Canucks 2017/18 whipping boy will be...

[CurtisLoew]

I don't know wtf Tallon is doing down there in Florida but I am pretty sure he is not that devious.

He might be almost as bad as Benning with the **** he did this off-season.

No, Tallon is a mastermind. Don't you remember when he forgot about the RFA deadline and screwed Chicago out of a lot of talent?

This years whipping boy will be Green, people will be angry at him that our crappy roster plays crappy hockey.

 

[Melvin]

I had actually forgotten about that, hahahah.

 

[LeftCoast]

It will be a defenseman - it's easier to identify mistakes. I'm betting it will be MDZ.

 

[Melvin]

You need some basic expectations to be a whipping boy. If Gaunce scores 5 goals on the 4th line he will be loved by all. If Sutter scores 15 goals on the 4th line people will want him bought out. Sutter scored a goal with good tip in he is considered an offensive black hole in that game Guance does not score in a year it is claimed that it is impossible to score playing 9 minutes on the 4th line. Part of the difference is salary but one respected poster claimed Guance is already a better player than Sutter despite never scoring a nhl goal on purpose. Many claim Sutter is a terrible hockey player period he is ovviously this team's whipping boy and it will not change.

It is really funny to me how much the Jim Benning Fan Club hates Brenden Gaunce. A Canuck draft pick trying to ply his way as a 4th line grinder, makes the league minimum and is pretty much inconsequential to anything.

But lol he has not scored a goal! I am six years old and don't understand context!

 

[Josepho]

Weirdly, the fanbase just seems to have accepted this complete disaster of a contract. I can't really explain why ... maybe because he's such a vanilla player it's hard to have a strong opinion?

This is it.

Sutter is definitely more actively annoying as a hockey player and Eriksson, contract aside, is still a decent player who likely had a brutal year.

 

[Melvin]

This is it.

Sutter is definitely more actively annoying as a hockey player and Eriksson, contract aside, is still a decent player who had a brutal year.

It is partly this, but also just due to usage. Sutter would get a lot less grief if he were just deployed as a 3rd line checking, Malhotra type. Instead he gets perma-glued to PP1 and spends 25% of the year riding shotgun with the Sedins despite almost unbelievably terrible results. Not to mention that Willie almost always used him as the extra attacker, and just in general the way the doof-clowns in the front office always talk about him like he's this secret offensive weapon.

Eriksson is whatever. There is no real controversy about what kind of a player he is or how he is used. He is just paid way too much for way too long.

 

[Shareefruck]

Weirdly, the fanbase just seems to have accepted this complete disaster of a contract. I can't really explain why ... maybe because he's such a vanilla player it's hard to have a strong opinion?

Personally, I've never subscribed to the "hate a player because the signing was ****ing moronic" thing.

I don't mind Eriksson, because unlike some of the other albatross contract signings, I don't think he's that poor or frustrating of a hockey player, all things considered. I didn't hate Miller despite his contract, either. Perception is also on his side, as everybody seems to THINK he's a worse player than he is, too, which makes it less annoying.

A guy like Sutter, I complain about mostly because there are certain things that I REALLY don't like about him as a player,and because many fans perceive him to be several times better than I think he is, which is annoying-- add to this the fact that the coach is one of these people and make icetime/lineup decisions accordingly, which is double annoying. The contract is something that bothers me about Benning, not about Sutter.

 

[Shareefruck]

Sbisa made extremely glaring and usually hilarious errors that absolutely anyone could spot even if they were half asleep. I don't think Gagner will be nearly that bad although he likely doesn't hit last year's point totals. The Del Zaster is probably the closest thing we have to a Sbisa replacement now that I think about it. He didn't earn that nickname for nothing.

Nobody is likely to ever be as frustrating of a whipping boy as Sbisa was because sizable factions of people continued to defend that he was a solid defenseman with upside despite continually getting his *** handed to him everywhere on the ice in the most clear and visible way possible.

 

[RobertKron]

Nobody is likely to ever be as frustrating of a whipping boy as Sbisa was because sizable factions of people continued to defend that he was a solid defenseman with upside despite continually getting his *** handed to him everywhere on the ice in the most clear and visible way possible.

Honestly Sbisa was one of my favourite Canucks to watch the past years. You could more or less see him processing the play in real time.

 

[Shareefruck]

Honestly Sbisa was one of my favourite Canucks to watch the past years. You could more or less see him processing the play in real time.

It's like watching hockey with the added tension and desperation of watching a man struggling to defuse a bomb in the middle of everything.

 

[RobertKron]

It's like watching hockey with the added tension and desperation of watching a man struggling to defuse a bomb in the middle of everything.

Watching a legendarily drunk person try to get into their house when they have a ton of keys on their key ring.

 

[MS]

Sbisa was obviously a terrible player but he really grew on me in the end. Seemed like a genuinely nice, humble person who was really trying to improve, and on a team with zero personality was the player I'd most enjoyed to have a beer with.

