*Buzzsaw* Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Watching last night's game, there were some positives... Kenins looked to be getting focused and getting his energy level up. Horvat of course, finally got rewarded for all the effort he has put in over the last 20 games. Higgins was a little better, although he is still shooting the puck right at the goaltender. Great nights from both Hutton and Biega, both showed a lot of energy and creativity, I'm loving the way Biega is starting to wheel. But I had to see a distinct lack of energy and focus from a couple guys. Cracknall has really lost the edge he had at the beginning of the season, he's not hitting like he was, and he is trying to hold onto the puck too long and do some kind of Gretzky impression, when he doesn't have anywhere near that kind of skill. He should be sitting out a couple, time to bring up Brendan Gaunce and give him a chance. And then we come to Weber... He tries to wheel like Biega... but he has no clue what to do with the puck once he gets across the blue line... and when he tries an offensive foray, unlike Biega who gets back into position very quickly, Weber's rushes almost always leave his defense partner high and dry. But the worst aspect of Weber's play is in his own zone... the 2-1 goal, which as far as I'm concerned was the real turning point in the game, was solidly his fault. He completely botched his coverage... was behind his check, tried to stay with him, waved his stick in a half-a$$ed hook, then fell down behind the net, leaving the right side front of the net wide open for Dauphin to pop in the easy goal. Pedan may not be the most experienced guy out there, but at this stage, anything would be better than watching Weber repeat the same mistakes every night. Better to give Pedan the opportunity to learn, who knows... he just might turn out as well as Biega... but Weber is clearly going downhill, and needs some time to sit in the press box and re-evaluate his game. One other thing for the entire team to take note of: Every forward really needs to be forced to watch a hi-light reel of Daniel's goals from this year... to see how fast he gets off his shot. Everyone on the team with the exception of Daniel is taking way to long to shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YEGCanuck Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I just decided t's time to play Grenier and Pedan. We are not winning with the guys we have so why not give these prospects a chance to strut their stuff in the show. Either that or send them to the farm for some game action. We are going nowhere fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Biestra Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 They should reward Cracknell for his accuracy contest with a couple games with the Sedins. I bet he'd have a Jeff Cowan-like burst for a week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperReverb2 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Tend to agree except where it comes to Higgins. Sorry but he's horrid. Total waste of a uniform, money, and ice time. He needs to NOT play. Burrows can follow him as well, as he's really "lost" on the ice. Thought McCann had a good game. Got robbed by their goalie a couple of times. Weber is god awful and Vey is just a small pop gun out there. Some good tonight, but overall not a lot to cheer about in a 3-2 loss to a team that clearly wanted it more than we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoughtysCheck Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I would rather dress 5 defensemen than have Weber a game. In fact, I would rather start the game with a 1 goal disadvantage than have Weber play a shift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Sedin - Sedin - Hansen Burrows - Horvat - Vrbata Prust - McCann - Virtanen Dorsett - Vey - Cracknell Edler - Tanev Hutton - Bartkowski Pedan - Biega There, better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positive Canuck Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 1 minute ago, -Vintage Canuck- said: Sedin - Sedin - Hansen Burrows - Horvat - Vrbata Prust - McCann - Virtanen Dorsett - Vey - Cracknell Edler - Tanev Hutton - Bartkowski Pedan - Biega There, better. much better, one tweak for me Sedin - Sedin - Hansen Burrows - Horvat - Vrbata Prust - McCann - Virtanen Dorsett - Cracknell-Grenier Edler - Tanev Hutton - Bartkowski Pedan - Biega Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positive Canuck Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 6 minutes ago, SuperReverb2 said: Tend to agree except where it comes to Higgins. Sorry but he's horrid. Total waste of a uniform, money, and ice time. He needs to NOT play. Burrows can follow him as well, as he's really "lost" on the ice. Thought McCann had a good game. Got robbed by their goalie a couple of times. Weber is god awful and Vey is just a small pop gun out there. Some good tonight, but overall not a lot to cheer about in a 3-2 loss to a team that clearly wanted it more than we did. Higgins, Weber and sadly even Burr now almost an insult to paying customers . AHL'ers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-d Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 15 minutes ago, Positive Canuck said: Higgins, Weber and sadly even Burr now almost an insult to paying customers . AHL'ers. If an AHLer has played like Higgins, Weber, Burr etc. for 3-4 games, any sane head coach will yank him from the lineup for quite some time. Yet Willie keeps giving them all the TOI they don't deserve in spite of their numerous indifferent/boneheaded plays. I'm even starting to suspect if there's any hidden agenda among the coaches and the front office. Things can be more complicated in the NHL with contracts, trades, NTCs, agents and so forth, but still... