TropicalFruitGirl26

Poor bench....it's goalie stats are wrecked...

Well, ok, maybe....for this game. I still think Bob can turn things around, but he is finding out REAL QUICK that the Panther defense is nothing like the one he had in Columbus. I watched that game between Fla and Van...the Canucks were just all over the Panthers. Not sure there was much any goalie could do under those circumstances.

Panthers gotta be thinkin... "Where oh where is our James Reimer...…...oh, wait...we didn't want to keep him around...."

Wasn't entirely on Bob though... He was brought in because MONTEMBEAULT the backup crapped the bed... Bob was brought in to "settle things down", and he did give up two goals on only 6 shots faced, before Montembeault was brought back in again. If Bob have been left in, his stats would have looked much better. Imagine being Bobrovsky, having a cappuccino on the bench, when the head coach says, "Bob...get into this 4-0 game not even halfway through the first period" Then after Bob takes the two goal hit and attempts to smooth out the numbers, he gets taken BACK out, Montembeault back in... It was all messed up... Bob has ugly numbers, you have broken weekly stats, and Bob's cappuccino is ice cold now...... Blame Joel Quenneville.

As was already stated, repeating as Stanley Cup champions was already difficult enough even fully manned. Losing Mr. Tarasenko certainly doesn't help the team, but it still isn't impossible. If anything, this St. Louis Blues team last season showed how "not impossible" things can be in the NHL. Their Cup win is living proof as by all rights they should have missed the playoffs after the start and middle of the season they had. Like I said, it will mean many other guys are going to have to up their games, guys no one knows anything about will need to make themselves known, and of course, the defense, goaltending and execution will need to be there 100%. If they do all that, there is an outside chance....small, but possible....that they can have Vladimir back in time for the playoffs. Imagine that.

Serious post time: This just means guys like Perron, Schwartz, Fabbri (anyone remember him? yea..him…) are gonna have to step up their games and maybe even others like Sanford, Sundqvist, and Thomas may have to play a step above their paygrades to contribute and help fill the large gap left by Tarasenko. The Blues still remain strong down the middle with O'Reilly, Schenn and Bozak. Those guys will still find players on the wings....the wingers just need to bury the chances. Plain n simple.

Wow. The Canucks just basically ripped through the Florida Panthers at home to the tune of 7-2 yesterday. Vancouver jumped on the cats with a 5-goal first period outburst and just never looked back from there. Yes, the Panthers had backup Sam Montembeault in there, and yes, it was the second of a back to back on the road for the team (they beat the Oilers 6-2 the night before), but truth was, they just didn't look ready and prepared for the Canucks in this game. And it wasn't like the Panthers were weary from playing a ton of games on their road trip...although they certainly might be when they see Colorado tomorrow night to end their trip. The Canucks just came out to play and they gave the Panthers absolutely NOTHING on the ice. Plain n simple. JT Miller lead the charge with his two goal night in a game that saw EVERY single Vancouver forward show up on the scoresheet with either a goal or an assist....EXCEPT Loui Eriksson...but the Eriksson tale is a sad one for another thread. Trying to talk positives here with this team! Alex Edler also had a three assist night from the blue line and Thatcher Demko stopped 31 of 33 shots (most of those came late as he was not at all very busy early on in the game) for his 3rd win of the season (3-1-0), lowering his season GAA to a miniscule 1.73 and raising his Save% to a robust .941 The Canucks also dominated in possession (no surprise when they have a guy like Horvat taking the majority of them) as they killed the Cats 54%-46% at the face off dot. The Canuck PP struggled a bit (again) and it does continue to be a bit of a problem for the team. They went 0 for 2 and I am sure the coach would have liked to have seen more drawn penalties at the very least. All part of what this team still needs to work on, along with some other things, as they try to shape themselves into a contender. The Canucks finish this short two game homestand (they lost 6-5 in a wild game that ended in a SO to the Washington Capitals in the other game where, statistically them dominated everywhere but in the end result) and now head back out on the road on a three game set through California with stops in Los Angeles (tomorrow) and then a back to back themselves on Fri and Sat in Anaheim and San Jose respectively.

