Vancouver is No Good 2

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Alright. By how much? Do you rate Girodano as the best d-man in the division? Who is better than him if not?

I don't know how I would rank them, actually, but I probably have Weber, Giordano and Hughes slotted as the top three. Weber has a big advantage in his physical tools; Hughes is easily the most gifted skater, and I think Giordano probably has the best positioning.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

How much of Schmidt's game was a product of an air-tight team-system in VGK? I think he is a good defenseman; I'm just not convinced that he is as good playing behind those Vancouver forwards as he was playing behind the Vegas forecheck.

Completely agree. He was a good defenseman on a great team. In Vancouver, he is going to be leaned on much more heavily.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I don't know how I would rank them, actually, but I probably have Weber, Giordano and Hughes slotted as the top three. Weber has a big advantage in his physical tools; Hughes is easily the most gifted skater, and I think Giordano probably has the best positioning.

Okay, so we agree that it's close.

In hindsight, I should have just asked you if you think it's close. That would have saved time.

[Reggie Dunlop]

They're Lizard People.

[djsFlames]

No Good.

[CalgaryFan1988]

How did 2021-22 Vezina winner Demko look last night?

Genuinely asking, as I know he had a few goals against, but so did Markstrom and I thought he looked decent.

[dino7c]

Lol Benning is good now because he drafted off TSNs list after bad seasons that were his fault in the first place? I guess Lowe is a great GM too.

Canucks D hasn't looked very good to me but I guess it's early

[djsFlames]

From what I saw, Demko made some big saves early, but as predicted the Canucks' team defence is innately weak and Markstrom is no longer there to play superman. Eventually Demko's resolve and confidence was beat down by the Canucks D allowing McDavid to fly into the middle of the ice and front of the net relatively unchallenged.

[Enoch Root]

Yup, that covers it.

Wasn't Demko's fault last night, the Nucks' D is pretty bad.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

From what I saw, Demko made some big saves early, but as predicted the Canucks' team defence is innately weak and Markstrom is no longer there to play superman. Eventually Demko's resolve and confidence was beat down by the Canucks D allowing McDavid to fly into the middle of the ice and front of the net relatively unchallenged.

I don't even think Demko's resolve got worn down. Some of those were nice goals. Guy still made 41 saves and some of them were amazing saves.

Team looked slow as fuuuuck and struggled on the second half of the back to back. Gonna have to figure that out as this season goes on.

Still, watching Markstrom not even move at all on Laine's first goal reminded me of how bad he usually was to start the season. Likely 0-2 right now without Holtby in game 1.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

I don't even think Demko's resolve got worn down. Some of those were nice goals. Guy still made 41 saves and some of them were amazing saves.

Team looked slow as fuuuuck and struggled on the second half of the back to back. Gonna have to figure that out as this season goes on.

Still, watching Markstrom not even move at all on Laine's first goal reminded me of how bad he usually was to start the season. Likely 0-2 right now without Holtby in game 1.

*gasp* Someone found a censor glitch. Filthy mouth!

Yeah Markstrom is certainly not in his groove yet, had a couple sketchy moments moving the puck last night. And tbf that was a 100mph howitzer. It might be wiser for us to start Rittich for the first bit to give Markstrom time to adjust as Ritter looks very comfortable already, starts strong out of the gate typically and is familiar with the team.

Canucks are fortunate to have decent finishing skill up front cause they look like they're going to have a rough go defensively. It's a good thing the North Division is not the strongest overall. They should be able to win their share of 5-3/5-4 type games, but the pro-canuck tire pumpers on the radio definitely oversold how good their defense actually is (not very).

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

*gasp* Someone found a censor glitch. Filthy mouth!

Yeah Markstrom is certainly not in his groove yet, had a couple sketchy moments moving the puck last night. And tbf that was a 100mph howitzer. It might be wiser for us to start Rittich for the first bit to give Markstrom time to adjust as Ritter looks very comfortable already, starts strong out of the gate typically and is familiar with the team.

Take solace in that is how Markstrom starts every season. I would caution putting Rittich in though. Markstrom is the kid of guy who works into his groove by playing a lot.

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Canucks are fortunate to have decent finishing skill up front cause they look like they're going to have a rough go defensively. It's a good thing the North Division is not the strongest overall. They should be able to win their share of 5-3/5-4 type games, but the pro-canuck tire pumpers on the radio definitely oversold how good their defense actually is (not very).

They were actually good in the first game with only Hamonic (who had 0 prep) and the rookie having major issues. Second game they all looked like a tire fire though.

It's really going to depend on how they round out as games get played. Offense is going to be on fire as defense finds its groove across the league. Same as with how the NFL started. There's going to be a lot of blown leads and high scoring affairs. The D-Core is better than last season for the Canucks, it's not even a question.

[dino7c]

Lol nobody stops that Laine shot don't be ridiculous. Best shot in the game on a clear break

[djsFlames]

Where's Barca and that fat mouth of his?

Markstrom just made your guys his b####.

[Reggie Dunlop]

[dino7c]

Markstrom sure took a while to "get into his groove"

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Where's Barca and that fat mouth of his?

Markstrom just made your guys his b####.

I dunno. I think the Canucks didn't really challenge him.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

I dunno. I think the Canucks didn't really challenge him.

Which is even worse, wouldn't you say?

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

I dunno. I think the Canucks didn't really challenge him.

Didn’t challenge him? Maybe they didn’t have any 10 beller scoring chances, but that’s because the Flames played solid defence and kept most of the Canucks shots to low danger spots. Something I’m sure he isn’t used to through out a full game

[---Hatrick---]

Thanks for Tanev too! He looked prettayyyy pretttaaayyy pretty good