GDT: Canucks vs Blues. Game 4, 7:30 PM SN

[Chef Boi RD]

His nickname needs to change from "Tuna" or "Shotgun" to "Sweetener", as in "the sweetener to move Eriksson's contract to Ottawa".

I'm onboard with that. Benning has built a team with character, and sadly Jake doesn't have that. He's just a passenger.

Watch Jake when he is without the puck it’s alarming how he has zero sense on what to do, where to go when without the puck, a real lost cause at anticipating the play. He is never involved in cycles because of it. Early on one of the strangest habits of Jakes that stood out for me was when we were in the O-zone, while his linemates would be cycling down low he’d back up all the way to the blue line with his defenceman watching his line mates cycle, completely removing himself from the cycle with the opposing team between him and the cycle, it was so bizarre to me, he actually still does it - removing himself from assisting in maintaining puck possession, he such a clueless hockey player, it astounds me he’s made it this far

Possession typically dies on Jakes stick. One way to quantify hockey sense is with puck possession - how often does possession die on ones stick.

Let’s face it, Jake is an imbecile. What kind of NHL Player moron goes to a jam packed night club a couple weeks before entering a quarantine bubble with your NHL compatriots, or at least have the wits about you so not to get your photo taken. Send him to the pastures. Get a bucket of pucks for him for all I care

Jake could actually overcome his lack of hockey sense and be useful by rolling up his sleeves, using his size and speed, taking the body, causing mayhem but he thinks he can play a thinking man’s skill game when he can’t, it’s so frustrating. Park the brain because you don’t have one, Jake

Jake “I want to be that player the other team hates”

Hey Jake, here is a clue, it’s free advice, it’s not the other team who’s skin you’re getting under, In fact they love you, don’t change they say, it’s your own team that doesn’t like you. Wakey wakey Jakey.

[dangler]

Vancouver is the faster team. Can you explain why St Louis is the team always in delivering the body with multiple forecheckers? The Canucks send in a token flyby. Send them all. Who cares if we only leave one man back. Risk it. If the Blues dmen look up and see a wall of stink whales coming at them and then said wall punishes with a finished check every time the ice will cease to be so tilted in St Loo’s favour.

That’s what leaving it all out there would look like.

That is what I saw, a lot of hitting the boards instead of the guy, just a couple guys are doing it consistently. The team cannot match up to St. Louis size but they need to make the Blues D pay for having the puck, look at the Canucks D, they are starting to look scared when they have the puck in their own end and it does not help when the refs dont blow the whistle for late hits.

Why Tyler Myers is severely missed.

Again, he is missed and we could absolutely use him but there are many other warts that are showing the last couple games as well. Shitty breakout passes, ineffective PP, terrible support from the wingers, Marky’s rebound control etc..

Yeah Myers isn't the game changer many are making him out to be here. His injury just coincided with the Blues finding their game and the Canucks cooling off

[mr perfect]

The Canucks have no chance in winning this series if their aim is to match the Blues physicality.

Because the Blues are better than the Canucks at that game. The Canucks must change the frame.

And the Canucks are not “playing scared,” in my view. They are battling hard. And they are hanging in the fight, bending much more than breaking.

But they didn’t play sharp for large stretches of the past two games. They must play sharp to win. Put passes on tape and not in feet, open the game by making it a track meet as much as possible, and they can win.

No one here expects players like Pettersen to be physical forces. However, the Canuck leader in hits is 5'10" 190 lb Tyler Motte. Only Pettersen, Gaudette and Eriksson weigh less than Motte. What is Virtanen, who is 35 lb heavier that Motte doing? Wouldn't it be nice if he were leading the team in hits? I believe there was an APB out for Jay Beagle the last game. He's 210 lb, it would be nice to see some hits on the forecheck from him. Wasn't he brought in for Stanley Cup experience, leadership and grit? Overall, especially on Defence with Myers injured, the Blues are bigger with Gunnarson being the smallest Blues D-man at 198 lb. But the Canucks big players have to play big and some of them aren't. There were too many passengers last game.

[Cousin Strawberry]

”

Hey Jake, here is a clue, it’s free advice, it’s not the other team who’s skin you’re getting under, In fact they love you, don’t change they say, it’s your own team that doesn’t like you. Wakey wakey Jakey.

So true.

[Megaterio Llamas]

Per could maybe tell us more about Andersson but he won me over when he tossed that silver medal in the stands after a blatant screw job from the referees that night. Was disappointed to see him bail on the Rangers but they do rush their prospects.

I'd say he's a big question mark at this point.

He did not handle the situation in the Rangers organisation well. He felt alone, frustrated, suffered from insomnia, developed bad habits (according to himself) like playing computer games all night and not being able to sleep without pills.

After he bailed on the Rangers he returned home to Sweden, and his old SHL team (HV71) contacted the Rangers and were granted permission to have him on the team. He noted himself that he was not in game shape, but stepped in and scored 12 points (5+7) in 15 games. The HV71 coach says that he added leadership and was an assett in the locker room.

Ahead of the current playoffs, Andersson notified the Rangers that he was not interested in attending camp, and the Rangers and HV71 has now agreed that he will spend the 20/21 in Sweden with HV71.

So what do we make from this?

I do not think he will ever be comfortable playing for the Rangers, albeit he is saying positive things about how they have been understanding and constructive in helping sort out the situation.

He was the best point scorer in the Swedish Junior league in 2016.

He won the Swedish Championship in 2017 with HV71, scoring 19 points in 41 regular season games and 5 in 16 in the playoffs.

He captained the 2017/18 silver medalist Junior Crowns at the WJC, on a team that also contained Petey, Alexander Nylander and Rasmus Dahlin, and he was the leading goal scorer of that team (6 goals in 7 games) and was tied for first in points (7 in 7) with Petey and the young Nylander.

He then won gold with the Three Crowns at the 2018 World Championship.

So far everything looks bright and shiny, right?

He has played 66 NHL games, spread over three seasons, but only scored 9 points (3+6), but done reasonably well in the AHL with 39 points in 74 games (15+24).

What can I say? Hopefully the disaster in New York was just a glitch. He obviously has the skill, the tools, and has shown leadership and positive attitude when playing in Sweden. Back in his J18 days he was the most penalized player in the league, so there may even be a hint of a mean streak...

I'm sure the Rangers are only holding on to him to try to get something in a trade, and if they've given up on him, maybe he won't cost all that much.

He knows Petey since their junior national team days, and might not feel as alone and abandoned in a Vancouver setting. It's also a young team, so he could hopefully also gel with Boeser and Hughes, and there are a lot of older compatriots around (Markström, Edler, Eriksson, the Sedins...) that could help him settle in and adjust. Loui has been known to entertain the other Swedes at his house, have them over for dinner and such.

I don't know, if he's not too expensive, maybe he could be worth taking a look at. Especially if he does well in the SHL this winter.

Thanks for the info Per. I had imagined this kid as possible compensation in a Jesse Puljujarvi trade but now I think I would like to involve Jake Virtanen in that scenario some way. Andersson certainly has an impressive pedigree.