Jack Rathbone | #3 | D

[Pure961089]

On 3/7/2021 at 12:36 PM, Pure961089 said:

I said it before and I'll say it again. It's a hill I'm willing to die on but Jack Rathbone should be playing instead of Juolevi.  I got shredded when I said this in training camp but in my opinion Rathbone is better. Better speed, poise, awareness and better overall offensive talent.  Juolevi even in his sheltered minutes has been subpar.  Anyway, whats up with Taxi Squad stats?  It's like they've been completely deleted, erased from reality.  They're not on the roster, not in the team stats, not anywhere.  you have to manually enter in Juolevi to find him.  I thought the Canucks had traded DiPietro, I couldn't find him anywhere.  Not in Utica, not on the Canucks roster, not in the stats coulomb, nowhere.  Airbrushed out of existence. 

Got a bit of heat for this hot take but I think it aged well.  Not like it would have mattered but Rathbone was and is the better defenceman.  Unless there’s an injury I don’t see a spot for Juolevi on the top 6.  This showcases how much of a cluster muck last year was.   Benning use of the Taxi Squad was a wasted year of development for Mickey D.    
 

OEL - Myers

Hughes - Harmonic

Rathbone - Poolman   
         Schenn 

[HockeyHarry]

Rathbone looks Canuck NHL ready imo.
 

But with OJs cheap 1way contract will make it interesting, Plus OJ can penalty kill. 
 

whos Canucks leftside Dman PK options.  
 

 

 

[Pure961089]

37 minutes ago, HockeyHarry said:

Rathbone looks Canuck NHL ready imo.
 

But with OJs cheap 1way contract will make it interesting, Plus OJ can penalty kill. 
 

whos Canucks leftside Dman PK options.  
 

 

 

I think OEL will play a lot on the PK not so much on the PP, I think they still want Hughes there. 

[Wanless]

10 hours ago, Pure961089 said:

Got a bit of heat for this hot take but I think it aged well.  Not like it would have mattered but Rathbone was and is the better defenceman.  Unless there’s an injury I don’t see a spot for Juolevi on the top 6.  This showcases how much of a cluster muck last year was.   Benning use of the Taxi Squad was a wasted year of development for Mickey D.    
 

OEL - Myers

Hughes - Harmonic

Rathbone - Poolman   
         Schenn 

While I don't disagree, I could see Rathbone as a major trade chip. 

 

He's much more flashy and could attract something more pressing for the team.

 

The difference I noticed between the two was Juolevi was the better player away from the puck. The d needs more of that.

 

It will definitely be exciting watching these two players compete for their spot on the roster

[guntrix]

I’d much rather keep Rathbone than Juolevi. 

[nux_win]

27 minutes ago, guntrix said:

I’d much rather keep Rathbone than Juolevi. 

Why does it have to be either or, why not keep them both and hope that they both get regular spots, eventually?  There's no rush to have them both in the lineup right away.  Internal competition is good.  Rathbone may have more offensive upside but there is more to NHL defence than just that.  Juolevi is NHL ready now and so let's see what he's got.  We need good defensive defencemen at this point and having extra guys that can step up when the inevitable injuries hit is not a bad thing.  GCG!

[Pure961089]

2 hours ago, Wanless said:

While I don't disagree, I could see Rathbone as a major trade chip. 

 

He's much more flashy and could attract something more pressing for the team.

 

The difference I noticed between the two was Juolevi was the better player away from the puck. The d needs more of that.

 

It will definitely be exciting watching these two players compete for their spot on the roster

The thing that is glaring to me about Juolevi is he can’t pivot and can’t defend against the rush.  Elder right now is a better skater than Juolevi which is surprising.  I thought when we drafted Juolevi skating was one of his strengths.  But his edge work and pivots and lateral skating are poor.  Rathbone skates circles around Juolevi.  

[Alflives]

16 minutes ago, Pure961089 said:

The thing that is glaring to me about Juolevi is he can’t pivot and can’t defend against the rush.  Elder right now is a better skater than Juolevi which is surprising.  I thought when we drafted Juolevi skating was one of his strengths.  But his edge work and pivots and lateral skating are poor.  Rathbone skates circles around Juolevi.  

