Are you actually watching the games or worrying about posting GIFs?
If you have truly been watching, you could easily answer your own questions. The only thing to interfere with the actual answers is your own bull-headed insistence that the "prospects" be placed in the highest, most elite positions and the team losing is fine as long as the former is carried out.
You have some serious Jeckyl and Hyde. On this thread you are chummy with the heavy critics of the Comets' lineup, while on the Comets' thread you are very supportive and genuinely in support of the on ice efforts. This "the prospects must play thing" will never be settled if it goes on for the next 100 years. It has two distinct lines of thought and very few if any will cross lines and so be it. Not posting because of the heat or lambasting opponents of a particular view won't make the points of view go away either. This simply goes on as long as people are willing to keep repeating the sames points ad nauseum.
There are 2 threads for a reason BG.
This is a AHL winning vs Development thread. Where I post my displeasures that the prospects aren't getting enough ice time.
Then there is the AHL thread where I keep things civil. And don't lash out with my feelings towards how the team is run because I don't feel it's the place. If I were to show my dis pleasures towards the lineup decisions in the Utica thread I'd be clouding it up with useless ranting instead of usefull information that users try to find in that thread. Like your write ups or Ocratown's or maybe even my gifs. Why should I selfishly fill it with my opinions about line up decisions. Nobody wants to see people rant about those. That's why this thread was created. And that is where I voice my opinion.
If you want to call that Jeckyl and Hyde so be it. I just don't want to selfishly take up 3 pages on a otherwise useful thread like the Utica thread to complain about the lineup.
Also, I don't understand why I can't cheer for the Canucks farm team and want them to win and both be critical of the way the team is run? I still want the comets to win, but I also want the comets to develop our young prospects. This isn't a black and white issue.
First, let's look at your insistence that Shink should be top 6 because he is tied for the team playoff goal lead. That goal number is 3! He scored two of them in the first 2 games vs. Chicago. He has 1 in the next 8! He was in the the top 6 until he went back to being early season Shink failing to take passes directly to him, flubbing his own passes, unable to win any puck battles in his own end on the high boards or vs. the point man, being pasted to the boards on his rushes, puck hogging and turning it over, late on the forecheck, late in his passing lanes on the backcheck, running around trying trying to block passes and shots while always arriving after said events have taken place (working his butt off, but accomplishing nothing due to slowness or incorrect routes.), and finally failing to convert passes from his linemates after they did all the work for him. In summation, he's not top 6 because his play moved him down the ladder. He is in charge of how high up the depth chart he plays by his on ice performance. Frankly, aside from a quick flash or 2 he has vanished in the latter games and is cruising for another scratch, but Jensen may beat him to it.
Who is beating him out of a top 6 spot? Jensen? You could argue Gaunce. But honestly lets look at the top 6 last game.
Baertschi (2g,5a,7pts)- O'Reilly (0g,10a,10pts) - Grenier (3g,6a,9pts)
Jensen (1g, 1a, 2pts) - Friesen (2g, 5a, 7pts) - Conacher (1g,0a,1pt)
Shinkaruk's outplayed both Jensen and Conacher. Also, why is Conacher on the 1st unit? There is absolutely no reason to demote Hunter after a bad game with players that are preforming worse than he is. Conacher has been absolutely invisible and he's still getting spoonfed more PP minutes than Shinkaruk. Can you not see this bias?
Clendening is third pairing because he is an icing machine. He makes breakout passes at slap shot velocity waist to head high. These become long ice turnovers or icings. His long stretch passes, his other favorite play, are often at the same velocity and elevation. No one in the game can take these passes in either situation. He appears to have labeled some guys as unworthy of his passes and won't pass to them so he isn't on the ice with them. He is walked by the stronger skating forwards and D on the break. He is weak in offside D coverage, not physically strong enough to box the off forward out. He makes 3 cute little side steps left or right on the offensive blueline and then dumps the puck wide of the net due to no shooting lane rather than walking the line, working with his partner, and finding a forward working to open space for him. The guy flat out has no patience! When it sets up for him the way he envisions it, he's good, but the game changes too fast for his perfect situations to exist. Incidentally Green often starts his third line and then mixes the other three up in no particular order so watching his D-pairs switch around as well is normal. Calling the D-pairs 1,2, or 3 is random luck. Clendening also has 3 goals and 2 were in the Chicago series. He has one in the last 6 albeit a huge one.
