Post-Game Talk: On the back of a Chris Tanev OT goal, Vancouver defeats Minnesota in the play-in

[Canucks LB]

What HF reference was made?

Oh it’s nothing, I just wanted to thank him, also sat on sportsNet650.

Gained a lot of confidence with all the interviews I did with a lot of the media members about a year ago.

I’m still in close contact with many of them.

 

[carrotshirt]

Look at this. I love it. I said it before but this was such a huge win for the franchise. Can't put a price on this experience. We all needed this.

Oh man, that’s a cockle-warmer. Proud of the boys!

 

[StreetHawk]

Yes i felt the same way even though i felt like Dobson's hockey IQ and offensive abilities are more along the lines of Trouba than the Pietrangelo comps....we'll see? It's hard to argue with our scouting right now. I dont get to watch college hockey, european or USDP games and without seeing a large sample size it's guesswork from guys like us. All i can say is well done that were finally prioritizing top end talent and hitting on it.

I have WHL seasons and follow CHL pretty extensively. That's all i have time for.

If Dobson landed somewhere between Trouba and AP, even if it was closer to Trouba it would have been a good pick had Hughes been selected by either AZ or Det.

Dobson ended up playing over half the game when he was traded to Rouyn-Noranda in his draft plus 1 season. Big minute muncher. So was not surprised to see the Isles keep him in the nhl this season since there was nothing left for him to prove in the Q. Focus for him was to play all outa the NHL level for his 15 minutes per game rather than pace himself To play over 30 minutes per game in the Q. But was surprised by his limited game appearances. Since he couldn’t be sent to the A, despite him playing fewer than 40 nhl games he should accrue this year towards free agency as he was on the active roster for more than half the season.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Great moments in Canucks’ history:
At the 2018 draft in Dallas, Texas when Quinn Hughes fell to numbed 7.

“The Canucks general manager leaned back in his seat and gave a huge thumbs-up: “That was a home run,” he said with a big grin.

To his right, scouting director Judd Brackett leaned over, smiling. “You can take a deep breath there”.

ps. Thank you Arizona for taking Hayton.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

You’re saying none of Bennings bottom 6 can handle tough matchups, and I don’t agree with it. Sutter, Roussel, Motte, Beagle, Eriksson all can play tough minutes. And they played a ton of tough minutes in this series, and were instrumental in getting the win. The P.K. work alone could have been the difference.

Benning’s ‘overpaid crap’ came up huge for this club when it mattered most. Who would have thought a relatively healthy Brandon Sutter could actually contribute? You know the answer.

Agreed, ..The bottom 6 was incredible this series...That slew of penalties that went against us in game 3 comes to mind..Switching Sutter to 3C for game 2 was a key move by Green.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Agreed, ..The bottom 6 was incredible this series...That slew of penalties that went against us in game 3 comes to mind..Switching Sutter to 3C for game 2 was a key move by Green.

Yeah. They are overpaid for sure. But Sutter, Beagle, Roussell and Eriksson have been key contributors. They seem to thrive in close checking playoff type hockey. Those are the types of players you need in the playoffs. Especially Sutter. You have to wonder how he would have turned out had he managed to stay healthy.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Have to give a shout out to one player on the Wild..Kevin Fiala..What a player....Terrific skater, great shot.. Before the series started, I didnt think he was 'that good'..?

 

[sting101]

If Dobson landed somewhere between Trouba and AP, even if it was closer to Trouba it would have been a good pick had Hughes been selected by either AZ or Det.

Dobson ended up playing over half the game when he was traded to Rouyn-Noranda in his draft plus 1 season. Big minute muncher. So was not surprised to see the Isles keep him in the nhl this season since there was nothing left for him to prove in the Q. Focus for him was to play all outa the NHL level for his 15 minutes per game rather than pace himself To play over 30 minutes per game in the Q. But was surprised by his limited game appearances. Since he couldn’t be sent to the A, despite him playing fewer than 40 nhl games he should accrue this year towards free agency as he was on the active roster for more than half the season.

