Post-Game Talk: [EX3] Canucks lose to Kraken | 1-3 (Garland)

[VanJack]

Podkolzin is rapidly playing his way to Abbotsford.......Benning's draft revenge......the last top-10 pick of his disastrous reign of error.

 

[VibinCanuck]

My biggest fear with Tocchet as a coach is he doesn't push offensive creativity and his teams have struggled to score. With the type of roster this team has, he should have no excuse in lacking goal scoring. So far, 2 goals in 3 games of looser pre-season smells like a coming disaster.

They need to play some more representative NHL d-pairs with some fringe instead of majority fringe to really get an idea if the systems are clicking for breakouts...

 

[biturbo19]

My biggest fear with Tocchet as a coach is he doesn't push offensive creativity and his teams have struggled to score. With the type of roster this team has, he should have no excuse in lacking goal scoring. So far, 2 goals in 3 games of looser pre-season smells like a coming disaster.

They need to play some more representative NHL d-pairs with some fringe instead of majority fringe to really get an idea if the systems are clicking for breakouts...

Problem is...this team is built weird. It doesn't really have the horses to win a bunch of 6-5 super high pace run 'n gun games. Especially in only having 2 real puck movers on the back end and lacking speed up front. But we also don't really have the horses to play lockdown defensive "buy in" hockey and ground out 2-1 wins either.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

Haven't gotten to watch much of the first 3 preseason games but reading around and nothing surprising so far.

 

[canucksfan]

Problem is...this team is built weird. It doesn't really have the horses to win a bunch of 6-5 super high pace run 'n gun games. Especially in only having 2 real puck movers on the back end and lacking speed up front. But we also don't really have the horses to play lockdown defensive "buy in" hockey and ground out 2-1 wins either.

So win 4-3 games

 

[LemonSauceD]

f*** this. Cut all the Abbotsford guys. See what we can pluck out of the waiver wire and see what they have to offer. Keep Raty and play him with Garland and Beau and see what he can do with some NHL caliber guys on his wing. The rest is just a waste of time.

As for our main guys. Boeser is slowing down Miller. Slow soft low energy one dimensional. Miller and Beau were okay. PDG along with Garland were our best forwards.

Everyone not named Cole, Hronek, and Wolanin sucked. Please end the Juulsen experiment. I’m inclined to give Woo one more try. And give McWard another game with Hughes and see if he can hold it down for another game. The rest send them the f*** down.

Podkolzin should be looking for condos in Abbotsford because that’s going to be his new home.

 

[Spectrefire]

No.

It's also really weird that they didn't play Hirose or Rathbone in either. The D *really* struggled to move the puck today and I don't know why Brisebois was playing B2B.

My guess is the left side is locked with Hughes, Cole and Soucy.

Soucy looked better on his left and Cole looked comfy next to Hronek.

They're probably playing the hell out of their RHDs to see who they can slot in on the missing spot on the right. Maybe two missing spot if they actually end up unloading Myers.

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

That's such a weird breakdown of that play.

That's not Wolanin "missing an assignment". Classic instance of, "when the forwards f*** up, just blame some vaguely nearby defenceman instead". He's gotta worry about keeping that back door wide side tap-in from happening there. He'd look like a complete idiot if he went charging out into the slot to deal with a guy walking right down mainstreet from well above the faceoff circles completely unchecked and it's an easy cross-crease tap-in behind him instead.

That was entirely on the Forwards just goofing up there. Bains and Sasson completely botching pressure in the corner like you said. Getting overcommited and out of position and beaten to the high danger area, respectively. Podz just caught flatfooted indecisive in no man's land. Didn't really seem to take on any particular assignment...mostly just loitering in the slot.

"when the forwards f*** up, just blame some vaguely nearby defenceman instead"...

this encapsulates the last decade.

 

[quat]

Problem is...this team is built weird. It doesn't really have the horses to win a bunch of 6-5 super high pace run 'n gun games. Especially in only having 2 real puck movers on the back end and lacking speed up front. But we also don't really have the horses to play lockdown defensive "buy in" hockey and ground out 2-1 wins either.

Indeed. It's a poorly assembled team with several great players and a few very good, but they don't fit together well and as you said there's no game plan that suits their varied skillset.

