SKYO wrote:
Even Torts believes we aren't winning enough due to not burying all those chances, and that's been the case for awhile now.
Well yeah, I mean that's obvious.........but the question you have to ask yourself is, "why?"
In my opinion, it is largely due to the fact that the Canucks don't get many good looks/chances in the slot area.
Sure - they get a lot a ton of shots and do have a pretty high puck possession percentage, but they still have an extremely difficult time penentrating the slot area. Why? Because - they are not fast enough or big enough. Having even ONE of those qualities would suffice, but the Canucks lack in both.
As result, a lot of our chances come from the perimeter. Even during the odd times that the Canucks actually manage to get in the slot, they have this tendency to hold onto the puck too long (i.e. looking for the perfect shot/play, etc.).
On top of that - we often give up terrible high quality chances on our end due to defensemen getting caught and/or our forward being out position due to the aggressive forecheck style that Torts has the Canucks playing.
It's for this reason that despite out-possessing and out-shooting the elite teams in the league, we end up losing games......QUALITY of scoring chances.
This is why I suggest that the Canucks try and tighten up in their own end........since it's obvious that we do not have the personnel to successfully and consistently get into the slot area to generate high quality scoring chances. This will become even more difficult come playoff time.
To overcome this problem, we should either trade for guys that will make us more successful in penetrating the slot, or we should keep our current personnel but simply play a tighter defensive game. Hence, the reason for this thread.