Post-Game Talk: Vancouver Millionaires vs. Detroit Winged Wheelers - We Still Suck

[Bad News Benning]

What were the d pairings? From what I saw Garrison and Hamhuis were playing together. Were Edler and Bieksa together again as well? If so...why? Seems like the team needs to be balanced a little and playing the two best defensive defensemen together and the two best offensive defenseman seems stupid. Ballard and Garrison played well together the one game they got the chance.

Tanev is being wasted with Alberts. I really think Tanev should be with Edler or Garrison. Put Bieksa with Hamhuis.

 

[CanadianPirate]

I don't know why everyone wants to tank. Even if we tank we still won't be able to tank with the talent still left on the roster. The difference between the 10th overall pick and picks 16-25 isn't that beneficial where I cheer my team not to make the playoffs.

Honestly I'd be more inclined to tank if everyone was playing to their potential but there are a lot of guys on this team who haven't played up to their abilities so far this season. How many players can you say are playing to or exceeding expectations? maybe one or two guys. Id fire the coach before I give up on the season. With Kesler back and one or two additions this is still a very very dangerous team capable of making noise.

I think the thought is with a few more injuries the canucks may end up within tanking territory. With Booth gone, Kesler gone and Kassian gone the canucks have lost most of the secondary scoring. If a Sedin gets taken out and maybe a defenseman the canucks may just be out of it.

 

[VeteranNetPresence]

this game was worse than the 2$ "beer" that i have the misfortune to be drinking right now

 

[Pip]

D pairs imo

Garrison Edler
Hamhuis Tanev
Ballard Bieksa

 

[Outside99*]

What were the d pairings? From what I saw Garrison and Hamhuis were playing together. Were Edler and Bieksa together again as well? If so...why? Seems like the team needs to be balanced a little and playing the two best defensive defensemen together and the two best offensive defenseman seems stupid. Ballard and Garrison played well together the one game they got the chance.

The d pairings are indeed a mess - Edler has seemed most comfortable with Tanev and that pair has looked stellar at times with the Sedins. We know Bieksa played his best hockey with Hamhuis last year, the reverse might also be true. Garrison, like Tanev, can play with anybody.

 

[petrishriekandgo]

The d pairings are indeed a mess - Edler has seemed most comfortable with Tanev and that pair has looked stellar at times with the Sedins. We know Bieksa played his best hockey with Hamhuis last year, the reverse might also be true. Garrison, like Tanev, can play with anybody.

Here's hoping the Dcore stays healthy enough so AV can pick 3 pairs and ride them for at least this next stretch.

We're gonna need our PP to contribute though... not going to win many games with an 0-fer night every night. KEE-RIPES!

 

[Seatoo]

Edler-Hamhuis
Garrison-Bieska
Ballard-Tanev

Hamhuis-Ballard
Garrison-Tanev
Edler-Bieksa

Bobby Orr couldn't save this D core with this coaching staff, AV would just bench him.

 

[D0ctorCool]

Well, lets look at the plus side here

 

[thepuckmonster]

Well, lets look at the plus side here

What is that?

 

[Angry Little Elf]

Here's hoping the Dcore stays healthy enough so AV can pick 3 pairs and ride them for at least this next stretch.

We're gonna need our PP to contribute though... not going to win many games with an 0-fer night every night. KEE-RIPES!

Why haven't you made a cartoon of AV's line juggling machine?

 

[Bieksallent]

Well, lets look at the plus side here

I laughed. Thank you.

At this point, Gillis may have to make a coaching change to save his job. Aquilini doesn't seem to have tolerance for missing the playoffs, particularly after last spring's lovely playoff outing.

 

[Seatoo]

What is that?

Woosh

Right over ya

 

[Tiranis]

They have 2 pairings that work:

Hamhuis - Garrison
Edler - Tanev

just figure out the 3rd. Might involve actually playing Ballard though so not sure if AV will buy that.

Based on their play earlier this season, I don't think HamJuice is going to work. They're both struggling for their own reasons, reuniting them won't fix that. Garrison is the best thing for Hamhuis right now as at least he can cover for his mistakes.

 

[biturbo19]

Guys just look at the ****ing roster this team has, Just look at the lines right now without kesler.

It's below average

It's funny...after all these years of ridiculing the Flames and watching them flounder around with no quality depth down the middle, you'd think Canucks fans would recognize how extremely important that position is in having a successful team.

We have a 1st line Center and a 4th line Center...absolutely nothing in between right now. You can't just ignore the fact our middle-6 is absolutely neutered by lack of quality natural centers.


