Post-Game Talk: GM 1 | Vancouver Canucks @ Edmonton Oilers | Oilers Win 3-2

[Scorvat]

Chiasson flubbed like 5 grade a chances. Boeser converts at least 1 one those, maybe more . His tryout should be over

Hoglander was easily the best forward. His skating has improved significantly and should have gotten more shifts with either Petey or Horvat. Dickinson is a younger Beagle, I think I'm fine with that

Pod was terrible and looked really lost with the speed of the game. Still would have given him a chance higher up though when we were down. Laminko wasn't very noticeable, but he can skate and seems to know what to do defensively; That's all I want from a 4th line center

Petey was very uneven, losing the puck every other shift, while creating a chance in the other. Shot is off though. Miller was a drunk, bozo who might have looked bad in beer league. His skating looks REALLY off

Horvat line looked off all night. Garland was on a island, and had the puck alot but didn't really create anything. Like his feistiness. Pearson-Horvat are new Sedins like Pearson is probably going to replace Chiasson on the PP. They were invisible offensively, but really solid defensively. I think Horvat is actually focusing on that this year, noticed that in preseason as well

Most dman were pretty good relative to their expectations, Myers wasn't a chicken without a head defending in the zone, Hughes still looks very rusty with puck and hasn't gotten his skating moves yet, but he was focused defensively

OEL moved the puck really well and his try is encouraging. I wanted to stack the PP earlier, but I think we might need his initiative and experience with our best players. Poolman is worth his salary, but is going drive me insane when he the puck

Rathbone and Burroghs gave me a lot of hope. They fit really well together and handled the Oilers speed better then any other pairing. Hughes needs to learn from Rathbone about moving the puck quickly

Demko was easily the best player and probably will be in all our wins this year

 

[tyhee]

...
PK.. (mind you we we're probably facing the best power play in the history of the league)...

Well, the Oilers have a reasonable argument for having had the best power play in the history of the league, but this year's group doesn't compare with the early to mid 1980's version with Gretzky, Coffey, Messier, Kurri and Anderson all in their primes together.

(Yes, it is hard to include Messier in that. I lost respect for Messier as a person during his time with the Canucks, but he was an outstanding player in his early 20's with the Oilers.)

 

[DL44]

Well, the Oilers have a reasonable argument for having had the best power play in the history of the league, but this year's group doesn't compare with the early to mid 1980's version with Gretzky, Coffey, Messier, Kurri and Anderson all in their primes together.

(Yes, it is hard to include Messier in that. I lost respect for Messier as a person during his time with the Canucks, but he was an outstanding player in his early 20's with the Oilers.)

Just thinking they have a chance of breaking the PP% record... they could be a 30+% PP...

 

[Upoil]

Chiasson is garbage.

Hoglander is good.

 

[iceburg]

How do you eat crow after 1 game? This board has a serious case of flip-flop epidemic.

I've been preparing for a little while and probably should have had the meal mid last season.
Not really a flip flop at all. Just very impressed that he continues to improve and show he is a legitimate top 6 option. Like any player development, it's a progression that leads to increased or decreased confidence that a player can reach his upside. To me, last night was another big step for him.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Hold up a minute @Billy Kvcmu! I have an official statement from an upstanding Canucks fan here contradicting your rights to have fun when it contradicts that Myers is a bad player. "How can our statements be contradictionary?!" you ask? Well, that's a good question and one I will answer.

Do you know that Myers is a shitty player? Did you see him being overly praised for his hit on scumbag Keith for fun? Well, that's... well, I have to go now, I have another call the other way. You're free to go only because you're lucky this time!

Ok this is getting cringe

 

[Chimpradamus]

Ok this is getting cringe

I'm doing my best to achieve that. Getting younger people feeling awkward about bad dad jokes is a great pleasure with becoming older. You'll get it when you become older. Or you're already old and is just wired differently.

