Player Discussion Sam Gagner

[CanaFan]

Imagine where this team would be without Gagner and his 11 pts and weak defensive play. We might actually have 3-4 more points and be in a playoff spot. It’s scary to even think about.

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

I don't think the Vancouver pro scouts went east of the Mississippi and watched him play last year. He was amazingly hot for the first half of the season and then faded badly. Somebody was going to overpay and it was Canucks. Well at least it wasn't 6m a year like Ericsson.

 

[MS]

I don't think the Vancouver pro scouts went east of the Mississippi and watched him play last year. He was amazingly hot for the first half of the season and then faded badly. Somebody was going to overpay and it was Canucks. Well at least it wasn't 6m a year like Ericsson.

Yup. 28 points in his first 33 games last year, then 4 goals and 22 points in his last 48.

He has 3 ES goals in his last 78 games dating back almost a year, which is astonishing given his minutes.

 

[Wilch]

Imagine where this team would be without Gagner and his 11 pts and weak defensive play. We might actually have 3-4 more points and be in a playoff spot. It’s scary to even think about.

Praise this signing. If the Canucks make the playoffs we might get Jimbo for another 3-5 years.

 

[Melvin]

Yup. 28 points in his first 33 games last year, then 4 goals and 22 points in his last 48.

He has 3 ES goals in his last 78 games dating back almost a year, which is astonishing given his minutes.

Eh. His minutes haven't been that crazy.

 

[F A N]

Right now, Sam is just trying to match Dad's production as a Canucks. I expect him to come into his own after he accomplishes the feat.

 

[Zippgunn]

Wow. It's really impressive how you made so many totally wrong statements in those two small posts. You must have worked on the Trump campaign.

1) Wellwood was great for the money.
2) Nobody gives a **** that Gagner was an Oiler or that Kassian was suspended for breaking his jaw. Nobody has said anything like that. Nobody "blamed Gagner" when Kassian was suspended. That doesn't even make any sense.
3) If Gagner was any bloody good, he'd actually be okay being "thrust into the top six". He might even play...ooo gee I dunno, like a top 6 player! Being thrust into the top six isn't tough for anybody, particularly good hockey players. Boeser was thrust into the top 6 too, wasn't he?
4) We don't like Gagner because he sucks and is a waste of a contract and roster spot for the next three seasons.
5) Green is a huge improvement on WD. He actually knows how to match lines and get his dmen to organize breakouts from their own zone without standing around staring blankly up ice for 30 seconds first. WD's lines were garbage, his player selections were brain-dead and his obsession with mediocre trash like Vey and Granlund were indefensible. If WD coaches Canada to Olympic gold in 2018, whoop de do. No NHL players and probably no KHL players either. The Olympics have just downgraded the skill and relevance to lower than AHL levels. That should be right up WD's alley.
6) Nobody cares where either Green or WD are from. No, that's not it.

You must not watch much hockey in Bhutan.

Hang on a second here; where did I say I didn't like Welly? I LOVED the guy and the year after we cast him adrift he scored 18 goals while making league minimum. As for point 2 I have to admit that I have perhaps spent too much time looking at the human cesspool that is the canucks.com board; Wellwood was loathed there just as Gagner is loathed there now and right up to the end Kassian was seen as the second coming. When he punked Gagner all of CDC exploded in a hatefest directed towards Gagner that has never quite dissapated. Point 3 is funny; you compare Gags to Boeser, OK then. Point 5 is hilarious; when Green goes on a 6 game winning streak (while missing Guds and DD and Vanek and Boeser and Gags and...) I might be converted. Also the likelyhood of there being no KHL players at the Olympics is about zero; you can almost guarantee they will be there especially if there are no NHLers there. Personal to Canafan: Willie was unemployed for all of 6 weeks before Hockey Canada snapped him up which tells me a lot more than a million peevish message board posts.

 

[VanJack]

The real scary thing is that someone in the Canucks pro scouting department not only decided Gagner could help them, but that he was worth a three-year contract. Probably the same guy who thought Adam Clendening could run an NHL power play. Or that an over-30 player like Louie Eriksson was worth six years and $6m per.

