[GDT/PGT] Vancouver Canucks vs Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena, Oct 6, 2023, 7pm PDT

[-dlc-]

2 hours ago, Conscience said:

Myers actually played good, him and cole were very steady.

My only complaint about Myers is I feel like he focuses (at times) too much on the offensive side of things. He likes/wants to score...which is great. Except when he zings a puck  40' wide of the net and it ricochets around the boards and out and then he's scrambling. 

 

I do like him and, quite honestly, we'd be worse without him. But some of his decisions leave me wondering....why???

 

I did love that he got a goal but I really feel like he thinks he's a forward at times. On the plus side, I haven't seen him throwing his big body onto the ice like a speed bump. That's ok on occasion when needed, but not as a go to defensive play. When it works, great...when it doesn't, it makes him ineffective and leaves him out of the play completely.

[MikeyD]

5 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

My only complaint about Myers is I feel like he focuses (at times) too much on the offensive side of things. He likes/wants to score...which is great. Except when he zings a puck  40' wide of the net and it ricochets around the boards and out and then he's scrambling. 

 

I do like him and, quite honestly, we'd be worse without him. But some of his decisions leave me wondering....why???

 

I did love that he got a goal but I really feel like he thinks he's a forward at times. On the plus side, I haven't seen him throwing his big body onto the ice like a speed bump. That's ok on occasion when needed, but not as a go to defensive play. When it works, great...when it doesn't, it makes him ineffective and leaves him out of the play completely.

I'm not even sure if he'd be good enough offensively for the AHL the way he plays. There could be 3 easy passing options and he will opt to go cross ice for no reason multiple times a game. He is truly gifted at making things difficult offensively and so many plays die on his stick (if he didn't score last night, people would be talking about his turnovers). Defensively he was tolerable last night though so that's good.

 

But I firmly believe this team will be a lot better once he's off of it. 

[MikeyD]

We played significantly better (as we should) last night. There's a lot of things to like, mainly that we aren't allowing zone entries to be easy anymore. We don't just back up, we finalllllllllyyyyy force plays to happen at the line which is something this team hasn't done in many years.

 

But we still don't forecheck at all. The team focuses more on line changes than they do getting possession of the puck back and that's gonna burn us significantly with the more talented teams.

 

Structurally we are good enough to just sneak into the playoffs with that performance but until we establish forechecking we are done for. Can't constantly knife the puck in and send nobody after it over 75% of the time. Just send one guy in and have him change on the way back. I don't understand what the big deal is. It affords the time for the others to change and potentially get involved.

 

Ian Cole had a monster of a game. I was most impressed by him above anybody else. 

[dannydog]

11 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

My only complaint about Myers is I feel like he focuses (at times) too much on the offensive side of things. He likes/wants to score...which is great. Except when he zings a puck  40' wide of the net and it ricochets around the boards and out and then he's scrambling. 

 

I do like him and, quite honestly, we'd be worse without him. But some of his decisions leave me wondering....why???

 

I did love that he got a goal but I really feel like he thinks he's a forward at times. On the plus side, I haven't seen him throwing his big body onto the ice like a speed bump. That's ok on occasion when needed, but not as a go to defensive play. When it works, great...when it doesn't, it makes him ineffective and leaves him out of the play completely.

Agreed , but I’d add his outlet passes are terrible. , passes behind intended player or ices it.

[Baratheon]

6 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

We played significantly better (as we should) last night. There's a lot of things to like, mainly that we aren't allowing zone entries to be easy anymore. We don't just back up, we finalllllllllyyyyy force plays to happen at the line which is something this team hasn't done in many years.

 

But we still don't forecheck at all. The team focuses more on line changes than they do getting possession of the puck back and that's gonna burn us significantly with the more talented teams.

 

Structurally we are good enough to just sneak into the playoffs with that performance but until we establish forechecking we are done for. Can't constantly knife the puck in and send nobody after it over 75% of the time. Just send one guy in and have him change on the way back. I don't understand what the big deal is. It affords the time for the others to change and potentially get involved.

 

Ian Cole had a monster of a game. I was most impressed by him above anybody else. 

I think the forecheck will come with time.  Once RT is comfortable with the overall decision making of the team, he’ll have them play more aggressively.  

[Ghostsof1915]

The problem is the team has 4 players that if they were earning $2 million or under they would be fine. But they are in the tank for the buck category.

Two will be gone regardless at the end of the season. Two we might be stuck with unless they can fix their motor in the regular season.

 

BB6, I like Brock, it's nothing on his personality, or teamwork. It's for $6.65 mill. We were hoping for a sniper. Now if morphs like he has in preseason to a set up guy, I can live with that. If he can get 20 goals, and 40 assists, I'd be content. If he works on his defensive game, just to break up plays, and cause havoc, that would be even better.

Signed until the end of 2025.

