Casual Canuck

CBC Sports Willy's players skated hard, but his team's structure was poor. And he had trouble teaching the young players how to play hockey at the NHL level. It takes more than just effort. There's a certain level of knowledge needed in regards to the X's and O's that Willy D lacked. The next Canucks coach has a great deal of work ahead of them. They'll need to break down and rebuild the team's structure, entirely. They'll need to instill a better team culture, too. And this isn't a one year job, either. The next coach should be given at least two seasons to see the results. Can they improve on Desjardins record? Can they improve upon their own record?

Crossposted at HFBoards. Some notes on the season: Bottom two finish. Many predicted a bottom five finish, with a few predicting a complete bottoming out, entirely. Canucks probably won't improve much for next season, either. It could well become even worse, long before it ever becomes better. Horvat's becoming the team's most important player, moving forward. The Canucks can definitely build the team around him. Canucks management needs to re-evaluate its work and strategy. If they are incapable of doing this, then ownership needs to re-evaluate management. Coaching also needs re-evaluation. Good coaching won't improve the team much in the standings, but with better structure, and clearer roles for the players, there could be improvement in the players, individually. Some Stats: Edler: 21 Pts, 24:21 ATOI, 1216 CF, 1260 CA, 53.70 CF60, 55.95 CA60, 1.4 CFRelTM. He isn't a franchise defenceman, but he is a solid player, who can play in any situ...

Cross-posted at HFBoards Chalk this game up to the hockey gods, I guess. As someone on the Coyotes board said, they're bad at everything, including losing. Canucks probably would've won this game, were it not for weird puck bounces that landed onto Coyote players sticks in scoring positions, all game long. Canucks outshot the Coyotes, outplayed them, outhustled them, and out and out lost to them, in spite of all that. This was a weird, weird game. How many times in his career has Luke Schenn potted a goal from behind the net on his backhand? Pretty odd place for a noted stay-at-home defence-man to be scoring goals from. Edler had the highest Corsi +/- at 14, and yet was on the ice for the most egregious, fluky GA. Miller makes the save on a harmless shot from the point, trying to blocker the puck to the corner, but it bounces off the boards onto the other side of the net right onto Vrbata's stick for an open net goal. And the Canucks then give up two P...

Crossposted at HFBoards The Canucks have a long off-season coming up. I don't understand why they thought this team could compete for the playoffs this season, constructed as it was, especially when the previous season's results made it clear this team didn't have the talent level to compete in this league. It was obvious from the get-go there'd be no chemistry aside from the top seven or eight players on the team, and there'd be great difficulty scoring, especially on the back-end. There was simply a talent deficit on the team, which free agency couldn't solve. They weren't, then, only one or two scorers away from competing for the playoffs. They were an entire bottom roster away. It was also obvious signing a big-name free agent would actually create problems for the team, because they didn't have the right sort of construction to allow a big-name player to join the team, and succeed. The Canucks didn't have a playmaking centre as...

Crossposted from HFBoards Time to dust this blog off of dust, I suppose. Just in time for the season's end. I post at HFBoards under the alias, The Extrapolater. Rant alert. I can't even with this coach. Not even just a little. I just can't even. Been trying to figure him out, but it's taken a long time. He doesn't understand his players. That's it. He doesn't know what he has in his players. Doesn't know their strengths and weaknesses. Or rather, he has a shallow understanding of them, and instead of reinforcing players' strengths, tries to compensate for their weaknesses, instead. That works for your scrubs, but for your talented players, you want them doing what they do best. And his understanding of player chemistry is weak, also. Sedins with Eriksson equals scoring chances. Sedins and Chaput equal nothing. But he insists on the latter. A great deal of coaching in any sport is simply putting the right players into the rights p...

