Trevor Linden

[clearwatercanuck]

Alain Vigneault you are beginning to get on my nerves. You continue to coach the same style of hockey night after night......boring.... The whole season has been one big long nightmare so far. You have to mix things up. Circling around the offensive zone with no traffic in front of the net. My good lord, just dress Linden every night and give him the assignment to stand in front the net for rebounds. I have watched every game for the past 15 years and this has got to be one of the worst disappointments yet.
You keep doing the same old thing over and over. Stop scratching our hero. Time for a change Alain.
For Saturdays game vs the Dallas Stars the lines should be as follows:

Naslund Morrison Linden

Pyatt Sedin Sedin

Pettinger Burrows Raymond

Shannon Ritchie Isbister

Salo Mitchell

Bieksa Edler

Bourdon Weaver

This should shake things up, also Linden on the powerplay with edler and salo on the point and down low with the sedin's.
This should be the number one PP.

Also remember not to dump the puck in deep against Dallas, unless Turco is not playing.

Oh and on really important thing:

Finish every check, Crash the net regardless of penalties, and create chaos in the offensive zone. Behind the net plays against dallas can be rewarding as well.


Canucks wining streak coming up! Maybe

[Broda]

just a small question... where is kesler?

[Farhan Lalji]

just a small question... where is kesler?

Manitoba Moose!!



p.s. Am I the ONLY one that sees some form of logic in playing your current best player (Kesler....a right handed shot....that can drive the net....and can score) with your two best offensive players? (Sedin's!). If worse comes to worse, you can always revert back.

[the toucan kid]

Kesler's game doesn't mesh with the Sedins, he has no hands in close. Kes is all speed, and he doesn't have the size to post up in front.

[mr perfect]

Clearwater, I've been saying all along, put Naslund, Morrison and Linden together and see what they can do (some wit described them as the UFA line ). Morrison likes playing with Linden, he was vocal about the Canucks signing him prior to this season. Farhan has a good idea about Kesler and the Sedins, I would try that combo on the powerplay. So here's the line combos to try out:

Naslund/Morrison/Linden
Sedin/Sedin/Pyatt
Burrows/Kesler/Pettinger
Raymond/Shannon/Isbuster

Ritchie can be rotated into the lineup and replace Isbuster or Shannon depending on whose going and who isn't. My pet peeve with Vigneault is the amount of play he gives Ritchie. It's not that I dislike Ritchie, a BC boy but the fact he is a role player on the 4th line who is effective when playing a limited role. Vigneault has had him on the PK, the PP and many nights playing 3rd line minutes at the expense of players who aren't so offensively challenged. The result is Ritchie is a team worst -12 with only 2 goals. I still can't believe the only change Vigneault made after the 4-1 loss to Anaheim was to insert Weaver in the lineup because of Ohlund's injury, what in H was he doing making no other changes when playing Phoenix the next night after the team was overwhelmed the previous game?

[Farhan Lalji]

Kesler's game doesn't mesh with the Sedins, he has no hands in close. Kes is all speed, and he doesn't have the size to post up in front.

You might be right, but consider this:

a) NO ONE is meshing with the Sedin's right now. Why not atleast experiment with something different? (i.e. putting Kesler or Burrows up there).

b) Kesler is the hottest forward on the Canucks right now. Why not try and atleast SEE what he can do with the two most talented forwards (Sedins'). If not them - then Morrison and Naslund...players of which LIKE playing with speedy players.

c) Do we know for a fact that Kesler "has no hands in close." To my understanding, Kesler hasn't played with the Sedins' (or Naslund/Morrison) in a VERY long time. At that time, Kesler was NOT the player that he is right now. Burrows falls under the same category.

As far as "size" is concerned, Anson Carter wasn't very big himself.....yet meshed
with the twins. It was Carter's willingness to drive the net that made him a good fit (a quality of which I think Kesler has).

Anyway - just my opinion.

Always change a losing game plan. The definition if insanity is to do the same thing over and over again, and with the expectation of having a different result.

[Canuck-One]

I see no reason to leave Linden in the Press Box when he can still contribute to this team. AV made no bones of the fact that he was only going to spot Trev in whenever he felt like it but he is missing out on a major resource. Put these lines together and leave them alone:

Naslund/Morrison/Raymond
Sedin/Sedin/Linden
Burrows/Kesler/Pyatt
Brown/Ritchie/Pettinger

You fit Shannon in whenever an offensive player gets hurt and Isbister in on the third or fourth lines. Cowan unfortunately hasn't done squat for awhile now and he can play some minutes in Manitoba.

The D due to injury should look like this:

Weaver Mitchell

Bieksa Edler

Bourdon Salo

McIver

Each pairing has an experienced guy and if the game is going to be physical you drop someone in favour of McIver who can and does play a physical style.