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

If it was the playoffs I can understand the love, but it's friggin' game 1 of an 82 game season. I also understand many really like that Myers has managed to look like more than a $6m roadkill on the ice (because he threw a hit). I also understand many dislike Keith (I have no opinion of that, I haven't seen enough of him in his personality), but come on.

One big hit, that wasn't even that clean (more like a shove and the blood was from crashing the helmets into eachother) and now he's the best player on the ice and some even say now he can play like garbage for a while, because of one hit? An "exempt from the pitchforks" card.

Come on. I understand the humor part, but this is getting out of hand. I for one would much rather have seen a clean win without Bettman/ NHL parity loser points given out than some hit on Keith in game 1. It wasn't even the best hit in the NHL that night.

--
And oh, I told you OEL would and will deliver. In the right enviroment (some skilled players to cooperate with) he's gold. Petey and Hughes will be fine, that they missed basically all of training camp is a big factor and that's on the moron with a tie.

come on… It was a joke . Come on

 

[VancouverJagger]

Wow..........our Giraffe bought himself a lot of good will in my books after what he did to Keith last night.............of all the people to do it to he more than had it coming for that BS he did to Daniel in 2012.

Like that really was the highlight of last night for me..............

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

Not trading, and instead extending Pearson, continues to be such a stupid blunder.

Nice of Mike Smith to spot us a point with that absolute stinker of a tie goal.

If Pearson was on his game every night, he wouldn’t be a middle six guy. He’ll have stretches of good and bad. He’s fine.

like, what do u think ur replacing him with? MacEwan?

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Tough to see a team where the forward group was supposed to carry the team and lead the way wind up with 0 goals on opening night, but it's early.

Hoglander was all over the place, would've rather seen him play on the PP over Dowling and Chiasson.

I got ripped on Twitter for saying it was dumb to put Chiasson on PP1 after coming off a PTO, man does he love shooting right at the logo. Would rather see someone else play down low on the top unit while Boeser is out. Get Hoglander or even Podkolzin in there for a try.

Its called Mike Smith...a number of the saves he made were absolute robbery.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Time to eat a little crow...

I was one of the ones last year that was pleasantly surprised by Hoglander's training camp (2020) but fully expected him to tail off after 10 games. He ended up having a solid season with only minor "slumps". Going into this season I was hopeful but not convinced that he could be a decent top 6 winger. I would have bet on it but had a significant dose of skepticism that he could top out at Mason Raymond, that guy who has some skill but could never quite elevate his game to be a legitimate top 6 winger.

It's just one game but WOW! This kid is crazy good. Right now he has to be the best forward on the roster at puck retrieval and possession along the boards. Dare I say he could actually be the perfect winger for EP.

When everyone is healthy:

Miller-EP-Hoglander
Garland-Horvat-Boeser
Pearson-Dickinson-Podkolzin
Motte-Lammikko-Highmore

I mentioned it in the GDT during the game...What is impressive about Hog, is his positioning..When he gets in the o-zone, he gets in front of the opposing players (usually they are bigger than he is) on the boards, hunkers down, keeping his low centre of gravity..and wins the puck...Smart player.

There was a reason why he led the team (by a considerable amount) in forcing opposition giveaways last season.

 

[sting101]

Thought Myers was good. He is perfect player to go against Draisaitl. Yes, he was beside the goal scorer while focusing on guarding Draisaitl. That was not a bad choice it just ended badly. Myers is not this team's issue. He is a solid nhl dman with flaws and positives.

Yes completely Peteys check but HF Boards finds a way to pin it on Myers. Agree he was very good. One thing i did notice was as the game wore on he started to get away from deferring to his partners OEL and Hughes to move the puck up ice. This is when he gets into trouble.

OEL is unreal at advancing the puck. Everything they hoped Juolevi could be. Just give him the damn puck and get open and he will time it perfectly and with precision. Myers can eat massive swaths of ice and if he simplifies his game he can be a force. Transitioning up ice is not his thing and where he gets looking really bad especially if he delays in the slightest as turning that huge body and stick is far to easy to read and pick off for NHLers.

