Post-Game Talk: [GM12] Canucks lose to Predators - 3-4 (Shootout) (Mikheyev, Miller, & Kuzmenko)

[Vector]

@credulous A win or two outs then far ahead of where they are now. Compare the numbers from where he was last season compared to how he is this season. Canucks had an atrocious PK last season too. The only difference between the two seasons is Demko went from top-5 to, at best, middle of the pack. The team isn’t good enough to cover for that.

 

[MS]

Anyone trying to say that “leadership” is the reason this team is losing really needs to think just a little bit harder. The main difference between this season and last season is Demko isn’t playing like a superstore.

That’s it.

Demko bailed out the team countless times last season. We all said that if he doesn’t play the same, this team is in trouble. Management even implied it. Coaching said it. Well, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Him being pretty bad has exposed the massive weaknesses throughout the rest of the roster. Primarily the complete lack of skill level and high end players on defense. A good defence can mask problems the same way a great goalie or system can. We have none of those three. Even if we did have a good system, there’s no way this personnel can accomplish it.

That they blown multiple multigoal leads isn’t on leadership. Get good players that fit a system together, they start winning, then everyone will talk about how great the room is.

Pretty much.

If we had bang-average .900 goaltending so far that’s a difference of 10 goals in only 12 games. Almost every game has been a 1-goal game.

Expectations involved the projection that we’d have top-5/8 goaltending. Instead it’s been bottom-3.

 

[credulous]

@credulous A win or two outs then far ahead of where they are now. Compare the numbers from where he was last season compared to how he is this season. Canucks had an atrocious PK last season too. The only difference between the two seasons is Demko went from top-5 to, at best, middle of the pack. The team isn’t good enough to cover for that.

no disagreement here. i just don't think demko should shoulder all the blame. the team in front of him sucks and is easier to fix than relying on getting all world goaltending year in and year out

 

[MS]

demko is only -0.44 gsaa at even strength. that's not great but it's good for 33rd in the nhl. martin is only 24th at 0.75. the different is demko is dead last in the league at -6.13 gsaa short handed. martin is much better at -1.14 shorthanded but he's only faced ~12 minutes of shorthanded time compared to ~36 for demko

demko playing better at even strength would buy the canucks a win or two but it's the penalty kill that is burying them not their even strength goaltending

Part of the problem with the PK is that the goalie can’t make a save on it.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

This has always been the case with Myers for pretty much his entire career. He generally ends up being an awkward partner to whoever he’s partnered with and almost never forms a pairing greater than the sum of its parts (except when OEL basically carried him for half of last season). It’s why he was always paired with bottom pairing guys in Winnipeg.

He ends being poor fit on every defensive corps he’s been on with the exception of his rookie season.

I don’t completely buy in to the he was being carried by OEL bit..Myers has been consciously changing his game into more of a shutdown D man..and was largely good last season

He’s struggling a bit this year though..but he isn’t the only D man that is..He has company in our top 4.

 

[mossey3535]

Yeah I mean like everything in hockey it's a confluence of factors. Demko is very poor right now relative to how he normally plays. I think Clark is falling down on the job a little here. So there's that aspect.

But then if they weren't allowing deflections and easy cross-crease passes on the PK then Demko would have a better chance at making saves. I seem to remember a lot of those so far.

They could also defend better as a whole and avoid some of those penalties. There are some lazy one in there and the team isn't that disciplined. Usually a winning team has that kind of discipline.

 

[m9]

This team is just constructed very poorly, especially when it comes to the PK. Mikheyev will help and Demko will play better, but this defense has nobody who should be on a PK1 unit and it shows.

 

[Vector]

no disagreement here. i just don't think demko should shoulder all the blame. the team in front of him sucks and is easier to fix than relying on getting all world goaltending year in and year out

Yes. That’s what I said. It’s a poorly composed team that had the problems papered over last season by an outstanding goaltender. They are the same team, actually better from a personnel standpoint, but Demko hasn’t been able to mask the problems that still exist.

