RoyalDude wrote:I see Garrison as another Adrien Aucoin. Anybody else on board with me with that comparison?
I say they definitely share similarities. I think Aucoin in his prime was better at moving around and finding open ice whereas Garrison is careful not to get caught up ice and just waits for an opportunity to unleash a hard low shot on net.
ClamRussel wrote:
I don't see it that way, he had one good year. From what I gather, most of his goals came in the first half then he kind of dried up in the home stretch....and didn't have many assists despite playing the PP w/ Campbell. I figure he'll do ok here w/ Hank setting up his cannon on the PP....but he'd have to have more than doubled his meagre assist total to be "great".
He had one good offensive year, but he's been good defensively since he broke into the league. If he can log top 4 minutes alongside Edler, he should be worth the money.
As far as Garrison's assists totals, it's all relative. Garrison had 17 assists on one of the worst offensive teams in the league. Shea Weber had 30 assists last year. 3 Canucks defensemen had more assists than Weber. What does it prove? I'm not sure it even matters. Garrison didn't get a whole lot of assists on the PP, but he was clearly the triggerman whereas Campbell was the distributor. I would expect Garrison to improve on his assists totals if the Canucks remain a strong offensive team, but to expect him or require him to double his assists totals in order to be "great" is just unfair.
I think Garrison will be a great fit on the PP. His shot is of the hard, accurate, and low variety, which fits the Canucks PP like a glove. It's easy to see that it can become predictable if Kesler doesn't manage to tip it in, but looking at the goals that Garrison scored, I look forward to seeing what Garrison does in a Canucks jersey. I think the whole notion that Garrison only scored because "Campbell set him up" is exaggerated. If you look at the goals Garrison scored, most of those goals weren't scored off beautiful feeds. It was simply Garrison waiting to T up for a shot. Maybe Newell Brown should look into designing a PP around the Sedins and Garrison's shot. Usually, the Canucks like to have two point men who can shoot. Maybe the Canucks should look into having a pointman who acts more as a setup man for Garrison.