Post-Game Talk: Ducks 3, Canucks 1

[mathonwy]

What are you talking about, this is a wildcard team!!!

We should play run-and-gun and accept we are bad. Let the youngins develop into the system we want to play, that way he when we do want to compete they won't have to adjust their game.

Yes. Hank will absolutely, most definitely, 99.99999% endorse that suggestion.

 

[Toxic0n]

I moved to Vancouver in 2013 and this has always been the case on Thursdays and Sundays. Unless you go to the Black Frog when the Oilers are playing. Not a hockey town, unfortunately.

Disagree. Even before god-like 2009-2012 Canucks, the bars were packed of people watching hockey. 2007 Canucks were one of the most boring teams ever assembled in this city and tons of people were still watching.

Things changed around Torts times and got even worse once Benning put his stamp on the team

 

[y2kcanucks]

LASTNAME was the 2nd star against Minnesota...didn't even play last night. What gives?

 

[tantalum]

LASTNAME was the 2nd star against Minnesota...didn't even play last night. What gives?

Benched in favor of second star Sbisa.

Not sure how any canuck got a star last night. They were badly outplayed.

 

[thepoeticgoblin]

Limiting Horvat's line's ice time
Favoring (greatly) Miller over Marky

I'm on to you Willie! #stealthtank

 

[GreetingsFromCanada]

I think it's safe to say the Canucks and Senators are killing hockey with the trap

 

[VanJack]

It was guaranteed loss night....Miller never beats the Ducks...never....but Willie will always defer to the veterans....never mind the fact that there's no chance Miller is back next year and that it's essential that their only signed goaltender gets more minutes....the coach will still play Miller until he drops....nothing against Miller but he'll likely be joining Willie in a final trip to the airport at the end of the season.

 

[thepoeticgoblin]

It was guaranteed loss night....Miller never beats the Ducks...never....but Willie will always defer to the veterans....never mind the fact that there's no chance Miller is back next year and that it's essential that their only signed goaltender gets more minutes....the coach will still play Miller until he drops....nothing against Miller but he'll likely be joining Willie in a final trip to the airport at the end of the season.

Someone on here had a count going of the split between Miller and Marky when both were available. I don't remember the numbers but they were tilted toward Miller. He's 3-0 this week as he's starting tomorrow too.

I like Miller too. I even like him a lot since he went after Martin. But this is getting weird as he hasn't even outperformed Marky.

 

[mathonwy]

Someone on here had a count going of the split between Miller and Marky when both were available. I don't remember the numbers but they were tilted toward Miller. He's 3-0 this week as he's starting tomorrow too.

I like Miller too. I even like him a lot since he went after Martin. But this is getting weird as he hasn't even outperformed Marky.

Maybe this season is Miller's swan song?

 

[Hit the post]

Not sure how any canuck got a star last night. They were badly outplayed.

"Home ice advantage" I guess...?

 

[thepoeticgoblin]

Maybe this season is Miller's swan song?

Perhaps. But I honestly think Willie believes Miller is the best choice to get into the playoffs - and that's fine. He knows more about hockey than I do - I just don't see it. But I wanted to keep Eddie over Miller as well so what do I know!

 

[MS]

Someone on here had a count going of the split between Miller and Marky when both were available. I don't remember the numbers but they were tilted toward Miller. He's 3-0 this week as he's starting tomorrow too.

I like Miller too. I even like him a lot since he went after Martin. But this is getting weird as he hasn't even outperformed Marky.

Starts are 13-5 in favour of Miller when both are available, which is basically a 60-game pace for Miller.

4 of Markstrom's 5 'chosen' starts were in the 2nd night of back-to-backs. The 5th was against the Rangers in the middle of a long road trip where Miller was 'rested' against the highest scoring team in the league.

Basically Miller is the automatic choice in Willie's mind except in the 2nd game of back-to-backs, and he'd be starting Miller 60+ games this year if Miller could stay healthy. Despite Markstrom's identical numbers, long-term contract, and 10 year age advantage. It's absolutely insane.

 

[thepoeticgoblin]

Starts are 13-5 in favour of Miller when both are available, which is basically a 60-game pace for Miller.

