What to do about our (lack of) offense

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What should the Canucks coaches/management do?

Stay the course. The guy's just aren't getting puck luck.
9
35%
Make a trade. We need more skill than what we have on the team.
10
38%
Adjust the team's tactics and/or lines. The skill is there. It just needs to be better used.
5
19%
Bring up someone from the Moose with skill. We have too many pluggers.
2
8%
 
Total votes: 26

ververgaert
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Post by ververgaert »

First lets start with what the team has, a very good first line made up of three Swedes and athird line and two fourth lines.

Two very good defencemen, a Swede and Fin, plus two not bad Canadians. The rest are barely N.H.L calibre if they are even that.

A top notch goalie who is played so much that injuries are bound to come . That or burnout.

What would I do with this?

First wish I had a time machine so I could go back to the team that was a shitty goalie and three top defencemen injured away from challanging for the cup!

Thats not going to happen so I would stick a fork in this no talent team and this season because there both done!

Then I start trading players for draft picks, unloading high priced underachieving talent for draft picks while giving Moose players a chance to show what they have at this level. At least then you know what you have.

Play roberto 50 times and give the back up and prospect goalies a shot..

Chances are the team would be last at the seasons end and a top pick or very near would be in order

AND REMEMBER! TO THOSE FOOLS IN THE MEDIA AND THE SIMPLE MINDED FOOLS THAT EAT UP THE DRIVEL THEY ARE SERVING!! BECAREFULL WHAT YOU WISH FOR SH@T FOR BRAINS !!! IT MIGHT JUST COME TRUE!!
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clearwatercanuck
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Post by clearwatercanuck »

I know most of you are tired hearing about Anson Carter, but when you take away 33 goals a year scored by a second line player you should expect to lose a lot more games than if you still had him. We are well into the season and the coaching has not been something to write home about. We have had many chances to score but have not had a lot of luck. I will however, personally donate $500 to CANUCKS PLACE if the Canucks bring Anson Carter back......He was the only Canuck to my knowledge to wear #77, and that's my lucky #...........
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Post by Lancer »

ververgaert wrote:AND REMEMBER! TO THOSE FOOLS IN THE MEDIA AND THE SIMPLE MINDED FOOLS THAT EAT UP THE DRIVEL THEY ARE SERVING!! BECAREFULL WHAT YOU WISH FOR SH@T FOR BRAINS !!! IT MIGHT JUST COME TRUE!!
What was that all about? What are these simple-minded fools and the media wishing for? I trust the rest of your rant was sarcasm in the extreme, but I don't think anyone is writing off the team quite yet. I think most of them favour a tweak or two to jumpstart things.

On another, related note, Nonis is telling everybody who will listen to keep the faith and the team will score (eventually). Doesn't mean he isn't quietly beating the bushes on a trade or sitting idly by, but it seems he's willing to stick it (and his neck) out with this bunch when it comes to scoring.
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Post by ververgaert »

The break up of last seasons core Lancer. Thats what the simple minded fools were wishing for? They got there wish and now we have a great goalie, one line and three defensemen!

I'am definatly writing off this team!

I wish a tweak or two was all that was needed Lancer I really do! Maybe last years team needed a tweak or two . Getting rid of Crawford and Auld were the tweaks I thought needed to happen. But this version of the Canucks is alot more than that away!

Of course he's telling everyone to keep the faith! His ship is sinking and he's about to make some panic trades to try to right it! Can't say I blame him! But like they say "You make your bed and you gotta sleep in it"

Maybe this will teach him to stop being influenced by the Media , who really only care about whats good for them.
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Post by tantalum »

MarkMM wrote:On balance, I think Nonis and Vigneault have done a good job, some of Nonis' moves have so far flopped, but keep in mind he's made some good calls as well. Good people make mistakes, no big deal, it's how he corrects them that matters.
My opinion of Nonis changed wuite a bit at last years deadline. He seemed to grow some balls that day and started to make over the team a bit. That continued into the summer. Indeed, he has made some good moves and some that haven't worked out, but he seems to have a vision on what the team should be and is hspaing the team to that vision.

It was never going to only take 1 summer to do it. The only thing I wish is that he had started to put his stamp on the team a summer earlier. I expect him to continue making changes sooner rather than later. He's improved goaltending (still think he needs a more reliable backup), he's improved the team defence and finally got a physical guy the team has been ebggin for for years. now he has to turn his attention to the forwards and make the necessary changes. This is a team that can be rebuilt quickly and I expect by the time the day after the trade deadline rolls around it will be rebuilt.

i
ververgaert
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Post by ververgaert »

Tantulum if your talking about Mitchell as the physical guy you must not have seen many games that he's played in. I honestly havn't seen him throw one big check or shown an ounce of mean spirited ness. Let alone drop the gloves.