We can blame AV all we want (and he certainly deserves a significant heap of the blame for the way this team is playing, particularly the PP and some of the personnel decisions like the d-pairings)...but ultimately, our roster is just garbage right now. All the great complementary wingers in the world don't mean much when you have no 2nd or 3rd line center to anchor those lines.

 

[Outside99*]

Here's hoping the Dcore stays healthy enough so AV can pick 3 pairs and ride them for at least this next stretch.

We're gonna need our PP to contribute though... not going to win many games with an 0-fer night every night. KEE-RIPES!

Yet again, they've changed very little there as well.

 

[petrishriekandgo]

Why haven't you made a cartoon of AV's line juggling machine?

I could just do one of the trainers room... that would work as well. Could happen.

 

[timorousme]

This is what bothers me the most - our goalies aren't even entitled to making a mistake every few games because the team in front of them is so pathetic mentally that they turn into mush the moment a bad bounce makes it past their own goal line.

Just look at the Kings in their last playoff run - Quick let in a few brutal goals, including a center-ice drive, but not for a moment did the team take the foot off the pedal because the scoreboard titled against them. They kept doing what they had to do and it worked out very well in the end.

The team is way too comfy with Schneider and Luongo, thinking they will bail out Bieksa every time he makes a dumb**** play, Edler whenever he makes a stretch pass through traffic and Alberts whenever he gets beaten wide. It's ******* revolting

agreed, we're so focused on goaltending.
loungo or schneider will give you pretty much the same results. and yet when the powerplay goes 0 for 20whatever and keeps the wolves at bay allowing a goal against the grain, that's somehow a goaltending issue like it's a fact the other goalie would have stopped that.
just score some goals, and the pressure is off the goalies to have to be amazing to win.

 

[me2]

A healthy Kesler plus a pp dman would have this team up another 3 regulation wins. Chuck in a Goc level 3C and I think we'd be fine. Fairly cheap bandaids.

 

[Bleach Clean]

A healthy Kesler plus a pp dman would have this team up another 3 regulation wins. Chuck in a Goc level 3C and I think we'd be fine. Fairly cheap bandaids.

That's a rational take. It just really sucks that this team is without Booth, Ballard is being scratched, the coach is off, PP off, team D off, and they need to bring in a 3C... A lot to fix in so little time.

But Booth being out is huge IMO. I hope he's not gone for the remainder.

 

[biturbo19]

They have 2 pairings that work:

Hamhuis - Garrison
Edler - Tanev

just figure out the 3rd. Might involve actually playing Ballard though so not sure if AV will buy that.

Based on their play earlier this season, I don't think HamJuice is going to work. They're both struggling for their own reasons, reuniting them won't fix that. Garrison is the best thing for Hamhuis right now as at least he can cover for his mistakes.

I think at this point, those aren't the 2 pairings that 'work' necessarily, and it doesn't leave anything that works for the 3rd pairing that way.

Hamhuis-Bieksa was a great shutdown tandem, and both guys look lost without each other for the most part. It clearly looks like a 'greater than the sum of their parts' type situation with HamJuice.

And we know that Ballard-Tanev is capable of really mopping up with reasonable minutes.

We also know that Edler and Garrison are paid to be top-4 blueliners. If they can't do that...Then we've got a real problem, and Gillis has created a bit of an ugly mix with big, long-term NTC contracts that don't mesh together.

So put HamJuice back together (despite Bieksa not earning it...he didn't earn it the first time around either, nor has he earned the promotion to playing with Edler. the idea of merit isn't playing into this anymore). Together they've shown in the past that they can play like a $9M pairing.

And cram Edler and Garrison together. Sooner or later, we need to find out if that pairing is going to work. Because if it doesn't...we're stuck for the next 5 years with a $5M and a $4.6M blueliner duo who can't play together, guaranteeing that we'll be spending half a decade with a minimum of $4.6M locked up in one bottom-pairing defender. Garrison appears to be adjusting well enough to the right side, so let them get together and see if they can find any shred of chemistry, with Garrison as the proposed 'steadying influence' that Edler clearly needs. If he can't pull it off...he's not half the 'rock solid shutdown machine' some people are making him out to be. And if he can? Our defence looks great top to bottom and doesn't have to be in a state of constant flux.

Hamhuis-Bieksa
Edler-Garrison
Ballard-Tanev

 

[Seatoo]

A healthy Kesler plus a pp dman would have this team up another 3 regulation wins. Chuck in a Goc level 3C and I think we'd be fine. Fairly cheap bandaids.

So you think Visnosky and a Goc/Talbot or Boyle would be cheap?

