I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team come

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Robert
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Robert »

the toucan kid wrote:
Kesler is the type of gay you want on the team
Unfortunate (well, actually whatever works for locker room morale is fine by me) typos aside.
Are you sure it was a typo? Judging by some of the pics LB posted in the pub I dunno... and Farhan is all knowing ;)
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Farhan Lalji »

LOL @ some of these responses. :lol:

Few things:

-I think it's awesome that both Sammy and Burrows mesh ridiculously well with the twins. One thing I was disappointed by however, was the fact that Burrows didn't look overly effective playing alongside Kesler and Raymond. Yes - the guy scored a goal but other than that, he looked fairly invisible. Samuelson on the other hand, has looked good playing WITH and WITHOUT the twins. Granted - we can't judge Burrows just on one game but if things don't change, then I would consider putting Burrows back with the twins.

-I can't remember who said it (someone on this board), but someone mentioned the fact that both Burrows and Kesler may have evolved to the point, where they would no longer be willing to play the same 'shut down' type hockey that they did back at the start of the 08/09 season. In other words, if we saw a re-united Burrows and Kesler line, they would be looking to bring it on BOTH ENDS of the rink (and in effect, may reduce their effectiveness as a pure shut down line....I hope that made sense).

-The other concern that I had from last night, was how useless Demitra looked on that 3rd line. Again - it's not really Demitra's fault since his linemates suck, but still. THAT LINE DOESN'T HAVE ANY TANGIBLE QUALITY!

The way things are working out right now, one of Samuelson, Demitra, or Raymond is going to get majorly shafted if one them gets demoted to the 3rd line. All 3 of these guys are worthy of playing top 6 (or atleast on whatever constitutes as the secondary scoring line) given how they have played this year, but in all likelihood, this will not happen....unless Vigneault tries this:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows (If Burrows can't play effectively without the twins, put him back here)

Raymond-Demitra-Samuelson (Samuelson has proven that he can score with talented players outside of the twins. Demitra, offensively, isn't much of a downgrade from Kesler.....if at all). This line should be able to produce nicely.

Hordichuk-Kesler-Rypien

Johnson-Wellwood-Hansen (all 3 players, Bernier included, are good 4th line calibre players)

It's this Hordichuk-Kesler-Rypien line that I wanted to focus on here. One reason why Hordichuk-Johnson-Rypien is/was a disaster, is because Johnson STINKS as far as his territorial play is concerned. Kesler on the other hand, is the exact opposite. If Hordichuk-Kesler-Rypien played together, I think there's a good chance that we would see far more aggressive (and effective) forechecking from both Hordichuk and Rypien.

CONCLUSION:

The Canucks have a very small chance of having THREE strong lines. However - if they are interested in pursuing this, then perhaps putting Kesler on that 3rd line (and making it into a pure 'checking/energy' line) would be best way to go. Putting Demitra, Raymond, or Samuelson on the 3rd line only makes that line a "watered down" scoring line (that in the end, probably won't score a lot anyways).
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Mozy »

I don't buy that Kesler and Burrows will lead this team. This whole year has been about players stepping up and leading the Canucks when they need someone. Be that Burrows during his streak, Samuelsson since being snubbed, Kesler post Olympics, or Luongo when he's on his game.

The signature of this year's Canucks is not that of one leader a-la Ovechkin. We haven't had an offensive leader on this team like that since Naslund in 03-04 and I think you're going to find that once the playoffs come we're going to go deep as a product of different players stepping up when the calls is out.

Just look at Hansen's play as of late. While the Sedins are slowly finding their game again, other players have carried the load. Once this blue line goes back to having Bieksa I'm sure he's going to start contributing offensively as well and when Burrows and Kesler have their off days there's going to be someone else stepping in to fill the void.
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Jelly »

If Hordichuk gets 3rd line minutes, then Farhan should be god.

Then I will suicide.

Sedin Sedin Samuelsson
Raymond Kesler Demitra
Hansen Wellwood Burrows - Defensively responsible surprise attack line!
Glass - Johnson - Rypien.

Maybe flop Demitra and Samuelsson, cause Raymond Kesler Samuelsson was on fire before.
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the toucan kid
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by the toucan kid »

Alright Farhan, time to call this thread. Can't possibly put forth a more ridiculous combo than slagging Kesler with a stiff like Hordichuk. When you have a new theory that isn't just another line mash up please let us know.
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Farhan Lalji »

the toucan kid wrote:Alright Farhan, time to call this thread. Can't possibly put forth a more ridiculous combo than slagging Kesler with a stiff like Hordichuk. When you have a new theory that isn't just another line mash up please let us know.
Instead of Hordi, put Bernier or Glass. If it's Bernier, move Rypien to LW.

