GDT : Canucks at Wild, Mar. 19 5PM PST SNET

[Mr.Miyagi]

TSN reporting Raymond, Salo OUT, Gragnani, Malholtra IN. Schneider gets the start.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=390800

The Canucks and Wild play their 6th and final game of the season and the boys in blue are 4-1-0 in the first five.

Who will play with the twins? Kassian would be an obvious choice as Burrows seems to be gelling nicely on the "shut down" line with Pahlsson and Hansen. Once Kassian turns to Gassian then AV can slide Burrows or Hansen in to fill the void.The AMEX line will stay intact.

Maybe the presence of Kassian with the twins would deter the likes of Clutterbuck and Brodziak taking liberties on the twins? Maybe we will see the re-uniting of Hank/Dank/Jank? Maybe someone who lives in BC has already heard who will skate alongside the twins tonight? Please, do tell...

With the team beginning a four game road trip it is crucial that we see a complete game from them tonight. I hope they can start the trip off right with a win in St.Paul. Shake the bad habits off before Wednesday's game against the Hawks.

Prediction? 3-2 Canucks in OT or SO. No injuries is what I am really hoping for.

[Cornuck]

No injuries is what I am really hoping for.

Yes, that's the bottom line.

It looks like no matter what else happens, we can predict a #2 finish in the west. Time to start tuning up for the playoffs on this road trip.

GO CANUCKS GO!

[tantalum]

Raymond is out due to being a healthy scratch. "obviously he is struggling a bit right now and we have tried different possibilities with him."-AV

Salo is a healthy scratch but not due to poor play but rather they are simply giving him a rest.

[donlever]

I was waiting for dhabums to come in with his guaranteed winner GDT.

Lappierre needs to be thinking uppercut right there.

It'd be a knockout blow.

[coco_canuck]

Before the Phoenix game, there was a lot of angst and criticism directed at AV for not using Schneider more. What people neglected to say was that prior to the Yotes game, Schneider had started 4 out of 11 games, plus he relieved Luo in the 1st period vs Buffalo.

So now Schneids gets back-to-back starts and is likely to see at least 2 more starts since we have two back-to-backs left, and it's more than likely Schneider gets 1-2 more starts in addition to the up-coming back-to-backs, and I'd say there's a chance Luo and Schneider more or less split the remaining games.

There was a ton of criticism over AV playing favourites and being blind to Raymond's struggles, but now he's a healthy scratch. AV couldn't be more clear with their intention with Raymond, and that was they were going to work with him and give him every opportunity to perform well after breaking his back last-season.

The Canucks have taken a more pragmatic approach to this regular season, and that has included being more patient with some players, experimenting with line-ups, resting those who need it, and not pressing players to play through injuries. They stuck wit Manny until he became significantly better than before, though I'd say he's no better than a 4th liner at this point, and despite all the criticism for how Cody was handled, Hodgson was used in the top 6 in a variety of ways, even leading up to the trade.

Come playoff time, I have no doubt that the best possible line-up will be dressed and those who perform the best will play the most.

[donlever]

Come playoff time, I have no doubt that the best possible line-up will be dressed and those who perform the best will play the most.

And, and, and...ooh ooh pick me pick me...he has more options now than ever before both offensively and defensively.

[Larry Goodenough]

I'm glad Schnieder is in this game. Luongo should have had all 3 goals against Columbus.

[tantalum]

Coco I pretty much agree. I mentioned on one board or another that the "promotion" of Raymond to the first line was not a promotion but rather the last step before Mason was scratched or found his game. I actually thought after his poor game against the Yotes he would have been scratched last game. I was a game off.

Luongo or Schneider...Luongo will start the playoffs but I don't think AV will be nearly as patient with him this year. Especially if Schneider ends the season playing as well as he has so far. Might make the off season very interesting if Schneider gets a good amount of playoff time.

Pretty clear at this time Luongo isn't in the right head space for likely many of the reasons that have been mentioned on the other board. You don't give the starter a week rest when it isn't really physical fatigue (this is his lightest workload in his career). It's mental fatigue and that fatigue is coming from outside sources it seems. You especially don't give the starter a week off under normal circumstances when the backup didn't really have a good game. And there is no back -to-back scenario to consider either.

[Larry Goodenough]

Before the Phoenix game, there was a lot of angst and criticism directed at AV for not using Schneider more. What people neglected to say was that prior to the Yotes game, Schneider had started 4 out of 11 games, plus he relieved Luo in the 1st period vs Buffalo.

So now Schneids gets back-to-back starts and is likely to see at least 2 more starts since we have two back-to-backs left, and it's more than likely Schneider gets 1-2 more starts in addition to the up-coming back-to-backs, and I'd say there's a chance Luo and Schneider more or less split the remaining games.

There was a ton of criticism over AV playing favourites and being blind to Raymond's struggles, but now he's a healthy scratch. AV couldn't be more clear with their intention with Raymond, and that was they were going to work with him and give him every opportunity to perform well after breaking his back last-season.

