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Vegas is looking as vulnerable as they've ever been. It might not be horrible playing them in the first round as they shuffle a bunch of bodies into the lineup right in the playoffs
This vegas team is not the same team we would get if they met in the playoffs.

They have significant injuries across the board
 
I don't think Pouliot was terrible. He's one of those players who is a bit too slow in processing the game at NHL speeds so he's prone to some bad turnovers when pressured. He would probably be ok on a good team with good structure. Gragnani can't play D at all and you have to shelter him.
I second this. Pouliot wasn’t terrible. He was a good puck mover and despite being slow and sluggish was a relatively okay skater. He wasn’t a low IQ defenseman like Weber, Sbisa, Hutton or Bartkowski. He was just… slow and a step behind.

I didn’t mind the acquisition as I believe we traded Pedan and 7th round pick or something and it was a low cost move for a guy who was a former top 10 pick and was 23 at the time and was NHL ready. We then needed space so idiot Benning could go and get Benn and f***ing Myers and we were hoping Juolevi was going to make the team so Pouliot wasn’t brought back. I can’t remember if we also went and grabbed Hamonic that year or not.
 
Pouliot was horrible and played himself out of the NHL.
He was on the Stars 2nd pairing like a week ago! ;)

Weber was all right here. He put up some decent seasons on a good Preds squad after.

I second this. Pouliot wasn’t terrible. He was a good puck mover and despite being slow and sluggish was a relatively okay skater. He wasn’t a low IQ defenseman like Weber, Sbisa, Hutton or Bartkowski. He was just… slow and a step behind.

I didn’t mind the acquisition as I believe we traded Pedan and 7th round pick or something and it was a low cost move for a guy who was a former top 10 pick and was 23 at the time and was NHL ready. We then needed space so idiot Benning could go and get Benn and f***ing Myers and we were hoping Juolevi was going to make the team so Pouliot wasn’t brought back. I can’t remember if we also went and grabbed Hamonic that year or not.
Wasn't Hamonic a lot later?
 
He was on the Stars 2nd pairing like a week ago! ;)

Weber was all right here. He put up some decent seasons on a good Preds squad after.


Wasn't Hamonic a lot later?
He’s played less NHL games in the 5 years combined since he left the org than he did in his last year with the org lol.
 
Pouliot was horrific in his first season - absolutely terrible, not an NHL-caliber player - but as often happens with bad players who get lots of opportunity on a bad team he did improve significantly in his second year and was actually playing pretty serviceably at the point where Hughes signed and then he never played again.
 
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I second this. Pouliot wasn’t terrible. He was a good puck mover and despite being slow and sluggish was a relatively okay skater. He wasn’t a low IQ defenseman like Weber, Sbisa, Hutton or Bartkowski. He was just… slow and a step behind.

I didn’t mind the acquisition as I believe we traded Pedan and 7th round pick or something and it was a low cost move for a guy who was a former top 10 pick and was 23 at the time and was NHL ready. We then needed space so idiot Benning could go and get Benn and f***ing Myers and we were hoping Juolevi was going to make the team so Pouliot wasn’t brought back. I can’t remember if we also went and grabbed Hamonic that year or not.
I wouldn't put Weber in that group. Expectations for him were reasonable and frankly, I think he met or even exceeded them.
 
Weber definitely wasn't low IQ, he just wasn't great enough at everything to become a mainstay in the top four. He was probably the same size as Stecher but didn't have the tenacity down low to overcome it, and he was a decent puck mover with a cannon but wasn't amazing at it. Solid bottom pairing defenseman and it kept him in the league for a while.

I don't quite remember if usage was a factor in his one really good season here (14-15) but considering Desjardins was coaching, I doubt he got favourable zone start treatment.
 
Weber definitely wasn't low IQ, he just wasn't great enough at everything to become a mainstay in the top four. He was probably the same size as Stecher but didn't have the tenacity down low to overcome it, and he was a decent puck mover with a cannon but wasn't amazing at it. Solid bottom pairing defenseman and it kept him in the league for a while.

I don't quite remember if usage was a factor in his one really good season here (14-15) but considering Desjardins was coaching, I doubt he got favourable zone start treatment.

He played a lot with Hamhuis that year which obviously really helped.
 
I still have Philip “KHL Karksson” Larsen ptsd. That guy looked rail thin and did not have the agility to avoid getting hit. I cringed everytime he took a hit from a 210+ lb forward on the forecheck.

Taylor Hall finally blew him up iirc.
 
Pouliot was horrific in his first season - absolutely terrible, not an NHL-caliber player - but as often happens with bad players who get lots of opportunity on a bad team he did improve significantly in his second year and was actually playing pretty serviceably at the point where Hughes signed and then he never played again.
Not true..His first season was a tale of two players..Half good ,half bad..It was after his first season that it became apparent that he was an absolute liability on the back end...Good skater, excellent passer, but couldn't process the game.

 
Not true..His first season was a tale of two players..Half good ,half bad..It was after his first season that it became apparent that he was an absolute liability on the back end...Good skater, excellent passer, but couldn't process the game.


I don’t care what a shit article from a bad writer says, especially when it was written right after a fluke 3-point game.

He was unplayably terrible and it embarrassing to watch him try to process the game defensively in that first season, but the organization and his BFF junior coach kept trying to hype up their crappy acquisition and spoon-fed him the softest offensive/PP minutes imaginable.
 
One of the better undersized D that I have ever seen was Mike Weaver.

Apparently the guy used to creep on the Canucks female staff and was a big computer nerd lol.

He carved out a nice later career though. Good teammate too.

I feel I blocked out 2012 to 2018 in my brain though. I only have vague recollections when something reminds me.
 
Wild is another nightmare matchup for us honestly
We've seen a variety of teams that cause the Canucks difficulties, but I think their biggest test is sticking with "the program" despite immediate results. The complete buy in seems to pop up and that's where everything collapses, because their fall back play is every man for themselves and Green defensive hockey.

Or I should say, that's what it looks like to me. The system still isn't second nature and perhaps that only comes from going through the fire of the playoffs?
 
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This vegas team is not the same team we would get if they met in the playoffs.

They have significant injuries across the board
Thing is adding a bunch of bodies without getting in actual games is risky. A lot of people forget Vegas almost lost both games at home against the Jets last year
 

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