[PGT] Penguins at Canucks

[bertuzzi44fan]

Lame,they didn't even have Guentzel back yet.

[Canuckfanforlife82]

4 minutes ago, Kragar said:

I watched it again, and you're right. I would argue that it was too weak for a 5on3 call, and the Pens stick contributed to the call.

 

I removed that part of my post though. Thanks for clarifying. I don't often have the volume too loud, and didn't hear the commentary supporting your statement.

 No but Tochett said again that stick infractions can’t happen as much as they are. It is rather sloppy. I am surprised with all the stick infractions. Seems like a lot lately. 

Edited February 28 by Canuckfanforlife82

[Rip The Mesh]

Tocchet is not a happy camper the way his team is not putting enough effort into the right places.

There were some bad turnovers and from My point of view; They wouldn't have even got a point in it were not

for JT Miller.................

 

Edited February 28 by Rip The Mesh

[Jaimito]

3 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

 

 

 

[Dom]

Tocchet is as fed up as I am, probably more lmao

[Snoop Hogg]

2 minutes ago, Dom said:

Tocchet is as fed up as I am, probably more lmao

Not as fed up as Miller though.

[Rip The Mesh]

 

Edited February 28 by Rip The Mesh

[24K]

Just now, Rip The Mesh said:

 

Miller's pissed.

[Darius]

Funny seeing multiple posts on X/twitter from Pittsburgh accounts calling this their game of the year and how they beat the best team in the west, and here I am thinking it was a Tuesday night game vs a meh looking team where we shot ourselves in the foot.  They got to clean up the sloppy play.

[Trebreh]

any comments from Pettersson in the postgame?? 

[Devron]

5 minutes ago, Darius said:

Funny seeing multiple posts on X/twitter from Pittsburgh accounts calling this their game of the year and how they beat the best team in the west, and here I am thinking it was a Tuesday night game vs a meh looking team where we shot ourselves in the foot.  They got to clean up the sloppy play.

It’s amazing how quickly our expectations have changes hasn’t it 

[JeremyCuddles]

12 minutes ago, Darius said:

Funny seeing multiple posts on X/twitter from Pittsburgh accounts calling this their game of the year and how they beat the best team in the west, and here I am thinking it was a Tuesday night game vs a meh looking team where we shot ourselves in the foot.  They got to clean up the sloppy play.

Yeah, I think a lot of teams and their fans have us circled on the schedule as a "benchmark" team. Most of us are like "we played so bad," and other fans are like "we played the game of our lives and beat Vancouver by 1." Lol. I think we are a little too hard on the team sometimes.

Edited February 28 by JeremyCuddles

[Rip The Mesh]

I've not been in favor of it but now I'm thinking maybe Chris Tanev might not be such a bad Idea. Have to be cheap and no long term, but

we were not good enough on defense again tonight; That and stinking turnovers allowed the Pens to keep up and eventually, get the 2p.

[Darius]

2 minutes ago, Devron said:

It’s amazing how quickly our expectations have changes hasn’t it 

for sure.  there are like 3 to 5 teams where i think the result will be up in the air ...for the rest of the teams im going in expecting a win.  Even tonight all the way till end of regulation i didnt think the game was out of hand at any point. 

 

I think they will be ok, especially when Joshua/Soucy come back.  Joshua drives that third line imho and Soucy calms the d down, maybe by reducing Myers minutes lol.

 

All I ask(pray) for is a healthy roster going into the playoffs.  With Miller playing like this and Demko back there anything can happen.

[Captkirk888]

58 minutes ago, Dom said:

So fucking annoyed with this team tbh. 

There’s a solution to that…..

[Jaimito]

1 minute ago, Rip The Mesh said:

I've not been in favor of it but now I'm thinking maybe Chris Tanev might not be such a bad Idea. Have to be cheap and no long term, but

we were not good enough on defense again tonight; That and stinking turnovers allowed the Pens to keep up and eventually, get the 2p.

Tanev is exactly what the team needs. 

 

But flames want a 1st rounder for him.  That's why he's not yet a leafs or oilers.  Flames are waiting until the TDL to get the maximum. 

[Devron]

1 minute ago, Darius said:

for sure.  there are like 3 to 5 teams where i think the result will be up in the air ...for the rest of the teams im going in expecting a win.  Even tonight all the way till end of regulation i didnt think the game was out of hand at any point. 

 

I think they will be ok, especially when Joshua/Soucy come back.  Joshua drives that third line imho and Soucy calms the d down, maybe by reducing Myers minutes lol.

