Post-Game Talk: GM15 | Canucks lose to Islanders | 2-5 (Lekkerimaki & Myers) | No Effort, No Win

[orcatown]

Not Good. Outside of few spurts the team was kept in thier own end and left scrambling around in thier crease. And when you see the other team scoring so many goals from so in close, you know your defense is caving. Lucky it wasn't 6 -1 by the end of the second and even double figures by the end. However, lot of the problem was the forwards providing nothing to get the puck out or get people off the puck. Offensively, the Canucks were almost always kept to the outside.

Good

Pettersson - wasn't productive but made some good plays in the NYI end and was working hard defensively.

Hughes - about the only Canuck who get the play going the other way. Him and Hronek had to be over played.

Bad - lots of the forwards contributed nothing. Right now this is real problem. Got to question whether the team has a forward group that is anywhere near strong enough.

Raty - showing he can not skate well enough to play at this level. Got benched after a horrible effort around his net in the third. Starting to get the hook out as far as him being NHL prospect.

Hoglander - brutal on the back check. Couldn't stay with his check allowing a number of odd man rushes. Can this player play in transition in the NHL? Pushed to the outside offensively. Hate to say it, but the Baertschi (post concussions) comparisons are getting more apt.

Heinen - defines the term passenger. One thing you hoped he might do is get on the end of plays but that's not happening. Very weak in traffic. Very weak in his end. Very weak overall.

Add on the fact that Joshua was feeling himself back into the game, and Lekkermaki is feeling his way into the League and you've got too poor a group at forward ATM.

Other poor play

Myers and Soucy were abused around their net and couldn't hold the blue line. Soucy is not playing like he did last year.

Desharnais - as suspected going in, this player can not effectively move puck out of traffic or handle pressure in his own end.

And who knew that not having Boeser would make this much of a difference. But I think you have to say it has. Canucks just don't have the depth at forward or on defense to overcome key injuries.

 

[mathonwy]

Again, he's been the driving force for the team for two seasons in a lot of ways and has earned a lot of slack but Miller was f***ing horrible after the Lekk goal. Just not much try, pouting, just throwback Miller shit.

What’s going on with this core.

 

[B-rock]

Shots almost look respectable which is pure game optics. Pathetic effort

5 shots after 2 periods.

Hemmed in their zone. Can’t break out cleanly.

 

[brock hughes007]

I love JT Miller but holy !!!k.Is he playing with half a brain this season.
Myers, there was a reason I hated the Canucks re signing him.Did DeBrusk play tonight.

 

[VanJack]

The last time Tocchet called his team out like was in Seattle during his first half-year behind the Canuck bench.

I just don't think this team is that well constructed.......too many puck battles lost up-front and on the back end just too many lumbering d-men with minimal puck skills. They're being killed by a hard forecheck.

Boeser is putting himself in position or a big payday. They're just not the same without him.

 

[HairyKneel]

Piss poor effort. Gotta flush it and they really need to get some traction. Very inconsistent start to the season despite having a decent record. Need some juice from somewhere. The kid looked good again. Miller has stunk for a while now. Without Hughes they would be 4-8-3.

I thought hard about going to the game. My sister and brother in law are in town and went as they are on their way to Thailand. Shit there's not enough Thai Sticks I coulda huffed to make that watchable in person.

Feel sorry for the people shelling out hard earned cash for that shit. I know the Boss won't let me down next Friday.

Gotta get Silovs a game soon. If nothing else than to give Lankinen a break.

 

[Vector]

Opening Remarks

• Requests not be asked about individual players today
• Apologizes to the fans; not playing good enough at home
• Takes responsibility
• Thought the team was prepared, they weren’t, and it’s on him
• Needs to get this team to play harder in the first period
• Practice tomorrow is right back to the drawing board

Neutral Zone

• Didn’t move their foot
• Talked about hitting the weak side and didn’t; were jamming pucks
• Have talked about the forwards were skating backwards instead of knifing through
• Islanders were a well coached team tonight and Roy out-coached him

Home Ice Record

• No idea what’s going on with the way they play at home
• Have to change pre-game skate; need to do something different
• Can’t play light; too light of a team
• Don’t guess where the puck is going
• Take your man but instead are spinning off