Giving this a thread ***BUMP*** because even though it is an older thread, it does have bearing on what is going on with the Vancouver Canucks today! And thanks to one mr. @yave1964 who always seems to have a nose for what is interesting and relevant in the NHL for more than just any given day. Forgetting all the Ottawa Senators stuff (they aren't relevant here....nor, sadly in the NHL landscape at the moment)….but we can talk about Thatcher Demko. Just recently, Jacob Markstrom needed to take some personal time and Demko was given the net...……….and didn't play badly at all. Well, Markstrom is back and he is still the number one, but it seems the Canucks are very open to doing something of a timeshare with Demko and Markstrom and that probably wouldn't be a bad idea. The Canucks still have some growing pains to go through, but they play a decent enough brand of hockey where Demko in the nets wouldn't exactly be "thrown to the wolves". Markstrom can still draw the tough assignments and shoulder the scrutiny (he actually is playing better than I thought I would ever give him credit for), but getting Demko into more games "safely" seems like a good long term approach. Markstrom is in contract year to go along with his stellar play so far (take that for whatever you will), so if this season is somewhat of an audition year for Demko, the Canucks may sneakily have their number one in place for NEXT season. I have taken an interest in the Canucks this year (some of you may already know I morph into a pseudo-fan of certain teams every year based on what that team may have done in a given off season or who is playing on there), and will definitely be following the exploits of guys like JT Miller, Alex Edler, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and yes, Thatcher Demko. Is it Demko time? Hmmm....probably not a full-on yet, but we might be getting close!

From trade central (No, not HOCKEY CENTRAL...they have their heads too far up Toronto's rear to notice anything but what Mitch Marner is having for breakfast this morning )..... The PA40's get: C/RW - Willie Nylander C--- Evgeny Kuznetsov The Green Star Blades get: RW - Patric Hornqvist C-- Ryan Johansen PA40's get goals and PPP with some middling FOW....while the Blades get a potpourri of categories covered by the Pittsburgh winger and Nashville center.

Heh.... Yes, it was. I took as an offhand remark, probably just taking a jab at a certain over-the-top poster....and it worked beautifully. Of COURSE, losing one man on a deep team doesn't sink the chances of winning a championship, and yes, I agree with you that it just makes it more difficult...…. but I love the comedy gold where a single off the cuff remark can send some people into a frenzy!

Funny you should post this, as just yesterday was discussing Koivu's place on the team, and this is EXACTLY what came up! The parallels between where Mikko's career is and Matt Cullen's contributions to teams after his top six days were over are uncanny. The difference, of course, is that Cullen accepted and embraced his role as a bottom six guy, and as you know, continued to make a decent NHL living providing his useful services to a handful of teams in that capacity. Perhaps after this season, when Mikko's contract is up, he will realize that if he wants to continue to be employed by an NHL team, he will have to do exactly what Cullen did...…….or hang them up if he can't accept a bottom six/possession 4th line role. Yes, I know that doesn't help the Wild THIS season, but it is something I would be interested in seeing how it plays out afterwards, as I honestly feel Mikko still has use as an NHL'er…..but in the RIGHT role with the right mindset. And it isn't top six or PP specialist any longer.

Yes, it's definitely a conundrum. True, many of the younger guys haven't taken the ball and ran with it, so to speak, but also true, we won't ever truly know unless they get heavier minutes. At some point, someone (I.E. the owner) is just going have to decide on a course trajectory and stick with it, as this "chicken and the egg" thing simply isn't working for the team. The team was already in trouble in many areas, as you already know, but man, Paul Fenton....he hurt this team....hurt them deep with his debacle of a tenure. Whatever lifelines the Wild may have had, he pretty much pissed away with the awful trades. I am trying to still have faith that Bill Guerin will be persuasive enough with Leipold that he would be allowed to reshape the team the proper way.

While Koivu should not be a top six forward and his skillset is diminishing rather quickly, THIS at least, he still does well. Gives his team possession more often than not. Now...what the team does AFTER the possession, well, that's another story.....

Instead of color changes, would you prefer a style change? Perhaps this lil tube top number? I can see these being GREAT for a heritage classic outdoor game...………...

Zucker looks pretty good in this game. Hitting, shooting, even getting under the skin of the Preds a bit. All he needs to do now is actually score a goal....

I always thought they had an army of accountant types in suits counting, "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand..."

