Post-Game Talk: Canucks 3 - Kings 0 || Ryan Miller, who are you and where did you come from?

[Tinhorn1]

WD loves his veterans and it's going to be really difficult to develop young guys with limited ice time.

While it's true that WD seems to favour veterans, see my post directly above yours about WD playing Horvat over Sutter in key situations last night. Maybe he's just careful with rookies, and maybe that's a good things... for the team and for the rookies.

Think about it. Virtanen played a very good first period last night, and then partway through the second the Kings started coming on and WD kept Virtanen on the bench. You could say that that was stupid because Virtanen was playing pretty good, so why keep him out. But you could also say that that game was a good confidence booster for Virtanen. He did well in his minutes. Increase his minutes, do things go so well? Does he make a mistake that leads to a goal and a Kings comeback? Does this 19-year-old player go home thinking about that at the end of his first game, instead of thinking about his crushing hit on Doughty? What's the long game with Virtanen?

I think that WD should have earned some trust when it comes to young players after last year. Horvat did not look confident when he came in last year, and despite what some might say, it showed on the ice. WD took the slow approach, slowly building him up. Look at him now. And now he gets the ice time.

WD also tried to build up Vey, to the chagrin of many. It didn't work, but he did everything he could to help that young player get over the hump. I think WD has the young players' development as well as the good of the team in mind when he makes some of his decisions, as frustrating as it is to watch Prust on the second line.

 

[Reign Nateo]

WD loves his veterans and it's going to be really difficult to develop young guys with limited ice time.

Funny, I've read 3 different fan bases say this about their coach today...

EVERY coach likes responsible players he can trust. Generally those are guys with experience. Their careers are literally on the line. Would you expect any different?

On most teams, including this one, young players have to earn their way into prosperous roles. Like Horvat did. That's the way it should be. Handing kids things is worse for kids than having to earn them. Look no further than Edmonton.

We want young players that will bully their way up the depth chart. They need to do that on their own.

 

[Toxic0n]

I'm not a huge Willie fan, but I had no problem with Virtanen's icetime last night. It's his first NHL game, let's calm down and hate on Willie for the right reasons, such as 1-2-3-4, Prust's icetime and stupid line combos

 

[WetcoastOrca]

WD loves his veterans and it's going to be really difficult to develop young guys with limited ice time.

Most NHL coaches who have a shot of making the playoffs operate the same way. Young players need to earn their trust.
This is a pretty common complaint by most fan bases.

 

[Tinhorn1]

Funny, I've read 3 different fan bases say this about their coach today...

EVERY coach likes responsible players he can trust. Generally those are guys with experience. Their careers are literally on the line. Would you expect any different?

On most teams, including this one, young players have to earn their way into prosperous roles. Like Horvat did. That's the way it should be. Handing kids things is worse for kids than having to earn them. Look no further than Edmonton.

We want young players that will bully their way up the depth chart. They need to do that on their own.

Agree completely. Just to add one more point to this, I'm sure that rookies' teammates prefer an earned, not given mentality when it comes to the youngsters as well. Someone waltzing in straight from junior expecting plum PP opportunities might quickly wear out his welcome. Although we only have rumours to go by, it sounds like Hodgson might have been an example of that. And while I wouldn't want a team dominated by veterans jealous of their ice time, I also wouldn't want a team frayed by internal divisions and disrespect.

 

[Bad News Benning]

I don't have a problem with the rookies playing time although I don't think Virtanen did anything to deserve being benched for the 3rd. They have to earn it and makes sure these guys put in extra effort/attention to getting better. You don't want to just hand a bunch of kids ice time because that's how you alienate the room end up like the Oilers (team full of bad habits that a plethora of coaches have failed to coach out of them). Keep these guys around 10-15 minutes and see how they perform over the next couple weeks. Don't need 20 minutes a game to tell if they are NHL ready. If they are good enough to stick longer than 9 games it will be evident as they will be noticeable(for good reasons) every shift.

 

[mdobbs]

I'm not a huge Willie fan, but I had no problem with Virtanen's icetime last night. It's his first NHL game, let's calm down and hate on Willie for the right reasons, such as 1-2-3-4, Prust's icetime and stupid line combos

Ya I agree and I don't understand the complaints here. Giving these rookies 15 or 16 minutes a game won't help them any more and it would probably hurt the team as a whole. It's as if people expect these guys to step in an be superstars already. Even Mcdavid isn't living up to that kind of hype.

 

[Jyrki21]

Willie gets crapped on for rolling 4 lines, gets crapped on for shortening the bench in a tight game.

Okay.

Not really. Willie was praised (rightfully so) for keeping ice-time balanced throughout the season (which is not the same thing as mechanically rolling lines, it should be noted, although that's likely the way he was doing it). After the Tortorella experience, it was good to see a coach making an effort not to burn out his best players.

Conversely, he was then lambasted (rightfully so) for not even profiting from the most pressing reason to do that – to be able to give your stars more ice time in the playoffs (where you no longer need to worry about a long schedule). By abdicating his player deployment role in favor of the proverbial "drinking bird", he completely pissed away home ice advantage in 3 playoff games, and limited his chances to win in 6 of them.

