Since Salo was injured

[Potatoe1]

Christain Ehrhoff was not an "aging" Dman. He was let go because we had Sami available at a lot better price!! Very good move IMO

Well except for the fact we could have dumped Ballard and signed Hoff for around a mill more.

There is that bit....

[Hockey Widow]

Christain Ehrhoff was not an "aging" Dman. He was let go because we had Sami available at a lot better price!! Very good move IMO

Well except for the fact we could have dumped Ballard and signed Hoff for around a mill more.

There is that bit....

For 10,000 years more. There is that bit.

[Potatoe1]

Christain Ehrhoff was not an "aging" Dman. He was let go because we had Sami available at a lot better price!! Very good move IMO

Well except for the fact we could have dumped Ballard and signed Hoff for around a mill more.

There is that bit....

For 10,000 years more. There is that bit.

That type of deal was only ever offered by Buffalo, never talked about here.

We apparently offered the same deal Bieksa got, he apparently wanted 5 to 5.5 for 5 or 6 years.

5 to 5.5 is a lot for Hoff, but it's a way better deal then Ballard at 4.25.

[Listercat]

" Could have dumped Ballard" for what"? With the year he had last year who would take Ballard at his present contract? The Canucks would have likely had to eat a good chunk of it.

To be quite honest I was not impressed with Christian's 5 v 5 play last year. Most of his offense was on the PP and defensively he was no better than #5 once Salo came back. So you are then faced with a $5.5 contract for a #4-5 Dman. Thats worse than Ballard.

Where is Ehrhoff this year? Its pretty obvious his agent and Christian both had an inflated value of themselves and Buffalo bit.

[Potatoe1]

" Could have dumped Ballard" for what"? With the year he had last year who would take Ballard at his present contract? The Canucks would have likely had to eat a good chunk of it.

Canucks "most likely" could have taken back some salary and made a deal work. Word is they didn't try, which was a very poor decision IMO.

To be quite honest I was not impressed with Christian's 5 v 5 play last year. Most of his offense was on the PP and defensively he was no better than #5 once Salo came back. So you are then faced with a $5.5 contract for a #4-5 Dman. Thats worse than Ballard.

Every stat says I can find says your statement is wrong.

AV consistently gave Hoff loads of 5v5 time and when he was healthy he performed very well, not just in the opinion of his coach but in every tracked statistic fans have access too. My own personnel opinion is that he was a very good even strength player and certainly one of our most consistent blue liners over the past few years, I think anyone who claims otherwise either doesn't know what they are talking about or is just making excuses for letting him walk.

Ballard on the other hand has been the opposite.

His coach says he's been poor as do all the stats.

I think Ballard has had a bit of a rough go from his coach but the gap between what we got from Hoff and what we are getting from Ballard is fairly massive.

Our 5v5 play seems to have dropped like a rock this season BTW, with the main difference being Ehrhoff.

Where is Ehrhoff this year? Its pretty obvious his agent and Christian both had an inflated value of themselves and Buffalo bit.

Perhaps they did, but not trying to move Ballard was a major mistake and one that is far worse then perhaps over paying Ehrhoff by a small amount.

[Listercat]

Ok Pot and how many times have we both said that Ehrhoff played protected minutes. He was usually out with the Sedins which meant starting a shift in the opposition end. There is no denying that when they were starting in their own zone they often had a lot of difficulty getting out. You can quote all the stats you like but when you play most of your minutes with the Sedins they are bound to look pretty good.

I'm not defending Ballard by any means as he has not lived up to his contract. I think he was given a reprieve because of injuries last year and while he has been more consistent this year he still has not played with the intensity and intelligence needed for that kind of $.

If you dump Ballard and have to eat some of that contract and give Ehrhoff what he was asking there is no way they likely resign Higgins and Lappy and get Booth.

[Potatoe1]

Ok Pot and how many times have we both said that Ehrhoff played protected minutes.

He was playing more or less the same miutes that salo and edler currently are. Actually Salo and Edler are probably playing easier minutes this year.