 

[Mahateet]

You get what you pay for. Especially when you pair him with Myers.

Social media is cancer.

Seems like every D plays their worst when they are paired with Myers. Making our Defence better starts with getting rid of him

 

[quat]

Canucks need a leader that isn't shaken mentally. It's like all our best players freeze the second the other team start applying pressure instead of rolling over and dying.

At first I thought I understood this, but upon reading it again, I'm confused. You prefer a team that rolls over and dies vs on that freezes? What's the net difference in outcome?

 

[Kryten]

At first I thought I understood this, but upon reading it again, I'm confused. You prefer a team that rolls over and dies vs on that freezes? What's the net difference in outcome?

How the hell do you wake up dead

 

[Canucker]

It's pretty sad that our most dependable defenseman was a depth player in Tampa Bay...and a guy who actually played well for us, albeit in a very limited viewing (Brisebois), can't even displace the most obvious defensive problem children we have. I think what's the most frustrating is that we have potential answers to problems, but the coaches/management would prefer to keep playing the same guys who cause the problems and expect a different result.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Part of the problem with the PK is that the goalie can’t make a save on it.

The thing is, even last year Demko struggled on the PK. He was one of the best at ES, but one of the worst on the PK. We also lead the league in penalty minutes right now. Having a bad PK, with a goalie who struggles there, and taking more penalties than anybody and its no surprise the PK is causing us games.

I can see Demko returning to form at ES being more likely than improving on the PK. If he doesn’t improve the first thing would be not send out Horvat, Myers, Miller etc. which looks like is being done finally. Also having more speed in the line up and having more players ahead of the play instead of behind it would help here. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our slower veteran players like Schenn, Myers, and Pearson are the ones taking the majority of the penalties.

 

[mathonwy]

Consequences of no shut down forwards.

No Lazar.

i don’t doubt this is how nashville saw it. i am sure as they doing tape before the game, the message was, these are mentally weak losers and you are never out of it. we have a reputation and it means teams aren’t going to get demoralized no matter how big a lead we build.

but i don’t think that first goal was the real turning point. what i saw was us continuing to carry the play through the second period while myers was serving his triple penalty. but then in the last minute myers is back and immediately proceeds to flub a breakout, gets spun around a few times on the ensuing nashville cycle, and then we get caved in. that shift was the momentum nashville took into the intermission, where their coach 100% said “we have these losers right where we want them.”

i knew that shift we were going to lose. i nodded off during the intermission and woke up three minutes into the third and saw the 3-3 score and was like, sounds about right.

obviously i didn’t see the two goals but what i’m imagining is demko lets in that early, somewhat fluky goal, both he and the team get demoralized, which compounds exponentially because each of them doesn’t trust the other, and at the same time saros really really has milller’s (and omg dries’s) number, which is also in the team’s heads.

and that was the game.

Gavrikov from the BJs said exactly this during the 2nd intermission and they tied it in the 3rd and Gavrikov scored the Ot winner.

The Canucks players don’t think it’s worth playing the type of hockey necessary to hold onto leads.

Seems like every D plays their worst when they are paired with Myers. Making our Defence better starts with getting rid of him

it really does.

Myers, like Brandon Sutter, marches to his own beat.

Letting Tanev walk utterly crippled our ability to ‘develop’ good defensive dmen.

How could a f***ing ex-NHL dman GM allow this to happen is beyond explanation.

 

[canuckking1]

At first I thought I understood this, but upon reading it again, I'm confused. You prefer a team that rolls over and dies vs on that freezes? What's the net difference in outcome?

The gist of what I'm saying is the Canucks star players freeze when a team they put in a hole doesn't just quit.

 

[Hansen]

How could a f***ing ex-NHL dman GM allow this to happen is beyond explanation.

This homer simpson regen mf was allowed to spend 744 Million dollars

 

[Breakers]

This is quite an understatement. Dickinson is playing almost 16 minutes a game for the Hawks and has been solid. He obviously wasn't a fit here due to the hand thing and possible locker room issues but we gave up a f***ing 2nd as well and got complete trash back in Stillman...who makes 1.35M for both this season and the next. It's laughable.

