[Signing] Canucks sign Baertschi to 2 yr deal ($1.85 mil AAV)

[dino7c]

top six player....

on the worst team in the NHL, good for him but not what Calgary needs

[Locke]

Originally Posted by dino7c

top six player....

on the worst team in the NHL, good for him but not what Calgary needs

Whoa man! Lets not say things that we not only cant take back but are objectively untrue.

The worst team in the league, by a long ways, is the Edmonton Oilers.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Locke

Whoa man! Lets not say things that we not only cant take back but are objectively untrue.

The worst team in the league, by a long ways, is the Edmonton Oilers.

wanna bet? I am no Oiler fan but they are certainly better than the Canucks this season

[Locke]

Originally Posted by dino7c

wanna bet? I am no Oiler fan but they are certainly better than the Canucks this season

You think the Oilers are going to be better than the Canucks this season?

Thats a strong opinion, I mean, they're both going to be terrible, no question about that, but while the Canucks have experience at being terrible the Oilers have experience at being the worst.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Locke

You think the Oilers are going to be better than the Canucks this season?

Thats a strong opinion, I mean, they're both going to be terrible, no question about that, but while the Canucks have experience at being terrible the Oilers have experience at being the worst.

I think both Edmonton and Vancouver could flirt with the 80-point mark, but your point stands: the Oilers and Canucks are both bad teams who will have a lousy season.

[greentree]

Sven had a dismal first few months last season with the knuckleheads, then got his act together and was good the rest of the way. Which is to say, he put in the effort, improved his defensive game a lot, and chipped in a bit offensively.
Bottom line, if he continues on that trajectory, he's a solid bargain for the price.
I don't much care for Sven b/c of that woe-is-me schtick he used when he didn't get what he felt he deserved from the Flames, but he was a serviceable NHL'er last year (second half) and I expect he'll be much the same this year. 40 points not at all out of the question.

[Erick Estrada]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Canucks get off to a quick start like last season. The Sedins could click with Eriksson and they win some games over teams that come out of the gates slow. Their defense isn't very good at all so the goaltending will have to be very good as will their powerplay just to stay mediocre. Worst case is that the goaltending isn't good enough, the Sedins regress more and the team finishes 30th overall.

[Calgary4LIfe]

For a player putting up around 40 points, I expect that player be contributing in more ways than the score sheet. Sven hasn't been able to score at a high enough level to make up for his warts. Maybe in the future he will be (heck, maybe even this season), but I see him as a player with a lot of flaws that just isn't offensive enough to overlook them.

Even Gaudreau putting up pretty nice numbers does a better job on the defensive side of the puck, and competes pretty hard. If he doesn't develop, he will not have a place in the NHL, as I expect the Canucks to start accumulating more talent that will eventually squeeze him out. Many players of his ilk end up in the KHL eventually, and I really do think that is where he will end up. Will be curious to see how he develops though - I wouldn't shoehorn him into particular floor or ceiling, but I am glad the Flames don't have him as a headache any longer, and particularly enjoy not seeing endless pages of arguments back and forth regarding him on these forums

[FBI]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

For a player putting up around 40 points, I expect that player be contributing in more ways than the score sheet. Sven hasn't been able to score at a high enough level to make up for his warts. Maybe in the future he will be (heck, maybe even this season), but I see him as a player with a lot of flaws that just isn't offensive enough to overlook them.

Even Gaudreau putting up pretty nice numbers does a better job on the defensive side of the puck, and competes pretty hard. If he doesn't develop, he will not have a place in the NHL, as I expect the Canucks to start accumulating more talent that will eventually squeeze him out. Many players of his ilk end up in the KHL eventually, and I really do think that is where he will end up. Will be curious to see how he develops though - I wouldn't shoehorn him into particular floor or ceiling, but I am glad the Flames don't have him as a headache any longer, and particularly enjoy not seeing endless pages of arguments back and forth regarding him on these forums

Hmm, which is more fun: Endless pages of arguments about Johnny's holdout, or endless pages of arguments about Baertschi's mistreatment.

[GioforPM]

There's very few offensive players that can be successfully sheltered and still get the minutes to produce, if they can't play defence well. Kane maybe. Gaudreau, but look at what happened when the matchups failed (on the road) and he at least plays pretty tough in offensive corners and backchecks hard with stickwork.

Kessell managed to do it but only on a team where he could be stashed on a third line and opponents had to match Crosby and Malkin.

To produce 40 points Sven will have to be on the second line at least. I don't see that happening.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

There's very few offensive players that can be successfully sheltered and still get the minutes to produce, if they can't play defence well. Kane maybe. Gaudreau, but look at what happened when the matchups failed (on the road) and he at least plays pretty tough in offensive corners and backchecks hard with stickwork...

This is OT, but I'm undecided about where else to put this:

Gaudreau's struggles on the road last season are well documented, and most seem to be of the opinion that he was physically overmatched by the home team's effective usage of last change. In the Gaudreau thread Gaudreauvertime argued the other side: that his very low shooting percentage shows he was simply unlucky away from the Saddledome. I am of the opinion that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and draw some encouragement from Gaudreau's much more balanced home/road splits from the 2014-15 season.

All of that to point out that there is now a small bit of new data from which to draw in this discussion: while all WCH games were played in Toronto, there was always an assigned home team. I am curious to know if anyone has gone though Gaudreau's "road production" in this tournament as a means to provide a wider context to the debate?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by dino7c

wanna bet? I am no Oiler fan but they are certainly better than the Canucks this season

On paper, the Oilers should be better than the Canucks. But Edmonton does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. They are the worst until such time as they demonstrate a trend of actual improvement.

[JerryUnderscore]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

All of that to point out that there is now a small bit of new data from which to draw in this discussion: while all WCH games were played in Toronto, there was always an assigned home team. I am curious to know if anyone has gone though Gaudreau's "road production" in this tournament as a means to provide a wider context to the debate?

I just looked it up. It's absurdly small sample size, but here's what we have:

In the pre-tournament games, Team NA was the home team. Johnny had 3 goals, 1 primary assist and 1 secondary assist for a total of 5 points (3-1-1-5).

In the actual tournament, they played two "road" games, one against each of Sweden and Finland, and one "home" game against Russia.

In the two road games, he had: 2G-2A1-0A2-4P.

In the one home game, he had 0G-0A1-1A2-1P.

So in the actual tournament he did much better on the road compared to home. If we bring the other games in it was a little closer. In total, 40% of his total points came during the 33% of games in which he was the road team.

However, like I said, this is about the smallest sample size we could ever ask for.

[GioforPM]

I said this in the other thread but in the WC Gaudreau wasn't necessarily being line-matched, since there was the McDavid line ostensibly ahead of him.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Hahaha did this just turn into an "oilers are terrible" combined with a "Gaudreau is good" thread? This is the most Calgarypuck thing ever.

[FBI]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Hahaha did this just turn into an "oilers are terrible" combined with a "Gaudreau is good" thread? This is the most Calgarypuck thing ever.

Both of those things are facts.