Brendan Gaunce | C/LW

[elvis15]

1 hour ago, HK Phooey said:

I've got a guy on my team who's always running around like a chicken with his head cut off.  He looks busy and intense most of the time.  But he's the least productive guy on my team who takes 10 hours and a 1,000 units of resources that would take an efficient and smart person 2 hours and 100 units of resource.  I'd rather have a team full of quiet and efficient guys like Gaunce over a bunch of unproductive yahoos like the guy who works for me.  

In case anyone wanted to know, I'm trying to find a place somewhere else in our organization for this yahoo, but none of the other department heads are willing to take him off my hands and onto their team.  

One of my favourite shifts ever as a minor hockey player was in Midget when a teammate and I had about 8 hits in under a minute, but looking back we never touched the puck since they had possession the whole time. Hitting everything that moved on their team was incredibly fun, but was completely ineffective since no one else picked up the puck or we were hitting just after they'd already moved it.

That's why I don't like people using the blanket statement of we need to be bigger, tougher and have to hit more than everyone all the time. I'd rather be getting possession any way I can (whether that's hitting, stripping a player of the puck, or causing turnovers another way) than focusing on having the highest hit totals.

Gaunce is effective (and will be in the NHL) because he's cerebral defensively. It helps him on offence to an extent but he doesn't have as much out and out skill to be a top 6 type of producer at the NHL level (most likely).

[HK Phooey]

7 minutes ago, elvis15 said:

One of my favourite shifts ever as a minor hockey player was in Midget when a teammate and I had about 8 hits in under a minute, but looking back we never touched the puck since they had possession the whole time. Hitting everything that moved on their team was incredibly fun, but was completely ineffective since no one else picked up the puck or we were hitting just after they'd already moved it.

That's why I don't like people using the blanket statement of we need to be bigger, tougher and have to hit more than everyone all the time. I'd rather be getting possession any way I can (whether that's hitting, stripping a player of the puck, or causing turnovers another way) than focusing on having the highest hit totals.

Gaunce is effective (and will be in the NHL) because he's cerebral defensively. It helps him on offence to an extent but he doesn't have as much out and out skill to be a top 6 type of producer at the NHL level (most likely).

Great trip down memory lane, hey elvis?  I agree that the game is tilted in your favor when you have the puck more than the other team does...I remember Barry Beck (remember him?) saying that it would be nice if his team (the Rangers at the time) were given a puck to play with when they were playing the Central Red Army team way back when.  That comment has indelibly stuck with me all these years.  

[CANUCK-EXPRESS]

Gaunce should be in the NHL over Cracknell imo.

[elvis15]

2 minutes ago, CANUCK-EXPRESS said:

Gaunce should be in the NHL over Cracknell imo.

Well, there is a little difference that's in Cracknell's favour, that he's a center where Gaunce is not. Sure Gaunce has played center (mostly earlier in junior, but even got a couple of games recently since Utica didn't have enough centers available) but they're grooming him as a winger, so he won't win a spot on the team as a center anytime soon.

[Lancaster]

Could Gaunce just be a victim of being pigeonholed?  I mean, when drafted, he was supposed to be a Linden, Malhotra, type of player.  Someone more known as being a clutch performer, great at faceoffs and as a defensive stalwart.... not necessarily an energy, power forward, crashing and banging kinda guy (yeah, I know Linden was pretty physical when he was younger).

As much as everyone wants Gaunce to someday be a 6'2, 220lb physical force.... that just might not be his game.  No point trying to fit a square peg in a round hole IMO.

[aGENT]

2 hours ago, guntrix said:

I don't understand the thought that we'd "rush" Gaunce when McCann and Virtanen were practically rushed themselves.

Because Utica isn't an option and they're more or less on par with Gaunce in their own respective skill sets. 

There's no reason to call Gaunce up. There are reasons for keeping them up. If you choose to ignore them...

[guntrix]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Because Utica isn't an option and they're more or less on par with Gaunce in their own respective skill sets. 

There's no reason to call Gaunce up. There are reasons for keeping them up. If you choose to ignore them...

Jared and Jake probably have a higher ceiling than Gaunce but that doesn't mean that they're more refined.

It's just ironic to use the word "rush" because that term actually applies way more to Jared and Jake than to Gaunce. 

Gaunce has showed all the progress we'd wish we'd see in him over the past couple years. Theoretically, he may be ready to make a bigger impact in the NHL than the other two if given a chance. Heck, didn't he score a goal in his first game? 

[elvis15]

And Lee Sweatt scored in his first NHL game too, but that's no reason to put him ahead of anyone else. Gaunce doesn't have the upside McCann and Virtanen do at this point, so making sure he can be a successful NHL'er is particularly important. Virtanen and McCann are doing something at the NHL, but they'd likely do more at the AHL if they could go there. But that's the issue, that they can't right now and going back to junior likely won't be as useful as it was to Gaunce in his time.

