I decided I was not going to comment on the Canucks / Oilers series on PERB until it was done. (This was not out of any respect for Albertans, LOL.)
The Canucks did well, but at times not well enough.
They did well considering they were barely expected to be in the playoffs, not division leaders, and considering they were playing against an Oilers team that has 2 of the league's top 5 offensive players in McDavid and Draisaitl. (Some say 2 of the top 3). #1 penalty kill and #1 power play in the league.
But honestly, Game 6 the Canucks team let that 1% of complacency about "having one more game to finish it" get into their heads, and being less than 100% focused in this series meant losing. If they had played either game 6 or 7 like they did in game 5, the Oilers would be dead. It just seemed like the Canucks were determined to always do things the hard way. Comeback games instead of dominating from the puck drop to the final whistle. Comebacks are great to show you have determination and can be dangerous at any time, but there's only so many times you can do that before your luck runs out, and it finally did. That last game, they still could have won, if they had played the whole game like those last 10 minutes, instead of falling behind by three goals first.
With respect to players, going in I had made my thoughts clear on that: We needed better play from the top guys: Boeser, Miller, Petterson, Quinn Hughes.
Specifically about Petterson, I had one thought which was basically: "Don't make us regret the Bo Horvat trade". And that's exactly what happened.
Well, Boeser and Miller lived it to it pretty well, they stepped up and played hard as they could. The problem with Boeser going down was that the Oilers only had to neutralize Miller to eliminate the Canucks as an offensive threat. (And it greatly reduced the team's shot accuracy too.) Miller had to be the #1 threat AND neutralize McDavid, and that's asking for a lot from one guy. Gee if only there was another top scoring threat on another line ... but there wasn't.
I think the Oilers figured out early on that Petterson was no real threat to them, a secondary or tertiary priority. Knowing this freed them up to just smother Miller's line, and wait for it to get tired so their own top guys would have an opening. Maybe Petterson's linemates bear the responsibility for that line's failings as well, but whatever it was, it was not working. Lindholm, Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland (secondary threats not primary) all seemed to outperform. I know people want to say "well, he did a lot of good back-checking and so on", but he's an 11m dollar 1st line center, not some 3rd or 4th line shut down guy.
As for the Canucks defensemen, that's another issue: Quinn Hughes. Where was the guy who was a supposed Norris trophy contender? 10 points in 13 games is not nothing, but none of those points were goals. Every time the Canucks had a power play, I kept gritting my teeth at all the lost opportunities to generate a point shot. Meanwhile Zadorov was out there hitting, shooting, scoring, blocking and shutting down the enemy forwards.
Sometimes I forget that it was a long time since this team was even in the playoffs, so maybe for some of these guys, they never knew what was really required of them as players until this series.
Okay, overall, the best Canucks forwards were Boeser and Lindholm (not the same level of threat as Miller, but scored quite a bit and great on faceoffs). Best Canucks defenseman was Zadorov, or at least he sure stood out like one.
Best Edmonton forward, McDavid or Draisaitl? Debatable. (Points off McDavid for being a whiner to the refs, which was an unpleasant surprise). More clear is my opinion that Bouchard was the Oilers' best defenseman, clearly the kind of point-shooting artillery piece which the Oilers had and the Canucks did not have.
Well anyways, it is done. The Oilers are the last Canadian team in contention so if the Canucks cannot bring the Cup back to this side of the border, they should.
No matter how testy this series got at time
Exactly. It sounds like management-written bullshit. Not that I doubt he had a nagging injury, but as you said, if it was impacting him on ice, they should have rested him, certainly after clinching the playoff spot.
1) Players play with small injuries all the time, especially in the playoffs. They do heroic shit like block 90mph shots and hobble to the bench, then come back for more. And if they can't, they set aside their pride and let someone else take them spot rather than be a liability.
2) You know who did get injured right around that time ? Thatching fucking Demko, our #1 goalie. The team went through all this playoff battle mostly with an untested 3rd string goalie. (And he was great, thank fuck!)
Signing & non-signings for next season will be interesting, maybe frustrating.
Lindholm, Zadorov, Dakota Joshua, they need to keep. Silovs too, he definitely earned it.
I have no opinion on keeping Cole or Hronek. Was not impressed with them in the playoffs.
In general, I do not want them to be keeping the guys who underperformed while trading away the guys who performed well.
The Canucks did well, but at times not well enough.
They did well considering they were barely expected to be in the playoffs, not division leaders, and considering they were playing against an Oilers team that has 2 of the league's top 5 offensive players in McDavid and Draisaitl. (Some say 2 of the top 3). #1 penalty kill and #1 power play in the league.
But honestly, Game 6 the Canucks team let that 1% of complacency about "having one more game to finish it" get into their heads, and being less than 100% focused in this series meant losing. If they had played either game 6 or 7 like they did in game 5, the Oilers would be dead. It just seemed like the Canucks were determined to always do things the hard way. Comeback games instead of dominating from the puck drop to the final whistle. Comebacks are great to show you have determination and can be dangerous at any time, but there's only so many times you can do that before your luck runs out, and it finally did. That last game, they still could have won, if they had played the whole game like those last 10 minutes, instead of falling behind by three goals first.
With respect to players, going in I had made my thoughts clear on that: We needed better play from the top guys: Boeser, Miller, Petterson, Quinn Hughes.
Specifically about Petterson, I had one thought which was basically: "Don't make us regret the Bo Horvat trade". And that's exactly what happened.
Well, Boeser and Miller lived it to it pretty well, they stepped up and played hard as they could. The problem with Boeser going down was that the Oilers only had to neutralize Miller to eliminate the Canucks as an offensive threat. (And it greatly reduced the team's shot accuracy too.) Miller had to be the #1 threat AND neutralize McDavid, and that's asking for a lot from one guy. Gee if only there was another top scoring threat on another line ... but there wasn't.
I think the Oilers figured out early on that Petterson was no real threat to them, a secondary or tertiary priority. Knowing this freed them up to just smother Miller's line, and wait for it to get tired so their own top guys would have an opening. Maybe Petterson's linemates bear the responsibility for that line's failings as well, but whatever it was, it was not working. Lindholm, Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland (secondary threats not primary) all seemed to outperform. I know people want to say "well, he did a lot of good back-checking and so on", but he's an 11m dollar 1st line center, not some 3rd or 4th line shut down guy.
As for the Canucks defensemen, that's another issue: Quinn Hughes. Where was the guy who was a supposed Norris trophy contender? 10 points in 13 games is not nothing, but none of those points were goals. Every time the Canucks had a power play, I kept gritting my teeth at all the lost opportunities to generate a point shot. Meanwhile Zadorov was out there hitting, shooting, scoring, blocking and shutting down the enemy forwards.
Sometimes I forget that it was a long time since this team was even in the playoffs, so maybe for some of these guys, they never knew what was really required of them as players until this series.
Okay, overall, the best Canucks forwards were Boeser and Lindholm (not the same level of threat as Miller, but scored quite a bit and great on faceoffs). