Odd. Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 One of my greatest pet peeves with this team is that we have absolutely 0 pushback and no grit whatsoever and Benning/co have done nothing to address this. I remember near the end of the season Horvat and Hutton going toe-to-toe with players that are normally known to fight. I thought to myself damn, that was really nice to see, because the nights before, John Garrett had given a lecture and said that this team lacked pushback and grit and often times let themselves get punched and beaten without ever retaliating or at the very least defending themselves. All of that was nice, but the kids shouldn't have had to defend for themselves. The problem is, we have nobody that can fight in our line-up and protect the guys. We can't depend on Gudbranson every night and Dorsett is a 13th forward. We have a very small and soft core and I'm not looking forward to watching us get physically dominated on most nights.. Benning talks about competition...blah blah blah. but I was extremely disappointed that he didn't address this problem that we have. You see Edmonton getting bigger, stronger, intimidating, hell even Calgary who we used to shove around and literally made them our bitches, we watch them get better and they look to be serious serious contenders. I hope we have a fix to this, cause I can't stand to watch our young guys get liberties taken on them without anyone to answer. I just hate the feeling of seeing us getting dominated physically and then we leave the ice with this defeated, beaten, uninspired look on our faces. Not saying that we should be total goons out there, but we need guys that can play and provide toughness and grittiness. This is what many fans like me want to see addressed. Just wanted to get that off my chest. Let's hope for a different, inspired team under Green. Go Canucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJDDawg Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Just an fyi... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davydgoliath Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Peeves make terrible pets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckylager Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Well, can't say MJD and Davs aren't right... That being said- You're right. I'm sick of our leaders skating away with their heads down. It's a damn travisty. CANUCKS Not: skateaway-with-head-down-guys. Canucks. I look forward to a team that know what CANUCKS mean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhukini Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Say what you want, I know he was a dbag blah blah blah, but this is where I miss having Kesler more than any player that has left recently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimitedEdition Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Canucks are missing guys like Kesler, Burrows, Bieksa, Hansen in the pushback department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-23 Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 I agree with the OP, younger teams like Edmonton, Calgary, and Toronto are getting bigger and more physical. When we play Toronto this year, I want to physically dominate them, I want to see Matthews, and Marner get hit, hit and HIT. I also want to see someone kick Martin's ass, unfortunately Miller is not here to do it and we can't just rely on Dorsett alone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-23 Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 17 minutes ago, LimitedEdition said: Canucks are missing guys like Kesler, Burrows, Bieksa, Hansen in the pushback department. Yup, I agree with this big time, hopefully Virtanen and Gudbranson can be the start to bringing this back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solinar Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 You know, everyone talks about grit....pushback. I want to not only beat the other team, I want to BEAT the other team.... I might be one of the few, but I want to see the swagger of yesteryear..... I want us to be able to score, make skilled plays, to utterly dominate other teams in the skill area and quell their offensive outbursts with flair of our own. Every time we start to lose....people want to punch the puck into the net thru someone's face. We get enough skill, that pretty much quiets all the physicality as the other team has to worry about us scoring. And pushback, that comes when you know you can turn the game around. When you know you don't have to put up with their bs, cuz you're going to get them because you have the skill and the drive to win because you can put the puck in the back of the net. When you can go down a man and not have it in the back of your net...or go down a man and know that the next power play you'll put it in their net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slegr Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 37 minutes ago, Solinar said: You know, everyone talks about grit....pushback. I want to not only beat the other team, I want to BEAT the other team.... I might be one of the few, but I want to see the swagger of yesteryear..... I want us to be able to score, make skilled plays, to utterly dominate other teams in the skill area and quell their offensive outbursts with flair of our own. Every time we start to lose....people want to punch the puck into the net thru someone's face. We get enough skill, that pretty much quiets all the physicality as the other team has to worry about us scoring. And pushback, that comes when you know you can turn the game around. When you know you don't have to put up with their bs, cuz you're going to get them because you have the skill and the drive to win because you can put the puck in the back of the net. When you can go down a man and not have it in the back of your net...or go down a man and know that the next power play you'll put it in their net. I'd rather win and pound the pulp out of teams than win 10-0. You need toughness to survive four rounds of playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmautzie Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 That's why I thought Matthew Tkachuk would have been the better pick last year. Nothing against Juolevi (who may become a good player) but Tkachuk gives you that grit that makes the team tougher to play against. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj vic Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Bieksa leaving definitely made us weaker in the push back scenario. He wasn't the greatest fighter but was willing to drop the mitts when needed. Dorset has the heart if not skills to get the job done, other than that we really need some enforcement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xereau Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 Mine is the Sedins on the PP. I actually think I have taken a few years off my life screaming at the TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Balboa Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 During that scrum at the end of the game with the Panthers, I remember watching Vrbata slink away and hide. Too bad 90s Gino wasn't there - all the Panthers be lying on the ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 What's this team's priorities this year? Everybody knows we can't bank on a PO-run..indeed, no one seems to expect that. At this point, the team's designers must be looking at this current roster, within the creative-paradim of a 2 or 3 yr vision, not merely as an Oct'17 to April'18 timeline. Moves being made today, should largely have a spring '19 or 2020 in mind. We should simply be thinking more long-term vs immediate. Priorities? - acquire picks, prospects & organizational-depth(vet-deals are best short in duration) - get some skilled size - transition to a post-twins leadership - Plan how a WHACK of opening cap is used When you have the versatility of a wide open budget, subsequent deals can be made with the intent of achieving a number of these points, simultaneously. It's contenders who must make precise moves, with a narrow, singular objective. I'm sure they've honestly identified/accepted where we're at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where'd Luongo? Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 2 hours ago, davydgoliath said: Peeves make terrible pets. And topics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Where'd Luongo? Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 43 minutes ago, xereau said: Mine is the Sedins on the PP. I actually think I have taken a few years off my life screaming at the TV. Mine is bringing in old guys to play on an aging roster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.I.A.H.N Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 I think everyone is getting a little too carried away with this "I want it now" type of talk................. It is a easy to sign a goon...........a lot harder to sign a big Power forward, that can play top line and minutes........ It is true we have some lighter guys...baertschi, Rodin, Granlund, Stecher, Hank and Dank, Gagner, Tanev, and Edler (not so light) But these are all from pre-Benning or early Benning........... Things are changing........................ Gudbranson, Sutter, Hutton, Horvat, Gadjovich, Gaudette, Virtanen, Lockwood, Vanek, even Broeser.......none of these guys will get pushed around.......they all have spunk! There are more on the farm as well.....that can stand up for themselves We are 2 or 3 years away from finishing our rebuild.......don't get confused with the old team. post Kesler and Burrows etc. I am just saying........tough it out, we are far from finished....we don't have that team toughness you talk about needing, but we will! Benning is changing the team, from old to young, from push overs to stand up guys........but it is going to take time........... This is probably why he traded for Gudbranson, knowing fully well he needed a player like that and knowing fully well, he had to draft finesse players........ He has a lot of things to complete.......and some of us are just a little impatient. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.I.A.H.N Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 30 minutes ago, Nuxfanabroad said: What's this team's priorities this year? Everybody knows we can't bank on a PO-run..indeed, no one seems to expect that. At this point, the team's designers must be looking at this current roster, within the creative-paradim of a 2 or 3 yr vision, not merely as an Oct'17 to April'18 timeline. Moves being made today, should largely have a spring '19 or 2020 in mind. We should simply be thinking more long-term vs immediate. Priorities? - acquire picks, prospects & organizational-depth(vet-deals are best short in duration) - get some skilled size - transition to a post-twins leadership - Plan how a WHACK of opening cap is used When you have the versatility of a wide open budget, subsequent deals can be made with the intent of achieving a number of these points, simultaneously. It's contenders who must make precise moves, with a narrow, singular objective. I'm sure they've honestly identified/accepted where we're at. Yes...bang on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sygvard Posted September 3, 2017 Share Posted September 3, 2017 I think it is a difficult problem to solve because it needs to be addressed team-wide. The solution is never to bring in one or two tough players as a knee jerk reaction, and rely on them to somehow protect the kids by issuing threats and hitting. Most of the time those players aren't even on the ice with the skill players, so their only option for "protecting" is to exact revenge on the next shift. That just doesn't work anymore. Team push back is most effective when the skill players themselves have a bit of snarl. I don't want them to be brawling out there. But them stepping behind the nearest large team-mate just means that they will get their hands hacked next time that team-mate isn't there. Not a terribly useful thought though. Obviously, every team would prefer to draft skilled scorers who were also 6'3 with a complete checking game. Some teams have just had more luck finding it than others. TLDR: Change it through culture and drafting, not the acquisition of one or two gritty saviors to carry everyone else's load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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