Post-Game Talk: GM 45: Canucks def. Wings 2-1 (SO) - Clinch Playoff Berth

[Just A Bit Outside]

Went to the game last night and a few things were clear to me:

1. This team will get bounced in the 1st round in 6 or less against whoever they play. If they even get that far it will be entirely because of Schneider.

2. Cam Barker should never play another game for the Canucks ever even if the entire team gets injured.

3. Gustav Nyquist looked fantastic. Get asking myself who is this #14? Gonna be a good one.

Other than Schneider, team didn't deserve 1 point let alone 2.

 

[LiquidSnake]

How can anyone that watches this team think Kassian does not hit? The kid is 3rd on the team in hits...

When you have an agenda, you see what you want to see.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

While this game was largely stolen on the back of Cory Schneider, I think Burrows as Kesler deserve some credit for their great work defensively and on the PK. Burrows was also pretty much the only Canuck who generated some chances.

Thought Edler had a strong game, too. Nice to see him getting physically engaged, he is a monster when he does that...hopefully warming up for the playoffs.

 

[y2kcanucks]

Went to the game last night and a few things were clear to me:

1. This team will get bounced in the 1st round in 6 or less against whoever they play. If they even get that far it will be entirely because of Schneider.

2. Cam Barker should never play another game for the Canucks ever even if the entire team gets injured.

3. Gustav Nyquist looked fantastic. Get asking myself who is this #14? Gonna be a good one.

Other than Schneider, team didn't deserve 1 point let alone 2.

I agree with this. This team simply doesn't look good, and despite people getting all excited when we dominate Nashville or Calgary...against playoff teams we've only managed more than 2 goals once in the past 10 games. In fact, only 7 times in 20 games vs. playoff teams have we scored more than 2 goals. Is it realistic to expect us to march to the Cup winning 1-0 or 2-1? I don't think so.

 

[Lundface*]

I agree with this. This team simply doesn't look good, and despite people getting all excited when we dominate Nashville or Calgary...against playoff teams we've only managed more than 2 goals once in the past 10 games. In fact, only 7 times in 20 games vs. playoff teams have we scored more than 2 goals. Is it realistic to expect us to march to the Cup winning 1-0 or 2-1? I don't think so.

I don`t think people are too excited about this team and for good reason. You can`t manufacture much offence playing chip and chase at every opportunity. AV is reverting back to his old tendencies and has this team playing a very boring brand of hockey, one the current players don't really fit.

AV has the pieces to attack teams, gain the other teams line once in a while instead of blinding dumping it everytime.

If you look at the roster he actually has a decent cast of players to work with since Roy was added and Kesler returned. No idea why he continues to play chicken **** hockey. Very frustrating to watch this team play and its very hard to blame the players at this point...way too many guys underachieving to not start questioning the coaching.

 

[Treefingers]

I understand people being skeptical that the team is not going anywhere in the playoffs, but people seriously sound whiny and out of touch around here. For all the bellyaching about a lack of scoring punch, somehow the Canucks have scored more than any other team in the NW (while missing Kesler and Booth for most of the year). Not to mention 2 of the top 5 D have been out for the stretch run and they are managing to stay ahead of the Wild for the division lead.
As fans we should be more pleased with the fact that this is clearly one of the top teams in the West. People are spoiled..and I guess there are people here who have never been a fan of a truly bad team like the late 90s Nucks, or any Canucks team pre-Bure/Linden/McLean.
Detroit is playing for its life right now and they couldn't put away a team featuring Cam Barker, Alberts and Ballard playing significant minutes.

Good post. The Canucks, for all their "lack of scoring", are 5th in the conference in GF (LA and Dallas are tied for 3rd with only 3 more goals than the Canucks). The West is a pretty low-scoring conference, so people need to adjust their expectations a bit. I guess people are upset because they think this team can score more than they have (and I would probably agree with that), but the situation doesn't seem to be as dire as some make it out to be.

 

[y2kcanucks]

Good post. The Canucks, for all their "lack of scoring", are 5th in the conference in GF (LA and Dallas are tied for 3rd with only 3 more goals than the Canucks). The West is a pretty low-scoring conference, so people need to adjust their expectations a bit. I guess people are upset because they think this team can score more than they have (and I would probably agree with that), but the situation doesn't seem to be as dire as some make it out to be.

