OffThePost.org

Rubber match!

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Habs take five of six points in Vancouver.

Pettersson finally scored and the Nucks tied it up early in the third, but then the Habs turned around and busted the game open.

Habs are so balanced right now, they're not even matching up. Perry looked great in his debut.

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Habs are feasting on the Nucks this season. 6-2 final on a Monday tilt.

Edmundson got the Miller matchup and was 16-1 in shot attempts whenever they were on. Surprisingly shrewd pickup so far.

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Hughes looks lost in his own end without Tanev. Until he gets adjusted fully with Benn, who seems to be the best fit among the RD so far, that pairing will be a complete liability as the Habs have exposed time and time again. Forecheckers seem to be on Hughes early and he just doesn't seem to be able to shake them off like he did last season. The points are still coming but defensively... Or is it that he puts the sieve in offensieve defensemen?
Petterson looks off; he gets his looks from time to time but he doesn't have the same jump he had in the past two seasons. He's been pinging them off the crossbar or post at least twice a game... Perhaps its a confidence thing.
Miller looks like he's fighting the puck every time he has it - for every good/great play he makes, he loses the puck twice as often in a dangerous area and it goes the other way.
Hoglander wasn't as effective last night. Possibly because Horvat and Pearson didn't appear to be anywhere.
PP still hasn't scored on the road. PK looks better.
Feel awful for Holtby - he's not getting any help whatsoever. How many breakaways, 2-on-1s and 3-on-1s where there?
Chatfield looks like he might stick around as long as he doesn't get overused.
Myers is constantly losing the puck in his feet and is legit awful. Not Gudbranson awful but just a cut above.
Add me to the "Ready to move on from JV18" group. I'm ready to move on from half this team.

It's too bad that Vancouver can't lose more than 1 player in the expansion draft.

lol, I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday. I'm hoping they lose one, they might not.

I'm assuming Sutter will be let go at the end of his contract. Edler if he resigns will get a NMC so he won't be eligible, Holtby they could resign and leave open and depending on his season might be a decent choice. Or perhaps the Kraken just take a pass, they can find 20 better players from the other 30 teams. Although I'd guess there are some other really horrible choices out there.

Forwards: 7 protection spots
Protect: Boeser, Horvat, Miller, Virtanen, Motte, Gaudette, Pettersson.
Available: Beagle, Roussel, Eriksson
FA: Pearson and Sutter
Unavailable: Hoglander, MacEwen

Defence: 3 protection spots
Protect: Hughes; Schmidt;
Available: Myers
FA: Benn, Edler, Hamonic
Unavailable: Joulevi; Chatfield

Goalie: 1 protection spot
Demko protected of course
FA: Holtby (FA goalies require a qualifying offer before expansion and team must make a goalie available not sure how this works for a UFA, he probably needs to be signed first)

I doubt they resign either Edler, Hamonic or Pearson until after expansion. Too much chance of losing them or in Pearson's case having to open up Motte for nothing. And there is a really good chance Edler would rather retire than move, he seems to be that married to the city so maybe a safe bet to leave him unrestricted. It's interesting they'd have a spot open on defence, perhaps a discounted trade if some team is loaded on D and wants to get a little rather than give them away for nothing?

So its hard to say what options Seattle has and how desperate for Dmen they will be, but if I was Seattle I'd rather have one year of Roussel at $3 mil than 3 years of Myers at $6 mil, unless the Canucks throw in a sweetener, or Holtby for a year, hell I'd take Beagle for one year at $3 mil before I took Myers for 3 years. Or the Kraken will find 20 players better than these. Looks like we'll be stuck with Beagle for another season. FU Benning and your ridiculous contracts.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

I have a theory about Pettersson - he spent the offseason in Vancouver and lived on his own for the first time in his life. Do the math.

Did the Canucks make a huge mistake letting Tyler Toffoli walk?

Tyler Toffoli sure seems to think so.

I was just thinking "thank God we don't have to play against Tyler Toffoli every night" 9 goals already and how many against the Nucks? 7, 8?

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

It's not simply a question of "letting him walk." The Canucks couldn't afford to keep him because of incompetent management practices dating back several years.

He leads the league with 9 goals, all but 1 of them have come against the Canucks.

Somebody on Twitter called him "Top Titty" Toffoli so I'm going to roll with that...

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They let Toffoli go after giving up a top prospect and a pick to get him at the deadline. I look at JV18 who struggles to stay in the lineup ($2.55M) + Eriksson's $6M Hawryluk and Ferland on LTIR ($4.3M) plus Baertschi's $2.9M buried in Utica and Spooner's $1M buyout... That's at least $16M that could have been used elsewhere in the lineup to shore up the defense and improve on the bottom six. That's 3 x $5+M forwards or defensemen that could have been...

Jordie Benn couldn't make it higher than #7 on the roster last season and now he's in the Top 4? Yikes...

Canucks have a fatal combination of an incompetent GM who can't manage the cap to save his life, and an owner too cheap to clean up that GM's mistakes with buyout money.

The Canucks got ensnared by the Yotes with OEL leading up to FA and didn't have the mental faculties to prioritize internal needs leading to a major player exodus. How ownership can even entertain keeping Benning at this point -- a GM they no longer trust with making deals and will no longer off cash bailouts is beyond me.

Benning is signed until the end of 2023. Do you think there is anyway in hell the Aquilini's are going to pay him for not working for them? They'd rather run the ship aground then fire and have to pay him.

Now that you got me thinking about it is worrisome. What futures will he be willing to sell off to go deep the next two years? I hope they are scrutinizing and have to approve all his decision's until then.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/canu ... ks-3319293
Re-signing Benning is Aquaman's fault. Failing to have a plan before the FA period (beyond "Let's move heaven and earth to acquire OEL!") is Benning's fault. I can understand and forgive not forking over the money for Tanev and Markstrom but losing Stecher for peanuts and re-signing JV18 so he can sit in the press box to watch Tyler Toffoli stick it to this team is just plain stupid.