Post-Game Talk: [GM 71] Canucks defeat Sharks | 7-2 | Miller, Kuzmenko, Joshua, Garland, Podkolzin, Di Giuseppe, & Dries

[orcatown]

Looks like Reimer is fully committed to the tank. With some the players up here playing for Vancouver in their lineup, Abby would give the Sharks a good challenge and likely even win. Still Sharks played Edmonton and Calgary well so have to give the Canucks some credit for drubbing them.

Good

Joshua - real nice goal and better on the pk. Thought he was strong in every zone

Miller - strong when he had to be.

Hughes - just keeps motoring along. Establishing himself as top NHL tier d-man. More and more reliable in his own zone. PP work by him and others could use some work however

Hronek - style wise he plays some like Lidstrom (not that I'm saying he is anywhere near as good). Remains square to the play and rarely crossovers. Very calm and assured with puck on his stick and passes are well timed and well delievered. Sees the play quickly and looks like he has a high panic point Be interesting to see who he ends up with

Myers - can always find points to criticize but generally he has been playing big and getting people off the puck in his end. Contributed offensively as well n this one.

Kuzmenko - tailed off near the end ( once things were decided) but very good start. Scored and created numerous chances around the net. For my money was the best on his line.

Podkolzin - say this with some caution since his best efforts came when the game was decided. Still that was very good goal. Showing signs that last years good play was not an apparition and the talent is there. I wonder about having Kravtsov on the same line with him. Seems to me that both need to be attached with stronger players if they are to show more.

Garland - Hustle created chance after chances and some penalties as well. Probably the best forward. This guy has great playoff performer written all over him Surprised there wasn't more interest in him.

Bear - played with authority and maneuvered well in tight spaces. Also got up in the play and, overall, did a good job on the offensive blueline.

Not So Good

Burroughs - get himself out of position too often. Really like Burroughs over this run by the team but, like earlier, can't seem to sustain a high level. Main things that he seems to lack is anticipation.

Aman - not terrible but bit of passenger in this one. Long season could well be wearing on him. Needs his wheels going full out to compete and that wasn't always so in this one. To me, Aman has had , for a first season, a good year and slogging through to the end of it, will only improve him. One thing that is improving are his faceoffs.

Got to hope that Wolanin isn't hurt too bad. Abby needs him for the playoffs. Too bad that on the same day in gets new contract he gets banged up.

 

[Play]

Wings fan in peace. How did Hronek look in his first game for you? I see he played 24+ minutes with 3 hits.

Peace now and up until we meet in the finals , my friend.

Hronek looked great.

 

[Oddbob]

Peace now and up until we meet in the finals , my friend.

Hronek looked great.

Yeah, maybe in 7 or 8 years from now, hehehe!

 

[logan5]

Canucks allowed only 4 shots in the 2nd, and 4 shots in the 3rd, so they played a decent game imo. I mean the score was 7-2. lol.

Hughes with another point creeping his way up closer to 2nd in D scoring, and playing elite in the d zone again.

 

[Tinhorn1]

It really bothers me when media people don't know how to spell "led."

Or Corey Hirsch

If I want listen to someone ramble incoherently about the game I'll go to the bar.

 

[Regress2TheMeme]

I feel like I rarely see Hughes lose a battle these days. He either wins the race and eludes the pressure, or he gets position to absorbs a bump in open ice and still chip the puck.

 

[HockeyWooot]

Yup, talked about this in the last game thread. They feed off each other well.

I kind of liken it to the Matthias/Richardson/Kassian line that played great together as a bottom six line during one of the death marches a decade ago.

Ooof a period I'd rather forget about haha

 

[The Stig]

I recorded the game, and I literally just watched it. No commercials, I was not on a hfb throughout the game either.

Here is my unbiassed take on the game.

Hronik..I don’t think he lost the one puck battle, this entire game.
Ever pass was Crisp, it was literally the perfect game for him.

Hronek is Lidstrom

That is all

Well how can we argue with that?

 

[nucks88]

I feel like I rarely see Hughes lose a battle these days. He either wins the race and eludes the pressure, or he gets position to absorbs a bump in open ice and still chip the puck.

I saw him get a little nasty a couple of times as well ... good to see ...

 

[AzNightmare]

lmao, this thread is so woke.

 

[Catamarca Livin]

He’s a bitch that’s what he is, along side those assholes the Staal brothers.

Don’t use religion as a shield for bullshit

Yes all people should think the same. If they don"t then they should be shunned. No tolerance of divergent thought should be allowed. He must wear the shirt to show his thoughts are the acceptable thoughts. We should do the same for all Canadians on orange shirt and pink shirt days. Why just the shirt and not mandatory pride parade attendance. Maybe we should all have to pass a pride class and have our accreditation on us to prove we are rightful thinkers and not one of the "bitches" you speak of.

 

[nucksflailtogether]

that was hughes’ goal, no? Clearly no change in direction.

 

[tantalum]

Only watched the first.

From my limited viewing the one thing that stood out to me about the first 20 minutes of Hronek's career in a canucks uniform is how he knew what he was doing with the puck before it was on his stick. There was no dicking around it and getting into trouble. He knew where the passing lanes would be and sent the puck through those lanes. I hope that continues.

Also, great to see Reimer get lit up.

 

[ratbid]

I recorded the game, and I literally just watched it. No commercials, I was not on a hfb throughout the game either.

Here is my unbiassed take on the game.

Hronik..I don’t think he lost the one puck battle, this entire game.
Ever pass was Crisp, it was literally the perfect game for him.

Hronek is Lidstrom

That is all

This is an entirely reasonable and measured take. Someone want to put this on the main boards, along with reviving the deepest forward group thread after the scoring by committee clinic we witnessed last night?

