Post-Game Talk: [GM29] Canucks defeat Lightning | 4-1 (Kuzmenko & Boeser(3)) | Three Straight!

[Kryten]

Get a Juulsen jersey.

Juulsevi

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

This is probably going to be an unpopular comment but we have a lot of guys rocking high shooting percentages. I'm not necessarily down on the team but I do have this nagging feeling that they're going to hit a huge wall of regression at some point, Not regression overall as a team but in scoring goals, definitely. That's why I'm so glad the team's defensive game is coming along and Demko is finding his form again. They'll need to be able to play those tight games if and when the scoring goes dry.

Not an unfair comment at all. These things tend to balance out over the course of of a season. The hope is that when they do, some of our secondary players get hot for a bit to help carry the load.

 

[MS]

Great response after giving up a soft early goal. Gave them nothing at 5-on-5 the rest of the way until the score affects stuff in the last 10 minutes.

Garland-Blueger-Joshua line was absolutely terrific. As good of a 3rd line game as you’ll see, all three guys playing their role perfectly.

Boeser is on a crazy confidence/luck run right now and hopefully can keep riding it. He’s playing hugely better but also is shooting double his career average and this will surely correct at some point.

Juulsen continues to play shockingly well. What a crazy turnaround there.

Zadorov had one crappy game against NJ but has looked very solid in the other 4.

Demko made some big saves on the PK to keep us ahead.

__________

Tampa looks like their window as a legit contender has closed. Kind of reminds me of the Hawk teams from 5 years ago where Kane (Kucherov) was winning scoring titles still but the depth and blueline were gutted and they lost in the first round every year. The crazy depth that the Lightning had 3-4 years ago has disappeared and that roster looks Chicago/Montreal-esque past the top few players.

Stamkos looked absolutely cooked last night and his horrific ES numbers all year would seem to indicate that this game wasn’t a one-off.

Darren Raddysh - a 27 y/o career minor-leaguer with 21 career NHL games heading into this season - is TB’s #4 defender with everyone healthy. I’ve said before that we tend to overestimate the defensive depth on ‘contending’ teams relative to us and this is another example.

 

[StreetHawk]

Tampa looks like their window as a legit contender has closed. Kind of reminds me of the Hawk teams from 5 years ago where Kane (Kucherov) was winning scoring titles still but the depth and blueline were gutted and they lost in the first round every year. The crazy depth that the Lightning had 3-4 years ago has disappeared and that roster looks Chicago/Montreal-esque past the top few players.

Stamkos looked absolutely cooked last night and his horrific ES numbers all year would seem to indicate that this game wasn’t a one-off.

Darren Raddysh - a 27 y/o career minor-leaguer with 21 career NHL games heading into this season - is TB’s #4 defender with everyone healthy. I’ve said before that we tend to overestimate the defensive depth on ‘contending’ teams relative to us and this is another example.

TB in the past 8 drafts since 2016 has traded the 3 that they used, Howden and the Foote brothers, and traded their other 4 picks to secure McDonaugh, Goodrow, Hagel (even used the JT Miller 1st we sent them to get Coleman. Last use of a 1st was in 2022. And owe their 2024 1st to Chicago. Sooner or later the well will run dry. It's hard to find and develop 3rd rounders and onwards.
Taylor Raddysh, Stephens, Katchouk were all like 2nd rounders by TB who were on Can's JR team and have they really developed into that quality bottom 6 guys in the NHL?
And TB has done very well with developing guys and having that effective yet cheap depth. But, realistically, when you are developing a 4th rounder, they will either finish their NCAA years at 22, then play like 2 years in the A and come up as a regular at 24. So you get 3 cheap years before they hit UFA and want to earn the big money. That's the situation with Ross. Had to move him.

Now, they are paying so many guys top end money. Vasi, Hedman, Serg, Kuch, Point. Stammer is a UFA to be and likely need to let him walk. Hagel is signed.

 

[Regress2TheMeme]

Rewatching the highlight package for this game two things stand out to me. The first is that the blueline was not soft. Everyone not named Hughes was getting big pieces of Tampa forwards. Cole, Zad and Juulsen led the way but Hronek and Myers also got some licks in.

The second is that Hoglander is a menace. He's getting in on the defense and coming up with lots of puck. On the first Boeser goal Segachev felt the pressure and threw the puck away with Hoglander bearing down.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Zadorov is getting better every game, such a great player

The back to back trades where Vancouver traded Beau for a pick and then used the pick, a future third rounder and the cap space to acquire Zadarov just gives me so much confidence in Allvin and our pro scouts. Lafferty for a fifth was another great one.
Allvin’s making a number of these smaller trades that are net wins while the rest of the NHL is having trouble making a single trade.