Some pretty good vibes from having an actual mini win streak going with a good chance to extend it even further. We now will get to see if the Wild are ready to take on the road warrior role. I'd like to see the team spread the scoring out over three periods, as I still found it a bit concerning that Minnesota got all their goals in the first, then did nothing else after that against the Oilers. The shut out took care of that of course, and yes, I am happy about the win, particularly over a strong starting Edmonton team, but I think they need to be more balanced against a team like Nashville. The Preds are pretty dangerous on offense. When they've lost, they've looked real bad doing it...but when they've won, oftentimes, they've put up big goal totals. Wild have the potential to get blown out here if they don't show up for a full 60. At any rate, yep.... a feel-good aura around this team for now. Winning will do that. But time to put that in the rear view and focus on what I believe can still be a team to come out of the Western Conference. Go Wild!

Another big nugget of news with regards to Jon Cooper's lineup changes: Nikita Kucherov will be on the 3rd line tonight. Yep. Kuch on the 3rd. I don't believe he has played third line since when he first came up. Why? Could be for a number of reasons.... Kuch hasn't been his usual beastly self. He has been ok, but oftentimes, away from the puck, seems a bit lost. He will be on the same line as Alex Killorn (wing) and Anthony Cirelli (C), two very good, hard working but also skilled guys...and perhaps the coach is hoping some of the blue collar stuff rubs off on Kucherov. By the same token, particularly with young Anthony Cirelli...look, that young center has done everything the Lightning ask of him, but he is mostly stuck in the bottom six due to having Point, Stamkos and/or Johnson ahead of him on the center depth chart. Perhaps putting the reigning scoring champion on his line is also a way to reward Cirelli. "Here ya go young man...Kuch needs a bit of a boost in the workman department, you get an elite scoring winger to play with....go get some production done!" Unlike most teams, playing the 3rd line in Tampa Bay isn't necessarily a straight up demotion. Coach Cooper, for the most part, spreads the ice time out pretty evenly. Sure, the top six will always log more time, but its not like the 3rd line, or even the 4th, only get like 7-8 minutes of ice time per game like you may find on others. Team is deep enough to where the coach understands he will have guys in the bottom six that likely would be top six players elsewhere (such as the aforementioned Anthony Cirelli), so he has to manage the ice time accordingly. At any rate, I am sure Kucherov would love to remain in the top six, but best thing he can do right now, is do what is asked of him playing on Line 3 and while helping himself there, he also has an opportunity to "pay forward" and help bolster linemates Cirelli and Killorn. Very interested in seeing how Kuch handles this...

Bolts meet the Pittsburgh Penguins at Amalie Arena tonight and the team looks to shake off the "good game, bad game" pattern they've established in the early going. To the end of finding consistency in their overall game, the Lightning are making some interesting changes to their lineup in hopes it sparks certain players and re-establishes the 4 line attack the team has been known for the last few seasons. First, Tyler Johnson looks like he will get a crack at being the #1C, centering a line of Stamkos at wing, and newly promoted Mathieu Joseph on the other wing. Both Stamkos and especially Johnson have been a bit sleepy starting out, while Joseph has played pretty well in a bottom six role, and being rewarded by playing top minutes. Jon Cooper is STILL trying to find "Stamkos' wing" (I still think Stammer is a better center than wing, but I can see why the coach would like to get Johnson going), ever since Marty St. Louis was traded. MSL and Stamkos were magic together and though for awhile it looked like Nikita Kucherov may be the best compliment for Stamkos on the same line, turns out, they play better on separate lines (Kucherov seems to play really well with Brayden Point, and that is who he will be playing with to start against the Pens), and that further helps to spread the wealth, so to speak, on elite scoring between the top two lines. Next, Cedric Paquette looks like he may be ready to go. He had been sidelined with an UBI since pre-season and hasn't seen regular season game time yet. If he does return tonight, it means he centers the 4th line alongside Patrick Maroon and Luke Witkowski....a bruising, yet potentially productive line as well. Sadly, Paquette's return means Carter Verhaeghe who had been centering the 4th will be returned to AHL Syracuse. Verhaeghe hasn't played badly in the role, and he may warrant another callup at some point, but Paquette is still a notch or two above him in terms of skill, familiarity with the team style, and definitely more experience at the NHL level. Hopefully these changes will make a difference offensively, however, the REAL culprit in Lightning not doing so well has been defensive coverage and transitioning from defense to the offense. Changes there don't include personnel changes, but rather, pairing changes. Braydon Coburn and Mikhail Sergachev will reunite on the 3rd pairing (Serge had been playing alongside Hedman on the top pairing) and Kevin Shattenkirk will be given a bit more reign as he will be paired with the always defensively responsible Ryan McDonagh on the 2nd pairing. Meanwhile, on the top pairing, no surprise Victor Hedman is there and his new partner, and getting his first real shot at being a 2D will be Eric Cernak. This should compliment Victor's offensive skill with a more stay at home approach, and should allow the #1 defenseman more latitude to be creative. Cernak himself, in addition to his physical playstyle, also features a pretty good point shot and good skating ability for a man of his size. Bolts....Pens.... If all goes well, should be dandy of a match up and maybe this is the game that finally gets the Lightning playing like the team that is expecting to make another Cup run this year. Go Bolts!