 

Chaos Giraffe. If last night was an indication, if he keeps his minutes down, and simplifies his play, he's not the worst option. But $6 million (Even if $5 million is bonuses) ouch. Good news he's signed until the end of this season. He "might" be able to provide a late round draft pick at the deadline. But I doubt it. It is his contract year, so he might get things together so he can sign one last contract. As Jim Robson would call him..."Always an adventure..."

 

Beau. Of the players we have I can see someone kicking the tires on him at the trade deadline. Because his cap hit is only $4.15 million. A solid production year would pump up his value. He's one of those players for the right price I'd be ok with keeping him. But Free Agency will probably see him gone regardless as he's on his final year.

 

Garland. International Man of Mystery. Small, fiesty, almost but not quite a pest. $4.95 million until 2026. (BENNING WHY????) Carrer high 52 points two years ago. It's not that he's bad. Because he's not. It's just he leaves you wanting something more. But he is what he is. He might be trade bait if he has another solid year.

 

I just don't see a fit for the most part of these four. I'd wager we'd keep Brock over Beau and Garland.

[Ghostsof1915]

19 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

My only complaint about Myers is I feel like he focuses (at times) too much on the offensive side of things. He likes/wants to score...which is great. Except when he zings a puck  40' wide of the net and it ricochets around the boards and out and then he's scrambling. 

 

I do like him and, quite honestly, we'd be worse without him. But some of his decisions leave me wondering....why???

 

I did love that he got a goal but I really feel like he thinks he's a forward at times. On the plus side, I haven't seen him throwing his big body onto the ice like a speed bump. That's ok on occasion when needed, but not as a go to defensive play. When it works, great...when it doesn't, it makes him ineffective and leaves him out of the play completely.

Lack of oxygen due to altitude sickness.....

[MikeyD]

1 minute ago, Baratheon said:

I think the forecheck will come with time.  Once RT is comfortable with the overall decision making of the team, he’ll have them play more aggressively.  

I hope so. This far all preseason we haven't had one game with a forecheck so I'm slightly concerned but I also thought we'd look worse last night too so hopefully I'm wrong! 

[-dlc-]

23 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

There could be 3 easy passing options and he will opt to go cross ice for no reason

Funny, there was one of those instances that sticks out clearly in my mind from last night....yep. 

[Alflives]

17 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

We played significantly better (as we should) last night. There's a lot of things to like, mainly that we aren't allowing zone entries to be easy anymore. We don't just back up, we finalllllllllyyyyy force plays to happen at the line which is something this team hasn't done in many years.

 

But we still don't forecheck at all. The team focuses more on line changes than they do getting possession of the puck back and that's gonna burn us significantly with the more talented teams.

 

Structurally we are good enough to just sneak into the playoffs with that performance but until we establish forechecking we are done for. Can't constantly knife the puck in and send nobody after it over 75% of the time. Just send one guy in and have him change on the way back. I don't understand what the big deal is. It affords the time for the others to change and potentially get involved.

 

Ian Cole had a monster of a game. I was most impressed by him above anybody else. 

I noticed Tocchet pointed out we were defending through the neutral zone by skating forward, which is what he wants. Back pressure from our forwards so our D can better defend. Forwards skating backwards to defend doesn’t work. Coach Tocchet’s system, just on that one point alone, is far better than what we’ve had for some time. 

[stawns]

16 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

I hope so. This far all preseason we haven't had one game with a forecheck so I'm slightly concerned but I also thought we'd look worse last night too so hopefully I'm wrong! 

Then how did they hem the flames in their zone for minutes at a time, multiple times during the game?

 

I agree their forecheck still needs work, but disagree that it wasnt effective at all last night.

Edited October 7, 2023 by stawns

[Bob Long]

4 minutes ago, Alflives said:

I noticed Tocchet pointed out we were defending through the neutral zone by skating forward, which is what he wants. Back pressure from our forwards so our D can better defend. Forwards skating backwards to defend doesn’t work. Coach Tocchet’s system, just on that one point alone, is far better than what we’ve had for some time. 

 

Demko also mentioned in an interview the guys knowing what their roles are. So a clear idea of whats actually expected of them helps. Go figure. 

 

[VegasCanuck]

36 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

My only complaint about Myers is I feel like he focuses (at times) too much on the offensive side of things. He likes/wants to score...which is great. Except when he zings a puck  40' wide of the net and it ricochets around the boards and out and then he's scrambling. 

 

I do like him and, quite honestly, we'd be worse without him. But some of his decisions leave me wondering....why???

 

I did love that he got a goal but I really feel like he thinks he's a forward at times. On the plus side, I haven't seen him throwing his big body onto the ice like a speed bump. That's ok on occasion when needed, but not as a go to defensive play. When it works, great...when it doesn't, it makes him ineffective and leaves him out of the play completely.

I'm hoping that Foote and Gonchar can settle him down. When he plays a simple game, he's usually pretty effective for us.

