[GDT/PGT] Vancouver Canucks Vs. Calgary Flames, Scotia Saddledome, September 24, @ 5PM PST, Preseason Game #1

[BioBender]

is it possible if we are going to have gdt and pgt that someone pins where pgt begins?

[AnthonyG]

2 minutes ago, BioBender said:

is it possible if we are going to have gdt and pgt that someone pins where pgt begins?

Just look for where positivity ends and pure negativity begins

[Curmudgeon]

I believe the purpose of the Calgary game was to test the prospects against NHL competition in order to see who, if anyone, can help the big club this season, or at least who might be the next call ups. Other people in this thread have pointed out who looked good for Vancouver, but I liked McWard, Hirose, Raty and Irwin. You can’t expect to throw together 20 guys who have never played together and line them up against an experienced NHL squad and expect to win. And what people criticized as lack of effort is flat out wrong. Everybody worked hard, but there was uncertainty and zero chemistry from guys who’ve never played together. I am sure the coaching and management team picked up a lot of useful information, and whether they won or lost was secondary to what the brass learned about the players.

[flat land fish]

The outcome is what it is but my hope is they have a relatively short run maybe 1 more game where the ahl guys get a look and then don’t mess around and get down to 22-25 guys and let the core players gel and get proper chemistry and systems down before game 1 regular season.

[Thrago]

7 hours ago, RWJC said:

 

Perhaps you're missing a key point  - No one was expected to carry the other -

This was a team put together to see whom of the individual players could potentially handle the transition into the rigours of competing against better quality players on a regular basis. Cut and dry. 

You argue that this was a competition and it was, but not against the Flames. It was internal competition amongst themselves to prove who could show the best of what they have to offer.

Almost all of the players tonight are competing against one another for few spots on the big club. Creating chemistry was not the purpose. Internal competition was.

 

As such, I don't understand why anyone is looking at this as a win or loss situation against another NHL club when the posted roster pre-game was evident of what might occur tonight. Why anyone is surprised is beyond me.

 

Again, this game was a high level scrimmage against another club, with the sole purpose to identify NHL readiness without having to rely on NHL quality players to define that.  It is no different than what these players have experienced as previous benchmarks in their own careers to get to where they are now...to stand out and make their junior, rep, bantam clubs etc...To prove and re-inforce their potential draft position out of junior, college, etc.

You certainly never hear about how "unfair" it is for any fledgling player that they didn't have a much more experienced and skilled player to carry them in order to prove their value. That's something that, regardless of the circumstance, is up to them to prove themselves.  You do that first and foremost by separating yourself from your peers, even in a team sport. Apparently, that also happened tonight so not all is lost.

 

 

So what your saying is that Tochett and his coaches aren't smart enough to evaluate those players in practice and identify 6-7 of them are good enough to be able to fill an NHL role this year?  If his thinking was that, man any of these guys could make the team I just don't know I'll have to play them all to see who's actually any good, instead of doing what he's supposed to do which is get the team ready for the NHL season.  After all this is the NHL preseason not the AHL preseason.  I'm wondering if you guys that are defending Tochett's extremely poor judgement lastnight are aware that the NHL preseason was shortened by two games this year from 8 to 6 games?

 

There simply isn't time to be Fing around like this.  The simple fact is that we now have 5 games to get the NHL squad ready for the regular season instead of 6 or the 8 in previous seasons and that is wholly unacceptable.  We absolutely  need to get off to a good start this year if we want any hope of making the playoffs.  

 

Anyways I'm sorry if I seem like I'm picking on you RWJC, your trying to see the bright side of things, and I'm just so tired of the Canucks doing stupid things I needed to vent.

[flat land fish]

6 minutes ago, Thrago said:

So what your saying is that Tochett and his coaches aren't smart enough to evaluate those players in practice and identify 6-7 of them are good enough to be able to fill an NHL role this year?  If his thinking was that, man any of these guys could make the team I just don't know I'll have to play them all to see who's actually any good, instead of doing what he's supposed to do which is get the team ready for the NHL season.  After all this is the NHL preseason not the AHL preseason.  I'm wondering if you guys that are defending Tochett's extremely poor judgement lastnight are aware that the NHL preseason was shortened by two games this year from 8 to 6 games?

 

There simply isn't time to be Fing around like this.  The simple fact is that we now have 5 games to get the NHL squad ready for the regular season instead of 6 or the 8 in previous seasons and that is wholly unacceptable.  We absolutely  need to get off to a good start this year if we want any hope of making the playoffs.  