5th in the west offensively is nothing to get excited about, especially given our poor performance against playoff teams. You can sit there and ignore these signs that point to a third straight disappointing playoff exit stemming from no offense, or you can prepare yourself for it because you recognized the signs so when it comes you won't be disappointed. Either way, since it's too late to address this problem THIS season, hopefully Gillis FINALLY gets it and does something about it in the offseason.

 

[HTT3*]

So a mediocre team, as in a bubble team, can become a contender with 1 player. Interesting. Disagree, it takes a collection of players. Even if you want to include perennial all-stars like Zetterberg and Datsyuk in that "collection".

This latest STL build started in 2005. And it was built primarily through the draft. And a key point here: Drafting late. That is their nucleus. DET also put this team's nucleus together by drafting late. In the case of Zett/Dats, real late. Point being, the core of each team was built the hard way. Maybe they picked up a thing or two from their division rivals?

I agree the loss of Lidstrom isn't their demise. But lets look at some of good teams the past 10 years or so.

Devils when they had Niedermayer and Rafalski
Wings when they had Lidstrom and Rafalski
Ducks when they had Pronger and Niedermayer

When you have kind of #1 paring on the back end, it really makes a good team great. So I agree with what you are saying.

Detroit won't be serious contenders again until they get a legit top paring duo.

 

[y2kcanucks]

According to Canucks Army we were outchanced 18-4 at even strength last night. I really don't see anything positive coming from last nights game aside from Schneider further cementing his title as an elite goalie in this league. We simply cannot expect to win many games where we are badly outchanced like this though.

 

[GrogZilla]

I always thought the "Detroit model" was a reference to the organization not in a playing style.
Being a class organization.
Go the extra mile in all the off ice things.
Spend money on scouting, training, equipment, facilities.
Help players with off ice issues, finding housing, getting to know the city.
Do whatever you can do off ice to insure players are comfortable, happy & stress free.
Allow young players time to develop, put them in situations to succeed. Don't put them into situations to fail.
Be an attractive destination for free agents.
Do everything you can to insure players want to come to your organization & want to stay there.

These are the Detroit hallmarks the Canucks have adopted.

 

[NuxFan09]

5th in the west offensively is nothing to get excited about, especially given our poor performance against playoff teams. You can sit there and ignore these signs that point to a third straight disappointing playoff exit stemming from no offense, or you can prepare yourself for it because you recognized the signs so when it comes you won't be disappointed. Either way, since it's too late to address this problem THIS season, hopefully Gillis FINALLY gets it and does something about it in the offseason.

Personally, this is what I'm doing. I'm getting roasted for my stance lately but at least I won't be gutted, or as gutted, when they flame out.

 

[deadinthewater]

While this game was largely stolen on the back of Cory Schneider, I think Burrows as Kesler deserve some credit for their great work defensively and on the PK. Burrows was also pretty much the only Canuck who generated some chances.

Thought Edler had a strong game, too. Nice to see him getting physically engaged, he is a monster when he does that...hopefully warming up for the playoffs.

Agreed. Burrows had a lot of chances out there. I thought Edler looked pretty good, some big hits, and chipped in with a goal. There were some instances, however, where he got walked around. He needs to clean that up.

 

[PG Canuck]

"Grinding out" is not descriptive of what happened last night. Canucks were lifeless and were Schneider not again spectacular they would've lost by a 2 or 3 goal margin, fairly easily.

I didn't refer to this game as grinding it out at all.

 

[B-rock]

I don`t think people are too excited about this team and for good reason. You can`t manufacture much offence playing chip and chase at every opportunity. AV is reverting back to his old tendencies and has this team playing a very boring brand of hockey, one the current players don't really fit.

AV has the pieces to attack teams, gain the other teams line once in a while instead of blinding dumping it everytime.

If you look at the roster he actually has a decent cast of players to work with since Roy was added and Kesler returned. No idea why he continues to play chicken **** hockey. Very frustrating to watch this team play and its very hard to blame the players at this point...way too many guys underachieving to not start questioning the coaching.

I think they do have the pieces to attack teams as well. Unfortunately AV prefers dull ass dump it in. Even with that strategy though this team could be more effective. The problem lies in the fact that there is no strategy to their dump ins. The timing is terrible. They are very rarely first on the dump in. Instead, it's one guy chasing the dump and attempting to create a turnover against very poor odds due to the other team having more guys back and arriving at the puck first.