Should be interesting to see his top end at the NHL level. He was a pretty safe pick. Clearly a huge and advanced developed 17yr old who with his skating is easily a NHL player but now it's about what kind of top end can he have. Would have to think he at least gives you a top4 shut down guy if he can make good decisions. Would have been happy with him also

 

[Fatass]

Have to give a shout out to one player on the Wild..Kevin Fiala..What a player....Terrific skater, great shot.. Before the series started, I didnt think he was 'that good'..?

Fiala did nothing the last two games. He was running scared, and stayed on the perimeter.

 

[John Johnson]

Because Hughes' game is already so polished, it's easy to forget he's a rookie.

I agree.

 

[Pip]

Have to give a shout out to one player on the Wild..Kevin Fiala..What a player....Terrific skater, great shot.. Before the series started, I didnt think he was 'that good'..?

agreed, real eye opener for me. Also was impressed with Eriksson Ek.

 

[RussianRacket]

Barring injury or addiction there is absolutely no way Hughes does not win multiple Norris trophies.

Honestly if he plays 15 years, he will win at least 5.

 

[PecaFan]

Canucks MVP for the season, wearing #19, C. Ovid. Completely saved that dude's job.

 

[RandV]

Dahlin is a very good player, but Hughes is a generational talent. Although I do believe, if the Canucks had first pick, they would have selected Dahlin too. But now, if the draft was redone using hindsight, Hughes goes first overall. (Svechnikov is close though; I love his game.)

I wouldn't write Dahlin out of the question here just yet, he's already very good and as he grows into his mans body he should be able to add that physical shut down component that Hughes is too small to have. , see: Victor Hedman, Alex Petriangelo, Seth Jones, etc. Right now it's a top 3 up in the air, and could re-arrange itself from year to year. I mean you have to admit having Svechnikov would be pretty awesome too.

 

[Canuckle1970]

Man, that morning after glow - feels good, man.

Gotta give full marks to some players who have been much maligned during their Canucks tenure - Sutter and Beagle specifically. They were monsters on the PK for us, and they brought the energy and effort every shift and - IMO - played easily their best hockey as Vancouver Canucks. A very, very pleasant surprise. Would also give a hat tip to Loui Eriksson who played some solid defensive hockey, got the puck out of danger multiple times, and actually helped generate some offensive chances. There was some life in his game that was clearly absent for a few years.

Tyler Motte was an absolute beast as well. On both the PK and ES. His hustle and jam caused the Wild fits.

Roussel and Myers, two other guys who have gotten their share of flak, were a bit more uneven - but hopefully they can harness the positive things that they brought to this series and channel them consistently in the next one.

How insane is it that we got Tanner Pearson for Erik freaking Gudbranson? We’ve had some terrible trades to lament, but this one was highway robbery.

It was nice to see our youth was served in this series. Quinn Hughes is putting an exclamation point on his arrival as a budding superstar. What a huge series for him. Horvat getting the huge tying goal to go along with a couple of apples for him was massive as well. I still think he has another gear, but he found ways to contribute vital offense throughout the round. Pettersson and Boeser both brought the noise as well and showed they can persevere through the grind of a aeries. Hell, even Juolevi managed to see the ice for the first time in his career - and I thought he moved the puck really well in those limited minutes. MacEwen played well in his sheltered minutes too, as we expected - Virtanen had some hits and misses, but by and large, our home grown talent was all over this series.

But for all the youth, it was one of the 2 guys we have left from the last time we won a series that iced this. How nice was it to see Chris Tanev get the clincher? The guy lays his body on the line every night, has practically no teeth left, and is just such a warrior. Great to see him propel this team into the next round. Edler had a monster game on the back end as well, and Stecher competed hard in his limited minutes.

It was great to see the team rally to win this one for Markstrom when he had a rough go. He’s single handedly stolen so many games for us this year, it was nice to see the boys go out and return the favour.

Bloody hell, everyone. It feels amazing to be talking about and watching playoff hockey again. What a time to be a fan!

What a terrific summary, Mr. C. Says it all for me on this Saturday morning.

 

[I am toxic]

It may have been mentioned once or twice that Hughes is in his rookie season, but it bears pointing out that Petey is only in his sophomore season.

