Keith Ballard Discussion

[Tiranis]

If he had a coach that would tell him to go and just play his game then I think this would be a great pairing (with Garrison on the left). With AV though, I think he'd be so gun shy on his off side that it would not work.

Worked for the one game they tried it.

 

[mossey3535]

First, I'm saying Ballard makes the bad pass to avoid the hit, whereas Tanev takes the hit to make the good pass.

Second, fine, we're saying he plays soft when he has the puck in the corner.

Third, refer to post 615. I never said Ballard was tissue paper. I'm just defending Alflives' observation that Ballard makes questionable decisions to avoid hits (like Bieksa did shortly after his injury). I'm well aware of Ballard's chippy play in front of the net.

I understand and I still disagree with you. Tanev also throws his fair share of grenades back.

Also, you are more right than alflives. You're the one who brought up the 'pulling up'. All he talked about was Ballard WITHOUT the puck not moving into a position where he will 'take hits' which is nonsensical if you think about how the pair's defensive positioning works and the fact Ballard has apparently been instructed not to be the one who haed-mans or carries the puck out. It's easier to tee off on Tanev if you know he has to make a long outlet pass and he's definitely the one who is going to do it. That's on the coaches.

 

[David71]

Sakeres
Quote:
Many say that Ballard has always handled this professionally but behind the scenes, apparently he has been handling the situation differently

wonder how hes coping with it. sure hes angry but hes being a sport about it.

 

[Barney Gumble]

Sakeres
Quote:
Many say that Ballard has always handled this professionally but behind the scenes, apparently he has been handling the situation differently

wonder how hes coping with it. sure hes angry but hes being a sport about it.

Sakeres has no more sources of "insider information" regarding the Canucks than you or I.

 

[David71]

Sakeres has no more sources of "insider information" regarding the Canucks than you or I.

i hate his voice on the radio. along with patterson

 

[Aqualung]

Ballard admitted he understood the reasoning for his sitting out following some tough outings the last two weeks.

"I haven't played well enough, so I sat," said Ballard. "I think before that I was playing real solid, but sometimes it's game to game."

Vigneault said scratching Ballard had as much to do with getting ice time for Andrew Alberts and Cam Barker as it did Ballard's recent performance.

"We had wanted to take a look at Alberts and Barker," said Vigneault.

"His last couple games his performance had slipped. It shouldn't have been a surprise he got sat out. He had been told three of the last four games weren't what we wanted. He will get another opportunity tonight and hopefully he will play well."

Ballard will lineup with Cam Barker to form the third defensive unit.

http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=658670

 

[shortshorts]

Ballard > Bieksa defensively this season. Unfortunate about our lack of RSD.

 

[John Bender*]

I think we all have to face the fact that defensively, Kevin Bieksa is a poor player. We have seen him go through these large strings of games throughout his career where he is completely inept in his own end, and prone to horrendous errors with the puck. I think it's safe to say that the instances where he plays well without the puck and in his own end are more an abberation and a function of supreme play of his d-partner rather than his own game.

That said, Bieksa brings other attributes to the table that make him valuable. He is rugged, can drop the glvoes, has offensive upside and is a huge leader in the room - a real character guy.

It took me a long time to come to grips with the fact that he has very poor skills in some areas of his game - but one must accept all the bad to get the good.

I don't believe there is room on the team for both a Ballard and Bieksa. The team needs to be solid come playoff time and Ballard is simply not solid enough in his own end and without the puck. He also does not bring the same package of upside that Bieksa does. I sincerely hope that Gillis is actively trying to move Ballard, and if not - that he seriously considers waiving him just to get him off the books and to a new team.

 

[The Horvatian One]

If Barker ducks up I bet AV will still blame Ballard. Much rather see a Alberta and Ballard pairing than Barker. He gave the line up way too easily. Offensively I like how he got the shot through on a couple of occasions, but man if you can give the line up against the FLAMES.. That's worrisome....