Its the "Benning" omelette. Yes, there's organic farm fresh eggs, but there's also fingernail clippings, dog hair, gravel and rancid cheese.

I'm staying wary of this team because it keeps quacking like a duck.

 

[valkynax]

As pre-season and newly acquired players go, I'll try to remain cautious.

But if pre-season games such as this evening's are of any indication of things to come...

 

[nucksflailtogether]

As pre-season and newly acquired players go, I'll try to remain cautious.

But if pre-season games such as this evening's are of any indication of things to come...

Starting to think the drancer is on to something once again.

 

[Hit the post]

My guess is the left side is locked...[cut]

...i have sudden flashbacks of the "left side lock" from many years ago.

As pre-season and newly acquired players go, I'll try to remain cautious.

But if pre-season games such as this evening's are of any indication of things to come...

Nah, it's just "pre-season". Didn't our 2011 regular season year start out with a subpar preseason? (not sure & I'm too lazy to look up).

 

[VanJack]

Aw shucks folks, it's only pre-season....don't worry, be happy.....that's what we heard the year the Canucks bottomed out in the old Canadian Division. It's what we heard in the first 20 games of the 2021-22 season that got Benning and Green fired.

And it's what we heard last season when Bruce 'there it is' Boudreau led the to team to a disastrous 8-15 start and another year where they were cooked by American Thanksgiving.

Frankly this team hasn't earned any slack for a lackluster pre-season.

 

[Breakers]

My biggest fear with Tocchet as a coach is he doesn't push offensive creativity and his teams have struggled to score. With the type of roster this team has, he should have no excuse in lacking goal scoring. So far, 2 goals in 3 games of looser pre-season smells like a coming disaster.

Slow neutral zone attack
dump and chase
so far this season even when we have had "controlled entries" we shoot the puck into the corner after

compared to Seattle who may not have some big names but they drive possession very well

 

[Brookbank]

Was a great effort by the Canucks against the Oilers (who also pretty much iced their opening night lineup)..Your reading way too much into the pre season imo...Especially when you're unable to account for the disparity of the rosters.

I was at the Oilers game. I thought they played well. They get a pass for that game. But at some point, we have to win a couple of these games or we're hooped.

 

[Brookbank]

Slow neutral zone attack
dump and chase
so far this season even when we have had "controlled entries" we shoot the puck into the corner after

compared to Seattle who may not have some big names but they drive possession very well

Plus the Alain Vignault style reverse it back to the D and settle the play down whenever possible. But maybe we have to do that to win games. This style works good for intelligent older players like the 2011 teams. But the 7th youngest team in the league ? I dunno. Green was trying to play this way too with a young team and we seen how that turned out.

 

[Brookbank]

Aw shucks folks, it's only pre-season....don't worry, be happy.....that's what we heard the year the Canucks bottomed out in the old Canadian Division. It's what we heard in the first 20 games of the 2021-22 season that got Benning and Green fired.

And it's what we heard last season when Bruce 'there it is' Boudreau led the to team to a disastrous 8-15 start and another year where they were cooked by American Thanksgiving.

Frankly this team hasn't earned any slack for a lackluster pre-season.

Management and coaching had one job. They can still pull it out of the fire and ice the opening night roster and play like it is the playoffs for the rest of these pre season games. We cannot afford a winless preseason. This is a team that never got over its winless preseason last year.

 

[geebster]

I don't know why year after year we ice garbage preseason teams while every other team puts it together much faster and gets real practice games in with their NHL unit. There is no advantage to never having our systems going until the season starts. You could argue it's a good idea if there was ever a point in the last few years that it worked. We did this during the Sedin era but that was a veteran team and they were ready to go preseason or not and the rest was therefore worth it.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

I don't know why year after year we ice garbage preseason teams while every other team puts it together much faster and gets real practice games in with their NHL unit. There is no advantage to never having our systems going until the season starts. You could argue it's a good idea if there was ever a point in the last few years that it worked. We did this during the Sedin era but that was a veteran team and they were ready to go preseason or not and the rest was therefore worth it.

The Canucks have played three away games so far this pre season..Seems to me that most teams use these games for evaluation, and you gotta get these players who attend camp a game somewhere.

I think that you'll start seeing teams closer to the opening night roster at the home games.