 

[MS]

TB in the past 8 drafts since 2016 has traded the 3 that they used, Howden and the Foote brothers, and traded their other 4 picks to secure McDonaugh, Goodrow, Hagel (even used the JT Miller 1st we sent them to get Coleman. Last use of a 1st was in 2022. And owe their 2024 1st to Chicago. Sooner or later the well will run dry. It's hard to find and develop 3rd rounders and onwards.
Taylor Raddysh, Stephens, Katchouk were all like 2nd rounders by TB who were on Can's JR team and have they really developed into that quality bottom 6 guys in the NHL?
And TB has done very well with developing guys and having that effective yet cheap depth. But, realistically, when you are developing a 4th rounder, they will either finish their NCAA years at 22, then play like 2 years in the A and come up as a regular at 24. So you get 3 cheap years before they hit UFA and want to earn the big money. That's the situation with Ross. Had to move him.

Now, they are paying so many guys top end money. Vasi, Hedman, Serg, Kuch, Point. Stammer is a UFA to be and likely need to let him walk. Hagel is signed.

They’re going to have to let Stamkos walk but most of the money saved there is going into the Hagel extension.

 

[StreetHawk]

They’re going to have to let Stamkos walk but most of the money saved there is going into the Hagel extension.

Well will run dry at some point for the prospect pool. Majority of the players who go onto to play 200 NHL games or 50 games for a goalie, come from the first 2 rounds (though some guys get to that 200 game mark simply due to draft position). Averages out to like 55-60 players each draft who hit those marks. Can't expect that kind of run for a long period of time of finding a few guys in the later part of the draft like that.

That's why you can't waste the prime years of your key guys. We discussed this regarding Carolina with Pesce/Slavin contracts due up soon. Best swings were KK, Burns, Patches? Really, for $16 mill last season that was your best use of that cap room?

 

[ProviesGhost]

I like the idea of the forward pairs then rotating the "supporting" players like Hoglander, PDG, Lafferty etc. up and down the line up to keep things fresh. It was a good game to watch, pretty high level hockey and I'm also glad we didn't collapse after the first goal (there has not been many of those this year).

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

The weird thing is that Jeannot was already starting to look like a pumpkin for Nashville last season and they still severely overpaid. Looking like a rare miss for Brisebois.

Yup and the opportunity cost in Jeannot's cap hit and the resources given up to acquire him are massive.

 

[Breakers]

Hughes passed Svechnikov in the past couple games

guy is chasing down Tkachuk

Despite having played like 70 less games

 

[andora]

The back to back trades where Vancouver traded Beau for a pick and then used the pick, a future third rounder and the cap space to acquire Zadarov just gives me so much confidence in Allvin and our pro scouts. Lafferty for a fifth was another great one.
Allvin’s making a number of these smaller trades that are net wins while the rest of the NHL is having trouble making a single trade.

oh come on, lafferty is trash did you not learn a thing

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

The back to back trades where Vancouver traded Beau for a pick and then used the pick, a future third rounder and the cap space to acquire Zadarov just gives me so much confidence in Allvin and our pro scouts. Lafferty for a fifth was another great one.
Allvin’s making a number of these smaller trades that are net wins while the rest of the NHL is having trouble making a single trade.

It's really encouraging to see a front office that isn't distracted by shiny toys/draft pedigree and actually does their job.

I might need to take a mea culpea on Todd Harvey. Unsure of how much of a role he's playing (I think he's just amateur scouting?)

 

[I am toxic]

Rewatching the highlight package for this game two things stand out to me. The first is that the blueline was not soft. Everyone not named Hughes was getting big pieces of Tampa forwards. Cole, Zad and Juulsen led the way but Hronek and Myers also got some licks in.

The second is that Hoglander is a menace. He's getting in on the defense and coming up with lots of puck. On the first Boeser goal Segachev felt the pressure and threw the puck away with Hoglander bearing down.

So many people don't appreciate the importance of this. These plays are difference makers in games, can occur on completely different shifts than when goals are scored, and of course don't show up as an assist, yet are equally as important.

 

[Zippgunn]

Good bounce back game for Demko after 4 meh games. That 3rd line is dynamite as well. Boeser scoring goals like there's no tomorrow... especially empty netters. Good times.