 

[Zombotron]

Hamhuis-Bieksa
Edler-Garrison
Ballard-Tanev

Too logical to work!

 

[Tiranis]

I think at this point, those aren't the 2 pairings that 'work' necessarily, and it doesn't leave anything that works for the 3rd pairing that way.

Based on what? Garrison and Hamhuis were out for one lucky goal against out there today in that 1st period. Edler played with Bieksa and that was horrible. Tanev with Alberts the same. Bieksa was on the ice for 3GA, he should be sheltered right now rather than shutting guys down with Hamhuis.

Ballard - Tanev is a whatever pairing. They can mop up the super easy minutes but that's a misuse of Tanev's talents while putting the other 4 guys in an unnecessarily tough position. They also don't generate any offense despite playing those easy minutes which is a major downside.

If you can move Tanev into Top 4 and use Bieksa to generate offense ala Ehrhoff in 09-10 then you do it.

 

[Bleach Clean]

I think at this point, those aren't the 2 pairings that 'work' necessarily, and it doesn't leave anything that works for the 3rd pairing that way.

Hamhuis-Bieksa was a great shutdown tandem, and both guys look lost without each other for the most part. It clearly looks like a 'greater than the sum of their parts' type situation with HamJuice.

And we know that Ballard-Tanev is capable of really mopping up with reasonable minutes.

We also know that Edler and Garrison are paid to be top-4 blueliners. If they can't do that...Then we've got a real problem, and Gillis has created a bit of an ugly mix with big, long-term NTC contracts that don't mesh together.

So put HamJuice back together (despite Bieksa not earning it...he didn't earn it the first time around either, nor has he earned the promotion to playing with Edler. the idea of merit isn't playing into this anymore). Together they've shown in the past that they can play like a $9M pairing.

And cram Edler and Garrison together. Sooner or later, we need to find out if that pairing is going to work. Because if it doesn't...we're stuck for the next 5 years with a $5M and a $4.6M blueliner duo who can't play together, guaranteeing that we'll be spending half a decade with a minimum of $4.6M locked up in one bottom-pairing defender. Garrison appears to be adjusting well enough to the right side, so let them get together and see if they can find any shred of chemistry, with Garrison as the proposed 'steadying influence' that Edler clearly needs. If he can't pull it off...he's not half the 'rock solid shutdown machine' some people are making him out to be. And if he can? Our defence looks great top to bottom and doesn't have to be in a state of constant flux.

Hamhuis-Bieksa
Edler-Garrison
Ballard-Tanev

Thing is, Hamhuis doesn't look lost without Bieksa, usually. This season he does. He's looked lost without, and with Bieksa. It's not normal going for him.

If it takes Garrison to steady him, then I hope they stay together for a little bit. At least until Hamhuis is looking like his old self. Once he does, then try the Hamjuice pairing. Then we'll know if they can get it going again.

If HamJuice works again, then you can move Garrison to Edler's right side. Not before, IMO.

 

[Hammer Time]

I think at this point, those aren't the 2 pairings that 'work' necessarily, and it doesn't leave anything that works for the 3rd pairing that way.

Hamhuis-Bieksa was a great shutdown tandem, and both guys look lost without each other for the most part. It clearly looks like a 'greater than the sum of their parts' type situation with HamJuice.

And we know that Ballard-Tanev is capable of really mopping up with reasonable minutes.

We also know that Edler and Garrison are paid to be top-4 blueliners. If they can't do that...Then we've got a real problem, and Gillis has created a bit of an ugly mix with big, long-term NTC contracts that don't mesh together.

So put HamJuice back together (despite Bieksa not earning it...he didn't earn it the first time around either, nor has he earned the promotion to playing with Edler. the idea of merit isn't playing into this anymore). Together they've shown in the past that they can play like a $9M pairing.

And cram Edler and Garrison together. Sooner or later, we need to find out if that pairing is going to work. Because if it doesn't...we're stuck for the next 5 years with a $5M and a $4.6M blueliner duo who can't play together, guaranteeing that we'll be spending half a decade with a minimum of $4.6M locked up in one bottom-pairing defender. Garrison appears to be adjusting well enough to the right side, so let them get together and see if they can find any shred of chemistry, with Garrison as the proposed 'steadying influence' that Edler clearly needs. If he can't pull it off...he's not half the 'rock solid shutdown machine' some people are making him out to be. And if he can? Our defence looks great top to bottom and doesn't have to be in a state of constant flux.

Hamhuis-Bieksa
Edler-Garrison
Ballard-Tanev

Ballard is involved in that lineup. That's unacceptable. Please try again.