What grade would you give Canucks for their pre-season performance?

[-DLC-]

This is ridiculous in my mind.

 

Preseason is a time to give guys a look, shake off the rust and look at the overall performance not just the result.

 

I give this thread and all those already grading the team an F.

 

Honestly, pace yourselves.  Hoglander's looking like a beast out there.  Podz needs a little more time to get familiar but I see huge potential in him.  Brock was showing he's in fine form.  Petey and Quinn are back.  Bo and Pearson have developed some great chemistry and I expect that to continue.  Myers will be huge for us.  OEL.  There are things to be excited about but we're already throwing in the towel?  Wow.

[Ghostsof1915]

Incomplete.

Not due to the students.

The teacher was all over the place. 

Tells the students they have a math exam, but instead they have to write a 1000 word essay. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Ghostsof1915

[IBatch]

37 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

This is ridiculous in my mind.

 

Preseason is a time to give guys a look, shake off the rust and look at the overall performance not just the result.

 

I give this thread and all those already grading the team an F.

 

Honestly, pace yourselves.  Hoglander's looking like a beast out there.  Podz needs a little more time to get familiar but I see huge potential in him.  Brock was showing he's in fine form.  Petey and Quinn are back.  Bo and Pearson have developed some great chemistry and I expect that to continue.  Myers will be huge for us.  OEL.  There are things to be excited about but we're already throwing in the towel?  Wow.

Thanks Deb.   Also if you look at the shot clock, it's not like we were getting abused either.    Give it 20 games.    Winning is fun for sure, but i'm willing to see how things play out  before losing my sh!t over pre-season games.   This pre-season will get an A in hindsight if we win a few rounds.   The camp is just as important to the players and coaches and team as the actual games are for working on things.  

 

PS.  I didn't vote!  

Edited October 10, 2021 by IBatch

[mikeyman109]

27 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

This is ridiculous in my mind.

 

Preseason is a time to give guys a look, shake off the rust and look at the overall performance not just the result.

 

I give this thread and all those already grading the team an F.

 

Honestly, pace yourselves.  Hoglander's looking like a beast out there.  Podz needs a little more time to get familiar but I see huge potential in him.  Brock was showing he's in fine form.  Petey and Quinn are back.  Bo and Pearson have developed some great chemistry and I expect that to continue.  Myers will be huge for us.  OEL.  There are things to be excited about but we're already throwing in the towel?  Wow.

I dont think anyone has thrown in the towel Deb but if we are not concerned with what we have seen in the preseason we are putting our heads in the sand.

Our Penalty kill was horrible against all the opposition we played. We lost 4-0 to the Kraken on home ice and our team looked listless and gave up power play goals to them as well.

I agree Auditioning 4th line players is exactly what the preseason was about and in general id say they didnt do very well. I cant say any of them had a great  pre season.

Podz looks good. On Hoglander we may have different opinions as I thought he tried to do too much on his own. Maybe that was more with whom he was playing with.'

my biggest concern player was Garland who looks lost.  Who will he play with? Lots of cash for a third line guy who hasnt really shown much.

OEL looks better than advertised.

Poolman looks ok.

Im sure Petterson and Hughes will be back to their normal selves.

Its the gel that seemed to be missing and they didnt use the pre season to get ready. The reason the Kraken were playing their NHL lineup every night was they needed to get everyone playing well together. With the additions this year we needed to do the same. Its the issue we had last year as well.With no preseason last year we struggled with new faces. I am worried we didnt learn anything from that.

I am hopeful we will get it together opening night. If we cant kill penalties teams like the Oilers will eat us alive. we need to come out of the gate flying this season. Need a good start. Falling behind in the standings early will not be a playoff formula. Its going to be a battle

[-DLC-]

7 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Thanks Deb.   Also if you look at the shot clock, it's not like we were getting abused either.    Give it 20 games.    Winning is fun for sure, but i'm willing to see how things play out  before losing my sh!t over pre-season games.   This pre-season will get an A in hindsight if we win a few rounds.   The camp is just as important to the players and coaches and team as the actual games are for working on things.  

 

PS.  I didn't vote!  

I didn't vote either.

 

But I guess the panic button is all warmed up and ready to go.

[Ghostsof1915]

Incomplete is not an option so I didn't vote.

[JM_]

Good, OK, bad, weird.

 

there was actually a lot to like, OEL looks great, so does Poolman. Petey and Hughes got some meaningful work in. Pods got better and better, he's already driving to the net and making plays. Garland looks like a keeper. Thought Hughes looked solid 5 on5 vs McBaby.

