Recalled/Assigned: Brendan Gaunce called up

go comets

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Jul 10, 2013
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Only thing that can straighten out this team is signing some free agents, but who is going to want to play for this team?? Cap issues already are an issue.....weather the comets are a good team or a poor team, I will still be there every game to watch them develop. But I think the comets take a huge hit if Green leaves for Greener pastures..
 

Jyrki21

2021-12-05
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I question this premise. Based on nothing more than following the Utica Comets board, my take was that Gaunce was doing very well at wing by the end of last season. I also believe that his performance has picked up after recovering from a thumb injury in either December or January. The fact is that your analysis can be labelled post hoc also.
It most certainly would be – I don't see enough of the Comets to hold an informed opinion, so I'm not saying one thing or another is the reason (and as a firm believer in "tangibles", I would most definitely look to health-related reasons above all). What I'm saying is that, in my mind, one post hoc explanation requires a much bigger leap of logic ("they were right all along" despite seeming weird at the time) than another ("they corrected their weird decision and now he's back on track"). But most certainly it could be neither.
 

VanJack

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I wonder if there's any chance Subban gets called up before the season is over?...surely it makes more sense to give him some minutes rather than guys like Weber and Bartkowski who are UFA's after the season is done.
 

Shareefruck

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Saying that Patrice Bergeron isn't a star #1 center is not much different at all from saying that Jonathan Toews isn't a star #1 center.
 

mossey3535

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Your take from the Utica crowd should have been that he was playing much better by the end of the year compared to his poorer play in the 1st half. Note, he was never BAD.

Gaunce played so well in the playoffs that Green scratched him for a lesser effort than Green expected from him. He's had effort and desire questions in Green's judgement and he's been pushed hard to improve upon it and has little by little to the point where he no longer seemed to be having that problem once he went to center.

This year he started as a better player than he was last season. His numbers haven't changed drastically from his play on the wing this season to his switch to center, but his effort, physicality, and desire have increased decidedly.

Based on this I'd say that Jyrki21 is correct and I'd give the nod to Green for his improved play over the Vancouver management. In fact Green is responsible for every Comets improvement and is single handedly responsible for the rebirth of Baertschi. He had Shinkaruk coming along sweetly and the trade was not a good idea.

Yo, BG, did Gaunce _deserve_ this callup? Was he the most deserving out who is down in Utica?
 

alternate

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I was making an analogy – a technique which, time and again, I have lamented that this board so often does not seem to understand.

sometimes it's just about timing.

Saying that Gaunce has turned out OK therefore their handling of him was good is a post hoc analysis along the lines of saying that Hutton has turned out well because of how he was handled last year. Obviously I don't think either is true. If Gaunce has shown improvement once moved back to his natural position, the simpler explanation would be that he probably should have been kept there in the first place. I can't say that with 100% certainty, but it is the more elegant/intuitive conclusion to be drawn from the facts that we have been presented.

Why would that be the simpler explanation though? Wouldn't the simplest explanation be that he's now a better player than when he was first moved to the wing? Sure, you might feel that he'd have developed exactly the same, or even better, without the switch, but why get into hypotheticals when you can simply evaluate what is. And what is, is Gaunce's development is on track.

Now take into consideration some of the reasoning given at the time of the switch. They wanted him to improve his pace, his board work, etc. There were reasons given at the time of the switch for doing it. So if I say I am going to wash my car because I want it to be cleaner, and when I'm done washing my car it is cleaner, how is it a more elegant/intuitive conclusion to say my car would have been even cleaner if I had just left it alone?

Same goes with Hutton really. If anyone is unhappy with their development, speak up. If no one is unhappy with their development--and I have to think just about all of us are very pleased with both--then why second guess the decisions that got them to where they are? Contrast Hutton to Schroeder who came in out of college and had a very impressive showing in the AHL playoffs...did that advance his long term development? Can't say for sure it hurt it, but it's pretty fair to say he wouldn't have busted any worse if he had received the Hutton treatment.


Well there still aren't a ton of surefire prospects, and a couple of guys are probably playing prematurely in the NHL, so it's hard to say. So I'm not convinced this is definitely true, but if it is, it sure seems like (i) having a stable farm team, and (ii) coaching with that farm team would have a lot more to do with it than whatever direct involvement the parent club's management has had. (Which would be what, anyway, apart from moving Gaunce to wing? Periodic callups? Five minutes of NHL game time on the fourth line out of position?)

Again, I'm just looking at what is. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a single prospect that has stagnated or regressed. Maybe Friesen I guess, but not sure I'd count him as a prospect.

You can give Green all the credit if you want. Maybe it is all Green. But I don't think Green would be designing the offseason workout programs. It wasn't Green that kept Horvat up last year even when he didn't look ready. It wasn't Green that slipped Markstrom through waivers and has given him time to rebuild his game. It wasn't Green that put together the (often maligned) schedule for McCann and Virtanen.

That's not to take away from what Green has done. I expect he'll be replacing Willie next season in Vancouver. From a distance, he looks like a very good coach (but same could probably be said about Willie when he was in the AHL, so we'll see). But ultimately Green answers to Benning. The general consensus seems to be that it was at Benning's directive that Gaunce was moved in the first place, so from that we can infer that Benning is involved with other developmental decisions as well. Obviously none of us know exactly what and to what extent but it seems like a reasonable conclusion to make.

