Jeremy Hronek

6 minutes ago, Johngould21 said:

We should move you for comments like this. WTF, Hirose isn't Chinese at all, try Japanese.

I know, I know, I was kidding (did you see my spoiler tag?).  

Was with some friends the day other and someone referred to Hirose as a 'Chinaman' which caused me to spit out my beer laughing (he also knows that Hirose was born and raised in Canada and is of Japanese descent).  Was a bad joke but was meant to be harmless and for shits and gigs. 

19 hours ago, The Arrogant Worms said:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/now-at-peace-boeser-re-emerges-as-a-force-for-canucks/

 

TORONTO – The question of Brock Boeser’s play is secondary to the question of his happiness. But the two things are undoubtedly connected as the Vancouver Canucks winger moves past two years of personal anguish and grief and re-emerges as a star in the National Hockey League.

Nice to see the re-emergence of Boeser.  I thought he actually looked good for us during the shortened 20/21 season.  

Here's another thing to keep in mind for Boeser.  As a member of the Canucks, he might have history on his side.  

Boeser, 26, is now around the same age as the twins and Naslund when they skyrocketed to the next level.  Maybe he can do the same.

3 hours ago, Provost said:

Ken Holland is my neighbour,

Are Monica Lewinsky and Bill Vanderzam your other neighbours in this fictitious affluent neighbourhood of yours?  

6 hours ago, Shekky said:

 

According to rumors its possible that these guys are being let go after the Oilers current road trip.

My gut feeling is that the Oilers will go on a major hot streak at some point this season and make things interesting.  

They have too much talent.  Could be similar to the Canucks of 21/22 but with a happier ending.  

I think Calgary is done like dinner though.  Can't see them making the playoffs this year and they'll certainly have their mouths full of urethras so to speak.  

I could Seattle picking things up and I can also see Anaheim plummeting at some point.  

I see the Canucks, Kings, and Oilers fighting for 2nd, 3rd, and WC.   (I think the Nucks will eventually get an injury to 1-2 core players and will plateau a little bit as a result.......before picking it up again).  

One thing I'll say:

I know Linden is receiving a bit of heat for appearing to have bad-mouthed Benning (and there may be truth to this to some extent), but I think Sat Shah, Dan Riccio, Blake Price, and Matt Sekeres are more to blame for this. They are the ones that asked these questions to Linden and Linden simply answered their questions.  

On 11/10/2023 at 4:34 AM, DownUndaCanuck said:

Willander may well be better than Anderson and in not that long a time. I'd rather we trade away Lekker or Podz before Willander to be honest, those other guys are more projects.

I would as well (i.e. trade Lekker or Podz), but Podkolzin probably doesn't have a whole lot of value right now.  He's a D+4 player and still hasn't cracked our line-up.  He has a lot of potential but I can't see other teams giving us a significant "win now" asset with Podkolzin being one the main pieces going the other way.  

I like the idea of keeping Lekkerimaki because we'll likely have to part ways with one of Boeser or Kuzmenko at some point.  

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So, #1, we definitely need to sign Hronek long-term. I'm hoping that we can do something around 7.5 x 8 years, but I think we're probably going north of that number.

I think 7.5 will likely be at or around the correct number.  As good as he is, Hronek isn't a franchise defenseman.  He's a #2 calibre d-man and so I think 7.5 should be a realistic target.  

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#2, the reason your trade isn't advisable, you really need those ELC contracts to keep your cap controlled. Willander looks like he is capable of being the solid, top 4 RD for a lot of years to come and assuming that he turns pro at the end of this college season, that means that we could having him playing on the bottom pairing for a really nice, cost controlled number.

Agreed that you need those ELC contracts to keep your cap controlled and so that's where I see guys like Raty, Podkolzin, Lekkerimaki, and Hirose coming in.  For the forwards listed I hear, I could see 1-3 of those guys realistically stepping into our line-up next season.  The only reason why I mention Willander here is because he's probably the only prospect that we have that could really bring in someone significant.  I only many posters on here have mentioned guys like Podkolzin, but Podz doesn't have a whole lot of value right now and would probably be seen more as a reclamation project.  Given where we are in the standings, our 2024 1st probably wouldn't have a lot of value as well and so even if you tried to package Podkolzin and a 2024 1st, the ROI probably isn't going to be as high as we'd like it to be.  