 

Anyways I'm sorry if I seem like I'm picking on you RWJC, your trying to see the bright side of things, and I'm just so tired of the Canucks doing stupid things I needed to vent.

Agreed the idea should be who’s good enough to play on a line with 2 established NHL players and contribute.  What we saw was not a lot of players capable of driving or carrying play against NHL players.  Better to have this happen though in the preseason before the games count for real.

[AnthonyG]

1 hour ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

One singular conventional playoff appearance in the last 10 years. (The 2nd one was helped by the play-in, as we weren't in a conventional playoff position). 

Nonetheless the team actually earned a playoff berth. They had to battle to get in and they did and then ran a train on the Blues, the defending cup champs and battled injuries along the way and took VGK to 7. Its not as if they got handed a spot or just barely scraped through the play-in series and got smoked in the first round. Give credit where credit is due. The season wasnt over, the standings were what they were at the time, but the games played were not the same.

[Slegr]

31 minutes ago, BioBender said:

is it possible if we are going to have gdt and pgt that someone pins where pgt begins?

Right now we don’t even have a GDT for next game. More volunteers needed!

[gizmo2337]

Next up, Canuck rookies get smoked by McJesus. 14-0.

[bishopshodan]

Hard to see a positive in a 10-0 loss.

 

Except that this gdt/pgt has a lot of pages.

 

Well done new fan site!

 

We the people!

[Hairy Kneel]

We need another power forward. I don't know who or where from.

Trade Myers? LTIR Mikheyev? Try a dman?

We need more toughness up front. Our skill guys need a safer work environment. 

[HorvatToBaertschi]

44 minutes ago, AnthonyG said:

Just look for where positivity ends and pure negativity begins

Positivity ended 2 minutes into the 1st period though....

[HorvatToBaertschi]

I have been quite negative about this game, not from the outcome but because of the roster.

 

On a positive note, I finally see what the hype about Raty is all about. He's a talent. Looks strong on his feet, I can see him being molded into an excellent 2 way center. 

[DrJockitch]

Disappointing that Podz is looking out of sorts so far but 4 days in. Lots of time to get systems straight. 
Don’t read much into the early preseason games especially when mostly AHLers and kids against a mostly opening night roster. 

[SISMIM]

8 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

I have been quite negative about this game, not from the outcome but because of the roster.

 

On a positive note, I finally see what the hype about Raty is all about. He's a talent. Looks strong on his feet, I can see him being molded into an excellent 2 way center. 

I’ve been impressed with Räty as well. He looks a lot closer than I expected him to be. And he also seems to have improved his skating. I haven’t read too much about his off-season work, but seems like he either made significant gains over the summer, or he’s come into camp highly motivated and focused. Whatever the case, he’s definitely putting himself in the conversation for a roster spot, which is great to see.

[Odjickwillkillyou]

As I was lying in bed watching the highlights on my iPad last night I was actually thankful I was not able to watch this live down here lol. Looked excruciating and definitely felt like some sort of statement from the Lames (which does not surprise me given their new management).  Makes me wish Torts were still here and we had Volpatti and Dorsett for the next game lol.  Seriously though, it is games like this that make you stronger and cause you to look at areas of your game that need to improve.  My beer league team played our first game at our new rink in a higher-skilled division after winning the ship at another rink last month. We were welcomed by a team that brought in some hired guns while our tendy had a stomach bug and we were down to 9 skaters. They blew us out 6-1 which sucked, but looking at our overall defensive play there were a lot of good things to take from being outshot 39-21. Point is, it was a learning experience that we will use for our next game and the rest of the season.  I think this beating will only serve to help some of the Abby guys in the long run. 

 

In other news: Here are our teams new sweaters we wore Saturday as an homage to the NWO's Macho one (with our original team colors). Yes they are hideous and that is just how we like it lol. 

 

[Jester13]

22 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

I have been quite negative about this game, not from the outcome but because of the roster.

 

On a positive note, I finally see what the hype about Raty is all about. He's a talent. Looks strong on his feet, I can see him being molded into an excellent 2 way center. 

Raty was the only standout night. He has NHL IQ, but his shot needs a lot of work. His strength is playmaker, but he gets lots of moments himself to shoot, but he just doesn't have a good shot at all. His speed wasn't bad last night, either, but we're not needing him this year unless we get too many injuries to our centres. He'll be an NHLer as early as next year. 

