Canucks News N Notes 24-25

[Chef Boi RD]

Jesus Christ I mention how DeBrusk is known to disappear for stretches like I’m making this up and the Karen’s come out of the woodwork and start brow beating. Settle boys n girls, I like DeBrusk.

I guess it's a bit of a Little Dude who cried Wolf thing Chef.

Your posts oft tend to have a touch of negative vibe to them.

Reap.

Sew.

Karen's?.

Gfy!

You have point

[Chef Boi RD]

The sad thing is, it was probably the best the team could do given the current roster.

1-0 then two empty netters and an outstanding game by Saros. The Canucks gave the effort on the back to back, but yeah, this is a pretty poor NHL team w/o Hughes, Hronek, and Pettersson.

So let’s trade Petey, right?

The team oddly enough plays great with Petey and without Miller, but shits the bed with Miller and without Petey but also shits the bed with both in the lineup. It seems to me we are better off with Petey than we are with Miller, but Petey seems to anger the most.

[UWSaint]

(cough...Joshua...cough)

This.

In the off-season I thought finding the next Dakota Joshua was a better move than resigning Dakota Joshua to that contract. Time will tell, but the early returns are poor. Last year he played with balls. This year?

Of course, I also thought Kiefer Sherwood was not the next Dakota Joshua, and he is all that and possibly more.

[Chef Boi RD]

It’s definitely not a great season for Joshua, although the cancer experience could have a lot to do with it. It was always going to be a risky re-signing. Time will tell.

[Cousin Strawberry]

It’s definitely not a great season for Joshua, although the cancer experience could have a lot to do with it. It was always going to be a risky re-signing. Time will tell.

His game is steadily improving as well.

[Blob Mckenzie]

It’s definitely not a great season for Joshua, although the cancer experience could have a lot to do with it. It was always going to be a risky re-signing. Time will tell.

His game is steadily improving as well.

His fighting ability sure isn't. Has he ever won a fight? He makes Dana Murzyn look like a good scrapper. I think if your gloves come off you should be trying to cave the other guys head in. Fighting to not lose is dangerous and useless for the most part. He's going to get hurt badly one of these days.

I'm curious how the cancer treatment zapped his strength. He definitely looks slower. Slower to react, slower to pucks, he's scuffling pretty badly right now. I hope he snaps out of it.

[Megaterio Llamas]

The sad thing is, it was probably the best the team could do given the current roster.

1-0 then two empty netters and an outstanding game by Saros. The Canucks gave the effort on the back to back, but yeah, this is a pretty poor NHL team w/o Hughes, Hronek, and Pettersson.

So let’s trade Petey, right?

The team oddly enough plays great with Petey and without Miller, but shits the bed with Miller and without Petey but also shits the bed with both in the lineup. It seems to me we are better off with Petey than we are with Miller, but Petey seems to anger the most.

Perhaps the most likely scenario is that we end up with both of them, but sans Ricky. And the new coach smooths over the (overblown) rift.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Why fire the coach?

This is his fault?

[Chef Boi RD]

The sad thing is, it was probably the best the team could do given the current roster.

1-0 then two empty netters and an outstanding game by Saros. The Canucks gave the effort on the back to back, but yeah, this is a pretty poor NHL team w/o Hughes, Hronek, and Pettersson.

So let’s trade Petey, right?

The team oddly enough plays great with Petey and without Miller, but shits the bed with Miller and without Petey but also shits the bed with both in the lineup. It seems to me we are better off with Petey than we are with Miller, but Petey seems to anger the most.

Perhaps the most likely scenario is that we end up with both of them, but sans Ricky. And the new coach smooths over the (overblown) rift.

It sounds like the problem existed before Tocchet arrived. Petey is aloof and an introvert and that can drive extroverts like Miller nuts. I’ve had aloof employees and I struggle with them, Clients don’t like them as they give you a body language that comes across like they don’t give a shit. One thing I’ve learned with people like this is no matter how hard you try they won’t change. In fact they become almost worse and this must be driving a guy like Miller nuts. I know where he’s coming from regarding that. I don’t believe it’s maturity as Allvin suggests, guys like Petey are stubborn and march to the beat of their own drum. The more you try to change them the more they retract. I could be wrong but that’s the vibe I get from Petey.

[Megaterio Llamas]

The sad thing is, it was probably the best the team could do given the current roster.

1-0 then two empty netters and an outstanding game by Saros. The Canucks gave the effort on the back to back, but yeah, this is a pretty poor NHL team w/o Hughes, Hronek, and Pettersson.

So let’s trade Petey, right?

The team oddly enough plays great with Petey and without Miller, but shits the bed with Miller and without Petey but also shits the bed with both in the lineup. It seems to me we are better off with Petey than we are with Miller, but Petey seems to anger the most.

Perhaps the most likely scenario is that we end up with both of them, but sans Ricky. And the new coach smooths over the (overblown) rift.