If the Canucks are looking to bring in a guy that could really move the needle AND move a contract (i.e. Beauvillier) in order to bring back a needle-moving piece, then Willander is probably your guy.  Now - would I do this personally?  Probably not.  Playing Devil's Advocate however, there's certainly an argument to be made that the Canucks need to take some significant steps over these next 4 years.  Petey and Hronek are RFA's at the end of this season, while Brock and Kuzmenko will be UFA's in two years.  Demko will be a UFA in 3 years while Quinn will be in 4.  Peak Miller will probably only be around for 3 seasons at most.  Bottom line?   We might need to make an aggressive push starting NOW.

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I'm going to say something that a lot on this board won't be happy about. We are NOT a cup contender this year. We are playing a solid team defense, but Demko is still facing way too many high quality chances. Before we can really be called a contender, we need to trade (exchange) Beauvillier and Garland for guys who should be playing on the 3rd and 4th lines as a natural position and we need one more top 4 RD. Friedman has been an okay fill in, but  he's playing sheltered minutes for a reason.

Agreed.........and so I'm going to ask you a question given the above.  To what extent would bringing in a significant piece (i.e. a #2A/#3 calibre defenseman) help limit these high danger chances that you speak of?  For example, let's say we bring in Rasmus Andersson.  We play him with Hughes, and then Hronek goes to the 2nd pairing to play with Cole or Soucy (and then one of those guys move down to play with Myers, which then gets Friedman out of the line-up).  Would said piece put us in the same weight class as a team like Vegas?

@VegasCanuck

1 hour ago, Honkin Hronek said:

Canucks interested in a trade is a bit more speculation/an inference, but I expect we’ll be among the teams looking at him along with Toronto. 
 

EDIT: Nvm, Dhaliwal confirmed this

 

 

I like the idea.  Zadorov does qualify as Top 4 calibre even if he's around the #4 calibre.   

He'd be what Tryamkin should have been for us.

11 hours ago, Goalie29 said:

Another great game!  Congrats to @spook007, @Blaze04, @GasThomas and @RookieFan for correctly predicting the final score and game-winning-goalscorer.  Honourable mention to @Goalie29 (yay me again!), @Wing, @sashimi, @PhillipBlunt, @Barn Burner, @Nuts4Nux, @rackdawg, @Enigma, @AlwaysACanuckFan, @Jester13, @arsenalian, @EB43 and @Hogs and Podz for all correctly predicting the final score.

 

Updated leaderboard:

 

Next up, the Center of the Universe Maple Laughs, Saturday at 4:00 PST

 

 

Predict the winner, the score and the Game Winning Goal (or shootout).

• Predict the winning team - 1pt
• Predict the right score, but not the right team - 1pt
• Predict the right team AND the right score - 3pts
• Predict the Game Winning Goal scorer, OR predict the winning team in the shootout - 1pt
• Predict the winning team, final score & GWG (or shootout) - 5pts

 

As always, only one prediction per game, no predictions or edits after puck drop, no conditional predictions and no gambling.  If you have questions, or think I have made a mistake in your score, please DM me. Full PTSC rules can be found in the season opening thread.

 

My predictions:

5 - 2 Canucks

Petey with the game winning goal

 

Good luck and Go  Go!

4-3 Leafs.

I love the Canucks and am proud the way they've played thus far but we're due for a loss.  

5 hours ago, filthy animal said:

 

Virtanen is a really cool dude

I'm sure many women would agree with you.  

5 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

bump...

McDavid to Buffalo for Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin.  

3 hours ago, conquestofbaguettes said:

 

Don't forget Podkolzin! And I'm sure will be back soon as well.

 

People can dodge and weave all they want but a GM's name is attached to ALL the player an organization drafts.  Good or bad, slam dunks or long shots. Picks on teams don't have long winded explanations of what scout wanted who and what the conversation were.

 

In the end,  the GM makes the final call and signs the dotted line. And Benning made the call on Pettersson. If he didn't, Petey wouldn't be a Canuck right now.

 

All I know is it's finally nice to see some pay off after all those years of losing seasons. But... rebuilds be like that. And people always love a good scapegoat.

What's especially concerning to me is that a bunch of toxic media members, along with many fans at HF Canucks and twitter, are trying to discredit

e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g that Jim Benning did.  Their basic argument is this:

-Juolevi + Virtanen = Benning's fault

-Pettersson + Hughes + Demko + Hoglander + *insert decent prospect here* = Judd Bracket and/or someone else's idea.   

((they'll refrain from commenting on Podkolzin because we don't know if he's a bust or victory at this point)).

It's childish and ridiculous but that's exactly what's going on unfortunately.  

