenges. It is the fix that JB has to focus on. Moving Miller helps towards that fix. No offense, but I'm fairly certain that Jim Benning knows better than some shmoe on CDC. You need more to your life if you are upset with what he has done so far (less than one full season). I'm pretty sure some of you would be upset with a cup win, if they saw something small they didn't like. Just stop, and enjoy the show. We're in good hands. What part of Boudrias' post expresses him being upset about anything? He's making an objective comment about how he thinks the team is and should be evolving. I don't agree with Boudrias' notion of trading Miller, but he' right. Miller at 34 years of age is a depreciating asset. Any player at that age is a depreciating asset. Boudrias is also correct about d-core having its challenges. Have you been watching Hamhuis play since his return from his injury? I've been a big fan of Hamhuis since his time here, but right now, he's hurting the team everytime he's on the ice (IMO, he should have opted for surgery rather than trying to come back). Bieksa, who has played pretty well since he returned from his injury, was no better earlier in the season. So yah, for the team to get better, Benning has to address the deficiencies on the back end, which is something that he's been doing by trading/signing young d-men like Clendening, Pedan, Hutton, Sautner, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollumpus Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I still don't know why coaches pull the goalie being down by 2 with under a minute to go it hardly ever works out and you just spot the opposing team another goal. Thanks Patrick Roy! A loss is a loss, doesn't matter if you lose by 1 or 3. If there's a tiny chance to come out with a win, the coach is going to take it. No harm in giving it everything you can. I believe there's also tie-breakers to consider. "Goals For" is around the 4th or 5th on the list. If you are going to lose, maybe you can get a goal which could be a difference maker at the end of the season. Here's a page on it: http://www.puckreport.com/2009/04/tiebreaker-rules-and-conference-seeding.html regards, G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanucksAtHome Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 In case you're wondering, empty net goal % is being tracked. Guess what team leads the pack. The Canucks have scored 22 EN goals this year. 22 out of 211. Holy sheepsht.http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-empty-net-goal-percentage/2014/ We all know how bad we were with empty nets last year, but if you sort by the season to 2013 we scored ONLY TWO EMPTY NET GOALS THE ENTIRE YEAR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stawns Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 No offense, but I'm fairly certain that Jim Benning knows better than some shmoe on CDC. You need more to your life if you are upset with what he has done so far (less than one full season). I'm pretty sure some of you would be upset with a cup win, if they saw something small they didn't like. Just stop, and enjoy the show. We're in good hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattJVD Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-empty-net-goal-percentage/2014/ Canucks have 20 empty net goals this year, 5 more than anyone else in the league Henrik is tied first in the league with 5 empty netters Vrbata has 4 Hansen has 3 22. As I said earlier, that hasn't been updated with the Jets game yet. That is the highest total since that website started keeping track, I'd really like to find to totals from season before 2009. So far my Googling has not yeilded any results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FijianCanuck Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Interesting, thanks mate! I believe there's also tie-breakers to consider. "Goals For" is around the 4th or 5th on the list. If you are going to lose, maybe you can get a goal which could be a difference maker at the end of the season. Here's a page on it:http://www.puckreport.com/2009/04/tiebreaker-rules-and-conference-seeding.html regards, G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmahyoung Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I am a diehard Canuck fan but that does not change my contention that this is not a serious playoff contender. I will never discount the ability of a Vancouver team to be motivated by a fan base that goes playoff wild. They could surprise me in playoffs its happened before. The driving imperative for the Canucks is the transition to the next Canuck core group that could be true CUP contenders. It means that Benning might have to make a transforming move leading to this draft. How well the Canucks do in playoffs might impact that move. My expectations from playoffs is the experience it gives to the younger players not a serious CUP run. I wanted JB to trade Miller before the March deadline. It is Lack's time to be a #1 and he has shown that ability. Miller has revived his career to an extent with his season in Van but he is a depreciating asset that could have possibly returned a 1st Round pick in June. Now he probably returns to the lineup at playoff time which will limit Lack's playoff experience. If Miller bombs his trade value tanks. If he bombs I guess it allows JB to make the deals. The 'bomb' term is not a good one as goal tenders are not always responsible for the scores. Van's d-core has real challenges. It is the fix that JB has to focus on. Moving Miller helps towards that fix. We should not discount the benefit of having 2 good goaltenders on a team. Case in point, without Lack backing up Miller after he got hurt this season the Canucks would likely not be close to a playoff spot as they are now. Having 2 good goalies is actually quite valuable come playoff time as well. Teams with only 1 good starter are basically eliminated once their goalie goes down. Although it wasn't planned out that way, having a solid goaltending tandem saved the Canucks playoffs hopes this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canacks1970 Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 I am a diehard Canuck fan but that does not change my contention that this is not a serious playoff contender. I will never discount the ability of a Vancouver team to be motivated by a fan base that goes playoff wild. They could surprise me in playoffs its happened before. The driving imperative for the Canucks is the transition to the next Canuck core group that could be true CUP contenders. It means that Benning might have to make a transforming move leading to this draft. How well the Canucks do in playoffs might impact that move. My expectations from playoffs is the experience it gives to the younger players not a serious CUP run. I wanted JB to trade Miller before the March deadline. It is Lack's time to be a #1 and he has shown that ability. Miller has revived his career to an extent with his season in Van but he is a depreciating asset that could have possibly returned a 1st Round pick in June. Now he probably returns to the lineup at playoff time which will limit Lack's playoff experience. If Miller bombs his trade value tanks. If he bombs I guess it allows JB to make the deals. The 'bomb' term is not a good one as goal tenders are not always responsible for the scores. Van's d-core has real challenges. It is the fix that JB has to focus on. Moving Miller helps towards that fix. One of the reasons that J.B Signed Miller was because we had no Veteran to take Lack under his wings. You have to put into consideration here that Lack has only been in the NHL a year and ahalf. And last year he thrown into the fire once Loungo was traded. And yes you could have traded Miller then what happens if Lack went down. You now have to depend on Markstrom who still hasn't proven himself to be a capable backup Goaltender in the NHL. I can see your reasoning for this but we also seen how long it took for Schneider to groom under Loungo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.