Post-Game Talk: [GM 14] Canucks lose to Canadiens | 2-5 | Schenn & Hoglander

[Tinhorn1]

Yes Travis was a bad coach, hence why they brought in a specialist for the D for structure in Shaw and it didn't help because the players on D are bad. Markstrom and Demko have been bailing this team out for years. I'm not a fan of Miller I wanted him traded, his lack of effort is ridiculous especially when things don't go his way, no way he should of been resigned. Brocks another guy who needs to be gone as well, I don't just hate the D, but it's been obvious for years and nothing is changing except playing the blame game on structure now, which is ridiculous because the D is pathetic.

It wasn't until Boudreau came in that Shaw took over the D from Baumgartner. After that I recall them being much better.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Hughes playing hurt? His legs didn't seem to be there tonight.

You might be on to something there...He wasn't anywhere near where he was the night before..Thats concerning if they have to shut him down again.

 

[IslandBeast]

The Habs fans had a good time because they won but other than that we literally just suck the life out of every building we go in to and not in a good way. We're not fast, we're not tough, we're not hard working, we simply just show up for a hockey game, exchange a goal here and there, eventually lose then we leave. The most blah team ever. We're in montreal and it felt like an exhibition against Arizona or the mid 2000's Minnesota wild. Just horrible product

 

[VanJack]

What's particularly shocking to me is how the Canucks veteran players seem to slip every season. That, and the fact the league's getting faster every year.

At this point, players like Myers, OEL, and Pearson are the equivalent of 'replacement level players'. And every year they get slower and more exposed. Of course the problem is that between the three of them, they're taking up over $16m in cap space.

 

[Zippgunn]

I honestly don't understand what's going on with Demko right now. It's not like he's some super brief, flash in the pan guy. He established that he's a top quality goaltender. Knocking on the door of elite status.

He's had ONE GOOD YEAR and that was largely because he was so sheltered from tough starts. He is an above average goalie at best. Until he gets hurt, of course...

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Embarrassing headline..

Down two suspended players, Canadiens rout Canucks

Montreal 5, Vancouver 2. Third-period rally comes too late for visitors.

montrealgazette.com

 

[David71]

blow it up already. saturday against the leafs could be the final straw for bb. yeo as inteirm coach and the rest will sort itself out. some guys will be moved hopefully. feels like keenan era 2.0. demko confidence is shot maybe he hasnt recovered from surgery in the off-season hip? ride martin until demko works on his game. alot of soft goals tonight. the leafs fwds will have an easy night against van on national tv.. 7-2 leafs. matthews 3 goals incoming

 

[Play]

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”​

Dickens....

AHAHA THIS IS AWESOME

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Any news what happened to Pearson?

He wasnt on the bench after the 2nd I think.

Did they buy him out mid game?

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Any news what happened to Pearson?

He wasnt on the bench after the 2nd I think.

Did they buy him out mid game?

He went into the boards with a Hab at the blueline, camera side of the rink. Was clearly favoring his wrist/forearm, maybe shoulder, en route back to the bench.

Didn't notice he hadn't returned until announced, cuz, well... Pearson.

 

[VanJack]

Pearson got hurt, and according to Boudreau is 'day-to-day'.....hopefully it's 'week-to-week", and then they can call up Lockwood. At least he can skate well enough to play in the NHL,, And since Pearson has five points now in 13 games, it's not like they're going to miss his production even if Lockwood can't score.

 

[tantalum]

How is it Bruce got this page to play decently for 2/3 of a season last year?
Was Brad Hunt that much of a diff maker on D?
Its amazing, they look worse than they did under Green at this time last year

It wasn’t really 2/3 of the season. It was a 30 game span or so. They were not good down the stretch, in training camp or so far this year. Ultimately in the last season plus what they've played this year they have been shit 2/3 of the time under two different coaches.

I’m hesitant to throw Demko under the bus especially last night. Now of course he needs to be better but last week there was something showing that 5-on-5 his numbers were actually middle of the pack in expected goals prevented (or whatever it is). The PK is dreadful and making it impossible for the goaltenders and at ES there are still too many scoring chances against.

