What sports writers don't seem to see

[iceman64]

Ok maybe not all of them since Bobby Mc seems to know how Benning just solved a HUGE issue from the tail end of last season with signing Train and the signing of Guddy this season. It was painful to watch opposing teams get 2nd and 3rd chances and score from in front of the net. Edler didn't seem to be able to crease clear all that well but better than some on other teams but thankfully Tanev helped keep it out of our end but then Pedan helped somewhat but that was it for our crease clearing abilities on 2 lines only. Opposed to now that we have the twins (twin towers that is) so definately better sized this yr and it WILL make a big difference and that's why Benning signed them both and i see goals against going WAY down!!!

 

With the swedish line playing now already together and scoring, Horv and baer with another yrs experience and sutter back will send us up the ranks plus the addition of Rodin...  so goals going up for and  that drop in goals against will pretty much be the deciding factor and you can quote me on that at the end of the season! A good scenario to win a lot more games!  

 

To say that we are going to finish almost last-ish makes me laugh..  why don't supposed sports writers etc don't get it and Benning does shouldn't surprise anyone.... I'm betting we'll do in the middle at the end of the season and with miller's contract gone next yr and 2nd line issue dealt (for sure) with Boeser or cap money spent on free agent via cap space next yr and a pretty good 3rd-4rd line among the whole league then i'm really want to see what this team can do.   

 

Looking forward to seeing how it goes this year and will love to see the writers get a "ya? NOT!" when we do a lot better then they say!  Honestly...  just because they write something doesn't mean it's going to happen if they don't take a closer deeper look at what's being done and miss things that change outcomes of games.

 

 

[mpt]

Benning didn't sign Gud, he's under contract for another year signed by Florida.   The reality is our forward group is lacking secondary scoring and we are a borderline playoff team; not a contender.

 

Are we a bottom 5 team like a lot think?  Only if we have everything go wrong like last year

[iceman64]

Just now, mpt said:

Benning didn't sign Gud, he's under contract for another year signed by Florida.   The reality is our forward group is lacking secondary scoring and we are a borderline playoff team; not a contender.

 

Are we a bottom 5 team like a lot think?  Only if we have everything go wrong like last year

he's on the team thanks to Benning....   He's building a Bruins defense who at it's best usually didn't let many second and third chances get banged in. Anyway, ok not signed but responsible for.. my bad...

[PrinceGeorgeGoon]

Personally I think there is alot of plagiarism and plain ole faking it. Now if the Canucks finish dead last I lose nothing and it doesn't matter. They won't. 

 

It seems to me, "writers"  copy sportscasters, follow social media, message boards, and other reputable writers. There are rumors, articles based on conjecture and rankings with 0 data. Very little of it seems original and with losing hamhuis and McCann and otherwise making massive improvements... we only get better.

 

It's been beat to death but here's my positive side of this speculation.

 

Is it a rebuild, retool, reboot... yes. Was last year the bottom... maybe. Maybe not. 

 

I know my team and were better. 

There are a few reasons the canucks are in great shape. 

 

1) we have prospects ! 

2) the media is sleeping on horvat, baer and Sutter.

3) Gudbranson and Erikson. 

4) Markstrom and Hutton.

5) Benning seems to be settling in to a solid scouting GM.

6) we are at the bottom of almost every poll, ranking and projection and stand to suprise. 

7) F#$K em.

 

[AlwaysACanuckFan]

10 minutes ago, PrinceGeorgeGoon said:

Personally I think there is alot of plagiarism and plain ole faking it. Now if the Canucks finish dead last I lose nothing and it doesn't matter. The won't. 

 

It seems to me, "writers"  copy other sportscasters, follow social media, message boards, and other reputable writers. There are rumors, articles based on conjecture and rankings with 0 data.

 

Is it a rebuild, retool, reboot... yes. Was last year the bottom... maybe. Maybe not. 

 

I know my team and were better. 

There are a few reasons the canucks are in great shape. 

 

1) we have prospects ! 

2) the media is sleeping on horvat, baer and Sutter.

3) Gudbranson and Erikson. 

4) Markstrom and Hutton.

5) Benning seems to be settling in to a solid scouting GM.

6) we are at the bottom of almost every poll, ranking and projection and stand to suprise. 

7) F#$K em.

 

I agree with this especially number 7!

