JamesB Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 At this time in the season the official line from coaches is usually that everyone is healthy and no one is tired. Heck, we could all run a marathon before breakfast if we had the time. The truth is very different. Every player has bumps and bruises, some have nagging injuries that hurt their performance and of course some are out. As for fatigue, everyone is tired and some guys are very tired. Of course all teams have these problems to some extent, but it is worse for some teams than others. And one traditional argument for the Canucks generally disappointing late season and post-season performance for most of franchise history is that their travel schedule causes more fatigue. (There is a lot of evidence that traveling long distances by jet and changing time zones greatly increases fatigue.) Some guys are more affected than others, Endurance tends to peak in the late 20s or early 30s. And guys who play a high intensity game of course get more tired. And guys who are not used to the NHL schedule get more tired. (The Canucks of course log vastly more travel miles and time zone changes than AHL or Junior teams.) So who should be tired? 1. Horvat. It has been an exciting year for Horvat. And even though he went to the Memorial Cup in Junior, he has never experienced anything like the travel schedule the NHL, not to mention playing every night against men instead of boys -- guys are bigger, stronger, faster and a lot tougher to play against. And he has faded. After hovering around zero for most of the season his plus/minus is now -8, which is starting to get worrying. And against the Jets he even had a bad night on the face-off dot, which is a sign of fatigue. 2. Kenins. Like Horvat, he has never experienced the travel and strength of opposition before. And he is expected to play a high intensity game. He is tired. 3. Vey. Like Horvat and Kenins he is fairly young and has never experienced anything like the Canuck travel schedule and strength of competition before. He was not strong enough to play center in the Western Conference even when he was fresh and he is just getting pushed around out there now, and is not showing enough speed. 4. Dorsett. Another high intensity player of only average size, I would expect him to be getting tired also. 5. Henrik Sedin. He is old enough that it is hard to keep going all season. And going up against tough strong opposing centers is not easy (and Henrik has often appeared to tire toward the end of the season, particularly in the last three seasons). And Henrik has been getting killed in the face-off circle on the recently completely road trip. 6. Eddie Lack. Some guys can play almost every game for a month. Most guys can't. The back-to-back against St. Louis and Nashville took a lot out of Eddie. He was obviously tired against both Chicago and Winnipeg. What do we do? Not much we can do except tell the players to go to bed when they get back to Vancouver and stay there until a morning skate on Monday before playing LA. They will still be adjusting to jet lag on Monday, so fatigue is still a big issue (as it often is the first game back from a road trip). And I would rest Eddie against LA. Right now, I don't see his expected performance as being better than Markstrom. Give him a chance to rest and be fresh on Thursday. The Canucks will certainly make the playoffs if they win their last two games against Arizona and Edmonton in regulation so I would make sure Eddie is rested for those games. I am not saying the Canucks are in bad shape. Other teams are tired too, But obviously they still have a lot of work to do in the final week. Any other ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Reaper Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Markstrom in against the Kings? Hmmm. No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nux4lyfe Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Every single team in the league has the same issues, So it all equals out......LA also grinds the sh!t outta Quick (who in my opinion is one of the best goalies in the league), so that goaltender argument is null...Millsy will be back soon enough to save the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBackup Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Tired is on second. Who is on first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLastStandingCloutierFan Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Hamhuis for sure. Ever since he was the last regular defenceman in the lineup during that injury phase this season he's been stretched pretty thin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete13 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Well written post. The team has been done pretty well considering the grind they go through. The eastern teams don't have to put up with the harsh travel nearly as much. A six game road trip for the Rangers could be NYI, NJ, Philly, Boston, Washington and Pittsburgh. Gotta hand it to all of the Western teams for putting up with a lot more travel. Kings were a mediocre road team until their recent trip. The difference is that they pound the crap teams, whereas the Canucks don't I think that you rotate guys in and out of the lineup. A healthy rested guy, is better than a banged up tired player. I think that we could have rested Hamhuis on the back end of this trip and started Markstrom against the Hawks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grape Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 So Henrik's tired and Daniel isn't? Or are you basing off of Daniel's recent surge on points? Just wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter_74 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I'm Tired!! I just want to go to bed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Markstrom in against the Kings? Hmmm. No. YOLO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May4 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Lack is overworked and tired. Willie needs to make a tough decision for the next game. Will he play Lack or rest him? Canucks need one win and quite possibly two of the three remaining games. The odds of beating LA are not in the Canucks favour with a tired Lack, so why not play Markstrom? Lack will be rested for the final two and hopefully the rest of the team shows up when the puck drops. They can not afford to spot the opposition a goal