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowardrobertford Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Goat- medalist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HC20.0 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 The main ones are Higgins, Burrows, and Weber. I love Burr, and Higgins had a pretty decent game actually, but man these two have fallen off a cliff. Higgins can barely play anymore, and Burrows looks lost out there. Basically like Bieksa last year. The game has just outgrown those two, and they're teetering pretty close to being buyout candidates. Weber... I don't know what to say. Last year he was brutal, but was at least scoring... This year, just the brutal part, minus the scoring. Horvat and Baertschi have both improved 10 fold since the start of the season, they're two totally different players. McCann had a great third, but wasn't too noticeable tonight. He struggled in the O zone. But, he is improving too. The biggest surprise is definitely Biega. Man, he's developed into a solid #6 or 7 D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperReverb2 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 18 minutes ago, Positive Canuck said: much better, one tweak for me Sedin - Sedin - Hansen Burrows - Horvat - Vrbata Prust - McCann - Virtanen Dorsett - Cracknell-Grenier Edler - Tanev Hutton - Bartkowski Pedan - Biega I would scratch Burrows and put Virtanen on left wing. I mean really. What have we got to loose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowardrobertford Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Buzzsaw seems from the Media, always the first to thread things up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Buzzsaw* Posted January 5, 2016 Author Share Posted January 5, 2016 People have pointed to Burrows as another problem... I would partially agree... he looks tired. He does find a way to contribute defensively and on the powerplay, but I think he would benefit from sitting out a game every three... it would allow that older body to recover and give him more energy. If one of the youngsters was slotted in to replace him every 3rd game, I think the team would benefit. In fact, if all the older guys, plus Cracknell were scratched every third game it would allow the Utica prospects a chance to show their stuff and get some experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clam linguine Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 8 minutes ago, HC20.0 said: The main ones are Higgins, Burrows, and Weber. I love Burr, and Higgins had a pretty decent game actually, but man these two have fallen off a cliff. Higgins can barely play anymore, and Burrows looks lost out there. Basically like Bieksa last year. The game has just outgrown those two, Hahaha.....trust me, the game has not outgrown Alex Burrows. He is old......it happens. I think he is still good enough to play bottom six is he not?. I am not watching very carefully lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HC20.0 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Just now, clam linguine said: Hahaha.....trust me, the game has not outgrown Alex Burrows. He is old......it happens. I think he is still good enough to play bottom six is he not?. I am not watching very carefully lately. He's not nearly as bad as Higgins, but he's really struggling out there. He looked really lost on the ice tonight, and generated nothing, even on the PP. We scored after he went to the bench. I know he's in a dry spell, but even so, it's really alarming to see his play just dive like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davathor Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 11 minutes ago, HC20.0 said: He's not nearly as bad as Higgins, but he's really struggling out there. He looked really lost on the ice tonight, and generated nothing, even on the PP. We scored after he went to the bench. I know he's in a dry spell, but even so, it's really alarming to see his play just dive like that. Well he did write the book on how to dive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clam linguine Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 9 minutes ago, HC20.0 said: He's not nearly as bad as Higgins, but he's really struggling out there. He looked really lost on the ice tonight, and generated nothing, even on the PP. We scored after he went to the bench. I know he's in a dry spell, but even so, it's really alarming to see his play just dive like that. Well....I am pretty sure its more than just a dry spell. I have no expectations of him returning to former glory. He has been throwing himself around fairly recklessly for quite a while. He needs to play limited minutes now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positive Canuck Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 38 minutes ago, SuperReverb2 said: I would scratch Burrows and put Virtanen on left wing. I mean really. What have we got to loose? If i was in charge when Sbisa ,Baerschi and Sutter are back (Vrbata,Hamhuis,Higgins,Burrows,Weber,Vey,Prust,Dorsett and Miller traded for picks,prospects and capspace) Sedin - Sedin - Virtanen Baerschi- Horvat -Hansen Shinkaruk- Sutter - Grenier McCann- Gaunce - Cracknell Edler - Tanev Pedan - Sbisa Hutton - Biega Marky Shooter Tutor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsiders Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 50 minutes ago, Positive Canuck said: Higgins, Weber and sadly even Burr now almost an insult to paying customers . AHL'ers. Sad part is they make up like 8 million in salary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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