Pre-Season [GDT/PGT] Canucks vs/@ Flames (Split Squad) / Sunday, Sept. 25/22 / 4:00 & 5:00 pm

[HorvatToBaertschi]

Didn't get to watch much of the game so maybe somebody can help me out with this; and I know it's preseason so the results don't matter.

 

However, in the 30 minutes I got to watch of the game, Burroughs and Dermott both couldn't handle the puck whatsoever. They would either bobble the puck off a simple pass, skate a little bit and lose the puck, or whiff their passes. It was scary at what point it was pathetic.

 

My question is, is this something we should be worried about or not? On one hand, its the preseason, on the other, they've played hockey their entire lives and have been skating for weeks recently and still can't take a pass? Seems very bush league from them.

 

Did anyone else notice this? 

[Locke Lamora]

13 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

So many people have no clue how the pre-season works and are all worried about the first game. It's hilarious, a bit sad, and a little adorable all at the same time.

 

 

Lol, I’ve been around this forum for years and knew EXACTLY what the tenor of the posts would be after a double split-squad loss on opening night of the preseason. The last 3 pre-season games with the final team iced is when one can start to really make any sort of legit evaluations of this team. 

 

Gotta focus on individual evaluations (didn’t watch the game in Calgary). Like what I saw from Silovs…long and athletic. Rathbone playing 25 minutes and QB’ing an NHL powerplay is a great stepping stone for his continued development. And don’t even get me started on Podzillla. Beast. Kuzmenko didn’t really flash much, but the main thing is just getting that first NHL game under his belt. 

 

Looking forward to the next one.

[Barnstorm]

A good pre-season game( particularly the first one) is not about entertainment or victories. No points are awarded , no standings are established. 
A good pre-season game enables the players to improve conditioning, timing and cohesion. A good pre-season game gives the coaches, management and fans opportunity to see how PTO’s, drafts, veterans and rookies perform individually and together for the first time in a game situation. 
The game served its purpose and I got my moneys worth. 

[tas]

49 minutes ago, EddieVedder said:

Brutal tonight.   Not an nhl dman.

.

[CanucksJay]

I get that some vets don't give it their all during preseason and its really the prospects that do in order to make the team. 

Unfortunately, our prospect talent looks to be worse than Cgy and we took an L tonight. 

The problem I have is that good teams and good players practice and play hard whenever the step on the ice. They are always prepared to play and they never take losing as ok. 

We battled consistency issues for how long now? When reg season starts, we are a team that really can't afford any nights off. I don't know if players can just flip the switch when reg season starts. 

Last year we saw what a bad start could do to playoff chances. Bruce had the team playing like a top 10 team in the league and we still missed the playoffs. 

2 years ago, when we missed the playoffs, I thought ok, guys learned their lesson. We had a great playoffs in the bubble and guys weren't prepared this year. They'll train hard and turn heads next year. Then last year happened and terrible start under TG pretty much sunk our playoff chances in nov. 

Fast forward to this year under BB. We hear great things out of camp. Guys came in in great shape and team looks to be buzzing. 

We then lay a stinker last night. 

Man, I just want them to make the cuts asap and get the core group to start ramping it up so that we are flying on game 1.

 

 

[BlakeQuinnAndEggs]

The thing I hate the most about pre season is the knee jerk reactions.

 

It's literally a practice scrimmage.

 

I like pre season cause I want to see chemistry building and I hope to see a young player or 2 show promise. I don't care at all about the results until they matter.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they literally try to take penalties so they can practice the pk lol.

[stawns]

46 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Every damn year brother, every damn year.

I don't think anyone thinks it matters, but the team(s) didn't look good or prepared to play.........I don't get why it's bad to talk about that.

 

There were some good things, for sure, but an overall poor start.  I am a little baffled about the guy ragging on silovs, who was outstanding.

[stawns]

50 minutes ago, Sikhguy23 said:

No, but they aren't supposed to overreact after 1 pre-season game either. 

I didn't see anyone overreact

[EddieVedder]

52 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

Didn't get to watch much of the game so maybe somebody can help me out with this; and I know it's preseason so the results don't matter.

 

However, in the 30 minutes I got to watch of the game, Burroughs and Dermott both couldn't handle the puck whatsoever. They would either bobble the puck off a simple pass, skate a little bit and lose the puck, or whiff their passes. It was scary at what point it was pathetic.

 

My question is, is this something we should be worried about or not? On one hand, its the preseason, on the other, they've played hockey their entire lives and have been skating for weeks recently and still can't take a pass? Seems very bush league from them.

 

Did anyone else notice this? 

I lost track of how many times rathbone lost the puck, and was caught out of position.  Looks like another chatfield 

[Bell]

8 hours ago, hockeygod77 said:

Mathew philips keeps burning canucks during pre season..if this guy makes it the flames that is id be worried if i was a canucks fan...he is underrated and i think he should make the flames as much as i hate calgary...the skill that kid has is proven at the all level and every level he has played...scouts missed that one..i think he could be better than gudreau..

He was super fun to watch when he played here in VIctoria.  His diminutive stature is the only reason he isn't playing full-time in the NHL already.  Good luck to him.