Tonight’s Game

• Islanders doubled and tripled up quick
• Need to be able to pass or skate out of it
• Too slow and light; let them own the boards
• Were shy tonight
• Drives him crazy when the F1 guesses where the puck is
• Fans are paying a lot of money and they are throwing some duds at them
• Apologizes to the fans again
• Gameplan was there
• Asked Foote after the 1st period why the team was playing so light
• Did the same against Edmonton
• Playing a simpler game on the road, maybe
• Have some guys playing light and it needs to be corrected quickly

Patrick Roy

• Tocchet was an Assistant Coach in Colorado when Roy was playing
• Fiery guy
• Had a leadership meeting, coaches were involved, and was not afraid to call his teammates out

 

[sting101]

I actually thought Pettersson Garland and Lekk were decent but like Tocc said almost everyone played light and to the outside

Raty was horrid. skating too slow and jumpy upper body and decisions. Too much going on has to have poise or he's done as a NHLer. Blueger and Hroneks worst games of the season

Hoglander Suter Debrusk Heinen sooooffft as charmin Lekk and Garland too.

Soucy Hronek Myers Desharnais put forth one of the worst efforts by 2/3rd of the defence i can remember. And Brannstrom Hughes weren't really good either just a little more switched on. Shooting into sticks and bodies hoping for te best too often.

When we got possession we quickly turned it over. Poor off puck movement and puck support. when we didn't we couldn't get our checks. Absolutely horrendous down low coverage. The Lee goal with Hronek just falling down and doing nothing but getting in the way was basically this game in a nutshell. Out skated out worked out smarted

Throw it out and move on but the identity of this team is in question and the bottom 2 pairs of defense are so bad mostly.

 

[Bgav]

Crazy how fast people turn on coaches. Rick ain’t the problem, he’s been nothing but great here.

 

[Slapshot_11]

Crazy how fast people turn on coaches. Rick ain’t the problem, he’s been nothing but great here.

He made stupid decisions last year but they had a shoehorn up their asses so it was ignored

 

[Flik]

He made stupid decisions last year but they had a shoehorn up their asses so it was ignored

Shoehorn.....? Does that also bring good luck?

 

[VanJack]

Let's face it, just about everybody on this Canuck team had a career year last season......so far this season, it might be just case of the Hockey Gods evening things out.

 

[Vector]

The thing about Hughes carrying the puck over the blueline is that opposing players actually give him more time and space than less talented players because they're scared of charging at him and then looking stupid and getting caught behind the play.

Christian Ehrhoff. CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF. Canucks PP fell off a cliff after he left because they couldn’t enter the zone and he was a wizard at it. Have Hughes fill that role. Nothing else would really need to change.

 

[supercanuck]

Missed the game. Saw that EP had 6 shots on goal. Was he just unlucky not to have scored one? At least it seems like a good sign that he is actually shooting the puck again.

 

[thecupismine]

Opening Remarks

• Requests not be asked about individual players today
• Apologizes to the fans; not playing good enough at home
• Takes responsibility
• Thought the team was prepared, they weren’t, and it’s on him
• Needs to get this team to play harder in the first period
• Practice tomorrow is right back to the drawing board

Neutral Zone

• Didn’t move their foot
• Talked about hitting the weak side and didn’t; were jamming pucks
• Have talked about the forwards were skating backwards instead of knifing through
• Islanders were a well coached team tonight and Roy out-coached him

Home Ice Record

• No idea what’s going on with the way they play at home
• Have to change pre-game skate; need to do something different
• Can’t play light; too light of a team
• Don’t guess where the puck is going
• Take your man but instead are spinning off

Tonight’s Game

• Islanders doubled and tripled up quick
• Need to be able to pass or skate out of it
• Too slow and light; let them own the boards
• Were shy tonight
• Drives him crazy when the F1 guesses where the puck is
• Fans are paying a lot of money and they are throwing some duds at them
• Apologizes to the fans again
• Gameplan was there
• Asked Foote after the 1st period why the team was playing so light
• Did the same against Edmonton
• Playing a simpler game on the road, maybe
• Have some guys playing light and it needs to be corrected quickly

Patrick Roy

• Tocchet was an Assistant Coach in Colorado when Roy was playing
• Fiery guy
• Had a leadership meeting, coaches were involved, and was not afraid to call his teammates out

(1) I appreciate you doing this Vector.

