OffThePost.org

Shirokov down Lee Sweatt up.

http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id ... ews-sweatt

HODGSON RECALLED

An update from HF - Rodin seems to be impressing somebody over there... How do they have Connauton and McNally ahead of Tanev?

Why wouldn't they? This is about upside/potential, not how good they are right this moment. Tanev's a good story, but you're honestly going to tell me he is a more talented player than Kevin Connauton?

If HF ranked prospects by how fast they acclimated to the game, they'd have put Ryan O'Reilly way ahead of Matt Duchene last season.

Something just seems amiss here when they still project Hodgson at the top of the heap when, IMO, he hasn't been able to fulfil that promise at the AHL level. Likewise, Connauton over Tanev - upside/potential means nothing if it can't be translated to actual performance; in this case, Tanev was seen to be a better player than Connauton, especially for what the big team needs. The 'future' (upside/potential) means nothing if the player can't perform. Why even bother with updating this if it's about upside / potential? They can simply rank all the prospects according to where they were drafted. Hell, Patrick freaking White would still be near the top if he was still in the system if this was about upside.

No, I think current performance should reflect where these guys are; where they were drafted, etc. might be a good way to place them at the start, but their development should also be reflected. And while this will get me some heat with Cannots-nation, I think Hodgson's current performance warrants lowering his standing... It might also be unfair to lump them all in one list; centers should be compared to centers, goalies vs. goalies, etc...

I's say that at the moment Tanev is leaps and bounds ahead of Connauton. And is still no where near near his potential. A couple years more and 20 pounds of muscle he's a near certain top 4 defencemen with the potential to improve beyond that.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Looking at that list, and current performance... it's not like any of Vancouver's prospects has had stellar performance to date to warrant unseating Hodgson, who had an amazing performance before his injuries slowed him down. Rodin is doing decently in Sweden but isn't super impressive, Shirokov is getting old and still not dominating the A, Schroeder was behind Hodgson as an AHL rookie... if Schneider doesn't count anymore, which apparently he doesn't, then I find it tough to disagree with that assessment.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Heard on HF that the Cannots have signed 21-year-old Sebastian Erixon, a smallish offensive defenceman.

They are also pursuing 27-year-old SELer, Martin Thornberg, who sounds like a Swedish Jarkko Ruutu but with less size and slightly better hands.

They haven't been as active this season in signing college free agents; perhaps that market isn't as good as it was last year.

The thing with signing college free agents is that they generally like the opportunity to play fairly soon. Vancouver doesn't provide that. That's why Detroit doesn't sign too many.

Euros I think like to gravitate towards a comfortable situation, and for Swedes, Vancouver is really comfortable. They must dig Asian women.

Thornberg had quite the year, have to think he'll be given every opportunity to make the team out of camp next year. I signed Erixon back in NHL 09 or something like that. I don't think I played enough to see if he panned out, though.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.



- Ancient Chinese Proverb

Good insights, sask, that makes sense. I think the last college FA of note signed with Ottawa.

As for the Swedish connection and Vancouver, I believe Lars Lindgren and Thomas Gradin have been Vancouver's scouts over there. They have first-hand experience with Vancouver as a place to live, so I imagine that they have been able to effectively communicate the benefits of life on the wet coast, which includes a geography that resembles Sweden's coastlines, hot Asian women, a milder climate than the rest of Canada, hot Asian women, a socialized medical system that rivals their own, hot Asian women, a strong economy, a dynamic cosmopolitan nightlife (important for young men), hot Asian women, and of course, hot Asian women.

Rodin will move to North America in time for next season.

I'm paying too much time to Canucks or more likely waiting for something to happen pre-finals when I notice Junior hockey players being signed.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

The Chicago Wolves, who will play in the Allstate Arena, are the new AHL affiliate.

Interesting choice - as far as I can tell, Chicagoans pretty much uniformly abhor the Canucks and having its AHL-level prospects playing in their backyard should make for some interesting home games.

Kinda lends credence to the "Draft Schmaft" notion...

http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/teams/van ... story.html



Interesting pic of Chiarelli and Gillis in that article.

Well, the Cannots just make it a point to not play their draft picks... Just a reflection of their poor draft record of past years as the article mentions...

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/hocke ... story.html

Article on Canucks draft pick Jonathan Iilahti, a goaltender whose slated to play for the Giants next season...as soon as they figure out a way to get him out of his contract with the Espoo Blues first.

Who was the last prominent NHLer who played for both the Giants and Canucks?

Gallagher on the radio yesterday and had been speaking with Scotty Bowman. They were discussing Eddie Lack and Bowman's opinion was "that he would definitely be an NHL goaltender"


Had to look a long way back for this thread. Any chance of getting it pinned?

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Done.