[HorvatToBaertschi]

41 minutes ago, AnthonyG said:

Nonetheless the team actually earned a playoff berth. They had to battle to get in and they did and then ran a train on the Blues, the defending cup champs and battled injuries along the way and took VGK to 7. Its not as if they got handed a spot or just barely scraped through the play-in series and got smoked in the first round. Give credit where credit is due. The season wasnt over, the standings were what they were at the time, but the games played were not the same.

You won't convince me otherwise that we're a dangerous team WHEN we make the playoffs. My problem is that we start every single season off slow and we demolish our chances of even getting the opportunity to compete and showcase what this core can do in the playoffs. 

[CanucksJay]

Well looks like Hogz, Raty, Hirose and McWard looked good. 

Disappointed in Podz's showing. 

 

Rathbone is now being left behind and prob needs a fresh start elsewhere.  Juulsen and Woo pretty terrible as well. 

They have 3 more preseason road games followed by 3 at home. 

 

Im ok if they want to do further evaluations the next 2 games while making a lot of cuts today and further trimming down the roster until we have our starting line up playing at our final 3 home games. Can't have special teams come out poorly to start the year so the sooner we can fine tune, the better

 

 

[Rekker]

3 minutes ago, CanucksJay said:

Disappointed in Podz's showing. 

 

I feel for him a bit. He wants it, he seems to really care. To me, he is struggling to find his role and identity. I have faith on Tochett to help Pods with this and I think it needs to start with just being defensive and physical. Tell the kid, don't worry about points and just play solid. Hope he can figure it out. 

[Rubik]

1 hour ago, BioBender said:

is it possible if we are going to have gdt and pgt that someone pins where pgt begins?

 

I'd imagine this is just for the pre-season games.

[Diamonds]

5 hours ago, Canuckleheads Fan said:

Calgary dressed their top line and their top goalie. The Flames top line has two guys who two years ago were top ten to 15 in the league at their positions. The AHLers the Canucks dressed have nothing like that. I'm not opposed to dressing regulars, but you dress them at home so the fans can see them. What would have happened if they had dressed Petey's line? They would have lost 6-2 instead and everybody would have felt just as angry. Big deal. How stupid would the staff look if they dressed Quinn or Petey and they got hurt. This will be a season of managing workload for the team's top six forwards, top 4 D, and Demko. There is a lot in flux now, a lot of guys on the bubble. The staff still has to figure out who's in the bottom six and who are D6 and D7. So throw them out there and see who sinks and who swims. Hirose helped himself, so did Aman, Hogz, and Karlson. Suter did well on the dot, so did Sasson. Looks like they were trying to see if Studnicka could handle some of the center load. On the other side, I think Dries, Klimovich, Woo, Rathbone, Raty, and sadly Juulsen all get an early ticket to Abby. Irwin probably sticks because of his experience. I'm bothered by Podz stat line, only -1 but with zero hits and shots. There are five more preseason games, I expect to see more regulars, but still a lot of bubble players in the next two games in Edmonton and Seattle, as the bubble guys will be fighting for jobs. They will likely dress half the regulars for the fourth and fifth games and then the last game should be about 75% regulars as it's the final dress rehersal. Based on player interviews and the media reports of those who were there, the top two groups generally looked excellent in camp, very fit, dialed in, and ready to work hard. They deserved a night off. This was game one of six PRESEASON GAMES stop being drama queens!

I disagree with your opinion on needing to start managing the workload of our top players already. Last year Miller and Demko only played one preseason game each and both came out incredibly flat and took a while to get going. Goalies especially need to start building routine and game action is very different from doing drills or having a buddy shoot on you in the summer. That doesn't mean we need to be dressing them every game, but they do need enough to knock the rust off.

 

Hopefully this was the last of the AHL/CHL roaster and we start rotating some vets in the rest of the games. Don't forget that we will also have 4 new defensemen in our starting 6 who need to start learning how to play together as well.

[Ribs]

1 hour ago, AnthonyG said:

Just look for where positivity ends and pure negativity begins

 

That won't work, sometimes the negativity starts before the 10th goal against.

[AnthonyG]

10 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

You won't convince me otherwise that we're a dangerous team WHEN we make the playoffs. My problem is that we start every single season off slow and we demolish our chances of even getting the opportunity to compete and showcase what this core can do in the playoffs. 

The problem has been individuals have slow starts in different seasons. 
2014-15 was a good season, but ultimately there was a major concern with the future. Understandably rebuilding takes a long time and even longer when you dont have a decent amount of valuable trade chips to accelerate a rebuild. 2015-2019 we understandably struggled while moving vets out and injecting youth one by one year after year. 2019-20 this team was showing what they were capable of and made a solid push through the season to remain in the hunt, our season got interrupted and when we returned to action we were put in a do or die series to enter the playoffs, to which we did.