[Aircool]

17 minutes ago, PrinceGeorgeGoon said:

Personally I think there is alot of plagiarism and plain ole faking it. Now if the Canucks finish dead last I lose nothing and it doesn't matter. The won't. 

 

It seems to me, "writers"  copy other sportscasters, follow social media, message boards, and other reputable writers. There are rumors, articles based on conjecture and rankings with 0 data.

 

Is it a rebuild, retool, reboot... yes. Was last year the bottom... maybe. Maybe not. 

 

I know my team and were better. 

There are a few reasons the canucks are in great shape. 

 

1) we have prospects ! 

2) the media is sleeping on horvat, baer and Sutter.

3) Gudbranson and Erikson. 

4) Markstrom and Hutton.

5) Benning seems to be settling in to a solid scouting GM.

6) we are at the bottom of almost every poll, ranking and projection and stand to suprise. 

7) F#$K em.

 

I mean, I happen to disagree with about half of your reasons that we are supposedly in great shape.

 

I'm not particularly excited by our prospect pool, it's pretty lackluster. We are in the process of having two franchise players retire in the next couple years and these doesn't seem to be any replacements lined up for them. I'm not willing to appoint Boeser as a sure-fire first line player in the NHL yet, although I'm hopeful.I feel extremely comfortable in saying that there are more teams in the league with better prospect pools than us, than there are teams with worse prospect pools than us. In English, our prospect pool is average at best.

 

Erik Gudbranson is a big defender, that's about it. Being big doesn't automatically make you a strong defender, just like being small doesn't automatically make you a bad defender, see Chris Tanev for an example of this. While Gudbranson can throw a good hit with the best of them (at least I'd imagine he can), that doesn't mean he has a positive impact as a defender, statistics say that he is about as good defensively as a bottom pair defenseman. Now I'm not a huge fan of statistics, but I'm not on the Gudbranson bandwagon... I haven't seen him play for the Canucks yet, and I'm not just going to jump on the bandwagon because I'm a fanboy or because he's big... As for Eriksson... well how many years until he is grossly overpaid? 2? This contract is going to hurt in 2-3 years. What are we going to win in the next 2-3 years? Nothing. Completely idiotic signing.

 

Being "solid" in one of many facets of being a GM isn't really a ringing endorsement. We all know that Benning is essentially incompetent at everything except scouting. As a scout, I think he is great, but that's hardly GM material. I've said this in a previous post... Jim Benning is the best assistant GM in the NHL, too bad Francesco Aquilini is the worst GM in the NHL... They cancel out quite fiercely.

 

Maybe the media sees the obvious facts about the stupid decisions that our management makes on a monthly basis... Maybe it's time you open your eyes to the obvious truth, instead of letting your fanaticism take over...

[PrinceGeorgeGoon]

2 minutes ago, Aircool said:

I mean, I happen to disagree with about half of your reasons that we are supposedly in great shape.

 

I'm not particularly excited by our prospect pool, it's pretty lackluster. We are in the process of having two franchise players retire in the next couple years and these doesn't seem to be any replacements lined up for them. I'm not willing to appoint Boeser as a sure-fire first line player in the NHL yet, although I'm hopeful.I feel extremely comfortable in saying that there are more teams in the league with better prospect pools than us, than there are teams with worse prospect pools than us. In English, our prospect pool is average at best.

 

Erik Gudbranson is a big defender, that's about it. Being big doesn't automatically make you a strong defender, just like being small doesn't automatically make you a bad defender, see Chris Tanev for an example of this. While Gudbranson can throw a good hit with the best of them (at least I'd imagine he can), that doesn't mean he has a positive impact as a defender, statistics say that he is about as good defensively as a bottom pair defenseman. Now I'm not a huge fan of statistics, but I'm not on the Gudbranson bandwagon... I haven't seen him play for the Canucks yet, and I'm not just going to jump on the bandwagon because I'm a fanboy or because he's big... As for Eriksson... well how many years until he is grossly overpaid? 2? This contract is going to hurt in 2-3 years. What are we going to win in the next 2-3 years? Nothing. Completely idiotic signing.

 

Being "solid" in one of my facets of being a GM isn't really a ringing endorsement. We all know that Benning is essentially incompetent at everything except scouting. As a scout, I think he is great, but that's hardly GM material. I've said this in a previous post... Jim Benning is the best assistant GM in the NHL, too bad Francesco Aquilini is the worst GM in the NHL... They cancel out quite fiercely.