[guntrix]

49 minutes ago, elvis15 said:

And Lee Sweatt scored in his first NHL game too, but that's no reason to put him ahead of anyone else. Gaunce doesn't have the upside McCann and Virtanen do at this point, so making sure he can be a successful NHL'er is particularly important. Virtanen and McCann are doing something at the NHL, but they'd likely do more at the AHL if they could go there. But that's the issue, that they can't right now and going back to junior likely won't be as useful as it was to Gaunce in his time.

There's a huge (and I mean HUGE) difference between upside and NHL readiness. 

Sure Jake has more upside than Gaunce but that doesn't mean he's more ready NOW. 

Obviously, the main reason JB kept Jake with the team was because he felt he'd develop faster in the NHL. This does not = higher productivity than a more NHL ready prospect. 

And yeah, McCann is doing something in the NHL but it'd be a stretch to generalize Jake's two good games and five points into that same premise. 

[elvis15]

Way to ignore everything else I said.

Who says Jake isn't similarly as ready for the NHL as Gaunce is? Even if you want to debate that, the extra constraints I noted give an advantage. None of what you're talking about says anything that Gaunce would do more for us in the NHL than anyone we have here currently.

It's even more of a stretch to point out a goal in Gaunce's first game as a premise that he'd be better. Theoretically, of course.

[guntrix]

28 minutes ago, elvis15 said:

Way to ignore everything else I said.

Who says Jake isn't similarly as ready for the NHL as Gaunce is? Even if you want to debate that, the extra constraints I noted give an advantage. None of what you're talking about says anything that Gaunce would do more for us in the NHL than anyone we have here currently.

It's even more of a stretch to point out a goal in Gaunce's first game as a premise that he'd be better. Theoretically, of course.

Wasn't ignoring what you said, just pointing out the one major flaw in your argument. I repeat, upside does not equal readiness.

Jake, IMO, is not as ready for the NHL as Gaunce is simply because he hasn't gone through the motions of adequately developing a pro game that Gaunce has gone through. This is heavily apparent in Jake's huge learning curve so far this season. His inclusion in the Canucks was more because JB didn't want him in juniors than anything else. In that sense, Gaunce would probably do more and would be more responsible in his zone than Jake, given his development process.

Gaunce's first game was a point, it wasn't a premise. There's a difference.

[Alexandre]

6 hours ago, tyhee said:

Travis Green on TSNRadio commented on a number of prospects.  About Gaunce he indicated he'd slipped a bit recently, that he needs to play hard every night, that his best game in his last 7 or 8 games was last night playing LW and that he sees him ultimately as a left winger.

 

 

Green also said it was probably because he was suffering from an injury.

[aGENT]

7 hours ago, guntrix said:

Wasn't ignoring what you said, just pointing out the one major flaw in your argument. I repeat, upside does not equal readiness.

And the flaw in yours, is that upside doesn't equal less readiness either. 

Gaunce is slightly more polished. I'll grant you that. But it's hardly a night and day situation. That said, Jake also brings different things that are more developed at an NHL level even if his overall game is less polished.

It also ignores that those different things Jake brings are otherwise blatantly lacking from our NHL lineup/prospect pool (at least until the Etem trade). Gaunce's skill set is simply more redundant (though that is changing with the exodus of vets as well *cough Higgins*). 

[tyhee]

8 hours ago, Alexandre said:

Green also said it was probably because he was suffering from an injury.

I think that's a severe overstatement of what Green mentioned about the "little nagging injury." 

Starting at 9:08 Green said (leaving out some of the "and" and "uh" to put it together):

Brendan, his game's slipped a little bit lately here I think. He went up, I thought played well for Vancouver, came back, had a little nagging injury that I think has affected him a little bit, we've been moving him around due to injuries and callups, played him at center again for probably, it might have been 5 to 7 games. Ultimately I still foresee him being a left winger. I've got him back on the wing now. I thought he played his best game last night probably in the last 7 or 8 games which is good to see, we've got to get him back to playing that quick power forward game, winning puck battles, going hard to the net, using his shot. He got away from that a little bit, that's not alarming, that's part of it, he's a 2^nd year pro, took a big step over last year, from last year to this year. He's still having a very good season for us, I'm not sure of his point total. I try not to get caught up in that. I think last night I think he played close to 20 minutes for us and when he plays like he did last night he's not far away from being in the NHL, we've just got to get it so that's what he is every night, it's not play 10 good games then 5 bad ones, it's have 14 good games, then maybe have an average game and then you've got yourself a good NHL player.

You can find the interview by going to http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040-i-1410, and under TSN 1040/1410 FEATURED clicking on Green: Jordan Subban has a chance to be a good NHL player.  The link is

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040-i-1410/green-jordan-subban-has-a-chance-to-be-a-good-nhl-player-1.422944

 

[UticaHockey]

21 minutes ago, tyhee said:

I think that's a severe overstatement of what Green mentioned about the "little nagging injury." 