Clendening still on the 2nd unit power play for the whole time he's been in Utica. A guy we got to develop into a player that might eventually run the Canucks power play one day is getting snuffed out of the 1st unit power play by a AHL vet. That's the major problem.
Gaunce WAS employed with the current top 6 in different combinations and clearly could not keep up as a wing with their weaving style and high speed rushes. So he ended up playing the high forward arriving late or guarding against the quick breakout on the turnover. He has been getting late PP and late PK time and has been doing well in both situations especially taking advantage of personnel changes on those special units. Gaunce has 3 goals in 8 games and 2 came in the same game after he was scratched from the previous 2 for inconsistent play. His play since has lived up to expectations.
As I said before. The prospects literally have to play the game of their lives and Gaunce has been playing extremely well to get promoted. And if they aren't consistent it's an instant demotion and a vet takes their place. It doesn't matter that even if a prospect is still better than that vet (Conacher, Shinkaruk) the vet will always get the nod. That is not how I want the Canucks development team to be run.
Grenier is where he is because he's doing his job on that unit with skill, speed, tenacity, and few mistakes. The others you mention are (or were in the case of Gaunce) not playing up to their expectations. Comets forwards move up and down the pecking order based on performance and goals are only one of a multitude of expectations. Grenier has three goals and they've come in the last 4 games. His level of play has risen with the team's degree of urgency. Something very uncharacteristic of Alex in his past. This guy is really elevating his stock value in he Canucks' family.
I did not have any complaints about how Green has handled Grenier.
"But If I had to guess I'd guess Shinkaruk when playing on the 4th line got about ~12 minutes of ice time."
If you believe DeFazio's line only gets 12 minutes, you probably better use a stop watch next game and keep track. I think you are lowballing this one.
Shinkaruk, doesn't kill penalties. Shinkaruk doesn't get ice time in a close game last 3 minutes. So yes I would predict that Shinkaruk, when playing on DeFazio's line, is getting about 12 minutes a game.
"The big pet peeve I have is that Shinkaruk is being religated to the 4th line after he went cold for a few games. But Conacher still is playing in the top 6 after being cold for ever.
Conacher has been a constant threat and always makes things happen. Shink is using vanishing cream.
Conacher is really good in scrums. Other than that I haven't noticed him this series.
You're lying to yourself if you think other wise.
Never seen him along the boards when a pass comes up the wing from the opponent and he can't intercept the pass or get it past the pinch or can't win the puck battle and the offensive flow starts all over again or his inability to stop the point man from passing the puck past him into the circle or fail to stop a pass and then shot from the circle to the point and then the point shot? Boy, I sure have. I love Shink, but he has tons to learn before he becomes a consistent top 6 AHL player let alone latch on with the Canucks.
This is the reason why we have a god damn farm team.
Throw Shinkaruk into the top 6 and see if he sinks or swims. This is exactly what the Canucks did with Horvat. By the end of the season when Green finally did put Shinkaruk on the top line guess what happened? You know 15 points in 17 games. As soon as he cooled down a bit he instantly got demoted.
If he makes some defensive mistakes, let him. If he doesn't always make the right play, show him how to make the right play. Instead of instantly giving up on him and throwing next to AHL grinders that have absolutely no finish like DeFazio. That's just poor coaching and poor development.
In conclusion
There is a balance to all this. Development vs Winning, however I think that the way the current team is run is not putting enough effort in development and too much effort into winning. I'd much rather have our prospects get a actual important role on the team. The way it is now they are just passengers going along with the ride. Our prospects need to create their own success and be a big part of a successful team. Not just dragged around by a veteran team. Anybody can stack their team with vets and make a deep playoff run. But that doesn't necessarily benefit the prospects. Just look no further than the Marlies. Had multiple deep playoff runs but produced nearly nothing in terms of prospects.
In the end the AHL will always be a development league.