The Canucks have taken a more pragmatic approach to this regular season, and that has included being more patient with some players, experimenting with line-ups, resting those who need it, and not pressing players to play through injuries. They stuck wit Manny until he became significantly better than before, though I'd say he's no better than a 4th liner at this point, and despite all the criticism for how Cody was handled, Hodgson was used in the top 6 in a variety of ways, even leading up to the trade.

Come playoff time, I have no doubt that the best possible line-up will be dressed and those who perform the best will play the most.

Again, "Malhotra is struggling" appears to a myth when the context in which he's being deployed is considered.

I don't know how "they stuck with Manny" when they've been giving him the responsibility of very tough defensive minutes against top 6 forwards all season long. If they were actually sticking with him, would they not have been protecting him more?

[coco_canuck]

Coco I pretty much agree. I mentioned on one board or another that the "promotion" of Raymond to the first line was not a promotion but rather the last step before Mason was scratched or found his game. I actually thought after his poor game against the Yotes he would have been scratched last game. I was a game off.

...

Pretty clear at this time Luongo isn't in the right head space for likely many of the reasons that have been mentioned on the other board. You don't give the starter a week rest when it isn't really physical fatigue (this is his lightest workload in his career). It's mental fatigue and that fatigue is coming from outside sources it seems. You especially don't give the starter a week off under normal circumstances when the backup didn't really have a good game. And there is no back -to-back scenario to consider either.

Well said, and I saw the Raymond "promotion" in much the same way you did.

And yeah, there's no way Luongo gets leeway if he begins faltering. Schneids is tuned up and ready to run with it.

Again, "Malhotra is struggling" appears to a myth when the context in which he's being deployed is considered.

I don't know how "they stuck with Manny" when they've been giving him the responsibility of very tough defensive minutes against top 6 forwards all season long. If they were actually sticking with him, would they not have been protecting him more?

Larry, I agree that Manny has done well in his role, and that he's a valuable bottom 6 centre for this team.

But come on, Manny went from being one of the best 3rd line centres, received Selke consideration last year, and now he's playing 4th line minutes and is being used strategically for defensive situations.

Is it a stretch to say Malhotra's game has regressed significantly since last season?

To start the year he really did struggle, even in those defensive situations he's now far more successful in.

[donlever]

Again, "Malhotra is struggling" appears to a myth when the context in which he's being deployed is considered.

From the hors...uh..coaches mouth..

"I think it's pretty clear ... you know, before Manny's eye injury he would have been, in my mind anyway, one of the nominees for the Selke," Vigneault said [Malhotra got six of 125 first-place votes and finished fifth]. "He was right up there, that's how well he was playing against all the top lines.

"Unfortunately, since that injury he's not the same physical player he was before.

"But he's still able to contribute and that's one of the ways he's contributing for us, by winning important faceoffs."

I think it's pretty clear they feel he is not the same player he was and is not providing what they signed him for which is to be where Pahlsson is currently.

That is not saying he is not providing a slated task or some fine work within the confines of that job (his presence Saturday in the d zone faceoff circle may have saved us two goals as easily as not) but when people refer to him struggling they mean as to his abilites pre and post injury and he is clearly a different player now than then.

[wafflecombine]

I like Manny but I don't know if he'll survive the off-season. I hope he has a beast of a play-off run. That'll make the MG/AV discussion a lot easier.

[donlever]

Not sure what you mean by survive?

They are in a bit of a tough spot with Manny.

At least he has only one more year left.

[donlever]

Sedins with Burr

Amex

Manny Pahlsson Hansen

Weise Lappy Badgassian


Hammer Juice

Edler MAG

Rome Tanev


Cory

[Larry Goodenough]

Again, "Malhotra is struggling" appears to a myth when the context in which he's being deployed is considered.

From the hors...uh..coaches mouth..

"I think it's pretty clear ... you know, before Manny's eye injury he would have been, in my mind anyway, one of the nominees for the Selke," Vigneault said [Malhotra got six of 125 first-place votes and finished fifth]. "He was right up there, that's how well he was playing against all the top lines.

"Unfortunately, since that injury he's not the same physical player he was before.

"But he's still able to contribute and that's one of the ways he's contributing for us, by winning important faceoffs."

I think it's pretty clear they feel he is not the same player he was and is not providing what they signed him for which is to be where Pahlsson is currently.

That is not saying he is not providing a slated task or some fine work within the confines of that job (his presence Saturday in the d zone faceoff circle may have saved us two goals as easily as not) but when people refer to him struggling they mean as to his abilites pre and post injury and he is clearly a different player now than then.

Well put.

The meaning of my post was to call into question the definition of "struggling". Malhotra is a different player from last year and is being used differently as well and both were and are out of his control. No question. But different does not mean struggling. Within the context of what Vigneault and Gillis are asking him to do, he's doing fine.