It's also of no coincidence that Miller was hated last by the aforementioned during Benning's tenure here but is now miraculously loved since Alvin put his stamp on the team.  Ridiculous politics.

6 minutes ago, conquestofbaguettes said:

 

Picked Pettersson.

 

And Benning's core is still alive and well and winning a ton. Thank you, Benning. And thank you to Allvin and Rutherford for continuing to retool around Bennings core.

-Pettersson

-Hughes

-Boeser

-Demko

-Miller

-Hoglander

-Myers

-Garland

Although I'm pretty sure many bone smokers at HF Canucks will probably give Judd Brackett and/or Thomas Drance credit for drafting and/or trading for the above players, lol.  

8 hours ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

 

 

When I wake up, the game will be over and I hope the Nucks will have laid the beat down to the Sens.

 

 

I'm starting to think that this is the best Canucks team that we've ever had outside of 2010-2012 and 1992-1994.  

We'll have to see how this team does if/when the inevitable injury occurs to one or more of our core players but holy fuck.

This team is about as real as John Goodman's breasts from what I'm seeing.  

3 hours ago, Goal_thecup said:

I'd pony up for pay-per-view to see Garland and Beauvillier drop the gloves for who gets to stay and who gets the bum's rush out the door.

Alright boys,

My bid to pull an all-nighter and watch the Nucks/Sens game with you guys has come to an end.

Body shutting down (3:23 AM my time).  

When I wake up, the game will be over and I hope the Nucks will have laid the beat down to the Sens.

Also hope Trevor Linden gets AIDS (kidding.......sort of).

Alright guys, cheers.

On 11/8/2023 at 8:30 AM, VegasCanuck said:

So, #1, we definitely need to sign Hronek long-term. I'm hoping that we can do something around 7.5 x 8 years, but I think we're probably going north of that number.

 

#2, the reason your trade isn't advisable, you really need those ELC contracts to keep your cap controlled. Willander looks like he is capable of being the solid, top 4 RD for a lot of years to come and assuming that he turns pro at the end of this college season, that means that we could having him playing on the bottom pairing for a really nice, cost controlled number.

 

I'm going to say something that a lot on this board won't be happy about. We are NOT a cup contender this year. We are playing a solid team defense, but Demko is still facing way too many high quality chances. Before we can really be called a contender, we need to trade (exchange) Beauvillier and Garland for guys who should be playing on the 3rd and 4th lines as a natural position and we need one more top 4 RD. Friedman has been an okay fill in, but  he's playing sheltered minutes for a reason.

 

We have deficiencies that we can only realistically address through trade, but trade needs to be roster player for roster player. Let our prosects continue to develop, let's focus on moving guys who are already in the lineup, but not playing natural positions.

 

Our defense next season is essentially going to be:

 

Hughes / Hronek

Soucy / player to be named later

PTBNL / PTBNL

 

Don't be surprised if 2 of the guys on the PTBNL, right side are named, Willander and Myers. As long as Myers plays a simple game, I could see him getting re-signed around 2 million per to play the bottom pair and clear the net.

I'll eventually comment on this post when I have time.  

You have a lot of good thoughts and I'll eventually respond to this.  

3 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Alvin has been very calculated and methodical. He’s not been afraid to make big decisions for the betterment of the team. He has my vote of confidence. 

I absolutely love Alvin and am glad that he's been moved to the forefront since the Boudreau firing (and subsequent fan backlash towards Jim Rutherford).  

I am of the belief that Rutherford was the guy running things up until the Boudreau firing (with Alvin playing the role of Wahlin Smithers to JR's Mr. Burns at that time).

But 2023?  Almost all of this has been Alvin and the guy has been absolute fire for us.  

1 minute ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Biggest horsesh_t officiating in my life that I have ever witnessed (and considering the officiating the Canucks received in history that's saying something).  Make no mistake, I think the better team advanced but man were the Canucks basically playing with a man short the entire playoff series.

Agreed 100% here.  

The officiating in that 2012 Kings series and 2013 Sharks series was quite disturbing to say the very least.  

2009, 2010, and even 2011 against the Hawks + 2011 against the Bruins was just terrible officiating in my opinion.

I'm of the belief that if Mike Gillis hadn't made the poor officiating public back in 2011 against the Hawks, the refs probably would have helped gift wrap that series to Chicago (Gillis went public during that series with his complaints and got fined an undisclosed amount).  