Look at last night:

First goal is yet another terrible PK. The two forwards were standing behind each other and neither was effectively covering the guys at the point. Suzuki is gets the puck and is allowed to walk in and fire a shot completely uncontested. Well Myers nicely filled the lane providing a screen. It’s not a great goal for sure, even bad but wow the PK is simply hopeless.

Second goal. It was tipped by a canuck in the low slot and changed direction and elevation significantly. It’s why Demko’s arm all of a sudden shoots up. It went from likely hitting his crest to the cataching glove part of the net. That was a goal on canuck forwards simply didn’t work hard enough off the face off. Surprise surprise it was the Miller-Pearson combo.

Third goal. Brutal Miller giveaway in the slot and Dach gets to walk in untouched. Demko isn’t set but not sure any goaltender would be. Doesn’t look a great goal but clearly the blame lies elsewhere.

4th goal Demko gives up the far side too much but this is an odd man rush and while Garret says Hughes played it well, it was actually played to essentially give Hoffman a breakaway at full speed.

5th goal. Keystone cops in there own end. Cross ice pass to Dach who is all alone on his off wing and gets to choose where to shoot.

So yes Demko needs to maybe save a couple of those but there is so much wrong with the team. So, so much. I’m sort of glad he’s struggling because it makes the mistakes obvious. But he can stop any time now. In the end this is a team that is basically bottom 10 in most categories…scoring chance generation (high sh% is disguising this), scoring chances against, expected goals ratio etc. If you are only good at one thing (PP sometimes) you are going to struggle and they do.

Hell, the ES sv% for the Canucks isn’t actually that bad. It’s middle of the road, Neither goalie is a standout really. For goaltenders with 100+ minutes Martin sits at 0.928 and Demko at 0.907. Both basically find themselves in the 20-40 range of the 65 goaltenders. It’s a difference for sure…about 4 goals I believe. That barely moves them in the goals conceded ranking 5-on-5. They go from bad to bad.

The bulk of the damage to the goaltender numbers is being done on the PK…that is where the scoring chance save % is last in the league and we know why. It’s mostly due to the skaters inability to win battles in front of the net and allowing monstrous seams cross ice.

Again Demko needs to be better (so to does Martin for that matter) but the actual major issues in the grand scheme of things very much lie elsewhere.

 

[Canuckle]

Demko let in a bunch of softies. Mistakes happen in a game but Demko really needs to bail those out at least once or twice.

 

[Sharkbomb]

My god this team sucks at transitioning out of the zone. The entire D just circles back until the inevitable bad pass happens. OEL is the worst offender, the guy can't make a single good pass to exit.

Only one team has allowed more goals than Vancouver, the Ducks (65). Vancouver has allowed 58, Columbus has allowed 55. It's just embarrassing how bad our defense is.

 

[geebaan]

Let’s look at the first 3 goals.

Seeing eye wrister

Tip in front

Absolute broken play fluke where the guy is throwing it on net and has no idea where it’s going and it happens to go in.

Those are Demkos fault? Look he’s been pretty bad, but let’s not pretend this team is some good defensive team.

 

[Hit the post]

AHAHA THIS IS AWESOME

It took like many decades, but I always knew that English Literature 12 class I took in high school would come in handy some day.

 

[gringo]

Was working with intention of watching PVR. Had score ruined for me and I'm not wasting my night.

The team's culture is broken.

I remember all of the hatred that Benning got as if he was the problem. He was a problem.

The problem is our ownership. It's absolutely dysfunctional.

Our current management had so much goodwill to deal with simply by not being Benning and they have already burned through it.

How do you sign Miller before Horvat?

Did they not see what a quitter Miller was in 2021?

Does anyone think Miller would be playing this badly if his contract was up at the end of the year? I don't, because Miller plays for Miller.

Not sure what's up with Demko but echo those saying it starts getting concerning right now. Martin's an okay goaltender, a great story, and seems like a good guy.