 

Demko looked OK, gave up a couple he probably wants back. Liked how Halak looked tho.

 

Losing Gadjovich... 'nuff said. A bit worried about Brock.

 

Hamonic.

[Crabcakes]

We won't be able to tell how they did until game 20.  Everybody knows not to look at the standings until the quarter poll because they aren't statistically relevant until then.

 

How about E for Evaluation.

 

Benning brought in a lot of players this year, particularly in the bottom 6.  There was an awful lot to look at and some really hard decisions to make.  The really tough ones, we'll find out later today when the final cuts are made.  From a lineup selection standpoint, this year was really difficult.  So they didn't play both Horvat and Pettersson in a game together until the last game.  Same with OEL and Hughes.  

 

Everybody loves Gadjovich but if they really felt he was a future star but he wasn't going to make the team this year then they would have waited until the last day to put him on waivers when the really hard decisions are made.  Take Juolevi for example.  He hasn't played in a while and we're not sure why.  He may be dinged up or they've just seen enough and want to look at others.  Either way, they're waiting until the last day because they think he's a keeper.

[Canuckfanforlife82]

The biggest problem this team had this preseason so far was not enough time to work together and it showed last night. I sort of blame the coaching staff because they I could have stopped looking at who is going to play on the third and fourth line a few games before. We didn’t need to see players like Burroughs and Chaisson, etc, so often. It’s hard to know what they really have to give them a proper grade. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Canuckfanforlife82

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, mikeyman109 said:

I agree Auditioning 4th line players is exactly what the preseason was about and in general id say they didnt do very well. I cant say any of them had a great  pre season.

I thought that all three of Highmore, DiGiuseppe and Dowling looked pretty good.  Highmore was probably our best forechecker and fastest forward out there.  Really excited for the day when we see Motte and Highmore crashing and banging on the same line.  

 

DiGiuseppe impressed me as well, he looks strong out there and I didn't see any opposition player outmuscle him on the boards.  

 

Edit: I'm talking about the entire preseason, not just the Edmonton game. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by VancouverHabitant

[Rindiculous]

Actually I’d give our preseason a B because we did everything this preseason but win.  We dominated almost every game despite playing with inferior lineups.  Even last night with a full lineup we had 7 players with more than a 90% expected goals.  Let me say that again: WE HAD 7 PLAYERS WITH MORE THAN A 90% EXPECTED GOALS.  That is unheard of this basically means we should have scored 9 goals with those players on the ice to every time Edmonton scored 1.  We played very well maybe goaltending and PK coulda been a bit better but then again it was a rotating door of PKers they’ll be better after having some time to adjust.

 

We’re gonna be good this year if we continue this play into the regular season.  Just be happy we didn’t waste all our good luck in the preseason.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Rindiculous

[CanucksJay]

1 hour ago, IBatch said:

Thanks Deb.   Also if you look at the shot clock, it's not like we were getting abused either.    Give it 20 games.    Winning is fun for sure, but i'm willing to see how things play out  before losing my sh!t over pre-season games.   This pre-season will get an A in hindsight if we win a few rounds.   The camp is just as important to the players and coaches and team as the actual games are for working on things.  

 

PS.  I didn't vote!  

Problem is, taking 20 games could mean too big of a hole to make playoffs. 

I can't give this camp an A even if we end up having a successful year because it didn't accomplish anything. Our roster is still not set and our lines aren't either. 

It would have been far better to run camp with

 

Boeser Miller X (until Petterson returned) 

Pearson Horvat Hogz 

Garland Dickinson Podz 

Lockwood X X

 

Have, Gadj, Bailey Petan, Chiasson Highmore Dowling, McEwan, Di Giuseppe, Dowling rotate through those positions. 

 

The fact that we took all of camp and preseason to accomplish that Focht and Dries  werent going to make the team was a complete waste of time. 

In fact I would have narrowed my list down even more. A lot of those guys above shouldn't still be here. Isn't it crazy that all these guys are still here after end of pre season SMH. 

 

Same thing happened on defence

 

OEL Myers 

Hughes Poolman 

X X

Rotate Juolevi, Rathbone, Bowey Schenn and Burroughs (if you must) through the final 2 spots and try to find a winning combo until hammer returns. 

 

My guess is that Juolevi and Bowey pairing would have been the winner. 

 

Really it should be Juolevi Rathbone and Bowey that's still here. 

 

 

 

[Eddie]

Yeah so I did vote F last night - which was probably the disappointment of our starting lineup getting bodied by the Oilers AHL roster...

 

There  were some things to like in the preseason for sure.  OEL, Garland, Halak all showed well. We did have some good possession and dynamic play from time to time.  O.J, Rathbone and Podz all showed promise IMO. 