4 of Markstrom's 5 'chosen' starts were in the 2nd night of back-to-backs. The 5th was against the Rangers in the middle of a long road trip where Miller was 'rested' against the highest scoring team in the league.

Basically Miller is the automatic choice in Willie's mind except in the 2nd game of back-to-backs, and he'd be starting Miller 60+ games this year if Miller could stay healthy. Despite Markstrom's identical numbers, long-term contract, and 10 year age advantage. It's absolutely insane.

What he said. This is mind blowing! I knew it was bad but this is just inexplicable to me. Mind if I use these numbers for my (Swedish) Canucks blog?

 

[TraderJim]

I think Benning is going to re-sign Miller in the offseason. They haven't shown any evidence that they plan on moving on from him and no other team will be throwing the same kind of money that Vancouver will be at him. It might not be for $6 million but he will probably get an offer of $4+ from Benning for 2 years.

 

[MS]

What he said. This is mind blowing! I knew it was bad but this is just inexplicable to me. Mind if I use these numbers for my (Swedish) Canucks blog?

It's insane.

Willie has chosen to start Markstrom in a non-b2b situation exactly once so far this year.

Based on last night's Provies, it sounds like management isn't entirely happy with this either, which is at least a small positive.

 

[Jack Tripper]

I'm so sick of this trap hockey that we are playing. Talk about boring hockey, I would rather play run and gun hockey.

trap hockey with a hopeless roster vs high event hockey with a young rebuilding roster?

it's unbelievable that some prefer the former

 

[Jack Tripper]

I mean it is beating a dead horse -- WD's decisions are questionable at best and abhorrent at the worst. I expected the score to be worse than it was, so I guess that's a positive.

At the end of the day it's one more hack at the tree truck that is WD's NHL career. I feel bad in a weird way because he does seem like a nice guy but it's clear that he can't adapt or understand fundamentals required to do his job. As crap as this team is the roster is better than their record if he would just play players in somewhat of a logical fashion.

while i agree with this in part, how much do these small deployment decisions really matter over the course of an 82 game season with this roster?

sometimes i feel like arguing over desjardins' quirky decision making is like arguing over taxes while rome burns

 

[y2kcanucks]

Benched in favor of second star Sbisa.

Not sure how any canuck got a star last night. They were badly outplayed.

John Garrett

 

[m9]

Ding ding ding.

Been a consistent pattern since day 1 with these guys. Same reason Miller starts every game.

The icetime for the Horvat line tonight was a complete joke given their recent play. How on earth does Burrows only get 12 minutes?

Meanwhile Sutter at 20 minutes yet again and now up to a chewy -13.

Listening to Willie on the post-game show, he seems genuinely surprised when the press guys point out the disparity in ice-times for guys like Horvat....I don't think he has a clue how the ice-times work out over a 60-minute game....Earth to the Canucks...it's a home game....you get the last change....isn't there some way of getting the Sedins away from Kesler, or forcing a better match-up and more minutes for your leading scorer?

I really think there's no way that WD is 'pushing' Benning's guys like it's some agenda, and I find the notion quite ridiculous. Virtanen is in the minors, Edler/Tanev are the first pair when healthy, and the Sedins get given every possible opportunity to collect powerplay points. You are talking about a coach that is in must-win mode almost every night right now, he is not going to play guys simply because Benning brought them in. He has to play the players he believes give them the best chance of winning, because if he doesn't start winning games he won't have a job soon.

He is playing the players he thinks will win the game, and giving them ice time based on him wanting wins. This is simply him being a bad coach, not him being force-fed who to play by management and ownership. The 1-2-3-4 playoff thing was the first exposure to him being a bad coach. Over the last two years, he started shortening the bench for the last 10 minutes. He stopped doing that because it didn't work, but he didn't realize it didn't work because of the players he was choosing.. not because of the concept. So now he rolls four lines deep into the 3rd period, to the point where the 4th line that hasn't done anything all year is playing in the final 3 or 4 minutes.

Just mind-boggling stuff from a bad coach. If you want to blame Benning, blame him for the hire, for giving him bad players, and for sticking with him for this long. But don't blame him for the ice-time handed out, that's on the guy behind the bench.