offensively the team looks like crap compared to what we are used to. i'm not questioning their effort or desire to win but holy ****ing hell they don't know how to play the game anymore. no one can figure out how to support the puck in the offensive zone, they're not getting open for passes and their cycle game has disintegrated. and the power play is the worst by far.
remember what the team looked like back in december? tick tack toe passing, crisp breakouts, silky smooth zone entries. now guys are skating into each other or trying to make passes that have no hope of getting through and i don't understand what is so different. the kings are so aggressive to the puck on the penalty kill, the canucks should be able to find an open man and make them chase all over the zone but they get bottled up or outmanned and then try to chip the puck back to the point when it's covered like the puck is a grenade. and someone needs to slap edler for his stupid drop passes, or maybe newell brown for leaving that in the game after every team has figured it out.
i believe that it's not just missing daniel sedin or stuff that the kings are doing that blows up the power play, since that has sucked balls for months now but it boggles the mind that it can change so much for the worst over the course of a single season. so is there something structurally wrong with what they're doing or are the players just completely empty of confidence or what?
IMO, the problem on the PP has been the defensemen. Too slow moving the puck, slow passes when they do, too slow shooting the puck. The forwards are put under a lot of pressure due to bad decisions by the guys on the point. Edler and Salo have been terrible.
Henrik is supposed to be the QB, but he gets no time or space with the puck. There's no Daniel to pass to, so he can only dish it off to the defensemen, who have been too slow deciding what to do with it.
I would get Edler and Salo off the PP. Put Hamhuis and Kesler back there or something. I dunno.
Ehrhoff was a bigger part of this team's success than people are willing to admit.
Ballard was a powerplay contributor for Phoenix and Florida, and is the most talented player on the entire damn team at entering the zone, get him out there.
It is the defensemens at the blue line. They are ****ing scrubs. Can't do fast passes or one timers. Overrate themselves. Don't even show up for games in the regular season. What do you expect? Now they are exposed in the playoffs and it is too late to correct themselves.
Please play catch at the point. Please! I just want to see a few consecutive passes at the point between the defenseman. Nothing would make me feel happier. It is a no risk play and it can open things up, create lanes, and it can catch the penalty killers out of position.
It's as if the PP units have been instructed not to pass laterally at the point.
Agreed, not just on the powerplay either. He was very good at the breakout in even strength. Now, we see a stupid drop pass or a pass from our blue line to the center line for a chip in.
If he was in the lineup, we be scoring more goals, but we'd have more turnovers and guys walking around the D. We needed a D man who can defend and produce, but Gillis decided that was not needed...
If he was in the lineup, we be scoring more goals, but we'd have more turnovers and guys walking around the D. We needed a D man who can defend and produce, but Gillis decided that was not needed...
Or we can always put someone like Rome in. 0 impact on either end of the ice.
Or we can always put someone like Rome in. 0 impact on either end of the ice.
Can't do much now. It is clear those guys on the blue line all needs to step up. Whether we win or lose the series will be mainly based on that, and right now we are at a major disadvantage no room for mistakes next game.
Sadly I doubt they'll fix it. In the regular season, they decided it wasn't important to fix their play, especially ****s like Bieksa, Edler decided they were good enough to take 75% of the season off and not work on polishing their plays for the playoffs. What they think they can just go into the playoffs and play like a Norris Trophy winner. They play so ****ing arrogant.
all you guys saying ehrhoff is the difference explain the 25% pp in the first couple months of the season. canucks were scoring goals off the first faceoff back then, or the puck never left the zone for the whole 2 mins. edler and salo were on the points back then...
all you guys saying ehrhoff is the difference explain the 25% pp in the first couple months of the season. canucks were scoring goals off the first faceoff back then, or the puck never left the zone for the whole 2 mins. edler and salo were on the points back then...
The 25% was more the Canucks catching fire than anything. And yes, anyone who's paid careful attention to the 10-11 and 11-12 Canucks will know how important a puck mover like Ehrhoff is in a PP.
erhoff is clearly missed. the way he rushes up the ice to set up for plays. sure defensively he was bad. but offensively he was the glue and played with the twins. where the majority of his points were are.
get rid of the ****ing drop pass. teams can see it a mile away coming. change the personall on the pp units. get rid of raymond put kassian tell him to park his ass in front of the net. ebbett on the 2nd unit..??? makes me miss cody controlling the halfwall and acutally firing the puck on the net. the guys always pass pass. stop looking for the pretty plays. simpler is always better. take a shot. crash the net.
this is depressing...wtf...they have been playing like crap... I cant believe how bad they are. In the regular season they had some nights where some guys were discombobulated and played like **** but now its the whole team...I think when some key guys in the team start coughing up pucks and playing like **** it plants a seed of doubt in the other guys and it spreads like a disease...they are all playing with no confidence...there is no heart in their play...no creativity in their offence...no jump...terrible time of year to be slumping.
The PP hasn't been effective since last years playoffs.
Most teams in the league have realized the Canucks do a drop pass and because of that they have moved from doing it from center ice to in their own zone and teams have realized that too and thats made it even more dangerous for us
More often then not it lead to a shorthanded chance or goal. So why are the Canucks PP still doing it?
My only belief of why it worked last year is because teams weren't looking for it and once they were it became a lot less effective.
Another reason is no Ehrhoff. The Canucks current defense has only 2 guys who can carry the puck up the ice on their own. Ballard and Edler. Only Ballard has the speed to be able to make the drop pass work as the opposition team recognizes it coming and the defenseman thats supposed to pick up the drop pass isn't fast enough to get away from the forecheker or get to the drop pass first.
The players themselves kind of look confused as to when they should do the drop pass anyways which is why a forchecker on the other side of the zone gliding towards the puck carrier can start skating and reach the puck before the defenseman intended to receive the drop pass.
Newell Brown just doesn't have the creativity to run the offence or PP. He's a one trick pony.
Last year in before the SCF even started I was saying to my buddies that if the Canucks get a PP its almost a free goal, all they need to do is work it to a defenseman and set up players at both circles so the d-man could give them a slap pass or can quickly pass after faking a slap shot to get Thomas to come out and challenge it gives the player at the circle an opening or if he passes it accross it will give the other player an empty net. What do u know? Tanev tries it in game 6 or 7 and Glass had an empty net to shoot at but missed the net completely.
If I can recognize what will work against a goalie like Thomas and the Bruins, why couldn't Newell Brown?
If anyone in the world that watches the Canucks can realize the drop pass is has become worse than useless for the team, why can't Newell Brown?
The guy is a 1 trick pony. If the Canucks can't get an offensive d-man who has a good speed/agility/accelaration the PP is useless with Newell running it as it takes away from his one trick and his entire idea of how to get in the offensive zone. The drop pass and the defender leading the rush to create havoc for the other teams coverage (having to switch who covers who as the d-man moves back to d and the foward moves down) giving the Canucks time to set up.
If he was in the lineup, we be scoring more goals, but we'd have more turnovers and guys walking around the D. We needed a D man who can defend and produce, but Gillis decided that was not needed...
1. Obviously we want a dman that can produce and defend. You mean we should consider taking Bobby Orr on our team?
2. Fact is ehrhoff was our best dman in skating the puck up the ice. Thats a huge missing ingredient. His point shot and passing is pretty good as well.
And while ehrhoff is not the best defensive dman, the fact that he was a plus + 55 during his time in Vancouver, shows he wasn't that bad on defense?
