[GDT/PGT] Vancouver Canucks @ Toronto Maple Laffs | February 4, 2021 | 4 p.m. PT | SNP

[bishopshodan]

13 minutes ago, NUCKER67 said:

What are these highly conditioned pro athletes tired from? Lounging in their hotel rooms watching TV? 

I'm not buying the fatigue idea. 

 

There is something off about the team. The passion and compete level is not there for the leaders. 

 

I'm just happy I get to watch Hogs.

[Smashian Kassian]

2 minutes ago, IBatch said:

I think you might be right - but you have to factor in that throughout his entire career injuries happen, and he's getting older ... 

 

Yup no denying that. There was no winning in that situation.

 

If we signed Tanev its holding onto an oft injured declining DFD.

 

If we let him go our defense now sucks & Quinn Hughes loses his perfect partner.

 

Tough one for sure. 

[Smashian Kassian]

2 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

I'm not buying the fatigue idea. 

 

There is something off about the team. The passion and compete level is not there for the leaders. 

 

I'm just happy I get to watch Hogs.

 

Maybe the fatigue is more mental than anything

[Chris12345]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

Linden hired JB remember ...

I do.

[bishopshodan]

Just now, Smashian Kassian said:

 

Maybe the fatigue is more mental than anything

Yes, I could see that.

 

I keep feeling that in time we will hear about a locker room dispute or that the coaching staff lost respect.

Maybe it is the off season moves, in which case they should lick their wounds and get over it. If its something else we could indeed start seeing some changes.

 

[Chris12345]

21 minutes ago, NUCKER67 said:

What are these highly conditioned pro athletes tired from? Lounging in their hotel rooms watching TV? 

I agree.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Chris12345

[CanucksJay]

How many years are we away from being a contender?

Do we have the right pieces in our young core (as they are still developing)

The vets that we do like (Miller, Schmidt Myers, Edler) will they still be high performing players when we are ready to go on a cup run? 

When are all the bad contracts coming off the books? 

What are we missing? 

Do we have time then to fill the holes rather than making a trade in desperation when it doesn't really matter? 

 

[Rollieo Del Fuego]

They are fatigued by the one-way reffing...

 

...and a little thing called Canuckluck...posts, crossbars and pucks jumping over sticks for turnovers....that is the meat off our unlucky game...time after time...

 

For fifty years and counting....!

[Roger Neilsons Towel]

9 hours ago, oldnews said:

Venting/ranting is like punching a table.  You'd think it would be 'cathartic' = make you feel better, but it doesn't - it has precisely the opposite (snowball) effect.

Is that going to help 'survive' the losing...? 

 

Anyhow - it's fair to say that my 'approach' is no 'better'. I shouldn't bother posting the day of a loss.

 

I get it.  I got my first jersey in the midst of the Jets record 23 game losing / 30 game winless streak - and took a lot of crap wearing that jersey.  No fun in the Oiler heyday.  My teams have never won anything.  The Canucks and Jets - not just losses, but lost a team (to a desert) entirely.    Decades and decades of it.

 

But I think that rabid Winnipeg culture (a generalization, true, but) - where the team may suck, but they are their team, regardless - is the "winning" mentality in the end, even if the team doesn't necessarily (and yeah, there are good lessons for us in sport, even for 'fans').   It aint about 'accepting losing' - if kicking players when they're down doesn't effect them, neither does fans 'not accepting losing' make a team win.   I don't think the players need to be hanging on PGT posts for the point to be valid.  It doesn't mean suffering homer delusions either - it means they are their team, simple as that - criticize away when necessary, but keep the bottom line in mind.  For me, it's almost one of the fundamentals of sport - or there's really no point.   The odds are always that your team is going to either not play, or lose the last game of the season (29 of 30).  Dwelling on expectations/entitlements are a bad gamble.   If the bottom line is incessantly to rip it apart....that's easy, but really is a waste that has a snowball effect - like punching the table over it.  I don't know - I think I've probably been here too long lol.

Maybe @oldnews is the hero CDC deserves, but not the one it needs right now. 
 

 

[Nucker 67]

3 minutes ago, Rollieo Del Fuego said:

They are fatigued by the one-way reffing...

Those were undisciplined penalties, not the refs fault. The Canucks, knowing TOR has the best PP in the league, should've played a clean, hard game,. But they hooked, they slashed, etc. It cost them.

[EternalCanuckFan]

It might be that fatigue and poor performances are just compounding on one another to produce what feels to me like a very fragile team right now.

 

Ordinarily mixing up lines would spark guys to pay more attention on ice.  That doesn't seem to be working.

 

The Canucks have a short rest period after Saturday (2 days off).  Personally, I know Green has talked about practice but I'm not sure if they should practice... or if they do maybe they should keep things light.  If the issues are primarily due to fatigue, then hopefully those 2-days will help rejuvenate the team.  I can't imagine having an intense practice being helpful if fatigue, whether mental or physical, is truly the issue. 

 

Leaving aside the Ottawa series, the game that was the most encouraging to me was the one against the Jets.  The Jets are no slouches, even if they no longer have Laine and did not yet have Dubois in the line-up yet.  The Canucks genuinely played well in that game - they executed the system well.  It's been terrible since then but maybe it really is a fatigue issue at this point.

 

If the Canucks still come out unable to execute after their 2-day break, then fatigue would likely not be the issue, or at least not a primary issue.

 

The team might still warrant a shake-up at this point but I think the next stretch of play after the 2-day break will "make or break" the current team make-up.  They can't afford to enter another stretch of terrible play if they have any expectation to make the playoffs.