Morgan Reilly can’t pivot and gets beat off the rush.  If there isn’t back pressure every NHL D man will get beat wide.  That’s the default defence, and is taught.  Guys don’t want to allow opponents to carry the puck across the ice.  That’s why there needs to be back pressure.  Now watch Reilly get embarrassed.  

 

[Wanless]

14 minutes ago, Pure961089 said:

The thing that is glaring to me about Juolevi is he can’t pivot and can’t defend against the rush.  Elder right now is a better skater than Juolevi which is surprising.  I thought when we drafted Juolevi skating was one of his strengths.  But his edge work and pivots and lateral skating are poor.  Rathbone skates circles around Juolevi.  

Yup

 

However, I just feel that there won't be room for another smaller offensively skilled dman. Especially when taking into consideration the PK. 

 

As much as it sucks to see other dmen of Juolevi's draft doing well who were drafted later, if he can turn into a stead third pairing dman with a good first pass and room to improve I would rather that.

 

Like I said, this year is going to be exciting with the room for opportunities all throughout the lineup and regardless of who sticks it will be fun

[J-Dizzle]

2 hours ago, Pure961089 said:

The thing that is glaring to me about Juolevi is he can’t pivot and can’t defend against the rush.  Elder right now is a better skater than Juolevi which is surprising.  I thought when we drafted Juolevi skating was one of his strengths.  But his edge work and pivots and lateral skating are poor.  Rathbone skates circles around Juolevi.  

Uhhhhhhhh. OJ’s skating looked just fine. He looked fantastic in his limited time before Covid knocked him out. 

[Camel Toe Drag]

1 hour ago, Wanless said:

Yup

 

However, I just feel that there won't be room for another smaller offensively skilled dman. Especially when taking into consideration the PK. 

 

As much as it sucks to see other dmen of Juolevi's draft doing well who were drafted later, if he can turn into a stead third pairing dman with a good first pass and room to improve I would rather that.

 

Like I said, this year is going to be exciting with the room for opportunities all throughout the lineup and regardless of who sticks it will be fun

He makes an excellent first pass and almost always makes the right play to exit the dzone. He already plays as steady as some vets. Not to mention he his shot hits the net. He almost always shoots a wrister but it’s accurate and finds the net. 
 

He doesn’t need to be a dynamic skater. I agree with @J-Dizzle I thought he was developing and playing just fine last year. Steady and trustworthy is what we want. 

[JeremyCuddles]

2 hours ago, Pure961089 said:

The thing that is glaring to me about Juolevi is he can’t pivot and can’t defend against the rush.  Elder right now is a better skater than Juolevi which is surprising.  I thought when we drafted Juolevi skating was one of his strengths.  But his edge work and pivots and lateral skating are poor.  Rathbone skates circles around Juolevi.  

People keep saying Juolevi's skating was bad, but I thought he looked fantastic (given his lack of experience) at keeping attacking players to the outside. I never seen him and thought he was struggling defensively. He looked great at least as far as I seen. Good skater, smart postionally. Arguably our best looking d-man defensively last season. He didn't make bad turnovers like everyone else liked to. I might be on crazy juice, cause I genuinely think Juolevi is a full time NHLer. Just gotta give him looks.

[Wanless]

1 minute ago, Camel Toe Drag said:

He makes an excellent first pass and almost always makes the right play to exit the dzone. He already plays as steady as some vets. Not to mention he his shot hits the net. He almost always shoots a wrister but it’s accurate and finds the net. 
 

He doesn’t need to be a dynamic skater. I agree with @J-Dizzle I thought he was developing and playing just fine last year. Steady and trustworthy is what we want. 

And this is exactly what the team needs.

 

It doesn't matter how much offense a team has if they can't get out of their own end.

[Alflives]

7 minutes ago, J-Dizzle said:

Uhhhhhhhh. OJ’s skating looked just fine. He looked fantastic in his limited time before Covid knocked him out. 