 

[TruGr1t]

I think we all have to face the fact that defensively, Kevin Bieksa is a poor player. We have seen him go through these large strings of games throughout his career where he is completely inept in his own end, and prone to horrendous errors with the puck. I think it's safe to say that the instances where he plays well without the puck and in his own end are more an abberation and a function of supreme play of his d-partner rather than his own game.

That said, Bieksa brings other attributes to the table that make him valuable. He is rugged, can drop the glvoes, has offensive upside and is a huge leader in the room - a real character guy.

It took me a long time to come to grips with the fact that he has very poor skills in some areas of his game - but one must accept all the bad to get the good.

I don't believe there is room on the team for both a Ballard and Bieksa. The team needs to be solid come playoff time and Ballard is simply not solid enough in his own end and without the puck. He also does not bring the same package of upside that Bieksa does. I sincerely hope that Gillis is actively trying to move Ballard, and if not - that he seriously considers waiving him just to get him off the books and to a new team.

Don't tell the CBC, they think he is going to be on Team Canada.

 

[crazyforhockey]

Ballard > Bieksa defensively this season. Unfortunate about our lack of RSD.

keep in mind that Bieksa does play the tougher lines(top) as compared to ballard

 

[RezChi]

AV scratches him because he didn't play good enough for "past 3 games", well **** me up the ass. Why hasn't Edler, Bieksa, or Garrison ever been scratched?

keep in mind that Bieksa does play the tougher lines(top) as compared to ballard

Keep in mind, Ballard also doesn't play with "top" line players

 

[Verviticus]

http://vansunsportsblogs.com/2013/0...motion-has-come-at-the-cost-of-keith-ballard/

Thomas Drance over at Canucks Army broke down his involvement in the two Coyotes’ goals that were scored while he was on the ice, with his most egregious error coming on the Coyotes’ second goal. Instead of defending the front of the net, where Mikkel Boedker got a clear shot on net off a bad bounce, Ballard followed David Moss behind the net for no discernible reason.

It’s a poor decision by Ballard, but it’s reflective of how he played the entire game. In the defensive zone, Ballard tended to stick with his man at all costs, even when the better choice would have been to defend an area or help out a teammate in trouble. Instead of collapsing to the front of the net on broken plays, Ballard followed his check, no matter how far away from the action he was.

It’s certainly important to know where your check is on the ice, but a big part of playing defence is making smart choices and knowing when to leave your man to make a better play. Ballard frequently needs to simplify his game, but against Phoenix he simplified it too much.

It happened again and again... In one of his few third period shifts, he did it again, focussing so much on one man that the area in front of the net was completely clear.

The Coyotes’ second goal came almost exactly halfway through the game. Clearly Vigneault did not like his work on that goal. With three days between games, he would have had plenty of time to look at game tape and would have seen that he played the same way throughout the game and likely in previous games as well.

He would have seen something else as well: Ballard rarely passed the puck out the defensive zone himself. On almost every shift, he played the puck to his defence partner to move it out of the defensive zone. Considering his partner for much of the game was Alberts, that was less than ideal. Of the two, Ballard is meant to be the smooth-skating, puck-moving defenceman. Instead, he relied on his defence partner to move the puck out shift after shift.

When Ballard did try to move the puck out himself, he didn’t experience much success. He was tagged with 3 giveaways in the game, with one coming in his very first shift as he impatiently slapped the puck around the boards instead of looking for a better option. The puck was picked off easily. The same thing happened just prior to the Coyotes’ first goal, as Ballard failed to clear the defensive zone when he had the opportunity. The third came as he tried to force a pass through an oncoming forechecker. The puck deflected into the slot for a dangerous scoring chance.

really good breakdown of what AV probably saw in ballard to give him some time off

edit: oh this was posted last page. it doesn't appear anyone actually clicked the link so here's a bunch of text

 

[Barney Gumble]

really good breakdown of what AV probably saw in ballard to give him some time off

In short.....Two or three games completely reverses what Ballard has done since the Kings playoff series according to AV.

