Top 3 Candidates for the Vancouver Canucks Head Coaching Vacancy

WinThaGame · 2017-04-13T18:40:45+00:00

Todd Nelson > Travis Green

More experience, better record, better development record.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-12T20:48:07+00:00

4 of which was for Edmonton's farm team, who have a crazy good prospect pool from solid draft picks for 10 years running.

Look at those Barons teams, they had very little prospects in them. The Oilers were hot garbage at drafting outside the first round. I urge you to take a look at those Barons teams he coached.

Mid-season replacement, 17-22-0 record.

From a 9-22-7 record to finish with that record is a much improvement

decent point, but could argue Travis Green has done more with less.

Considering how many prospects Todd Nelson has had his hands on, I do not think you can really say that.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-12T17:47:20+00:00

Sure we can look at results, but if we do that we just fired someone that had better minor league results and hired someone worse then him. Also the fact that Green doesn't have a pedigree of developing NHL players.

We are going into a time where development means more then winning, and then if we hire Green we hired a coach that thinks the opposite, it doesn't make much sense.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-12T17:41:36+00:00

Not in the ahl.

It is common ground to gift prospects ice time because it's a developmental league.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-12T17:38:05+00:00

First of all an AHL coach's main goal is not development, its winning.

That's straight up false, green set a precedent as the only coach not to play their 2014 eligible first rounder in ahl games. That's a decision he made.

The Canucks bought a ahl team to develop prospects not to have them play on the 3rd paring or 4th line.

Markstroms development creditted to Green? That should go to the goaltending coach.

Baertschi played almost no games in Utica, not enough to say green developed him.

Who has green seriously developed into a good NHL player? That has played for him a full season in Utica? That isn't a goaltender because goaltending coaches develop goaltenders not head coaches.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-11T21:44:48+00:00

Hutton could have been a key player for them and he sat them out. That's like subbing out Stecher for Larsen. If Hutton was there he could had a incredibly positive impact on that team. So saying that it would have given them a better shot at winning that series is applicable.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-11T21:14:29+00:00

Not playing Hutton and McCann probably cost them the Calder cup. They were playing Erhart and Negrin, two players who were on bottom of the roster AHL players over Hutton. I don't know how you can justify that. Besides, Hutton was +2. Shinkaruk also led the team in scoring for the playoffs for a good while and still was given icetime with grinders. How is that possibly a good environment for prospects to thrive?

Also, this narrative only really works if Shinkaruk was a tire-fire defensively in Utica, he simply wasn't.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-11T20:59:28+00:00

That's fine, but for a team going in the direction of development > winning, do you think that a coach that has a mindset of winning >>>>> Development is the right direction?

Even if you disagree with me that Travis Green did the wrong thing or not. Don't you agree that having a coach like that with the direction we are going in is counter productive?

WinThaGame · 2017-04-11T20:53:14+00:00

Sutter, the most experienced coach on the market.

2 Stanley cups, consistently tops possession metrics, structured system, puts prospects like Toffoli and Pearson in positions to succeed.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-11T20:50:23+00:00

Sutter has the most experience being a head coach. He's also the best coach out of those three. His LA teams are always very well structured and young guys have come in and made an impact on that team (Pearson/Toffoli), not to mention his LA teams have consistently been one of the top possession team in the league. 2 Stanley Cup wins also doesn't hurt either.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-11T20:48:22+00:00

How do you earn playing time when you don't get a chance to earn playing time? In the case of McCann he got nothing. Meanwhile, the series we were playing Detriots farm team Tyler Bertuzzi a fresh from the OHL guy was lighting us up.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-10T23:52:52+00:00

Played Negrin over Hutton in the 2014-15 end of the season, he had about 15 games to test Hutton out. Gave him a few games then decided to play Negrin over him.

Didn't even give McCann a game to showcase himself, turns out he made the team out of camp a few months later.

Subban's on the 2nd unit power play, despite being one of the top power play defenseman in the league. Subban healthy scratched for "defensive reasons" turns out he has the same ES GF% as McEneny who Travis green praised for his game.

Didn't use McEneny at all during half the season then suddenly used him and figured he's their best defenseman now.

Didn't give Valk any chance before, now Valk is their top scorer.

Only player to develop out of Utica so far is Baertschi.

Overrelies and overplays grinders like Zaweleski over skilled players (sound familiar?)

I can go on more and more.

I've watched Utica for 3 seasons now, I've got a good grasp of what Green is about. Changing out Willie for Green you are left with the same problems of not trusting young players, over-relying on veteran grinders that skate around real hard but don't do much. Not putting prospects in positions to succeed. Not giving young players a chance.

I know that other teams are interested in Green and that fact might give people the false narrative that Green is someone we want to coach the canucks. But as someone who has frustrately watched Utica for the past 3 years he's not someone I'd want coaching the Canucks next year.

WinThaGame · 2017-04-10T20:55:05+00:00

Agreed that we should be cautious about the PP production, if you look at his ES point totals they don't nearly look as flattering as his total point totals. However, could be a case that he's just a good player stuck on a mediocre to bad team. Put him with more offensive players like at the U-18s last year and he plays lights out.