2020-21, Boeser started and stayed strong all season, Petey was a little hot and cold and ultimately went down to injury, not only that Vancouver was hit with 1) the absolute most intense, gruelling schedule in the league. Even more so after being shut down for a month and then battling through 19 games in 30 days to close out the season while still overcoming the devastation of COVID. That season is one to just ignore and not point the finger at anyone but Gaudette who allegedly went out to a party with his gf when they werent supposed to and brought COVID into the locker room. 2021-22, Hughes, Demko, Miller and the pair of OEL and Myers showed up to play from day 1.  Pettersson took 44 games to get going, Boeser had major distractions, Horvat struggled early on and when the whole team finally came together and played at their best, we were one of the hottest teams in the NHL down the final 38 game stretch.  Last year, Pettersson learned from not showing up to camp early and tore it up from day 1, Hughes had another consistent start to the season, Miller was put to wing where he is not as effective, Boeser was still dealing with the first year without his dad and Demko had a poor start… but when Demko came back and played to his abilities, we were once again a very strong team down the stretch. This year almost everyone was at camp early.. to me that further instills confidence in my expectations of how the season will start off and where we will sit at the end of the season

[RWJC]

Flames 10, Canucks 0: Have mercy — Canucks kids clobbered in first pre-season test 

A Canucks team chock full of players fighting for roster spots created few quality scoring opportunities and fell 10-0 to the Flames on Sunday night in Calgary.

 

Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet wanted to see certain things when icing a young, inexperienced lineup in the first game of the pre-season.

 

Concepts at work. A clear understanding of the system. Wall work. Even skating to the bench hard.

“I want to see those things first,” Tocchet told the media on Saturday, a day before taking a Canucks team of young guns and bubble players to Calgary to face a Flames squad starting their top goalie, much of their top six and the majority of their defence corps.

 

But that’s not all Tocchet wanted to see.

“You got a chance, do your thing. Do your magic.”

 

Thing is, the visitors never really had a chance.

 

A Canucks team chock full of players fighting for roster spots created few quality scoring opportunities and fell 10-0 to the Flames on Sunday night, in a game in which the visitors were hammered early and often.

 

“They had a great lineup. Some of their guys were a little rich for (us) right there, and you’ve got to learn from your mistakes,” Tocchet said post-game.

 

“I know people don’t want to hear it, but it’s a learning experience.”

 

Here’s what we learned as Matt Coronato netted a hat trick, Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and Jordan Oesterle, Nazem Kadri, Noah Hanifin, Connor Zary and Ben Jones had a goal apiece for the Flames:

 

Taking their chances

 

Take it from forward Jack Studnicka — it isn’t easy for bubble players to get noticed at training camp.

 

“It’s kind of hard to stand out (at camp) because we’re working on a lot of systems stuff,” the 24-year-old said on Saturday.

 

With four of six pre-season games over the next seven days, now’s their chance to make an impression.

 

Studnicka, who came into camp in good shape and turned some heads in the scrimmage, was among a handful of forwards on Sunday with a realistic shot at a coveted bottom-six spot.
 

However, it was hard for any Canuck to stand out against an experienced Calgary side with Jacob Markstrom in net. Markstrom stopped all 20 shots he faced.

 

Studnicka, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound right-shot forward, played on the top line with Pius Suter at centre and Vasily Podkolzin on the left side.

 

The line had its first shift of sustained pressure late in a first period dominated by the Flames. Some good work along the walls resulted in a sharp-angle shot by Suter and a penalty drawn against Calgary. Studnicka nearly scored late in the second, forcing Markstrom to make his first quality save with his pad.

 

Studnicka also had a steal early in the third period and had a dangerous shot shouldered away by Oscar Dansk, who relieved Markstrom for the third period.
 

Podkolzin, who Tocchet wants to become a north-south player who forechecks hard, appeared to be still figuring out the system at times, getting crossed up on defensive assignments, but also played with vigour. Podkolzin, 22, was plowed into the post by a Calgary defender while going hard for a rebound in the second period but stayed in the game.

 

The best of the bubble bunch was Nils Hoglander, who was confident with the puck, got in on the forecheck and caused the Flames some problems. Late in the second period, Hoglander came screaming into the zone and bodied Flames’ defender Dennis Gilbert, who went hard into the boards and had to leave the game.