 

I guess the panic and disappointment from me is that firstly our divisional rivals all looked cohesive, had identity and knew how to score and defend as a team.  We really didn't.  

We really saw some pretty serious team chemistry problems last year and some of those were still glaringly there. The bottom 6 debate didn't really get resolved either... can anyone think right now that any combination of 3 of those players that are gonna make a great or even average 4th line ?  Add to that the strange decision making around Gadj & the mysterious disappearance of O.J and yet again there's an odd narrative emerging. 

 

So probably not really an F ... but it wasn't good or confidence inspiring that's for sure. 

 

Historically our worst preseasons have always preceded successful regular seasons so lets hope its the case again this time. 

[-AJ-]

7 hours ago, iinatcc said:

Preseason helps us understand what to expect during the regular season. So I think it's worth grading 

I would disagree. I've seen many bad pre-seasons result in great regular seasons and vice versa.

[bishopshodan]

It was exactly what preseason should be.

 

Look at what you've got in the cupboards.

 

Only slight issue was the late additions of EP and Huggs. But that was minor as we didn't need to have too deep a look at those two stars.

 

Man...the season hasn't started yet and the chicken little's are already running for cover.

[Patel Bure]

C- grade (results wise) but it’s not relevant.

 

Preseason is an opportunity to see how different players look under different situations.  The real test begins Wednesday.

[Patel Bure]

4 hours ago, -DLC- said:

This is ridiculous in my mind.

 

Preseason is a time to give guys a look, shake off the rust and look at the overall performance not just the result.

 

I give this thread and all those already grading the team an F.

 

Honestly, pace yourselves.  Hoglander's looking like a beast out there.  Podz needs a little more time to get familiar but I see huge potential in him.  Brock was showing he's in fine form.  Petey and Quinn are back.  Bo and Pearson have developed some great chemistry and I expect that to continue.  Myers will be huge for us.  OEL.  There are things to be excited about but we're already throwing in the towel?  Wow.

I hope you’re right with the “Myers will be huge for us” comment.  100% agree with you on everything else.

[-DLC-]

2 minutes ago, Patel Bure said:

I hope you’re right with the “Myers will be huge for us” comment.  100% agree with you on everything else.

I was NOT on board with him at first but watching him up close and personal (on the glass), he plays a fast, tough game.  Mind you, everything looks fast and intense from that vantage point.  I noticed him in a good way last night.

[alt kilgore]

Voted C.  If I have to vote. 

Some good surprises, Rathbone continues to impress. Bo is looking great as does Myers. Potz has some work to do but you can see the potential. OEL has not disappointed so far. Poolman looks steady. I know the local media hates him, but I also like Schenn and what he brings. Can't wait to see more of Lockwood.

 

Balanced with the disappointments like Gadz leaving, Joulevi's lack of impact..again, Garland's disappointing preseason, Demko still hasn't looked comfortable and the preseason games are now over. And combine all the new players and the logistics of finding the right mix with injuries to Sutter, Motte, and now Boeser. With the Hamonic mystery absence, plus Petey and Hughes delay, the team has not, as yet, come together with any kind of identity. And now its go time.

 

But its a "C" because its not really any more or less than what I expected.  We have so many new faces. Injury / players not here. P&Q contract delay.  And dare I say, Green's procrastination in making decisions about players earlier so the rest of the team could gel sooner.

 

Because its such a cluster#%^$ I don't really expect them to gel for at least 2 or 3 months.  I don't know what folks were expecting for such a disjointed crew we have now.  I expect we won't do all that great before Christmas. It may be too late by then to get back into the playoff race. But we have the talent, that we still can make up ground in the latter half of the season, if we can just maintain a .500 average at least. So I'm still hopeful about the playoffs. But I am steeled for the first quarter of the season at least while Green continues to mix and match and players develop chemistry with one another, and new players get settled in more with their families.  I'm more stoked about THAT team, in a few months, once the wrinkles have been ironed out.

 

 

 

 

[Patel Bure]

11 minutes ago, -DLC- said:

I was NOT on board with him at first but watching him up close and personal (on the glass), he plays a fast, tough game.  Mind you, everything looks fast and intense from that vantage point.  I noticed him in a good way last night.

That’s good to hear.  
 

I really believe that a large part of our sucees

this season will depend on the extent that an OEL-Myers pairing can play a solid two way game. 
 

Management and coaching has both defenders pegged as being two way guys. Whereas my biggest fear is that both guys are OFD’s.  Will be happier than anyone if I’m proven wrong.