It’s beyond me why Hughes is executing that poor shot of his continuously when EP is open on the power play. A few of those league leading amount of goal posts being in goal instead and a pp QB who actually plays to setup the best shooter instead of trying to pad his own stats (for no reason as Hughes can’t score from the point to save his life) and EP would’ve scored a lot of goals this season.
It’s beyond me why Hughes is executing that poor shot of his continuously when EP is open on the power play. A few of those league leading amount of goal posts being in goal instead and a pp QB who actually plays to setup the best shooter instead of trying to pad his own stats (for no reason as Hughes can’t score from the point to save his life) and EP would’ve scored a lot of goals this season.
Well we could have added those things, but it would have cost you Hughes or Pettersson next year.
I agree, but that was just the shitty position we were in thanks to him. Nothing could have been donethat's laughable. we could have added such things if we didn't spend $ on garbage.
not to mention, benning's ability to get creative in these situations is non-existent.
"Canucks hockey in 2021"
that's laughable. we could have added such things if we didn't spend $ on garbage.
not to mention, benning's ability to get creative in these situations is non-existent.
I liked OJ too. Every NHL d man gets beat wide at some point. OJ needs to play more. He’s smart, and will figure out his gaps better. Would be nice if his partner would sneak over on that play and blow up the Leaf heading to the net. If we have a system in place with actual back pressure from our forwards, the offside d can do such things.Random Player Specific Game Thoughts:
Juolevi - Mentioned earlier, but I liked his game. More specifically I thought he had a few smart offensive plays. I still have some concerns about his defensive play as he's really slow around the edges and teams are catching on. Remind me of a another high-pick named Olli in that regard, Olli Maata. He did make a nice play on the 1-on-1, however he did setup the 1-on-1 with a poor clearing attempt. Overall it was a good outing and is an upgrade on Chatfield at this point.
Edler - Thought you had a very motivated version of Edler tonight. Looked tougher on the puck and played a stronger, physical game.
Beagle - There have been a ton of problems on the team this year, but Beagle isn't really one of them. Putting aside salary for a second, this version of Beagle is a capable 4th line center. Will be interesting if he can keep it up without Motte.
Bailey - His speed jumps out compared to how slow the rest of the team is. Before Motte went out I was hoping to see a Motte/Gaudette/Bailey line which would have the wheels to give other teams some trouble.
Roussel - At this point you really have to wonder what he brings to the team. If there's a guy that should be an under-the-radar trade candidate, it's him. Getting that contract off the books for next year should be a massive priority for this team right now which will open up a spot for someone like Podkolzin in the bottom six.
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What you're really seeing this year is exactly what "replacement level" means in the bottom six forward group and the bottom of the D. Not much difference on D between guys like Myers, Juolevi, and Benn. If you've been asleep for a week you can throw Chatfield in that group too. Not much difference up front between guys like Roussel, Bailey, Eriksson, Gaudette, Virtanen, MacEwen. All bring some different things but you can name a couple pros and a few cons for each guy and none of them should have a price tag longer than 6 digits.
I liked OJ too. Every NHL d man gets beat wide at some point. OJ needs to play more. He’s smart, and will figure out his gaps better. Would be nice if his partner would sneak over on that play and blow up the Leaf heading to the net. If we have a system in place with actual back pressure from our forwards, the offside d can do such things.
Random Player Specific Game Thoughts:
Juolevi - Mentioned earlier, but I liked his game. More specifically I thought he had a few smart offensive plays. I still have some concerns about his defensive play as he's really slow around the edges and teams are catching on. Remind me of a another high-pick named Olli in that regard, Olli Maata. He did make a nice play on the 1-on-1, however he did setup the 1-on-1 with a poor clearing attempt. Overall it was a good outing and is an upgrade on Chatfield at this point.
Edler - Thought you had a very motivated version of Edler tonight. Looked tougher on the puck and played a stronger, physical game.
Beagle - There have been a ton of problems on the team this year, but Beagle isn't really one of them. Putting aside salary for a second, this version of Beagle is a capable 4th line center. Will be interesting if he can keep it up without Motte.
Bailey - His speed jumps out compared to how slow the rest of the team is. Before Motte went out I was hoping to see a Motte/Gaudette/Bailey line which would have the wheels to give other teams some trouble.
Roussel - At this point you really have to wonder what he brings to the team. If there's a guy that should be an under-the-radar trade candidate, it's him. Getting that contract off the books for next year should be a massive priority for this team right now which will open up a spot for someone like Podkolzin in the bottom six.
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What you're really seeing this year is exactly what "replacement level" means in the bottom six forward group and the bottom of the D. Not much difference on D between guys like Myers, Juolevi, and Benn. If you've been asleep for a week you can throw Chatfield in that group too. Not much difference up front between guys like Roussel, Bailey, Eriksson, Gaudette, Virtanen, MacEwen. All bring some different things but you can name a couple pros and a few cons for each guy and none of them should have a price tag longer than 6 digits.
Leafs still can't say jack cause they can't win a playoff series lol
Second unit PP is a very good idea. Play OJ and Schmidt together.It would be nice if this team had a true top-4 they could count on and then you could actually develop Juolevi in a 3rd pairing sheltered role for 10-12 minutes a night with a safe option. I also don't think it would be bad to get him some 2nd unit PP time and get him used to handling the puck a bit more.
Gaunce was bad, and I wasn’t a huge Hutton fan but your post is a thought provoking one. All considered would I prefer Beagle or Gaunce?Well said.
Luke Schenn would have (did) pair well with Hughes, at a fraction of the cost of Myers, freeing up Schmidt to pair with Edler (oh no! we can't have a RHD play the Left side, the universe will implode!).
Hutton and Stecher would make an excellent 3rd pairing, Stecher for sure has demonstrated he can successfully cover top4 duties in a pinch. Bur our coach prefers garbage over actual NHL players, unfortunately.
I won't go into forwards, but Gaunce was better than half our bottom 6 - wait, he was also better than several players who aren't even playable. Again at a fraction of the cost.
All predicted in advance. No hindsight, no waiting and seeing.
And add second round picks, that he actually uses to draft D. Woo might be a player, but Romanov got picked right afterwards. Extra second round picks can hit some really good d, but a team needs lots of swings.Gaunce was bad, and I wasn’t a huge Hutton fan but your post is a thought provoking one. All considered would I prefer Beagle or Gaunce?
To improve the defence Benning needed to add Schmidt to a group that had Tanev and Stecher.
And add second round picks, that he actually uses to draft D. Woo might be a player, but Romanov got picked right afterwards. Extra second round picks can hit some really good d, but a team needs lots of swings.
Plus, missing on OJ was disastrous. Sergachev and Chychrun look pretty darned good. Every team misses though. JB just trades away so many top picks it magnifies his misses.
OJ looked like a significant upgrade over Chatfield to me. But that probably means he gets stapled to the taxi squad again and Chatfield is on the top pairing given how Green likes to do things. I'll never understand why offensive zone faceoffs after commercial breaks always have to be Sutter or Beagles line and never the top guys.
Well said.
Luke Schenn would have (did) pair well with Hughes, at a fraction of the cost of Myers, freeing up Schmidt to pair with Edler (oh no! we can't have a RHD play the Left side, the universe will implode!).