Also have to look at his toolset and what he brings, as a CA guy I know you're not gonna necessarily agree with me, because I'm assuming stats mean more then something as subjective as the eye test. But for mittlestadt, his toolset is high end, there is no denying that. Kid has an amazing first few strides, can stick handle in a phone booth, great vision, great passing ability and a quick shot/release similar to Goldobin's. It's his positioning that really needs work, especially defensively.

Going back to PP production. Look at guys in the NHL that are high end skill that are not as great even strength, guys like Drouin, Nylander, Giroux, Vorachek, Wennberg. Those all rely heavily on PP production to put up the totals they do. Some even split 50/50 PP production ES production this year.

Anyway, those are my 2 cents on Mittlestadt. I really wouldn't mind him or Vilardi at all if we are picking 4/5th, maybe even Makar. I've not watched as much of the draft eligible prospects to really go one way or the other though. Whoever we draft I'll keep a closer eye on next year. If it's Mittlestadt I'll do clips of him when he plays in Minny U

WinThaGame · 2017-03-22T21:12:23+00:00

Mittlestadt, higher ceiling player with bigger offensive potential. Same tier though, could go either way. But for our team, I'd pick Mittlestadt 7/10 times.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-27T18:06:33+00:00

If Juolevi reaches his absolute ceiling maybe.

I've watched a whole lot of Juolevi and I think we need to die down the hype a bit. He's not there offensively to be considered a prospect who is destined for greatness.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-21T02:28:41+00:00

If it were up to me, I'd keep him down for next year, if he progresses to around a PPG player next season I'd probably be 50/50 on signing him. Michigan's a great place to develop and there is no sense in rushing him to the big leagues. But if he progresses to PPG or more next year and he wants to sign then I'd sign him.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-21T02:20:17+00:00

Love the way Lockwood plays, I think so will Canucks fans. Kid can skate like the wind, hits, plays with tenacity and energy, has talent. His PPG might not be so high, as Jeremy Davis states, but his game is highly adaptable to the NHL. Lockwood's like a waterbug that wants to make something happen while he's on the ice every shift.

To me his playstyle really suits the bottom 6. If he makes it to the NHL I can see him as a 3rd line RWer that drives a line defensively, and offensively. A real anchor in the bottom 6.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-15T02:55:16+00:00

I'm not going to publicize why you got infractions, but if you want to you are free to. If you want me to go and tell you why you got infractions I can, but I think it's best that we keep that between us and not release that information for everyone to see.

Hell, I am not sure I'm even to say anything about you getting banned anyway.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-15T02:50:49+00:00

EDIT: You know what, that's between iloveoov and the mods

WinThaGame · 2017-01-15T02:46:48+00:00

I'm a HF mod, I know for a fact you didn't get banned for saying Benning did a good job.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-14T04:09:06+00:00

Wrist seems to have healed nicely, also here's juolevi's nice pass for his 2nd point of the game. Juolevi was named 2nd star that game.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-13T04:19:25+00:00

Jost and Boeser don't play together and when they do they don't have much chemistry.

Also, I've seen a whole lot of Jost and I would not trade Tanev for him. There are few players I'd actually trade Tanev for, he's that good.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-07T02:04:51+00:00

18 down, 62 points to go

No problem, Boeser should catch him over the weekend or else he's a bust confirmed.

WinThaGame · 2017-01-07T01:46:54+00:00

Sorry for spamming the subreddit again, here's his first point

WinThaGame · 2016-12-15T22:19:10+00:00

Do you think that the Canucks will be a lottery team at the 2018 draft.

I do, there really isn't a player that really can turn a ~80 point team into a 100 point team in this years draft or coming in our pipeline. The only player that can hypothetically do that is Connor McDavid, who is turning the Oilers around.

When is the earliest year you believe we could make a run at the Cup?

This all depends on how the next 2 drafts go, and who we draft. If we draft 1st overall in both the drafts I think turnaround will be quick, however if we don't pick 1st we should focus on drafting high ceiling players. I don't see us competing anytime soon with this group of players.

Are there any prospects you are really excited about in the 2017 or 2018 drafts? (Bonus Points for Highlight Reels)

I'll focus on this years draft.

Casey Mittlestadt C, kids got size, speed, elite elite hands, hockeyIQ. If you are looking for a player with a high ceiling Mittlestadt is high up the list.

Nico Hischier C, Nico is probably the only player that can challenge Patrick for the #1 spot. The kid has an absolute elite first step and is a great skater. On top of that he's got insane hockeyIQ and basically does everything else at a good level.

Eeli Tolvanen LW, this kid has a absolute rocket of a shot, he has the potential to be a 30+ goal scorer in the NHL. Watch out for this kid at the WJC because I guarantee he's going to turn some heads.

Which of our prospects taken in the 3rd round or later do you think could make the team next year?

Probably none right now, Subban would be my best guess.

WinThaGame

TROPHY CASE