 

[alternate]

Entertaining game. Thought both teams had stretches where they carried the play 5v5, but overall felt we were the better team.

Bit surprised that our defense and PK as a whole looked solid, but our offense and PP looked disjointed. Not too worried about the offense coming around, and if it does while maintaining our strong defensive play from last night, we are a playoff team.

Hoglander was the best Canuck. Miller the worst. Bottom 6 looked much improved. Top 6 still looking for chemistry.

I did notice Pod make a couple nice defensive reads. Bodes well to him getting more ice time. He's already way ahead of Boeser after game 1 in that regards so will see.

If Burroughs and Rathbone weren't a mirage, it would be huge for this group.

Felt Dowling belongs in the lineup over Chiasson and Highmore when/if we get healthy.

Garland skates hard and has some skilz. Just needs to start paying the bilz.

Take sawing off PP goals with the Oilers any time. Feel that is going to be a win vs them most nights.

Overall, loved the 3rd period comeback, and that some of the big ??? had positive games. Just need some offensive chemistry.

As for EDM, wow their defense is bad. With Tippett and at home, still felt Smith won this game for them. Depending on a 40+ year old goalie to stand on his head every night is...an interesting strategy.

 

[M2Beezy]

Is it just me or does Chiason take forever with the puck on his stick on the PP?

Its just you, he was fine, fast and ferocious. The gdt reflected that where we all showed our appreciation for his fine fast and ferocious play

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

One thing the Canucks need to work on, ..is the PP.....Having 5 guys standing in one spot, isnt going to fly....Compare that with the fluidity and mobility of the Oilers PP.

 

[Sedinery]

Free advice to our incompetent coach:

- bury Chiasson on the 4 th line
- get Chiasson off the pp
- move Pearson to 3rd line
- move hogs into Pearson’s spot
- move podz into Chiasson’s spot
- move Hogs to pp 1
- move podz to pp2
- get out of the basic static penalty kill 4 man box and pressure the puck
- learn to count to 5

pretty basic and obvious stuff to most people not named Green

 

[4Twenty]

Entertaining game. Thought both teams had stretches where they carried the play 5v5, but overall felt we were the better team.

Bit surprised that our defense and PK as a whole looked solid, but our offense and PP looked disjointed. Not too worried about the offense coming around, and if it does while maintaining our strong defensive play from last night, we are a playoff team.

Hoglander was the best Canuck. Miller the worst. Bottom 6 looked much improved. Top 6 still looking for chemistry.

I did notice Pod make a couple nice defensive reads. Bodes well to him getting more ice time. He's already way ahead of Boeser after game 1 in that regards so will see.

If Burroughs and Rathbone weren't a mirage, it would be huge for this group.

Felt Dowling belongs in the lineup over Chiasson and Highmore when/if we get healthy.

Garland skates hard and has some skilz. Just needs to start paying the bilz.

Take sawing off PP goals with the Oilers any time. Feel that is going to be a win vs them most nights.

Overall, loved the 3rd period comeback, and that some of the big ??? had positive games. Just need some offensive chemistry.

As for EDM, wow their defense is bad. With Tippett and at home, still felt Smith won this game for them. Depending on a 40+ year old goalie to stand on his head every night is...an interesting strategy.

I find it interesting that Demko’s performance isn’t being considered. He was outstanding and Edmonton was getting better chances imo.

 

[Sedinery]

Chiasson flubbed like 5 grade a chances. Boeser converts at least 1 one those, maybe more . His tryout should be over

Hoglander was easily the best forward. His skating has improved significantly and should have gotten more shifts with either Petey or Horvat. Dickinson is a younger Beagle, I think I'm fine with that

Pod was terrible and looked really lost with the speed of the game. Still would have given him a chance higher up though when we were down. Laminko wasn't very noticeable, but he can skate and seems to know what to do defensively; That's all I want from a 4th line center

Petey was very uneven, losing the puck every other shift, while creating a chance in the other. Shot is off though. Miller was a drunk, bozo who might have looked bad in beer league. His skating looks REALLY off

