Topper wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 10:56 pm
Ronning's Ghost wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 9:24 pm.
Vet gets, yes, a less demanding regular season,
WTF
Bring in character vet but tell him he doesn't have to work hard.
The bullshit in reading today is laughable
That lack of imagination may be worse.
To clarify:
- more O-zone face-offs and more power play time (for the pump part)
- proportionately reduced D-zone face-offs and PK time
- overall, managed ice-time
- no reason at all to rush to come back from an injury
- in fact, more maintenance days, generally
- and he doesn't have any fan or media pressure to win. Hustle (skating all the way back to the bench), yes, demonstrate a commitment to sound defence and good positional play, yes, score, probably (depending on position and role), but win, no. He can just put some version of A.V.'s classics "show the younger players how to play the right way, commit to the process, etc." on loop for every press availability.
Yes, the "character" guy could also be the "stick up for his teammates" guy, and that is very physically taxing, but I favoured bringing in a specialist (or two) for that role (or, more precisely, to make the occasion for "stick up for your teammate" events very rare, because other teams would rather win and go to the next game than start shit and go to the hospital). For purposes of this strategy, I was talking about the kind of player who might materially contribute to another team "loading up" for a Cup run. Probably someone from UWSaint's category (a): the complementary player with enough talent to foster the development of whoever the Canucks' best prospects were.
Like I said with the tanking, the
player is still expected to model maximum effort and and good, team-first habits on every shift.
(easier when you're fresher, anyway)
And dedication to fitness on dry-land training -- after all, he wants to be in good shape for his playoff run.
But management and the coaching staff can still offer a season with reduced physical and psychological* wear and tear.
*except for all the losing. But I'd expect that the combination of the puppy-dog enthusiasm of the young kids trying to make it, combined with the knowledge that he was finishing his season on a playoff team, would do a lot to take the edge off of that.