Is Ian Clark Jim Benning's Best FA Signing so Far?

[Rob_Zepp]

The MDP thread got me thinking (and the post-game beverages here tonight!) about the incredibly positive impact Ian Clark has had on:

1. DiPietro's game inclusive of his massive playoff run
2. Markstrom's dramatic improvement after the intervention early in the just-completed season
3. Demko's big steps forward

 

The Canucks were not thought of as having the type of goaltending strength that you need for success as recently as the beginning of this season and less than a year later without making a single change in player personnel other than trading one goalie away, they now look like they are set for both short-term, medium-term and if MDP develops further even the long-term.

 

Has Benning made a more positively impactful signing of a FA?

[xereau]

A wild Antoine Roussel comes flying off the fourth rope.. err line, and jams 30 sandy points right down your throat!

 

[spook007]

Good call Zepp... probably not.

 

The transformation in Markstrom has been nothing short of incredible this season.

Last season he was CDC's whipping boy and could be had for a bag of pucks.

 

Although honorary mention to Miller and Vanek is in place, but Clarks transformation of Markstrom has been fantastic. 

 

 

[Wanless]

I look at these playoffs and see 3 teams that turned things around and made huge strides this season

 

The islanders the blues and the canes all have new coaches with little roster changes.

 

Signing Clark is similar those on a lesser scale and moves like such are the quickest way to improve a team.

 

But finding these coaches isn't always easy. Take bruce boudrou for example. Always has a great team in front of him but I don't think he ever made it passed the second round.

 

For that, being able to grab a goalie coach with a vezina trophy winning goalie under his guide is huge

[JM_]

I'll say this: Clark could be Jim's best signing to date, if Marky and Demko are in the running for the best goalie tandem next year I'd say for sure. 

 

In terms of pure impact if it pans out the way its looking to Clark could be setting this team up for solid goaltending for a decade. We'll have to wait and see but thats more impact than any single FA so far by a lot. 

[aGENT]

18 minutes ago, xereau said:

A wild Antoine Roussel comes flying off the fourth rope.. err line, and jams 30 sandy points right down your throat!

 

Honourable mention to both him and Beagle. Miller turned out to be up there as well (though I disagreed with it at the time). Stecher's a pretty nice one also.

 

We'll see how the likes of MacEwan and this year's college FA's turn out... as well as what he does this summer in FA.

 

But yeah, Clarke's a pretty good sign. Now they need to extend him to make sure he's around for the long term. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by aGENT

[Rob_Zepp]

8 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Honourable mention to both him and Beagle. Miller turned out to be up there as well (though I disagreed with it at the time). Stecher's a pretty nice one also.

 

We'll see how the likes of MacEwan and this year's college FA's turn out... as well as what he does this summer in FA.

 

But yeah, Clarke's a pretty good sign. Now they need to extend him to make sure he's around for the long term. 

Well, he is a bit of a secret in working for Vancouver as even Elite Prospects think he still works for Columbus.

 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/staff/1222/ian-clark

[Fanuck]

JB needs to find the Ian Clark of Power Plays....

[Rob_Zepp]

1 minute ago, Fanuck said:

JB needs to find the Ian Clark of Power Plays....

[mayor MCcheese]

I've been saying this since the mid point of last year when Markey really turned his game around.

[aGENT]

12 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

JB needs to find the Ian Clark of Power Plays....

As Rob eluded to () that likely has as much (if not almost all) to do with personnel vs coaching. 

[xereau]

29 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

JB needs to find the Ian Clark of Power Plays....

Phil Housley

[smithers joe]

stecher wasn’t a bad pick up either...

[Rob_Zepp]

1 hour ago, xereau said:

A wild Antoine Roussel comes flying off the fourth rope.. err line, and jams 30 sandy points right down your throat!

 

Was this that game right after he was told by an opposing player that George RR Martin wasn't going to come through with a decent ending to Season 8?

[Hogs & Podz]

3 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said:

The MDP thread got me thinking (and the post-game beverages here tonight!) about the incredibly positive impact Ian Clark has had on:

1. DiPietro's game inclusive of his massive playoff run
2. Markstrom's dramatic improvement after the intervention early in the just-completed season
3. Demko's big steps forward

 

The Canucks were not thought of as having the type of goaltending strength that you need for success as recently as the beginning of this season and less than a year later without making a single change in player personnel other than trading one goalie away, they now look like they are set for both short-term, medium-term and if MDP develops further even the long-term.

 

Has Benning made a more positively impactful signing of a FA?

Rob... I saw your earlier post on the Mike.D forum.  Spot on.  I was going to start my first topic based on yours here!  Saved me time!

 

In my view, Ian Clark is the most important and most positive signing Jim has made since taking over as GM.  

 

Sometimes just 'good' goaltending (with timely saves) and elite players around that goaltender can win a cup e.g.) Crawford in Chicago, Osgood in Detroit, Feur in Edmonton, Holtby in Washington last year (kinda).... Jones in San Jose this year?.  Great goalies for small window periods when it mattered most.  But not consistent year after year.  

Sometimes an elite goaltender with a good team around him can win the cup e.g.) Montreal with Roy, Quick with L.A., and of course Brodeur with NJ.  Would have been Hasek with Buffalo as well but... We all know what happened there.  Rask with Boston this year? (not sure if he's consistent enough yet to be considered elite.. But lights out in these playoffs and might win them the cup... Please noooo!!!!).

