The Antoine Roussel thread

[Canucker]

If he were a good hockey player who did anything of real value for the team, he'd have some value around the league in a trade...that isn't the case. He's a broke down agitator who agitates the refs as much as anyone else, he doesn't skate well, he doesn't check well, he doesn't really do much well...unless taking dumb penalties and just being generally irritating after whistles counts for anything.

 

[VanJack]

Like a lot of other posters, I don't get the 'hate-on' for the lengthy list of Canuck veterans like Roussel who are being overpaid for what they produce.

I mean what is the agent for Roussel supposed to do--turn the money and term down? It's not the fault of Roussel, Eriksson, Sutter, Beagle, Myers etc. that the doofus GM offered them too much money and 4-5 year contract terms. Nobody was holding a gun to Benning's head to sign these awful contracts.

So while it's enough to make you grit your teeth, watching these guys night after night basically flop out there. Blaming the players instead of the GM is basically pointless.

 

[Canucker]

Like a lot of other posters, I don't get the 'hate-on' for the lengthy list of Canuck veterans like Roussel who are being overpaid for what they produce.

I mean what is the agent for Roussel supposed to do--turn the money and term down? It's not the fault of Roussel, Eriksson, Sutter, Beagle, Myers etc. that the doofus GM offered them too much money and 4-5 year contract terms. Nobody was holding a gun to Benning's head to sign these awful contracts.

So while it's enough to make you grit your teeth, watching these guys night after night basically flop out there. Blaming the players instead of the GM is basically pointless.

Sure, blame the GM...but it doesn't change the fact that the players kinda suck...a lot of people here knew that when they were originally signed.....Also, the coach doesn't have to play them all either, Green deserves some blame too. It's not like he's clinging to some winning formula here and needs to keep them in the lineup.

 

[F A N]

If he were a good hockey player who did anything of real value for the team, he'd have some value around the league in a trade...that isn't the case. He's a broke down agitator who agitates the refs as much as anyone else, he doesn't skate well, he doesn't check well, he doesn't really do much well...unless taking dumb penalties and just being generally irritating after whistles counts for anything.

Pre-knee injury Roussel would have value around the league. He hasn't been the same player. That's not age-related decline. That's post-major surgery decline. Claiming that Roussel knee surgery shoudl be expected because he's a bottom 6 grinder signed into his 30s makes no logical sense.

 

[Zippgunn]

Yep this market is toxic for anything related to JB that doesn't outplay expectations.

He's a guy that typically drags the team into the fight and that is an important element to have unfortunately he's lost a step and as you say he's maligned by the officials. 1st year was a great pick up. Since the ACL not so much.

4yrs for an almost 29yr old in his role was a bad gamble

Yes as always it seems we had to add a year or two to the term just to convince him to come here which I suspect is often the case when pitching the Canucks to potential FA's. Sad but true...

 

[EpochLink]

This ******* ass

 

[M2Beezy]

At least hes likeable

 

[Dab]

Pre-knee injury Roussel would have value around the league. He hasn't been the same player. That's not age-related decline. That's post-major surgery decline. Claiming that Roussel knee surgery shoudl be expected because he's a bottom 6 grinder signed into his 30s makes no logical sense.

It’s not a stretch that with bottom 6 players especially the grind catches up to them in their 30s and they are far more prone to problematic injuries.

 

[Canucker]

Pre-knee injury Roussel would have value around the league. He hasn't been the same player. That's not age-related decline. That's post-major surgery decline. Claiming that Roussel knee surgery shoudl be expected because he's a bottom 6 grinder signed into his 30s makes no logical sense.

It’s presumptuous to believe his decline is simply because of a knee injury and has nothing to do with age and just a general decline in play. When he signed with the Canucks it wasn’t like a bargain signing that you were expecting his value to increase over his term.

Im not sure anyone was expecting a knee injury in particular, but I don’t think it’s unheard of for older players to break down.

 

[VanJack]

The real problem is that the league has simply grown away from players like Roussel.....he's an agitator in a league that doesn't want those kind of players any more. Thus, he's become a one man penalty parade to the box. And now that he's lost a step, the hooking and holding penalties are added to usual post-whistle scrums and all the other crap he initiates along the wall.

He never was much of a goal scorer and you can't afford $3m a season for a guy who slots in strictly as 'an energy player'. The kind of third and fourth liners you want these days are guys like Justin Bailey and Tyler Motte. Young, fast and most importantly-- 'very cheap'.

The fact he got a four year contract out of Benning is mind boggling.

 

[Snatcher Demko]

Older grinders/agitators always break down. Hard to think of any one that could play well into their mid-30s - that is still play well in a top 9 role.

I think you look at it in the sense that, except for handful of top tier talent on your team, everyone is going to regress down a line or pairing between the ages of 3o to 35.