Even though I don't think Virtanen's ice time last night is a big deal at all, there is really no contradiction in the two criticisms.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

I'd say Prust has actually been earning his ice time so far. He is probably our best winger in board battles and has been very reliable in clearing the zone. His play now is completely different from preseason. If only he could skate he could still be the player he used to be.

 

[DL44]

I'd say Prust has actually been earning his ice time so far. He is probably our best winger in board battles and has been very reliable in clearing the zone. His play now is completely different from preseason. If only he could skate he could still be the player he used to be.

I haven't seen anyone talking about his passing ability... he has vision and ability to make the great pass that's not being appreciated.
Who knew...

 

[Brock Boeser]

Holy cow at Edler's stat line from the game:

1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 2 shots, 3 hits, 3 blocked shots, 0 giveaways, 2 takeaways and 25:27 TOI.

Unreal game for him!

Best player on the ice last night.

 

[Bad News Benning]

Best player on the ice last night.

Edler and Tanev should be playing 25 minutes on a nightly basis if this team wants to continue winning. They should've played 30 minutes a night against Calgary in the playoffs last year (mainly because it would mean less minutes of suck from Sbieksa).

 

[Addison Rae]

Willie's style really is tailor made for the road, thought we were excellent in the neutral zone tonight.

Edler and Tanev really need to start getting more praise, I love the Sedins but they're our best players right now. Miller was calm and collective and gave the Kings nothing.

Really need to start tinkering with the lines IMO, we need to get Radim going so play him with the twins ffs.

Sedin / Sedin / Vrbata
Bae / Horvat / Virtanen
Burrows / Sutter / Hansen
Prust / Cracknell / Dorsett

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Watching the first period it seemed like the Canucks were getting bumped off the puck in their own zone all too often and some bad plays happened as well.

the Kings just can't seem to put the puck in the ocean from a dock right now and Miller is going to fall back to earth as are the rest of the Canucks.

this kind of start raises unrealistic expectations and this is not a team any more prepared for the playoffs than last year.

The clock will stick 12 and reality will set in and both McCann and Virtanen will probably be sent down getting part time NHL play isn't going to help develop their careers IMO.

This is a playoff team, been saying that for a while.

 

[NFITO]

Oh I'm well aware. I'ts just what I would expect them to do in a parallel universe where the coaches and management actually make smart decisions.

That makes no sense. It would be a downright stupid decision to take out Sbisa after he's he one of his best (and maybe his best) game as a Canuck.

if management and coaches were stupid they'd sit a guy out after he's played his best game... something you're suggesting they do... and what you would do. That defines bad management not good.

it'd be like sending Hutton down after a great camp while keeping Corrado. Punishing players after they've played well is as bad as rewarding them after they've played bad.

 

[Jarko2004]

Anyone who thinks our 4th line can score is on Crack!

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

IMO, a large majority of the reasoning JV got little ice time in the 3rd was due to the 3 penalties that the Canucks had to kill off in the period.

Kid is not going to be out their killing penalties in a 2-0 game vs a divisional opponent in his 1st game.

Thus, the penalties disrupt the 1,2,3,4 methodology and limits the time JV would have played.

After the 3rd penalty is killed, there is ~9 minutes left in the game and thus, in order to protect the lead, JV is sat.

Once the 3rd goal went in and the game was essentially sealed, WD put JV out for one last shift.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

WD shuffled the lines in the 2nd. He rolled 3 lines for the 2nd half of the game. Yes there were penalties, but he was clearly rolling only 3 lines.

 

[Nucker101]

WD shuffled the lines in the 2nd. He rolled 3 lines for the 2nd half of the game. Yes there were penalties, but he was clearly rolling only 3 lines.

I don't mind seeing that at all. You can't go 1-2-3-4 late in close games, especially divisional games. This team isn't deep enough to roll all 4 evenly.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Can't blame Willie for shortening the bench when the team's up 2-0 on the road going into the third period. The Kings looked like a team with no life just going through the motions. All it takes is one mistake and the Kings are right back in it.

 

[drax0s]

IMO, a large majority of the reasoning JV got little ice time in the 3rd was due to the 3 penalties that the Canucks had to kill off in the period.

Something similar happened last year in a game where the opposing team played their top line a lot and Willie didn't want to throw Horvat up against them. Horvat ended up getting benched for the rest of a period because Willie didn't want to throw him onto the ice cold after being on the bench so long. Canuck Armchair GMs similarly cried out to the skies in dismay.

Probably a similar reason here.

 

[CanaFan]

As others have said already, I don't really have a problem with how WD handled Jake last night. It's the kids first ever NHL game and it will take time for Jake (or any rookie) to earn stern Willie's trust in tight games. Obviously as the games go on you'd like to see Jake start to get the benefit of that trust and based on Jake's first game he does seem conscientious of doing the 'little things' at this level. Just have to hope he continues to get comfortable and adjusted at this level, because it is quite evident how effective he can potentially be.

 

[aufheben]

Virtanen is 19 and in his first NHL game; how much ice-time do you expect him to get?

 

[Peen]

I think Willie handled jake and Jared correctly.

 

[WTG]

Virtanen is 19 and in his first NHL game; how much ice-time do you expect him to get?

I personally expected WD to spread his ice time out.

9 minutes is fine for your first game but that doesn't mean playing 8 minutes in the first and then nothing in the 2nd and 3rd.