or two like they have been. All said and done at the beginning of the year the Canucks were not a team that was going to make the playoffs, well they do have a very good chance of proving all the experts wrong. I am sure Willie and the coaches will make the right decision. Hopefully Eddie is sleeping and catching up on some much needed rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Lack is overworked and tired. Willie needs to make a tough decision for the next game. Will he play Lack or rest him? Canucks need one win and quite possibly two of the three remaining games. The odds of beating LA are not in the Canucks favour with a tired Lack, so why not play Markstrom? Lack will be rested for the final two and hopefully the rest of the team shows up when the puck drops. They can not afford to spot the opposition a goal or two like they have been. All said and done at the beginning of the year the Canucks were not a team that was going to make the playoffs, well they do have a very good chance of proving all the experts wrong. I am sure Willie and the coaches will make the right decision. Hopefully Eddie is sleeping and catching up on some much needed rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshiyoshi Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 YOLO thats what you say before doing something stupid right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 thats what you say before doing something stupid right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqua59 Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 At this time in the season the official line from coaches is usually that everyone is healthy and no one is tired. Heck, we could all run a marathon before breakfast if we had the time. The truth is very different. Every player has bumps and bruises, some have nagging injuries that hurt their performance and of course some are out. As for fatigue, everyone is tired and some guys are very tired. Of course all teams have these problems to some extent, but it is worse for some teams than others. And one traditional argument for the Canucks generally disappointing late season and post-season performance for most of franchise history is that their travel schedule causes more fatigue. (There is a lot of evidence that traveling long distances by jet and changing time zones greatly increases fatigue.) Some guys are more affected than others, Endurance tends to peak in the late 20s or early 30s. And guys who play a high intensity game of course get more tired. And guys who are not used to the NHL schedule get more tired. (The Canucks of course log vastly more travel miles and time zone changes than AHL or Junior teams.) So who should be tired? 1. Horvat. It has been an exciting year for Horvat. And even though he went to the Memorial Cup in Junior, he has never experienced anything like the travel schedule the NHL, not to mention playing every night against men instead of boys -- guys are bigger, stronger, faster and a lot tougher to play against. And he has faded. After hovering around zero for most of the season his plus/minus is now -8, which is starting to get worrying. And against the Jets he even had a bad night on the face-off dot, which is a sign of fatigue. 2. Kenins. Like Horvat, he has never experienced the travel and strength of opposition before. And he is expected to play a high intensity game. He is tired. 3. Vey. Like Horvat and Kenins he is fairly young and has never experienced anything like the Canuck travel schedule and strength of competition before. He was not strong enough to play center in the Western Conference even when he was fresh and he is just getting pushed around out there now, and is not showing enough speed. 4. Dorsett. Another high intensity player of only average size, I would expect him to be getting tired also. 5. Henrik Sedin. He is old enough that it is hard to keep going all season. And going up against tough strong opposing centers is not easy (and Henrik has often appeared to tire toward the end of the season, particularly in the last three seasons). And Henrik has been getting killed in the face-off circle on the recently completely road trip. 6. Eddie Lack. Some guys can play almost every game for a month. Most guys can't. The back-to-back against St. Louis and Nashville took a lot out of Eddie. He was obviously tired against both Chicago and Winnipeg. What do we do? Not much we can do except tell the players to go to bed when they get back to Vancouver and stay there until a morning skate on Monday before playing LA. They will still be adjusting to jet lag on Monday, so fatigue is still a big issue (as it often is the first game back from a road trip). And I would rest Eddie against LA. Right now, I don't see his expected performance as being better than Markstrom. Give him a chance to rest and be fresh on Thursday. The Canucks will certainly make the playoffs if they win their last two games against Arizona and Edmonton in regulation so I would make sure Eddie is rested for those games. I am not saying the Canucks are in bad shape. Other teams are tired too, But obviously they still have a lot of work to do in the final week. Any other ideas? You hit good points. I like to think that the Vancouver players aren't all that tired at all. Unfortunately I think the so called aged core is too big for that is what we're watching an aged core that has slowed, peaked. When there are too many aged vets in a line up it shows. There just aren't enough young players in the line up good enough to elevate the rest of the group. With all the injuries this year there should actually be more players rested and not fatigued. This team is in great shape but like I mentioned the overall age of the group is showing.This team isn't going to get any quicker by next season unless some of the core is moved. As much as we like Higgens his position is ready for an upgrade. Management knows it and have done a great job in transition thus far. This team might make the playoffs but I doubt they can last long physically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsiders Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 U? