The Canucks @ American Thanksgiving 2024

[Meds]

Hitting the quarter mark of the season now and thought a thread for team review and comparison to last year is worthwhile.....

The good.....

Hughes - while not scoring as prolifically, he looks to be a better player this year than last. His puck control and skating seems even more controlled and he is shooting more and creating more chances for himself and others. Defensively he also looks to be a bit smarter. I'm not concerned about his individual production, it is going to drop when the entire 1PP unit regresses as well. If our top-3 forwards start producing like they are capable of then Hughes will correspondingly be gobbling up more assists.

Garland - The elf is better this year than last year, playing with more poise and still a pain in the ass for opponents to chase. Leading forwards in scoring as well.

Lankinen - A great find on a bargain contract. When Demko returns we look to have a backup that Tocchet can trust in order to keep Thatcher's workload more manageable.

Boeser - He's been the steadiest forward we've had since last October and I thought he looked good coming back from the concussion.

Sherwood - A good depth find. A bottom six guy who has an edge and can play up the lineup for a time when necessary.

Suter - He's a 3rd line guy at best, scoring at 0.5 ppg right now, and contributing at key times.


The Average.....

Myers - He's been steady. Still playing like a steady #4 but obviously there is need to find someone to push him down to the #5 spot sooner than later.

Brannstrom - He has been better than advertised, or maybe just better than expected.

DeBrusk - After a slow start he has managed to find some of the game we know he has and now has 14 points in 21 games.

Pettersson - I know, I know, everyone expected me to throw him into the bad category, but he's stepped up the past week or so and now has 17 points in 21 games. His season is still a disappointment at this point, but maybe he gets his head out of his ass and proves me wrong.....I hope so.

Miller - WTF. He's still just 1 point south of 1.0ppg despite being injured and mentally distracted.


The Bad.....

Silovs - Definitely not NHL ready, looks like the playoffs were a flash in the pan.

Juulsen - Very AHL ready.

Soucy - Defensively not what he was last year.

Hoglander - A good season last year, a good camp, showed up looking very ready to go, and has completely fizzled.


I don't mind where the team is at overall when we consider the way some of the guys have come out this season.

As noted by others, several of us predicted a regression this year, and it would have been foolish not to expect it considering how right things went for the team up until the All-Star break last season. This early season adversity is a good thing.....I hope.

From the games I've watched, Miller, Pettersson, and DeBrusk, finding their games would likely propel this team from being a .600 club to .700.

A healthy Demko (on his game) would probably bump them to .750. (For reference only Winnipeg is above .750 this season).

Pettersson is my only real concern still. If he plays like he's supposed to be able to it would, by default, make his linemates more productive as well. It would force opponents to face 2 scoring lines (when JT returns) and the problematic line-matching for the other guys should lead to more production for the Canucks. Maybe this year he finds his game in January rather than loses it and the team stumbles through 2024 and then ploughs through 2025 on two feet.....that's the hope anyways.

[donlever]

Chiclets threw it out there that JT and EP have a get along, don't see eye to eye, maybe can not be fixed problem.

Hinted at previously but not great news if true.

If EP and Miller are scoring at mean and Boeser stays healthy Quinn has 10 more points (as you imply).

Not sure I ever got the Silovs playoff love.

Was his GAA not under .900?

The D is limited and to thin and they didn't do enough to fix it.

We all knew that though.

Good post Mëds.

[Topper]

Chiclets threw it out there that JT and EP have a get along, don't see eye to eye, maybe can not be fixed problem.

Hinted at previously but not great news if true.

If EP and Miller are scoring at mean and Boeser stays healthy Quinn has 10 more points (as you imply).

Not sure I ever got the Silovs playoff love.

Was his GAA not under .900?

The D is limited and to thin and they didn't do enough to fix it.

We all knew that though.

Good post Mëds.

I was going to post the Chiclets take in the garbage media thread. Sounded like they were jumping to conclusions and pulling at straws of Scooters emergence and JT's absence coinciding. I think it has more to do with Scooter's skating style change. Though JT's absence may have something to do with Scooter's early season absence.

... and a new NHL Penalty to anyone who turns their back and body checks with their butt. Two minutes for being a pansy douche bag.

[Carl Yagro]

I think at the World Championships was when MVP She-loves gave Canucks fans a raging boner. Getting blue-pilled is only a temporary solution.

Funny that complete opposites, Naslund and Bert got along famously, but these two can't even agree at the rink? It is what it is.

EDIT: Yeah, I tend to agree that it's media douches speculating again to stay relevant. I'm no fool.

[donlever]

I was going to post the Chiclets take in the garbage media thread. Sounded like they were jumping to conclusions and pulling at straws of Scooters emergence and JT's absence coinciding.

Could be.

Biz and Whit are pretty tuned in on the other hand.

Certainly more than any of the purported "real" media.

Realdia? (Sic)

I trust what they say more than most.

@ Hank...disagree...if is what's Friedperson yes....the Chiclets Dudes no.

[Carl Yagro]

Not sure how trustworthy a dude can be when he claims on social that he went out to dine and ended up single-handedly beating off 7 guys.

[donlever]

I think he just beat them up.

The beating off happened later when he was celebrating his victory.

[BoS]

Not sure how trustworthy a dude can be when he claims on social that he went out to dine and ended up single-handedly beating off 7 guys.

Don’t think that’s what Biz is claiming. More like 7 guys beating on him, with him getting in a few punches of his own.

[donlever]

Not sure how trustworthy a dude can be when he claims on social that he went out to dine and ended up single-handedly beating off 7 guys.

Don’t think that’s what Biz is claiming. More like 7 guys beating on him, with him getting in a few punches of his own.

Carls just being his smarmy facetious self.

He didn't mean it....

[BoS]

I did think there is cause for concern with Miller, however. This team is going nowhere without him. Nor would it have any level of success without Petey at his best.

If one has to go…

[donlever]

Yeah....I've been pretty clear I'm keeping Miller.

Certainly a topic of debate here.

[Carl Yagro]

Not sure how trustworthy a dude can be when he claims on social that he went out to dine and ended up single-handedly beating off 7 guys.

Don’t think that’s what Biz is claiming. More like 7 guys beating on him, with him getting in a few punches of his own.

Carls just being his smarmy facetious self.

He didn't mean it....

Hmmm... maybe the humour is just too subtle?

Smarmy facetious. Appreciate the compliment DonDocksteady.

I like it when Cuz is in the room. That guy will cackle over anything you say. I'm thinking it's more the weed though...

Whatever media and fans want to say about Miller, he is already statistically one of the all-time greatest Canucks:

381GP 418Pts = 1.10PPG (2nd all-time). Bure only had 428GP in a Canucks uni.

Making $8M/per

Insane that some in the media wanted to drive him to the airport as soon as the 1st was traded away. Yet Bertuzzi was revered (pre-Moore) for some of the same personality traits.

[donlever]

I like it when Cuz is in the room. That guy will cackle over anything you say. I'm thinking it's more the weed though...

Dude rolls 2 X 3fiddy for shits and giggles.

Grain of salt.

[Cousin Strawberry]

I don't cackle

[Meds]

Chiclets threw it out there that JT and EP have a get along, don't see eye to eye, maybe can not be fixed problem.

Hinted at previously but not great news if true.

Would not surprise me at all. However you can't trust most media. The Chiclet boys are pretty good though and don't tend to rumour monger without at least a little smoke from the fire. Especially with guys they know from playing with or against, Millsie being a guy like that.

Was his GAA not under .900?

That would have been amazing.....a league playoff record for sure.

I know, I know. You meant SV%.

And you're right, his numbers weren't stellar.