As good as the amateur scouting has been lately, the pro scouting department is just God-awful and needs a housecleaning.

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

I don't think the Vancouver pro scouts went east of the Mississippi and watched him play last year. He was amazingly hot for the first half of the season and then faded badly. Somebody was going to overpay and it was Canucks. Well at least it wasn't 6m a year like Ericsson.

I don't think the alumni like to travel that much. They have their sports sections to keep them up to date with what's going on.

 

[me2]

The real scary thing is that someone in the Canucks pro scouting department not only decided Gagner could help them, but that he was worth a three-year contract. Probably the same guy who thought Adam Clendening could run an NHL power play. Or that an over-30 player like Louie Eriksson was worth six years and $6m per.

As good as the amateur scouting has been lately, the pro scouting department is just God-awful and needs a housecleaning.

GMs are directly involved in the pro-scouting side of things or they should be.

 

[CanaFan]

Hang on a second here; where did I say I didn't like Welly? I LOVED the guy and the year after we cast him adrift he scored 18 goals while making league minimum. As for point 2 I have to admit that I have perhaps spent too much time looking at the human cesspool that is the canucks.com board; Wellwood was loathed there just as Gagner is loathed there now and right up to the end Kassian was seen as the second coming. When he punked Gagner all of CDC exploded in a hatefest directed towards Gagner that has never quite dissapated. Point 3 is funny; you compare Gags to Boeser, OK then. Point 5 is hilarious; when Green goes on a 6 game winning streak (while missing Guds and DD and Vanek and Boeser and Gags and...) I might be converted. Also the likelyhood of there being no KHL players at the Olympics is about zero; you can almost guarantee they will be there especially if there are no NHLers there. Personal to Canafan: Willie was unemployed for all of 6 weeks before Hockey Canada snapped him up which tells me a lot more than a million peevish message board.

You don’t need a peevish message board to be told Willie was a terrible coach. Just watch the games and it’s there for all to see. Even the HNIC crew couldn’t make sense of Willie that night they accidentally left their mics on during the intermission.

As for the Olympics, do you actually think he’d have been hired if the NHL was going and Hockey Canada has their choice of the nearly 30 still-employed Canadian NHL coaches? Not a chance lol

 

[Brock Boeser Laser Show]

GMs are directly involved in the pro-scouting side of things or they should be.

Yeah I don't think you can take blame away from Benning. He is the GM and ultimately has the final say so this is absolutely on him.

I do think Weisbrod is flying under the radar a bit in all of this. He's the Mike Pence of this administration.

 

[PG Canuck]

Would he even be in the NHL if the Canucks didn't sign him? I'm convinced he wouldn't be. What an awful player.

 

[F A N]

Would he even be in the NHL if the Canucks didn't sign him? I'm convinced he wouldn't be. What an awful player.

Someone would sign a soon to be 28 year old player coming off an 18 goal 50 point season former top 10 pick with a history of putting up 40+ points a season. His dad played 946 games in the NHL. Sam has played over 700. He's an NHL player.

 

[Peen]

Rofl @his dad playing in the nhl being a valid reason as to why he's an nhl player.

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

Rofl @his dad playing in the nhl being a valid reason as to why he's an nhl player.

It doesn't always work that way though does.

My papa was a rolling stone yet I never got to play in the band.

 

[tantalum]

Yes Sam Gagner was all those things. He is all those things yet somehow on his 6th team in the last 5 seasons (that includes a AHL stint). 4 other teams figured out he doesn't bring enough to consider him in their future plans...even for a year or two. Somehow he factored into 3 years of future plans for this management group.

 

[CanaFan]

Someone would sign a soon to be 28 year old player coming off an 18 goal 50 point season former top 10 pick with a history of putting up 40+ points a season. His dad played 946 games in the NHL. Sam has played over 700. He's an NHL player.

I wonder if he’ll be in the NHL long after he turns 30 and has played over 900 games. His game seems to be eroding rapidly.

