Nucks swimming with Sharks GNT

[mattola]

Here is my question puck

Do you think this team is better than last years do you see anything in the five games that shows it

Taking booth out to me is awash I think he's fairly useless overall and kesler being injured now is about as useful as playing injured last year even with kes back are we better?

 

[puckhead]

Here is my question puck

Do you think this team is better than last years do you see anything in the five games that shows it

Taking booth out to me is awash I think he's fairly useless overall and kesler being injured now is about as useful as playing injured last year even with kes back are we better?

nope. just treading water right now.
but doing it without a 2nd line. with Booth and Kesler back, yes we are better (than now).
right now we need Lapierre and Higgins to be a hell of a lot better than they are
Hansen has stepped up in the last couple of games, but the forwards are still very, very thin
Sedins have been too quiet too, which may be a function of other teams only needing to key on ONE line

better than last year? I can't really find an argument to support that.
Garrison should be an improvement, Ballard is better so far, so that's a very very deep 6.
with status quo, the balance games btw Schneider / Luongo keeps both sharp
if Luo is traded, presumably what comes back improves the forwards.


the team right now is not impressive. I'm not willing to write them off 5 games in because
- it's 5 games in, with all new line combinations (F and D)
- the forwards will look very different with the actual 2nd line in the lineup
- I don't know what the team will look like if/when Lou gets traded.


I am concerned about the overall lack of urgency in their play so far this season.
I am also concerned that they often look lost in their own zone against big teams. can't take the puck away, and the coverage is pourous. saw this tonight, and against the Ducks.

LaPierre needs to sit for his retarded penalty RIGHT AFTER we scored to make it 2-1. Selfish penalty 200 feet away, and it's 3-1 and game over.
also, we won only 20 of 62 faceoffs. Lapierre 0-6, Burrows 2-6, Ebbett 3-8 (including a clean loss on our brief 5 on 3), Schroeder 4-8
pretty much all of those draws that were in our zone would have been taken by Malhotra. it's a much easier game against a team like SJ when you start with the puck.

I will have a much clearer picture of where the team is depending on how they come out against LA tomorrow. That kind of scares me, because if they fold, it shows a lot about the character.

 

[mattola]

I am concerned about the overall lack of urgency in their play so far this season.
.

this is what Im talking about. most everything else is fixable to me. but this part above that is what we saw all season last season with the exception of the boston game even when we won so many games I got this exact same feeling. I dont see a drive, I dont see a desire that I saw in 2011. I remember when we played san jose early that year and completely destroyed them I saw that team that could win the cup. I see nothing in that of this team and they way they play this game win or lose.

Lou trade will change things dramatically Im not sure anymore if it will be good for us at all short term. but it will change us. I also think that AV is not enough for this team. with the team so lethargic on urgency its a bad sign for how he has this team focused. but Ill gladly be proven wrong on that.

 

[naslundfan19]

I agree with most of what puck said, although I thought Higgins was OK tonight.

 

[dash]

I think you need to put Bellows put with the twins, I know you're loading up one line at the expense of the other three, but the Sedin boys are looking too ordinary these days and need to be re-united with their old running mate.

 

[mattola]

I think you need to put Bellows put with the twins, I know you're loading up one line at the expense of the other three, but the Sedin boys are looking too ordinary these days and need to be re-united with their old running mate.

you may have to do that just to get burrows going. he has been average at best.

 

[dash]

you may have to do that just to get burrows going. he has been average at best.

I think that's mainly because he's playing out of position...

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Burrows has looked slow up until last night ... pregame radio show friday they were talking about his fitness testing being below previous years ... too much poutine

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Reuters Top News ‏@Reuters
Dutch media is reporting Queen Beatrix expected to announce abdication in favor of Prince Willem-Alexander

what? no Prince Dale of Weise?

 

[dash]

Reuters Top News ‏@Reuters
Dutch media is reporting Queen Beatrix expected to announce abdication in favor of Prince Willem-Alexander

what? no Prince Dale of Weise?

Let's all enjoy the beer that Dale Weise made famous...

 

[jstewismybastardson]

how awkward has the pp looked with Garrison and Edler first unit ... they seem to never set up his shot ... lots of puck movement and lots of them switching sides but it rarely ends up looking smooth ... and Garrison is rarely hitting the net when he does get the cannon off

SCRIMMAGE MODE!

 

[mattola]

how awkward has the pp looked with Garrison and Edler first unit ... they seem to never set up his shot ... lots of puck movement and lots of them switching sides but it rarely ends up looking smooth ... and Garrison is rarely hitting the net when he does get the cannon off

JIRI SLEGR MODE!

fixed

 

[jstewismybastardson]

to be fair Garrison hasnt hit any of his teammates in the dome ... yet

 

[dash]

I was listenting to the post-game show last night - Price and Paterson feel Garrison is trying to hard to hit the score sheet at the expense of his defensive game (also they were saying he misses Brian Campbell for those nice one-timers on the PP).

 

[jstewismybastardson]

idk ... defensively hes had some dense moments but he's been ok (still a plus player) in comparison to Bieksa Hamhuis and Edler

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

All the Canucks have to do is take advantage of their powerplays. Lord knows they've been given enough chances early on this season.

 

[puckhead]

this is what Im talking about. most everything else is fixable to me. but this part above that is what we saw all season last season with the exception of the boston game even when we won so many games I got this exact same feeling. I dont see a drive, I dont see a desire that I saw in 2011. I remember when we played san jose early that year and completely destroyed them I saw that team that could win the cup. I see nothing in that of this team and they way they play this game win or lose.

Lou trade will change things dramatically Im not sure anymore if it will be good for us at all short term. but it will change us. I also think that AV is not enough for this team. with the team so lethargic on urgency its a bad sign for how he has this team focused. but Ill gladly be proven wrong on that.

another thing I should mention is that the team's shooting % so far is 5.7%
that should revert to the mean of about 8%

so some of it (as shown by the 5 posts last night which did not even count as shots) is just bad luck.
doesn't change the intensity we've seen on the ice, but it does affect the result