Bo Horvat and his Vancouver Canucks put the exclamation point on a very successful road trip with a 5-2 win at Detroit yesterday. The win put the Canucks at 3-1-0 on their trip which saw them win at St. Louis, NY Rangers, and Detroit, while only dropping their game at NJ... a 1-0 loss they might have won as well had it not been for the spectacular goaltending of the Devils' MacKenzie Blackwood. As for Horvat himself, on the heels of his 100th career NHL goal at New York, he puts up his first ever career hat trick as he helped his team win against the Red Wings. Guy had a fantastic game and showed why he should be looked at as a premier top six forward even though he has less "flash" to his game than some of his contemporaries. JT Miller and the recently returned Jacob Markstrom were also very good not only in the Detroit game, but on the road trip as a whole. Vancouver was far from flawless. As a team they showed why they still need work to truly be considered a regular contender. They ran around their zone a bit too much against the Red Wings, failed to capitalize on some very easy chances and their PP isn't as dangerous as one would think looking at the names they put out there on paper. But I guess those are the things to be expected when you have a team lead by still very young players. The fact that they still won the game 5-2 speaks to how much these guys, at the very least, hustle and just keep plugging away no matter the score or situation. No coasting from any of their guys at any given time. More than a few teams can learn a lesson or two from this type of work ethic. Canucks finally get to go home...and waiting for them there are the always tough Washington Capitals and upstart Florida Panthers. Both games should provide Vancouver with stiff tests of their execution on the ice. Will Bo Horvat keep it rolling for his team?

Very entertaining game! Goalie duel all the way and just when I think Robin Lehner of the Blackhawks was gonna pull off the shut out, the Knights tie it, send it into OT, then of course they win in the SO. I thought the Chicago goalie deserved better, but hey, kudos to MAF and his Knights....those guys just find ways to win games whether their offense is on or not.

Personally, I'd be ok with leaving it as 80 moves total. I suppose GMs that are prone to making more moves would want the total raised though. Wouldn't bother me either way, but I'd say leave it at 80....just means people will need to be a bit more judicious when making moves. I.E. less of those, "let me pick a guy up then drop him so no one can else can pick him up this week until the waiver period is over" type maneuvers, lest you burn yourself near season's end when you find yourself with less moves available. If you ARE going to move up the amount of moves and want to keep it proportionate to the 5 we had before, then the cap limit is exactly 96. Not sure if yahoo lets you do that or you have to do "round numbers" like 80, 90, or 100....but 96 would be the correct number to keep things in scale while moving up to more moves per week and per season as shown by 5/80 = 6/x, where X is the amount of moves for the season scaled up from 80

Yea, but TK showed up on the scoresheet.......and that's all I really need.

Elliot really looking like an All World goaltender tonight. Too bad he just can't do that on a consistent basis...and stay healthy. Flyer bottom six doing some real good work as well. Vegas is a very fast team and Philly's grinders are holding them off pretty well.

Canucks just got done with a win at the New York Rangers moving their current 4-game road trip record to 2-1-0. Vancouver played very well in New Jersey yesterday, but due to MacKenzie Blackwood, couldn't put anything on the board and ended up losing 1-0. Today's game, they jumped out quickly to a 3-0 lead on the Rangers, then had to hang on for dear life in the 3rd as NY made a furious comeback. Canucks held on for the 3-2 win. Bo Horvat scored the opening goal against the Rangers, marking the 100th of his still young career. That guy is gonna be very Patrice Bergeron-esque for his career, I believe. Meaning....not as heralded as some of his flashier teammates, but every bit, maybe more so, integral to the team's success. Jacob Markstrom, who had taken some personal time to attend to family matters has returned and made 38 stops on 40 SOG by New York. A heck of a way to return to the lineup. The team will conclude their road trip in Detroit on Tuesday.