 

To me the most exciting hockey, the most memorable hockey, the type a hockey that legends are made and legendary teams are immortalized, is a team with elite goaltending e.g.) 1994 Canucks.  Notice I didn't say elite goaltender... I said goaltending.

 

I digress... My point being, there is little to no chance a goalie will reach elite moments or whole careers without a great to elite goalie coach.  Ian has proved that in the past with Bobrosky, and is proving it again with Markstome.  It seems that both Demko and Dipietro speak highly about Clark and the work he's doing with them seems to have improved both their games.  With Ian, I believe the Canucks will be competing for the cup NEXT season and every other season after for the forseeable future.  He and Petey are the biggest reason for speeding up our slow rebuild.

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Rodishred

[Nuxfanabroad]

2 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said:

The MDP thread got me thinking (and the post-game beverages here tonight!) about the incredibly positive impact Ian Clark has had on:

1. DiPietro's game inclusive of his massive playoff run
2. Markstrom's dramatic improvement after the intervention early in the just-completed season
3. Demko's big steps forward

 

The Canucks were not thought of as having the type of goaltending strength that you need for success as recently as the beginning of this season and less than a year later without making a single change in player personnel other than trading one goalie away, they now look like they are set for both short-term, medium-term and if MDP develops further even the long-term.

 

Has Benning made a more positively impactful signing of a FA?

Good eye, RZ. Agree with another poster above, JM was really picking up his game, from late last yr.

 

First heard Baldy Auldy discussing Ian Clark(in glowing terms) on 650 radio, early Nov I think. Was expecting our team to go on a nice run(with the tandem looking nicely in form)..alas, Nilsson hurt his finger, other injuries piled up, & the wheels fell off. So it appeared Nilsson was also benefiting from IC's tutelage.

 

Sign this man(Dr Evil #s), & assign him a harem of Roxy groupies, if necc

[Rob_Zepp]

1 minute ago, Nuxfanabroad said:

Good eye, RZ. Agree with another poster above, JM was really picking up his game, from late last yr.

 

First heard Baldy Auldy discussing Ian Clark(in glowing terms) on 650 radio, early Nov I think. Was expecting our team to go on a nice run(with the tandem looking nicely in form)..alas, Nilsson hurt his finger, other injuries piled up, & the wheels fell off. So it appeared Nilsson was also benefiting from IC's tutelage.

 

Sign this man(Dr Evil #s), & assign him a harem of Roxy groupies, if necc

I need to get to Vancouver just to see this famed Roxy again.

[Putgolzin]

Did everyone see Botchfords last article on The Arhletic? Someone posted it on here somewhere, it was spectacular and told a bunch of stuff I didn’t know about Ian Clark.

@Rob_Zepp what are your thoughts about Dipietro? I literally know less than nothing about how a comparatively smaller star goalie can expect his game to translate...

[Rob_Zepp]

47 minutes ago, nzan said:

Did everyone see Botchfords last article on The Arhletic? Someone posted it on here somewhere, it was spectacular and told a bunch of stuff I didn’t know about Ian Clark.

@Rob_Zepp what are your thoughts about Dipietro? I literally know less than nothing about how a comparatively smaller star goalie can expect his game to translate...

MD?   He is a smaller goalie who has unreal reflexes, is fearless and one of the highest compete level types you can find in a sporting environment.   However, none of that would have been enough to get him to the NHL even if made him a decently high NHL draft pick and an all-star junior goalie.   What I saw in this years OHL playoffs in compare even the start of the year was a remarkable transformation.   He was letting pucks come to him versus trying to outguess the play, he was challenging players to pick open spots versus looking like a caffeinated squirrel back there, he was keeping rebounds either at his feet or steering them to the corner and, finally, he was not trying to embellish simple plays with a Hasek-esh movement at the end of a sequence (I strongly suspect he likes a bit of theatrics).  That level of transformation in such a limited amount of time is almost unheard of and speaks to a kid who not only listens but one that can learn and for the position in hockey that takes the longest to learn and benefits most from an ability to learn it - bodes extremely well for his career.

 

I am on the record on CDC as saying I doubted he would be an NHL player.   I am now eating crow and it is now more like how good of an NHL player and for how long.   My guess is I should say not so good and for a short period so he can make me look wrong again.

[sonoman]

45 minutes ago, Rob_Zepp said:

MD?   He is a smaller goalie who has unreal reflexes, is fearless and one of the highest compete level types you can find in a sporting environment.   However, none of that would have been enough to get him to the NHL even if made him a decently high NHL draft pick and an all-star junior goalie.   What I saw in this years OHL playoffs in compare even the start of the year was a remarkable transformation.   He was letting pucks come to him versus trying to outguess the play, he was challenging players to pick open spots versus looking like a caffeinated squirrel back there, he was keeping rebounds either at his feet or steering them to the corner and, finally, he was not trying to embellish simple plays with a Hasek-esh movement at the end of a sequence (I strongly suspect he likes a bit of theatrics).  That level of transformation in such a limited amount of time is almost unheard of and speaks to a kid who not only listens but one that can learn and for the position in hockey that takes the longest to learn and benefits most from an ability to learn it - bodes extremely well for his career.

 

I am on the record on CDC as saying I doubted he would be an NHL player.   I am now eating crow and it is now more like how good of an NHL player and for how long.   My guess is I should say not so good and for a short period so he can make me look wrong again.

Great insights Rob.  Nice to have a knowledgeable goaltender on the forum