Pre-Game Talk: Canucks @ Flames. Wednesday. SNET. 7pm

[alternate]

Yeah I'm glad they've gone back to Edler-Tanev as well. I mean I'm as big a Edler and Sbisa booster as anyone--might be the only Sbisa booster left, lol--but I didn't want to see that pairing. Edler-Bieksa = terribad. Sbisa-Bieksa = worse than terribad. Edler-Sbisa = don't bother.

 

[Upoil]

Gotta love the video of Radim when he first signed saying that he did it to play with the Sedins. That lasted all of half a season.

Sutter with the Sedins is a travesty. Sit Prust. Move Cracknell to the Wing. Move Sutter to 4C. Insert Virtanen on 2nd/3rd line depending if Burr or Vrby move up to the top line.

 

[Tiranis]

Gotta love the video of Radim when he first signed saying that he did it to play with the Sedins. That lasted all of half a season.

Sutter with the Sedins is a travesty. Sit Prust. Move Cracknell to the Wing. Move Sutter to 4C. Insert Virtanen on 2nd/3rd line depending if Burr or Vrby move up to the top line.

I think they basically don't like how much the Sedins have to play along the wall with him on their line (or at least that's the only thing I can come up with) but it's not like putting Sutter there solves that problem.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

What I cannot understand is that WHY does WD insists on playing Vrbata away from the twins????????

Spreading the offense. The Canucks were a 1-line team last year and everybody knew it. It makes sense to spread the wealth, but I think Twins-Vrbata and the Kid Line would accomplish the same goal. But much like how they keep trying to find a way for Sbisa not to suck, they keep searching for a way to shoehorn Sutter into a top-six role, when he's best suited as a bottom-six, checking centre on this team.

 

[alternate]

What I cannot understand is that WHY does WD insists on playing Vrbata away from the twins????????

Because it stopped working pretty darn quick. Who retrieves the puck? Who goes to the net?

Looking at the lineup, I'd be all for moving 17 so 18 can go with Bae-Bo. Won't happen yet, I realize.

 

[valkynax]

Because it stopped working pretty darn quick. Who retrieves the puck? Who goes to the net?

Looking at the lineup, I'd be all for moving 17 so 18 can go with Bae-Bo. Won't happen yet, I realize.

OK Maybe i did not watch enough to see that happening, all i remember was how comfortable Vrbata looked with the twins.

This year we got the HVB kid line, should keep that line together and keep SSV, see how that looks.

 

[Kickassguy]

Gotta love the video of Radim when he first signed saying that he did it to play with the Sedins. That lasted all of half a season.

Sutter with the Sedins is a travesty. Sit Prust. Move Cracknell to the Wing. Move Sutter to 4C. Insert Virtanen on 2nd/3rd line depending if Burr or Vrby move up to the top line.

Exactly this. Easy, logical fix.

 

[KDizzle]

I wouldn't say I'm excited, I'm just not uninterested anymore with the addition of the rookie trio. I'm glad that at least one of the useless pieces was waived, but it's still frustrating to see guys like Miller, Prust, and Sbisa play most games when we could have better, younger players and more cap space. :\

I wonder how long Edler-Sbisa will last. That's destined for failure.

Same here.
I just want the kids to have a good showing. Aside from those guys + Horvat, I don't think there will be any surprises nor excitement from the rest of the group for the remainder of the season.

Sedins will do their thing
Vrbata may regress, but should still be a solid contributor
Sutter will be soft as butter and further expose Benning for his complete lack of pro scouting ability
Same sentence as above with Sbisa, except replace soft with dumb (dumb as butter. That's a saying, right?)
Miller will have some great games, other not so great ones. He'll be firmly mediocre - helping us tread water in the standings.
The usual suspects of Burrows, Edler, Hamhuis, Higgins, and Hansen will continue to play their roles.

Nothing buzz worthy, IMO.

 

[nazzy_012]

If someone at the start of summer said the lines would be:

Sedin-sedin-sutter
Baertschi-horvat-vrbata
Burrows-McCann-Hansen
Prust-cracknell-dorsett

Edler-tanev
Hamhuis-bartkowski
Hutton-sbisa

Miller
Markstrom

They would have been banned from the forum for having no clue

Goes to show you what can happen in 3 months

 

[Upoil]

Because it stopped working pretty darn quick. Who retrieves the puck? Who goes to the net?

Looking at the lineup, I'd be all for moving 17 so 18 can go with Bae-Bo. Won't happen yet, I realize.

I don't know about that. If you go look at the fancy stats Vrbata had a greater positive effect on the Sedin's GF% at 5v5 than any other regular team mate. Also, surprisingly the effect was a lowered GA/60 not a higher GF/60 compared to other team mates.

I think it has more to do with the idea of 'spreading the scoring out' because the move happened after Bonino went cold as far as I recall.

*Edit:
The graph looks funny with the other Sedin so far down there:

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

Other than Sutter with the Sedins it's pretty much the best lineup we could realistically have hoped for at the start of training camp.

 

[a Fool]

Sutter with the Sedins is a travesty. Sit Prust. Move Cracknell to the Wing. Move Sutter to 4C. Insert Virtanen on 2nd/3rd line depending if Burr or Vrby move up to the top line.

You have to wonder what's going on. It was plain to see that Sutter had zero chemistry with the Sedins. Even Kenins looked better with them in the pre-season and he wasn't good enough to make the opening roster. Sutter generates all his offense off the rush - you're basically making the Sedin line a rush only threat with that line combo. Sutter vanishes on the cycle because he's soft and plays very conservatively.

