Canucks Preseason Camp: 15F 8D 3G remain in camp

[CanucksJay]

6 hours ago, stawns said:

 

Myers had 29 points and a +16 last year, how is he not a top 4 d?

 

How will the pairings work? 

You have Hronek and Myers as RD. Hughes and Soucy as LD. 

So either Myers has to play with Hughes as his partner on the top pairing or he plays with Soucy as his partner on the 2nd pairing 

 

Is a pairing of Soucy and Myers good enough to be 2nd pairing on a cup calibre team? 

I think they would get exposed. 

If Myers ends up playing 4D, he needs a really good 3D partner (upgrade over Soucy). So either way, D is not good enough if Myers is playing top 4 and no other changes are made. 

[Tecumseh]

5 hours ago, higgyfan said:

 

The change in coaching staff has had a very positive influence on Myers' game (just like most of the

other players).  Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar have helped Myers' game immensely.  Imo, he

easily slots onto the 2nd pairing, alongside Soucey.  Sure, he'll make some gaffs now and then, but

he has become a more responsible dman than what he was before last season.  I vote for getting rid of

the chaos giraffe emoji; it's disrespectful and ignores the steps he's taken to improve his game.

I 100% agree with you.

 

I like Myers. He tries hard, has been improving, great character, protects his teammates, leader in the room.

 

Out of all the name calling, and shits he's been taken, he still remains respectful to the media, took a discount, believes and wants to win with the Canucks.

[GrammaInTheTub]

50 minutes ago, Provost said:

That is fine if a bottom pairing gets hurt but is of zero help if one of our top guys goes down.

 

Soucy is a complementary dude on a 2nd pairing, so would probably be fine if Hronek was his partner.  
 

Myers, Forbort, Desharnais, Juulsen, and Friedman are all 3rd pairing or depth guys.  It is already a very tall order for some of them to carry a regular roster spot and play any significant minutes without being sheltered.

 

Asking one of them to step up to play big minutes or against better competition is risking absolute disaster.

 

Desharnais was in the press box for a good chunk for the Oilers post season run, and their defence wasn’t exactly stacked.  We are relying on him to improve just to be a solid 3rd pairing player.

 

We need a defence of:

 

Hughes-XX

Soucy-Hronek

Forbort-Myers

Friedman- Desharnais 

I don’t disagree. We have two legitimate top four defenseman and the rest will have to be delivered by committee. It’s not ideal. Like many of you, I am confident that our management group is working the phones to address it. But for now - while we’re healthy - it’s serviceable. Similar to last year when injuries hit and we moved to pick up Zad, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see movement mid season to address it. 

[DixonWard]

18 minutes ago, Tecumseh said:

I 100% agree with you.

 

I like Myers. He tries hard, has been improving, great character, protects his teammates, leader in the room.

 

Out of all the name calling, and shits he's been taken, he still remains respectful to the media, took a discount, believes and wants to win with the Canucks.

I have always been a fan of Myers, despite his gaffes at times.  He has played for 7 or 8 nhl coaches and before last year had never played less than 21 min per night.  I think those coaches might know a bit more than most of us fans.  He is a pretty good player.

[kettlevalley]

Do they think the upgrade in the spring is Willander after his college season?  Could he step in and supplant Myers?  Hmmm.  

 

Personally am thinking Willander steps up next year at least.  EP26 is hopefully not far behind and then we have a solid defence.  And we do have a couple other young guys in Mynio and Kudrayetsev coming soon.  Although hitting on all 4 those young guys might be too much luck to ask for.  Lol.  

[Gurn]

spilt Hughes and Hronek.

The needs of the team outweigh the wants of the Hughes.

This gives 44-48  minutes of prime d men on the ice, 'protects' Myers and keeps the 3rd pairing at reasonable minutes.

[Coconuts]

"Big sexy" was a top 4RD last season, at 3M he's likely our best option going forward this season 

 

 

 

[Alflives]

49 minutes ago, Gurn said:

spilt Hughes and Hronek.

The needs of the team outweigh the wants of the Hughes.

This gives 44-48  minutes of prime d men on the ice, 'protects' Myers and keeps the 3rd pairing at reasonable minutes.

Saddle Hughes with a dough head partner of limited skill like Juulsson? Yes, Hughes is a phonon and will make his partner, no matter how poor the guy is, appear to be decent, but our club is so much better with HH as our top pairing. That was proven last year. HH was the best D pairing in hockey and by a lot. 

[-dlc-]

2 hours ago, Tecumseh said:

I 100% agree with you.

 

I like Myers. He tries hard, has been improving, great character, protects his teammates, leader in the room.

 

Out of all the name calling, and shits he's been taken, he still remains respectful to the media, took a discount, believes and wants to win with the Canucks.

