A request of Travis Green for the rest of the playoffs

[fanzone2010]

Dear Travis,

 

I want to congratulate you on the team's success so far. You've done a good job getting them ready for games and juggling the lines, its been an exciting run up this point. But I'm writing this message to you, because things are not trending in a great direction. The Canucks have been outshot (often badly) in 13 of the 15 games they've played. So that is obviously not a sustainable situation for any team hoping to win the cup. The good news is, you can fix that.

 

But it might mean going out of your comfort zone. Let me explain ...

 

It's clear you have many talents as a coach (player development, line juggling, X and O's, etc) but taking a chance on a player and “trust” is maybe not one of them. I guess the first clue might have been watching you talk to the press over the last couple years. You have this look like you're sure one of them stole your lunch money. The second clue was the 'proving' process you've put every young player through, holding back Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser in the beginning till the fans were hollering at you.

 

But that's okay. I get it. You want the players to earn it, to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they deserve the ice time. Makes total sense during the regular season. But that lack of trust can be a killer in the playoffs, particularly when your team has played 3 heavy teams in a row, and are getting the crap kicked out of them. We saw how St. Louis and now Vegas have tilted the ice against the Canucks, and the shot differential has gotten ridiculous. But even though those bigger, tougher teams are grinding the Canucks down and outplaying our bottom 6, you continue to do nothing about it. Like you have no options.

 

But you do. Virtanen and Sutter are not really giving the team much in the bottom 6. They each had one decent game against the Blues, but for the rest of the playoffs, they haven't done much. They don't hit or score consistently. But you have 2 players that could provide that physical presence, that you brought into the bubble to provide depth and grit. Both Zack McEwen and Justin Bailey can play that heavy game, and they can also score. They both had great seasons for Utica. I know its not the NHL, but its pro hockey, and they know the Canuck system. So what do you have to lose? Even if they make a couple more mistakes than the other guys, they'll finish their checks in both zones, boost the forecheck, and that can start the tilt the ice back a bit in our favor, and effect the shot differential. Our goalies are facing 40 – 50 shots a game, so if the new guys make a couple mistakes, but reduce those shots by 10 a game, that's eight less quality chances against.

 

And McEwen is also a pretty good fighter, and can be a deterrent for Reeves with Vegas. It's pretty clear our players have been intimidated by him and Vegas hounding our skill players from game one. Our guys are trying to fight through it, but its understandable when we see players dodging checks and losing 50 /50 puck battles, after getting beat up so much. But if the players see the ice starting to tilt back a bit, and see that there's someone in the lineup who will take the bully on, then they might feel more confident, and for the skill players that means confidence to make plays.

 

So I'm requesting you dress those guys. Put the fresh legs in. Give it a try. I understand if it goes against the grain for you, but you didn't want to have to play Demko last game either, and look how well he did. If you'd dressed him in the second half of the back to back games, we might be leading the series 3 -2 now, and Markstrom might not have gotten injured, but that's in the past. Please give those guys a chance now.

 

And while we're on the subject, I would love to see Jolevi or Rafferty sub in for Edler, who is clearly out of gas. Edler's a good player, but he's a greybeard, and has been struggling with the heavy line minutes, and he's become a gaffe machine at this point. His penalties and giveaways are constant. Jolevi is about the same size as him so can bring that physical presence. But he's younger, fresher, and poised with the puck and we need that now. I don't think its any coincidence that the defense's best game of the playoffs so far, was when Edler was out. I think Edler can still be very effective playing 10 – 15 minutes a game, but he's been overused in the playoffs, and is baked. Everyone can see it.

 

So those are my humble requests, Travis. I urge you to give it a try. Take a chance. I think it will give the team fresh legs, a second wind, and maybe make you a better coach too. All the great Stanley cup coaches knew when to gamble on a player. If you can add that to your toolbox, then you and the team have a chance to grow together, and maybe go all the way – if not this year, then soon.

 

We've got nothing to lose at this point, this year. We won't get much further in the playoffs being outshot 2 or 3 – 1 in games. You can ask your goalies to steal a couple games for you, but asking them to do that every game is unrealistic.

 

So I hope you can see your way clear to bringing in the reinforcements.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Fanzone

[oldnews]

At least this isn't a one-liner armchair coaching effort - there have been a fair amount of these threads.

 

But taking out one of the veteran centers - who has done more than you seem to realize (reducing it to scoring and hitting = misses the contributions of a player like Sutter) - is a bad idea in my opinion, particularly to insert a guy like Bailey - who I think is excellent organizational depth, but played 2 NHL games this year - and neither of these guys are proven NHL centers (Bailery is a pure winger, Mac took 2 draws this year).

 

I think it takes a far deeper understanding of what Green is doing, to give him prescriptions.

[John.Tallhouse]

Stopped reading after Dear 

[UKNuck96]

Looking at the shot counter is a bit of a misnomer, earlier in the season through to the first 2 games against the wild, we played more aggressive d and tried to overload one side to stifle the puck and turn it over. Down side to this was we often had a player camped in front of the next complete unattended.