[MikeyD]

4 minutes ago, stawns said:

Then how did they hem the flames in their zone for minutes at a time, multiple times during the game?

 

I agree their forecheck still needs work, but disagree that it wasnt effective at all last night.

Because of good zone entries from defensive zone transitions. Once they're established in the zone their play is good, it's just that they could possess the puck a heck of a lot more if we didn't allow them out of their own end as easily. Once we were set up I really liked the pressure but that's not a forecheck and shouldn't be conflated with one.

 

The defense were activating and that was extending zone pressure.

 

But yeah I'm not gonna knock that whatsoever. Our gap control, anticipation and unison in forcing the puck into bad areas was solid we just didn't put enough pressure after our dump ins, that's all. 

[VegasCanuck]

9 minutes ago, Alflives said:

I noticed Tocchet pointed out we were defending through the neutral zone by skating forward, which is what he wants. Back pressure from our forwards so our D can better defend. Forwards skating backwards to defend doesn’t work. Coach Tocchet’s system, just on that one point alone, is far better than what we’ve had for some time. 

Biggest knock I've had against the previous 2 coaches was, I felt they coached tye team into a predictable pattern that was easy to defend against. Our powerplay was the same pattern every time. 

 

Really hope that Tocchet comes through with a more creative team that's harder for opposition to figure out.

[-dlc-]

3 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

I'm hoping that Foote and Gonchar can settle him down. When he plays a simple game, he's usually pretty effective for us.

Good point! 

 

It's definitely something he can work on/improve. Decision making isn't always on point. I remember when Bieksa took a summer to work on when to pinch/not and consider where the puck is and do a bit of a risk assessment. Myers has some great potential and can be very solid for us if those momentary lapses where he puts himself out of the play are managed a bit better.

[Bob Long]

6 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

I'm hoping that Foote and Gonchar can settle him down. When he plays a simple game, he's usually pretty effective for us.

 

if we're actually going to see an improved Myers, this is why. Yes Cole will help a lot too, but these guys providing proper guidance and deployment will be the difference, imo. 

[VegasCanuck]

Without me reading way back, was there any update on Carson Soucy after leaving the ice mid game?

[Hammertime]

7 hours ago, Mrwipeout said:

i thought Garland was great durin the preseason but he was better on the 3rd line. if u switch beauvilier and garland i think it would have beenb etter...at the same time i think beauvilier was great and carried his line in this one....would be neat if mikheyev can get healthy...that would solve the issue by havin mikheyev at the 1st line and beauvilier and garland on the 3rd...

I think the problem is Brock. He has no spot with Pete now that Kuzz has taken it which means he has to play with Miller as he's utterly useless as a checker and is re inventing himself as a playmaker now that his shot is a cupcake. 

 

I feel like Guiseppe Miller Garland would be a good trio 5v5 to get under opponents skin, frustrate their stars and embarrass them on the score board when they start playing with their emotions instead of their brains. 

 

This might free up some quality mins for our 3rd line where Brock might find some chemistry with Beluger Beauvillier and carve out a role and identity for that line. 

 

Leaving us a 4th of Joshua Suter Aman which IMO would be a borderline 3rd line quality checking line. 

 

 

[MikeyD]

2 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

Without me reading way back, was there any update on Carson Soucy after leaving the ice mid game?

Didn't make it boss. Memorial service is on Wednesday. 

[-dlc-]

21 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

Without me reading way back, was there any update on Carson Soucy after leaving the ice mid game?

[Bob Long]

when can we start injuring Calgary players in preseason? Mikheyev last year and now maybe Soucy. Tired of cowtown plugs injuring our guys. 

[-dlc-]

7 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

when can we start injuring Calgary players in preseason? Mikheyev last year and now maybe Soucy. Tired of cowtown plugs injuring our guys. 

It's part of their MO...I'm sure it is.

 

I hate them. Even Marky now....taking whacks and slashes at guys. He's turned dirty cowpile like the rest of 'em. Classless bunch they are...let's sign Torts as our mascot.

[Hairy Kneel]

Juulsen 

68 career NHL games

190 hits

104 blocks

Last night 3 hits

 

It's not just the number of hits but that they're are a lot of heavy hits. If the defensive coaches can work on his stick handling and puck protection.  Because he treats the puck like a hand grenade sometimes. He needs to simplify his game. He could be a real wrecking ball for us. His confidence isn't really that high right now. Which means there's a lot of room for improvement.  (Even as a spare D on the 4th line.) Opposing teams are very aware of when he's on the ice. 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Hairy Kneel

[Bob Long]

Just now, -dlc- said:

It's part of their MO...I'm sure it is.

 

I hate them. Even Marky now....taking whacks and slashes at guys. He's turned dirty cowpile like the rest of 'em.

 

it absolutely is. Marky really lowered the bar last night too. 

 

The only one I can stand is Tanev, he's still the same guy.