Brendan Gaunce | C/LW

[higgyfan]

28 minutes ago, CRAZY_4_NAZZY said:

My fear is that Gaunce has a solid year and is plucked from us in the expansion draft.

 

If we took (must likely) keep safe 7 forwards

 

Daniel, Hank, Sutter, Horvat, Baertschi, Eriksson ....you have one spot...for Rodin, Gaunce, Granlund, Hansen and Etem.

 

Me thinks if Gaunce has a solid year, teams will always take a chance on a good two way big bodied forward over anything else.

A big concern for sure.   If Gaunce does have a good season, I think management will trade Hansen at the deadline along with one of the players you have mentioned.  As you pointed out:  'teams will always take a chance on a good two way big bodied forward over anything else'.  In the end, it looks like the team will lose a decent player and it will probably be one of Gaunce or Etem.

[Horvats_Big_Head]

On 9/20/2016 at 7:39 AM, wshdrvvn said:

I don't agree with you at all. He'll be with the team on a sort of part time basis this year and will be in the opening night roster next year. Barring the unforeseen of course. 

I don't agree with you at all. I see it as a huge disappointment if he is playing on a "part time basis". 

 

Its almost becoming a headache. I have been a huge Gaunce fan since he was drafted and even I am getting worried. He needs to make a statement at camp. Only time will tell. If he fails, it will be a long season for him!

[canuckledraggin]

21 minutes ago, Horvats_Big_Head said:

I don't agree with you at all. I see it as a huge disappointment if he is playing on a "part time basis". 

 

Its almost becoming a headache. I have been a huge Gaunce fan since he was drafted and even I am getting worried. He needs to make a statement at camp. Only time will tell. If he fails, it will be a long season for him!

Another season under Green, Baumgartner and King where he's the 1st line center and plays in all situations is better than trying to play his way on to the Canucks in a limited role. It's time to start keeping our prospects in the minors until they are waiver eligible. Subban and Cassels should be in that boat for 2 years until you need to make a decision on them. The next coach in Utica is going to have a young team full of prospects to try to win with. We're going to need to get lucky with our recent mid-late round draft picks and hope to follow the Detroit model.

[Rollieo Del Fuego]

Gaunce will only start the season with us if;

A)  He has a stellar camp and shows he is a better option then Granlund or Virtanen.

  or B;  we have an injury to one of the other forwards.

 

Both are very possible scenarios...

 

p.s. something weird going on with the editor...when I tried to type in a capital B and ) then when I pressed the space bar a smirky faced emoticon appeared instead of  ...did it again....weird....

[aGENT]

4 minutes ago, Rollieo Del Fuego said:

Gaunce will only start the season with us if;

A)  He has a stellar camp and shows he is a better option then Granlund or Virtanen.

  or B;  we have an injury to one of the other forwards.

 

Both are very possible scenarios...

 

p.s. something weird going on with the editor...when I tried to type in a capital B and ) then when I pressed the space bar a smirky faced emoticon appeared instead of  ...did it again....weird....

I could also see it if Rodin gets sent down on a conditioning stint.

[aqua59]

Gaunce has come to camp in premo shape and from what I heard on 1040 he's looked real good, could very well be in the line up opening night.  I think we're in for some nice surprises this season  

[BananaMash]

On 9/21/2016 at 9:46 AM, CRAZY_4_NAZZY said:

My fear is that Gaunce has a solid year and is plucked from us in the expansion draft.

 

If we took (must likely) keep safe 7 forwards

 

Daniel, Hank, Sutter, Horvat, Baertschi, Eriksson ....you have one spot...for Rodin, Gaunce, Granlund, Hansen and Etem.

 

Me thinks if Gaunce has a solid year, teams will always take a chance on a good two way big bodied forward over anything else.

 

I think we're going to lose Sbisa to the expansion draft, personally. His contract wont be bad financially for Vegas, and he's a decent enough top 6 defender. He could probably get middle pair minutes there.

 

I mean this could change if Gaunce sets the world on fire, but prime-age top-6 defensemen will probably be harder to come by.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Nice the hear Gaunce singled out by Benning as one of the guys coming to camp in the best shape. Especially given that Gaunce has added 10 lbs and now weighs 217. That added strength should help him be even more effective. Also great to hear positive reviews from his scrimmage play (usual praise for his strong positioning and awareness) and his increased footspeed (at least according to some reports).

 

He's still up against it due to the waiver risk issue. But definitely sounding like Gaunce will do everything in his power to make it a tough decision for Benning. 

 

If he wasn't waiver exempt this season, I'd imagine Gaunce would be close to a lock to make the lineup. A guy who can play centre and wing is pretty much the ideal 13th forward.

 

I'm definitely rooting for him, even though his making the team would almost certainly put somebody at waiver risk (unless Rödin goes on a conditioning assignment, which is certainly possible, as @J.R. mentioned above).

