Maybe you’re right, but we know there’s real interest from at least 1 team in Miller and this summer likely a lot more.
Post-Game Talk: Canucks defeat Ducks | 3-2 (OT) | Miller(2) & Kuzmenko
- Thread starter M2Beezy
- Start date
If you expect a coach to not coach you are barking up the wrong tree.
The only thing that will seemingly make some happy is if they only play Pettersson (chasing 100 points) and Hughes (chasing an 80+ point season) 12-15 minutes a night and to keep Demko (wanting to get back into form after a horrible season) from being between the pipes. I'm sure all these players would be just fine having time cut and forgo various achievements that are within grasp because tank. Might not be important to you but I guarantee it's important to the players. I'm sure cutting icetime and reducing responsibility wouldn't backfire at all.
None of that is going to happen. The best players are going to play and they are going to play the time that good players play. If they are hurt they will be shut down. That's how this situation works.
Last edited:
Cheer for a team that is serious about tanking. Problem solved
That’s a strawman though. Tocchet came in preaching cutting back ice time and is now riding these players as hard as ever in meaningless games. There’s a middle ground that would be more aligned with what he said was going to do and closer to what most other teams do that isn’t either extreme.
Coaches are closer to players than brass. They are gonna come in and try to win, regardless of roster construction. They know their shelf lives are limited, and will coach in a way they can rationalize at their next job interview.
Breakers
Make Mirrored Visors Legal Again
I still can’t get over how bad this game was
Yes Vancouver controlled the play
But it was so much perimeter hockey against the worst defensive team in the league by a mile.
Yes Vancouver controlled the play
But it was so much perimeter hockey against the worst defensive team in the league by a mile.
Riding our #1 Dman so we can beat a team intentionally tanking in OT
They’ve beaten the Leafs, Colorado, Vegas and the Rangers among others. It happens, even the very bottom feeders can beat anyone on any given night.
Oh gtf outta here with this
Oh gtf gtf outta here
Seriously though couldnt have said it better
A game where the the fans in the stands looked almost completely disengaged. Whenever the camera panned the lower bowl at least, there were people on their phones or barely paying attention.
But who can blame them?......a bad hockey game between two of the worst teams in hockey. It was an ugly game of missed passes; botched shots and players who looked sluggish and slow.
But I suppose down the stretch, you're going to get games that are more graffiti than an oil painting.
But who can blame them?......a bad hockey game between two of the worst teams in hockey. It was an ugly game of missed passes; botched shots and players who looked sluggish and slow.
But I suppose down the stretch, you're going to get games that are more graffiti than an oil painting.
Its not about tanking or not tanking
It is about being competitive in games that count vs crapping out then getting hyped when you win meaningless games to the point to believing no changes are required
But keep drinking the Imac koolaid
I'm really glad I PVRed this game so I only spent 1.5 hours watching it instead of 2.5 hours. Horrible hockey.
It's been 9 games now so we're getting past 'just had a blip after getting recalled' and Christian Wolanin is so obviously so much better than Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Like, it isn't even close. Skates better, passes better, defends better because he isn't skating in mud. Just a crisp, up-tempo zone exit machine who jumps into the play very intelligently and could have a few more points if he didn't overpass the puck on a couple great chances.
Kravtsov seems to be alternating between good games and bad games. Was snakebit in this one but good that he got himself several chances, and worked hard.
It's been 9 games now so we're getting past 'just had a blip after getting recalled' and Christian Wolanin is so obviously so much better than Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Like, it isn't even close. Skates better, passes better, defends better because he isn't skating in mud. Just a crisp, up-tempo zone exit machine who jumps into the play very intelligently and could have a few more points if he didn't overpass the puck on a couple great chances.
Kravtsov seems to be alternating between good games and bad games. Was snakebit in this one but good that he got himself several chances, and worked hard.
Sorry who doesn’t believe changes are required? Me? The players? Management? No idea what the f*** you are talking about
That's not really putting Tocchet's comments into context though. Having not even practiced with the team on the day after his hiring he was pontificating on things he thought might be wrong primarily with Miller. Yes he said that MAYBE Miller needed to have time cut back from 23/24 minutes to 20. Myabe Miller was pacing himself through the minutes and because of it his effectiveness dropped. Thing was his time was already 20 minutes. He wasn't playing 24. He never said I am going to come in and cut icetime immediately. Nor does it take into account current injuries, trades etc. or mean that a player will never see 24 minutes.
