Post-Game Talk: Canucks lose 4-3 in OT. Trade everyone!

[I am the Liquor]

Tkachev had a strong game, and was a lot flashier, but Nurse looked like a man against boys out there. Controlled the play at both ends, it really was a treat to watch him.

Nurse was handled physically by some of the Canuck players. Musil on the other hand was much bigger/stronger man strength. Nurse still has a ways to go.

Great move inviting Valk by the Canucks. Just an outstanding junior player. Costs nothing so why not give him a shot?

 

[Steveorama]

Valk showed some offensive skills, but also got walked a few times. Defensively suspect, I wouldn't mind seeing him get an AHL contract.
I doubt he will ever see any significant NHL time, but, as last year showed, Utica could use some offensive depth for when the Canucks start their annual run of injuries.

 

[tantalum]

Real ugly. Horvat and Shinkaruk are not even close to NHL ready based upon this game. Corrado was awful.

On a bright note, Lotz looked great. Subban showed flashes here and there as well. All in all, pretty ugly.

First game for pretty much everyone this season. It's absolutely meaningless for anyone not trying to earn a contract. Those with contracts aren't going to treat this much differently than a really high level scrimmage.

 

[crazyforhockey]

Perspective on prospect camp.

Last year at prospect camp Nurse looked terrible imo
Speed looked an issue .but he looked great at reg camp.preseason, one of the better dman for Edm.

 

[Shareefruck]

The claim that our top line was absent is valid if going by collective draft pedigree of Virtanen-McCann-Cassels v Horvat-Shinkaruk-Fox.

You can tell what particular neurosis ravaged the upper brass of both clubs the last few years by their prospects. Edmonton is all about size and Van is about grit, initiating more than their share of rough stuff and letting nothing slip sans prompt retaliation (my boy Wilson). We got tons of penalties in the first half and deserved them all and maybe more. Lots of heavy hits being thrown, as well as stick work going on behind the play. Can't wait for Calgary. Could get real nasty.

The without the puck stick work of Fox and Shinkaruk was noticeable. I dare say rat like. If either makes it to the show they will not be liked. Hunter's claimed 186lbs looks legit and size will no longer be an issue if he keeps improving in other areas.

Subban gained some as well but the change is not as drastic. Rushes the puck well but like all our D had some positioning miscues and fumbles. Need to see him defending against regulars and how he does along the boards.

Newsflash: Corrado isn't the second coming of Tanev.

Gaunce lost a little weight but looks taller. Seems faster too (as does Horvat). Alas, it didn't translate into him being any more dangerous offensively. Him and Jensen need to step it up. Not horrible just didn't generate much if any chances.

Cederholm >>> Liberati and McEneny. Granted none of these guys is much of a threat to get more than a cup of coffee in the show.

As for Horvat, he is what he is, an unflashy corsi/fenwick suppressor that wins puck battles an makes safe % plays. Simply, if Draisaitl is sticking with Oilers, as we all know he will, then Horvat should easily stick as well (but we all know he won't). Wouldn't look out of place in our bottom 6 right now.

The Fox goal came as a result of Horvat caused turnover. Line started slowly and got better as the game went on, but, like last year at this tournament, I didn't see any of that often mentioned "chemistry" between Bo and Hunter, beyond what might be expected of any two good players thrown together haphazardly. Long term Nucks may want to rethink that.

Totally agree with this. I like them individually, but I don't see this great chemistry that fans think they have.

The two who I think actually seem to have a bit of chemistry is Gaunce and Fox (they seem to have compatible attitudes, too)-- although I know they played with each otehr. That third guy would need to be a better puck-carrier, though.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

My thoughts:
1. Contrary to most, I'm nit really too concerned about Corrado and Jensen. This is their third go round and they know when the real test comes for them.
2. Fox has a better release than anyone on our NHL team. He needs to work a lot on his skating. I love his feistiness too. A number of times he was wide open for a shot if someone could have got him the puck. It's a shame that Cassels wasn't playing as he needs a playmaker.
3. I actually thought Gaunce had a good game. Made some subtle plays that resulted in good scoring chances. Looks a bit faster too.
4. Shinkaruk was really rusty but you can see that his offensive skill is the best of any of our prospects playing.