I don't know if its execution or coaching but it makes for boring hockey due to the fact that the Canucks are rarely creating opportunities.

 

[Aphid Attraction]

Agreed. Burrows had a lot of chances out there. I thought Edler looked pretty good, some big hits, and chipped in with a goal. There were some instances, however, where he got walked around. He needs to clean that up.

Edler with a slap shot too, first in a while, I figured that he was only shooting wristers because of his back, it looks like he is close to being back at the right point of the season, very encouraging game for him.

 

[pahlsson]

I think they do have the pieces to attack teams as well. Unfortunately AV prefers dull ass dump it in. Even with that strategy though this team could be more effective. The problem lies in the fact that there is no strategy to their dump ins. The timing is terrible. They are very rarely first on the dump in. Instead, it's one guy chasing the dump and attempting to create a turnover against very poor odds due to the other team having more guys back and arriving at the puck first.

I don't know if its execution or coaching but it makes for boring hockey due to the fact that the Canucks are rarely creating opportunities.

it's like that with their "cycle game" too, instead of moving the puck down because someone is actually there, they just blindly throw it into the corner cuz they don't know what to do with it

 

[ddawg1950]

I always thought the "Detroit model" was a reference to the organization not in a playing style.
Being a class organization.
Go the extra mile in all the off ice things.
Spend money on scouting, training, equipment, facilities.
Help players with off ice issues, finding housing, getting to know the city.
Do whatever you can do off ice to insure players are comfortable, happy & stress free.
Allow young players time to develop, put them in situations to succeed. Don't put them into situations to fail.
Be an attractive destination for free agents.
Do everything you can to insure players want to come to your organization & want to stay there.

These are the Detroit hallmarks the Canucks have adopted.

You've said wayyy too many nice things about the Canucks organization to get much of a response.

But good post.

 

[Pip]

Edler with a slap shot too, first in a while, I figured that he was only shooting wristers because of his back, it looks like he is close to being back at the right point of the season, very encouraging game for him.

I didn't see him making any bad pinches either and was holding the line effectively which I like to see. Also I heard that he had 4 hits (tied with Lapierre for team lead last night) and I distinctly remember two of them being pretty big hits. It seems like he is ramping up for the playoffs, but I will see how he continues before making any real claims about Edler stepping up big time

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

So how was everyones pizza last night?

 

[Pip]

One thing to note, I thought AV did a dreadful time line matching, especially considering that we were at home. As much as I like to complain about Ebbett, when he was facing Datsyuk we can't really have any expectations of success. I saw way too many instances where they had their first line out against our bottom 6. We had that one beastly fourth line shift, but it is ridiculous to expect our fourth line to pin top lines in their own zone consistently.

 

[pahlsson]

have no idea why kesler wasn't matched up against datsyuk the whole game

 

[Pip]

have no idea why kesler wasn't matched up against datsyuk the whole game

Me neither, I was at the game, and found myself yelling for us to change whenever Datsyuk hopped over the boards. It wasn't even as if we were pinned and couldn't change, we would let our bottom six stay out there for the entire duration of the shift.

 

[LolClarkson*]

Hodgson's equivalent would be Tyler Ennis, but Buffalo wasn't going to trade him since they'd be doing a lateral swap at the same position. Plus, if Kesler's in the lineup, we have less need for that type of player.

We should have taken a salary dump or something and got Tyler Ennis or any number of Hodgson clones

 

[deadinthewater]

One thing to note, I thought AV did a dreadful time line matching, especially considering that we were at home. As much as I like to complain about Ebbett, when he was facing Datsyuk we can't really have any expectations of success. I saw way too many instances where they had their first line out against our bottom 6. We had that one beastly fourth line shift, but it is ridiculous to expect our fourth line to pin top lines in their own zone consistently.

Just another instance of AV deciding the entire game plan based on one shift (ie. putting Lapierre on the second line because he a scored a flukey goal).

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

How can anyone that watches this team think Kassian does not hit? The kid is 3rd on the team in hits...

I don't think he watches, and if he doesn't its with an Anti-Canuck agenda.

Ebbett plays a position of need, and at least Pinizzotto hits, which Kassian does not.

Ebbett isn't needed. He plays wing right now, and we have better players available to play wing. He shouldn't be here in a top 9 role, and if we ever need him as a 3C, we should use Schroeder (or even Lappierre) instead. Both are better players.

Kassian is 4th in hits on our team.