[GDT/PGT] Vancouver Canucks Vs. Edmonton Oilers, Rogers Place, September 27, @ 6PM PST, Preseason Game #2 McWard vs McDavid

[CanucksJay]

17 minutes ago, CRAZY_4_NAZZY said:

Pretty sure Tocchet would've been more upset if Dakota took a stupid retaliatory penalty just because McDavid and Nurse roughed him up.

 

You need discipline to walk away sometimes and lick your wounds and take the powerplay, which led to Hughes' PP goal. Not sure why Joshua is getting grief for restraining himself after drawing a penalty. If anything Joshua basically became a focal point for the opposition and drew them away from their real focus on the game. McDavid chasing you around and Nurse taking dumb penalties is something we will take everytime.

 

Joshua did his job well last night, answering the criticism from the coach - should be more concerned whether he can bring it every single night. 

Its preseason. I'd rather he cave nurse's face in and make nurse think twice about taking cheap shots in the future. 

[King Heffy]

10 minutes ago, CanucksJay said:

Its preseason. I'd rather he cave nurse's face in and make nurse think twice about taking cheap shots in the future. 

Sending Nurse or McDiver off on a stretcher would put him in the running for the Masterton

[AatuD2]

2 hours ago, Karma-Kazi44 said:

I feel like soucy is the player we all hoped myers would be for us. I just hope he can bring that level of play on a nightly basis. Excited to see this team build some chemistry 

 

Very much so, and signed to the type of deal that we wanted Myers on....  mind you, Myers signed at the height of NHL inflation. 

[Gawdzukes]

4 hours ago, AmyTheGma said:

I think I can see exactly what Alvin meant when he said we are 2-3 bad contracts away from being competitive.  In my eyes that is replacing Garland and his 5million dollar contract with a more better suited bigger banger type 3rd liner.  For 5 million you should get a Lawson Crouse type.  Not necessarily him but someone with that playing style.

 

Then replace Beauvillier with another bigger body defence first type player that will hit everyone.

 

Obviously replace Meyers with a proper partner for Hughes.  I wonder if  a certain defenceman from Colorado would like Meyers 6 million per year?

 

 

Yeah I agree, great post. This reminds me of the convo I always have with @canuck73_3 regarding Garland. I'm not a big fan of his playing style but I don't hate the player the way 73 always says. He definitely has skill and can put of some points. For me it is simply a numbers game. If you're team is striving to get better and you're up against the cap there is really only one simple way to approach it. You've got to trim off a larger contract or two in order to reshape the team. Tinkering around the edges simply doesn't work.

 

When I look at the roster it's just blatantly obvious our big pieces Petey, Miller, and Kuzmenko, are going nowhere. Mik was signed recently and is injured. Boeser has struggled but was re-signed by this management group, and has a year less than Garland on his contract. Beauvillier was a cap throw in to balance the Horvat deal.

 

We have a very young and exciting team, and I agree we're one or two bigger two way players away from doing some damage. That $10 million between those two players could really be put to better use rounding out the squad.

 

Toews would be a helluva player and hopefully we can unearth a Crouse type player. Would he ever look great in our top 6 as well.

 

3 hours ago, aGENT said:

A Crouse or Trenin would be nice...

 

Hopefully that's the next order of business and our pro-scouting is hard at work. Look at what TB paid for Jeannot. It could be pricey. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Gawdzukes

[King Heffy]

1 minute ago, Gawdzukes said:

 

Hopefully that's the next order of business and our pro-scouting is hard at work. Look at what TB paid for Jeannot. It could be pricey. 

You really have to develop that type of player internally.  By the time a team is ready to move on from those guys, they're nearing their best-before date and an overpayment is about guaranteed.

[HorvatToBaertschi]

42 minutes ago, CanucksJay said:

Its preseason. I'd rather he cave nurse's face in and make nurse think twice about taking cheap shots in the future. 

I don't think it's smart to start our regular season by having a very engaged and vengeful Oilers doing everything they can to beat us both opening games. Basically, no point in putting any fuel to the fire. 

[Gawdzukes]

6 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

You really have to develop that type of player internally.  By the time a team is ready to move on from those guys, they're nearing their best-before date and an overpayment is about guaranteed.

 

So true. I would have loved to draft that Quentin Musty kid this year, I like his style. That kid Winnipeg got Barlow looks good too, and McGroarty. We don't really have anyone like in our system do we? Lots of younger players with potential but we don't exactly have an abundance of assets to take some chances on yet to break out guys.

 

Maybe Alriksson. Dang 

[King Heffy]

1 minute ago, Gawdzukes said:

 

So true. I would have loved to draft that Quentin Musty kid this year, I like his style. That kid Winnipeg got Barlow looks good too, and McGroarty. We don't really have anyone like in our system do we? Lots of younger players with potential but we don't exactly have an abundance of assets to take some chances on yet to break out guys.