The only other guy who stood out if our prospects was Subban. A pretty meh game for Horvat. Hopefully he gets better as training camp goes on like he did last year.

 

[Shareefruck]

My thoughts:
1. Contrary to most, I'm nit really too concerned about Corrado and Jensen. This is their third go round and they know when the real test comes for them.
2. Fox has a better release than anyone on our NHL team. He needs to work a lot on his skating. I love his feistiness too. A number of times he was wide open for a shot if someone could have got him the puck. It's a shame that Cassels wasn't playing as he needs a playmaker.
3. I actually thought Gaunce had a good game. Made some subtle plays that resulted in good scoring chances. Looks a bit faster too.
4. Shinkaruk was really rusty but you can see that his offensive skill is the best of any of our prospects playing.

The only other guy who stood out if our prospects was Subban. A pretty meh game for Horvat. Hopefully he gets better as training camp goes on like he did last year.

I thought Gaunce was dragged down by Jensen's non-chalant play-- The way Gaunce normally plays, having a guy like that on his wing makes him "look" alot worse than he is.

Not to mention the third guy on his line was a total turd on the ice. Who was that?

Gaunce looked 10x better in the second half when Fox got put on his line.

 

[Lundface*]

Ugly scrambly disjointed game, as is to be expected from the first game a prospect tournament like this. Still makes it hard to really get a fair read on some players. That said, the Oilers clearly came out looking better prepared.

As for some of the individual players:

Horvat: Did what he does, played his game. There's just not much to say really..."reliable" pretty much sums up his night.

Shinkaruk: Looked decidedly rusty. Not a guy you'd normally expect to fight the puck like that, bobbling pucks, flubbing things, etc. But that said, even through the rust you could see the skills on display...much of the offense generated seemed to go through him. All in all not a bad effort for the amount of time he missed.

Corrado: Seemed to have a bad case of the Kasual Kevs. Just didn't look like he was particularly interested in the game. I'm not going to read too much into it, as i recall the exact same thing happening last year, only to turn it on and look significantly better at "real camp".

Jensen: Weird game for him. Like Corrado, didn't seem like he was really all that interested in the game. But also had this weird insistence on trying to do too much at the same time. As though he knows he's supposed to dominate this sort of tournament, but wanted to do it without working too hard. Lead to a lot of really stupid plays, turnovers, etc. Every once in awhile you could see a burst of effort where he looked bigger, faster, stronger, more confident than most everyone else out there...walking through 2 or 3 guys in the neutral zone with ease and then...just something silly, trying to force a "play" to someone else. Whatever, not really his sort of game i guess. More interested in seeing what he can do when he actually sets his mind to it.

Gaunce: Looked really bad. Shockingly so. So timid in all facets. Treated the puck like a hot potato constantly, just dishing it off to someone else for no good reason. Stayed out of the physical stuff, didn't really assert himself in any way at either end of the ice. No idea what was going on there, but hopefully it was just another example of a "veteran" not taking it seriously.

Subban: Had some nice splash plays. It's hilarious how much he plays like a scaled down version of his brother...right down to the epic butt check and the puck rushing style. Looks a lot better with the puck on his stick, than without it though. Some really suspect positional decisions throughout, trouble really containing guys at times. Of course, compared to the rest of the blueline, he stood out positively. Yikes.

Fox: Skating is still hilarious. Just trudges around dragging his feet like he's throwing a tantrum or something. It's not terrible, but it's definitely not good. The shot though, that is for real.

Valk and Lotz: The tryout guys that were obviously "noticeable". Lotz was good, did his job, kept us in it early...but the talk of offering him a contract based on this one outing is laughable. We're not talking about a guy who kicked in the door of the tournament and put on a thoroughly dominant goaltending showcase like Eddie Lack a few years back. Valk...well, he notched some goals so it's easy to put him in the win column i guess. Personally, i thought he was actually fairly invisible for most of the rest of the game. Especially seemed to disappear in his own end, but even offensively...he scored twice and had a few nice enough forechecking efforts, but didn't really seem to drive the play offensively like one might infer from 2 goal statline. Interesting guy to keep an eye on for sure as the tournament goes on...but for a guy who scored two goals i found him strangely lackluster. He is noticeably very small in a tournament like this though.

