Post-Game Talk: Refs Decide to Make Canucks feel ok with Preseason (Oil 4 - Nuckleheads 5)

[Cloned]

Slop.

Pre-season form for the refs. But the Canuckles asserted themselves early while the Oil backed into this game. Not a lot of help for Skinner who was generally pretty good in this one. PK got beaucoup workout with the penalty discrepancy which tipped this game.

Coming into focus is Niemelainen over Broberg. Can't view a 21 year old defender as failing here. Simply years development behind which requires getting stronger to hold his own in battle areas and tied to that is increasing speed of his decision making (this latter growth we saw Bouchard go through that last year). I don't where Samaroukov lands with waiver eligibility.

Puljujarvi with a pretty nondescript game. Not a lot going on in the o-zone which places a drag on his ability to be more than just a good player. Foegele, when inspired, shows a strong puck hunter game with his skating. Would give the edge to Foegele through camp and he's a player I'm not a big fan of his game when the spirit doesn't move him.

Holloway is on this team at worse as a 3W and possibly a top six with Draisaitl. Hard to get a read on this slop game and tons of penalties but his fast puck hunting game doesn't seem a match with McDavid's instinctual slashing game. Draisaitl's methodical, traditional big centre game seems a better, more natural fit.

Virtanen a decent game showing a bit more speed and some disruption on the forecheck. His skills are off with likely rust from a turbulent two years. His hand eye is off which you see in his shot which has been off target or double clutch. Skating is good but not powerful which is a calling card for the player. Too safe and needs more runway to get his skills up to speed. He'll be cut but I still think a two way contract with time in Bakersfield is worth continuing this potential for end of roster right shooting depth.

Shore is on this team. Think the coach loves his versatility and coachable attitude. Not sure what shakes out between Janmark and Ryan.

Time to get this team locked in and ready to roll for the regular season. Too sloppy tonight with one no counter gain left.

Like I said, I think the way the lineups have been distributed this preseason has made evaluation tougher than necessary, and may now pose a problem for our starters not getting enough time to shake off the rust before the regular season starts.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

I see JP has continued on from his playoff play.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I see JP has continued on from his playoff play.

Not helped but not hurt his team?

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Not helped but not hurt his team?

Sure if that is how you want to put it. Looks very expendable.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Virtanen is basically in that category as well... not helped a lot... not hurt a lot... but his big advantage is a cap hit of likely $750,000 if he signs a deal... so they can wedge him onto the lineup more easily than some other options AND at $750,000 he's not expected to put up big numbers... in fact if your 4th line players getting league minimum can basically tread water... that's a big win because that allows your top line players who are making 5/10/15 times as much money... to play their games while not having to play catch-up constantly.

 

[Oilhawks]

There are better players we would have to pass thru waivers to do so. Not worth it.


But is he better than 12-13 of our forwards right now? I’d say no.

Pretty sure they have to anyway. As of now they need to waive one of Foegele, Ryan or Janmark and replace their cap with one of the league minimum guys. Virtanen has been better than all of them except Benson, who is injured.

 

[Throttlehead]

Reid Anderson is the guy that Draisaitl shot in the face last season.

There are kids on this site.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Like I said, I think the way the lineups have been distributed this preseason has made evaluation tougher than necessary, and may now pose a problem for our starters not getting enough time to shake off the rust before the regular season starts.

Still a lot of practise time with largely set lines. Woodcroft has generally kept duos together while integrating players in roster battles to test their response. But certainly they didn't look sharp. Can't say I liked the Nurse Ceci top pairing for much of their night.

Can't necessarily say I disagree with you. Have one final exhibition game, at home, to lock down a better, cleaner game and get the big guns firing into the regular season.

 

[Cloned]

Still a lot of practise time with largely set lines. Woodcroft has generally kept duos together while integrating players in roster battles to test their response. But certainly they didn't look sharp. Can't say I liked the Nurse Ceci top pairing for much of their night.

Can't necessarily say I disagree with you. Have one final exhibition game, at home, to lock down a better, cleaner game and get the big guns firing into the regular season.

There’s hope for me convincing you about 80/20 yet.

 

[iCanada]

I'd call that more off a knock on the Canucks. I mean you want to see a much stronger response when Pettersson is run head first into the boards.

I think the Canucks as a team, and a guy like Petersson (or Hughes for that matter) in particular have a certain type of competitiveness that is hard to provide big physical responses to. When you fall and writhe regardless of what happens your teammates don't really know when something actually bad happened. Particularly when you're not exactly filledwith truculence, hard to put yourself on the line when you don't know if it's even real event.

Not sure I'd be lining up to have a guy like Nurse or Nemo beat the piss out of me in the Nucks case either. And if the refs are going to give you the calls...

But even on a team like Calgary that was basically the toughest in the NHL last year, no one wanted to stand up for Tkachuk either.

 

[Cloned]

There was a Flames puff piece on Sportsnet that compared Treliving to Micheal Corleone…

…they know how that story ended, right?

 

[Tarus]

There was a Flames puff piece on Sportsnet that compared Treliving to Micheal Corleone…

…they know how that story ended, right?

A tepid season where one of the owner's daughters ruins everything and Treliving bites the bullet at the end sounds like a good thing to me

 

[Cloned]

A tepid season where one of the owner's daughters ruins everything and Treliving bites the bullet at the end sounds like a good thing to me

Are we sure we want Treliving fired? lol.

 

[Fishy McScales]

Like I said, I think the way the lineups have been distributed this preseason has made evaluation tougher than necessary, and may now pose a problem for our starters not getting enough time to shake off the rust before the regular season starts.