 

Maybe Alriksson. Dang 

Also liked the local kid, Wood.  I don't think the pick was bad though; at some point you have to take a blueliner in the first round if you want a balanced group.

[Gawdzukes]

24 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

I don't think it's smart to start our regular season by having a very engaged and vengeful Oilers doing everything they can to beat us both opening games. Basically, no point in putting any fuel to the fire. 

 

We play these guys 4 times in short order. Twice in pre-season and a back to back to open the year. I agree we shouldn't be fueling the fire, but we should be putting our best team out against them next game. We need to do the best we can to win that back to back and get off to a good start.

[AmyTheGma]

35 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

 

Yeah I agree, great post. This reminds me of the convo I always have with @canuck73_3 regarding Garland. I'm not a big fan of his playing style but I don't hate the player the way 73 always says. He definitely has skill and can put of some points. For me it is simply a numbers game. If you're team is striving to get better and you're up against the cap there is really only one simple way to approach it. You've got to trim off a larger contract or two in order to reshape the team. Tinkering around the edges simply doesn't work.

 

When I look at the roster it's just blatantly obvious our big pieces Petey, Miller, and Kuzmenko, are going nowhere. Mik was signed recently and is injured. Boeser has struggled but was re-signed by this management group, and has a year less than Garland on his contract. Beauvillier was a cap throw in to balance the Horvat deal.

 

We have a very young and exciting team, and I agree we're one or two bigger two way players away from doing some damage. That $10 million between those two players could really be put to better use rounding out of squad.

 

Toews would be a helluva player and hopefully we can unearth a Crouse type player. Would he ever look great in our top 6 as well.

 

 

Hopefully that's the next order of business and our pro-scouting is hard at work. Look at what TB paid for Jeannot. It could be pricey. 

My thoughts exactly.  They are not bad players per se.  Just not the right mix of players for our core.  The good news is that management now seems better able to identify what is needed.  Last night was very obvious with the performance of some of the new guys.  Pro scouting is very much improved.

[King Heffy]

7 minutes ago, Gawdzukes said:

 

We play these guys 4 times in short order. Twice in pre-season and a back to back to open the year. I agree we shouldn't be fueling the fire, but we should be putting our best team out against them next game. We need to do the best we can to win that back to back and get off to a good start.

They're an easy team to intimidate.  Injuring a couple of their most gutless floppers would just have the rest of those cowards playing scared.

[Captain Kirk]

Too bad Soucy and Raty sh@t the bed on that Hopkins goal.......Sigh

[Hogtown Canuck]

After watching the game last night, it struck me that Darnel Nurse is not very skilled. What also struck me was, he a dirty player. What are your thoughts on that guys?

[Huggy Bear]

19 minutes ago, Captain Kirk said:

Too bad Soucy and Raty sh@t the bed on that Hopkins goal.......Sigh

If the only point surrendered to the Oilers was a feed from Draisitl from behind the net, we did well.

 

Especially with our backup goaltender, and missing our middle 6 forwards.

[Huggy Bear]

1 minute ago, Hogtown Canuck said:

After watching the game last night, it struck me that Darnel Nurse is not very skilled. What also struck me was, he a dirty player. What are your thoughts on that guys?

 

I think it’s a good thing they locked him up at $9M 

 

 

[Gawdzukes]

4 minutes ago, AmyTheGma said:

My thoughts exactly.  They are not bad players per se.  Just not the right mix of players for our core.  The good news is that management now seems better able to identify what is needed.  Last night was very obvious with the performance of some of the new guys.  Pro scouting is very much improved.

 

Absolutely. Benning collected decent players on alright contracts but had no clue that he was responsible for projecting that into some type of combination that can win hockey games. He thought that was all on the coaches shoulders. However, we've all seen first hand that it is a very important factor. This management group has been a fresh breath of air in that regard. They seem to totally get that and are slowly re-configuring the team. Loved the new players yesterday. Really strong performance. Are you new to the forum/old cdc? Either way you are adding a lot to the threads ... cheers! 

 

 

2 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

They're an easy team to intimidate.  Injuring a couple of their most gutless floppers would just have the rest of those cowards playing scared.

 

Yeah they are. Soucy did a nice job and should be a big role player for us. He plays to his strengths and plays within his limits. At 6'5" that's HUGE . Unlike Myers who is 6'7" but tries to pretend he's Bobby Orr, doesn't assert himself physically, and is constantly providing the opposition with grade A chances. Blueger played with no fear, and PDG looks ready to contribute this year. We really had their number the first game last year before we collapsed in the end. Got to turn that around this year.

[arsenalian]

6 hours ago, MikeyD said:

I agree with all except for Brisebois. Still isn't sharp enough with the puck and he doesn't lift his head up when he gets it and often times plays are there but he isn't making them. I'm not seeing much of an improvement to his game to warrant a roster spot, even in a depth role. 

