Brendan Gaunce | C/LW

[bigbadcanucks]

   

Yeah, and what did he do the year prior? 75pts in 49 games, Gaunce, not even in the same ballpark at the same age.

Getzlaf played different type of role from his 75 PT season to 54 PT season. In his last year of junior, he went back with the stated purpose of learning how to play the full 200' of ice.

There are weaknesses to Gaunce's game (i.e., he's not mean enough...he needs to work on his acceleration and explosiveness), but he's already playing an NHL-style game (i.e., a positional/defense-first game). So he gives up something on offence to be the shut-down guy on all the junior teams he's played on...big frickin' deal.

Me, I'm glad that he's learning all this in the OHL rather than spending 2-3 years trying to figure this out as a pro...just my opinion, but Gaunce is better prepared to step into the pro ranks than Brad Richardson and Chris Kelly ever were.

[UFCanuck]

   

Yeah, and what did he do the year prior? 75pts in 49 games, Gaunce, not even in the same ballpark at the same age.

So Getzlaf regressed.

That makes my case stronger, try again.

[DeNiro]

   

Yeah, and what did he do the year prior? 75pts in 49 games, Gaunce, not even in the same ballpark at the same age.

Different type of players. Gaunce is a shutdown guy along the lines of a Kesler or O'Reilly.

Getzlaf is an offensive first guy. It's not likely he'll ever win the Selke.

There's plenty of examples of star players who only put up a point per game in juniors. It means nothing really. It's how players translate their games to the next levels that matters.

[DeNiro]

Brad Richardson is a fringe 3rd line center, 97 points in 68 games last year of junior. Faster, better scorer, more aggressive mindset.

You really put too much stock into junior numbers.

Bet you haven't watched Gaunce play a single game, so your opinion doesn't mean a whole lot.

[WonderTwinPowers]

Gimme something legit if you don't agree

Go Canucks Go Go? Is that you?

[Honeydew]

Watch Gaunce win the calder in his rookie year, then all haters disappear back into their holes.

[Piggy Bank]

Watch Gaunce win the calder in his rookie year, then all haters disappear back into their holes.

lol shutup

[JohnLocke]

You just gonna sit back and let new versions of angry whoppers come out every few months and not try them?

if that's what it's gonna take...

[Gerbera]

Watch Gaunce win the calder in his rookie year, then all haters disappear back into their holes.

I will bet the fans will still jump on him the moment he had an off game.....

I really like Gaunce and I think he has the best tools to be the best prospect out of the higher end guys for us (Horvat, Shinkaruk, Jensen). Although I agree with his philosophy of being in position than waste energy, he needs to find a way to get both of those working in NHL as players are both fast and good positionally. I think he might need sometime to figure how to play pro, but once he get it, he will be the best out of our recent picks.

Just my thoughts.

[CANUCKS FTW!]

I have a question. Can Gaunce fight? Seeing the B's beat up the Red Wings the same way they beat us up in 2011, I hope we got bigger and meaner.

[Millerdraft]

I was thinking of replying to BurgerKing before I saw he joined two weeks ago, lol...

Seems like every once in awhile in this thread there is a new Gaunce hater.

I still remember when dangler6969 would always be in here hating.

Go Canucks Go Go? Is that you?

This. It's the same regurgitated argument.

[How the west was won]

Not sure if this has been said yet but it does need to be said.

Gaunce is likely to be a thirdline shutdown center. With his shot, positioning and IQ he will also have the tools to transition the game well from the d zone to the o zone as well has create scoring opportunities off the rush with his shot, being the trailing coming late into the zone.

Having a third line center like that is what teams dream of. Think of the year with Malhotra and how his play allowed Kesler's defensive duties to lighten. Gaunce will do the same thing for Horvat.

Regardless of where he plays he will be hard to play against. He's big and strong and in the way, he doesn't need to be "mean" to be affective.

[WonderTwinPowers]

I have a question. Can Gaunce fight? Seeing the B's beat up the Red Wings the same way they beat us up in 2011, I hope we got bigger and meaner.

He's fought a couple times and can handle himself. He doesn't look for it, pretty sure all of his fights have been from defending teammates.

[WiDeN]

Not sure if this has been said yet but it does need to be said.

