Canucks Young Guns

[Chef Boi RD]

Why does everyone forget Evan Mceneny?

Knees. Done

[Chef Boi RD]

Wheres all this anti benning bullshit coming from?

6 words - Botchford, Patterson, Price, Brough, Sekeres and Halford on 1040 everyday, all day

They are leading the charge, they are campaigning real hard, it’s quite pathetic. Outside of firing Benning today they bitched about the city getting excited over the Hughes signing.

[SKYO]

So out goes Guddy and Pouliot replaced by Quinn Hughes (soon) pure QB and Josh Teves two-way dman, a smidgen bigger, lefty Stecher if you will.

The chances of him making our roster are pretty long I'd guess. Hes just another d prospect until he shows he cn play. 24 years old and 6' 180? Better turn down the AC blowers or he'll be blown clean out of the rink

He's starting in Vancouver there udl.

Rick Dhaliwal:

Been told Josh Teves is coming to Vancouver and not Utica. Also 24 year old NCAA free agents can only sign 1 year deals. [RFA after]

[Hockey Widow]

So out goes Guddy and Pouliot replaced by Quinn Hughes (soon) pure QB and Josh Teves two-way dman, a smidgen bigger, lefty Stecher if you will.

The chances of him making our roster are pretty long I'd guess. Hes just another d prospect until he shows he cn play. 24 years old and 6' 180? Better turn down the AC blowers or he'll be blown clean out of the rink

He's starting in Vancouver there udl.

Rick Dhaliwal:

Been told Josh Teves is coming to Vancouver and not Utica. Also 24 year old NCAA free agents can only sign 1 year deals. [RFA after]

Ya its no risk for the Canucks. A one year deal that will be done July 1st. If he sucks you don't qualify him. But Benning is very high on him. And if it means Poopalot is gone.....

[DonCherry4PM]

The Palmu and Dahlen lack of development could be weighing on Lockwood's mind. Utica might be getting a reputation for not being the best spot for rookies. Can't really blame him for choosing college if that is his impression.

I am not buying into the "Utica can't develop players" Schtickt that is being pushed by the media. Its garbage. Start of last season, Utica had 5-6 rookies in the lineup down there as we force fed prospects into the system.

But what is the definition of success?? I would say that if your farm team fed 2-3 guys onto your roster (or could feed 2-3 guys into the roster) every year that would be an AMAZING development program. Some of those assets would obviously get turned into other assets, but I think our media has an overblown expectation of youth development. The focus seems to be on 1 or 2 guys that may or may not <ever> pan into NHL regulars ( in any position)

In the last couple years, Utica has developed:
-Virtanen
Found his game down there. #Shotgun was on his way to playing himself out of the NHL and is a prime example of needing to mature and develop the skills, ethic and character to have any kind of success in the NHL. (Not arguing his potential, or that we wanted him to be Todd 2.0, just that he made it to the NHL as a regular who contributes in the lineup in some way, and learned the basics of how to do it in Utica)
- McEwan
Got his first taste of the NHL this year, and looks to be a guy who could play an energy guy role here. He was never really on anyones "watch" list. he developed in Utica.
-Goldobin
got his 30 games down there. Learned the hypothetical direction where his own goalie played. Took Travis Green (and time) to learn what his goalies name was and if he spoke English or not.
-Joulevi
was having a monster year down there until injury hit. No doubts he would have had a great long look in the show this year if he wasn't injury. Still improved his game in Utica.
-Demko
Proved that the AHL is a good stepping stone to the NHL - even for a goalie.
-Gaudette
Up and down, played his way onto the team this year because of the Sutter injury... and made Sutter expendable July 1st. Perfect example of development and getting your shot to make the NHL
- Sautner, Brisebois, Gaunce, Boucher, etc.. all serviceable injury fill ins with some of them (not Gaunce or Boucher - they peaked in high school)still having potential to improve somewhat.
- Gadovich, Lind, Chatfield, Karlsson -- all still in development.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. 6 guys for sure that were recently developed though our minor league system (I am sure I missed some), with a whack of guys that are serviceable call ups.

The media is feeding people Goat Shit, and they are paying for it by the pound. Fans and media need to manage their expectations, and stop finding every little thin g to grind an axe on or push a personal agenda.

Sometimes players just don't work out, for whatever reason. Could be a coach, could be a personality conflict, could be a bad teammate, usually is a lack of motivation, lack of skill, or lack or character.. but its ALWAYS WAAAAYYY easier to blame the system/team/coach than the player looking at himself in the mirror.