 

[me2]

http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=658670

Ballard will lineup with Cam Barker to form the third defensive unit.

There goes Ballard's career as a canuck. Talk about a hospital pass from AV.

 

[RezChi]

Wow AV, *slow clap*. You throw him under the bus for "not playing well in past 3 games" then you put him in a line with Cam Barker.

 

[me2]

Wow AV, *slow clap*. You throw him under the bus for "not playing well in past 3 games" then you put him in a line with Cam Barker.

Ballard should have asked for an amnesty buyout. I don't want him around any more at $4.2m, if he's not going to be used.

 

[Jack Tripper]

Sakeres has no more sources of "insider information" regarding the Canucks than you or I.

matt sekeres and blake price spent two hours on the radio yesterday seriously discussing the merits of flipping keith ballard straight up for mike komisarek...so yeah

 

[Verviticus]

In short.....Two or three games completely reverses what Ballard has done since the Kings playoff series according to AV.

he only sat out for a couple games now

edit: you people actually want barker with edler? are you insane?

 

[Waveburner]

Barker playing again makes me want to cry. This teams scouting department is clearly still utter garbage. Changes need to be made to this teams pro scouting staff this offseason. Enough is enough.

I still don't have a problem with Ballard sitting so Alberts can get some games in. I do not agree however with sitting him for Barker when Bieksa is also out. Just seems outright ridiculous.

As far as other posters lamenting why Bieksa is never held to the same standard? Easy answer. Number of RHS-2. Number of LHS-6. This discrepancy has almost always existed under Vigneault's regime, with only Salo around most of the time (when he's healthy). Being a right-handed shot has made it virtually impossible for Vigneault to scratch him given how important handedness is in the Canucks system. That and Vigneault has now coached Bieksa for a really long time, and clearly likes his game.

 

[StringerBell]

Thank God he's drawing back in tonight. And I love love everything I've heard from him on the benching. Saying all the right things and knows he needs to play better than the Phoenix game.

 

[Jack Tripper]

http://vansunsportsblogs.com/2013/0...motion-has-come-at-the-cost-of-keith-ballard/

He would have seen something else as well: Ballard rarely passed the puck out the defensive zone himself. On almost every shift, he played the puck to his defence partner to move it out of the defensive zone. Considering his partner for much of the game was Alberts, that was less than ideal. Of the two, Ballard is meant to be the smooth-skating, puck-moving defenceman. Instead, he relied on his defence partner to move the puck out shift after shift.

When Ballard did try to move the puck out himself, he didn’t experience much success. He was tagged with 3 giveaways in the game, with one coming in his very first shift as he impatiently slapped the puck around the boards instead of looking for a better option. The puck was picked off easily. The same thing happened just prior to the Coyotes’ first goal, as Ballard failed to clear the defensive zone when he had the opportunity. The third came as he tried to force a pass through an oncoming forechecker. The puck deflected into the slot for a dangerous scoring chance.

ballard is probably the best d-man on the team at bringing the puck out of the zone himself, so the fact that he was constantly passing to alberts that one game may reflect instructions from the coaching staff the previous few games that he was doing too much of that and had to rely on the long breakout pass that is required when playing av's system...he may have overcompensated and consequently made a few mistakes

however this doesn't justify the proportionality of the response...the guy had the fewest amount of giveaways among d-men on the team prior to that, has a few giveaways against phoenix, and then gets benched for 2 straight games in favour of ahl-calibre d-men

 

[Barney Gumble]

he only sat out for a couple games now

and rewards him by pairing him up with Barker.

edit: you people actually want barker with edler? are you insane?

Ballard & Alberts weren't good but I'd still take that pairing over Ballard & Barker.

 

[cotillion]

so the start of this thread ballard is horrific, then 27 pages later he is gods gift to the canucks... wtf.

 

[orcatown]

Someone needs to write the Ballad of Ballard