The Canucks have been outplaying their opponents since the Colorado game..........can they turn it around?

[Patel Bure]

The Canucks have been outplaying their opponents since the Colorado game..........can they turn it around?

 

Our record aside, the Canucks have been outplaying their opponents outside of the Pittsburgh game.   Lets have a look:

 

-We outplayed Colorado (after the first 10 minutes of the game)

-Outplayed Winnipeg

-Outplayed Chicago

-Outplayed Columbus

-Boston was a toss-up 

-Outplayed Montreal

 

So outside of our game against Pittsburgh, and a toss-up against the Bruins, the Canucks arguably could have gone 5-1-1 over these last 7 games.  Obviously, they did not, but the fact remains that the Canucks have been playing some decent hockey over these last 7 games outside of the Pittsburgh game.  They are clearly a fragile bunch right now but sometimes all it takes is one game to start something. 

 

While the Canucks chances of making the playoffs this year are slim to none, can they get on a hot streak at a certain point this year to make things interesting?.........and perhaps   set the tone for next season?    Last year for instance, despite our horrible season, we still managed to pull off one hot streak of 8-3-2 between the Pettersson injury and the Canucks covid outbreak.

 

A win over Ottawa next game and maybe the Canucks get their confidence back.  

 

[GB5]

Outplayed is somewhat subjective.

 

Watching this team there are several significant areas where they fall down. This includes poor play without the puck, not getting open, no making your stick available for tip ins, not skating hard to get open, not finishing checks, not going to the net, perimeter play, gliding on  back checks etc....

 

It comes down to finding ways to win. You can skate for miles and get 50 shots a game but if all the shots are coming from the boards or the blue line you won't ever score until you address these other areas and do what it takes to win.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by GB5

[Nucker 67]

Have they though?

[Patel Bure]

1 minute ago, NUCKER67 said:

Have they though?

Outside of the Pittsburgh game, I think one can make a pretty strong argument.  Boston was probably a toss up.   We were outplayed by the Avs for the first ten minutes.  

[JM_]

I've believed throughout this entire year its the coaching not the roster. Green's assistants just don't have what it takes to coach special teams, as the year rolls on it just becomes more and more clear. 

[Nucker 67]

Last night was probably the first game Pettersson looked real good. He was engaged and quicker on pucks. It's great if the Canucks can turn it around, but I think they dug themselves too big a hole to claw back into playoffs talk.  They would have to have an unbelievable run, and with that D, I'm not too optimistic.  Trade Boeser for a Top 4 D, and then maybe...

[Patel Bure]

3 minutes ago, NUCKER67 said:

Last night was probably the first game Pettersson looked real good. He was engaged and quicker on pucks. It's great if the Canucks can turn it around, but I think they dug themselves too big a hole to claw back into playoffs talk.  They would have to have an unbelievable run, and with that D, I'm not too optimistic.  Trade Boeser for a Top 4 D, and then maybe...

I think the best approach the Canucks can take right now is one game at a time.  Best case scenario = we miraculously make the playoffs.  Worst case scenario = we have a very strong rest of the season and put the league on notice for next season.  Set the tone.   

 

p.s. - I'm not sure if Boeser gets you a Top 4 D given what his QO will be but I hope you're right.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Patel Bure

[Devron]

Anything’s possible. Maybe even in spite of the coaching staff 

[alt kilgore]

I think this team could turn it around this season. Just too many good pieces.   Love what Garland adds.

 

Just not in time most likely.  Its sad because I feel we've already lost a couple of years with COVID and roster changes, and now we will have to wait until next October to once again be excited about working towards the playoffs. 

 

Never say never.  And I'm not going to say its impossible to make the playoffs, if other teams have injury troubles etc.. But I'm coming to terms with simply wanting to watch the team get better this season. Canuck Luck that we will get better, have a St. Louis like surge, and then just fail to make the playoffs and draft 15th.   But that would be a successful season now IMO

[goalie13]

48 minutes ago, Patel Bure said:

The Canucks have been outplaying their opponents since the Colorado game..........can they turn it around?

You want them to stop outplaying their opponents?  That seems like an odd strategy.

[fanfor42]

Last night on Petey's goal he was left alone to get off his one timer with nobody in the way to block it.

 

Montreal immediately adjusted and on subsequent opportunities there was someone right on Petey and blocking his shooting lane.

 

This is a microcosm of the game with in the game on special teams.  Canucks need to try the Petey one timer but if it is not available they need to game plan for an alternative.  ie if the opponent is dedicating one man to be on Petey and take away his shooting lane this has to open an opportunity elsewhere.

 

This is what I find frustrating about our coaching.  It is like - give it to Petey.  If there's a shooting lane great if not they simply give it to him anyway and have him shoot into the defender or miss the net.

 

Where is the alternative when Petey has no clear shooting lane? Coaching makes a huge difference on special teams.

 

 

 

[MaxVerstappen33]

32 minutes ago, Patel Bure said:

Outside of the Pittsburgh game, I think one can make a pretty strong argument.  Boston was probably a toss up.   We were outplayed by the Avs for the first ten minutes.  