 

Maybe the media sees the obvious facts about the stupid decisions that our management makes on a monthly basis... Maybe it's time you open your eyes to the obvious truth, instead of letting your fanaticism take over...

When players get hurt, we will lean on these prospects.  Until that happens you don't really know what you have. 

 

The best prediction I have seen has Horvat at 40 points. I think he's more like 60. His second half a the season was vastly superior to the first. 

 

Big vs small doesn't matter but when teams steam roll your talent and do so with impunity it sucks. See Vancouver vs Calgary playoff match up. When Derek Dorsett is the toughest canuck and the only guy who will do something, it's not nearly enough. 

 

Benning overpaid sbisa (so far), overpaid Dorsett  (they love him),  those are fairly safe.  

Kassian trade...

Shinkaruk trade...

Meh.

Lack of deadline deals for hamhuis and vrbata..

 

Yeah I can see your issue with him. 

 

Thing is were going to have some guys signed to our club who will play games from the later draft rounds. I can't prove it but I believe it.

 

I also think it's like an old.boys club and Benning just had to take his licks and learn the respect of the other gms. 

 

The Vancouver Canucks have the deepest prospect pool they have had in a very long time. When Benning came there was very little in the way of exciting talent. Give the guy one more year and it could possibly contend with what other teams have been building for years. 

 

It's also true that you can't say Eriksson is overpaid in 2 years when he hasn't even suited up one game yet.

 

Don't worry we got this. 

I'll go on a limb and say we finish no lower than 24th. No higher than 15th.  

 

[Aircool]

15 minutes ago, PrinceGeorgeGoon said:

When players get hurt, we will lean on these prospects.  Until that happens you don't really know what you have. 

 

The best prediction I have seen has Horvat at 40 points. I think he's more like 60. His second half a the season was vastly superior to the first. 

 

Big vs small doesn't matter but when teams steam roll your talent and do so with impunity it sucks. See Vancouver vs Calgary playoff match up. When Derek Dorsett is the toughest canuck and the only guy who will do something, it's not nearly enough. 

 

Benning overpaid sbisa (so far), overpaid Dorsett  (they love him),  those are fairly safe.  

Kassian trade...

Shinkaruk trade...

Meh.

Lack of deadline deals for hamhuis and vrbata..

 

Yeah I can see your issue with him. 

 

Thing is were going to have some guys signed to our club who will play games from the later draft rounds. I can't prove it but I believe it.

 

I also think it's like an old.boys club and Benning just had to take his licks and learn the respect of the other gms. 

 

The Vancouver Canucks have the deepest prospect pool they have had in a very long time. When Benning came there was very little in the way of exciting talent. Give the guy one more year and it could possibly contend with what other teams have been building for years. 

 

It's also true that you can't say Eriksson is overpaid in 2 years when he hasn't even suited up one game yet.

 

Don't worry we got this. 

I'll go on a limb and say we finish no lower than 24th. No higher than 15th.  

 

Remember when people thought Jannik Hansen was going to break out and be a perennial 20 goal scorer? Didn't work out so well did it? I like the player, but he's a 3rd line winger through and through. Not saying Bo Horvat has plateau'd at such a young age... But to expect 60 points is ridiculous. We should be happy if he breaks 50... But even that I'd doubt.

 

I'm not saying it's a sin to get bigger, I'm fine with that. But you make an assumption that Gudbranson was both worth the cost of acquisition and is a shutdown quality defenseman.... Yet none of the evidence suggests that. People just assume he is a good defender because he is big, that's not evidence of anything other than he is big. Chris Tanev is good defensively and Jared Cowen is horrible... Size isn't really a factor in terms of evaluating how good a player is defensively, it just helps with hitting harder and clearing the crease. These aren't insignificant, but they hardly determine success as a defenseman.

 

We don't need more bottom 6 forwards and bottom pairing defenseman. We have 2 third lines and a 4th line. We're fine in that department. Our issue moving into the future is acquirining Top-6 forwards and Top pairing defensemen. They aren't easy to acquire and we have virtually no such prospects in the pipeline. Benning is doing a good job at picking out players who look to be able to play in the NHL one day, and they will do well as the players that surround the core... We are just missing the core (it's kind of important.)

 

Benning isn't getting his licks in as the new guy to the old boys club, he's just taking a licking. While I generally don't like John Chayka's trades in Arizona, some media members do and according to them anyways I don't see how he's taking his licks... This is a completely garbage statement, it means nothing and you have no logic to support it. It's just a machination to justify JB's incompetence when it comes to trading.