It sounds like the problem existed before Tocchet arrived

Yeah, but I don't think he has managed to squash it though Chef.

I think if you can't get Peter to play for you you're probably on shaky ground. Peter has the power.

[Cousin Strawberry]

Peter has the power.

Ricky Ticky Tocchey is Petter whipped?

[Meds]

The sad thing is, it was probably the best the team could do given the current roster.

1-0 then two empty netters and an outstanding game by Saros. The Canucks gave the effort on the back to back, but yeah, this is a pretty poor NHL team w/o Hughes, Hronek, and Pettersson.

So let’s trade Petey, right?

Depending upon the return…..yes.

Pettersson is producing at a 24G/67P pace. Similar to what we saw in his first several seasons. As soon as Miller took his 10 game hiatus Pettersson's output changed to a 16G/123P pace over that span. As soon as Miller returned Pettersson went back to his previous form and in the 7 games he played since then he has 2 goals, both of which he scored in the 7th game, that's good for 23G/23P over an 82 game season.

Miller has also been poor this season, but only when stacked up to his previous seasons in Vancouver. He is still pacing for 73 points. When you look at other players around the league making similar salaries, he is pacing adequately. But his leadership is not what it was last season, his on ice presence is not the same. JT is not the same guy right now.

Clearly these two players cannot coexist on the same roster.

Miller has the bearing of a guy who is trying to figure out a way to be the player he wants to be without hurting sensitive feelings. I've seen that in plenty of situations in the workplace. The boss (in this case JR/PA/RT) tells someone that they can't be who they have been for the past 5+ years because it isn't working for someone else in the group. Miller, for his part, has had the best intentions for the team and for winning and feels a responsibility to lead and push the group to get better, and now he has to find a new way to do that.....but to do that he's fighting his own character and the very things that have helped him become the player he is, and also helped the team up to this point. The current management group chose JT over Bo for a good reason, they saw the leadership and fire that Bo lacked. The edge that Miller plays with and his willingness to let the pent up emotion out at times to push the group, whereas Horvat was the diplomant.....the Linden clone. The Sedin-mentored young captain. Then, 2 years ago (almost), Tocchet came in and helped Miller channel his emotions the right way, gone were the pouts and lazy skates to the bench after a play or call didn't go how he wanted it. He became a very consistent player, the team rallied around and behind him. JT was the fire and Hughes, donning the C, was the control. Look at the other players who fell in behind and had great years. Garland and Boeser became much more complete players, guys like Joshua started to step up and feed off of that. Miller's impact was obvious. Then the guy who has been the most inconsistent in following suit gets the biggest contract, and Miller is (perhaps) told that he has to change what has been successful in order to coddle the feelings of this superstar salary holder.

To me that completely explains the Miller we've been seeing.

I'm at the point where I would say move either of them IF we knew that Pettersson would become a consistent producer and not just a guy who flashes 1.5 PPG production for 10 games and then scores 2 points over the next 7 games while looking disinterested. I'm not convinced of that, and if anyone here is brutally honest with themselves they would likely say the same.

Pettersson's value still returns a 2C and second pairing D. I'd be more than happy with a return of Cozens and Byram for Pettersson and spare parts. Both guys are 23 years old and have room to grow, and I think both of them would be players who contribute more at a time like we have now where top players are injured.

Also, enough players have seen serious upticks in their overall game after leaving Buffalo.

[Megaterio Llamas]

Why fire the coach?

This is his fault?

In a cutthroat business like the NHL, this might be the easiest move. Is it fair? Hell no, Tocchet is a very good coach and will be back behind an NHL bench next fall.

In the words of a noted Vancouver hockey philosopher, it is what it is.

[Ronning's Ghost]

The sad thing is, it was probably the best the team could do given the current roster.

1-0 then two empty netters and an outstanding game by Saros. The Canucks gave the effort on the back to back, but yeah, this is a pretty poor NHL team w/o Hughes, Hronek, and Pettersson.

So let’s trade Petey, right?

Depending upon the return…..yes.

Depends, to my way of thinking, on whether you think the core is good enough to build a championship team around, and whether they still will be good enough by the time you have built that team.

If the answer is "yes", then you hang on to a key piece that it would be difficult to achieve full present-day value for in a trade.

If the answer is "no", you say "thanks for hitting on a few draft picks, Mr. Benning", create your best pump 'n' dump lineup and deployment, and trade away the individually valuable assets for ones around which you can hope to centre a re-build.

But Chef will remind me that there's no way the current ownership would green light the latter strategy.

[Topper]

Why fire the coach?

This is his fault?

In a cutthroat business like the NHL, this might be the easiest move. Is it fair? Hell no, Tocchet is a very good coach and will be back behind an NHL bench next fall.

In the words of a noted Vancouver hockey philosopher, it is what it is.

Firing the previous year's Jack Adams Trophy winner is an NHL tradition and not to be fooled with.