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoosh Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I am. Other than that, I would have started Jacob against the Jets already and have Eddie rested for LA. Now Eddie won't get a rest before we face the Yotes or Oilers. Since this wan't a do-or-die game agains the Jets, I would have given Markie a shot at it since we wouldn't have been in a worse position now than going with Lack in net. The guys are fatigued, but everyone is looking to go all the way in the playoffs, so this is basically mid-season for most of them and all of them have worked out hard to be able to withstand the grueling schedule and injuries that come along the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcfly Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Good post. Good points. It goes to show just how good we were in 2011. That was one of our worst travel schedules in recent history, yet that year we set new franchise records, Hank won the Art Ross and we battled in an extremely close game 7 final. People will never see the battle scars or hear a player talk about being "tired". It feels like so many hockey fans are armchair gm's or they sound entitled to win every single game. (Though it's gotten better with these new documentary shows giving some incite) It's what makes all the players in the NHL amazing athletes and deserving of the cash. (though I guess the owners get more now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyhee Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 At this time in the season the official line from coaches is usually that everyone is healthy and no one is tired. Heck, we could all run a marathon before breakfast if we had the time. The truth is very different. Every player has bumps and bruises, some have nagging injuries that hurt their performance and of course some are out. As for fatigue, everyone is tired and some guys are very tired. Of course all teams have these problems to some extent, but it is worse for some teams than others. And one traditional argument for the Canucks generally disappointing late season and post-season performance for most of franchise history is that their travel schedule causes more fatigue. (There is a lot of evidence that traveling long distances by jet and changing time zones greatly increases fatigue.) Some guys are more affected than others, Endurance tends to peak in the late 20s or early 30s. And guys who play a high intensity game of course get more tired. And guys who are not used to the NHL schedule get more tired. (The Canucks of course log vastly more travel miles and time zone changes than AHL or Junior teams.) So who should be tired? 1. Horvat. It has been an exciting year for Horvat. And even though he went to the Memorial Cup in Junior, he has never experienced anything like the travel schedule the NHL, not to mention playing every night against men instead of boys -- guys are bigger, stronger, faster and a lot tougher to play against. And he has faded. After hovering around zero for most of the season his plus/minus is now -8, which is starting to get worrying. And against the Jets he even had a bad night on the face-off dot, which is a sign of fatigue. 2. Kenins. Like Horvat, he has never experienced the travel and strength of opposition before. And he is expected to play a high intensity game. He is tired. 3. Vey. Like Horvat and Kenins he is fairly young and has never experienced anything like the Canuck travel schedule and strength of competition before. He was not strong enough to play center in the Western Conference even when he was fresh and he is just getting pushed around out there now, and is not showing enough speed. 4. Dorsett. Another high intensity player of only average size, I would expect him to be getting tired also. 5. Henrik Sedin. He is old enough that it is hard to keep going all season. And going up against tough strong opposing centers is not easy (and Henrik has often appeared to tire toward the end of the season, particularly in the last three seasons). And Henrik has been getting killed in the face-off circle on the recently completely road trip. 6. Eddie Lack. Some guys can play almost every game for a month. Most guys can't. The back-to-back against St. Louis and Nashville took a lot out of Eddie. He was obviously tired against both Chicago and Winnipeg. What do we do? Not much we can do except tell the players to go to bed when they get back to Vancouver and stay there until a morning skate on Monday before playing LA. They will still be adjusting to jet lag on Monday, so fatigue is still a big issue (as it often is the first game back from a road trip). And I would rest Eddie against LA. Right now, I don't see his expected performance as being better than Markstrom. Give him a chance to rest and be fresh on Thursday. The Canucks will certainly make the playoffs if they win their last two games against Arizona and Edmonton in regulation so I would make sure Eddie is rested for those games. I am not saying the Canucks are in bad shape. Other teams are tired too, But obviously they still have a lot of work to do in the final week. Any other ideas? Great post. I agree. I don't think WD does, though. I see the chances of Markstrom starting against LA as just about nil, for example. WD has had several obvious chances to play Markstrom and hasn't done it, and his interview after the recent loss to the Hawks in which he spoke of Lack's not playing much early in the year and Dubnyk playing 36 games straight suggests WD doesn't accept that some get tired, either physically or mentally. In addition to physical fatigue there's mental fatigue (possibly the case with Lack more than physical fatigue) and the aches, pains and minor injuries that come from playing NHL hockey. We could probably add a few names to your list as being tired or banged up enough to affect play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgyfan Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 4 games in 5.5 days on the road against a team that had be sitting since Tuesday. Of course they looked tired. They'll be up and running again for the Kings. The only one that worries me is Lack. He's looking like he could use a decent break. Hopefully the cavalry (Kass, Richardson & Miller) will be stepping in soon. That would really energize them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabcakes Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 I don't see Markstrom getting in at all. He is on his way out imo. Miller will start either Arizona or more probably Edmonton to give Eddy a break and we'll go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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