The idea of having any combination of that line would be to create energy and knock opponents the f'ck out on the forecheck.
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by nucklehead_88 »

Farhan is apparently a genius, and i look like a dummy with his foot in his mouth who owes him an apology. The lines right now actually work quite well. Burrows seems to be producing with Kes and Demitra, and the Sedins have found their stride with Sammy....that being said Raymond hasnt done much as of late and actually got demoted to the 4th for a period against Colorado (i think) with Rypper moving up. The 4th, to me, has looked as solid as they have all season as of late and Wellwood and Hansen are both playing the best they have all season. My only concern is MayRay's slumping.
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Island Nucklehead »

nucklehead_88 wrote:Farhan is apparently a genius, and i look like a dummy with his foot in his mouth who owes him an apology. The lines right now actually work quite well. Burrows seems to be producing with Kes and Demitra, and the Sedins have found their stride with Sammy....that being said Raymond hasnt done much as of late and actually got demoted to the 4th for a period against Colorado (i think) with Rypper moving up. The 4th, to me, has looked as solid as they have all season as of late and Wellwood and Hansen are both playing the best they have all season. My only concern is MayRay's slumping.
I think the shakeup was needed. Some of the lines were getting stagnant, and for a while there it seemed like we could only be a one-line team. Kesler or Sedin. That was it. We're getting more varied scoring these days, and I think that gives us an added boost heading down the stretch. AV knows he can throw out almost a dozen different combos at any given time to shake things up. Never a bad thing.

Raymond's slumping isn't so worrisome to me. He's had a great year, and it's not shocking that he's going to have some down-time. He's young, and he's not a first-line player... so you have to think slumps will happen. Hopefully he gets it back in time for the playoffs.
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Farhan Lalji »

nucklehead_88 wrote:Farhan is apparently a genius, and i look like a dummy with his foot in his mouth who owes him an apology.
LOL - well given how much shit I often take on here, I supposed I should milk this comment for all its worth. :P

In all seriousness though, it wasn't really a deep thought. The truth of the matter is that the way things are, one of Samuelson, Demitra, or Raymond will get PISSED AWAY on a 3rd line. All 3 men are good enough, and deserving enough, to be on the top 6 but unfortunately, one of them will be the odd man out......unless there's an injury (KNOCK ON WOOD). Unfortunately, as good as Sammy, Demitra, and Raymond are, NONE of those men are good enough to 'elevate' the likes of Bernier, Wellwood, and Glass. As a result, what you will get from that '3rd line' is basically an inconsistent watered down scoring line (that would still be fairly soft and still wouldn't be able to score goals on a consistent basis).

Perhaps a part of Raymond's struggle is stemming from the fact that he feels the pressure of being "odd man out?" Who knows. I don't think its too much of a concern however. All players go through short term slumps at one time or another.

My other thought, as stated, was this: Samuelson can score on any top 6 calibre line, and can potentially play just as well with the twins as Burrows can. Burrows on the other hand, can display tremendous offensive skill playing alongside the twins, but has the POTENTIAL to be a stud in OTHER aspects of the game (i.e. checking, defensive play, being a best, etc.) on ANY line.

So, in summation:

Sammy (can score consistently on any top 6 line)
Burrows (can score consistently with the twins, MIGHT be able to be a tremendous utility players on other lines....especially when playing with Kesler).

The key word there is 'MIGHT'.....which is why I was interested to see how Burrows would play with Kesler when I created this thread. If Burrows and Kesler would play at the defensive/shut down level that they played at during the start of the 08/09 season, then this team could have a tremendous shut down line come playoff time (but as Toucan Kid mentioned, it could be counter-productive to create a 'shut down' line at the expense of secondary scoring). The other thing to factor, is that both Burrows and Kesler may have EVOLVED.....to the point where they would no longer be willing to play that ultra defensive shut down hockey (due to the fact that both men's offensive abilities have greatly increased over the past year and a half).

As far as the twins go, I would be interested in seeing one more thing:

-We have seen how well Burrows has played with the twins
-We have seen how well Samuelson has played with the twins

Let us see how any of the following play with the twins: Hansen, Rypien, Bernier.

IF (and that's a big IF) the twins can turn THOSE GUYS into consistent goal scorers (and keep in mind, that the twins are better this year then they were in year's past and so the whole, "the twins couldn't do shit with Pyatt and Bulis, so why would this be any different?" argument may not be valid), then....

