Strangelove wrote:HAHAHA Leaves blow a 4-goal lead tonight, lose 5-4 in OT.
Laine with the hattie, Andersen's sv% .876 on the year right now.
Jets were horrible defensively, Leaves horribler...
Seeing Laine get that hattie just reminded me how fucking bad our luck is. We finish 3rd worse overall and fall to 5th. Winnipeg jumps up and takes Laine. Come on hockey gods...can't we catch a break?
Except on the Canucks he would probably still be in junior or on the 4th line learning a 200 foot game.
Strangelove wrote:HAHAHA Leaves blow a 4-goal lead tonight, lose 5-4 in OT.
Laine with the hattie, Andersen's sv% .876 on the year right now.
Jets were horrible defensively, Leaves horribler...
Seeing Laine get that hattie just reminded me how fucking bad our luck is. We finish 3rd worse overall and fall to 5th. Winnipeg jumps up and takes Laine. Come on hockey gods...can't we catch a break?
Except on the Canucks he would probably still be in junior or on the 4th line learning a 200 foot game.
We do have a history of bringin them on a little slooooooowly, don't we..
Topper wrote:
Bure would be the only comparable in Canuck history.
Yeah, Reef made me laugh too. The same way Bob makes me laugh.
Exactly.
The reason we want to teach our prospects the 200' game is because that's the type of players they need to be to get the best out of them in the NHL. We haven't had the chance to draft a pure offensive talent since Bure, and at that we were lucky because no one else did the research on him. And if we could've had Bure here for the 89/90 season we would have, and he wouldn't have played on the 4th line!
If we suck the rest of the year and somehow manage to draft Nolan Patrick I'll eat my words if he sees Brandon another year.
Do you guys get the impression that the number of exceptional first round picks seems to be on the rise?
McDavid
Eichel
Matthews
Laine
Patrick
It's quite a run. Has minor coaching and development improved? Or is this just random statistical variation? (Admittedly, I'm jumping the gun with Patrick...)
Puck wrote:Do you guys get the impression that the number of exceptional first round picks seems to be on the rise?
McDavid
Eichel
Matthews
Laine
Patrick
It's quite a run. Has minor coaching and development improved? Or is this just random statistical variation? (Admittedly, I'm jumping the gun with Patrick...)
That's a royaldude question - I think it's just generational, what is it every 10-15 years a new superstar generation talent pool comes into the league, like in every pro sports league.
Can the Canucks just win a Cup within the next 5 years.
Puck wrote:Do you guys get the impression that the number of exceptional first round picks seems to be on the rise?
McDavid
Eichel
Matthews
Laine
Patrick
It's quite a run. Has minor coaching and development improved? Or is this just random statistical variation? (Admittedly, I'm jumping the gun with Patrick...)
Mathews & Laine played men's hockey last year but, yeah, I'd say it's improved.
What is rare is when a D-man jumps right in. Not un heard of, just rare.
Puck wrote:
It's quite a run. Has minor coaching and development improved? Or is this just random statistical variation? (Admittedly, I'm jumping the gun with Patrick...)
One of the things we are seeing now is the result of young players playing hockey full time.
The kids you listed, and Bo Horvat for that matter, by the age of 12/13 are playing or training for hockey year round. It used to be one sport in the spring and hockey in the winter. IIRC, Bo had moved away from home, billeted and playing hockey in a bigger town when he was 13.
Coaching and specialization is getting much more improved as well as skill development at an early age. Hell people were talking about McDavid when he was 13.
Vaswani: You could make a "Groundhog Day"-style movie about the Toronto Maple leaves' goaltending troubles. The latest to star in the leading role:Frederik Andersen.
It's early, yeah, but an .876 save percentage through three games is not what Lou Lamoriello and Co. had in mind when they traded for the Dane and signed him to a long-term, big-money extension. Among active Maple leaves, Andersen is tied with Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, and Morgan Rielly as the club's highest-paid player at $5 million annually.
While Toronto is the furthest thing from a defensive juggernaut and still rebuilding, what's most troublesome about Andersen's play is the fact he hasn't come up with a save - any save - when his team needs it most. Toronto blew 1-0, 3-2, and 4-3 leads against Ottawa on opening night, wasting Auston Matthews' superhuman maiden effort. On Wednesday, Toronto was up 4-0 on Winnipeg with half the game over. The leaves outshot the Jets 13-12 in the third period and 4-1 in overtime, but were outscored 4-0. Not good enough. (There's your title, by the way, for that movie about Toronto's woes in the crease.)
The easiest way for Andersen to un-endear himself to Maple leaves fans was by blowing a 4-1 lead in the third period. It's too soon, Freddie. It will always be too bloody soon.
Over the Internet, you can pretend to be anyone or anything.
I'm amazed that so many people choose to be complete twats.