E.g a career 2nd liner like Tanner Pearson should be paid like a 3rd liner and expected to perform as such in their early to mid 30s.

A career top pairing guy like Edler becomes a middle pairing guy into this 30s.

For a physical third liner like Rooster that means he's likely a 4th liner in the back half of the contract.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Watching Roussel plays hockey now is just painful. Not only is he slow and is basically an offensive blackhole, dragging down his whole line. His antics are also getting really tiresome. Ever since the Vegas series in the bubble, where he chirps and agitate, only to get rag dolled by Reaves. He tries to throw some hits but by the time he gets there the puck is long gone. He would ice-spray the other teams goalie or punch out an unsuspecting player (like Puljuarvi last game) which wakes up the other team and give them a reason to play harder. He is acting like Matthew Tkachuk but without even a fraction of the talent to back it up. He got blown up by a late-ish hit against the Jets and his linemates just skates away, he had to get up and fight his own battle. I'm sensing that his teammates are getting sick of seeing him getting clowned out there.

***Although to be fair, his teammates didn't do jack when Petey got injuried against the Panthers either, so maybe this team just have no push back, and not a reflection of their feeling for AR?

 

[VanJack]

Roussel is unfortunately on the same career path as Brandon Prust. Come to think of it, didn't Benning ship out young, troubled power forward Zack Kassian and a fifth rounder to the Habs for him?

Unfortunately there just aren't enough Jethro GMs' around the league for the Canucks to dump Roussel on somebody else.

 

[StreetHawk]

Older grinders/agitators always break down. Hard to think of any one that could play well into their mid-30s - that is still play well in a top 9 role.

I think you look at it in the sense that, except for handful of top tier talent on your team, everyone is going to regress down a line or pairing between the ages of 3o to 35.

E.g a career 2nd liner like Tanner Pearson should be paid like a 3rd liner and expected to perform as such in their early to mid 30s.

A career top pairing guy like Edler becomes a middle pairing guy into this 30s.

For a physical third liner like Rooster that means he's likely a 4th liner in the back half of the contract.

Thing is that his contract doesn't take him into his mid 30's. He was born Nov 1989, so he is 31 now and he turns 32, later this year so, he's 32.5 when his deal expires. I classify 30-33 as early, 34-36 as mid, 37-39 as late 30's.

He tore his ACL when he was 30 years old. Hard to believe that with medical technology and rehab that he can't get back to 80% of what he was prior to the injury.

Jordy Nelson of the Packers tore his ACL at around 29/30 I believe and that ended his productive career. But, ACL tears in football are a lot worse for players than for an NHL given the stress and sudden movements that they make. Probably why Edelman took the PEDs to recover from his ACL at 30/31 to extend his career.

 

[4Twenty]

Thing is that his contract doesn't take him into his mid 30's. He was born Nov 1989, so he is 31 now and he turns 32, later this year so, he's 32.5 when his deal expires. I classify 30-33 as early, 34-36 as mid, 37-39 as late 30's.

He tore his ACL when he was 30 years old. Hard to believe that with medical technology and rehab that he can't get back to 80% of what he was prior to the injury.

Jordy Nelson of the Packers tore his ACL at around 29/30 I believe and that ended his productive career. But, ACL tears in football are a lot worse for players than for an NHL given the stress and sudden movements that they make. Probably why Edelman took the PEDs to recover from his ACL at 30/31 to extend his career.

The worse you are the lower the age you crap out tends to be the expectation. Especially games predicated by energy, agitation, and physical play.

30 for a guy at Roussel’s talent and athleticism is definitely the end. You’ll find very few players like this ever get to 35 in the league.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Once again, sitting in the box when the Oilers score a dagger 2-0 goal.

I don't know exactly what this guy has to do to get removed from the lineup short of taking a big steaming dump in Travis Green's morning coffee.

 

[F A N]

It’s not a stretch that with bottom 6 players especially the grind catches up to them in their 30s and they are far more prone to problematic injuries.

Do you have any facts to back it up? If Roussel is simply injury prone because his body is breaking down that makes sense. But where's the evidence of bottom 6 players having a higher incidence of ACL injuries? ACL injuries actually aren't as common in hockey as it is in football or basketball.

It’s presumptuous to believe his decline is simply because of a knee injury and has nothing to do with age and just a general decline in play. When he signed with the Canucks it wasn’t like a bargain signing that you were expecting his value to increase over his term.

Im not sure anyone was expecting a knee injury in particular, but I don’t think it’s unheard of for older players to break down.

Presumptuous? He clearly didn't skate the same way after his knee injury. Not that hard to put two and two together.