1) It allows us to put Raymond-Demitra-Samuelson on one line (which should be an excellent scoring line)
2) It allows us to put Burrows and Kesler back together.....and hopefully, they can go back to being the shut down forwards that we saw at the 08/09 season....and keep in mind, that even in that role, both Burrows and Kesler were scoring goals on turnovers.

That was my entire thought process behind the lines.

Burrows-Kesler-(???) [Can Burrows and Kesler go back to being the effective shut down unit that we saw at the start of 08/09?...and still score goals on turnovers?)

Sedin-Sedin-(???) [Can the twins turn anyone outside of Burrows, Samuelson, Demitra, and Kesler into a consistent goal scorer? Have the twins come THAT far since last year?)]

Raymond-Demitra-Samuelson [Can this line produce consistent secondary scoring?]

???-???-???

However - as another poster mentioned, this isn't EA NHL 10' where a coach can automatically throw lines out there and expect things to work. It would take atleast a few games of watching these lines to get a true assessment.....and it could be somewhat costly I guess. And as Toucan Kid mentioned, this whole thing could be a fruitless experiment of "trying to create something that simply isn't there."

p.s._______Another solution would have been to bring up Grabner but unfortunately, he would be susceptible to waivers (I think?).
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Sid Dithers »

Farhan, I've got to admit that if I gave the Canucks line combos even 1% as much thought as you do, I'd feel I'd be in serious need of primal therapy. :mex:
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Arachnid »

Sid Dithers wrote:Farhan, I've got to admit that if I gave the Canucks line combos even 1% as much thought as you do, I'd feel I'd be in serious need of primal therapy. :mex:
Exactly! How does such a consistently brilliant and busy guy have the time to come up with this stuff?

I'm in awe :drink:

Unless he really is AV!
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by nucklehead_88 »

Arachnid wrote:
Sid Dithers wrote:Farhan, I've got to admit that if I gave the Canucks line combos even 1% as much thought as you do, I'd feel I'd be in serious need of primal therapy. :mex:
Exactly! How does such a consistently brilliant and busy guy have the time to come up with this stuff?

I'm in awe :drink:

Unless he really is AV!

if he is, we should ask him how ryan walter manages to part his hair with lasor precicion
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by Farhan Lalji »

Sid Dithers wrote:Farhan, I've got to admit that if I gave the Canucks line combos even 1% as much thought as you do, I'd feel I'd be in serious need of primal therapy. :mex:
:lol:

What can I say - I'm a die hard Nucks' fan (probably a little obsessed, but oh well).

As far as my free time goes, I think it would be more of an issue if I was doing this *every day* (if you notice, I usually spend huge amounts of time on here when I do post, but then I'll often completely disappear for 3-4 weeks). I'm actually a pretty busy guy, trust me!
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by LotusBlossom »

Farhan Lalji wrote:LOL @ some of these responses. :lol:

Few things: ...



CONCLUSION:

The Canucks have a very small chance of having THREE strong lines. However - if they are interested in pursuing this, then perhaps putting Kesler on that 3rd line (and making it into a pure 'checking/energy' line) would be best way to go. Putting Demitra, Raymond, or Samuelson on the 3rd line only makes that line a "watered down" scoring line (that in the end, probably won't score a lot anyways).
So LOL at some of the responses.

First off and off-topic...some people are far more paranoid about the activities of Farhan Lalji's personal life than they should beeeeeeeeeee...paranoid to the point that conspiracy theories of FL's existence and his purpose in life are 'cavernous'. :roll: :roll: :roll:

The Canucks definitely have 2 strong lines.. and anything above and beyond that is bonus. Sometimes I feel we are so hard on our guys (myself included) that we expect to have nothing but the best, and for us die-hards, rightfully so, but as I look at other teams, we're not doing too freaking badly.

1) Just got off a long-ass road trip 8-5-1 and still leading the division.
2) Considering the team is missing two of their top 4 d-men for an extended amount of time, I'd say the team looks freaking good. Could be better...absolutely...BUT considering the circumstances, the Canucks aren't too freaking bad.
3) 2nd in team scoring this season so far behind only the Washington Capitals. Not bad
4) 2nd in 'man-games' lost this season (with all the freaking injuries) in the league

I am sure the team pumped being home FINALLY.

I'm excited, I get to see my Canucks at GM Place, once again!


PS Farhan IS AV ;)
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Re: I'm calling it - Burrows and Kesler will lead this team

Post by the toucan kid »

FL's existence and his purpose in life are 'cavernous'.
Hey, just because Farhan "hasn't had a woman in quite some time"... I kid... :lol:
PS Farhan IS AV ;)
Pfff... never mind all the worry then, Stanley Cup here we come.
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