On the other end of the small guy spectrum, Tkachev is a little guy who really stood out to me. Creating all kinds of things offensively...one of the few guys in this game who seemed to break through the scrambly play at times to string together some well composed offense.

I'll give a more simplistic view of what I was looking for

Horvat- Looked great. Good on the draws ( though he lost some important ones like the game winner I believe), great on the pk, and intercepted and disrupted plays. Upfront he was able to shield players from the puck with ease, held on to the puck at times and makes some really smart passes for one timers in the slot. He's also a bit faster than last year and took the body quite a few times. I'm starting to see why they call him ox.

Shinkaruk- Dynamic player. He made stuff happen with the puck and his skating is a joy to watch. He did make a mess of some chances in front of the net but over time I'm not worried about that. Kid has a future on this team and I'm excited to see him grow.

Fox- Skating was meh, but man can he find spots in the slot and wire pucks. There's something there

Jensen- Tons of bad decision, but as predicted looks much better playing with Horvat/Shinkaruk than worse players. What I noticed most was his improved skating and strength. Encouraged by his movement, hoping he cleans up his decision making. Not a lack of effort from him, just trying to do too much.

Corrado- up and down. He chased way too much for my liking, looked like Bieksa at times which was scary. Good point shots and control on the pp, but defensively he was out of position a lot and got out muscled at times. I don't think it was a lack of effort, just poor decision...almost trying to do too much.

Mcneny- Was poor for most of the night. Bad decisions, turnovers, got walked a few times. Got better towards the end of the game, but there's a lot of room to improve.

Gaunce- Pretty disappointing showing- I'll agree with what you wrote,

 

[Balls Mahoney]

Here's the recap from last night's game, you can read the rest of the article here

Hockey is finally back. The 2014 Young Stars Tournament in Pentiction, British Columbia marks the unofficial beginning of the hockey season. From September 12th through 15th the best available prospects from the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames face each other in a round robin tournament to kick off each team’s training camp. The tournament is a fabulous showcase for prospects to begin to garner a name for themselves and for fans to get their first glimpses of their team’s youngsters in a professional hockey environment.

Tonight the Vancouver Canucks began the tournament facing off against the Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks boast arguably their most talented prospects group in the franchise’s history as they enter the tournament with six 1st round picks and a plethora of intriguing players. However the Canucks were hard hit by injuries and illness resulting in four Canucks prospects including both of Vancouver’s 2014 first round picks (Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann) to miss the tournament.

The game was won by the Edmonton Oilers’ prospects in a 4-3 affair that saw a lot of tentative play and youthful mistakes as the players began to shake off the rust from the off-season.

The Edmonton Oilers dominated the first half of the game with a 14-2 shot count at the end of the first period which saw fantastic goaltending from Canucks camp invite Austin Lotz. The Canucks rallied towards the end of the second period and managed to force an overtime with a 3-3 score on two goals from Curtis Valk and a goal from Dane Fox. With less than four minutes left to go in overtime Oilers prospect Mitch Moroz scored his second goal of the game to win the contest for Edmonton.

 

[pahlsson]

Jensen = Grabner

I feel they are so similar in a lot of ways.

I think we will lose faith with him, ship him out for next to nothing and he will develop into a pretty good scorer somewhere else.

i can see that too

ship him out, puts up a career season that has everyone whining about not keeping him, gets a nice contract, then fails to even come close to replicating that career season

 

[Thad Castle]

Brutal
Connor Boland Lays a Huge Hit then Fights Klarc W…: http://youtu.be/5EoxbVEiaLI

 

[Balls Mahoney]

Valk showed some offensive skills, but also got walked a few times. Defensively suspect, I wouldn't mind seeing him get an AHL contract.
I doubt he will ever see any significant NHL time, but, as last year showed, Utica could use some offensive depth for when the Canucks start their annual run of injuries.

Keep in mind Valk was playing an off position last night. He's not a center but was forced to play third line center last night due to injuries and illness. If he was playing second line wing like he was supposed, he probably would've been even better.

 

[Nuckles]

Keep in mind Valk was playing an off position last night. He's not a center but was forced to play third line center last night due to injuries and illness. If he was playing second line wing like he was supposed, he probably would've been even better.

