The Canucks @ American Thanksgiving 2024
Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2024 12:30 pm
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.
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.
