Canucks at the Worlds? CAN loses 3-2 to FIN in Quarterfinals

[bo2shink*]

Carey price is to Canadian goaltenders what Anze Kopitar is to Slovenian Centre icemen.

Huge dropoff.

Tomaz Razingar was very upset by this comment.

 

[Mofletz]

What happen to Tyler Myers. He looks horrible, no confidence.

 

[Barney Gumble]

What happen to Tyler Myers. He looks horrible, no confidence.

Probably like Edler, a victim of huge developmental jump early on NHL career causing unrealistic expectations.

 

[PhilMick]

Probably like Edler, a victim of huge developmental jump early on NHL career causing unrealistic expectations.

Man alive I was high on that kid. I remember in 2010 thinking Myers was going to be this epic defensive cornerstone for Team Canada in Sochi.

...I'm still a better scout than Weisbrod.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

Missed the game but read this:

The play that counted the most for Canada was a turnover by defenceman Tyler Myers,

- TSN

I too can't believe how far Myers has fallen.

 

[Hammer Time]

The only other legit non-playoff/non-Olympian goalie we could have chosen was Braden Holtby. Was he injured or something?

Holtby was doing poorly in Washington this season (to the point that the Caps went and got Halak at the trade deadline). Not really an improvement on Reimer/Scrivens.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Probably like Edler, a victim of huge developmental jump early on NHL career causing unrealistic expectations.

Edler made big strides and has regressed down ever since. Myers just came into the NHL, had a great first year, OK second year, and has been poor ever since.

Both are curious cases of untapped potential, though. Both IMO have tools to be good #1 defensemen. I remember I wanted to pick Myers over Hodgson in '08. Weird what's happened to him.

 

[JA]

Sergei Shirokov won his second World Championship gold medal in three years with the Russian national team today. He opened the scoring and then added an assist later in the game.

He received 17:56 of ice time, the eighth-most of all Russian skaters in the gold medal game and fifth among Russian forwards. He had four goals in this year's tournament.

 

[PhilMick]

I'm hearing the gold medal game was an abomination, anyone have any clips (preferably gifs? ) of all the diving that went on?

 

[andersej]

Sergei Shirokov won his second World Championship gold medal in three years with the Russian national team today. He opened the scoring and then added an assist later in the game.

He received 17:56 of ice time, the eighth-most of all Russian skaters in the gold medal game and fifth among Russian forwards. He had four goals in this year's tournament.

Shirokov could have been a solid NHL'er - dare I say the kind of top 6 winger the Canucks have been looking for for years - if given a half decent shot. The guy did the time in the AHL, playing two promising full seasons there at a fraction of what he could have been earning in Russia. And then he gets only 8 games to prove himself in the NHL before he is turfed. If all European players are judged after 8 NHL games, very few would stick.

It's possible there were some off-ice issues I don't know about, but again Shirokov stuck around for two full seasons buried in the AHL, that's more than you can expect any Russian player to do.

 

[tantalum]

Shirokov could have been a solid NHL'er - dare I say the kind of top 6 winger the Canucks have been looking for for years - if given a half decent shot. The guy did the time in the AHL, playing two promising full seasons there at a fraction of what he could have been earning in Russia. And then he gets only 8 games to prove himself in the NHL before he is turfed. If all European players are judged after 8 NHL games, very few would stick.

It's possible there were some off-ice issues I don't know about, but again Shirokov stuck around for two full seasons buried in the AHL, that's more than you can expect any Russian player to do.

Or more likely he was never going to make an impact in the NHL. His shot came and his inconsistent effort from shift to shift and day to day resulted in him going back to the KHL. It's not like 8 NHL games was the only thing given to him to prove himself. He had those 150+ AHL games to show the organization something as well. And what he showed was inconsistencies in his game that would likely keep him out of the NHL.

The KHL and European leagues are riddled with players who were "never given a decent chance". Perhaps it's more to do with the players themselves.

 

[RandV]

Or more likely he was never going to make an impact in the NHL. His shot came and his inconsistent effort from shift to shift and day to day resulted in him going back to the KHL. It's not like 8 NHL games was the only thing given to him to prove himself. He had those 150+ AHL games to show the organization something as well. And what he showed was inconsistencies in his game that would likely keep him out of the NHL.

The KHL and European leagues are riddled with players who were "never given a decent chance". Perhaps it's more to do with the players themselves.

He was also only in North America for 2 seasons, 09-10 and 10-11. First year was getting acclimatized to the NA game, second year there wasn't a scoring role for him on the Canucks. Quite unfortunate really, because if he could have hung around one more season he would have had his shot in 11-12. Raymond was out with injury to start the season and Samuelsson was pretty much done. Also with Malhotra demoted thanks to the eye injury rather than a defensive 3rd line we started with an offensive one featuring Cody Hodgson.