Uhh, just about every every site has him listed as a center.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Brutal
Connor Boland Lays a Huge Hit then Fights Klarc W…: http://youtu.be/5EoxbVEiaLI

is it just me or was that a dirty and unnecessary hit? i mean, hit a guy in open ice if he has his head down. please. those are awesome. but the elbow is raised, the head is the point of contact, and he extends through with his forearm. am i seeing this wrong?

because when it happened, i think several posters said they loved the butt-kicking by klarc wilson but condemned fighting a guy after a clean hit. doesn't look clean to me. to me, this is exactly what needed to, and didn't, happen after boychuk on raymond, marchand on daniel, marchand on salo, and keith on daniel. swift immediate action, clear message sent. but then i guess we haven't had a guy who can run around doing that against a team with behemoths like chara, thornton, and mcquaid.

boland went to the dressing room, and i didn't notice him ever coming back into the game. and i don't think anyone from here on in is going to try to make a name for himself by head-hunting canucks prospects in meaningless exhibition games. lesson learned.

 

[iFan]

Brutal
Connor Boland Lays a Huge Hit then Fights Klarc W…: http://youtu.be/5EoxbVEiaLI

Clean hit but love that Wilson jumped in and protected his teammates, we need more of this on the Canucks.

 

[Virtanen2Horvat]

where we gonna stick him when we sign him? ?

Goalie controversy 3.0. Trade Lack.

 

[Thad Castle]

is it just me or was that a dirty and unnecessary hit? i mean, hit a guy in open ice if he has his head down. please. those are awesome. but the elbow is raised, the head is the point of contact, and he extends through with his forearm. am i seeing this wrong?

because when it happened, i think several posters said they loved the butt-kicking by klarc wilson but condemned fighting a guy after a clean hit. doesn't look clean to me. to me, this is exactly what needed to, and didn't, happen after boychuk on raymond, marchand on daniel, marchand on salo, and keith on daniel. swift immediate action, clear message sent. but then i guess we haven't had a guy who can run around doing that against a team with behemoths like chara, thornton, and mcquaid.

boland went to the dressing room, and i didn't notice him ever coming back into the game. and i don't think anyone from here on in is going to try to make a name for himself by head-hunting canucks prospects in meaningless exhibition games. lesson learned.

I agree

 

[Virtanen2Horvat]

If Subban can get to 5'11 I think he will be a 3/4 dman.

Edler - Tanev
Subban -Tryamkin
Sbisa - Corrado

 

[Steveorama]

If Subban can get to 5'11 I think he will be a 3/4 dman.

Edler - Tanev
Subban -Tryamkin
Sbisa - Corrado

Praying that Subban has a freakish, late growth spurt, like Tanev had.
I was never a big Subban fan, but I liked his game last night. I think he has the drive to make the NHL as an under-sized dman.

 

[Thad Castle]

If Subban can get to 5'11 I think he will be a 3/4 dman.

Edler - Tanev
Subban -Tryamkin
Sbisa - Corrado

Subban and tryamkin would be an awesome pairing if they both pan out

 

[Hi-wayman]

Goalie controversy 3.0. Trade Lack.

Lotz doesn't seem to lack anything, but Lack has already shown he has lotz to offer too.

 

[Jrtu]

Lotz doesn't seem to lack anything, but Lack has already shown he has lotz to offer too.

Winner

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

I agree with most of the write-up.s

Will add that Blain sucks hard and Liberati will not be an NHLer.

Corrado/Jensen = dissapointing.

Everyone else is about what I thought, except Lotz who was great.

 

[DCantheDDad]

Yeah, Corrado looked rough last night and Jensen didnt wow me. I expected more. Hopefully it will go better on Sunday. I liked the Fox Horvat Shinkaruk line more and more as the night went on. Horvat looked real solid and Shink showed real flashes of brilliance. Fox has a wicked shot. I could see him ad a Higgins type third liner who can score.

 

[hockeywoot]

I wish to hear about who YOU think is playing impressive and deserves a chance with the big squad thus far.

Deserves a chance with the big squad based on one game? Coaching staff wouldn't make a judgement based all on one game, neither should the fans...

That said, who impressed/dissapointed me from the match was pretty much summed up by the previous user, biturbo19, hence i noted "good summary".