Derek Roy: The one where we talk about players who aren't Derek Roy

[Angry Little Elf]

He looks like he's all smiles

 

[polarbearcub]

Was at the game tonight and was very impressed by Derek ROY. HE's exactly what this team needed, another skilled playmaker. Something we've all been going nuts for. He has so much potential to move up and down the lineup and make his linemates better.

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

schroeder is currently a better, more productive and effective player than tom sestito, and will probably be up for the playoffs

Quite different roles. I don't see how it would be one or the other.

 

[Virtanen2Horvat]

Canucks need to move Luongo and Buyout Booth/Ballard if they are gonna resign Roy and a Dman. I would sign Roy 4-5 years and no higher.

 

[molson78]

A playmaker not named Sedin

So nice to see.

Soft hands, vision - a bit of a floater though. I think his stamina is a bit lacking. However, he's just as advertised, if not better.

Kesler is much better defensively and way more aggressive with some flashes of offensive dominance...but he doesn't have vision and soft hands. Thus, i'd like to see these lines:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Higgins-Roy-Hansen/Kassian
Raymond-Kesler-Kassian/Hansen
TOSTITOS-Lappy-Weise

Hamhuis Bieksa
Edler Tanev
Barker Garrison

Schneider
Luongo

That's pretty sick imo

 

[keslerburrows]

Canucks need to move Luongo and Buyout Booth/Ballard if they are gonna resign Roy and a Dman. I would sign Roy 4-5 years and no higher.

I'd sign him for up to 6 years if that's what it takes for him to re-sign.

 

[alternate]

Great first impression. Really liked how hard he battled down low in his own zone. Maybe Gillis finally found AV that undersized 3C Gillis always wanted him to have.

Although really I expect Kesler to get the 3C role while Roy's line will be used as the 2nd scoring line. I'd love to see Burrows and Hansen with Kesler to make the ultimate 2way shutdown line.

Sedin-Sedin-Kassian
Raymond-Roy-Higgins
Burrows-Kesler-Hansen (probably sees the most ice time)

If Kesler ever gets moved to the wing, it should be to play with the Sedins.

He looks like what we all hope Schroeder will be within a couple years.

This is something that has to be weighed when talking about re-signing Roy to a long term deal. Is there really room for both Roy and Schroeder, even if you move Kesler to the wing? Two 5'9" centers might leave us a bit vulnerable, and if you move Schroeder we trade an ELC for a UFA contract in a cap contraction year.

I know Gillis doesn't like rentals -- and this is too early a discussion -- but I'm not sure creating a bottle neck with three Cs signed long term is the direction Gillis should go. I'd rather let Schroeder and Gaunce and Lain have openings to work for.

 

[Verviticus]

Quite different roles. I don't see how it would be one or the other.

well, he's not necessarily a better player or more effective than dale weise or lapierre, but he is better than sestito. so at some point the only person schroeder should/can replace is sestito, who is seriously just a giant worthless liability

so until injuries, it becomes either/or

 

[molson78]

I thought Roy was pretty good tonight. I think when Kesler comes back that will be his big test.

But...they play on the same team

 

[Bro Horvat]

I was impressed by Roy tonight but let's not get ahead of ourselves talking 5-6 year contracts.

Looked great with Higgins. Move Kes to the wing to play with Higgins and Roy but give Kesler the important defensive zone faceoffs.

 

[Lawzy]

He looks like he's all smiles

I know this is a Roy thread but the amount I am envious of Higgy's beard is... there are no words there, to play us out?

Looked good tonight definitely, although I missed the first period. I was getting constant texts riving of the chemistry so I skipped out half way through class to catch it.

Well worth it, he looked very comfortable and seemed to be exactly what this team needs.


Must consider that usually players acquired from the deadline come out firing to impress their new team. Hopefully he can keep it up.

 

[Soth]

Roy looks good, but I really don't expect him to resign. He seems like a money first type of guy - and really, there isn't anything wrong with wanting to get paid when you make it to FA.

I expect him to go to the highest bidder, and Gillis never likes to overpay. Glad to have him for the now though.

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

Must consider that usually players acquired from the deadline come out firing to impress their new team. Hopefully he can keep it up.

Yep...

A lot of guys sure made the most of their debuts tonight.

Bishop - shutout
Gaborik - GWG
Jagr- GWG
Ryder - 2 goals
Bouwmeester - assist
Roy - Assist

Even Clowe, Boyle and Brassard combined for five points in their debuts yesterday.

 

[DL44]

That was a good debut for the guy...

You can see the massive boost in offensive creativeness he brings.. he turned a lot regular ho hum looking plays into chances... very promising. instant chemistry with Higgens...