You're spot on with putting Sutter in the 4C position to start the year until McCann gets sent down after 9 games. It's the best thing for the 4th line and the team. Sutter will still get his breakaway scoring chances and cover for Dorsett/Prust/Cracknell defensively. Added bonus of not tanking the Sedin offense. However, after that "5 million dollar 4th line" whopper at the Summer Summit I'd bet Sutter doesn't go anywhere near Dorsett and Prust.

Also agree with the part about JV. Put him in an offensive position for 9 games to see what he has. They'll probably use him as the spare and rotate him in on the 4th line. He'd be better off in the WHL if that's the case.

 

[DL44]

I don't know about that. If you go look at the fancy stats Vrbata had a greater positive effect on the Sedin's GF% at 5v5 than any other regular team mate. Also, surprisingly the effect was a lowered GA/60 not a higher GF/60 compared to other team mates.

I think it has more to do with the idea of 'spreading the scoring out' because the move happened after Bonino went cold as far as I recall.

When the Sedins are with Vrbata, it's the Sedins doing all the board work and puck retrieval... its as simple as its more taxing on the twins to play with Vrbata than any other option they have. Henrik described exactly this during an in-game interview last season.

Sutter could work out on that line if we can see more of how they worked in that 3rd period together... Will be interesting to see how well he accomodates to the Twins...

They've had 2 or 3 or 4 practices days of it now... can't wait see to how works the next game.

 

[Brock Boeser]

Sedins and Vrbata should be played against teams with weaker defence instead of tight checking teams like Ana or LA. Play them vs most of the eastern conference squads and trash western clubs.

 

[alternate]

I don't know about that. If you go look at the fancy stats Vrbata had a greater positive effect on the Sedin's GF% at 5v5 than any other regular team mate. Also, surprisingly the effect was a lowered GA/60 not a higher GF/60 compared to other team mates.

I think it has more to do with the idea of 'spreading the scoring out' because the move happened after Bonino went cold as far as I recall.

*Edit:
The graph looks funny with the other Sedin so far down there:

The SSV started out white hot, then cooled quickly and was broken up. Have to wonder if that hot start is skewing the % numbers a bit.

Same thing happened with Naslund when he played with the Sedins. Looked really good at first, but once teams saw it for a bit they figured it out.

 

[Scorevat53]

Gotta love the video of Radim when he first signed saying that he did it to play with the Sedins. That lasted all of half a season.

Sutter with the Sedins is a travesty. Sit Prust. Move Cracknell to the Wing. Move Sutter to 4C. Insert Virtanen on 2nd/3rd line depending if Burr or Vrby move up to the top line.

I Know that's what he said but realistically if he can't play with Sedins why not play with a solid two way forward and very skilled winger (Who hasn't reached potential). I think Vrbata could really help out Baertschi and Horvat. I Mean its better then playing with Bonino Right? ;p

 

[Upoil]

When the Sedins are with Vrbata, it's the Sedins doing all the board work and puck retrieval... its as simple as its more taxing on the twins to play with Vrbata than any other option they have. Henrik described exactly this during an in-game interview last season.

Sutter could work out on that line if we can see more of how they worked in that 3rd period together... Will be interesting to see how well he accomodates to the Twins...

They've had 2 or 3 or 4 practices days of it now... can't wait see to how works the next game.

Are you talking about the interview with Hank where he described that the Sedins have to play differently when Vrby is on the ice because he hangs out in the soft areas? I don't recall them ever saying playing with him was more taxing explictly. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Is that your battle-cry this season? It could work!

 

[Addison Rae]

Sutter with the Sedins is just a terrible idea, we brought Sutter in to take a load of Horvat I thought? It seems like Horvat will be our tough matchup center now, along with now having to produce. That's an awful lot to ask from a 20 year old.

 

[Scorevat53]

Sutter with the Sedins is just a terrible idea, we brought Sutter in to take a load of Horvat I thought? It seems like Horvat will be our tough matchup center now, along with now having to produce. That's an awful lot to ask from a 20 year old.

Yes that's true but who would you rather have as a 2nd line center....I feel that Sutter will be 3rd line center again soon. I do not see McCann making it past the 9 game mark

 

[Nuckles]

Aside from the obvious offensive upside, I think we should be playing Vrbata with the twins to keep his value up until the deadline. If he can post similar numbers to last year we should easily get a 1st+ for him.

 

[The Stig]

Sutter with the Sedins is just a terrible idea, we brought Sutter in to take a load of Horvat I thought? It seems like Horvat will be our tough matchup center now, along with now having to produce. That's an awful lot to ask from a 20 year old.

Everyone was complaining that Horvat should be 2c anyway. I thought people wanted Vrbata with Horvat and Baertschi....whats going on??

 

[Nuckles]

Everyone was complaining that Horvat should be 2c anyway. I thought people wanted Vrbata with Horvat and Baertschi....whats going on??

We saw how well Virtanen meshed with Horvat.

 

[Knight53]

Aside from the obvious offensive upside, I think we should be playing Vrbata with the twins to keep his value up until the deadline. If he can post similar numbers to last year we should easily get a 1st+ for him.

This should be the ultimate motive, but willie wants secondary scoring and owners are adamant on making the playoffs for that cash flow.

 

[DL44]

Are you talking about the interview with Hank where he described that the Sedins have to play differently when Vrby is on the ice because he hangs out in the soft areas? I don't recall them ever saying playing with him was more taxing explictly. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Is that your battle-cry this season? It could work!

It's a better battle cry than

 

[Nomobo]

Sutter with the Sedins is just a terrible idea, we brought Sutter in to take a load of Horvat I thought? It seems like Horvat will be our tough matchup center now, along with now having to produce. That's an awful lot to ask from a 20 year old.

I feel Horvat will do very well in the tough match ups. Mccan on the third with Burrows and Hansen is the best way to bring him along. Fourth line I like as it is. Sutter with the twins is at least worth a try, good along the boards, good shot and fast. See how it goes...