Post-Game Talk: 8-0-1 - Canucks def. Kraken - 5-2 (Podkolzin, Hoglander, Motte, Garland, Pearson)

[Mr. Canucklehead]

 

[BWJM]

Great news. Let's start 2022 off with a W.

 

[canucksfan]

Wow. Hopefully this lady is at the game tonight - would be great to see Red able to thank her for saving his life. Incredible story.

This is awesome.

While most moles can be harmless if one looks a little bit off, it's good to get it checked by our doctor.

 

[Bubbles]

Yup, Francis didn't read the market well, ended up with one minor pick-and-trade side deal. Other teams had way longer advance notice of Seattle's entry into the league and the expansion rules than they did with VGK. Contracts were structured so that NMC's wouldn't be in place during the Seattle expansion, or at least real dollars/bonuses would be higher this season. Teams had more room and could afford to lose a guy because they weren't needlessly protecting a bad NMC contract. Then Francis goes around asking for 1st round picks to protect 3rd line forwards and #4 D's and no one bit. Then, he goes in and picks guys based on contract length and dollars rather than making 'hockey' picks, leaving quality on the board.

Then he follows it up with a questionable free agency period, overpaying slightly for Schwartz for $5.5nm, (20 points in 29 games,) 4.5m to Wennberg (16 pts in 32 games), Grubauer $5.9m * 7 (3.27 GAA, .882 Save %, 7-12-4)

Yes, McCann has been a bright spot which is upsetting as a Canuck fan lol. Eberle was a good get but that wasn't a surprise. Other than that though, yesh, you pay $600m and get one ED and this is what you pick?

Excellent post! I remember I was ripped apart for my take that Francis screwed up big time.

Fans were going to show up no matter what for a few years, and Francis decided to emulate Vegas and try to be a contender right away. Instead, they should have tanked for two years, draft 1st-3rd overall for 2022 and 2023 and have an incredible team for 10 years. Instead he chased instant "success" and got a middling team with weak assets.

He completely lost it when he saw Grubauer available when he already had Driedger and Vanicek.

He wasted around 5 ED picks that were either put back on waivers or they just didn't even bother re-signing.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Hopefully the Canucks have their skating legs for this game..Except for a late push in the 3rd,they were spectators in the Kings game…Bruce needs to get their attention here.

Demko starts…Goaltending has been a bright spot for the team this season.

 

[M2Beezy]

 

[Hammer79]

Excellent post! I remember I was ripped apart for my take that Francis screwed up big time.

Fans were going to show up no matter what for a few years, and Francis decided to emulate Vegas and try to be a contender right away. Instead, they should have tanked for two years, draft 1st-3rd overall for 2022 and 2023 and have an incredible team for 10 years. Instead he chased instant "success" and got a middling team with weak assets.

He completely lost it when he saw Grubauer available when he already had Driedger and Vanicek.

He wasted around 5 ED picks that were either put back on waivers or they just didn't even bother re-signing.

Yeah, it was in style to heap praise on Francis, sport Kraken avatars, predict them for the top of the league... It was kind of a 'I hate Benning, so I'm going to 'cheer' for Seattle' movement. To be somewhat fair though, most of this forum turned on Francis after the ED, although there were some anti JB holdouts that were hoping Seattle would embarrass us. Man, did that get old quickly...

Anyway, Francis passes on Price, pays about the same cap hit to two struggling goalies, then trades Vanecek back to the Caps for a 2nd round pick, who would have been an upgrade on both the goalies they kept. He signed Driedger for 3 years, has him come in uniform to the ED, only to turf him back to backup when he saw Grubauer available. Imagine if they had kept Driedger-Vanacek as their tandem and used the money on a top 6 forward? Or picked Price.... or picked Tarasenko?

 

[Bubbles]

Yeah, it was in style to heap praise on Francis, sport Kraken avatars, predict them for the top of the league... It was kind of a 'I hate Benning, so I'm going to 'cheer' for Seattle' movement. To be somewhat fair though, most of this forum turned on Francis after the ED, although there were some anti JB holdouts that were hoping Seattle would embarrass us. Man, did that get old quickly...

Anyway, Francis passes on Price, pays about the same cap hit to two struggling goalies, then trades Vanecek back to the Caps for a 2nd round pick, who would have been an upgrade on both the goalies they kept. He signed Driedger for 3 years, has him come in uniform to the ED, only to turf him back to backup when he saw Grubauer available. Imagine if they had kept Driedger-Vanacek as their tandem and used the money on a top 6 forward? Or picked Price.... or picked Tarasenko?