Maybe he still wouldn't have turned out, but he could have easily locked up a spot playing with Kesler or Hodgson. If it worked then maybe we wouldn't have needed to trade for Booth. I'm guessing though it was a matter of contract renewal... his contract was up, Canucks offered a status quo contract for an unproven player, and the KHL probably offered him 4x as much.

 

[Barney Gumble]

Seemed like a guy with a good attitude - too bad it didn't work out for him and the Canucks:

http://canucksarmy.com/2011/7/20/a-conversation-with-sergei-shirokov

 

[JA]

Or more likely he was never going to make an impact in the NHL. His shot came and his inconsistent effort from shift to shift and day to day resulted in him going back to the KHL. It's not like 8 NHL games was the only thing given to him to prove himself. He had those 150+ AHL games to show the organization something as well. And what he showed was inconsistencies in his game that would likely keep him out of the NHL.

The KHL and European leagues are riddled with players who were "never given a decent chance". Perhaps it's more to do with the players themselves.

I don't buy that at all.

Shirokov was named an AHL All-Star in both of his years in the AHL.

When he was recalled from the AHL in January 2011, he had just set a Moose franchise record with a 12-game point streak. He led the Moose in scoring by a significant margin that season.

Shirokov lone Moose in all-star game
Ziemer, Brad. The Vancouver Sun [Vancouver, B.C] 13 Jan 2011: C.8.

The Manitoba Moose didn't fare as well as the Canucks when it came to players being given all-star recognition. Forward Sergei Shirokov was the lone Moose player selected for the AHL All-Star Game, which goes Jan. 30 in Hershey, Pa. After a slow start to his season, Shirokov has been Manitoba's best player of late. He has scored in five straight games and leads the Moose with 15 goals and 30 points in 37 games. "He deserves to go," Moose coach Claude Noel told the Winnipeg Free Press. "He's been real good. He's played real well. He's been hot lately. I think he's invested in his career, trying to adapt to the changes and trying to do some things differently."

Second coming of a Russian sparkplug; Canucks hope red-hot Shirokov can light a fire with team's suddenly ice-cold offence
Ziemer, Brad. The Vancouver Sun [Vancouver, B.C] 18 Jan 2011: C.7.

Just over a year ago, he teased us. Sergei Shirokov arrived from Russia with a superb skill set, a seemingly permanent smile etched upon his face and very little English.

...

The suddenly goal-starved Canucks recalled Shirokov from the Moose and the 24-year-old winger will be in the lineup tonight when Vancouver closes out its five-game road trip against the Colorado Avalanche... He is still smiling.

"They called me at about 10:30 last night to go pick up my gear and fly to Denver," he said Monday after skating with a handful of his new teammates at the Pepsi Center. "I was pretty excited."

Shirokov's English has improved and so, apparently, has his game. He left Winnipeg as one of the AHL's hottest players. In his last game Saturday night, he had a goal and an assist to set a Moose franchise record by recording points in his 12th straight game... He is also a much more complete player, according to Lorne Henning, the Canucks' assistant general manager who sees a lot of the Moose games.

"To his credit he's worked at it," Henning said. "He has lost some weight and his skating has picked up at least half a step."

...

Moose coach Claude Noel has spent considerable time working on some of the deficiencies in Shirokov's game.

"He works both ends of the ice now," Henning said. "Claude had numerous meetings with him early and Sergei has bought into it. He tracks pucks, he is finishing his checks, competing hard. He has a smile on his face, he's positive and bubbly. Between him and [Moose goalie] Eddie Lack I don't know who smiles more."

In English that remains a work in progress, Shirokov sounds proud of the strides he's made in the defensive parts of his game.

"I started learning last year, too," he said of his new backchecking skills. "But this is pretty different, European hockey and this hockey. This year I understand all the stuff and it is a little bit easier for me. I work all the time on my game, in the D zone I watch tape, coach tells me what I need to do better and how I need to play."

Shirokov was Vancouver's sixth-round pick in the 2006 NHL entry draft. He spent four seasons playing for CSKA Moscow in the Kontinental League before walking away from a $500,000 tax-free deal to head to North America to chase his NHL dream. He is in the final year of a two-year, two-way contract with the Canucks. After his disappointment last year, he said he never really considered not returning for the second year of his contract.

"I signed contract for two years and it is my dream to play in NHL," he said. "Last year at finish of season I want to play in this league and not fly back to Russia."... Tonight, he figures to play on Vancouver's second line, most likely replacing the slumping Jeff Tambellini, who has gone 10 games without a point.

"We see him as a skill player, an offensive player, to fill an offensive role for us," said Canucks assistant coach Newell Brown. "We have heard he is playing real well, we have good reports about him. He has a great attitude, is skating real well and producing, so we are looking forward to seeing him in our lineup."