I agree that there is much more nuance in assessing these issues than just picking one party and pointing at them as being the one at fault (both the pro and anti JB groups have been guilty of this). But just as it is easier for a player to blame the organization etc. (e.g. "I deserved a better chance") instead of looking in the mirror, so too is it easier for the organization to blame the player (e.g. "sometimes players don't want to pay their dues") instead of looking itself in the mirror. Without having a substantial amount of insider knowledge, it is pretty tough to be able to say which party is to blame or what percentage of blame should be attributed to each party.

You have listed several players who have developed from Utica in the last few years but these for the most part are not skilled high-end players (or at least have not yet proven themselves to consistently be such at an NHL level). I would submit that, if Utica does not produce a number of skilled high-end players in the relatively near future (for simplicity let's say 1-2 years), there is a problem with either:
1) the amount or quality of development taking place at Utica; or
2) the prospects that are being fed into Utica (i.e. JB's picks and trades).

For sure one can blame the players if their failure isn't due to the way they are being developed/coached/trained/deployed/etc. but if those personal (vs. club) failures become a constant or continual trend (and are measurably higher than for other teams) then one must look further - to the individual who continues to choose those (inadequate/untalented/entitled/etc.) players. To be clear, I am not saying we are there..... yet.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Wheres all this anti benning bullshit coming from?

6 words - Botchford, Patterson, Price, Brough, Sekeres and Halford on 1040 everyday, all day

They are leading the charge, they are campaigning real hard, it’s quite pathetic. Outside of firing Benning today they bitched about the city getting excited over the Hughes signing.

It’s adorable how upset you’re getting about this

[Chef Boi RD]

Wheres all this anti benning bullshit coming from?

6 words - Botchford, Patterson, Price, Brough, Sekeres and Halford on 1040 everyday, all day

They are leading the charge, they are campaigning real hard, it’s quite pathetic. Outside of firing Benning today they bitched about the city getting excited over the Hughes signing.

It’s adorable how upset you’re getting about this

Blob bobs Curt’s APPLESby

[Blob Mckenzie]

You seem ready to throw down about the way the TEAM 1040 hosts are treating poor Elmer

[Chef Boi RD]

Blob loves Curt

[Blob Mckenzie]

Blob loves Curt

Sure I do. He sounds like a 14 year old boy. I’m assuming that’s why you keep bringing his name up. The only decent hosts on that station are the Kurtenbloggers.

I understand you don’t like anyone questioning the job Jim Benning has done. Wouldn’t want that.

[Hockey Widow]

Carol Schram reports that Madden is making noise that he wants to turn pro this year when his season is done. Benning has yet to respond but you would think he would take a similar position as with Lockwood. We don’t think you are ready for the NHL. So we will sign you on Utica to finish the year then do your ECL in July, or play one more year in college and we will look tobsign you as soon as next season is done.

[Mickey107]

Carol Schram reports that Madden is making noise that he wants to turn pro this year when his season is done. Benning has yet to respond but you would think he would take a similar position as with Lockwood. We don’t think you are ready for the NHL. So we will sign you on Utica to finish the year then do your ECL in July, or play one more year in college and we will look tobsign you as soon as next season is done.

THE VANCOUVER COLLEGIATES

[Strangelove]

I understand you don’t like anyone questioning the job Jim Benning has done. Wouldn’t want that.

Questioning the job is fine, nonstop rock-throwing not so much...

[Tciso]

Carol Schram reports that Madden is making noise that he wants to turn pro this year when his season is done. Benning has yet to respond but you would think he would take a similar position as with Lockwood. We don’t think you are ready for the NHL. So we will sign you on Utica to finish the year then do your ECL in July, or play one more year in college and we will look to sign you as soon as next season is done.

We might as well sign the kid this year, even if he doesn't play a game for Utica. Get him into the system, and get him his signing bonus. A little good will goes a long way.

[Ronning's Ghost]

Moving this to where I think it's more relevant:

Sure, but Petey is losing it.
He now, for the first time in his NHL career, has fewer points than games!

For some reason he's not shooting nearly as often as he did earlier in the season and is instead making more frequent high risk passes.

Get that Henrik out of his head.

He hasn't looked the same since the All Star game. I think he is probably just tired.

He hasn't looked the same -- understandably -- since the hatchet job on his knee. I take this as evidence in support of my position that it was unwise to let him play in the NHL before he was physically ready, especially in an atmosphere in which it was not abundantly clear to the rest of the league that any abuse of his slight body would be met with swift and savage retribution.