GDT: GM 5: Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues - 7:00PM PST - SNET VAN

[CherryToke]

New 2nd unit power play: The Kid Play.

Baertschi--Horvat--Virtanen
Hutton--McCann.

Make it happen.

Prust--Horvat--Dorsett
Cracknell--Hamhuis

The Mentor Play.

 

[The Jesus*]

Hopefully a healthy scratch gets Baertschi a little more hungry.



It's hard to give him too much credit when he costed us a playoffs series last year.

Now bench Vrbata and we'll be good.

 

[crazyforhockey]

At the time santos was valued but he was a free agent and a mostly set roster

They wanted to give some space so the rookies had a shot at making the lineup

Think Horvat or santos....who would you rather have......

And keep in mind that was before McCann had mono etc.

 

[tantalum]

Think Horvat or santos....who would you rather have......

And keep in mind that was before McCann had mono etc.

Horvat vs Santorelli wasn't really the choice though. The choice was perhaps better represented as Santorelli or target a center (Bonino) as part of the Kesler trade. Not commenting on the usefulness of Santorelli (I'm not nearly as high on him as others are) but just that was the basic choice management made.

 

[jd22]

If Cracknell gets around ~20-25 points this season It'll be a fantastic cost-efficient signing.

I wish Benning would target these kinds of players more often not overpriced 4th liners like Dorsett and Prust.

Dorsett is fine, just overused. Remember when Nonis tried to sign those kind of players? Remember -shudder- Marc Chouinard?

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Another day another chance to whail on the blues.

 

[PM]

How many games have we won against the Blues in a row now? Always makes for great betting odds, same with Buffalo always beating San Jose somehow.

 

[Reign Nateo]

Dorsett is fine, just overused. Remember when Nonis tried to sign those kind of players? Remember -shudder- Marc Chouinard?

Ya Dorsett gets a bit of a bad rap, I don't think he's that bad at all. He competes hard. Like you said, probably used too much but that's because he's willing to get dirty and coaches like and reward that stuff. His contract is also league average salary. Probably too much term, but I don't have a problem with him and his contract overall.

 

[Josepho]

How many games have we won against the Blues in a row now? Always makes for great betting odds, same with Buffalo always beating San Jose somehow.

I think it's at 7 now. Now if we can beat the Stars.

 

[I am toxic]

I mean, offensive zone positioning isn't really much of a LW/RW thing. That's more just, a Virtanen issue...maybe seemed more apparent when playing with more "skilled" players up the lineup on his off-wing, but LW/RW doesn't really dictate offensive zone position. It matters far more defensively and in transition (which is presumably why the staff wouldn't want to move Virtanen to his off wing for his 2nd ever NHL game).

Personally, i still think there's a good chance LW is the better fit for Virtanen's game long-term anyway. But for the time being, it does make sense to keep him confined to just his strong side wing...let him learn and settle in to one position before dumping any more on him. It's too bad though, with that 2LW spot crying out for..."someone who isn't Prust".


At some point, i really do hope they revisit that Bae-Bo-Virtanen "kid line" trio. But this isn't the game for that. Especially considering the whole issue of 2nd line Prust is basically created by the desire to sit Baertschi and let him think about a few of his fly-by plays from the last game or two.

I haven't really liked Vrbata with Bo at all...it just doesn't seem to jive. And Vrbata with Sutter is a poor fit, Vrbata with McCann puts a lot of pressure on whoever plays LW to carry a lot of the load physically and forechecking-wise. Vrbata with the Sedins ultimately seems like where this is (or at least should be) headed imo. But for now, until Higgins comes back, there's kind of a lack of options on the LW if/when Baertschi earns himself a game off. And i really wouldn't want to see Bo saddled with Prust and Sutter (who looks uncomfortable on the wing) as his wingers for tomorrow night.


Hopefully, at some point though, the staff open up to the idea of Virtanen playing either wing. Would give everyone a chance to see where he ultimately fits best...and would open up a lot of opportunities to move up the lineup early in his career if he shows that flexibility.

So much these two.

The opening two games against Calgary were a great opportunity to give the kid line a shot, no one would criticize WD if it went south, and there is still 80 games to recover the season.

As for Bae-Horvat-Vrbata, I have rarely seen such anti-chemistry. There was one play (can't remember which game) where Vrbata feathered a beautiful pass to Bae coming out of our zone, and Bae skated right past it not expecting to get the puck. It just summed up the complete lack of chemistry on that line.

Vrbata can at least work with the twins, while Sutter can move to the bottom 6. Could also result in padding Vrbata's stats if looking to move him at the trade deadline.

Good things WD has done so far this season? changing up lines in LA game, no too many men penalties so far (I think?)