And honestly, Miller has also been pretty much exactly at 20 minutes for Tocchet. Pettersson has been a bit higher which should be expected. It even aligns with the pontificating.
Sure he said maybe Pettersson and Miller don't need to be killing penalties. But the context of the comment was built around finding other players to take the time and working on the PK. It was never an absolute thing or that it would be immediate.
Turns out he can't find those guys to take that load off and they are his better killers on the PK up front. He's recently complimented a couple of the bottom 6 forwards for stepping up so it is something being worked on.
The comments were also not around the blueline. It was all around having a 4 line team from what I can find. And of course using Hughes might just be about finding fits for the PK moving forward as well.
From the coaching staff perspective this isn't really about Ws and Ls it's about building the habits they want to see and seeing who might fit where moving forward. Who might grow into roles. And who doesn't fit. But they aren't going to coach to lose. They are going to coach to win a game just that the number of Ws isn't the important right now.
Missed the game, which in hind site I'm glad was the case.
I feel sorry for the folks that thought we'd be anywhere close to a bottom three pick. The only way that could happen would be if they didn't play Demko, had OEL and Myers eating 30 minutes a night with Stillman getting a lion's share on a second pairing. Or a series of injuries to Hughes, Pettersson and Miller. I'd love the team to win the lottery, but investing in that is just way to frustrating.
It was inevitable they'd begin winning some games, particularly after giving some of the AHL, hungry players more opportunities. Actually playing a more structured game is also having a positive effect in games, if you're only looking at the short term for the team. It's difficult to root for more losses after so many years, even though having another top seven draft pick would be a real boon.
Anyway, I was hopeful for a top 10 finish, so we'll see if they can chew through that. It's only teams that have seeded themselves in the playoff, or clubs actively trying to tank that rest their best players. I'd still like to see more minutes for Pods and company.
I recall being told in no uncertain terms that there's no way you could replace Myers this season with a depth defender and expect similar results. I have to admit that's the case, except that Myers actually made the team worse than a player like Wolanin. Nothing like letting the team prove your points.
I feel sorry for the folks that thought we'd be anywhere close to a bottom three pick. The only way that could happen would be if they didn't play Demko, had OEL and Myers eating 30 minutes a night with Stillman getting a lion's share on a second pairing. Or a series of injuries to Hughes, Pettersson and Miller. I'd love the team to win the lottery, but investing in that is just way to frustrating.
It was inevitable they'd begin winning some games, particularly after giving some of the AHL, hungry players more opportunities. Actually playing a more structured game is also having a positive effect in games, if you're only looking at the short term for the team. It's difficult to root for more losses after so many years, even though having another top seven draft pick would be a real boon.
Anyway, I was hopeful for a top 10 finish, so we'll see if they can chew through that. It's only teams that have seeded themselves in the playoff, or clubs actively trying to tank that rest their best players. I'd still like to see more minutes for Pods and company.
I recall being told in no uncertain terms that there's no way you could replace Myers this season with a depth defender and expect similar results. I have to admit that's the case, except that Myers actually made the team worse than a player like Wolanin. Nothing like letting the team prove your points.
Last edited:
All that is fine. My point was that there is a wide berth between what Tocchet is doing right now and "coaching to lose" by dropping Pettersson and Hughes down to 12-15 minutes a night.
Top players' ice time dipped at first, but is even more uneven recently than it was before. Over the past month Hughes is playing 27:18/game, which would put him tops in the NHL. Pettersson is averaging 21:46, which would put him top five in the NHL for forwards. Miller is playing 21:03, above his season average of 20:36. He could drop all of their ice times by 10-15% and still be in the range of other top players, while better balancing injury risk in meaningless games.
But is the increased injury risk at all significant?
There is a study from about 10 years ago that followed the league over half a dozen years. The injury rate was about 50 injuries per 1000 HOURS of playtime. A 20 minute forward plays 1600 minutes a year. Less than 30 hours on the ice. A couple extra minutes a night is an extremely small increased injury risk. There are other studies mostly of other leagues tha some suggest more injuries in the third period. In the NHL for this study it’s the first period where most injuries happened which would fly in the face of extra ice time during the game leading to increased risk.
