GDT: ‘Nucks host Nashville- “To Catch a Predator “ + ‘Nucks Play Strong Edition- Sat. 7pm PT/ 10pm ET/ Sun. 4am CET/ 11am HKT

[Soups On]

Team played about as good a game as you can hope to play through 40 minutes. Shots 30-12. Could've been 5-1 without Saros. Then a seeing-eye shot floats in and cue the collapse. Team is just broken in these situatons.

Team is clearly capable of playing good hockey and have badly outplayed 3 of their last 4 opponents at ES but keep finding ways to lose.

- Bo Horvat was the best player on the ice for either team. Massive in the faceoff circle, tilted the ice. Worked his tail off, just a terrific performance. Miller was good for 40 minutes ... and then just completely stopped skating in the 3rd period.

- Hoglander has just lost his talent. Has gone from a guy who tried Michigans with regularity to someone who doesn't do anything but chip and chase.

- Kuzmenko and Mikheyev both scored but this was the weakest game for the Pettersson line in a while.

- Dries played really well and was probably unlucky not to score. 6 SOG. Hustles on every play and gets in positions to put pucks on net.

- Garland continues to struggle. Just feels like a guy who won't be here a year from now.

- Studnicka continues to work hard. Problem is that we traded for him to help at C and he's just another fungible bottom-6 winger from the looks of it.

- 21 very solid minutes for Bear. Is he already our top RHD?

- Hughes was very good, especially through 40 minutes. Skating much better than the first few games of the season.

- Stillman. Jesus Christ. This guy sucks. At the end of the 2nd he randomly spent an entire shift on the wrong side of the ice. Brutal on the 3-3 goal. Iced the puck on a delayed offside shortly after than leading to an extended shift in our zone. Was finally benched by Boudreau after the last play. Should be on the next bus to Abbotsford. Playing this guy over better options has already cost the team 2-3 points in the standings.

- Demko was the 2nd best goalie for the 9th time in 9 starts this season.

Why does it seem like this was coached out of him..? Oh, it f***ing was. Infuriating stuff.

Oh and Bear is already the top RHD on this team. If he can continue this play that trade is a disgusting win for management.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Bo doesnt say he wants to stay here. Very 3rd party answer to contract talks

well i mean when they signed miller he knew he wasn’t going to stay here

 

[me2]

Haven’t bought anything Canucks related in years. Until this team shows me consistency, then I’ll do it but this team is a hot mess.

Do counterfeit Chinese knockoffs count?

 

[Ruthervin]

I feel for the die-hards of this team.

I decided to detach myself emotionally from this team after the first road trip of the season but still hit refresh on nhl.com (while watching YouTube condensed versions of the games that we win).

Cheer up Canucks fans. We'll be good again one day. Might not be today or tomorrow, but even teams like the Oilers, Canes, etc., etc. were all god awful once upon a time and now have elite teams.

It's cyclical.

For tomorrow, we got the BC Lions vs. Stamps Western Finals. I encourage those to go watch.

 

[mathonwy]

Myers is not a top 4 dman.

Stillman is getting the Ben Hutton treatment. Rip

 

[Jay26]

i hate the people directly hands on the wheel responsible but have my disdain too for those indirectly so

That's fair. Trust me, I'm all about people putting their money where their mouth is if they're going to complain about what they consume (have the conversation with people a lot about streaming when they complain about the lack of quality on Netflix or Disney+ or whatever).

However, there's more hope in the organization fixing their shit than fans changing how they be fans. Especially the family demo I mentioned. Some of them are probably excited just to be there at a live NHL game.

 

[me2]

Why does it seem like this was coached out of him..? Oh, it f***ing was. Infuriating stuff.

Oh and Bear is already the top RHD on this team. If he can continue this play that trade is a disgusting win for management.

His only competition is Schenn. I love Luke's heart and try but he's 3rd pairing D.

 

[wonton15]

Myers is a #6 defenseman realistically

He can’t do ANYTHING right

 

[Soups On]

Honestly though, staying up till 1:30am to watch these guys continue to suck is mentally exhausting.

The highlight is truly the "fun" commentary by guys like CherryToke, Gstank, and bbud (buttman lmaooo). Always parading the same nonsense but just being so passionate about it. Good stuff.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Why does it seem like this was coached out of him..? Oh, it f***ing was. Infuriating stuff.

Hogs has been playing hard, but you can tell he is more concerned with his positioning, and puck management, rather then doing the things that made his rookie year so great.

At his price tag, and motor, he should be going balls out on run and gun plays in the O-zone especially.

Classic overcoaching.

 

[sting101]

That was really just all on Demko.

You can say it was the classic 3rd for the Nucks, but it really wasn't. Preds didn't have much of anything. Sure there are some Dmen dressed that shouldn't be, but the Nucks had 44 shots, many high danger. Heck JT had THREE breakaways alone. When soft goals don't go in, the whole team looks, and feels better. It's absolutely demoralizing. This isn't a new problem, we all remember the Luongo era, and that was with a 1st seed team.