Shirokov leads the Moose with 16 goals and 33 points in 39 games. He has been getting lots of ice time since Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder were sidelined with injuries.

"Sergei has got a lot of pop," Henning said. "I think since all those guys got injured, Cody and Schroeder, he has been double-shifting because they only have 11 forwards. He has really picked up his game, working both ends of the ice. His skating has picked up and he has been by far the best forward down there."

He then went on to score his first NHL goal in his season debut, and was one of the most effective Canucks that night. He had 6 shots, 1 hit, and 13:09 of ice time. He was a +1 that night. He looked impressive.

Shirokov shoots and scores; Manitoba call-up doesn't disappoint but dominates
Botchford, Jason. The Province [Vancouver, B.C] 19 Jan 2011: A.47.

Slight in size, unremarkable when skating, Sergei Shirokov proved a player doesn't need either to have some dominating shifts in the NHL... With English that's still spotty, Shirokov let his game do the talking Tuesday. He scored his first NHL goal with impressive dangle and the lucky touch of one Henrik Sedin. After missing on several second-period chances, Shirokov turned to his captain and asked Henrik to grace his stick with his touch. On the next shift he scored... "I had a few chances, I could have scored on three or four good chances, and finally Henrik touched my stick and I scored a goal," Shirokov said... It made it a second period he will never forget, even if Roberto Luongo would like him to.

The goal punctuated a terrific shift from the Russian, who made a convincing argument he has come a long way from training camp when he disappointed everyone because he couldn't meet basic fitness standards... He was unrelenting when cycling the puck behind the net. He kept it alive in the offensive zone on two nice plays until Avs defenceman Ryan Wilson misplayed a rebound. It left Shirokov all alone in front, where he fluidly went forehand-to-backhand before tucking the puck under Craig Anderson.

Shirokov was smart too, having seen both of the Canucks' first two goals beat Anderson through the same spot.

"I went to backhand and shot the five hole because two guys scored through his five hole," he said. "I was really tired after the shift."... It was enough to wipe the fitness slate clean.

"For my standpoint, that's all behind us," head coach Alain Vigneault said. "The young man went to Manitoba, turned the page on what happened in training camp and has worked real hard and made himself into their best player.

"That's why he's here. He deserved to get called up and [Tuesday] he had a real good first game."

Having just three forwards score in seven games, the Canucks called on Shirokov, who had a 12-game points streak in Manitoba, to pull the trigger on some offence... That was obviously a good move as his points streak just hit 13.

...

"I think about I need to work every single shift, every single second I'm on the ice," Shirokov said. "To help the team win games."...Shirokov looked nothing like the player who played six ineffectual games after making the Canucks coming out of the 2009 preseason... "I played six games and had zero points," Shirokov said. "I think this is a little easier for me [now]."

...

The next game, against the Sharks, he generated a few chances early on, but then was benched for the remainder of the game. He finished with the least TOI of any Canuck that night (7:26).

The Time On Ice report from that night shows Shirokov took 11 shifts -- 6 in the first period, 5 in the second. He registered an even +/-.

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20102011/TH020706.HTM

The Canucks scratched him the following night against Calgary in favor of Aaron Volpatti, who subsequently registered a -1.

Shirokov subbed out of Canucks' lineup
MacIntyre, Iain. Calgary Herald [Calgary, Alta] 22 Jan 2011: E.4.

"You looked like (Slava) Fetisov," Henrik Sedin told Sergei Shirokov in the Vancouver Canucks dressing room on Friday. "No, Sergei Zubov," Shirokov smiled.

Zubov was a terrific Russian defenceman, but the comparison for Shirokov was not a good thing.

Two games since the Russian winger's recall from the American Hockey League -- one game removed from his impressive National Hockey League season debut in which he scored -- Shirokov practised as a defenceman and won't be in the Canucks lineup today against the Calgary Flames.

With the Canucks on a three-game losing streak and struggling for secondary scoring, Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault tweaked his lines for Friday's practice and dropped Shirokov on to a defensive pairing with Sami Salo, who hasn't played this season due to injury.

"Tomorrow I don't play," Shirokov said after bantering with Sedin. "I just work today. Every day I must work. It's good to be here."

Not as good as it was Tuesday, when Shirokov scored and had six shots in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

He and Jeff Tambellini were benched by Vigneault in the third period of Thursday's 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks.

Tambellini skated Friday on the fourth line with Tanner Glass and Aaron Volpatti. Mikael Samuelsson and Mason Raymond flanked Ryan Kesler on the second line, while Manny Malhotra, Jannik Hansen and Raffi Torres were the third line.

The only line that has scored regularly is Henrik and Daniel Sedin, alongside Alex Burrows.

Vigneault said he wants a slightly bigger, more robust lineup to face the Flames.

