GDT: Nov 13: Grabner @ Ballard 6:00 SPac

[dhabums]

Aaron Rome at the doctor's with a broken finger:
"So, doc, after you set my finger right, will I be able to score goals when playing hockey?"
Doctor: "Absolutely!"
Rome: "Excellent! I never could before."

[Topper]

A few comments;

The Islanders are a very shitty team, that game should never have been close. Three forwards, one defender an goaltender of NHL calibre does not make a competitive team.

Roberto Luongo was without a doubt the first star. The key saves he made kept the Canucks ahead because the forwards could not bury their chances.

Lapierre was back to his level of play the first ten or so games.

Hodgeson with his best game as a Canuck (see first comment). It was a pleasure to see him finally carry the puck across the opponents blue line without coughing it up. His defensive play is still scarey, he still tries to do far to much with the puck offensively and ends up in low percentage positions. The Islanders simply lack the depth to play against an attacking third line and could not handle Booth and Lapierre's speed and aggression..

The Sedins toyed with their prey. It was often like watching a cat toss around a nearly dead mouse. If they had nailed their open net chances, the jugular would have been severed with plenty opf time on the clock for playing around.

Kasual Kev could be casual without much fear.

Kesler looks like the Kesler of Feb-Mar of last year. Higgins has gone cold as well.

[RoyalDude]

Boothy doesn't like to pass does he?

Definitely not. His game just doesn't suit our puck possession style of game. He's worse than Samuelsson by a country mile.

[rats19]

Is Rome just on a hot slash lucky streak? Or has he actually found himself?

4th lines are harder to form than the others...

[RoyalDude]

Booth also starting to do what he needs to do. Just go straight ahead. Once his hands come back a bit he'll start potting some.

The guy still needs to stick his head up once in a while to see where he is going and where his teamates are. Talk about a one-dimensional player, this guy is it, 'get puck, put head down and go straight down ice'

[Listercat]

Finally, a 60 minute effort from the Canucks.

Luongo was there when the team had a rare hiccup. Much better side to side movement while staying upright.

Cody outshone Tavares while playing with "tunnel vision" Booth and a career 4th liner. That said Topper is correct about Lappy and his improved/rejuvenated play. He has been one of the most consistent guys thus far this year and he has been keeping it under control. For those that complain about Mason Raymond being one dimensional at least he can create some time and space for his teamates and make a tape to tape pass.

Kesler is skating better and looks stronger on the puck, but he hasn't been to get the wrister away as quick as last year. With Higgins and Burr that line controlled the boards all night.

[Jovocop]

Finally, a 60 minute effort from the Canucks.

Luongo was there when the team had a rare hiccup. Much better side to side movement while staying upright.

Cody outshone Tavares while playing with "tunnel vision" Booth and a career 4th liner. That said Topper is correct about Lappy and his improved/rejuvenated play. He has been one of the most consistent guys thus far this year and he has been keeping it under control. For those that complain about Mason Raymond being one dimensional at least he can create some time and space for his teamates and make a tape to tape pass.

Kesler is skating better and looks stronger on the puck, but he hasn't been to get the wrister away as quick as last year. With Higgins and Burr that line controlled the boards all night.

I am one of those who complains about Raymond. I complain him not because he is one dimensional. As a matter of fact, he is pretty good defensively. The only problem I have with Raymond is that he always keeps the puck along the board til he loses it. He will never drive to the net. He will never hit anything with force. Most of the time he overpasses the puck when he could shoot the damn puck. Booth played 10 games as a Canuck and scored 2 goals (yes, one empty net goal) and 5 assists, and is a -5. Did he play great? Nope. Booth is still adapting to the new system. As far as the stuff that Raymond would not do, Booth hits, drives to the net and shoots the damn puck.

[Potatoe1]

Good effort over all and the Canucks obviously dominated territoriality, it was hardly a perfect game however. All you need to do in order to beat the Islanders is contain the Tavares line, yet time after time that group ended up with grade A scoring chances. The Islanders didn't generate a lot of shots or zone time, but the chances they had were a lot more dangerous then they should have been.

-Luongo will not get enough credit since the shot total was low, but he played an excellent game. It is very difficult for a goalie to go long stretches with no rubber and then face a 2 on 1 the other way. You see 24 shots against the New York Islanders and you think it was an easy night, but it really wasn't.

-Cody Hodgson was probably our best skater. Created a ton of chances offensively, moved the puck well through the neutral zone, and was strong in his own zone. The move to wing is basically a non issue at this point.

-Lappy looked miles better then Manny on the 3rd line but there is still work needed. Lappy is pure bottom6 in terms of skill set and he's playing with 2 guys with top6 offensive talent. There were a number of times that a line mate was just begging for a pass that never came. Still, he played with a ton of energy, was good in his own end, and brought a strong fore check. It will be interesting to see what AV does when Raymond is back. he has the forwards to run 3 scoring lines, but got to a final with a gritty defensive minded line last year.

-Have to agree with those who don't think Booth is playing all that well. His goal was an empty netter which doesn't mean much and his assist was a decent but hardly spectacular play. He didn't do much else and oh my, was he stinky in his own end. He had at least 3 wtf moments where he either made an awful turn over or failed to move the puck. The talent is clearly there with this player but he needs to settle down and play the same steady 2-way style that our forwards not named Sedin are required to play.

