Canucks News N Notes 26-27

[Cousin Strawberry]

You could see his game had taken a nosedive early on. I even posted that we likely have lost the ability to receive max return in trading that asset.

[donlever]

Should have moved him last year (like "maybe" to the Sharks for one of their draft assets).

Now...who might have brought that up?

And what was the consensus of the site at the time?

I'll wait....

[Ronning's Ghost]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/777427 ... s-canucks/

Hronek is only 29. Seems odd to me for his puck recovery rate to drop so precipitously, but it would be adequately explained by an injury that he could play through without exacerbating, but that still impaired his play. I'm thinking maybe something like shoulder tendonitis, where the unimpeded motions still let him pass and make some kinds of shots, but there would be some some directions in which he could exert little force on his stick.

Have we got any sources on the Canucks' training staff?

I guess my alternative hypothesis would be that there was always some tactical weakness in his approach to puck battles, and now the rest of the League has the book on how to beat him. But I would have expected something like that to have come out much earlier.

[Tciso]

Hronek needs less ice time. 26 or 29 minutes a night is too much for him. I would say that is his #1 problem. Buium needs to step it up too. He isn't helping Hronek out much at all.

But, EP25 and Willander are both looking good.

[Picker of Cherries]

He has never been a great PK defensemen.
If he wasn’t first over the boards to kill penalties, he’d be playing better.
They just don’t have anyone else.
It’s a rebuild -

[Megaterio Llamas]

Fil has a full anchor this year and next. https://puckpedia.com/team/vancouver-canucks

In case anyone is getting any funny ideas about trading him.

[donlever]

If I am Fil and Pinky and the Brain with RJ come to me pre draft and ask me to waive for San Jose I'd call Brian Burke for a ride to the airport.

[Megaterio Llamas]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/777427 ... s-canucks/

Hronek is only 29. Seems odd to me for his puck recovery rate to drop so precipitously, but it would be adequately explained by an injury that he could play through without exacerbating, but that still impaired his play. I'm thinking maybe something like shoulder tendonitis, where the unimpeded motions still let him pass and make some kinds of shots, but there would be some some directions in which he could exert little force on his stick.

Have we got any sources on the Canucks' training staff?

I guess my alternative hypothesis would be that there was always some tactical weakness in his approach to puck battles, and now the rest of the League has the book on how to beat him. But I would have expected something like that to have come out much earlier.

I don't really know Cliff, other than agreeing with Cisco that they're overplaying him. I don't know what his previous standard was.

Regarding the training syaff, the drop down menu for Canucks personnel on their website has been blank all season. Maybe they don't have trainers anymore.

[Cornuck]

Hronek needs less ice time. 26 or 29 minutes a night is too much for him. I would say that is his #1 problem. Buium needs to step it up too. He isn't helping Hronek out much at all.

But, EP25 and Willander are both looking good.

Has anyone seen Hronek's numbers when D-Petey was playing with him vs Buium?

I agree - cut his minutes (the pump and dump ain't working) - there's no reason to have him out there for 1/2 the game.

[rikster]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/777427 ... s-canucks/

Hronek is only 29. Seems odd to me for his puck recovery rate to drop so precipitously, but it would be adequately explained by an injury that he could play through without exacerbating, but that still impaired his play. I'm thinking maybe something like shoulder tendonitis, where the unimpeded motions still let him pass and make some kinds of shots, but there would be some some directions in which he could exert little force on his stick.

Have we got any sources on the Canucks' training staff?

I guess my alternative hypothesis would be that there was always some tactical weakness in his approach to puck battles, and now the rest of the League has the book on how to beat him. But I would have expected something like that to have come out much earlier.

I don't really know Cliff, other than agreeing with Cisco that they're overplaying him. I don't know what his previous standard was.

Regarding the training syaff, the drop down menu for Canucks personnel on their website has been blank all season. Maybe they don't have trainers anymore.

https://www.nhl.com/canucks/team/training-staff

Just click on Human Performance drop down...

[Ronning's Ghost]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/777427 ... s-canucks/

Hronek is only 29. Seems odd to me for his puck recovery rate to drop so precipitously, but it would be adequately explained by an injury that he could play through without exacerbating, but that still impaired his play. I'm thinking maybe something like shoulder tendonitis, where the unimpeded motions still let him pass and make some kinds of shots, but there would be some some directions in which he could exert little force on his stick.

I don't really know Cliff, other than agreeing with Cisco that they're overplaying him. I don't know what his previous standard was.

