Post-Game Talk: Today we got some Juice, not Casual Kev! 5-4 (Bieksa x2, Dalpe, Hansen, Higgins)

[Johnny Canucker]

I'd much rather play Chicago or St. Louis than SJ.

Can we please stop with this "who we wanna play" talk. We will be lucky to make the playoffs and will probably come down to game 82. We could be a mere 3 points ahead of 9th place once game in hand is played.

 

[Bleach Clean]

I'm impressed by Kassian lately actually. You can tell he's matured leaps and bounds from the beginning of the season, and was one of our best players out there tonight.

He doesn't deserve top 6 min.
He's not good enough.
That's a terrible top6 with him there.
Etc...

Yeah, that's quite an improvement from the beginning of the season. If only some were a bit more patient... Nah.

 

[Vankiller Whale]

Can we please stop with this "who we wanna play" talk. We will be lucky to make the playoffs and will probably come down to game 82. We could be a mere 3 points ahead of 9th place once game in hand is played.

Being pessimistic is one thing. It's another to call out people for believing we're going to make the playoffs when our current odds are at 85.2%. I don't mind when you're negative, but to ask people to stop discussing playoffs when we're actually in a playoff spot is simply ridiculous.

 

[Orca Smash]

Can we please stop with this "who we wanna play" talk. We will be lucky to make the playoffs and will probably come down to game 82. We could be a mere 3 points ahead of 9th place once game in hand is played.

It was a hypothetical conversation. I think were all aware of our current wild card position. And believe it or not we have a solid shot at making playoffs.

 

[Zarpan]

Can we please stop with this "who we wanna play" talk. We will be lucky to make the playoffs and will probably come down to game 82. We could be a mere 3 points ahead of 9th place once game in hand is played.

Better that than 3 points behind 8th place.

 

[MrShift4]

I could have sworn the score was 7-2 for the Canucks

 

[BobbyJazzLegs]

Nice 5 spot. Shame about dem own goals.

 

[Proto]

I don't think Daniel looks terrible out there, but he does look like he's reluctant to shoot because he's struggling so much. Kesler is an issue right now though. He's become a one-dimensional player again who simply isn't creative enough with the puck.

Moving forward after this season, I think Gillis has to assume that Kesler isn't a play driver anymore and needs another play on his line to drive the play. Someone like Ryan O'Reilly would be ideal.

Burrows is also just... woof. What a year for him. That contract looks a lot riskier than the Sedins' does at this point.

Edit: Daniel is often getting into the zone with the puck and having nobody in support once he does so. It's hard to watch the Canucks top line right now. It's just not a good fit.

 

[Soups On]

I don't think Daniel looks terrible out there, but he does look like he's reluctant to shoot because he's struggling so much. Kesler is an issue right now though. He's become a one-dimensional player again who simply isn't creative enough with the puck.

Moving forward after this season, I think Gillis has to assume that Kesler isn't a play driver anymore and needs another play on his line to drive the play. Someone like Ryan O'Reilly would be ideal.

Burrows is also just... woof. What a year for him. That contract looks a lot riskier than the Sedins' does at this point.

All player go through slumps (didn't P.Kane have a 11 game goal drought?) but I think Kesler has done a good job changing his game a little bit. He's been passing quite well lately instead of barging in all the time. He'll open up more room for himself if the opposition knows he can dish. It's the same thing with players like Kane, the fear of a pass is equal to the fear of a shot.

Daniel looks really weak on his skates for some reason.. And he's refusing to shoot. He needs to be a bit more selfish and drive the net (with our without the puck) like he used to.

 

[Jyrki]

I don't think Daniel looks terrible out there, but he does look like he's reluctant to shoot because he's struggling so much. Kesler is an issue right now though. He's become a one-dimensional player again who simply isn't creative enough with the puck.

Moving forward after this season, I think Gillis has to assume that Kesler isn't a play driver anymore and needs another play on his line to drive the play. Someone like Ryan O'Reilly would be ideal.

Burrows is also just... woof. What a year for him. That contract looks a lot riskier than the Sedins' does at this point.

Burr is just so frustrating to watch right now. I honestly don't see him doing things much different from the usual, but pucks are just not going in. His on-ice shooting percentage is crazy low at 4.47% and obviously no goals on 55 shots is just cray.

 

[Proto]

Burr is just so frustrating to watch right now. I honestly don't see him doing things much different from the usual, but pucks are just not going in. His on-ice shooting percentage is crazy low at 4.47% and obviously no goals on 55 shots is just cray.

Yup. I agree with that.

That said, he's also just straight up missed about 15 great chances/open nets this year. Maybe if he can get going he'll start to score in bunches.

I think my concern is more that he's a max effort player, so if he does lose a step and can't get to those loose pucks/separate enough to be able to get those chances and convert them, that he might drop off from his typical elite shooting percentage and become a very expensive third liner. Hopefully that top line gets healthy and starts to gel again.

 

[Proto]

All player go through slumps (didn't P.Kane have a 11 game goal drought?) but I think Kesler has done a good job changing his game a little bit. He's been passing quite well lately instead of barging in all the time. He'll open up more room for himself if the opposition knows he can dish. It's the same thing with players like Kane, the fear of a pass is equal to the fear of a shot.

Daniel looks really weak on his skates for some reason.. And he's refusing to shoot. He needs to be a bit more selfish and drive the net (with our without the puck) like he used to.

That's true. Kesler has looked to pass more often when they're entering the zone with speed, and he's not shooting into the defense as much. But I haven't been a big fan of his play when the team is in the offensive zone and not on the rush. He just can't seem to control the puck, is always losing it in his skates, and really isn't generating a lot of scoring chances at 5v5. There's no separation between Kesler and the defense. Even a slow, old cerebral player like Jagr can create space for himself. Kesler needs to learn how to do that.

I was speaking more to his inability to just drive play through raw effort and athleticism. That part of his game is gone, and his Selke defense has gone with it.

 

[ItsAllPartOfThePlan]

Well, it comes as no surprise that Hank is the motor that drives the offense on this team and the last two playoffs have shown that. Shut down Hank and you pretty much shut down the Canucks offense. Kesler is inconsistent, Daniel isn't his old self and Burrows needs a set up guy to create offense.

 

[BobbyJazzLegs]

Finally getting ourselves some one timers in the slot. Kesler, Richo, Hansen and Higgy seemed to get things going down low.

 

[vanuck]

Finally getting ourselves some one timers in the slot. Kesler, Richo, Hansen and Higgy seemed to get things going down low.

Good observation. I thought they did a better job of getting guys open for shots in those soft spots. But they need to keep doing that - generate more shots from more dangerous areas in the middle of the ice.

Also thought we looked good when we maintained pressure, and not so much when we were being more passive. To me, Higgins-Kesler-Hansen led the way in this regard and were good at creating momentum for us. But I still don't think the proper mindset has set in with everyone on this team.

 

[Nucker101]

Good observation. I thought they did a better job of getting guys open for shots in those soft spots. But they need to keep doing that - generate more shots from more dangerous areas in the middle of the ice.

Also thought we looked good when we maintained pressure, and not so much when we were being more passive. To me, Higgins-Kesler-Hansen led the way in this regard and were good at creating momentum for us. But I still don't think the proper mindset has set in with everyone on this team.

Totally agree. What's frustrating to watch in the 2-1 losses is the endless zone time that gets wasted just cycling the puck for 10-20 seconds without a scoring chance....that's not a good shift unless you're a 3rd/4th liner, the 1st and 2nd lines can't be settling for that. The problem is that most of the forwards on the team are way more comfortable playing that style of game...too much of the same IMO.