He looks like Demko's dad currently. Demko looks absolutely lost. I'm not sure what's going on.

Let's not forget there was some murkiness around Demko's year ending with an injury last year, right? And Seravelli quoted some executive for another team saying we should trade him now because his hips are bad.

I hope and pray that that stays as ridiculous sounding as it was at the time.

-

At this point, I'm keeping Petey and Hughes. I would like to keep Horvat and punt Miller (unlikely) and I keep Podkolzin barring a big overpay. Keep Demko as well unless you're sure he's shot (I don't think he is).

Anyone else I don't really care anymore.

And I have never really said this before, but I think this year is the year to lean into the descent. We could literally have a 1 or 2 year turnaround if we get a high pick and make a couple of astute moves (like having our piece of shit owner sell the team).

The problem is most of the players “you don’t care about” are pretty much unreadable. At least unreadable without taking a poison pill back.

 

[canuckking1]

Let’s look at the first 3 goals.

Seeing eye wrister

Tip in front

Absolute broken play fluke where the guy is throwing it on net and has no idea where it’s going and it happens to go in.

Those are Demkos fault? Look he’s been pretty bad, but let’s not pretend this team is some good defensive team.

Bro the first goal was from out with zero traffic and it went right through Demko. It was a horrible.

 

[Johnny Canucker]

When they fire BB , Will any spineless media ask management how it’s still the coaches fault when they are still paying 3 different coaches?

PK is dead last in the nhl. Everyone still has their job.

 

[theguardianII]

give me a minute

 

[theguardianII]

Not unexpected.
Too much pressure on too few players.

Miller feels the weight of his new contract and Demko the expectations of knowing ne goal is enough to break the team.

Can't blame Bruce, can't blame the players, this is Benning blunder but some of the blame was embraced by the new management. Hockey people that were afraid to do a major move and have totally misread the distrust of the fans.

Players are doing the best they can, it is just a bad miss

This is getting to bag games, a bag for me and a bag for you.
Maybe buy a different jersey out of embarrassment, not changing team allegiance, just not to be laughed at.

 

[kanucks25]

guys

why are we so much suck

 

[geebster]

Demko was just bad and this is the first game I'd say is more on him than team play. Once you are down and pushing, stuff like the Hoffman break that Demko has no chance on happen, but you don't get to that point if you don't let in several softies to start. Literally every shot on our net felt like it was going in, even flipped pucks from the blue line. There's a reason the Montreal crowd was cheering when he made a routine save, they could see as well as we did how bad he played. I'm a huge Demko fan, but I haven't felt this scared of every single shot since the Cloutier days. Really hope they can ride Martin and Thatcher figures this out.

 

[m9]

I've been pretty hesitant about Rathbone as a prospect dating back to the times I watched him in Abbotsford this year and unfortunately to this point I'm feeling more pessimistic than ever. I just don't know I see a translatable skillset here.

He's not dynamic at the NHL level like he could be at lower levels. His positioning when he doesn't have the puck is bad in all zones.. like he just doesn't have a good feel where to be on the ice. I think he can fit in just fine on a PP unit, but you need to do more than that to make it.. particularly on this team.

I do like what he does with the puck in the offensive zone. He is extremely good at that, but unfortunately it is just such a small part of the 5on5 game.

The worrying part is that good skating defensemen can generally assimilate pretty quickly to the NHL as they can keep up with the play so they can play their game. You see guys like Hutton & Stecher here who were able to step up in immediately. It's the average/slower skaters who you sometimes need to allow for that adjustment.

One of these "hoping I'm wrong" situations here where maybe he can just process the game better with more reps.

This team needs to figure out it's LHD situation sooner than later. As of now, it seems like Rathbone will be off to Abbotsford as soon as Dermott is back. Stillman isn't great, but is suited pretty well as as a 7th defenseman given his age/salary. Not sure where that leaves Rathbone short-term.

 

[canuckking1]

Yeah. Rathbone is 23 it’s not looking good for his NHL future.