Would rather have watched Sbisa here for another year than Gudbranson, a player whose arrogance about his mediocre skills just rankles me.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Sbisa was obviously a terrible player but he really grew on me in the end. Seemed like a genuinely nice, humble person who was really trying to improve, and on a team with zero personality was the player I'd most enjoyed to have a beer with.

Would rather have watched Sbisa here for another year than Gudbranson, a player whose arrogance about his mediocre skills just rankles me.

??????????

Where have you seen that? Gudbranson's play on the ice is as unspectacular as previous and I hate the deal to get him as much as anyone, but I've seen precisely zero that indicates bad or even iffy character. Arrogance? Source? Haven't seen it.

Just to be fair to the guy.

 

[Melvin]

??????????

Where have you seen that? Gudbranson's play on the ice is as unspectacular as previous and I hate the deal to get him as much as anyone, but I've seen precisely zero that indicates bad or even iffy character. Arrogance? Source? Haven't seen it.

Just to be fair to the guy.

Last year he threw Hutton under the bus and claimed you need 300 NHL games to know what you're doing out there, a threshold he had just barely passed. He then got hurt and Hutton's play miraculously improved.

Link

“If I’m chasing out of position to make a play, there has been a breakdown somewhere at some point,” said Gudbranson. “My intention is to get in front of shots and take away passing lanes. We started off well as a pair, but we’ve been kind of separate and a little disconnected and just playing too far apart.
“We’re going to watch video and see what’s going on and this is a process with a young guy. He (Hutton) has less than 100 games and it takes 300 to learn to defend well.

He's a tool.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Yeah, f*** Erik Gudbranson. Him and Sutter have been built up as these great foundational players and it's gone to their heads, whereas they really suck ass.

Gonna be an interesting year if Brandon Sutter runs his mouth from the 4th line.

 

[Hit the post]

Yeah, **** Erik Gudbranson. Him and Sutter have been built up as these great foundational players and it's gone to their heads, whereas they really suck ass.

Gonna be an interesting year if Brandon Sutter runs his mouth from the 4th line.

Brandon yaps like a typical Sutter - problem is - he doesn't play like a typical Sutter.

 

[MS]

Last year he threw Hutton under the bus and claimed you need 300 NHL games to know what you're doing out there, a threshold he had just barely passed. He then got hurt and Hutton's play miraculously improved.

Link

He's a tool.

Yeah, that was basically arrogance personified.

The pairing is struggling and he basically throws Hutton under the bus publicly, claiming that he doesn't make mistakes but his partner hasn't played enough games and doesn't know how to defend yet. All Hutton's fault.

And of course, the second Gudbranson was hurt, Hutton magically returned to his 15-16 level of play and looked good again.

Both he and Sutter were top-10 picks who have been coddled as 'core players' by their teams while actually being below-average bottom-roster players. Both carry themselves like stars when they should actually be fighting to get into the lineup every night.

 

[Siludin]

I voted the Sedins because people are gonna be losing it by the trade deadline.

 

[I in the Eye]

I picked Gudbranson. At the end of the season, I think Gudbranson is going to bolt as a ufa. Benning might try to deal him at the trade deadline, not being able to sign him and not wanting to lose him for nothing... a team like Vegas might bite. If the Vegas scouts deemed Sbisa worth taking, chances are they may be inclined to not pay attention to the details, and focus on Gudbranson's name and draft position. Why would Vegas pay for Gudbranson as a deadline rental when not a playoff team? Because Sbisa is an IQ test, and McPhee failed it.

Regardless, I think Gudbranson is the new Sbisa whipping boy until he leaves.

 

[VanJack]

Hmm.....is it just a coincidence that the two guys Benning described as 'foundational players' are now on top of the 'whipping boy list'?

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

It is really funny to me how much the Jim Benning Fan Club hates Brenden Gaunce. A Canuck draft pick trying to ply his way as a 4th line grinder, makes the league minimum and is pretty much inconsequential to anything.

But lol he has not scored a goal! I am six years old and don't understand context!

Oh I don't think it's anything personal. Some of us just see zero NHL upside there Seems like a really nice kid to me actually.

And I personally am not that pro or anti Benning. I think a three headed monster actually manages this team, Jimmy just takes the slings and arrows out front.

 

[Wo Yorfat]

Hmm.....is it just a coincidence that the two guys Benning described as 'foundational players' are now on top of the 'whipping boy list'?

Nope. Not a coincidence at all. He's really really good at losing assets to bring in bad players/contracts.
sbisa, vey, larsen, prust, dorsett, gudbranson, pedan, clendening etc.

He's brought in nobody who gives good value or outperforms their contract, players are set up to be vilified, not their fault really.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Apparently Travis f***in Green...

 

[VancouverJagger]

After being at the game tonight I'm inclined to say Gudbranson - I sure hope I'm wrong. My buddy who I was at the game with told me that McCann lit it up this preseason and was the Panthers best forward. I really hope he was wrong about that.......

 

[Cupless44]

I am sticking with my original vote....Eriksson. No one does less with more ice time. He should be the one subbing out for Boeser.