 

There is still very little in the way of "exciting" talent in our prospect pool, it just has some depth in terms of having players with NHL potential... Still many other teams like Winnipeg are just swimming in far better prospects. Anaheim is another great example.

 

Of course you can say that Eriksson at 31, will not be worth his 6 year contract that really he probably is barely worth today. He'll have a good year or two playing with the Sedins then age will catch up to him, and simultaneously with a Sedin retirement he will fall off of a cliff. Everyone here knows it's coming, it's a trainwreck waiting to happen. Complete waste of future cap space. 

 

So you think that trading away picks and a young player in Jared McCann, who for the record I said about 6 months ago now I thought would be traded at the draft, and that I wanted traded at the draft (just not for a player like Gudbranson), to acquire a Gudbranson is worth it to finish 24th? Just so we can get a crappier draft choice? I mean it's really hard to justify that, or at least it should be.

[chon derry]

22 minutes ago, Aircool said:

 

 

So you think that trading away picks and a young player in Jared McCann, who for the record I said about 6 months ago now I thought would be traded at the draft, and that I wanted traded at the draft (just not for a player like Gudbranson), to acquire a Gudbranson is worth it to finish 24th? Just so we can get a crappier draft choice? 

so who should they have tried to acquire? if not gudbrason. they addressed a glaring need , last years d core how'd that work out . measuring the gudbranson trade to the edmonton trade jb didn't do so bad. we simply didn't  have good enough or enough prospects to make good trades , our prospects are deal sweeteners at best. as for worrying about finishing 24th and a lousier draft pick meh, i'll arbitrarily say we finish 16 to 18 oa ,not that i'm worried about how that effects our draft pick, I'm happy with  the acquirements . the pace of them coming to us can't be sped up, it is what it is, a slow process.

[Hortankin]

Sports writer don't see anything the Canucks do apparently. That or they're just plain stupid. Mark my words, unless we have extremely bad luck (worse than last year) with injuries we won't finish bottom 3. We're too much better on our backend and the Sedins now have a legit linemate. Playoffs is what we should be dices sing because we have a great shot at making it there

[mj vic]

At the end of the day, who gives a rat's ass what the sports writers say or think.  Way too much emphasis by CDC is put on what others are saying or not saying regarding the Canucks.  

We are what we are, a team going through a transitional stage.  That being said, I personally think we have a team that with a little luck could shock those that have written us off.   

[MJDDawg]

How is this different from the exact same thread here:

 

 

[Shift-4]

1 hour ago, MJDDawg said:

How is this different from the exact same thread here:

 

 

It isn't

[riffraff]

6 hours ago, Aircool said:

Remember when people thought Jannik Hansen was going to break out and be a perennial 20 goal scorer? Didn't work out so well did it? I like the player, but he's a 3rd line winger through and through. Not saying Bo Horvat has plateau'd at such a young age... But to expect 60 points is ridiculous. We should be happy if he breaks 50... But even that I'd doubt.

 

I'm not saying it's a sin to get bigger, I'm fine with that. But you make an assumption that Gudbranson was both worth the cost of acquisition and is a shutdown quality defenseman.... Yet none of the evidence suggests that. People just assume he is a good defender because he is big, that's not evidence of anything other than he is big. Chris Tanev is good defensively and Jared Cowen is horrible... Size isn't really a factor in terms of evaluating how good a player is defensively, it just helps with hitting harder and clearing the crease. These aren't insignificant, but they hardly determine success as a defenseman.

 

We don't need more bottom 6 forwards and bottom pairing defenseman. We have 2 third lines and a 4th line. We're fine in that department. Our issue moving into the future is acquirining Top-6 forwards and Top pairing defensemen. They aren't easy to acquire and we have virtually no such prospects in the pipeline. Benning is doing a good job at picking out players who look to be able to play in the NHL one day, and they will do well as the players that surround the core... We are just missing the core (it's kind of important.)

 

Benning isn't getting his licks in as the new guy to the old boys club, he's just taking a licking. While I generally don't like John Chayka's trades in Arizona, some media members do and according to them anyways I don't see how he's taking his licks... This is a completely garbage statement, it means nothing and you have no logic to support it. It's just a machination to justify JB's incompetence when it comes to trading.