I think some fans see Hughes and Rathbone skating and expect OJ to move like that.  Of course we know Hughes is a phenom and Bone isn’t far behind.  OJ skates fine.  He’s going to be a big body guy on our backend for many years.  Moves the puck great too, and has very high hockey sense.  Process extremely fast.  

[stawns]

2 hours ago, Pure961089 said:

The thing that is glaring to me about Juolevi is he can’t pivot and can’t defend against the rush.  Elder right now is a better skater than Juolevi which is surprising.  I thought when we drafted Juolevi skating was one of his strengths.  But his edge work and pivots and lateral skating are poor.  Rathbone skates circles around Juolevi.  

neither can HUghes

 

That's a fallacy anyway, I saw OJ make a lot of good plays against the rush.  

 

I think you're forgetting that OJ was one of the ones more affected by covid and that was the main reason he watched most of the games to end the season.  If OJ doesn't end up reaching his potential, it will be because of injury/illness, not because he didn't have the skills or the smarts

[J-Dizzle]

39 minutes ago, stawns said:

neither can HUghes

 

That's a fallacy anyway, I saw OJ make a lot of good plays against the rush.  

 

I think you're forgetting that OJ was one of the ones more affected by covid and that was the main reason he watched most of the games to end the season.  If OJ doesn't end up reaching his potential, it will be because of injury/illness, not because he didn't have the skills or the smarts

OJ also had a tendency to do something i didn’t see much fromthe rest of our guys... He’d step up to break up the rush. I loved watching him step into guys and his timing was great! 

[Locke Lamora]

2 hours ago, Alflives said:

I think some fans see Hughes and Rathbone skating and expect OJ to move like that.  Of course we know Hughes is a phenom and Bone isn’t far behind.  OJ skates fine.  He’s going to be a big body guy on our backend for many years.  Moves the puck great too, and has very high hockey sense.  Process extremely fast.  

 

So how did you go quickly from proclaiming OJ a “bustaroo” to being this high on him? 

 

Look folks, I’d love nothing better than to see Olli come in to camp and look so good that Rathbone going to Abby makes sense. I’d be on board with that. 

 

No doubt the injuries are a huge factor in 5th overall pick, 23 year old Olli Juolevi having barely made an impact on the team who drafted him. For the record, I really liked it when we picked him. I have attended every training camp (pre pandemic) since we selected him and while the injuries are a factor, it has been tough to watch him consistently near last in bag skates (only Reid Boucher looked worse to my eyes), and watch him get walked to the outside. He has looked amongst the slowest players in every camp I’ve watched him participate in. The injury situation is indeed part of the “disappointment” around poor OJ. You can’t sugarcoat it. Now, it could very well be that this is the first Summer in a while that he’s been able to train as normal and he’ll come into the camp and there will be whispers of his name as “most improved” conditioning wise. I’ll own all of my concerns I’ve had in this regard.

 

Rathbone is known to be a monster in the gym and his work ethic has never been questioned as far as I’m concerned. My strong suspicion is he’ll come to camp and make it next to impossible to send him to Abby. BUT….if OJ comes in CLEARLY a step above what I’ve seen previously in his training camp performances….well, this is GREAT for the team. But call me sceptical until we see it.

 

But yeah, I’m done with OJ vs Rathbone.

[Cromeslab]

Has Rathbone grown this offseason?He seems kinda small to me

Edited August 15, 2021 by Cromeslab

[Cromeslab]

We don’t need a small defender,we need size  

[JeremyCuddles]

2 hours ago, Cromeslab said:

Has Rathbone grown this offseason?He seems kinda small to me

Grown? Doubtful, not many people grow after their teens. And he's 22. Has he gotten heavier? Also doubtful. He's listed at 190 (eliteprospects), and for a 5'11 guy. That's plenty of weight for his frame. Gets any bigger and his biggest attribute, his skating, might take a negative hit. This is why it's nice to have a guy like Schenn. He can play with both Juolevi and Rathbone and benefit their game. Cause I assume coaching staff is gonna rotate them both in and out of that 3rd pair left D spot til injuries hit.