"Right now, it has to do with the makeup of our lineup and opposition," he said of dropping Shirokov. "We're going up against a team in Calgary that's big and physical."

Shirokov down but certainly not out; Winger feels good about his game despite being sent back to AHL Manitoba
Kuzma, Ben. The Province [Vancouver, B.C] 24 Jan 2011: A.31.

Sergei Shirokov has gone from looking like a pretender to a contender for full-time NHL duty.

After two strong games, it appeared the improving winger might get a long look from the Canucks after six shots and scoring Tuesday in Denver before making a pair of nifty forays Thursday against San Jose. But he was benched in the third period against the Sharks, didn't play Saturday against Calgary and is on his way back to the Manitoba Moose.

You would think this has a lot to do with getting wingers Mikael Samuelsson, Mason Raymond and Jeff Tambellini going than being riled at the 25-year-old Russian. Samuelsson hasn't scored in 14 games, Tambellini in 13 and Raymond in 11 games.

...

Asked if he thinks he now has an NHL game after poor training camp test results placed him in coach Alain Vigneault's doghouse, Shirokov was refreshingly frank.

"Yeah, for sure," said Shirokov, who has 33 points (16-17) in 39 games with the Moose. "I feel pretty good right now about my game and my shape. It has improved a lot for me because I know what I need to do on the ice, offensively and defensively and how the system works. We play exactly the same in Manitoba."

What has been impressive is Shirokov's improved fitness level and willingness to get to the tough scoring areas and exhibit patience. Against the Sharks, he twice went to the high slot and drew a crowd before directing wristers that were blocked.

"I work all the time on playing the left side and it's easier for me to be offensive," added Shirokov. "Sometimes I play the right side and it's more difficult, but I like to go to the middle because I think I've got a little bit more of a quicker shot than before."

So, what about not playing? Surprised?

"No," he shrugged. "They are moving around the guys, so I'm not surprised. It's a normal process. I just have to wait and work."

Since departing from North America in 2011, Sergei has been named a KHL All-Star twice, and has won two gold medals at the IIHF World Championships (2012 and 2014). He looked effective at the tournament in Minsk this month.

His current KHL contract expires this summer.

Works Cited

Botchford, Jason. "Shirokov Shoots and Scores; Manitoba Call-Up Doesn't Disappoint but Dominates." The Province. Jan 19 2011. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2014 .

Kuzma, Ben. "Shirokov Down but Certainly Not Out; Winger Feels Good about His Game Despite being Sent Back to AHL Manitoba." The Province. Jan 24 2011. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2014 .

MacIntyre, Iain. "Shirokov Subbed Out of Canucks' Lineup." Calgary Herald. Jan 22 2011. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2014 .

Ziemer, Brad. "Second Coming of a Russian Sparkplug; Canucks Hope Red-Hot Shirokov can Light a Fire with Team's Suddenly Ice-Cold Offence." The Vancouver SunJan 18 2011. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2014 .

Ziemer, Brad. "Shirokov Lone Moose in all-St Ar Game." The Vancouver Sun. Jan 13 2011. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2014 .

 

[PhilMick]

I don't buy that at all.

<snip>


Since departing from North America in 2011, Sergei has been named a KHL All-Star twice, and has won two gold medals at the IIHF World Championships (2012 and 2014). He looked effective at the tournament in Minsk this month.

His current KHL contract expires this summer.

Thanks for doing so much digging, great post. Another stellar coaching move by AV. I hope he gets another shot in the NHL next year.

 

[Fat Tony]

Another stellar coaching move by AV.

I don't harp on this too much but sometimes I wonder what a coach sees that no one else seems to. It's not just AV.

 

[vanuck]

Shirokov could have been a solid NHL'er - dare I say the kind of top 6 winger the Canucks have been looking for for years - if given a half decent shot. The guy did the time in the AHL, playing two promising full seasons there at a fraction of what he could have been earning in Russia. And then he gets only 8 games to prove himself in the NHL before he is turfed. If all European players are judged after 8 NHL games, very few would stick.

It's possible there were some off-ice issues I don't know about, but again Shirokov stuck around for two full seasons buried in the AHL, that's more than you can expect any Russian player to do.

IIRC he just wanted a one-way contract that offseason but they weren't willing to give it to him. Also I think him being benched partway through that 2nd game after looking good in his first game and then being demoted after that was one of the things people got annoyed with AV about and MG mentioned - that young players (especially scorers) needed to be given more of a leash to establish themselves in the lineup. Live with the ups and downs for skilled players for whom some would be considered "one-dimensional".

It would have been nice to see him grab a spot in the top 6 that year as it would have given us 4 full lines that could score.

 

[Taelin]

And it's time to close the thread. You can continue the Shirokov discussion in the Ex-Canucks thread.