 

All I ask(pray) for is a healthy roster going into the playoffs.  With Miller playing like this and Demko back there anything can happen.

It’s been a great fun year, I hope for the anything can happen too! 

[Jaimito]

20 minutes ago, 24K said:

Miller's pissed.

He's saying the same thing as Myers.  I'm sure they all are in agreement on how they let pens off the hook.  It's not like he's calling out his teammates. 

[24K]

Just now, Jaimito said:

He's saying the same thing as Myers.  I'm sure they all are in agreement on how they let pens off the hook.  It's not like he's calling out his teammates. 

Well someone is suspiciously missing from make thise statements....ahm... Pettey.....ahm....

[Jaimito]

1 minute ago, 24K said:

Well someone is suspiciously missing from make thise statements....ahm... Pettey.....ahm....

He wasn't interviewed and doesn't often do post games anyway. He's also not very articulate in English.  Good thing they didn't make him the captain. 

 

[Jaimito]

 

 

 

[Jaimito]

 

 

Back to practice.

 

 

[Conscience]

The 12 million dollar man on the 2nd unit pp and 2nd ot line. 
 

He aint in that catagory with mac, matthews, pasta etc

 

dump his apathetic ass

 

 

 

[Rip The Mesh]

3 minutes ago, Conscience said:

The 12 million dollar man on the 2nd unit pp and 2nd ot line. 
 

He aint in that catagory with mac, matthews, pasta etc

 

dump his apathetic ass

 

 

 

Well that's just it; He's not doing himself any favors to himself or even us if we had a notion to move him. Hard guy to figure out.

[Jaimito]

 

 

 

 

Canucks trade deadline targets: 10 non-rental players Vancouver should consider

When the Vancouver Canucks dealt for Elias Lindholm and set the market for premium deadline rentals during the NHL All-Star break, leadership was relieved to have kept their top AHL-level prospects — Arshdeep Bains and Vasily Podkolzin — out of the deal.

During trade talks with the Calgary Flames, Canucks hockey operations also actively parried asks for the club’s 2025 first-round pick. The club preferred to fix its costs with a 2024 first-rounder that, at the time of the trade, seemed all but guaranteed to fall in the late part of the first round.

It’s clear the assets Vancouver’s management hung onto in their previous round of trade talks are valued by the organization, but they’re not off limits by any means. This is a super aggressive hockey operations department that believes it has a team with a real chance to go deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and if there’s a sensible move to be made to further upgrade the current roster, you can bet Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford won’t be gun shy. Big game doesn’t hunt itself.

With the NHL trade deadline rapidly approaching and the Canucks firmly entrenched atop the Pacific Division, there’s still a very real possibility Canucks management will push even more chips into the centre of the table to improve the team. If they’re going to spend the sort of premium assets they were able to keep out of the Lindholm trade, however, then the player Vancouver lands has to factor into its plans beyond this season, a priority Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the “32 Thoughts” podcast on Monday.

Here are 10 non-rental players the Canucks could consider ahead of the trade deadline.

Chris Tanev, RHD, Calgary Flames

Chris Tanev is a pending unrestricted free agent. For many teams bidding on his services ahead of the March 8 deadline, Tanev will profile as a pure rental.

If Tanev, a former Canucks player who is beloved by Vancouver fans and carries real weight with his former teammates, were to be acquired by the Canucks, however, the organization would fancy its chances of extending him and keeping him in Vancouver beyond this upcoming playoff run. There’s no question that both sides would welcome a reunion.

The Canucks have already been in hot pursuit of Tanev this deadline season, but he’s a popular trade target for a variety of contenders. Accordingly, the Flames are asking for a significant haul, a first-round pick or equivalent value, which to this point no potential trade partner — including Vancouver — has been willing to step up and offer.

The 34-year-old defender has only recorded 12 points this season, but he remains one of the most effective and cerebral defensive players in the game. He’s the best single-shot blocker of his generation and has enough skill to facilitate the play in transition, a skill he’s retained even as he’s hit his mid-30s. Tanev is also still an absolute ace on the penalty kill, which would make him a perfect fit to help address Vancouver’s single biggest remaining weakness.

Although the on-ice fit is nearly perfect — a tough-minutes pair of Carson Soucy and Tanev would appeal enormously to Rick Tocchet and Canucks hockey operations leadership — the off-ice fit would be somewhat more complicated. Tanev’s contract carries a $4.5 million cap hit, which the Canucks can’t really afford to add without either clearing a couple of million off their books or paying the Flames a premium price to retain half of his cap hit.