He was usually out with the Sedins which meant starting a shift in the opposition end. There is no denying that when they were starting in their own zone they often had a lot of difficulty getting out.

Er not really, getting the puck up ice was one of his strengths. He played a fair bit on the 3rd pairing 2 years ago and pretty much killed it.

You can quote all the stats you like but when you play most of your minutes with the Sedins they are bound to look pretty good.

He looked about the same or slightly better then Salo and Edler do this season.

I'm not defending Ballard by any means as he has not lived up to his contract. I think he was given a reprieve because of injuries last year and while he has been more consistent this year he still has not played with the intensity and intelligence needed for that kind of $.

He was scratched for a rookie in the cup final, and has been a healthy scratch this year. He hasn't even been close to what we got from Ehrhoff, not even in the ball park really.

If you dump Ballard and have to eat some of that contract and give Ehrhoff what he was asking there is no way they likely resign Higgins and Lappy and get Booth.

Higgens, Lappy and Booth make 8 Mill combined how do you think giving an extra mill to Ehrhoff stops us from making any of those moves?

[Madcombinepilot]

Perhaps they did, but not trying to move Ballard was a major mistake .

and who says MG didn't try and move Ballard??? the question your not asking, is what other team would have wanted him after last season?!?!?

and what would you have gotten for him?


this isn't playstation where you can trade at will, here, it takes 2 willing GM's to make a trade happen.

[Potatoe1]

Perhaps they did, but not trying to move Ballard was a major mistake .

and who says MG didn't try and move Ballard??? the question your not asking, is what other team would have wanted him after last season?!?!?

and what would you have gotten for him?


this isn't playstation where you can trade at will, here, it takes 2 willing GM's to make a trade happen.

Ballards agent came in after the season and was apparently told by Gillis that his client would be given another chance and would not be moved.

Perhaps it was some type of strange smoke screen but all indications are that Gillis made no attempt to move Ballard.

[Fred]

Perhaps it was some type of strange smoke screen but all indications are that Gillis made no attempt to move Ballard.

Is that info from the Press. Seems strange because it fundamentally acknowleges that to that point he had failed & I'd have thought agents would keep that sort of info very quiet ?

[Madcombinepilot]

Ballards agent came in after the season and was apparently told by Gillis that his client would be given another chance and would not be moved.

any source on this?

[Potatoe1]

Ballards agent came in after the season and was apparently told by Gillis that his client would be given another chance and would not be moved.

any source on this?

My memory.

You are welcome to disregard it if you like, or you could try to find something on Google.

Up to you.

[Madcombinepilot]

so... you talked to the agent?

had a beer with Ballard?

pillow talk with his wife?

read someting somewhere?

saw it reported on TSN?


--- any hints at all? or was it a rumor that got repeated, and is now being taken for fact?

[Orcasfan]

Well, in support of MG's decision not to deal Ballard last summer, he was recovering from major surgery last year. In that context, I suppose there was no rush to judgment on how he actually performed during the season. And, based on last season, management must have been very impressed (and, therefore, confident for this year) over the play of Bieksa and Hammer. I'm sure Ballard (and his agent) lobbied hard not to be traded - after all, he just went to game 7 of the SCF! And Gillis gave him the benefit of the doubt (which was not unreasonable at the time).

Is Ballard really a bust, or is it that he just doesn't fit well into the Canucks system? I think the coaches have always been aware of his weaknesses. Unfortunately, it does seem that he is not very "coacheable" around those weak areas in his game. And that doesn't seem to be changing. The problem is that he may be called on to play top 4 duties during the playoffs - and that has everyone concerned! I don't know if he gets traded at the deadline. Unless they get an upgrade on D at that time, I can't see Gillis dealing Ballard till summer. There is no doubt that depth on D is extremely important for the Canucks' chances, especially given the combination of fragility and inconsistent play. Of course, if MG were actually able to get that upgrade on D without sacrificing too much, then we would be so much better off! Don't hold your breath!

[Madcombinepilot]

hey pot, not trying to be a dick, just we have a long standing credibility here about not repeating rumors. not saying this is one, or trying to insult ya, I am justrcurious as to the source is all