what has to happen to get the ship on course?

[Brick Tamland]

Just perusing NHL.com's Canuck stats and there were a few I found them very telling, and at least a little depressing. Apologies to the Advanced Stats crowd if they aren't in-depth enough.

The Canucks are sitting 14th in both G/G (2.74) and GA/G (2.67) . It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens if you score the same amount of goals as you give up per game. So a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B will probably help out a lot.

The PP is probably what is killing us the most, it is sitting at 13.6%, good for 27th in the league. The PK is better but still very average at 81%, good for 15th overall. The last stat I found interesting is face-off %, where we sit 23rd at 47.8%. I wonder what would help our face-off %, hmm...?

We've lost 10 games (including overtime/shootout)by 2 goals or less this season, and 7 games by 1 goal. In 2 of the 2 goal games there was an empty net goal, essentially meaning they were 1 goal games. Overall in the 10 loses our PP went 3/32 or 9%, (all the scoring came in 2 games). It stands to reason that if we hadn't been shutout on the PP in 80% of those games we'd probably have a few more points right now. For reference, Kesler played in 4 of the 10 loses, the scoring all came in 2 of those 4 games.

Because the trade market seems to be all but non-existent right now, IMO the best way to get this team on track is to fix the PP.

That's my 2 cents, take it for what it's worth.

[Orcasfan]

Actually, even though it's true that the "buck stops" at GMMG's desk, I think a GM is only as good as the management team he has assembled. Of course, Gillis has made some excellent choices, like Gilman, but I think he has really fallen down with his scouting team. Most would agree that, with a couple of exceptions, the Canucks scouts have done a woeful job over the years. Gillis has had years to right that ship, and has largely passed on it. If anything, mostly he has made lateral movements, with little benefit (though I'm liking Smyl's impact on college scouting!). One of their big weaknesses is their professional scouting team (Crawford?). These are the guys that sell players like Ballard and Booth to Gillis. Gillis, as GM, does not do the real scouting on these guys. But, like all scouts, they have scored also on guys like Higgins....

I'd be interested to hear suggestions of which 3rd C Gillis could have realistically obtained during the off-season. And which R-hand D? Without paying too much? We have to assume that the guy has tried, but the prices are just crazy!

[BingoTough]

Actually, even though it's true that the "buck stops" at GMMG's desk, I think a GM is only as good as the management team he has assembled. Of course, Gillis has made some excellent choices, like Gilman, but I think he has really fallen down with his scouting team. Most would agree that, with a couple of exceptions, the Canucks scouts have done a woeful job over the years. Gillis has had years to right that ship, and has largely passed on it. If anything, mostly he has made lateral movements, with little benefit (though I'm liking Smyl's impact on college scouting!). One of their big weaknesses is their professional scouting team (Crawford?). These are the guys that sell players like Ballard and Booth to Gillis. Gillis, as GM, does not do the real scouting on these guys. But, like all scouts, they have scored also on guys like Higgins....

I'd be interested to hear suggestions of which 3rd C Gillis could have realistically obtained during the off-season. And which R-hand D? Without paying too much? We have to assume that the guy has tried, but the prices are just crazy!

I agree somewhat:
- I'm pretty happy with Gaunce and Jensen
- I'm not happy with Schroeder and never was.
- Hodgson's father's attitude was difficult to know. I don't like giving away the skilled centre, but he's behind Henrik and Kesler. Realistically we wanted a power-forward who projected for top six

Pro-drafting hasn't been great, though the 4th line is always about borderline NHLers. Booth is a disappointment but cost us nothing (and we can get rid of that contract if we want). Glass was good, so too was Torres. I'd love to have both of them around these days. Lappy has been decent as a 4th line centre and has got to be better than our alternatives in that slot.
Ballard is his biggest c0ck up, whether through poor evaluation or failure to manage his coach properly. Ballard's contract and subsequent devaluation lies with Gillis.

Something that would be interesting is to compare the drafting record of people v. close to them year on year. i.e. if they draft 29th how well did those drafting 28th and 30th do? It's no good pointing to the Oilers and claiming they've been drafting geniuses.

[BingoTough]

Over the last 10 games, only Florida, Tampa and Nashville have a worse record than the Canucks (NJ and Colorado have equally crap as us). Almost of the quarter of the season spent performing in the bottom 6 of the league. Did AV expect that?

I wonder what our record is since the famous Boston game?

Firing AV (good coach or not) might give this team a nice clean break with the past. It feels like they're stuck and need a jarring change.

[KeyserSoze]

I wonder what our record is since the famous Boston game?

...they did win the Prez the following year.

1. Pens have 152 pts in 112 games
2. Hawks have 150 pts in 110 games
3. Canucks & Bruins both have 143 pts in 109 games
5. Blues have 143 pts in 110 games

[BingoTough]

I wonder what our record is since the famous Boston game?