Well, not a terrible game. Ryan Miller had a hell of a save in the second period, which kept the Canucks in the game when they were down. Some notes: Bo Horvat's still growing into his game. He's trying to add a more play-making aspect to his style, slowing the game down. Changing his pace to disrupt the opposing team's defenses' rhythm. The Ducks were keyed in on him, all game long, and didn't allow him much room on the ice. His play was what made the Canucks tying goal happen. It's probably safe to say he's now the Canucks' top player, and his game is still growing. The Sedins faced off against Kesler all game long, and it was pretty much even there. Henrik scored the winning goal in OT, which had to be slowed down in replay to be seen. The Ducks played a very undisciplined style, this game. Their coach would've done well to tune them down a half-a-notch, but it didn't happen, which was fortunate for the 'Nucks.

Well, the Canucks didn't show up for the first two periods, hardly doing a thing, getting down 2-0. They did show up in the third period, and tied the game, 3-3, with the goalie pulled to send the game into overtime. Was there anything worth noting? The Canucks were over-matched, outworked, and outplayed for the most part. Although he scored on the power-play, Sutter's continued deployment on it does continue to baffle. He's terrible at zone entries. He's ace on odd-man rushes, but can't help in the cycle, which is a majority of the power-play. It's simply not a good fit, and is working against the Canucks, for the most part. There's better options.

Wow. It looked to be a surefire victory, with the Canucks having a 5-2 lead entering the third period. However, it was either some excellent passing by the Hurricanes breaking down the Canucks defense, or the Canucks defense simply running out of gas after a long road-trip, which allowed the Hurricanes to score 5 unanswered goals to take the lead. What else is there to say? Wow. Just, wow.

He'll be bought out, according to Elliote Friedman. Higgins (VAN) on waivers for purpose of buyout — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 27, 2016 He was a good player in his prime. Not a top level talent, but he could do a little of everything. And he was a fantastic penalty killer, too. But he's lost half a step, and the lack of NHL level talent depth at the Canucks' centre position really killed Higgins' play. There's still some play left in his bones, and he's had some time to rest up for the coming season. A playoff team should give him a chance in their bottom six. Or a rebuilding team would be happy to have him and his experience in their organization.

In all honesty, I'm fairly ambivalent about the choice for the Canucks first round pick, this year. In fact, I'm a bit hesitant. Juolevi may, and, in fact, probably will become a fine defense-men However, let's disregard what Juolevi may become, and concentrate on whom the Canucks didn't pick. They didn't pick Tkachuk, who was the consensus number five, overall, on most draft lists. Whether he'll become a star like his father before him is also unimportant, at this moment. As of this moment, Tkachuk was the best player available at number five. It's a simple argument. He's a forward, and we can guess at a forward's potential much more easily than we can a defense-man's. He scored metric tonnes in junior. He's a known commodity. Defense-men, on the other hand, are becoming a bit voodoo in the first round. We may or not get a player who'll play up to his potential. But that's unimportant, right now. Instead, let us consider the Ca...

Awful trade. Jared McCann was coming off an underwhelming rookie season, but it looked as though he had some pretty decent upside. He's a first round draft pick, and seemed quite a steal at his position. Erik Gudbranson, on the other hand, was a defender on the Panthers who appeared out of his depth on the Panther's first pairing. He's twenty-four years old. He's never scored more than fifteen points in five seasons. He is what he is, and what that is is a third pairing defender miscast as a defensive specialist, when in fact his defense is merely average. McCann for Gudbranson would be a bad trade. McCann and a second round draft pick is an awful trade. McCann, a second, and a fourth for Gudbranson and a fifth is laughably awful. The Canucks had serious need for a top four defenseman, but they didn't fill this need trading for Gudbranson. He can't score. He can't handle the puck. The Canucks were in desperate need for a playmaking defender. Gudbranson i...

Casual Canuck is a place for  a casual commentary regarding the Vancouver Canucks, specifically, and the NHL, generally. I, personally, am Troy Thomas. I am somewhat a traditional writer with gonzo instincts.