 

[IceNeophyte]

Watching Roussel plays hockey now is just painful. Not only is he slow and is basically an offensive blackhole, dragging down his whole line. His antics are also getting really tiresome. Ever since the Vegas series in the bubble, where he chirps and agitate, only to get rag dolled by Reaves. He tries to throw some hits but by the time he gets there the puck is long gone. He would ice-spray the other teams goalie or punch out an unsuspecting player (like Puljuarvi last game) which wakes up the other team and give them a reason to play harder. He is acting like Matthew Tkachuk but without even a fraction of the talent to back it up. He got blown up by a late-ish hit against the Jets and his linemates just skates away, he had to get up and fight his own battle. I'm sensing that his teammates are getting sick of seeing him getting clowned out there.

***Although to be fair, his teammates didn't do jack when Petey got injuried against the Panthers either, so maybe this team just have no push back, and not a reflection of their feeling for AR?

I don't remember Reaves ragdolling him. I do remember bock bock bock baaawk! and I remember Roussel wanting to slow dance with Reavo. Looked for video and couldn't find any. Do you have anything? (Not saying you're wrong, I purely don't remember)

 

[VanJack]

Thought there was a chance Roussel might be back for the last year of his contract.....but after this season so far, Canucks won't have much choice but to buy him out.

I know one thing.....his presence in the lineup depends almost entirely on Green's coaching tenure. Nobody else would play him.

 

[Canucker]

Do you have any facts to back it up? If Roussel is simply injury prone because his body is breaking down that makes sense. But where's the evidence of bottom 6 players having a higher incidence of ACL injuries? ACL injuries actually aren't as common in hockey as it is in football or basketball.



Presumptuous? He clearly didn't skate the same way after his knee injury. Not that hard to put two and two together.

He was never a speedster or a great skater, he may have been slightly better than average but he wasn't winning any team speed races. Did his knee injury affect his skating? Maybe, but its not like this was the decline of a great player...he was an aging mediocre role player, pre knee injury and a sub par role player afterwards...its splitting hairs on a replacement level player who was overpaid regardless of his injury.

 

[4Twenty]

But Injuries......

Go read the signing thread, this crap was predicted. People thought he'd wear down faster than Beagle even though he's 4 years younger, because he had a lot of hard miles on a smallish frame.

This was the expected outcome the moment that 4 year deal went down, to their credit, at least they got a decent first season out of it based on a luck and usage.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Once again, sitting in the box when the Oilers score a dagger 2-0 goal.

I don't know exactly what this guy has to do to get removed from the lineup short of taking a big steaming dump in Travis Green's morning coffee.

The fact you have McEwan and a bunch of younger players sitting in Utica for guys like Roussel is infuriating.

My initial thought process was that Benning is pretty much micromanaging the coaching team but then I recall Green riding veterans like Huskins, Acton, Sanguinetti and Cal O'Reilly while guys like Jensen, Virtanen and Corrado saw bench or the pressbox during their 2014-2015 run. TG will lean on his veterans no matter what.

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

It’s not a stretch that with bottom 6 players especially the grind catches up to them in their 30s and they are far more prone to problematic injuries.

This is exactly where 'Canuck Luck' enters the picture. In a normal franchise, eriksson, roussel, baertschi and sutter and beagle would have developed a latex allergy so they can't wear gloves anymore and be permanently placed on the LTIR for Cap relief like Hossa: Skin conditions similar to Marian Hossa's not uncommon for athletes


In Canuckland, the better players are often injured and the older crappy ones are on Ironman streaks.

Go figure.

 

[Canucker]

But Injuries......

Go read the signing thread, this crap was predicted. People thought he'd wear down faster than Beagle even though he's 4 years younger, because he had a lot of hard miles on a smallish frame.

This was the expected outcome the moment that 4 year deal went down, to their credit, at least they got a decent first season out of it based on a luck and usage.

At the time i was pretty "meh" about the signing, I was never a fan of his antics in Dallas but he was a fan favorite down here and a guy who was serviceable as a grinder/checker who could pop a few goals...I thought there were far worse signings. And he did ok his first year here, but the antics got old fast and his on-ice performance didn't offset the antics and costly penalties, now his game is substandard and the antics are even less tolerable. Even if it was the knee injury that caused his decline, what was it a decline from other than mediocrity?

 

[Hit the post]

The fact you have McEwan and a bunch of younger players sitting in Utica for guys like Roussel is infuriating.

My initial thought process was that Benning is pretty much micromanaging the coaching team but then I recall Green riding veterans like Huskins, Acton, Sanguinetti and Cal O'Reilly while guys like Jensen, Virtanen and Corrado saw bench or the pressbox during their 2014-2015 run. TG will lean on his veterans no matter what.

But, but Green won the Calder Cup!




(Couldn't do what Willie D accomplished)