-On the Blue line Rome was the stand out, but Ballard, Bieksa, and Hamhuis all had solid games. Salo and Edler killed it on the power play but had quite a few problems in their own end. Edler really needs to tighten up his defensive game. He was excellent in his own end last year prior to his surgery, but just hasn't gotten back to that level since.

-I don't know what the percentages look like right now but the Canucks have got to be the best power play team in the league this season. The Sedins are just amazing with the man advantage and our first unit should again be the best 5 man group in the game. The difference this year is the second unit which was total crap last season, with no center and no natural play maker. With the addition of Hodgson the second unit now has a player that can consistently make the correct play once the zone has been established. Last year the second unit seemed mostly just a rush and shoot type unit, this year they are establishing position and actually making plays. It's a huge improvement and will be a big help on the rare occasion that the first group isn't getting it done.

[Listercat]

I am one of those who complains about Raymond. I complain him not because he is one dimensional. As a matter of fact, he is pretty good defensively. The only problem I have with Raymond is that he always keeps the puck along the board til he loses it. He will never drive to the net. He will never hit anything with force. Most of the time he overpasses the puck when he could shoot the damn puck. Booth played 10 games as a Canuck and scored 2 goals (yes, one empty net goal) and 5 assists, and is a -5. Did he play great? Nope. Booth is still adapting to the new system. As far as the stuff that Raymond would not do, Booth hits, drives to the net and shoots the damn puck.

Sorry you can't have it both ways Jovo. Does Raymond "keep the puck til he loses it or Overpass when he could shoot"???

I think you need to "review" some game tape from last year. Raymond many times turned defenders inside out to create time and space to set up Kesler or make a diagonal cross ice pass to the D man on the back side. With regard to him not shooting, I seem to recall there were more complaints about him taking too many shots from a bad angle than there were about him not shooting.

As far as him "hitting with force", what do you expect from a 180lb guy? He finishes his checks but is never going to be a punishing hitter. I haven't seen Booth punish anyone with a hit either and his board work hasn't been anything to crow about. Cody and Lappy are much better on the boards at retrieving pucks than Booth is. Booth has great wheels as does Raymond but to this point Booth has not shown me he has puck handling, passing or vision skills that come close to what Raymond has displayed. "Adapting" to a new team and system is an applicable reason when it comes to timing and positioning but not when it comes to winning puck battles at either end of the ice.

[dbr]

I think the big complaint with Raymond is that he did not take the puck to the net consistently last year. He did it during his 25 goal season, but last year (whether it was injuries or what have you or not I don't know) it didn't happen.

What's strange is that I seem to recall that when he was doing it, in interviews he claimed he hadn't changed his game at all. I don't know how you go from circling the net with the puck every time to driving to the dirty areas without changing your game...

[Potatoe1]

I think the big complaint with Raymond is that he did not take the puck to the net consistently last year.

The big complaint about Raymond is playoff production.

2 goals in 24 games last year while getting steady second line ice time just isn't good enough.

That's why people are cold on Raymond right now.

[dbr]

No disagreement here - although in fairness I was referring more to Raymond's style of play than to the end results (which were not good enough in the regular season and atrocious in the playoffs).

[Hockey Widow]

The bubble will burst for Rome soon enough but for now it is nice to see. Good on him. I'm not sure if he is better this year or if it is just me appreciating his game more this year, well the 3 games he has played in anyway.
Defensively the whole team played well last night. Of course there were a few breakdown shifts but overall a pretty good outing.

Up front I think that was Cody's best all round game in the NHL. It is the first game I remember watching him where I felt unequivocally he belonged in the NHL. I have gone back and forth with that one since he has been with the big club but now he is doing what he does best, getting assist. He was never going to be a prolific scorer but his game is a set up guy. Perhaps he is what Booth needs.

Booth is not hurting us but he needs to be a lot more productive for his salary. The points are slowly coming but it is goals we need from him. Maybe this new found third line will produce some magic.

Manny was better last night, his minutes limited. The 4th line looked better but I think it was illusionary. Against a better team, one with more depth, I don't have a lot of confidence in them as a unit. I still want Manny on my team though. Having someone with his face off ability can never be a bad thing.

Luongo, a solid game.

A good 60 minute effort against a bottom feeder. That in and of itself is good news.

[LotusBlossom]

A good 60 minute effort against a bottom feeder. That in and of itself is good news.

Precisely something the team has been struggling with this season and it was addressed. The team needs to make sure they are beating these types of teams instead of being bogged down by that type of game.

[Potatoe1]

No disagreement here - although in fairness I was referring more to Raymond's style of play than to the end results (which were not good enough in the regular season and atrocious in the playoffs).

Yeah I agreed with what you are saying but in discussions concerning Booth vs. Raymond, the larger point is that Raymond failed to provide the secondary scoring we needed from him last playoff.

That is why Booth was brought in. Those comparing his game to Raymonds in a negative way seem to be missing the bigger picture.

Booth is not hurting us but he needs to be a lot more productive for his salary. The points are slowly coming but it is goals we need from him. Maybe this new found third line will produce some magic.

I kind of disagree here.

Booths production has been fine, it's his defensive game that is troubling.

Booth has 7 points in 10 games that's a 56 point pace which is good production for a guy getting second line ice time and second unit power play time.

It is very difficult to get much past that with the ice time Booth is going to get. Those expecting more are likely going to be disappointed.