 

It sucks to be Holtby and Demko right now.  As good as Markstrom was the last 2-years, this year's team D (when they're out of sync) has been even MORE porous than before.

Edited February 5, 2021 by EternalCanuckFan

[Smashian Kassian]

6 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Yes, I could see that.

 

I keep feeling that in time we will hear about a locker room dispute or that the coaching staff lost respect.

Maybe it is the off season moves, in which case they should lick their wounds and get over it. If its something else we could indeed start seeing some changes.

 

 

As much as Marky & Tanev were leaders, I find it hard to believe the dressing room would be in such turmoil without them, especially bringing in a guy like Schmidt. Turnover is part of the business.

 

It'll be interesting to see if, what & when changes take place that's for sure.

[mll]

1 hour ago, canuck2288 said:

I don’t understand the gms in the North division 

 

Spezza makes it clear he was going to retire if any team picked him up from waivers. So instead of warding off reams from picking him up it should have been a huge opportunity to pick him up and let him retire 

 

Why play so nice? Pick him up and screw the leafs over by having him retire. All any team needed was the little cap space he takes initially, he retires and comes straight off the books 

 

instead he is still a leaf and scores 3 on us 

He likely wouldn't report instead.  Force the team that claimed him to put him through unconditional waivers to cancel the contract and the Leafs could have picked him right back up.

[Rollieo Del Fuego]

5 minutes ago, NUCKER67 said:

Those were undisciplined penalties, not the refs fault. The Canucks, knowing TOR has the best PP in the league, should've played a clean, hard game,. But they hooked, they slashed, etc. It cost them.

So did Toronto...but they didn't call most of them...they finally called a slash on a Petey break when he got slashed on the hands by 2 Laff's at the same time...they had to call that one.

The game before Edler took a penalty in the 1st period that set us up for the the whole lousy game...it was a phantom call ...all he did was push a guy over in the crease with the puck close by and they called it cross checking....

 

This is happening many times every game....!

[Wolfgang Durst]

22 hours ago, IBatch said:

Squamfan - can you provide examples of when you were actually happy to be a fan?  Don't mistake homerism for loyalty.   There is a difference.   Constantly looking for tidbits that create angst in the fanbase might make you feel a little better about how things are or could have been - but you strike me as a person that would lag on Luongo for not getting another shut-out against Boston to win the cup.    

 

It's tiresome at times towing the line with this franchise - i get that - but maybe what you need and are looking for, currently is in TB as a club to glom onto and support.   Then when they eventually go through a decade of losing (it will come), find another club on the rise and be their fan next.   Being a true Canuck fan for sure takes some constitution.   Once the fruits of the Linden trade were realized to Kesler getting traded - this team won more games then 27 other teams.   Guessing you missed what came before that and are still pouting.   This team isn't great yet - maybe not even good - but why not just enjoy the process. 

Squamfan just posted a twitter message outlining the reasons why Jim Benning couldn't re-sign Toffoli. Jim mentioned that they ran out time and they would have had to move money out. It's unbelievable that you are attacking Squamfan personally  for this post. Squamfan did a great job in providing  useful information about the reasons why Toffoli could not be re-sign.

WEAK SAUCE.

[Gurn]

3 minutes ago, mll said:

He likely wouldn't report instead.  Force the team that claimed him to put him through unconditional waivers to cancel the contract and the Leafs could have picked him right back up.

I think the league would have to step in at that point, tell Toronto it is starting to look like a CBA circumvention and if they proceed they will get a retroactive fine.

[Gurn]

It is ironic that Spezza, a guy the Canucks could have pushed into retiring, by claiming on waivers, just kills them in the first game.

Iirc there were a few of us saying "Put in a claim".

[Pickly]

10 minutes ago, CanucksJay said:

How many years are we away from being a contender?

Do we have the right pieces in our young core (as they are still developing)

The vets that we do like (Miller, Schmidt Myers, Edler) will they still be high performing players when we are ready to go on a cup run? 

When are all the bad contracts coming off the books? 

What are we missing? 

Do we have time then to fill the holes rather than making a trade in desperation when it doesn't really matter? 

 

Well, there is no crystal ball telling us when they could be a contender. I mean, it took St Louis, Washington, and to a lesser degree Tampa (Stamkos and Hedman) years and years for their teams to get over the hump and win a cup with their respective cores. The reality is this Canuck team looks and is playing like a team that is just getting its feet wet and it’s going to take a while yet for them to mature and ripen into a true contender. The teams two best players who they are planning on building around are very young and it’s showing more than ever this season. It’s going to be a matter of how they build around these kids and develop a team thats hard to play against and fundamentally sound in all 3 zones. It’s going to take some time yet. 
 

I have high hopes for the future like all of us do and truly believe this team can achieve great things down the road. I don’t think any of us really know what the underlying issues are with why the team is playing the way they are of late but one thing I do know is they are capable of playing better hockey than this. 

[qwijibo]

2 minutes ago, gurn said:

It is ironic that Spezza, a guy the Canucks could have pushed into retiring, by claiming on waivers, just kills them in the first game.

Iirc there were a few of us saying "Put in a claim".

How do you think other players and agents would feel about an organization that did that to a 18 year NHL vet just to be petty? Spezza earned his right to say he only wanted to play in Toronto.  Being childish and claiming him to force him to pull the plug would have been a dick move that likely puked have been remembered come free agency time 

[bree2]

31 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

I'm not buying the fatigue idea. 

 

There is something off about the team. The passion and compete level is not there for the leaders. 

 

I'm just happy I get to watch Hogs.

i am, they have played the most games of all teams, with next to no time off for practicing. the leafs looked liked the rested team that they were. these guys are not the machines that most on CDC want them to be.