The funniest thing about Driedger was they scouted him for a few years and targeted him to be their starter, and like you said gave him a jersey and trotted him out only to be thrown to the curb a day later lol.

Then they spent that "precious cap space" on two middling forwards.

They could have offered a 50% salary retention on crappy contracts to gain draft picks, but didn't do that all.

They could have grabbed Max Domi, and flipped him this year for more assets. Instead they took Bayreuther who ended up signing with Columbus anyways lol.

 

[VanJack]

Third game in four nights, but looking like another long layoff after this one. Most games in Canada are being postponed, so hopefully the owners can have full houses later in the season.

I guess all the teams--at least those in Canada--are facing the same fit and start seasons. Can't decide if it hurts or helps anyone. But I guess those teams with multiple players in COVID protocol will be relieved.

So this is a bit of a 'getaway game' for the Canucks. They'll need a lot more energy than they showed in L.A., but hopefully the ice is better at the new Climate Pledge Arena. Ice conditions always seem to be terrible in SoCal.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

That looks like my toilet after Taco Tuesday.

 

[Melvin]

Excellent post! I remember I was ripped apart for my take that Francis screwed up big time.

Fans were going to show up no matter what for a few years, and Francis decided to emulate Vegas and try to be a contender right away. Instead, they should have tanked for two years, draft 1st-3rd overall for 2022 and 2023 and have an incredible team for 10 years. Instead he chased instant "success" and got a middling team with weak assets.

He completely lost it when he saw Grubauer available when he already had Driedger and Vanicek.

He wasted around 5 ED picks that were either put back on waivers or they just didn't even bother re-signing.

This is just an inevitability of the way the ED works. You have to make 31 selections and you only get to carry a 23 man roster. Based on the rules in place you are bound to wind up with some selections that you can't sign or have to waive. That is just basic arithmetic.

 

[StreetHawk]

Excellent post! I remember I was ripped apart for my take that Francis screwed up big time.

Fans were going to show up no matter what for a few years, and Francis decided to emulate Vegas and try to be a contender right away. Instead, they should have tanked for two years, draft 1st-3rd overall for 2022 and 2023 and have an incredible team for 10 years. Instead he chased instant "success" and got a middling team with weak assets.

He completely lost it when he saw Grubauer available when he already had Driedger and Vanicek.

He wasted around 5 ED picks that were either put back on waivers or they just didn't even bother re-signing.

You never know how a collection of players performs. Detroit doing better than I would have expected out of them through 30 games so far.

but Seattle could have easily opted to gain more draft picks. Like the Ladd trade AZ made with the Isles. Or take guys who they could flip later on.

I can understand passing on Tarasenko given the shoulder injury. And not wanting someone that you would eat dead cap space on for more than a year.

There were teams like the Canucks where you didn’t expect to get a player who contributed this season or flipped for a pick. Going to be 2-3 of those for sure.

Gave out more term on their free agents than I expected them to. But that is the price of attracting free agents.

30 players to select and would likely make deals for 2-3 of them immediately. And some don’t make the roster to arrive at a 23 man roster.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Francis shit the bed. End of.

He had forever and a day to plan for the ED and he took the Benning route.

Id be f***ing pissed if I was a Kraken fan.

 

[BWJM]

Francis shit the bed. End of.

He had forever and a day to plan for the ED and he took the Benning route.

Id be f***ing pissed if I was a Kraken fan.

If we keep shitting on Francis the Kraken will spank us tonight.

Come on now, we all know how Canucks luck works around here.

 

[Hammer79]

This is just an inevitability of the way the ED works. You have to make 31 selections and you only get to carry a 23 man roster. Based on the rules in place you are bound to wind up with some selections that you can't sign or have to waive. That is just basic arithmetic.

Like Bubbles mentioned, they could have taken some bad contracts in exchange for draft picks, retained 50% salary and then flipped them for picks. It wasn't inevitable that they would lose 5 guys for nothing, that was just poor management. Instead of taking on bad contracts for a price, he signed his own.

 

[Godkolzin]

Excellent post! I remember I was ripped apart for my take that Francis screwed up big time.

Fans were going to show up no matter what for a few years, and Francis decided to emulate Vegas and try to be a contender right away. Instead, they should have tanked for two years, draft 1st-3rd overall for 2022 and 2023 and have an incredible team for 10 years. Instead he chased instant "success" and got a middling team with weak assets.

He completely lost it when he saw Grubauer available when he already had Driedger and Vanicek.

He wasted around 5 ED picks that were either put back on waivers or they just didn't even bother re-signing.