Good points. The fact that he took that discount really says a lot about his character to me. He loves this team and wants to win with them.

 

[SuchaNuxtalgia]

Be wonderful if Big Myers can deliver us 3 more seasons like the last. Time we all cut our handsome giraffe some slack!

[Provost]

2 hours ago, Tecumseh said:

I 100% agree with you.

 

I like Myers. He tries hard, has been improving, great character, protects his teammates, leader in the room.

 

Out of all the name calling, and shits he's been taken, he still remains respectful to the media, took a discount, believes and wants to win with the Canucks.

Him being a good dude doesn’t make him an all star D man.

 

One season (well part of a season) doesn’t erase a career of what a player has shown that he is.  Myers can’t carry a 2nd pairing even remotely, and is better suited to being an excellent 3rd pairing guy who on a good team is capable of playing a solid 17-18 minutes a night.

 

That isn’t nothing, and not disrespectful to say that is what he has been.  Since he began in the league he did great until he moved up in the lineup and too much was asked and then things go off the rails.

 

Last year until injuries hit and he got overplayed, Cole provided a massive stabilizing force on the blue line.  We are going to miss that.

 

With a really strong partner, he or Soucy could play complementary roles on a 2nd pairing.  Together they don’t make a cup contending 2nd pairing.  If they were backed up by a really strong 3rd pairing, maybe you can get away with it.  Our 3rd pairing looked like it might get exposed.

[Hammertime]

3 hours ago, CanucksJay said:

 

How will the pairings work? 

You have Hronek and Myers as RD. Hughes and Soucy as LD. 

So either Myers has to play with Hughes as his partner on the top pairing or he plays with Soucy as his partner on the 2nd pairing 

 

Is a pairing of Soucy and Myers good enough to be 2nd pairing on a cup calibre team? 

I think they would get exposed. 

If Myers ends up playing 4D, he needs a really good 3D partner (upgrade over Soucy). So either way, D is not good enough if Myers is playing top 4 and no other changes are made. 

Soucy Myers were our 2nd pairing last year and 2nd most trusted by Tocc

reg season

 

Playoffs

 

I would say they did pretty good especially when you consider they were getting all the hard matchups. Best on ice goals % of any canuck pairing in the playoffs.   

 

 

Edited Friday at 12:48 AM by Hammertime

[Alflives]

22 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

Good points. The fact that he took that discount really says a lot about his character to me. He loves this team and wants to win with them.

 

So true. The team friendly contracts started, in this group, with Miller. The other guys follow the leaders, that’s for sure. 

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, Provost said:

Him being a good dude doesn’t make him an all star D man.

 

One season (well part of a season) doesn’t erase a career of what a player has shown that he is.  Myers can’t carry a 2nd pairing even remotely, and is better suited to being an excellent 3rd pairing guy who on a good team is capable of playing a solid 17-18 minutes a night.

 

That isn’t nothing, and not disrespectful to say that is what he has been.  Since he began in the league he did great until he moved up in the lineup and too much was asked and then things go off the rails.

 

Last year until injuries hit and he got overplayed, Cole provided a massive stabilizing force on the blue line.  We are going to miss that.

 

With a really strong partner, he or Soucy could play complementary roles on a 2nd pairing.  Together they don’t make a cup contending 2nd pairing.  If they were backed up by a really strong 3rd pairing, maybe you can get away with it.  Our 3rd pairing looked like it might get exposed.

Isn’t Myers a Calder winner? The actually pretty good. And at 3 x 3 he’s on a friggin’ awesome deal for us. The Bruins are paying Zadorov 6 per! He’s a slug and complete dough head. 

[RWJC]

5 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Isn’t Myers a Calder winner? The actually pretty good. And at 3 x 3 he’s on a friggin’ awesome deal for us. The Bruins are paying Zadorov 6 per! He’s a slug and complete dough head. 

Zadorov a slug? His skating is actually really good for a big man. Stop eating spoiled cat meat. 

[Hammertime]

4 minutes ago, Provost said:

Him being a good dude doesn’t make him an all star D man.

 

One season (well part of a season) doesn’t erase a career of what a player has shown that he is.  Myers can’t carry a 2nd pairing even remotely, and is better suited to being an excellent 3rd pairing guy who on a good team is capable of playing a solid 17-18 minutes a night.

 

That isn’t nothing, and not disrespectful to say that is what he has been.  Since he began in the league he did great until he moved up in the lineup and too much was asked and then things go off the rails.

 

Last year until injuries hit and he got overplayed, Cole provided a massive stabilizing force on the blue line.  We are going to miss that.

 

With a really strong partner, he or Soucy could play complementary roles on a 2nd pairing.  Together they don’t make a cup contending 2nd pairing.  If they were backed up by a really strong 3rd pairing, maybe you can get away with it.  Our 3rd pairing looked like it might get exposed.