 

[Hit the post]

The real scary thing is that someone in the Canucks pro scouting department not only decided Gagner could help them, but that he was worth a three-year contract. Probably the same guy who thought Adam Clendening could run an NHL power play. Or that an over-30 player like Louie Eriksson was worth six years and $6m per.

As good as the amateur scouting has been lately, the pro scouting department is just God-awful and needs a housecleaning.

At least those guys ended playing in the NHL.

Who the **** was the brainiac that decided to waste a contract slot on Stewart?

 

[bossram]

Yup. 28 points in his first 33 games last year, then 4 goals and 22 points in his last 48.

He has 3 ES goals in his last 78 games dating back almost a year, which is astonishing given his minutes.

It's more of an indictment of pro scouting than anything. Anyone with a lick of sense would have known what they were getting themselves into when they signed Gagner.

He was uber sheltered last year and put in the "bumper" position on the 1PP. He was placed in best spots possible for him to perform. The Canucks are not using him as such, and predictably, we're finding less than satisfactory performance.

But Benning's pro scouting of forwards doesn't seem to amount to more than looking at point totals.

"Bonino, 20 goals, obviously he can go it again"
"Sutter, he's scored 20, obviously we can count on him for 20"
"Loui, 60 points last season, wow"

And now he's probably looking at Gagner's 50 points last year and thinking, "Gee, top-six forward in the bag!"

Even outside of his forward acquisitions, Benning has consistently acquired players at the height of their perceived value *cough Gudbranson cough* and then wondered why they failed to live up to expectations.

To come back around on this, no, Gagner is not really underperforming. He is what he is and is playing like it: a weak even-strength player who needs a significant zone start push, soft minutes and PP time to produce. If they'd done any research, they would know this.

 

[Zippgunn]

Yes Sam Gagner was all those things. He is all those things yet somehow on his 6th team in the last 5 seasons (that includes a AHL stint). 4 other teams figured out he doesn't bring enough to consider him in their future plans...even for a year or two. Somehow he factored into 3 years of future plans for this management group.

Thomas Vanek is on his 7th team in 5 years. Closing in on 900 games in the NHL too. Just saying...

 

[Zippgunn]

Funny thing; Gagner (who is clearly underachieving) is scoring at .355 PPG and it seems every Canuck fan in the world thinks he's the worst player ever but Jake Virtanen (aka "the Next Bert") is scoring at .259 PPG and can do no wrong in Canuck land. Any problems with his game are clearly the coaches fault (Willie probably ruined him forever, right?) or his linemates or...something. Gagner is terrible because he doesn't make the players around him any better and he doesn't score enough even strength points (even if he is tied for 7th in team scoring). Clearly he is this year's scapegoat.
Ah perspective...

 

[Melvin]

Funny thing; Gagner (who is clearly underachieving) is scoring at .355 PPG and it seems every Canuck fan in the world thinks he's the worst player ever but Jake Virtanen (aka "the Next Bert") is scoring at .259 PPG and can do no wrong in Canuck land. Any problems with his game are clearly the coaches fault (Willie probably ruined him forever, right?) or his linemates or...something. Gagner is terrible because he doesn't make the players around him any better and he doesn't score enough even strength points (even if he is tied for 7th in team scoring). Clearly he is this year's scapegoat.
Ah perspective...

It's almost like they are two completely different players with different salaries, different usage, different roles and different expectations. Weird...

 

[digger18]

I didn’t understand the Gagner signing when it happened, and I still don’t! That being said, I figured “whatever, we can just try and salvage a pick for him at the deadline?” However, he is playing such a low level of hockey right now you have to ask what team in their right mind would even want the guy at this point? Best case scenario is that he has a little hot streak in mid February, and we can at least salvage something there. The same can be said about Vanek.

 

[opendoor]

I didn’t understand the Gagner signing when it happened, and I still don’t! That being said, I figured “whatever, we can just try and salvage a pick for him at the deadline?” However, he is playing such a low level of hockey right now you have to ask what team in their right mind would even want the guy at this point? Best case scenario is that he has a little hot streak in mid February, and we can at least salvage something there. The same can be said about Vanek.

He's signed until 2020. Barring a massive turnaround in play, no one's giving up assets for him.