The cons..
-Noticed he has a little Wellwooditis in him: the occassional excessively soft pass that gets picked off.
-Prone to turnovers.. had a 2 big ones that i noticed that led to prime scoring chances... glad Hemsky put himself offside on that breakaway.

But on the flipside... he is a genuine threat offensively almost every shift. Great piece. That line looked great.

With Kesler and Raymond coming back still, AV has serious OPTIONS with his lines.

 

[xtr3m]

@Roy9ner
Was so pumped to play my first game as a Canuck tonight! Thank you to all Canucks fans for the awesome support #lovingthiscity

 

[biturbo19]

Solid debut.

It's amazing, we get a legitimately creative offensive player with offensive vision and passing ability, and he finds instant chemistry. I've been harping on the need for a creative passer like this for a long time now, to complement all the solid north-south grind it out type players we have assembled here. Looks like a very good fit so far.

Only concern from his debut tonight was a couple of pretty bad turnovers. He'll have to clean that aspect of his game up a bit here. But i'd suspect at least a healthy portion of that is adjusting to new system, teammates, etc. He clearly has the smarts for it, and has been fine in the past in that regard. It'll probably just take a little bit of time to get that cleaned up.

As a whole though, looks like just what this team needed. And i love the potential flexibility it gives us in line combinations, the potential to load up our top-6 in certain desperate situations, and above all...to potentially get Kesler into a more tailored 'defensive role' that suits him so well. Let Roy fill the de facto '2nd line' offensive role as he's a much more natural fit. Kesler as an epic shutdown center, where he can focus on that and the offense will come, instead of trying to force things so much.

 

[mossey3535]

Here is the problem - I know it's only one game but tonight Roy looked like everything Kesler hasn't been in the last year.

Especially since he is coming off a major injury that didn't allow him to skate, Kesler is going to be out of hockey shape. If we have any brains at all we'll ease him in as 3C. If we really want him to be on the 2nd line we should put him on the wing.

I really believes Kesler can be a Selke/40g scorer again. But he has to be accountable and even after he was called out by AV last year he didn't adjust his game to compliment his linemates.

Ok, he was hurt - that would have made becoming a playmaker an even more effective adjustment. But he didn't do it. At some point you have to stop gifting the guy the 2C spot. I mean, he comes back from surgery and is instantly given 20+ minutes a night...even when he played poorly?

Yeah yeah, he is beastmode blah blah blah. We haven't seen that player since the 2010-2011 playoffs., and we're NEVER going to see him again if we let him be selfish and force him into his normal minutes right away. We're just going to see him get reinjured.

If Roy keeps going the way he is, you can see that he is a great facilitator. Offensively he makes the entire line better. Obviously because of his size he's never going to be the 2-way force Kesler has been in the past but he still puts in the effort on both ends and he made a lot of great hand-eye defensive plays with his stick tonight.

I don't see any logical argument why Kesler should be the 2C as soon as he gets back. He hasn't earned it, nor has he shown it at all last year either save on special teams.

 

[molson78]

Solid debut.

It's amazing, we get a legitimately creative offensive player with offensive vision and passing ability, and he finds instant chemistry. I've been harping on the need for a creative passer like this for a long time now, to complement all the solid north-south grind it out type players we have assembled here. Looks like a very good fit so far.

Only concern from his debut tonight was a couple of pretty bad turnovers. He'll have to clean that aspect of his game up a bit here. But i'd suspect at least a healthy portion of that is adjusting to new system, teammates, etc. He clearly has the smarts for it, and has been fine in the past in that regard. It'll probably just take a little bit of time to get that cleaned up.

As a whole though, looks like just what this team needed. And i love the potential flexibility it gives us in line combinations, the potential to load up our top-6 in certain desperate situations, and above all...to potentially get Kesler into a more tailored 'defensive role' that suits him so well. Let Roy fill the de facto '2nd line' offensive role as he's a much more natural fit. Kesler as an epic shutdown center, where he can focus on that and the offense will come, instead of trying to force things so much.

This

 

[mossey3535]

Solid debut.

It's amazing, we get a legitimately creative offensive player with offensive vision and passing ability, and he finds instant chemistry. I've been harping on the need for a creative passer like this for a long time now, to complement all the solid north-south grind it out type players we have assembled here. Looks like a very good fit so far.

Only concern from his debut tonight was a couple of pretty bad turnovers. He'll have to clean that aspect of his game up a bit here. But i'd suspect at least a healthy portion of that is adjusting to new system, teammates, etc. He clearly has the smarts for it, and has been fine in the past in that regard. It'll probably just take a little bit of time to get that cleaned up.