 

they made a conscience effort to protect the middle, block passing lanes. Downside gives up shots from the perimeter. 
 

it’s far better to have 40 shots from the outside into the goalies chest that 5-6 right in front of the net 

[CaptKirk888]

28 minutes ago, fanzone2010 said:

And while we're on the subject, I would love to see Jolevi or Rafferty sub in for Edler, who is clearly out of gas. Edler's a good player, but he's a greybeard, and has been struggling with the heavy line minutes, and he's become a gaffe machine at this point. His penalties and giveaways are constant. Jolevi is about the same size as him so can bring that physical presence. But he's younger, fresher, and poised with the puck and we need that now. I don't think its any coincidence that the defense's best game of the playoffs so far, was when Edler was out. I think Edler can still be very effective playing 10 – 15 minutes a game, but he's been overused in the playoffs, and is baked. Everyone can see it.

 

23 minutes ago, oldnews said:

At least this isn't a one-liner armchair coaching effort - there have been a fair amount of these threads.

 

But taking out one of the veteran centers - who has done more than you seem to realize (reducing it to scoring and hitting = misses the contributions of a player like Sutter) - is a bad idea in my opinion, particularly to insert a guy like Bailey - who I think is excellent organizational depth, but played 2 NHL games this year - and neither of these guys are proven NHL centers (Bailery is a pure winger, Mac took 2 draws this year).

 

I think it takes a far deeper understanding of what Green is doing, to give him prescriptions.

 

[oldnews]

3 minutes ago, CaptKirk888 said:

 

 

It's funny - I didn't even get to the point of reading those comments about Edler - thankfully - or my response might not have been as polite.

 

A 'struggling greybeard' = an absolutely horrible take. Removing him is about the worst armchair idea I've heard.

Edited September 2, 2020 by oldnews

[CaptKirk888]

2 minutes ago, oldnews said:

It's funny - I didn't even get to the point of reading those comments about Edler - thankfully - or my response might not have been as polite.

 

A 'struggling greybeard' = an absolutely horrible take. Removing him is about the worst armchair idea I've heard.

Fanzone may have limited hockey knowledge other than his eye test. Edler continues to be dominate and is reliable. He is not a "grey beard" at 34, I can see him playing for another 3-4 years. I have never understood why some fans don't appreciate him, or Stetcher for that matter as his stats have been great so far. 

[Biff Tannen]

Turns out TG really does read these things.

 

 

[khay]

50 minutes ago, fanzone2010 said:

 

 

And while we're on the subject, I would love to see Jolevi or Rafferty sub in for Edler, who is clearly out of gas. Edler's a good player, but he's a greybeard, and has been struggling with the heavy line minutes, and he's become a gaffe machine at this point. His penalties and giveaways are constant. Jolevi is about the same size as him so can bring that physical presence. But he's younger, fresher, and poised with the puck and we need that now. I don't think its any coincidence that the defense's best game of the playoffs so far, was when Edler was out. I think Edler can still be very effective playing 10 – 15 minutes a game, but he's been overused in the playoffs, and is baked. Everyone can see it.

 

 

I'm pretty sure the poster is a Vegas fan after reading this.

 

With Edler handling the hard minutes, it's getting tough for the Vegas to score, so he wants us to put in a rookie with 1 NHL game experience in place for a veteran of hundreds of games.

 

Wrong forum buddy.

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by khay

[runtzguy]

LOL thanks for the laugh

[canuktravella]

you wanna replace Edler with juolevi  maybe replace fantenberg but Edler our best vet dman that does the heavy lifting your nuts

[cuporbust]

[BoKnows]

Does anyone have the TLDR version?

[GoCanucks16]

I'll make sure he reads this.

[King Heffy]

Keeping Sutter in the lineup allows us to put out an extra center on defensive zone draws.  Faceoffs are one of the few areas we have a clear advantage over Vegas, so it makes sense not to do anything to mess with that.

[RomanP]

Oh, boy, another professional hockey coach...

[aGENT]

Dear Coach Green.

 

Please continue to not listen to ANYTHING our reductive, reactionary, clueless and panicky fanbase suggests. You're doing just fine.

[Biff Tannen]

2 hours ago, canuktravella said:

you wanna replace Edler with juolevi  maybe replace fantenberg but Edler our best vet dman that does the heavy lifting your nuts

If they're so heavy he needs Edler's help to lift them, he should probably see a doctor.

[King Heffy]

7 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

If they're so heavy he needs Edler's help to lift them, he should probably see a doctor.

Unless he's as tough as Salo.

[hobart16]

I could see Macewen but not the others.  So much on the line tonight you just have to dance with who brung ya and thats all there is to it.  Mac has played some so it wouldn't be throwing in an unknown.  But Bailey and Juolevi are total unknowns in a playoff scenario, even though I like both of them.  They are good depth players at this point but you should break glass and reach for the alarm only in case of emergency.