With you here. I’m definitely not seeing what others are in Brisebois and definitely prefer Wolanin over him

[arsenalian]

5 hours ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

Shorthouse mentionned as well that the Canucks under Tocchet are playing passes off the boards more, and I noticed it a lot. Instead of chasing the puck, theyre keeping position, and accepting the puck differently, if that makes sense. Makes the offense and cycle flow a lot smoother

Yeah. It’s a little shocking to hear they needed to be reminded and practice, to keep skating and let the puck come to them off the boards. That’s kind of something that should be automatic when skating out of the zone. Just shows though, if you’re not working on a particular skill over and over in practice, even the simple things like that are forgotten in the fast pace of a game situation.

[Frozen Water Walker]

A lot of great comments on the board here today, my observation is we saw something that has been missing the last few years.

 

A proper shutdown 3 / 4th line on in the last minute of a 1 : 1 tie with the Oilers, I think they really locked it down.

 

RT appears to trust and reward hard work, and actually have a plan.

GCG

[Sonoman]

6 hours ago, MikeyD said:

Oh one more thing that I saw last night from a live vantage point. Our team definitely did not take enough shots last night. They passed up on probably 7 decent scoring chances by simply not shooting in good spots. 

Been an issue for a few years now.  Low shooting team 

[Integra250]

So we could see this on opening night assuming Mikheyev is healhy...

 

Mikheyev-Pettersson-Kuzmenko

Podkolzin-Miller-Boeser

Beauvillier-Blueger-Garland

Di Giuseppe-Suter-Hoglander

Joshua, Aman

 

Hughes-McWard

Cole-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

Wolanin

 

Demko

DeSmith

 

[EdgarM]

2 hours ago, AmyTheGma said:

My thoughts exactly.  They are not bad players per se.  Just not the right mix of players for our core.  The good news is that management now seems better able to identify what is needed.  Last night was very obvious with the performance of some of the new guys.  Pro scouting is very much improved.

 

1 hour ago, Gawdzukes said:

 

Absolutely. Benning collected decent players on alright contracts but had no clue that he was responsible for projecting that into some type of combination that can win hockey games. He thought that was all on the coaches shoulders. However, we've all seen first hand that it is a very important factor. This management group has been a fresh breath of air in that regard. They seem to totally get that and are slowly re-configuring the team. Loved the new players yesterday. Really strong performance. Are you new to the forum/old cdc? Either way you are adding a lot to the threads ... cheers! 

 

 

 

Yeah they are. Soucy did a nice job and should be a big role player for us. He plays to his strengths and plays within his limits. At 6'5" that's HUGE . Unlike Myers who is 6'7" but tries to pretend he's Bobby Orr, doesn't assert himself physically, and is constantly providing the opposition with grade A chances. Blueger played with no fear, and PDG looks ready to contribute this year. We really had their number the first game last year before we collapsed in the end. Got to turn that around this year.

Bang on Amy and I also confer with Gawdzukes, Benning was too busy adding smaller, stick checkers and collecting PMD's like they were Candy. Forgetting that you also need players who can play defense and the odd physical game.

This new management group realizes that each player has a role and you have to go out and get those guys who have specific skills. 

I like how they are sticking to their guns with contracts and basically telling the players to take it or leave it. The TEAM is far more important then any one player. FINALLY!!!

This is how a Championship team is built IMHO.

[Huggy Bear]

2 minutes ago, EdgarM said:

 

Bang on Amy and I also confer with Gawdzukes, Benning was too busy adding smaller, stick checkers and collecting PMD's like they were Candy. Forgetting that you also need players who can play defense and the odd physical game.

This new management group realizes that each player has a role and you have to go out and get those guys who have specific skills. 

I like how they are sticking to their guns with contracts and basically telling the players to take it or leave it. The TEAM is far more important then any one player. FINALLY!!!

This is how a Championship team is built IMHO.

well said, and good to see you on the new boards Edgar

[Huggy Bear]

7 minutes ago, Integra250 said:

So we could see this on opening night assuming Mikheyev is healhy...

 

Mikheyev-Pettersson-Kuzmenko

Podkolzin-Miller-Boeser

Beauvillier-Blueger-Garland

Di Giuseppe-Suter-Hoglander

Joshua, Aman

 

Hughes-McWard

Cole-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

Wolanin

 

Demko

DeSmith

 

Looks good.

 

Podz getting a vote of confidence, riding shotgun with mentor JTM…

 

I’d like to see Blueger - PDG as a shutdown ‘forward pair’ - build chemistry on a line and as first over the boards on the PK.

 

[Lemon Face]

12 hours ago, DrJockitch said:

Thought he was very good without the puck. Not Sbisaesc with the puck but struggled with decision making with the puck. 
‘Could see the systems much more. Blueger was very good at what he is supposed to do. 
‘Liked Bains a lot more than Studnicka who still looks a lot better than last year. 
‘EP and the first line looked rusty. 
I think we are starting to see Tocchet’s system and suspect we will see a lot more struggling to score this year. 

I am optimist