Chris Tanev, a popular trade target, is one of the most effective and cerebral defensive players in the league. (Sergei Belski / USA Today)

Pavel Buchnevich, LW, St. Louis Blues

Pavel Buchnevich is a bona fide top-line winger with size and the versatility to moonlight at any forward position.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong has a long history of selling aggressively from the fringes of the playoff race. That partly explains why Buchnevich, 28, is lightly available this deadline season, albeit at an exorbitant cost.

The Blues have no pressure to move Buchnevich, who isn’t currently on an expiring contract. He’ll carry a $5.8 million cap hit for the balance of this season and next. He’s a very good bet to be a difference-maker for any acquiring team across two playoff runs and provide surplus value above and beyond his cap hit.

From an on-ice fit perspective, landing a skilled, difference-making top-line forward like Buchnevich would provide the Canucks with a significant upgrade on the quality of teammate they can deploy on Elias Pettersson’s wings. To this point in the season, Pettersson has logged at least 150 minutes with four wingers — Ilya Mikheyev, Sam Lafferty, Andrei Kuzmenko and Brock Boeser — and only one of those four players really qualifies as top-six calibre. A potential partnership between Pettersson and Buchnevich could be a sorely needed gear to the machinery of Vancouver’s top-six forward group.

In terms of the off-ice fit, the price will be massive — this isn’t a deal Armstrong has any pressure to make now — and Vancouver would have to clear some additional space to make the cap math work, even if the Blues retained to help facilitate the trade. Sending a body out or laundering Buchnevich’s cap hit through a third party would be an essential facet of the deal, upping both the degree of difficulty and the cost of the acquisition.

Frank Vatrano, LW, Anaheim Ducks

There are some shades of Jonathan Marchessault’s game in Frank Vatrano.

Vatrano, 29, has built himself into an NHL All-Star. Despite a tough, rebuilding environment in Anaheim, Vatrano has become a consistent 20-goal scorer. He’s also grafted some real penalty-killing utility to his game over the past few years, becoming a more complete player in the process. And Vatrano demonstrated on the New York Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference final in the spring of 2022 that he’s capable of raising his game when the chips are down.

Canucks management isn’t motivated by the prospect of buying another undersized winger. They aren’t likely to pursue Vatrano given his prohibitive acquisition cost.

He belongs in this space as an option, however, given that Tocchet is an admirer and there were some flashes of chemistry between Vatrano and Pettersson at the All-Star game. Vatrano would certainly bring a high-volume shooting element and some transitional dynamism to the Canucks top six.

Vatrano is signed through next season at a $3.65 million cap hit, so Vancouver would need to clear some money to make this addition work.

Jordan Greenway, LW, Buffalo Sabres

Given Jordan Greenway’s stature, he profiles to be more Vancouver’s speed than a winger like Vatrano.

Greenway stands 6-foot-5 and when he’s engaged, he brings the sort of edge the Canucks believe they could use more of to compete against heavier teams in the playoffs.

While Greenway’s offensive production has been inconsistent throughout his NHL career — the 27-year-old winger has never scored 15 goals in a season — he brings a level of defensive reliability that still makes him a legitimate middle-six option. When you consider, too, how Tocchet and the Canucks want to go about generating offence with a reliance on layered screens and traffic at the net front, one can understand why Canucks management would want to bet on a player like Greenway being more productive in Vancouver than he has been at previous stops in his NHL career.

Greenway has a year remaining beyond this season at a $3 million cap hit. Vancouver would have to get a bit creative in shedding some salary to fit him under the cap for the balance of this season, but he’d certainly add some size and punch into Vancouver’s lineup in the near term and also provide the Canucks with some insurance this offseason when several of their bigger bottom-six wingers — particularly Dakota Joshua and Lafferty — will be unrestricted free agents.

Nick Bjugstad, C, Arizona Coyotes

Nick Bjugstad is an enormous 6-foot-7 forward who has gone through a mid-career metamorphosis.

A high-octane, occasionally one-dimensional goal scorer as a younger player, Bjugstad has become a two-way ace with serious defensive chops and versatility as a veteran. Capable of playing effectively at both centre and on the wing while pitching in both up and down the lineup, Bjugstad has become a major contributor for the Arizona Coyotes this season. While maintaining his defensive gains, the 31-year-old forward is pacing to put together his most productive offensive season since 2018, when he played the wing with Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau for the Florida Panthers.

Bjugstad is a player Rutherford and Allvin have a lot of familiarity with. Rutherford traded for Bjugstad when he was general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Vancouver also pursued Bjugstad in unrestricted free agency this past summer but was priced out when Bjugstad signed for more than $2 million per season on a multi-year deal.