Starting at 9:08 Green said (leaving out some of the "and" and "uh" to put it together):

Brendan, his game's slipped a little bit lately here I think. He went up, I thought played well for Vancouver, came back, had a little nagging injury that I think has affected him a little bit, we've been moving him around due to injuries and callups, played him at center again for probably, it might have been 5 to 7 games. Ultimately I still foresee him being a left winger. I've got him back on the wing now. I thought he played his best game last night probably in the last 7 or 8 games which is good to see, we've got to get him back to playing that quick power forward game, winning puck battles, going hard to the net, using his shot. He got away from that a little bit, that's not alarming, that's part of it, he's a 2^nd year pro, took a big step over last year, from last year to this year. He's still having a very good season for us, I'm not sure of his point total. I try not to get caught up in that. I think last night I think he played close to 20 minutes for us and when he plays like he did last night he's not far away from being in the NHL, we've just got to get it so that's what he is every night, it's not play 10 good games then 5 bad ones, it's have 14 good games, then maybe have an average game and then you've got yourself a good NHL player.

You can find the interview by going to http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040-i-1410, and under TSN 1040/1410 FEATURED clicking on Green: Jordan Subban has a chance to be a good NHL player.  The link is

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040-i-1410/green-jordan-subban-has-a-chance-to-be-a-good-nhl-player-1.422944

 

Exactly what the posters from Utica who have watched him play have been saying.  Gaunce needs to bring it every night.

[elvis15]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

And the flaw in yours, is that upside doesn't equal less readiness either. 

Gaunce is slightly more polished. I'll grant you that. But it's hardly a night and day situation. That said, Jake also brings different things that are more developed at an NHL level even if his overall game is less polished.

It also ignores that those different things Jake brings are otherwise blatantly lacking from our NHL lineup/prospect pool (at least until the Etem trade). Gaunce's skill set is simply more redundant (though that is changing with the exodus of vets as well *cough Higgins*). 

Bingo. Not to mention they play different wings, Virtanen can fit in the top or bottom 6 where Gaunce is more of a bottom 6 only, etc., etc., etc. on top of the requirement for NHL only versus the option for the AHL. This is not a conspiracy - and that's coming from a Gaunce fan who wants to see him play.

[Gaudette Celly]

17 hours ago, HK Phooey said:

In case anyone wanted to know, I'm trying to find a place somewhere else in our organization for this yahoo, but none of the other department heads are willing to take him off my hands and onto their team.  

JB feels for you.

[Fred65]

Seems to me the times I've heard Gaunce speak he takes a view of his responsability as a centre pretty seriously. He posititions himslef in a spot where he can read and react ie he doesn't chase the puck. It would appear that this is what Green and management want from him....high energy rather than smart. It'll be a shame if they misuse him and let him go because he doesn't play the style they want. A good coach puts him ina position to maximise his skills rather than chnage the player to fit what they want. Round peg square hole :-)

[elvis15]

High energy and smart are not mutually exclusive.

Edited January 15, 2016 by elvis15

[Alexandre]

12 hours ago, tyhee said:

I think that's a severe overstatement of what Green mentioned about the "little nagging injury." 

Starting at 9:08 Green said (leaving out some of the "and" and "uh" to put it together):

Brendan, his game's slipped a little bit lately here I think. He went up, I thought played well for Vancouver, came back, had a little nagging injury that I think has affected him a little bit, we've been moving him around due to injuries and callups, played him at center again for probably, it might have been 5 to 7 games. Ultimately I still foresee him being a left winger. I've got him back on the wing now. I thought he played his best game last night probably in the last 7 or 8 games which is good to see, we've got to get him back to playing that quick power forward game, winning puck battles, going hard to the net, using his shot. He got away from that a little bit, that's not alarming, that's part of it, he's a 2^nd year pro, took a big step over last year, from last year to this year. He's still having a very good season for us, I'm not sure of his point total. I try not to get caught up in that. I think last night I think he played close to 20 minutes for us and when he plays like he did last night he's not far away from being in the NHL, we've just got to get it so that's what he is every night, it's not play 10 good games then 5 bad ones, it's have 14 good games, then maybe have an average game and then you've got yourself a good NHL player.

You can find the interview by going to http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040-i-1410, and under TSN 1040/1410 FEATURED clicking on Green: Jordan Subban has a chance to be a good NHL player.  The link is

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040-i-1410/green-jordan-subban-has-a-chance-to-be-a-good-nhl-player-1.422944

 

Didn't mean to overstate the "little nagging injury". Just wanted to point out that Green felt that it was a factor affecting Gaunce's play. Your original post did not contain this but only his slippage in play which seemed misleading.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Alexandre