[Hairy Kneel]

Are we only allowed to lose one player then? I hope we trade Hansen and protect Gaunce. Sbisa is ok, strong defenseman but Vegas might not like the $, who knows eh.

[Maniwaki Canuck]

After last year, I take Benning at his word when he says he'll go with those who play the best and make the tough decisions that follow.  Yes, Gaunce can play LW and theoretically could be the 13th forward, but the guy most directly in his path is Granlund at 4C.  I can see Gaunce winning that spot.  It would consolidate the "heavy" lineup we're moving towards with only a minor drop-off in skill compared to Granlund. 

[Maniwaki Canuck]

7 hours ago, aqua59 said:

Gaunce has come to camp in premo shape and from what I heard on 1040 he's looked real good, could very well be in the line up opening night.  I think we're in for some nice surprises this season  

Granlund better wake up and show something or this guy is our 4C.  That would count as a nice surprise in my books. 

[Putgolzin]

On 20/09/2016 at 4:00 AM, Horvats_Big_Head said:

He's running out of time, thats for sure.

Drafted in 2012, 4 years after the fact and its time to make the team.

Either as a 4th liner or 13th forward. 

If he is going to get better then he needs to get used to playing with the big boys. 

If he doesn't make the team this year then he will have only one more year to avoid being called the b-word, bust.

Nah, he's on a nice, slow, steady arc.

He's had one and a half seasons in the A and come along really well.

Now he's slowly working his way onto the team, and doing everything that's asked of him. There's nothing to indicate that he won't continue along this line of progression.

Actually, now re-reading what you wrote, sure, I guess if it was the end of the next season (ie: 2 seasons from now) and he still hadn't progressed any further, yeah, at that point he'd probably be looking at a career in the A or in Europe.

But again, I don't see any indication that he won't continue to progress in the exact slow, steady way that he's been.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Gaunce topped Iain MacIntyre's (Vancouver Sun) list of camp standouts:

 

The third-year pro blew people away in fitness testing, then looked stronger and faster on the ice, too. All but forgotten until a good training camp last year, the forward looks very much like a guy who will play in the NHL – possibly for the Canucks on opening night.

http://vancouversun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/five-guys-we-noticed-at-canucks-training-camp

[elvis15]

I'm as big a Gaunce fan as anyone, but him not making the team out of camp isn't a big deal. He may still do it, but more time to play top 6/first line minutes in Utica and help him polish his offensive game is a good thing. He'll have plenty of time, probably starting this year by the deadline, to play in the NHL, and last year showed that progression. What we don't want though is him feeling underconfident and just trying to hang in defensively.

 

I'm pulling for him, but there are lots of good outcomes for him after camp.

[N4ZZY]

8 hours ago, Maniwaki Canuck said:

Granlund better wake up and show something or this guy is our 4C.  That would count as a nice surprise in my books. 

Think Granlund can play wing as well, and Gaunce can play wing as well. 

 

[73 Percent]

12 minutes ago, N4ZZY said:

Think Granlund can play wing as well, and Gaunce can play wing as well. 

 

Doesn't matter if they can play wing center or D. There isn't enough spots to go around. Either you show up to play or you're not seeing ice.

[N4ZZY]

1 hour ago, Gooseberries said:

Doesn't matter if they can play wing center or D. There isn't enough spots to go around. Either you show up to play or you're not seeing ice.

yeah. what i meant was if they both make it either of them can play either center or wing. 

[Phat Fingers]

17 hours ago, BananaMash said:

 

I think we're going to lose Sbisa to the expansion draft, personally. His contract wont be bad financially for Vegas, and he's a decent enough top 6 defender. He could probably get middle pair minutes there.

 

I mean this could change if Gaunce sets the world on fire, but prime-age top-6 defensemen will probably be harder to come by.

Gaunce is a keeper. He is the future and teams 'retooling on the fly' don't let young excellent prospects/players go and keep older ones.  Lots of things can happen prior to the expansion draft. No need to worry yet. 

[Hairy Kneel]

I'm thinking Gaunce can be like a young Higgins with solid 3rd 4th line play for extended years at a good price.

[terrible.dee]

On 9/18/2016 at 2:56 AM, alfstonker said:

Interesting closing statement from Gaunce in his Kenward interview.

 

The other 3 players were all asked what their goals and intentions were now and all three gave the standard answers while Gaunce said he would "be keeping that to himself"

 

I can't think of any scenario where he could not answer that question unless he has been taking MMA and he intends to beat the crap out of someone at the earliest possible opportunity. (that might be worth keeping to himself I suppose  )

 

It might be some sort of "play me or trade me" type of thing, I don't think he has a ton of leverage besides the big body and draft pedigree, but it is a fact that he has been lost in the shuffle around here.

 

Watching Virtanen have the red carpet rolled out for him while Gaunce sat in Utica had to hurt. I'm sure he was thinking "I can play at least as well as Jake did last year, why the hell is he getting a shot and not me"

 

I wouldn't fault him for that either.