HKSR Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 48 minutes ago, thrago said: Pearson and Myers are the two most underrated players on the Canucks IMO. Both get way more flack then they disserve and far too little praise. Couldn't be more true. If the Canucks traded Myers, CDC would be proposing trades for a top 4 RHD the next day. If the Canucks traded Pearson, CDC would be looking for another solid top 9 forward that is defensively responsible the next day. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 (edited) I don't think he's been underrated, but he has been arguably overpaid in the past. I think most fans who pay attention understand what we've got in Pearson. He gets his chances but he's always been a streaky offensive player for us, even during that one 45 point season he had with us. He brings a defensive conscience to the lines he plays on, but up until this stretch under Boudreau he admittedly looked pretty meh. He's a good player when he's on, and he brings value to a line, but he's by no means irreplaceable and I could see him being one of the guys JR ships out if he wants to whittle away at our vets and free up cap space. Edited January 8, 2022 by Coconuts 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rindiculous Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 4 minutes ago, Coconuts said: I don't think he's been underrated, but he has been arguably overpaid in the past. I think most fans who pay attention understand what we've got in Pearson. He gets his chances but he's always been a streaky offensive player for us, even during that one 45 point season he had with us. He brings a defensive conscience to the lines he plays on, but up until this stretch under Boudreau he admittedly looked pretty meh. He's a good player when he's on, and he brings value to a line, but he's by no means irreplaceable and I could see him being one of the guys JR ships out if he wants to whittle away at our vets and free up cap space. Obviously he looks better under Boudreau, almost all the players have, but Pearson and Myers have both been two of the best Canucks players during Green's tenure earlier this season as well and fancy stats back them up as that. It's hard to say it's a coincidence that Pearson's line has been the most effective throughout the entire season more than any other line out there no matter who his linemates are. Yes, his season last year was terrible and was overpaid like almost everyone on the roster, but the year before he was fully worth 3.75 and this year he's fully worth 3.25 if not more. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrchief Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 Pearson works hard on the boards and gets pucks to Miller and Boeser/Hoglander/whatever linemate. He is strong on the boards and that is an element we are sorta lacking when I watch the team. He may not get a lot of points but if there was 3rd assists, he'd have plenty of them. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 3 minutes ago, Rindiculous said: Obviously he looks better under Boudreau, almost all the players have, but Pearson and Myers have both been two of the best Canucks players during Green's tenure earlier this season as well and fancy stats back them up as that. It's hard to say it's a coincidence that Pearson's line has been the most effective throughout the entire season more than any other line out there no matter who his linemates are. Yes, his season last year was terrible and was overpaid like almost everyone on the roster, but the year before he was fully worth 3.75 and this year he's fully worth 3.25 if not more. I haven't dug into his stats aside from his production, so I'm just gonna believe you. And fair, he wasn't the only player who has a disaster of a season last go round. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BPA Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Pearson is a good player to have. BUT there's only so much cap space to go around. Something has to give. And JR mentioned getting younger. So..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Buzzsaw* Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Pearson is a veteran solid #6 forward who can be slotted into the #1 line if injuries call for it and who can also do duty as a PKer and on the PP. He can score, he is physical and he is responsible defensively. He performs on a consistent basis. He is paid like a veteran Free Agent... standard in the league. To suggest that someone his age and with his track record could be paid $1 million a year is delusional. There are dozens of teams in the league who would pay him his current salary and who would sign him given the opportunity. He is only 29 years old and has plenty of mileage left in him. No, he is not a Star forward, no he is not going to set the league on fire, but he gets the job done in the positions he is assigned. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eeeeergh Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Jk. Actually agree, hes good. Probably overpaid, but we desperately need his grit b/c we traded away the rest of it that we had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eeeeergh Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 4 hours ago, HKSR said: Couldn't be more true. If the Canucks traded Myers, CDC would be proposing trades for a top 4 RHD the next day. If the Canucks traded Pearson, CDC would be looking for another solid top 9 forward that is defensively responsible the next day. Myers has been brilliant this year, and absolutely living up to his contract imo. I though the exact opposite last year, but what a difference an offseason makes. Id attribute it to the new coaching but honestly think he was good under Green this year too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kloubek Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Pearson is streaky. Always has been. And yeah, he had a bad year along with a lot of other Canuck players. That made things look particularly bad against 2 seasons where he performed probably higher than most expected - myself included. This year I think he's looked ok. If he brought up his shooting percentage which is abnormally low, he'd probably be more effective. There's only so many empty nets to go around... I read the same article as you, and I too didn't view Pearson as being in that group. I don't think I'm as high on him as you are as to say he is criminally underrated, but he's one of the few players we have who bring some physicality and when he's on a mission, and he really can be effective in a grinding game. I think there's a leadership element there too. I personally have no issues with him being here - though it'd be nice to see him consistently step it up a bit to warrant a top 6 position, as he'd be overpaid as a third liner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Pearson is an utterly unexciting, but very necessary, middle 6, two way, complementary, hard working, board battling player making pretty much exactly what he should. It's not remotely exciting, but the whinging on here about him is 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_314 Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 11 hours ago, Rindiculous said: I completely agree. It's really hard because I really love both Miller and Pearson on this team. They are probably my #1 and 2 favourite players on this team right