 

[geebster]

The Canucks have played three away games so far this pre season..Seems to me that most teams use these games for evaluation, and you gotta get these players who attend camp a game somewhere.

I think that you'll start seeing teams closer to the opening night roster at the home games.

I mean that's what I'm hoping but last few years we don't ice a full lineup until the last game, if at all, which is my issue. I think given how bad it's been they should ice our top 6 and top 4 D intact from here on since all the competition is foe bottom pair and bottom 6 forwards.

 

[krutovsdonut]

went out for dinner last night so i am 0 for 3 on watching preseason games.

this does not make me sad.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

I mean that's what I'm hoping but last few years we don't ice a full lineup until the last game, if at all, which is my issue. I think given how bad it's been they should ice our top 6 and top 4 D intact from here on since all the competition is foe bottom pair and bottom 6 forwards.

Yeah, I remember Travis Green messing around with AHL players right up till the last pre season games..and the main team didnt play enough together (they had a number of key injuries as well, if I recall)...all the while, the coach was trying to implement a new defensive system for the team..The rest is history.

RT has already said that they will be playing the main squad for the last 2 pre season games..So I would be expecting cuts shortly.

 

[Regress2TheMeme]

You're not in trouble until you lose a preseason game on home ice, as the saying goes.

 

[larueskee]

I can understand the concerns expressed but Tocchet has a good idea of what he wants to do in these games. He is giving the tweeners a tough environment to see if they can make plays at this level. These are the games where the cream rises to the top if there is any. I did not see any prospect cream tonight and i did not see any from the Blues as well. Some had high hopes for Bolduc but i keep him off for now. Bedard looked awesome for the Hawks but the guy that impressed me was 19 year old d man Korchinski. his effort last night might have him securing a roster spot.

 

[THRILLHOIAF]

Ryker Evans would probably be the 2nd pair dman based on his performance last night...and he might be a tweener for Seattle because of how stacked their top four is.

The Canucks don't even have a good partner for their 1st pair defenceman while the most you can say about Cole, Soucy, Hronek, and Myers is that they have been fine.

Wolanin, Juulsen, Brisebois are not everyday NHLers, but can provide spot duty after getting momentum in the AHL, that's how this always works. Cole McWard isn't there yet. Akito Hirose is whatever, but he's not a difference-maker in any facet. He's just a younger version of a Wolanin-type. It's pretty grim watching this preseason and seeing how the largest buyout in post-lockout NHL (OEL) was to just ice a bunch of "okay" pairings.

Maybe as a collective unit, they'll be more than they've shown...but yikes...Hughes is the only guy whose moved the puck like a credible top four NHL dman. Hronek and Cole controlled well, but there offence was sooooo limited to meaningless point shots. If that's what the "structure" demands of them? Point shots...then hooo boy it's going to be ugly.

Hughes - Soucy(? i guess?)
Cole - Hronek
guy - Myers

The scary thing about last night was how outworked the Canucks were in the speed department. Tye Kartye played like a 6'2" forward---I was SHOCKED to see he's only 5'11"...Guy plays big hockey. Kailer Yamamoto looked like McDavid relative to every forward. Conor Garland and Pius Suter were the ONLY forwards playing with pace. Miller was coasting (expected), Boeser looked to be saving himself too, which I get... but good lord, if that's them skating to not get 10-0'd at the least, that sucks.

Looks like all the talk of preseason habits, fitness, and whatnot don't mean anything if you ice a roster that doesn't have the wheels to compete with a 50/50 NHL/AHL split squad. Like, seriously I hope they saw Seattle's seamless zone exit and entry structure and went, "We're f***ed." Can any dman besides Hughes move the puck with the kind of wheels or tape-to-tape passing that Evans or Schultz showed with half of the Coachella Valley Firebirds? Because I really don't know if they can. The Canucks puck movement last night looked no different than it did last season. Stagnant, lots of missed rotations, missed assignments, short passes, and a lot of fruitless chip-and-chasing with no results to show for it. And point shots! My god the point shots...

Anyways,
doom and gloom aside

I managed to recap the game (with video) if anyone wants to see clips of another preseason L!

The Preseasies (with video!): Conor Garland’s goal can’t cook Kraken in Canucks’ third preseason loss

For their first venture down the I5 to Kraken country, the Vancouver C...

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