 

Hoglander, who spent most of last season in Abbotsford working on his 200-foot game, is expected to make the team but needs to show Tocchet that his motor — and his mind — are always running.
 

You can earmark Hoglander with a roster spot if he keeps playing like this.

 

The roster in the last two pre-season games — on Oct. 4 and Oct. 6 — is expected to be very close to what we see when the regular season begins on Oct. 11 against the Edmonton Oilers.
 

 

In defence of the defence

 

Besides summer signee Matt Irwin, who has skated in 461 NHL games, there wasn’t a lot of NHL experience on the Canucks’ blue-line.

 

That doesn’t mean the rest of the defencemen will be starting the season in Abbotsford.

 

With Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Carson Soucy, Tyler Myers and Ian Cole pretty much pencilled in to make the team, there is still a spot or two up for grabs this pre-season.

 

Irwin, who wore an ‘A’ and featured on the penalty kill, put his body on the line in the first period blocking a power play point shot, then showed some leadership, coming to Hoglander’s defence and dropping the gloves after the young Swede was bowled over late in the first.
 

That’s what you want from the veteran Vancouver Island native.

 

Irwin earned the ire of the Flames in the second, after sticking out his left leg on a hit on Huberdeau. The Flames’ star, who is looking for a bounceback season, went straight to the dressing room and Irwin was challenged to another fight by tough guy Adam Klapka. Huberdeau returned to the Calgary bench minutes later and scored his second goal on his next shift.

 

Jett Woo, 23, had a tough game, with Calgary’s first goal deflecting into the net off his skate. Woo was then goaded into an interference penalty by Kadri.

 

The 2018 second-rounder, signed to a one-year, two-way contract in May, was caught out of position a few times and finished the game a team-worst minus-5.

 

Perhaps the roughest outing was had by Noah Juulsen, who was deked out of his skates on Huberdeau’s first goal, delivered a pizza on Calgary’s sixth goal and lacked mobility overall.
 

Best of the rest

 

Of all the kids in the lineup, Aatu Raty stood the tallest for the Canucks.

 

The Finnish forward was calm and controlled with the puck, reading the play well and moving it to create openings for teammates.

 

Early in the second, the 20-year-old showed what a summer of lower body training looks like, accelerating onto a loose puck in his zone and going in on an odd-man rush. His initial shot was blocked by a defenceman but Raty was able to retrieve the puck and get a clean look on Markstrom, who made the save in tight.

 

Raty had three shots on goal in the game.

 

Meanwhile, smooth-skating defenceman Akito Hirose, 24, and forward Linus Karlsson, 23, earned the distinction of not being on the ice for any of Calgary’s 10 goals.
 

With the crowd chanting “we want 10!” midway through the third period, that is a victory unto itself for the two prospects.
 

Silovs under fire

 

It wasn’t the start that Arturs Silovs was looking for.

 

The Flames scored a lucky one to open the game, with the puck deflecting off two players before crossing the red line.

 

Silovs, 22, would have liked to control the rebound on the second goal, then a Calgary shot rang off the crossbar minutes later, nearly giving the Flames a 3-0 lead.

 

Calgary kept pressing, scoring their third on a power-play goal midway through the first period on an excellent toe-drag and shot by Huberdeau.

 

The Flames led the shot count 9-2 at that point.

 

It got worse for Silovs, who was fooled by Nazem Kadri on the fourth goal with seven minutes left in the first. Kadri, who crashed Silovs’ crease earlier in the period and earned a penalty, made it look like he was curling around to the front of the net with the puck but slipped it by Silovs’ short-side on the backhand.

 

The Canucks’ sixth-round pick in 2019 settled down from there, but was beaten by Huberdeau midway through the second on an odd-man rush for his fifth goal against.

 

The sixth goal was a result of the brutal Juulsen giveaway, while the seventh was a rocket from the point by Noah Hanifin.

 

Night over for Silovs, with seven goals against on 18 shots.

 

Silovs made big strides in his development as a goaltender over the last year, earning the distinction as the Abbotsford Canucks’ MVP last season and leading an underdog Latvia side to a bronze medal at the World Championships. Silovs was also named the MVP of the tournament.

 

Zach Sawchenko, signed to a one-year, two-way contract this past summer, played the rest of the way.

 

The game ended with both teams registering 26 shots on goal.

 

 

 

mraptis@postmedia.com

 

x.com/mike_raptis

 

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/flames-10-canucks-0-have-mercy-canucks-kids-clobbered-in-first-pre-season-test/wcm/53fda884-7b07-42b3-a0bf-c1e317f823ec/amp/