 

There is still very little in the way of "exciting" talent in our prospect pool, it just has some depth in terms of having players with NHL potential... Still many other teams like Winnipeg are just swimming in far better prospects. Anaheim is another great example.

 

Of course you can say that Eriksson at 31, will not be worth his 6 year contract that really he probably is barely worth today. He'll have a good year or two playing with the Sedins then age will catch up to him, and simultaneously with a Sedin retirement he will fall off of a cliff. Everyone here knows it's coming, it's a trainwreck waiting to happen. Complete waste of future cap space. 

 

So you think that trading away picks and a young player in Jared McCann, who for the record I said about 6 months ago now I thought would be traded at the draft, and that I wanted traded at the draft (just not for a player like Gudbranson), to acquire a Gudbranson is worth it to finish 24th? Just so we can get a crappier draft choice? I mean it's really hard to justify that, or at least it should be.

You're not seeing the reason for the GUD trade.  If you haven't seen the glaring need for a physical, crease clearing dman, with leadership qualities, pedigree and upside then you can't have been watching the Canucks since Jovo left.  I'm not comparing the two per se but my point is our back end has been far too soft for far too long.

 

ftr I was really high on Jared McCann, or at least his seeming potential but there was plenty of development on the physical side to be done and you have to give to get.  Sure the trade may swing in in floridas favour down the road if Jared turns into the player I, we, think he can be but it's still and "if".

 

i think any gm with a defensive need like the Canucks have had would do that trade.

 

i re emphasize. The crease will be cleared. The goalies will be better protected as far as the oppositions rite of passage through the crease so far for years.  The scrums will be be policed far better.  You can't tell me you have enjoyed watching LA slap our team around in our own crease while Edler and tanev look the other way.  No slight to them really.  It's just not their game.

 

youre right in saying that the pending sedin retirement seems ominous relative to our prospect pool but wrong on this trade. Jared maccan was not henriks replacement.

[Fanuck]

7 hours ago, iceman64 said:

 

 

With the swedish line playing now already together and scoring, Horv and baer with another yrs experience and sutter back will send us up the ranks plus the addition of Rodin...  so goals going up for and  that drop in goals against will pretty much be the deciding factor and you can quote me on that at the end of the season! A good scenario to win a lot more games!  

 

To say that we are going to finish almost last-ish makes me laugh..  why don't supposed sports writers etc don't get it and Benning does shouldn't surprise anyone.... I'm betting we'll do in the middle at the end of the season and with miller's contract gone next yr and 2nd line issue dealt (for sure) with Boeser or cap money spent on free agent via cap space next yr and a pretty good 3rd-4rd line among the whole league then i'm really want to see what this team can do.   

 

 

On one hand,  you are banking on a lot of 'fluid' pieces coming together and working out just right for this club - when has that ever worked out for us in the past?  On the other hand,  I hope you are right. 

[Fred65]

I'm of a sort of mixed opinion, some good points some questionable. First the sports writers. They are for the mostpart just regular Joe with little insight into rating players or managers. Yes they get to question managers and listen to some players but their strong point is a degree ( maybe ) in journalism and English language. They're not athletes. Players and staff do not gush trade or impactful information to them. Basically they're you and I except they get paid for their nonsense 

 

There's a number of categories where inattentive journalist fail. Vcr injuries last season was a huge factor. And journalists are choosing to look at the individual list of prospects when in fact what they're actually doing is considering youngster such as Virtanen, Horvat and heck Hutton ( 1st year pro ) as veterans. Even Baertschi at 23 and Tryamkin at 22. So while the actual roster is already very young ( 7 players under 24 on the current roster ) now you add in Boeser, Demko, Juolevi. Then we have a strong youthfull future. The journalist are looking only at a list of either vets or prospect  and not considering them combined.  

[DollarAndADream]

I couldn't care less what the media and other "analysts" seem to think.

[appleboy]

All I know is that I will be watching hockey tonight. The season is not far off . Preseason games will be starting very soon and we will all see how things turn out.

[LaBamba]

The difference between the "analysts" and the people on this board is the "analysts" don't have an "emotional" "attachment" to the team. If you have no "emotional" "attachment" to this team you will see nothing after the Sedin's Line. 

[DJSkingz]

I love that everyone is predicting us to be at the bottom.

 

When we do much better they can eat some humble pie and STFU.

 

When we do exactly as they predicted they can be smug and STFU.

 

I see it as "win win" for us. No one will see us coming.