...they did win the Prez the following year.

1. Pens have 152 pts in 112 games
2. Hawks have 150 pts in 110 games
3. Canucks & Bruins both have 143 pts in 109 games
5. Blues have 143 pts in 110 games

Quiet you :p

I mean since the Boston game last Jan/Feb after which they supposedly lost interest. It certainly wasn't as good but probably not as good as prior.

[Uncle dans leg]

I guess if there's a bright side to sucking this year it's that this upcoming draft is supposed to be one of those unusually deep classes like 2003.
I would say trying to get a horse in the top 3-6 picks would be the goal in addition to keeping our own first rounder.

So what carrots do we currently have worthy of this jewel? I cant see Luongo fetching a top pick...no way. Not even CS will bring that one back. Edler? Probably...but that's giving up alot.

How about flushing our UFA's and dressing a squad of CHI Wolves rejects(oh wait...already there )? Go the way of the Coiler? 29+ min/game for Ballard, Alberts and Barker? Break up the Sedins and alternate them with Tostito, Lapierre and Weise....

Honestly, at this point I could accept this game plan if it was clearly the goal. The organization desperately needs an infusion of youth like a McKinnon, Drouin or Jones.

[Island Nucklehead]

Well if it is as deep as 2003 we shouldn't be too concerned about where we draft, but we should ensure we keep our picks and try to add a few more if possible.

2003 draft results if going by today's standings:

Flordia..........MA Fleury
Colorado........Eric Staal
Buffalo..........Horton
Washington....Zherdev
Calgary.........Vanek
Philly............Michalek
Tampa..........Ryan Suter
Columbus.......Coburn
Nashville........Phaneuf
Edmonton.......Kostitsyn
Islanders........Jeff Carter
Dallas............Jessiman
Phoenix..........Dustin Brown
San Jose.........Seabrook
Columbus (Rangers)....Nilsson
Jersey..............Steve Bernier
Winnipeg..........Parise
Toronto............Eric Fehr
Vancouver.........Ryan Getzlaf
Carolina.............Brent Burns
Detroit.............Mark Stuart
Minny..............Pouliot
St Louis...........Kesler
Columbus (LA)....Richards
Ottawa............Anthony Stewart
Boston............Brian Boyle
Montreal.........Jeff Tambellini
Pittsburgh.......Corey Perry
Anaheim.........Patrick Eaves
Chicago..........Shawn Belle


Can't help but see Columbus with 3 first round draft picks this year. Also can't help but see how those same three picks (Coburn, Nilsson, Richards) in 03 might not turn them around.

[dbr]

Can't help but see Columbus with 3 first round draft picks this year. Also can't help but see how those same three picks (Coburn, Nilsson, Richards) in 03 might not turn them around.

The GM who picked for them in 03 is now blowing hot air on sportsnet, the guy making picks this year has a long track record of excellent drafting (with St Louis and Ottawa) over the last decade or so.

[Meds]

I wonder what our record is since the famous Boston game?

...they did win the Prez the following year.

No they didn't. They won the Presidents Trophy that same season.

For the record they floundered their way into it and went from looking like a lock for it for the second straight year to needing the Rangers to lose their last game in order to guarantee it for them.

[BingoTough]

I wonder what our record is since the famous Boston game?

...they did win the Prez the following year.

No they didn't. They won the Presidents Trophy that same season.

For the record they floundered their way into it and went from looking like a lock for it for the second straight year to needing the Rangers to lose their last game in order to guarantee it for them.

Irritatingly I just looked up their record last season and the numbers say we're wrong about the canucks after the Boston game. The boston game fell on the midpoint, game 42.

Before the boston game the canucks lost 13 outright with two ot/SOL.
After the boston game the canucks lost 9 outright and 6 OT/SOL.

They actually performed better in the latter half. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%9312_Vancouver_Canucks_season#Regular_season_2

Now, I'm not going to go through those games one by one and look at the box score. I certainly remember thinking we weren't doing so well.

[Topper]

It wasn't us who said the Boston game, it was GMMG in his post season address.

[Tanti09]

There's no denying their play dropped after that Boston game in January - it's just that the goalies (both 1 & 35) bailed them out of games they had no business winning in February and March. So their record was deceiving. I think we can all agree we were shocked they backed into the President's Trophy position last year. St. Louis' lame end to the season and the NYR sputter helped them in that regard. I think with 5 games remaining there was a slim chance they took the #1 spot, but in the end they did.

[vic]

Maybe they can make another trade with Buffalo, look's like they are definitely going to be sellers...

[Jovocop]

Maybe they can make another trade with Buffalo, look's like they are definitely going to be sellers...

Tyler Myers is on sale too? Wow, MG should definitely give them a call.