Stillman is signed for next season?

I just learning about this
FRANK!!!!

Can’t stand him.

 

[me2]

This homer simpson regen mf was allowed to spend 744 Million dollars

I can never get past Homer designing a car when I think of Benning. Here's the plan and here's the final team.

 

[sting101]

Who survives terrible goaltending in this league?

You cant bury it on a lower line or insulate with others. Demko needs towake the F up

No Lazar.

Gavrikov from the BJs said exactly this during the 2nd intermission and they tied it in the 3rd and Gavrikov scored the Ot winner.

The Canucks players don’t think it’s worth playing the type of hockey necessary to hold onto leads.

it really does.

Myers, like Brandon Sutter, marches to his own beat.

Letting Tanev walk utterly crippled our ability to ‘develop’ good defensive dmen.

How could a f***ing ex-NHL dman GM allow this to happen is beyond explanation.

Benning like Baumgartner see's defense through the eyes of a terrible defenseman. If it was Mike Weaver or Biega who had super limited skills yet rose above that to have a decent career it would probably be different, instead you have 2 high picks who essentially busted due to making bad decisions all the time.

 

[Vector]

The upcoming road trip is strange as hell. The next four games are two separate back-to-backs (Senators-Canadiens & Maple Leafs-Bruins). However, apart from the game against the Senators, the Canucks opponents will also be on their second game of a back-to-back. Canadiens are in Detroit Tuesday. Maple Leafs face the Penguins Friday. Bruins are in Buffalo on Saturday. Canucks also have a two day break between these series.

Don’t know if I’ve ever seen it scheduled like this before.

 

[credulous]

The upcoming road trip is strange as hell. The next four games are two separate back-to-backs (Senators-Canadiens & Maple Leafs-Bruins). However, apart from the game against the Senators, the Canucks opponents will also be on their second game of a back-to-back. Canadiens are in Detroit Tuesday. Maple Leafs face the Penguins Friday. Bruins are in Buffalo on Saturday. Canucks also have a two day break between these series.

Don’t know if I’ve ever seen it scheduled like this before.

the pens canucks game in vancouver was the day after the canucks played in seattle and 2-3 days after the pens last played (edmonton i think?)

 

[Vector]

the pens canucks game in vancouver was the day after the canucks played in seattle and 2-3 days after the pens last played (edmonton i think?)

Yeah but the Penguins weren’t on game two of a back-to-back and the Canucks didn’t have another back-to-back afterwards.

It was weird though. Canucks part of a home-away back-to-back then had 3 days off before the next home game.

 

[Petey But Really Jim]

Stillman is signed for next season?

I just learning about this
FRANK!!!!

Can’t stand him.

 

[me2]

The upcoming road trip is strange as hell. The next four games are two separate back-to-backs (Senators-Canadiens & Maple Leafs-Bruins). However, apart from the game against the Senators, the Canucks opponents will also be on their second game of a back-to-back. Canadiens are in Detroit Tuesday. Maple Leafs face the Penguins Friday. Bruins are in Buffalo on Saturday. Canucks also have a two day break between these series.

Don’t know if I’ve ever seen it scheduled like this before.

In the team's 12 games they have played 5 teams currently in playoff positions. Of those 5

1 contender: Carolina
1 pretender: Edmonton
3 of last year's easy beats: NJ, Philly and Seattle.

Nearly 60% of the games have come against bottom 10 teams.

 

[Vector]

In the team's 12 games they have played 5 teams currently in playoff positions. Of those 5

1 contender: Carolina
1 pretender: Edmonton
3 of last year's easy beats: NJ, Philly and Seattle.

Nearly 60% of the games have come against bottom 10 teams.

Yeah, I’ve been tracking the schedule and who they’ve lost to has been a major problem. They started on a long road trip but the competition wasn’t that difficult. Since they’ve lost a lot of winnable games, just to make the playoffs possible, they have to win every winnable game and steal wins or points against the best teams. No margin for error.