I kind of agree, but at the same time we're coming off of a deep run and if we go deep again like we hope to we want our guys as fresh as possible.

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

How was Holloway?

I didn’t expect hat trick every game. But he played ok?

 

[harpoon]

Pretty sure they have to anyway. As of now they need to waive one of Foegele, Ryan or Janmark and replace their cap with one of the league minimum guys

Janmark has done nothing to make me think he will be a useful contributor this season. I’ve even tried to key on him, but he never does anything when I remember to look for him and then a whole period goes by that I don’t even notice him. I’m not saying he’s terrible at all. He’s probably one of the advanced stats darlings that I’m just too old school to appreciates. But I sure don’t see why Holland rushed out and signed this player in the early days of free agency. Was he that coveted around the league?

 

[MessierII]

How was Holloway?

I didn’t expect hat trick every game. But he played ok?

It was a weak game from him. He definitely clicks way better with Leon than with Connor.

 

[Cloned]

I kind of agree, but at the same time we're coming off of a deep run and if we go deep again like we hope to we want our guys as fresh as possible.

It was the timing of how the lineups were distributed too. None of the top forwards played in the first three games.

 

[CupofOil]

It was a weak game from him. He definitely clicks way better with Leon than with Connor.

Or he plays better against weaker competition. His two worst games were against largely NHL lineups while his best games were against weaker lineups. Not knocking him, love the kid, but perhaps expectations should be tempered a bit.
I do think he works better with Drai though.

 

[SnipeShowJB11]

I see JP has continued on from his playoff play.

You just want to see him charge in with a puck, make some nice passes, or just generate Grade A's coming from him. He is just a passenger with some "disruption". Hey, if they want to start him on line 1 with McDavid and Kane and they score more than they let in, go ahead I guess. Yesterday McDavid solo'd his goal and then the set up he made to Hamblin.

Holloway was the same as well. Didn't notice him much against tougher competition. I want to see him with Leon next game again.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Virtanen is basically is in that category as well... not helped a lot... not hurt a lot... but his big advantage is a cap hit of likely $750,000 if he signs a deal... so they can wedge him onto the lineup more easily than some other options AND at $750,000 he's not expected to put up big numbers... in fact if your 4th line players getting league minimum can basically tread water... that's a big win because that allows your top line players who are making 5/10/15 times as much money... to play their games while not having to play catch-up constantly.

Virtanen 3 games in a row now has setup scoring plays and been involved in other plays. I feel he's gotten better as preseason has dragged on and the club are interested too playing him the 3 games in a row.

You just want to see him charge in with a puck, make some nice passes, or just generate Grade A's coming from him. He is just a passenger with some "disruption". Hey, if they want to start him on line 1 with McDavid and Kane and they score more than they let in, go ahead I guess. Yesterday McDavid solo'd his goal and then the set up he made to Hamblin.

Holloway was the same as well. Didn't notice him much against tougher competition. I want to see him with Leon next game again.

Pulju waa arguably one of the better Oilers in first period banging for pucks on the boards and in one sequence he won 3 puck battles in a row to sustain an Ozone sequence. He's an OX, and its one of the things the Oilers get out of him playing that way and being tough to knock off the puck. The Oilers were losing psssession without him doing this, and not the only time.

 

[Drivesaitl]

It was a weak game from him. He definitely clicks way better with Leon than with Connor.

Noticed as well that he'll play a game on fire, all kinds of jam, and follow it up with a game where he's tired and doesn't have his A game pace. Trying to bring a level of play will be a challenge for him to figure out. Sure he plays better with Drai, the style of play suits him more. McD is a score off the rush guy. Drai benefits more from players that can cycle and sustain an offensive pressure. Holloway can do both but I think he feels the puck on his stick more with Drai feeding him. Drai uses linemates better than McD does.

 

[brentashton]

Didn't get to watch all of the game.

Who will stay out of Broberg, Niemelainen and Samorukov?

Niemelainen has definitely been a better showing throughout camp. Broberg is off, the weight gain may be impacting his reaction and fluidity (is that a word?) and then when that starts sometimes the nerves start to show further compounding. Samo needs more AHL time.

I really like the hardness to Nemos game and I think it’s a facet that adds to the roster in more ways than keeping Broberg and allowing to play through his struggles.

 

[MessierII]

Noticed as well that he'll play a game on fire, all kinds of jam, and follow it up with a game where he's tired and doesn't have his A game pace. Trying to bring a level of play will be a challenge for him to figure out. Sure he plays better with Drai, the style of play suits him more. McD is a score off the rush guy. Drai benefits more from players that can cycle and sustain an offensive pressure. Holloway can do both but I think he feels the puck on his stick more with Drai feeding him. Drai uses linemates better than McD does.

In fairness to everyone last night there was no real rhythm 5 on 5 because of the constant penalties.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Niemelainen has definitely been a better showing throughout camp. Broberg is off, the weight gain may be impacting his reaction and fluidity (is that a word?) and then when that starts sometimes the nerves start to show further compounding. Samo needs more AHL time.

I really like the hardness to Nemos game and I think it’s a facet that adds to the roster in more ways than keeping Broberg and allowing to play through his struggles.

Nemo also had 2 assists last night.

How embarrassing it is that the Oilers not even televise any of their own games but last night didn't even have somebody copy pasting the hilites onto their site. So that I have to go to Vancouver Canucks site just to watch the game hilites. Really ridiculous for a pro franchise not to at least have game hilites available and scoring hilites available. No excuse for it other than they just don't care to do it.