The numbers disagree with you. He had a heck of a season not just last year but with the bought out OEL too. Who carried whom?

 

People just look for every opportunity to shit on him. Y'all never recognize how valuable he is. Whenever he's out we seem to go on a losing streak. Hmmmm? Odd.

 

 

[Alflives]

3 minutes ago, RWJC said:

Zadorov a slug? His skating is actually really good for a big man. Stop eating spoiled cat meat. 

Big Z has good top speed, but he’s slug slow to get going. Hockey is about quickness, especially defensively. His lack of quickness, or slug slowness, is why he’s been a bottom pairing guy and often sat in the press box. He’s a terrible player. 

[Hammertime]

2 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Big Z has good top speed, but he’s slug slow to get going. Hockey is about quickness, especially defensively. His lack of quickness, or slug slowness, is why he’s been a bottom pairing guy and often sat in the press box. He’s a terrible player. 

[Dr. Crossbar]

Tocchet's approach to preseason is interesting as compared to last season, a focus on the chemistry, leadership, the need to get off to a hot start and set the early winning tone of the season.

 

This year it appears there's less pressure and priority to get off to an early winning start in favor of resting vets and easing into the season. I'd say there looks to be more of a priority on sustainability over the long run, being consistent, and really making sure we don't flame out in the latter half of the season when we need to keep raising our game.

[VegasCanuck]

16 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Isn’t Myers a Calder winner? The actually pretty good. And at 3 x 3 he’s on a friggin’ awesome deal for us. The Bruins are paying Zadorov 6 per! He’s a slug and complete dough head. 

Zadorov is actually one of the fastest skaters in the league when he's in full flight. Like most larger players, first couple of steps aren't his strong suit. Once cruising, he's between 35 and 37kmph, definitely not a slug.

[Alflives]

Just now, VegasCanuck said:

Zadorov is actually one of the fastest skaters in the league when he's in full flight. Like most larger players, first couple of steps aren't his strong suit. Once cruising, he's between 35 and 37kmph, definitely not a slug.

Z is a slug. We dodged a bullet with that loser. He’s a dough head too. A big slug dough head loser. 
Myers is a far superior player and at half the AAV! We win!!! 

[RWJC]

13 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Big Z has good top speed, but he’s slug slow to get going. Hockey is about quickness, especially defensively. His lack of quickness, or slug slowness, is why he’s been a bottom pairing guy and often sat in the press box. He’s a terrible player. 

I know half of what you’re saying is due to bias against former Nux players so I’ll give you that.

 

I disagree with ya though. He’s agile and mobile for a guy of his size and weight. His issues defensively aren’t with his agility, it’s due to occasionally chasing hits and being a little rogue on coverage as he doesnt always read or foresee the play developing. Nothing to do with his speed, imho.

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, RWJC said:

I know half of what you’re saying is due to bias against former Nux players so I’ll give you that.

 

I disagree with ya though. He’s agile and mobile for a guy of his size and weight. His issues defensively aren’t with his agility, it’s due to occasionally chasing hits and being a little rogue on coverage as he doesnt always read or foresee the play developing. Nothing to do with his speed, imho.

So he’s a dough head. I’m glad we have Myers at half the AAV. He’s better than Dough head (slug slow) Big Z. Bruins fans are going to be all over that guy. Going to be really bad. And that makes Alf feel all warm and fuzzy. 

[RWJC]

2 minutes ago, Alflives said:

So he’s a dough head. I’m glad we have Myers at half the AAV. He’s better than Dough head (slug slow) Big Z. Bruins fans are going to be all over that guy. Going to be really bad. And that makes Alf feel all warm and fuzzy. 

like you need that as an excuse to feel your warm fuzzies. Put some clothes on!

[SuchaNuxtalgia]

43 minutes ago, Dr. Crossbar said:

Tocchet's approach to preseason is interesting as compared to last season, a focus on the chemistry, leadership, the need to get off to a hot start and set the early winning tone of the season.

 

This year it appears there's less pressure and priority to get off to an early winning start in favor of resting vets and easing into the season. I'd say there looks to be more of a priority on sustainability over the long run, being consistent, and really making sure we don't flame out in the latter half of the season when we need to keep raising our game.

Agreed. In movie terms, fall '23 like that "lambs" flick, poor chubby lass, tryin to escape Buffalo Bill's hole - that was our squad. Guess Tocc saved the day, ala Jodie Foster.

 

Completely new ballgame. Now it's the opening scene from Sat Night Fever, our stylish club strutting downtown to the beat. Make it to that disco & win the dance. En route, score that silk shirt, get the girl, & properly polish the boots. Smidge less stressful, one might suggest...