As a whole though, looks like just what this team needed. And i love the potential flexibility it gives us in line combinations, the potential to load up our top-6 in certain desperate situations, and above all...to potentially get Kesler into a more tailored 'defensive role' that suits him so well. Let Roy fill the de facto '2nd line' offensive role as he's a much more natural fit. Kesler as an epic shutdown center, where he can focus on that and the offense will come, instead of trying to force things so much.

Exactly. And since Kesler is so great on the PP and PK, where are you going to reduce his minutes? The obvious answer to me is at ES. Especially since he's going to come in rusty.

Roy's presence will hopefully mitigate Kesler's greatest weakness - his desire to try to do everything himself.

 

[WestleySnipez]

I don't think Kesler deserves 3rd line duty. He is our 2nd line center, just because he's been injured and Roy comes in and does fantastic in his first game, doesn't mean he should be demoted. I don't think Roy should be on the 3rd line either, they should trade center and play on the wing depending on who's hot on the draw.

Therefore I think the lines should be like this when EVERYONE is back:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Higgins-Kesler/Roy-Kesler/Roy
Booth-Schroeder-Hansen
Raymond-Lappierre-Kassian

Edler-Garrison(Awesome game tonight by him)
Hamhuis-Bieksa
Tanev-Ballard

PP
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Kesler-Garrison

Higgins-Roy-Booth
Bieksa-Edler

PK
Kesler-Burrows
Bieksa-Garrison

Roy/Lapierre/Schroeder-Hansen
Edler-Hamhuis

Hansen needs to be replaced with Roy on the PP, he looked bad out there tonight.

 

[keslerburrows]

PP's I'd like

Sedin-Sedin-Kesler
Edler-Garrison

Higgins-Schroeder-Raymond/Kassian
Roy-Bieksa

 

[PG Canuck]

PP's I'd like

Sedin-Sedin-Kesler
Edler-Garrison

Higgins-Schroeder-Raymond/Kassian
Roy-Bieksa

I liked Kesler on the left hand side of the point on the PP too. Gave an option of two onetimers, rather than just Garrison/Edler being set-up for a onetimer all the time.

 

[deckercky]

Although really I expect Kesler to get the 3C role while Roy's line will be used as the 2nd scoring line. I'd love to see Burrows and Hansen with Kesler to make the ultimate 2way shutdown line.

Roy is strong defensively, and the team has basically a set of 4 pretty good wingers for them. I think you split Kesler and Roy, run them both as quasi-checking lines to free the Sedins for cushy offensive time. Kesler probably gets the main checking match up.

I do love the fact that with Roy, the team essentially has 3 70+ point centers. Roy comes in as a playmaker, and Kesler can be what Malhotra was pre-injury, but with scoring ability. Kesler's at his best when he's thinking defence first anyways.

Lots of minutes to go around and spread the points too, since Kesler will probably go back to the net for the #1 powerplay and Roy will be running the #2 powerplay.

 

[alternate]

I'd like to see Kesler back on the point for the PP, and see Kassian on the first unit. Get two RHS for one timers from the Sedins.

Kassian-Sedin-Sedin
Kessler-Edler

Higgins/Raymond-Roy-Burrows
Bieksa-Garrison

 

[biturbo19]

Roy is strong defensively, and the team has basically a set of 4 pretty good wingers for them. I think you split Kesler and Roy, run them both as quasi-checking lines to free the Sedins for cushy offensive time. Kesler probably gets the main checking match up.

I do love the fact that with Roy, the team essentially has 3 70+ point centers. Roy comes in as a playmaker, and Kesler can be what Malhotra was pre-injury, but with scoring ability. Kesler's at his best when he's thinking defence first anyways.

Lots of minutes to go around and spread the points too, since Kesler will probably go back to the net for the #1 powerplay and Roy will be running the #2 powerplay.

Precisely. You can call it '2nd line' '3rd line' '8th line' it really doesn't matter tbh. But Kesler playing that lockdown role Malhotra filled is not only where Kesler is at his best...when we went on our cup run, Kesler was the guy shouldering those 'shutdown minutes', with Manny injured.

Telling Kesler to go out there and make life miserable for Toews for example, above all else...is the sort of thing that seems to get Kesler really engaged in the games and focused the way you want him, and hopefully gets him away from trying to be 'Mr. Offense'. The points will definitely still come in that role for him, but Roy can take a lot of that 'pressure to produce' off of Kesler and just 'let the points come to him' in a sense.

Essentially...forget the #2C and #3C designations. Just call it '2a' and '2b' and get Kesler and Roy both in situations where they can thrive. And with both lines plenty capable, if you're on the road and hard-matching is disrupting the flow of the game for players, just let the lines roll. At the end of games, i think we could very well see Kesler and Roy come out with very similar minutes on a nightly basis, and that would be perfect.