Not that it's a contest or nuthin', just saying.

 

[1440]

None of this answers my question. You still have tons of money allocated to bottom six players that couldn’t be counted on for tough matchups. Why wasn’t Sutter or Beagle taking the tough matchups? They were signed to ridiculously poor contracts so that they could shelter the young players, but yet, it is Bo Horvst, a young player, sheltering then. It’s a total failure.

And this isn’t to say that Sutter was bad this series. Clearly he played much better than he has. But still, Green didn’t use him as the shutdown centre.

You are right on one thing. The team has way too many bottom 6 players on bad contracts. The Beagle and Myers contracts are especially egregious despite them being serviceable players for us this series. Sutter and Eriksson are actually decent players and would be fine pieces at 3-4 million instead of 4.4 and 6 respectively. We have yet to reach the time where Eriksson's contract looks its worst. Roussel, Ferland and Baertschi's contracts are good value individually for middle 6 players (league average contract is ~3 million and they are ~average players), but having only 1 of the 3 playing is not ideal. Roussel's contract is actually still an example of about as good as you can hope to do with those sort of free agent signings.

The rest of what you are saying is pure nonsense.

If these signings were made to shelter the young players, it only makes sense to do so while these young players are still in need of sheltering. To complain that Horvat is getting tough match-ups is ridiculous because it is exactly what a GM would have hoped for when he drafted Horvat. Horvat is not sheltering anyone... he is getting lots of ice-time because he is a good young player and he deserves it. Same goes for Hughes, Pettersson and Boeser. They should be (and are) playing big minutes because they are the team's best players. Imagine how much you would be complaining if they weren't.

You know who is getting sheltered by the Myers, the Sutters and the Beagles of the world? Adam Gaudette, Jake Virtanen and Olli Juolevi. These are the young players that aren't yet at the level to play in those match-up situations, especially on the PK. Who got all the PK time this series? It was steady doses of Beagle, Motte, Sutter, Myers and Edler. Better they eat those tough minutes than either group of the young guys.

 

[Bgav]

Lmao anyone read the oilers out of town thread. Hahaha they’re so mad

 

[dombrova22]

Now if that doesn't get you fired up - nothing will. What a stud. So worth the 1st.

 

[Wayward Son]

Lmao anyone read the oilers out of town thread. Hahaha they’re so mad

They have so many criticisms of our team/coach/gm/organization/city/province.

Might wanna look in the mirror before dishing out any advice for other teams, boys.

I think my favourite read was some diatribe that also involved pipeline protests for some reason. This is a hockey forum.

 

[Hammer79]

Oops he did anyways.

That series could have gone 7 games, the Habs would have won it in 5 IMO. Price was good, but the Pens were also disinterested.

 

[Canucks5551]

Can’t explain what Myers provides with fancy stats. Stecher would play more than 9 minutes if he was effective.

Why couldn’t what he provides be quantified that way? If his physicality was a greater factor than his blunders, shouldn’t he be intimidating his opponents into getting less scoring chances?

Coaches are not infallible and ice tine is not the ultimate measure of a player. It’s not like Stecher hasn’t played well in big minutes in the past.

 

[GetFocht]

Have to give a shout out to one player on the Wild..Kevin Fiala..What a player....Terrific skater, great shot.. Before the series started, I didnt think he was 'that good'..?

The issue with him is that he disappears quite frequently too. He's good but I don't think he can carry a team.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Thanks.

On the Horvat front...

We all saw what he came into the league with. What is up? Complacency?
By the way: loved his goal, and f/o percentage

Fatigue I think. Bo Horvat plays the toughest minutes in the NHL. Tough matchups, poor linemates, offensive expectations. He bears the brunt of the Canucks not having a 3rd line center Travis can trust in a checking role.

Last night Jay Beagle started 100% of his his shifts in the offensize zone. Sutter started 72%. Horvat is the guy that picks up that slack.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

The issue with him is that he disappears quite frequently too. He's good but I don't think he can carry a team.

I think the issue is more that he didn’t have any support. I don’t think his shooting percentage over the last two dozen games is sustainable, but he’s certainly an excellent player. He just needs some help.