He is a steady stay at home guy but physical he is not.
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Post by Soapy »

This may be way too simple, but I say stay the course with the team we have now...these guys have not had enough time to develope an identity, except for being hardworking & not being able to bury their chances. Not too shabby. I yell at my TV just as much as you do but little things like Burrows hard work or Naslund shelfing one brings me back to liking this team. Sure Pyatt could nail guys into the boards or Cooke/Green could finally score......My expectations of this team are that they are going to fight hard for a playoff spot....& they are fighting TODAY for a playoff spot. Ask me again around the all-star break (Salo should be on the ballot) if we need a trade. Other bad teams, not us, need to panic & make a bad trade....Don't stop the daily debate on WHERE on the team they should improve....my arguement is WHEN they should improve...not today.....Nonis shouldn't stop fishing but if you expected this team to be doing a lot better than they are doing now you are a superfan (nothing wrong with that) or you have not looked at the division the Canucks play in.
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sic puppy
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Post by sic puppy »

Soapy wrote:This may be way too simple, but I say stay the course with the team we have now...these guys have not had enough time to develope an identity, except for being hardworking & not being able to bury their chances. Not too shabby. I yell at my TV just as much as you do but little things like Burrows hard work or Naslund shelfing one brings me back to liking this team. Sure Pyatt could nail guys into the boards or Cooke/Green could finally score......My expectations of this team are that they are going to fight hard for a playoff spot....& they are fighting TODAY for a playoff spot. Ask me again around the all-star break (Salo should be on the ballot) if we need a trade. Other bad teams, not us, need to panic & make a bad trade....Don't stop the daily debate on WHERE on the team they should improve....my arguement is WHEN they should improve...not today.....Nonis shouldn't stop fishing but if you expected this team to be doing a lot better than they are doing now you are a superfan (nothing wrong with that) or you have not looked at the division the Canucks play in.
Well said Soapy. I tend to agree. But then I thought Nonis should have continued to tinker with last years squad. :lol:

This team has shown alot in it's first 20 games. 14 one goal games (eight of those loses) with their work ethic is what most fans wanted from this year's version.

Goals against are slightly down from a year ago, but the shortfall is goals for. Down by 20 from last year. A goal a game.

So, where should the team improve? But, I agree with you, when is an important point.

I thought the 20 game mark would be a good measuring stick, but IMO this team will need another 20 to find it's identity and see if they have the right mix that will provide the best result.
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Post by Fred »

ververgaert wrote:Tantulum if your talking about Mitchell as the physical guy you must not have seen many games that he's played in. I honestly havn't seen him throw one big check or shown an ounce of mean spirited ness. Let alone drop the gloves.

He is a steady stay at home guy but physical he is not.
I'd agree with that, but last night I did notice between face off Michell followed Tkachuk (sp) around the ice for quite a while yapping and yapping at him, I presume about the Kesler fight, but Walt didn't take up the offer, which doesn't surprise me either, he's a player that picks his spots

The guy more likely to drop them is Bieska, that boy has attitude to spare :D
cheers
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Post by MarkMM »

Didn't Aquilini talk about his focus on incremental improvement? If that's so, we might have seen a glimpse of what Nonis' strategy as explained to our new boss is.

I think our "problem" is the same as it was in the off-season for Nonis, the team isn't a complete disaster, it's got problems but there are indications that they can possibly be fixed internally. In the off-season, Nonis had to make changes but not a complete rebuilding, and now, he's got to be looking for improvements, but there's no need for a change for the sake of a change (the "shake the team up" kind).

I actually think this is not a bad position to be in, and IMO incrementalism is the way to go. Nonis knows that he's got things he's got to improve on, but he doesn't have a gun to his head, and he won't be forced to make a bad trade out of desperation. Here're the changes I'd be looking at making in phases, try one group, and if it doesn't work, move on to the next (with timelines).

Priority 1 (Now):
- Let the lines set a bit to build chemistry
- Scoring/shooting practices
- Change in tactics, a bit; allow the defense to pinch a bit more, and let a forward in our zone to float high looking for the fast break. It'll mean more shots against, but Luongo seems to be a guy who plays better with more work, and we pay him to bail us out a bit. A thing to try, anyway.

Priority 2 (By Christmas if there are no improvements):
- Waive Santala, call up Rypien to be a more physical guy, faster, and can fight.
- Trade Chouinard and bring up Reid, more speed, offense, cheaper.

Priority 3 (By All-Star break, if still in trouble/right deal comes along):
- Trade Cooke for a top four d-man, to build depth
OR
- Try to trade Cooke/Morrison in a package to get scoring help/defensive depth. The benefit of off-loading Cooke and Morrison this season is that if we get guys back who are not on multi-year deals, then we've just cleared up cap space next year for Salo, if that's what we want to do.
Mark
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