Hronek needs less ice time. 26 or 29 minutes a night is too much for him. I would say that is his #1 problem.

He has never been a great PK defensemen.
If he wasn’t first over the boards to kill penalties, he’d be playing better.
They just don’t have anyone else.

None of our theories are mutually contradictory; it could be any combination of those factors.

Buium needs to step it up too. He isn't helping Hronek out much at all.
But, EP25 and Willander are both looking good.

I would be worried about Buium, but I will take comfort in the fact that he is one and two seasons behind Willander and EP25, respectively, and defence takes longer to learn. That, and that knowledgeable posters here seem confident that Buium remains on his expected development curve.

(the pump and dump ain't working) - there's no reason to have him out there for 1/2 the game.

I don't think the 'pump' phase has begun. I think they want to hang on to him in a mentorship/leadership role for at least this season.

[Megaterio Llamas]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/777427 ... s-canucks/

Hronek is only 29. Seems odd to me for his puck recovery rate to drop so precipitously, but it would be adequately explained by an injury that he could play through without exacerbating, but that still impaired his play. I'm thinking maybe something like shoulder tendonitis, where the unimpeded motions still let him pass and make some kinds of shots, but there would be some some directions in which he could exert little force on his stick.

Have we got any sources on the Canucks' training staff?

I guess my alternative hypothesis would be that there was always some tactical weakness in his approach to puck battles, and now the rest of the League has the book on how to beat him. But I would have expected something like that to have come out much earlier.

I don't really know Cliff, other than agreeing with Cisco that they're overplaying him. I don't know what his previous standard was.

Regarding the training syaff, the drop down menu for Canucks personnel on their website has been blank all season. Maybe they don't have trainers anymore.

https://www.nhl.com/canucks/team/training-staff

Just click on Human Performance drop down...

It's my Brave browser being blocked then I guess. It has an built in ad blocker.

I'll try it with a different browser.

Thanks Rik, I tried it with Chrome and the information was all there.

[Picker of Cherries]

This is a rebuild, and the personnel left behind by Rutherford guarantees the team is going to slog it out at the bottom of the standings. I don’t put any blame on current management or coaching. Until the Canucks address their roster deficiencies to kill penalties and hold onto leads to close out games they will be near the bottom of the league. I expect this to last multiple seasons.

They completely lack the smart, battle-tested defensive centermen—like Teddy Blueger and Pius Suter—who had quickness and defensive-zone faceoff ability. They disrupted passing lanes, and had good judgement when to apply pressure. Besides Pettersson, their current centres in Vancouver are not effective on the penalty kill. I’m not too concerned long term because Cootes and Caleb Malhotra have long term promise at being effective penalty killers, and perhaps Mueller out of Abbotsford can help as a Blueger style centre.

However, their defence has less hope. There are no elite penalty killing defensemen on the Canucks roster like Chris Tanev or Ian Cole. These were positionally sound fearless battlers that consistently cleared the crease and blocked shots. They don’t even have mediocre penalty killers that used to be first over the boards ahead of Hronek like Tyler Myers, Derek Forbort and Marcus Pettersson. Now they have a couple big bodies like the positionally weak Jamie Oleksiak and the aged and slowed Luke Schenn.

The best of the rest are offensively oriented prospects that have shown little capacity in the defensive zone so far. Buium (183 lbs) and Willander (180 lbs) have offensive upside, but putting them into heavy penalty-killing minutes against NHL power plays results in getting boxed out and overpowered in board battles. D-Petey (185 lbs) has potential but is still positionally weak. Beyond that there is very little in the prospect pool for penalty killing defensemen. Even if they win the lottery and get Landon DuPont, they are getting a sub-200 pound offensively inclined star defensemen who might struggle killing penalties. Until they have effective penalty killing defensemen they will be in a rebuild, and there are no clear candidates in the Canucks prospect depth chart who look to be great penalty killing defensemen at the moment. Addressing this hole is a huge part of the rebuild.

[donlever]

They chose, with a half assed team yet icing some key developmental pieces at NHL level (Buium Willander Ohgren Lekkerimaki), to put a group behind the bench with no NHL experience.

Management (and coaches) have shit to answer for.

[Cousin Strawberry]

They chose, with a half assed team yet icing some key developmental pieces at NHL level (Buium Willander Ohgren Lekkerimaki), to put a group behind the bench with no NHL experience.

Management (and coaches) have shit to answer for.

The Aqualini's clearly love to shop in value village any time except for Halloween