 

[m9]

He couldn’t turn his head to check the middle of the ice? His partner had the puck carrier. Turn your stupid giraffe head for once

I'm always down for some Myers hate but if you watch the replay I really don't know what you could expect him to do. If you watch when Myers follows his guy it makes total sense given that Miller has the 3rd guy covered. If Miller wasn't there then Myers hanging back in a zone makes more sense.

 

[Jyrki]

Granted it was just one game, but Hronek had some nice shades of Hamhuis. I can't believe we have this guy in the roster being all calm and reasonable with the puck, then next pairing over you have chaos personified in Myers (although he played fine this time around).

Notwithstanding the circumstances of the acquisition, I do like Hronek so far.

 

[iceburg]

Was at the game last night. Fun one to watch live.

Hronek was very impressive. He is smooth and makes the right decisions very quickly. One game but man I think they have a guy who would not look out of place on any top pairing.

Kravtsov baffles me. He looks like he is one of the most skill forwards out there. He skating is smooth. He makes skilled plays with the puck at speed. But he gets absolutely nothing done. Wasn't confident that there would be any high danger chances when the puck was on his stick. I just looked at his stat line and it tells the story.

There's something more than just needing to get in shape with Kravtsov. I'm thinking it's more in his head than anything else. He needs to learn the NHL game quickly if he's going to stick.

Overall, I was very impressed with their defensive game. It wasn't perfect but it was good. There was one shift when SJ hemmed them in the defensive zone for a long period playing keep away (not surprising Kravtsov and Myers were on the ice). The PDG neutral zone turn over that led to the first SJ goal was poor and Kuzmenko just with a weak play to give up the puck on the powerplay that led to the 2nd SJ goal.

That Podkolzin wrister was a thing of beauty.

 

[m9]

Granted it was just one game, but Hronek had some nice shades of Hamhuis. I can't believe we have this guy in the roster being all calm and reasonable with the puck, then next pairing over you have chaos personified in Myers (although he played fine this time around).

Notwithstanding the circumstances of the acquisition, I do like Hronek so far.

Agreed, nice to see some capable defense and that's a credit to Hronek as well as coaching.

I think we really need to see what we have in Hronek in terms of PK ability. We can't fix the entire defense in an off-season but if he can contribute on the PK and play a solid defensive game then you can probably run with a Hronek/Myers/Bear group for one season and they'll complement each other pretty well in terms of ES/PP/PK usage. I know people want to run Myers out of town but it's unclear how easy that will be and we will still need someone in a similar role to him.

 

[Jerry the great]

if this Islanders pick drops to around 20, my opinion on the trade significatly changes.

I am shocked at how good the Islanders are doing right now, unprotected, first next year, will be terrifying, but if we’re doing this retool shit, they better go all in on it, doing anything half ass, won’t do anything, you have two years to fix this mess, we’re never going to rebuild

I'm not surprised at all re Islanders play. They're a good balanced team with excellent goaltending. there's a reason that team has made two conference finals in the last three years. Highly doubt they falter down the stretch, but if they do and the pick gets kicked to next year i doubt it will be very high. they have one free agent to sign and plenty of cap space to make it happen.

 

[ratbid]

Granted it was just one game, but Hronek had some nice shades of Hamhuis. I can't believe we have this guy in the roster being all calm and reasonable with the puck, then next pairing over you have chaos personified in Myers (although he played fine this time around).

Notwithstanding the circumstances of the acquisition, I do like Hronek so far.

Surprised to see this as the general consensus. Don't get me wrong I like Hronek and have been following him the last two years because of fantasy hockey. He certainly has had a heck of a year this year but the most consistent criticism is that he does get a little flustered. Like you said obviously just one game, but at least it may point to his growth and ability to eventually reach that level consistently (huge maybe). Either way I'm optimistic that we got a player who can anchor a strong second pairing, and hopeful he can continue to develop into more.

 

[M2Beezy]

If I want listen to someone ramble incoherently about the game I'll go to the bar.

Or just read my in game commentary

 

[credulous]

Surprised to see this as the general consensus. Don't get me wrong I like Hronek and have been following him the last two years because of fantasy hockey. He certainly has had a heck of a year this year but the most consistent criticism is that he does get a little flustered. Like you said obviously just one game, but at least it may point to his growth and ability to eventually reach that level consistently (huge maybe). Either way I'm optimistic that we got a player who can anchor a strong second pairing, and hopeful he can continue to develop into more.

yeah my takeaway from watching him for three seasons in detroit is that he's poor under pressure and easily forced out of the play. if that has changed then he's probably a better pickup than i gave the canucks credit for

 

[ratbid]

yeah my takeaway from watching him for three seasons in detroit is that he's poor under pressure and easily forced out of the play. if that has changed then he's probably a better pickup than i gave the canucks credit for

For sure, if that's changed then he's a top pairing RD. If that has improved he's an excellent second pairing RD. If it stays as it has been for the next years, he's still a good second pairing RD, that would simply need a strong defensive partner (looking at you Gavrikov).

The price was high but I don't hate it, definitely see the potential.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

As I expected..Hronek and Hughes were not paired together...Which makes sense, they are both PMD's and too similar.

One or the other will be on the ice , throughout most of the game.

 

[VanJack]

Wings fan in peace. How did Hronek look in his first game for you? I see he played 24+ minutes with 3 hits.

Hronek was a beast tonight......despite not playing for three weeks, Canucks were forced to play him 24 minutes when they lose Wolanin in the first shift of the game and were down five d-men.

Was solid positionally and makes crisp, clean passes out of his own zone. But of course the Sharks are tanking and didn't really put too much opposition.

I think he'll fit in fine with the Canucks. But the debate will continue on whether he was worth a mid-first rounder and an early second rounder in a deep draft.