[Gawdzukes]

1 hour ago, stawns said:

I don't understand this approach, are people supposed to say it was a good game when it wasn't?

I'm not sure what you mean or expect by this statement. They don't need to say anything about the quality of the game itself. What are you looking for in game one of the (split squad) pre-season containing 30% NHL players, with one team dressing only one impact forward, and all AHL goalies, with no reward for winning?

 

A good game.  Pre-season games are always crap and this is the one before the first round of cuts. Did people just start watching hockey yesterday?

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[CanucksJay]

5 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

I'm not sure what you mean or expect by this statement. They don't need to say anything about the quality of the game itself. What are you looking for in game one of the (split squad) pre-season containing 30% NHL players, with one team dressing only one impact forward, and all AHL goalies, with no reward for winning?

 

A good game.  Pre-season games are always crap and this is the one before the first round of cuts. Did people just start watching hockey yesterday?

No we're looking at individual players and nobody stood out minus Podz. Rathbone was ok and maybe the expectations placed on him coming in was unfair but we weren't making crisp passes, a lot of bobbling the puck, pk structure looked passive etc. I think it's ok to call it as it is. Is the world ending? Absolutely not. We have the rest of preseason to fine tune and improve but those are the initial takes after game 1.

I would be concerned however if the last 2 games of the preseason looked like last night when we have our main roster assembled and are playing other teams who are fielding a complete team. 

 

 

[CanucksJay]

10 minutes ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

 

Surprised ppl aren't jumping on JR for his comments. Seems to echo many of the comments here. 

Great comments on Rathbone also echoed by BB. I think guys like me are expecting too much from this kid. 

I guess it's a win if he canmake the club and play 8-10 min a night. 

[Gawdzukes]

43 minutes ago, stawns said:

I don't think anyone thinks it matters, but the team(s) didn't look good or prepared to play.........I don't get why it's bad to talk about that.

 

There were some good things, for sure, but an overall poor start.  I am a little baffled about the guy ragging on silovs, who was outstanding.

I don't think they're working on their starts at all at this point though. It's too early. You actually need the whole team together or a good portion in order to do that. It's not even a real measure with non NHL opposition. You can't really work on your start when you only have 2 forward lines and you're missing anything resembling a defence, or your starting goalie. That will come in the last couple games when we have our full squad and we're playing against suitable opposition.

 

I think for some fans we should just put together the full squad and play a junior b team or something so we can stomp them like 40-0. Then people will be satisfied with our start. 

[wai_lai416]

8 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

I don't think they're working on their starts at all at this point though. It's too early. You actually need the whole team together or a good portion in order to do that. It's not even a real measure with non NHL opposition. You can't really work on your start when you only have 2 forward lines and you're missing anything resembling a defence, or your starting goalie. That will come in the last couple games when we have our full squad and we're playing against suitable opposition.

 

I think for some fans we should just put together the full squad and play a junior b team or something so we can stomp them like 40-0. Then people will be satisfied with our start. 

The problem is poor start is a signature of the canucks.. how many times have we seen the team come out with a poor start in the last few seasons? Even after BB came on board we were still plagued by poor start

[EddieVedder]

25 minutes ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

 

Hoglanders biggest issue last year was that he was playing injured from day 1. The kid is going to be a star.

[EddieVedder]

17 minutes ago, CanucksJay said:

No we're looking at individual players and nobody stood out minus Podz. Rathbone was ok and maybe the expectations placed on him coming in was unfair but we weren't making crisp passes, a lot of bobbling the puck, pk structure looked passive etc. I think it's ok to call it as it is. Is the world ending? Absolutely not. We have the rest of preseason to fine tune and improve but those are the initial takes after game 1.

I would be concerned however if the last 2 games of the preseason looked like last night when we have our main roster assembled and are playing other teams who are fielding a complete team. 

 

 

 

Thought petey was driving play all night.  Hard not to notice.

Bone was just bad from the getgo.  

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Gawdzukes]

8 minutes ago, CanucksJay said:

No we're looking at individual players and nobody stood out minus Podz. Rathbone was ok and maybe the expectations placed on him coming in was unfair but we weren't making crisp passes, a lot of bobbling the puck, pk structure looked passive etc. I think it's ok to call it as it is. Is the world ending? Absolutely not. We have the rest of preseason to fine tune and improve but those are the initial takes after game 1.

I would be concerned however if the last 2 games of the preseason looked like last night when we have our main roster assembled and are playing other teams who are fielding a complete team. 

 

 

 

Fair enough. It reminds me of every pre-season though. Some people seem to forget the pre-season is for evaluating lesser players as well. The results themselves are unimportant. No teams just ice their top team right from the get go in the name of chemistry, and then tests the AHL players in the regular season.

 

I agree the pace looked slow and Pods was really the lone bright spot. However, Petterson, and Kuz looked smooth in their first ice time together. That is important in itself. Also, Bo, and Garland looked fine. I think what you're seeing is simply none of the players on the cusp made a case for themselves. Arseneau, and DiGuiseppe, actually looked quite good considering, but I didn't expect anything more out of this game myself. Let's see what's going on after 3 days of practice, cuts, and the next game. If people are expecting a finished product they're going to naturally be disappointed.