Gaunce is likely to be a thirdline shutdown center. With his shot, positioning and IQ he will also have the tools to transition the game well from the d zone to the o zone as well has create scoring opportunities off the rush with his shot, being the trailing coming late into the zone.

Having a third line center like that is what teams dream of. Think of the year with Malhotra and how his play allowed Kesler's defensive duties to lighten. Gaunce will do the same thing for Horvat.

Regardless of where he plays he will be hard to play against. He's big and strong and in the way, he doesn't need to be "mean" to be affective.

I have only seen a couple games of Gaunce in junior, but listening to guys describe his game keeps making me think of Malholtra. Malholtra was very fast, but other than that is the comparison there?

[Warhippy]

No. Your comparing Glass to Malkin and Crosby... Im comparing Gaunce to McDavid, Burakovsky etc. Now you could say McDavid is the next Malkin/Crosby type, but in the OHL players a greatly smaller, more inexperienced and nervous. Gaunce is 3 years older than McDavid, bigger, stronger, and more experienced by two full seasons. All im saying is he should simply be able to put up much better stats when they blow teams out by wide margins even in the playoffs.

When you have Burakosvky McDavid Fox and Brown all 1.88 1.60 1.77 etc point per game averages as your line mates, you should be able to pull off better than 1.06 with top 6 minutes.

Why isn't Toews producing more than?

Gaunces job isn't putting up points. it is winning faceoffs, shutting down people controlling the play and stopping scoring chances. He does all of this admirably while his wingers do the point getting.

[Fred65]

These are the play-off stats. Gaunce is putting up better numbers than Horvat., & in only behind Fox in total Pts

Name Position DOB Age Team GP G A P PPG +/- PIM

Bo Horvat C 1995-04-05 19 London 9 5 6 11 1.22 0 4

Dane Fox C 1993-10-13 20 Erie 9 7 9 16 1.78 7 12

Brendan Gaunce C 1994-03-25 20 Erie 9 5 9 14 1.56 8 8

Cole Cassels C 1995-05-04 18 Oshawa 8 6 7 13 1.63 4 8

Miles Liberati D 1995-06-21 18 North Bay10 0 1 1 0.10 0 6

Evan McEneny D 1994-05-22 19 Kingston 7 1 1 2 0.29 1 6

Edited April 21, 2014 by Fred65

[Piggy Bank]

Why isn't Toews producing more than?

Gaunces job isn't putting up points. it is winning faceoffs, shutting down people controlling the play and stopping scoring chances. He does all of this admirably while his wingers do the point getting.

Let ppg = points per game

because nobody puts up ppg numbers of 1.88 etc in the nhl . on his team i think the highest ppg is...oh wait. only one person has a ppg average of one. everyone else is less than that. so think before you post.

That is a rediculous comparison because Gaunce has linemates with crazy point per game avg's and Toews only has Kane who averages a 1 ppg.

For this to be a fair comparison, then:

Let Brown = Kane/ Kane wouldve had 129 points in 69 games.

Let Fox = Sharp/ Sharp would have had 125 points in 78 games.

Let McDavid = Hossa/ Hossa would have had 106 points in his 70 games.

So before you say why doesn't toews have more points? He is actually 3rd in scoring on his team, with a very high ppg avg compared to his team mates. Where as Gaunce does not. Gaunce has people on his team with ppg averages who if they were in the nhl would be better than crosby. and im pretty sure if toews had players such as that, he would have a higher ppg..

Edited April 21, 2014 by CanucksVia

[Gyllenhaal]

^ I think Warhippy is trying to say that Toews job is to shutdown the top lines while at the same time getting the puck to his wingers so they can score.

This is the same job that Gaunce has, shutdown the top line and let your wingers worry about scoring. Yet he still manages to be over a ppg in the regular season and the playoffs.

Also you can't compare point totals of an OHL player to an NHL player. Completely different leagues, and level of competition.

[FlyLow_]

I dunno, his first 3 strides and lateral agility are pretty piss poor. I don't think he'll be much of anything until he addresses that, especially offensively. He's not going to have the IQ and size advantage he has in junior

[Smashian Kassian]

So he's eligible for the AHL next year then right?

If so that will be great for his development to be playing with pro's even if he doesn't crack our lineup.

Utica should have a good team next year.