Horvat line looked off all night. Garland was on a island, and had the puck alot but didn't really create anything. Like his feistiness. Pearson-Horvat are new Sedins like Pearson is probably going to replace Chiasson on the PP. They were invisible offensively, but really solid defensively. I think Horvat is actually focusing on that this year, noticed that in preseason as well

Most dman were pretty good relative to their expectations, Myers wasn't a chicken without a head defending in the zone, Hughes still looks very rusty with puck and hasn't gotten his skating moves yet, but he was focused defensively

OEL moved the puck really well and his try is encouraging. I wanted to stack the PP earlier, but I think we might need his initiative and experience with our best players. Poolman is worth his salary, but is going drive me insane when he the puck

Rathbone and Burroghs gave me a lot of hope. They fit really well together and handled the Oilers speed better then any other pairing. Hughes needs to learn from Rathbone about moving the puck quickly

Demko was easily the best player and probably will be in all our wins this year

Juho was very noticeable. Very active stick, closed quickly on his checks, quick to pick up his checks, did well on facecoffs

podz did some good things in very limited 4th line time. If he is going to be stapled to the bench and buried on the 4th line he will be hard pressed to develop and ahow what he is capable of

 

[VanillaCoke]

I find it interesting that Demko’s performance isn’t being considered. He was outstanding and Edmonton was getting better chances imo.

Demko and smith were extremely solid overall. Should've been more goals scored by both teams, especially if Edmonton ever puts their 2 top 5 Centers on different lines....

 

[timw33]

If Pearson was on his game every night, he wouldn’t be a middle six guy. He’ll have stretches of good and bad. He’s fine.

like, what do u think ur replacing him with? MacEwan?

I'm using the extra salary to get Pettersson locked in for 6+ years tbh.

 

[Marube]

The biggest questions I have from last night is what does Green have against Hoglander and why does he think Pearson is a top six forward. Pearson can only hit the net 33% of time and that's not including the shootout where he missed the net yet again. Hoglander didn't even get a shot in the shootout and had 2 points plus double the shots on goal with 4 minutes less ice time. Can someone please explain to me how Pearson is on the second line, on the PP, and getting a chance over Hoglander in a shootout. This is hurting my brain!

 

[Jimnastic]

Free advice to our incompetent coach:

- bury Chiasson on the 4 th line
- get Chiasson off the pp
- move Pearson to 3rd line
- move hogs into Pearson’s spot
- move podz into Chiasson’s spot
- move Hogs to pp 1
- move podz to pp2
- get out of the basic static penalty kill 4 man box and pressure the puck
- learn to count to 5

pretty basic and obvious stuff to most people not named Green

I have been critical of posters who just harp on about Benning and Green. OEL (though it was done with much the same thought process that was used to land Louie) looks like a great trade. It is always easier to suggest better ways of coaching when you are doing it from the bleachers.

However, every single one of your thoughts exactly resonates with mine. And it simply seems bloody obvious.

When we get BB back we should be deadly. Damn Hogs looks great. And Rathbone and Burroughs were awesome.

I thought the only question mark for this team was the defence. Damn, they looked solid against the best offensive line in the league.

One other note. EP40 was up against McDri several times and their line outplayed them, particularly at the start of the game. I thought EP40 was solid considering Miller had one of his horrible games and Chaisson was barely okay.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Game 1 Report Card

Offence: C
Defence: B+
Goaltending: A-
PP: C-
PK: C-
Coaching: D

Both goals scored by defencemen on seeing eye shots, need to generate more offensively.

 

[VanJack]

Not a shock to me that the d-pairing of Rathbone and Burroughs looked good against the Oilers with some of their dangerous forwards.

Rathbone was actually quite solid in the exhibition game paired with Madison Bowey, who landed in Abbotsford and couldn't get into an NHL game last season.

Rathbone is that good. He can basically carry a pairing virtually on his own with his skillset. The notion that Rathbone needs more time in the AHL is frankly nonsense.