I seen a stat on the game last night that the Canucks are in the top 3 in the league on possession or something

[Pears]

Could be on a similar run that Chicago is currently enjoying if we had the balls to fire Green/Baumgartner. 

[VegasCanuck]

39 minutes ago, Patel Bure said:

The Canucks have been outplaying their opponents since the Colorado game..........can they turn it around?

 

Our record aside, the Canucks have been outplaying their opponents outside of the Pittsburgh game.   Lets have a look:

 

-We outplayed Colorado (after the first 10 minutes of the game)

-Outplayed Winnipeg

-Outplayed Chicago

-Outplayed Columbus

-Boston was a toss-up 

-Outplayed Montreal

 

So outside of our game against Pittsburgh, and a toss-up against the Bruins, the Canucks arguably could have gone 5-1-1 over these last 7 games.  Obviously, they did not, but the fact remains that the Canucks have been playing some decent hockey over these last 7 games outside of the Pittsburgh game.  They are clearly a fragile bunch right now but sometimes all it takes is one game to start something. 

 

While the Canucks chances of making the playoffs this year are slim to none, can they get on a hot streak at a certain point this year to make things interesting?.........and perhaps   set the tone for next season?    Last year for instance, despite our horrible season, we still managed to pull off one hot streak of 8-3-2 between the Pettersson injury and the Canucks covid outbreak.

 

A win over Ottawa next game and maybe the Canucks get their confidence back.  

 

Part of this season has been REALLY bad luck and some REALLY bad refereeing. That doesn't dismiss the really bad defensive coverage and constant errors in our own zone.

 

I thought coming into this season, that we might struggle defensively, what I never imagined, was that with this lineup, that we would be unable to create offense. I almost think that until we shake up the defense again, we might be better off just playing a full run and gun style as it would at least be entertaining. I think we have some good guys on defense, but we clearly do not have the right mix back there.

 

If we look at guys like Myers (Playing much better overall than he gets credit for), if he was given free reign to create offense, this would pull up his numbers and make him a more viable trade chip at the deadline this season.

I've been pretty happy with Poolman, he's +4, and for his contract rate, he's doing pretty well, especially considering how badly we're playing defensively overall, but he's not a shutdown guy.

Hughes has been much better defensively this season, and is still creating offense at a solid rate.

OEL has been good at 5 on 5 and is +4. He hasn't had much success offensively, but I think that's almost more due to the lack of offense up front. We are not getting net presence to support his play from the point.

Even Schenn is +2.

 

Our problem isn't our defensive play 5 on 5 as proven by the fact that all our top 4, other than Hamonic, are + players.

 

Our problem is, we don't have that true shutdown guy on the penalty kill, to balance us off. As much as I like Burroughs play, he's not the shutdown guy that we need.

 

Until we address this, we need to be able to outscore opponents to cover up our weak penalty kill. To me, that generally means we should try Run and Gun. It might suit our team better until we can make further changes to our defensive chemistry.

 

[spook007]

13 minutes ago, goalie13 said:

You want them to stop outplaying their opponents?  That seems like an odd strategy.

[fanfor42]

6 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

 

 

Our problem isn't our defensive play 5 on 5 as proven by the fact that all our top 4, other than Hamonic, are + players.

 

Our problem is, we don't have that true shutdown guy on the penalty kill, to balance us off. As much as I like Burroughs play, he's not the shutdown guy that we need.

 

Until we address this, we need to be able to outscore opponents to cover up our weak penalty kill. To me, that generally means we should try Run and Gun. It might suit our team better until we can make further changes to our defensive chemistry.

 

Agreed.  But why don't we?  Why did JB let Tanev and Edler walk?  They could both be on the team for a combined 7.0 to 7.5M.  Wouldn't that have solved this glaring proble - and all it would have take is signing them and making different roster decisions elsewhere.

 

JB blew money on Holtby buyout and Halak and signed Poolman for 2.5 and Dickenson 2.65. That would have covered it.

 

Who does our pro scouting by the way?  They picked those guys over Tanev and Edler?  

[PetterssonOrPeterson]

49 minutes ago, Patel Bure said:

Outside of the Pittsburgh game, I think one can make a pretty strong argument.  Boston was probably a toss up.   We were outplayed by the Avs for the first ten minutes.  

You can talk about outplaying other teams, what matters in the end is the result. 

Prior to the Montreal game, this team was on a pretty hefty losing streak even though in your words, "they outplayed" the teams they played against. 

 

The teams that have it figured out find a way to win the majority of games when they "outplay" their opponents. That's because for them it mostly either comes down to unlucky bounces or off nights. 

 

This team has had a major issue with its special teams (historically bad) and the forwards seemed to not know how to score despite how many shots are being accumulated. If any, not enough. This all factors in to whether we've "outplayed" other teams, and considering all aspects, we definitely haven't.

[VegasCanuck]

5 minutes ago, fanfor42 said:

Agreed.  But why don't we?  Why did JB let Tanev and Edler walk?  They could both be on the team for a combined 7.0 to 7.5M.  Wouldn't that have solved this glaring proble - and all it would have take is signing them and making different roster decisions elsewhere.