Bjugstad has this season and next remaining on that deal, which carries a $2.1 million cap hit. In addition to bringing size, offensive punch and versatility to the Canucks lineup, Bjugstad would be simple to fit under the cap for the balance of this season. He’d then give them an enormous amount of affordable flexibility this offseason.

With Pettersson (RFA), Lindholm and Blueger all on expiring contracts, adding Bjugstad would give Canucks management some security in grappling with some difficult decisions down the middle of their forward group this summer.

Bjugstad, a 31-year-old two-way ace, is pacing to put together his most productive offensive season since 2018. (Bob Frid / USA Today)

Jon Merrill, LD, Minnesota Wild

Jon Merrill is just a sharp defensive defenceman.

The 32-year-old left-handed blueliner is capable of playing either side defensively and is just about the perfect defensive defender for the contained manner in which the Canucks want to play.

Merrill has been an occasional healthy scratch for the Wild this season and wouldn’t necessarily factor into the Canucks lineup on an everyday basis if he were added ahead of the trade deadline. He’d likely profile as Vancouver’s seventh or eighth defender once Soucy returns.

Nonetheless, Merrill has the size, intelligence and experience to make all the difference on a team requiring safe minutes in mid-May. Signed this season and next at a $1.2 million cap hit, Merrill would be easy for the Canucks to fit under the cap this season. He’d then provide them with a solid option this summer as they navigate a mess of expiring deals — including Filip Hronek (RFA), Ian Cole, Tyler Myers and Nikita Zadorov — along their blue line.

Alexandre Texier, LW, Columbus Blue Jackets

After a promising 2021-22 campaign, Alexander Texier — citing personal matters and the need to be closer to his family — spent a year in Switzerland last season on the advice and recommendation of the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health program.

Still just 24 years old and a pending restricted free agent, Texier’s NHL re-entry this season hasn’t been smooth, but nothing in Columbus really has been. He’s still a big, fast, hardworking bottom-six forward with penalty-killing utility and, maybe, some untapped top-nine upside that could be mined in a different environment.

Bottom-six scoring punch has been a strength of this Canucks team when they’ve been at their best this season, but their fourth-line has lacked something of an identity over the past month. Texier could upgrade the club’s fourth-line wing options in the short-term and is a restricted free agent this offseason. That means, if the acquisition price isn’t to prohibitive, Texier could be an affordable option to contribute somewhat higher up the lineup beyond this season.

Andrew Peeke or Adam Boqvist, RHD, Columbus Blue Jackets

Andrew Peeke, 25, and Adam Boqvist, 23, are relatively expensive tweener-type defencemen who have been on the trade block all season.

Lost in the shuffle of a Blue Jackets blue line that has been unwisely built in recent seasons, neither player has really established himself as an NHL-level difference-maker. And that’s inconvenient for the Blue Jackets, because they have real cap hits and term on their current contracts.

Peeke profiles as more of a two-way defender; he’s neither a dynamic offensive contributor nor a big, burly, shutdown type. Boqvist is the more conventional puck-moving defender of the two, but he’s a high-risk, high-reward defender at the moment. The skill level is undeniable, but Boqvist needs some serious work to round out his two-way game.

Given that Boqvist and Peeke are both unproven and on relatively inconvenient contracts, this is a pure buy-low opportunity from a Vancouver perspective. And rolling the dice on distressed defenders of this sort — from Jamie Oleksiak to Justin Schultz — has been something of a Rutherford specialty over the years.

Michael Carcone, LW, Arizona Coyotes

Michael Carcone was originally signed by the Jim Benning-era Canucks as an undrafted free agent out of the CHL, and after bouncing around between various organizations at the AHL level for a few years, has become an NHL regular with the Coyotes.

Carcone isn’t big and he isn’t a burner as a skater, which makes him something of an imperfect fit for how this Canucks roster is constructed. Carcone, however, is exceptionally hardworking and has solid finishing touch — he’s scored 15 goals across 49 games for the Coyotes this season — which could help the Canucks maintain their four-line approach to generating five-on-five offence, even if the likes of Pius Suter and Nils Höglander remain fixtures further up the lineup.

Perhaps most importantly, Carcone has one year remaining beyond this season on a $775k contract that will come in below the veteran minimum for the 2024-25 campaign. He’s easy to fit under the cap today and could help Vancouver flesh out its depth affordably for next season as well.

(Top photo of Pavel Buchnevich and Quinn Hughes: Jeff Curry / USA Today)