You then look at that Boston series from Game 3 onwards.  That style of hockey hadn't been seen in the league since the New Jersey-Anaheim series of 2003........so almost a full 8 years.  Boston were allowed to goon it up and it caught the Canucks off guard.   Ironically enough, in that phantom "game 8" that took place on January 7th 2012, Boston tried to play the exact same way and got handed a slew of penalties and misconducts (which is what should have happened during the finals).

While our series against the Flames in 2015 wasn't quite as biased, Ferland was still basically allowed to take charging, roughing, and boarding penalties against us (which was then touted as "good ol' old school hockey,").

Not sure what it was but the refs and the league really hated that Gillis era core.  

(I say 'Gillis' core because I thought the reffing against Anaheim in 2007 + reffing against Vegas in 2020 was fair and so it's not like I just through tantrums after losses)

9 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Listening to the interview, and the point where Linden talks about Benning and the 2017 draft, the statement about Benning not picking Pettersson seems legit. It doesn't come across as slamming Benning, more so a matter of fact statement. 

My personal take on the situation is the Benning liked Pettersson but preferred the defensemen that went earlier (Makar, Heiskanen)

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/draft-notebook-if-makar-was-available-canucks-could-have-been-sweating

I think the 'Cody Glass' shit was a smear campaign started by Thomas Drance followers.

1 minute ago, LillStrimma said:

From the start since I joined CDC it was all Gillis fault, he couldn’t draft etc. 
While Benning was talked about as he was good because he was so good at the draft.

 

I’m kind if fed of that a GM is judged almost only by the drafted players.

That is so wrong because the organisation pays a lot of people to do that.

So when a player is drafted it depends on the organisation, not the GM.

And when a GM is so bad as Benning was it’s almost insulting to hear about it.

So I hope that Allvin gets judged on how he handles the organisation and not who he picks in the draft.

I hear you brother.

My personal interpretation of the situation is that Gillis wanted to start the rebuild as early as the Summer of 2012 (after our loss to the Kings) where we'd get to sell of our core players (peak value) for elite prospects and picks but Aqua said no.   

It's too bad because that would have been an excellent idea imo.  

After our four game sweep to the Sharks in 2013, everyone knew that we needed to rebuild and our players' values had diminished in value.  Gillis went to ownership again with the same plea but was met with rejection.    

When Benning took over in 2014, our aging core players' had greatly diminished values and were signed to shit contracts............not thanks to Gillis, but thanks to Aqua man.  Benning's hands were basically tied in many ways when he took over this team.  An aging core + very little prospects in the cupboards.  

9 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

 

5. Now that the Canucks are doing well there are a few Benning loyalists claiming the Benning deserves credit for building the "core". I think that is wrong. I

 

 

I think both Alvin and Benning deserve credit for the current Canucks team.   Pettersson, Hughes, Demko, Hoglander, Garland, Boeser, and Miller were all brought in by the Benning regime whereas guys like Hronek, Kuzmenko, Mikeheyev, PDG, Suter, Bluegar, Soucy, Cole, DeSmith, etc. are all current regime players.   

There is no such thing as "A Benning loyalist" (at least I don't think?).

We are Canucks loyalists.   

I supported Benning and initially predicted that our coming out party would be the 21/22 season (this core's version of 2008-2009).

I was off by two years.

I'm human.  

I make mistakes.

But am now enjoying the ride.

Let all of the 2014-2019 shit go to rest.  

Go Canucks Go.

2 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

 

I mean if you think it's just a coincidence then it's up to you. 

 

 

I'd probably think more deeply about this if it was 2019 but too much time has passed.  

It's 2023.

Who gives a fuck?!?!

(although given how much I've responded in this thread, maybe I still do?  lol.  I don't know).

Fun trip down memory lane regardless.   I wish both Linden and Benning the best of luck in life.  

Bring on the Senators.  

4 minutes ago, LillStrimma said:

This is now you should stop and think it over.

Why do you believe the scouts didn’t do a comprehensive analysis on every player that could fall into their draft position? 
 

Is it because Benning said something stupid to try to deflect his shortcomings on others or do you have a source that is thruthful saying the Canucks scouts were dumb as few? 

Lol, I don't know bro.  

Who gives a fuck in 2023?    

I wish both Linden and Benning the best of luck with whatever they are doing in their lives right now and am thankful that we have Pettersson, Hughes, Demko, Garland, Hoglander, and Miller all playing for us whether that's due to Benning, Judd Bracket, Judd Nelson, Caitlyn Jenner, or whoever.  

Alvin is an awesome GM and we have the greatest coaching staff in our franchise history imo (yes, even better than the Pat Quinn days imo).