We can take it a step further and compare players under Benning's regime compared to Gillis's. Maybe it's nothing more than being in Utica with Green, but suddenly we are seeing prospects trending upwards, rather than flatlining or regressing out of the gate like we had for years. (Unfortunately, with the binary mentality of too many forum members these days, it's necessary to put in a disclaimer here that I'm not anti-Gillis, I think he did a great job overall). Yes, absolutely it helps owning the farm team now. And yes, it helps having a good coach in the AHL...although we haven't had too many weak ones over the years. But Benning will be giving directives, just as Gillis would have. As Jesus would say, you judge a tree by its fruit, and so far prospect development under Benning has been just peachy.
 

go comets

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Yo, BG, did Gaunce _deserve_ this callup? Was he the most deserving out who is down in Utica?

Whom is playing the best in Utica pretty much changes weekly. When Zalewski got sent down, he carried the comets for about 2 weeks. He has cooled off. Gaunce then got hot and stepped up for two weeks, he has since come back to earth. Latley I would say Kenins and Grenier have been real good, but then the canucks sent Hunter away and pthe lines got switched around again.right now although he is not putting up big points, I think Kenins would be the most deserving callup.
 

biturbo19

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Jul 13, 2010
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Gaunce in, Vrbata out tonight as per Canucks Twitter.

Man...i can't say i disagree with this. But wow, has Vrbata ever fallen far in one year. Nobody to really blame but himself, but he's absolutely demolished any value he might've been able to get on his next (likely last) contract this summer.



Anyway. Yay for Brendan Gaunce and his Equipment!
 

tantalum

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Man...i can't say i disagree with this. But wow, has Vrbata ever fallen far in one year. Nobody to really blame but himself, but he's absolutely demolished any value he might've been able to get on his next (likely last) contract this summer.

Anyway. Yay for Brendan Gaunce and his Equipment!

Is Vrbata still hurt? Didn't play last game and they had Weber playing forward I thought. I don't know because I barely paid any attention to the game.
 

m9

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Yeah, Vrbata was hurt. Gaunce in, Weber out I'm sure.
 

Skriko

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Jul 27, 2014
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Kuzma: Gaunce takes rough road to NHL

It’s consistency. It’s hard to be a pro and play every day at the top of your game, because I had injury troubles from November to January and played with a cast on my thumb for four weeks after falling. I learned to play defence first when I was younger, and it’s something that comes naturally to me, and the goal-scoring is something I wanted to improve on this year. And you have to be very confident on the ice and you can’t be afraid to play against guys that you watched growing up. You have to go in with the attitude that you’re as good as them — if not better.

I feel comfortable playing centre or wing. The wing gets you into the game quicker. At centre, you’re not in as many battles, but defencemen now pinch more than they used to, so I’ve had to adapt my game to it.

I didn't know that he played four weeks with a cast in this season.
 

Timmer44

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Mar 3, 2006
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Man...i can't say i disagree with this. But wow, has Vrbata ever fallen far in one year. Nobody to really blame but himself, but he's absolutely demolished any value he might've been able to get on his next (likely last) contract this summer.



Anyway. Yay for Brendan Gaunce and his Equipment!

I wonder if the Canucks and the Coyotes could somehow facilitate a trade post deadline. Even for future considerations. He was a bit of a fan favorite in the Desert, and it would allow the Canucks to play more of the youth.
 

VanJack

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I wonder if the Canucks and the Coyotes could somehow facilitate a trade post deadline. Even for future considerations. He was a bit of a fan favorite in the Desert, and it would allow the Canucks to play more of the youth.

The 'Yotes are in the process a full-on tank...why would they want to acquire a guy who could potentially get hot down the stretch and compromise your draft position?..if they're interested in bringing Vrbata back it would be in the offseaon when they could get him as a UFA and give up nothing.
 

opendoor

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Dec 12, 2006
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The 'Yotes are in the process a full-on tank...why would they want to acquire a guy who could potentially get hot down the stretch and compromise your draft position?..if they're interested in bringing Vrbata back it would be in the offseaon when they could get him as a UFA and give up nothing.

Especially since Vrbata is owed about $1M in salary between now and the end of the season.
 

Bad Goalie

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Jan 2, 2014
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Yo, BG, did Gaunce _deserve_ this callup? Was he the most deserving out who is down in Utica?

Recently it has been a gang of 18 effort in Utica. They can't win unless every guy brings his best every shift. It's a grind down the other team process. Shoot, shoot, shoot if you have a shot. No one is a sniper so if you shoot enough something good might happen mentality. Fore check, fore check, fore check. Back check, back check, back check. It's exciting to watch when they are on all cylinders, but the gaffes usually end up in the net because they are dandies. So you never know until the end. If they come out flat, it's over. if they come out flying it may be 0-0 after one as easily as 2-0 Utica or sometimes like 2-1 Utica with SOG 17-4 Utica

In short, Gaunce, like the rest, has looked good over the past 15 games or so, but they all have. He deserves the first call because he's the biggest of the prospects. I'd take a look at Z, Pedan, Kenins, and even Grenier. Maybe a late, late look at Subban, but I don't really think he's ready yet, but he can surprise in a limited ice time debut, but don't know if WD would know exactly how to provide him with the right kind of sheltered minutes to get a look at this offensive side without subjecting him to a serious offensive push from the opponent to expose his weaknesses.

If you go by an earned look, Carter Bancks has earned a look, but can't get one. He isn't under contract to the Canucks. The guy never has an off night.
 

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