[jchockey]

a) NO ONE is meshing with the Sedin's right now. Why not atleast experiment with something different? (i.e. putting Kesler or Burrows up there).

That begs the more important question of whether or not anyone in this league can mesh with the Sedins. If there is truly no one who can mesh with the Sedins, then it begs the question of whether they're worth keeping or not at all. They do take up a fair chunk of our forward lines and their inability to play without one another is another problem.

It's really too bad they're not triplets.

[Cookie La Rue]

It's really too bad they're not triplets.

They would be called Hansons and we'd have all our toughness problems solved.

cheers

[the toucan kid]

There was another set of Hanson brothers that might be a closer comparable...

[ClamRussel]

Last season AV barely played Linden at all in the begining (do they have a history together in Montreal? perhaps thats where this ill will comes from-either way it certainly appears to be personal) and no surprise Trev had squat for pts.

*then*

due to injuries and a flacid PP, Vigneault does the last thing he wants to do and puts Linden on the PP unit w/ the Sedins. Much to his chagrin Linden scores and looks good. No coincidence thats the exact point that Linden's game turned around.....he received icetime especially on the PP. By the end of the year he finished w/ 12 goals, most of them w/ the man advantage. Linden also carried this into the playoffs and was our TOP forward, scoring pts while all our high profile (& priced) forwards did ostrich impersonations.

I'll never understand after Linden's 2nd half & playoff performance how AV could not have at least wanted this player back in a Canuck uniform. Remember that very telling media conference last summer. Obviously he just doesn't like the guy, end of story. If AV or Nonis deny it, its because they pretty much have to...and of course are lying. Linden was brought back ONLY to avoid a public outcry. This year will be different. With Linden's sparse icetime he got no pts and looked largely ineffective as he never did get a chance to build on any momentum. No one is going to scream about a player who can't even get 10 pts or crack a lineup ahead of the likes of Isbister, Cowan, Brown, Shannon, Pettinger or Ritchie.

If Linden played w/ Nazzy & Mo...or the Sedins...or got PP time....hell if he even played at all he'd get points and they'd have to bring him back again for another painful season of AV wishing he could just hit the delete button on this annoyance of a player. A player who's history, ties to the community & even current attributes AV does not respect.

Our PP sucks ass. How can you not go back to a formula that worked wonders last year?!?!?

Sedins cycling and Linden crashing the next at the far post w/ a right hand shot.
Linden a big body who can at least still skate faster than the Sedins so they're a perfect fit.
Linden who isn't afraid to go to the INSIDE and fight for his turf in front of the net.

Ya he may not fight but he certainly fights for the puck.

Thats more than can be said about everyone on this 23 man roster.

Playing Linden w/ Nazzy & Mo isn't going to be a miracle or anything but it just might get all 3 of them going and thats better than doing nothing and losing in a shameful fashion like they are right now.

I guarantee you putting Linden w/ the Twins on the PP will generate goals fast.


No Trevor is not a saviour but how is he worse than Cowan, Ritchie or Isbister?

Its absurd and obviously AV puts his own biases ahead of the good of the team. Gee sound familiar? *cough*Crawford*cough*

What ever happened to AV not having ANY preconceived notions about players and letting their performance earn them icetime? If so how has Nazzy never been benched for one game under him? Ya we all hoped for the best but deep down we knew that speech was a buncha malarky.

This year Trev was supposed to be saved for the 'stretch drive' and playoffs....well we're in the stretch and might not even make the dance. Trev is currently sitting now more than he did at any time this year.

At what point do we even factor in that the Canucks go to the shootout as much as any team in the league and piss away VALUABLE pts. Linden's scoring percentage in the shootout has got to be one of the tops in the whole NHL. Do you sit a guy who, our goaltender aside, can singlehandedly WIN you a full POINT???? Do you really? If you do that out of stubbornness I'd consider that a mental defect.

'nuff said.

[DonCherry4PM]

Well said, Clam.

This is yet another reason why I am not a fan of AV, not that I really needed another.

[Sid Dithers]

I think the inclusion (or omission) of Linden in the lineup is irrelevant. The Canucks' fate will be determined by the players higher up the food chain.

[ClamRussel]

Well then its bleak because those players aren't getting it done on a regular basis.

[Badfish]

Great post Clam, some great points made.

By the end of the year he finished w/ 12 goals, most of them w/ the man advantage. Linden also carried this into the playoffs and was our TOP forward, scoring pts while all our high profile (& priced) forwards did ostrich impersonations.

How many players have been scratched more then linden this season? How many got less then 12 goals last year? Better yet how many of them led the team through the playoffs?!?

People may jump on us for being homers but it's not that, it's more a case of "Why the hell not?" Nothing else seems to be working too well (although this game against the stars was promising) Why not put the guy where he can do again for us what he did last year?