(2) Tocchet had pretty much the exact same thoughts I did, just incredibly soft play and piss poor neutral zone play. These goal mouth scramble goals were non-existent last year. Identity last year was tough as nails (not physicality, but playing hard & the opposite of light), this year that's not the case.

(3) Good of him to acknowledge the bad home play and take ownership of it. Guys look way too comfortable out there for no reason. This is where the leadership group needs to step up beyond just leading by example.

The talent is clearly there (outside of the Soucy/Myers pair), and it's shown in spurts and in the analytics, but it's hard to discern how much of that is quality of competition or if the team is just incapable of consistent play as constructed.

 

[Canucks LB]

I missed the last 50 minutes because of a birthday party, obviously I know we struggled tonight, but did anybody play well?

Especially Hoglander, who I’ve been really hard on recently

 

[B-rock]

Crazy how fast people turn on coaches. Rick ain’t the problem, he’s been nothing but great here.

It’s definitely not all on Tocchet but he takes some of the blame.

They had similar troubles generating sustained offence on the back half of last year. It was relatively common for them to get outshot by a decent margin, unable to sustain offensive zone time. They’d gut out wins but they often weren’t lopsided affairs.

This year in these ugly games they’re getting caved in in their own zone. Can’t break up the cycle or shut down lanes well. When they do get ahold of it, apart from Hughes/Hronek, it’s noticeable how much trouble they’re having breaking out cleanly. It’s partly due to having 3 lumbering giraffes on the back end. Mobile d are important in today’s high speed high skill game. Ours aren’t. This part obviously isn’t on Tocchet though he might need to move around the pieces and see if giving Brannstrom more time pays off.

 

[beachcomber]

This team needs a second pair d and more size and snarl up front to accomplish anything. Petey is a head case and he won’t do anything in the playoffs anyhow so rip the band aid off and get rid of him. It must drive Tock nuts given the way he played the game in his career. The team is way too soft at this point.

 

[Cancuks]

Lazy NHL team as well as AHL, both teams not playing up to capabilities. Rewarding players like Hoglander with an extension was a mistake when they should have kept him motivated to have a big year. I think a lot of the AHL players have given up because they see no clear path to the NHL when we keep signing fringe players like Forbort and Desharnais. Poor attitude starts at the top and trickles down to the rest of the roster. Watch Woo or Brisebois turn into the next Chatfield when they leave this summer.

 

[LemonSauceD]

I missed the last 50 minutes because of a birthday party, obviously I know we struggle tonight, but did anybody play well?

Especially Hoglander, who I’ve been really hard on recently

Team was trash but Hoglander was noticeably more trash.

Hes playing like an AHL’er. It’s best to move him right now while his value is still relatively positive before it sinks.

 

[B-rock]

I

This team needs a second pair d and more size and snarl up front to accomplish anything. Petey is a head case and he won’t do anything in the playoffs anyhow so rip the band aid off and get rid of him. It must drive Tock nuts given the way he played the game in his career. The team is way too soft at this point.

I agree they need a couple shitheels like Kesler, Burrows, Lapierre to drag the team into it every night if they’re going to play with that kind of effort. At least that way they’d be forced into an emotional game and might start to care.

 

[Canucks LB]

Crazy how fast people turn on coaches. Rick ain’t the problem, he’s been nothing but great here.

Anybody blaming Rick right now is completely out to lunch, he’s one of the big reasons this team even has high expectations, he’s one of the best coaches in the NHL

 

[mriswith]

We may have underestimated how heavily Boeser has been carrying Miller.

 

[valkynax]

I missed the last 50 minutes because of a birthday party, obviously I know we struggled tonight, but did anybody play well?

Especially Hoglander, who I’ve been really hard on recently

 

[Canuckle1970]

Trying to figure out why the team is not as intense in their execution as compared to last year.

Could it be that they realized a bit of burnout by the time they made the playoffs? Is it possible that they're conserving their energy, thinking that they're talented enough to succeed?

And/or, do they love playing in Vancouver so much, that they get the yips knowing that opposition scouts are watching and they have a trigger-happy management? (They were playing rather well just before Sprong was traded).

In Vancouver, it can feel like TDL every Friday.