I thought that he screwed up the draft huge. Passing over some serious talent for 3rd liners and unproven young players. Its not like they have a stockpile of picks and prospects to make up for the MEH team they're icing.

So far the only good thing about the Kraken is the fans, jerseys and the fact we get to play them often.

 

[Hammer79]

I thought that he screwed up the draft huge. Passing over some serious talent for 3rd liners and unproven young players. Its not like they have a stockpile of picks and prospects to make up for the MEH team they're icing.

So far the only good thing about the Kraken is the fans, jerseys and the fact we get to play them often.

I don't even like the jerseys, the colours just fade into the background when you are watching. Just pedestrian and an attempt to mimic the Mariners and Seahawks with a similar colour scheme.

It's nice to welcome some new fans into the NHL fold and the fact that we are getting more teams on back-to-backs with them next door is nice, but holy heck, did NHL radio talking heads ever pump their tires all summer just for them to fall flat. Vegas brought on unrealistic expectations. Nobody knew Vegas was joining until just over a year before and most GM's seemed to assume it would be the same expansion rules as the Wild and Blue Jackets, only to be knee capped by Bettman at the last minute. Seattle had 2.5 years warning and everyone knew they would be coming in under the 7-3-1 or 8-1 protection scheme. It was plenty of time too to avoid handing out NMC's for the ED year.

 

[Scorvat]

Price would have been an instant fire move if picked. Tarasenko is a hindsight pick, at around the expansion draft there we concerns about his injury

Francis did not use his leverage at all and made some terrible picks for some AHLers for some reason with better eligible players on the board. If he was going to go the rebuild route he should have taken some bad contracts off teams for picks.

Also I've never seen a fanbase hate a coach more then Flyer fans hating on Hakstool. Terrible choice when there were better coaches on the board

 

[VanJack]

If you're looking at things strictly through the Canuck lens, the addition of the Seattle Kraken could mean as many as 4-5 wins for the home team at Rogers Arena.

Gone are the days when NHL teams either started a road-trip in Vancouver or came here early and rested up at the end of a road-trip. Now it's either an immediate start in Vancouver and then a back-to-back trip down the I-5 to Seattle, or visa-versa.

The addition of another team in the Pacific Northwest makes the Canucks schedule easier, and ensures more tired teams in Vancouver. So the Kraken have already done the Canucks a big favor.

Although I agree with other posters that Seattle made some baffling decisions in the expansion draft, and left a lot of talent on the table. But of course they came into the league in a COVID year with depressed revenues, and having paid out a huge expansion fee. I think some of their decisions were based on dollars and contracts; unlike Vegas, who appeared to have an unlimited bankroll and used it to their advantage.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

In the summer, my uncle was guaranteeing that the kraken would win the Stanley cup.
I should have made a bet with him

 

[Hammer79]

Price would have been an instant fire move if picked. Tarasenko is a hindsight pick, at around the expansion draft there we concerns about his injury

Francis did not use his leverage at all and made some terrible picks for some AHLers for some reason with better eligible players on the board. If he was going to go the rebuild route he should have taken some bad contracts off teams for picks.

Also I've never seen a fanbase hate a coach more then Flyer fans hating on Hakstool. Terrible choice when there were better coaches on the board

How much is Tarasenko worth at 50% retained though ($3.75m over 2 years)? Probably more than it costs to trade for Vince Dunn... I can't give them a pass for that, especially when he was saying all summer he was good to go.

Agreed with VanJack though, they made moves that a small market team would make, which is puzzling when you've just laid down $600m to join the league. I know joining the NHL was just an excuse to renovate Climate Pledge Arena for the eventual return of the NBA, but you still have to ice a competitive team. They will not get the 'shiny new toy' pass next year for ticket sales.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

How much is Tarasenko worth at 50% retained though ($3.75m over 2 years)? Probably more than it costs to trade for Vince Dunn... I can't give them a pass for that, especially when he was saying all summer he was good to go.

Agreed with VanJack though, they made moves that a small market team would make, which is puzzling when you've just laid down $600m to join the league. I know joining the NHL was just an excuse to renovate Climate Pledge Arena for the eventual return of the NBA, but you still have to ice a competitive team. They will not get the 'shiny new toy' pass next year for ticket sales.

Especially if the nba comes back

 

[The Stig]

A win ties us with SJ and LA. 3 pts back of Edmonton. I want a wild card spot by the end of the month. LETS GET EM BOYS.

 

[CherryToke]

Must win game with the upcoming gauntlet schedule

 

[BWJM]

I've got the omicron boys like all of f***ing BC.

I need a Canucks win to feel better dammit.