 

JB blew money on Holtby buyout and Halak and signed Poolman for 2.5 and Dickenson 2.65. That would have covered it.

 

Who does our pro scouting by the way?  They picked those guys over Tanev and Edler?  

Edler decided to walk. Tanev, I would have liked to keep, and I don't blame Benning for the fact that he got trapped by the Pandemic, he made some moves based on the idea that we were getting a 4 - 5 million increase on the cap, 3 weeks before Covid paused the season and wiped that increase out. That said, I think Holtby was the wrong signing for goal, although I also get that he couldn't keep Markstrom without losing Demko in expansion, and he wanted a safety net for Demko in starting the season. Personally, I would have rather gone and asked Miller to come back for a season.

 

Halak has been a pretty solid signing for us although he seems to have a problem getting through his first few minutes and getting his focus down.

 

Poolman at 2.5 is good value, and Dickenson should also be good value at 2.65, but we're missing components in the bottom 6, including Sutter, who was supposed to be a central part of our penalty kill this season.

 

There are mistakes that have been made, some are due to lack of foresight, some are due to an economic crunch that no one saw coming.

 

I think Benning has done an awesome job at building our prospect pool, but I agree that it's time for a change and I think it needs to start with him and get a fresh perspective of the organization in total, before making other changes.

 

I think we need to hire a new President and have him do the job of selecting Benning's replacement and deciding on the team's direction.

[N4ZZY]

1 hour ago, Patel Bure said:

The Canucks have been outplaying their opponents since the Colorado game..........can they turn it around?

 

Our record aside, the Canucks have been outplaying their opponents outside of the Pittsburgh game.   Lets have a look:

 

-We outplayed Colorado (after the first 10 minutes of the game)

-Outplayed Winnipeg

-Outplayed Chicago

-Outplayed Columbus

-Boston was a toss-up 

-Outplayed Montreal

 

So outside of our game against Pittsburgh, and a toss-up against the Bruins, the Canucks arguably could have gone 5-1-1 over these last 7 games.  Obviously, they did not, but the fact remains that the Canucks have been playing some decent hockey over these last 7 games outside of the Pittsburgh game.  They are clearly a fragile bunch right now but sometimes all it takes is one game to start something. 

 

While the Canucks chances of making the playoffs this year are slim to none, can they get on a hot streak at a certain point this year to make things interesting?.........and perhaps   set the tone for next season?    Last year for instance, despite our horrible season, we still managed to pull off one hot streak of 8-3-2 between the Pettersson injury and the Canucks covid outbreak.

 

A win over Ottawa next game and maybe the Canucks get their confidence back.  

 

I think it depends if they can get a win against the Sens. If they can win that one, and the offensive guys are the ones potting in goals, like Brock, Petey, Bo, Miller, etc., then I can see the team getting on a bit of a roll, 3-4 game winning streak. Which would in my mind save Green's job at least for the remainder of the season to see if he can salvage the season with this team. Personally, I think the owners don't want to fire Benning or Green. But if they're forced to, then they will. 

 

For me, I think Green probably outlasts Benning. Benning is the one who constructed this roster. 

 

But yeah, I still want both those guys gone. Partly because Green's not going to leave King or Baumgartner, and the PK continues to suck, and the powerplay still ain't that great. 

 

[JayDangles]

1 hour ago, Patel Bure said:

The Canucks have been outplaying their opponents since the Colorado game..........can they turn it around?

 

Our record aside, the Canucks have been outplaying their opponents outside of the Pittsburgh game.   Lets have a look:

 

-We outplayed Colorado (after the first 10 minutes of the game)

-Outplayed Winnipeg

-Outplayed Chicago

-Outplayed Columbus

-Boston was a toss-up 

-Outplayed Montreal

 

So outside of our game against Pittsburgh, and a toss-up against the Bruins, the Canucks arguably could have gone 5-1-1 over these last 7 games.  Obviously, they did not, but the fact remains that the Canucks have been playing some decent hockey over these last 7 games outside of the Pittsburgh game.  They are clearly a fragile bunch right now but sometimes all it takes is one game to start something. 

 

While the Canucks chances of making the playoffs this year are slim to none, can they get on a hot streak at a certain point this year to make things interesting?.........and perhaps   set the tone for next season?    Last year for instance, despite our horrible season, we still managed to pull off one hot streak of 8-3-2 between the Pettersson injury and the Canucks covid outbreak.

 

A win over Ottawa next game and maybe the Canucks get their confidence back.  

 

I could not disagree more. Just because the canucks have outshot their opponents in some of those games does not in any way mean they have outplayed anyone. Not sure if you are watching the full game in both ends of the rink, but everything about the canucks has been inferior.

Given up more high risk scoring chances

Given up more odd man rushes

Allowed way more zone entries

Allowed more PP goals

Been less successful on PP (Nucks lead the league in PP's, but bottom in goals)

 

I think the title should read "The Canucks have been outplayed by their opponents, but have managed to keep the score close.... can they turn it around?"