now. Maybe it comes down to having to get rid of Pearson to sign Miller, but I'd really like to keep both on this team because they bring stuff that no other Canuck player brings at this point...being gritty along the boards. Without those two, we lose almost every single puck battle. While I hate the big body narrative, it does have merit in being able to win board battles and outmuscle your opponent in the dirty areas. The only other player who is any good at winning puck battles is Boeser (Garland tries for his size but he can still get outmuscled), that's the main reason why the 'heavy' line has been working so well. All three are great at causing turnovers and winning puck battles. Almost every single goal they've scored has been off winning a puck battle in the offensive zone (either Pearson or Miller sometimes both) and passing it to Boeser open in the slot. I get that we have other younger players we have to sign, and maybe Podkolzin could replace Pearson if he got better at board battles, but right now I don't like the idea of losing either at some point. Agreed with the notion of "heaviness" that he brings...and that is invaluable in the playoffs. I just can't envision who else they could move without adding an asset to make their cap palatable though (Hamonic/ Poolman probably need some, Dickinson's a low pick at best) then you look at moving one of the stars e.g. Boeser and you'd be losing a major piece (not like you could trade OEL or Myers, or would prefer to trade any of Quinn/ Petey/ Demko/ Horvat/ Garland). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHL97OneTimer Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Agree he's underrated. But not quite a "Burrows, do we need him?" type of underrating of course. Pearson's streaky, that's the real reason why he doesn't get his dues. If he could play 80-85% of his best in a game in, game out type fashion, I think he wouldn't be underrated. With all that said, he is one of those "does the little things" type of player like screening the net. He's a good guy to have on the team and I hope he keeps up his current play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt kilgore Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Pearson has played well this season. I'd say he's worth the 3.25. The issue I had, and to a degree still have as long as its affecting the cap, is that Benning could have re-signed him for less. Could have had a bargain player instead of one playing just barley up to his contract. JB was, as Sat put it at the time, bidding against himself with the re-sign. Most hockey writers were suggesting between 2.5 - 3. That was the comparable based on other players with the same stats and age. And with the cap situation being so dire, and flat, and just after losing a few valuable pieces on the team because we couldn't squeeze them in, it seemed a bit dumb to pay Pearson, another aging vet when we are working to get younger, above market value. He probably would have accepted 2.75. And when every dollar counts, that extra 500,000 could come in handy. On its own, its not a terrible deal, but it was just another example of the cuts of a thousand knives with JB in charge. Projection chart from evolving-hockey.com at the time: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetterssonOrPeterson Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 He is what he is. Nothing less. Nothing more. Really an average player. Replace him with any other fringe top 6/legit top-9 forward in the league and you'll barely notice his absence. Don't really see how he's "criminally" underrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shirotashi Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 (edited) On 1/8/2022 at 3:10 AM, D-Money said: You had me until this. Horvat takes more faceoffs than anyone in the league, his value goes way beyond creating scoring chances (and when he does he's been clutch). Garland's speed, forechecking, and plain old peskiness has added an element this team has lacked for years. And Hughes is putting up one of the best years for a Canucks' defenceman EVER. Pearson has been surprisingly good. But saying stuff like that only undermines your point. You had me until this. Pearson has been surprisingly good? Saying stuff like that only undermines your point. Edited January 9, 2022 by Shirotashi 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Perusing the Proposal section only re-enforces this. People legitimately saying we should trade him for Kane at 50% retained. Literally nobody else in the league wanted Kane, goes to show how dumb of an idea that was. Pearson is nearly a 40 point a season guy that can take the defensive load off Horvat and Miller, making 3.5mil. You'd think the fans here want us to be Edmonton or something. Not every player on your team needs to score 60+ points or be 20 years old. Pearson isn't a core piece but is a valuable secondary piece. Think Burrows and Higgins from the 2011 team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toyotasfan Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Sometimes you don’t notice him for awhile in regular season play , but he would compliment any playoff team, he could fit into Tampa’s lineup seamlessly , he does the grunt work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorvatToBaertschi Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 On 1/8/2022 at 1:12 PM, MikeyD said: Not even close to criminally underrated. He's been overpaid most of his tenure here. His stats are modest, his work effort has been poor for most of his games and he's not a guy that does a whole lot when he isn't producing. However with that said,the Boudreau version of Pearson is an extremely good player and is underpaid. However keep in mind, we've only played a small sample of games with Boudreau as compared to years with Green. His first year was decent, paid about right. After that up until Boudreau he hasn't done anything that couldn't be filled easily by 75% of the league. And at 3 million that's a rough look. 75% of the league are 20 goal scorers? A year and a half into his trade, he was 1st in goal scoring amongst canucks players in that timeframe.... can 75% of the league do that? Pearson and his contract are both fine and have been his entire Canucks tenure. However, with upcoming contract negotiations with high end players, he'll be an important piece to move 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Provost Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Pearson is a fine veteran NHLer, he seems to gain the trust of coaches he plays for and that says a lot. On the other hand, fine veteran NHLers are amongst the lowest valued players in the current NHL economics. There are always really decent top 9 veterans on the wrong side of 30 available late in the summertime who can be had for under $2 million and on 1 year terms. The league values younger players significantly more and has for the last few years. The only time Pearson-like players are valued is at the deadline as rentals for contending teams. They get a guy who is going to solidify their bottom 6 and is also insurance for higher in the lineup in case of injuries during a long playoff run. He isn't a huge problem in our lineup, but is also eminently replaceable if we could move him at the deadline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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