It's not realistic to expect them to finish the game like the 1st period, with 50 shots for, 12 against. There will be chances, and pressure against, vs any team, it's still the NHL.

We aren't even getting AHL level goaltending. Sub 900 doesn't get you a winning, or even 500 team, regardless of roster.

Yes Stillman was brutal too, but that can't be the difference in such a lopsided effort.

Yup i've been watching a lot of other games and i dont know whats going on but Demko is about as good in net as Stillman is playing D right now. Given our circumstance it's incredibly odd.

The hip injury/surgery thing has to be a big issue and he's having to rehab plus spent the off season getting glasses and married. Never seen anything like it outside of when Gina was pregnant and Roberto didnt want to try and drag a mediocre team into the playoffs.

Demoralizing

 

[Kryten]

well i mean when they signed miller he knew he wasn’t going to stay here

Could have afforded him without Boeser, best to move on from him at this age though. Too bad we are stuck with the older less effort Miller

 

[drax0s]

I don't think we'll ever know. Maybe if one of the players or someone from the Benning regime writes a book or something.

I find that highly unlikely for a few reasons.

 

[EpochLink]

This team would have a better record if our defense was fixed. Common denominator in all of the mishaps is that cheap ass bitch ass f***ing bitch Stillman, Myers and OEsLow

 

[Ruthervin]

Half-Glass Full:

-Only 3 points out of a Wildcard
-3-1-1 over last 5 games = 7/10 points.
-Yes, we are blowing leads at a mind boggling record pace, but we are also racing out to those leads for the most part as opposed to getting caved in right from the get go.
-We have one of the best power plays in the league
-We are strong 5-5

On a negative note, it looks like Demko and OEL are this year's first half versions of Pettersson and Boeser.

 

[Jay26]

As do I. Stop buying tickets. Stop going to games. Stop buying merchandise.
The only way this team will ever change course from the “make the playoffs and anything can happen” mentality is if Aquilini starts losing vast amounts of money.

Absolutely agree. Unfortunately it's entirely unrealistic to expect mindless consumers, especially in an upscale city like Vancouver, to stop mindlessly consuming.

 

[sting101]

Hogs has been playing hard, but you can tell he is more concerned with his positioning, and puck management, rather then doing the things that made his rookie year so great.

At his price tag, and motor, he should be going balls out on run and gun plays in the O-zone especially.

Classic overcoaching.

Overcoaching? Like WTF

Yes how dare Bruce ask for some accountability in puck management. He' slucky Tortz isn't the coach after some of the boneheaded plays he makes

 

[Soups On]

Hogs has been playing hard, but you can tell he is more concerned with his positioning, and puck management, rather then doing the things that made his rookie year so great.

At his price tag, and motor, he should be going balls out on run and gun plays in the O-zone especially.

Classic overcoaching.

Overcoaching is like nitty gritty exercise "correcting" for the gen pop. A bunch of people overcomplicating simple tasks and eventually creating more mental discourse and overall reduction in performance and adherence.

 

[RutherPlan]

If Demko can make 1 or 2 more big saves, we would be winning more games. Canucks are going to be fine.

 

[Kevinsane]

Absolutely agree. Unfortunately it's entirely unrealistic to expect mindless consumers, especially in an upscale city like Vancouver, to stop mindlessly consuming.

100%. Some people’s memories last 24 hours at most. Put up 8 on a terrible Ducks team and sell 10,000 reverse retros.

 

[sting101]

Myers is not a top 4 dman.

Stillman is getting the Ben Hutton treatment. Rip

I don't remember Gudbranson playing with Gragnani?

 

[EpochLink]

Bench Bitch ASS Stillman

 

[Jay26]

I feel for the die-hards of this team.

I decided to detach myself emotionally from this team after the first road trip of the season but still hit refresh on nhl.com (while watching YouTube condensed versions of the games that we win).

Cheer up Canucks fans. We'll be good again one day. Might not be today or tomorrow, but even teams like the Oilers, Canes, etc., etc. were all god awful once upon a time and now have elite teams.

It's cyclical.

For tomorrow, we got the BC Lions vs. Stamps Western Finals. I encourage those to go watch.

Detachment is healthy. That's where I'm at.

Besides, I have so many bigger things to worry about, like the criminal cost of living nowadays. The Canucks just don't really matter to me.

 

[Zippgunn]

Stillman is trash, Miller is unbelievably frustrating to watch and Demko continues to look very ordinary. We blow...

 

[Numba9]

I think people are harsh on the third goal. A very close in chance with small rebound followed by the guy kicking it to his stick to put in the rebound. The defensive pairing is far more to blame than Demko on that. Yes he got outplayed but lack of finish was just as big of a problem along with deciding to coast for the final 30 minutes.

At some point Demko needs to win the goaltending battle (he did in Seattle…his only win), but this team also needs to actually be able to get some wins when the goaltenders don’t win that battle. It’s not all on Demko that’s for sure. Plenty of massive warts on this team.

That third goal was not good by the defense but brutal by Demko. No way a player should be able to score in that situation, why on earth did open the 5 hole with a player in that close? If he stayed in the butterfly he makes the save easily.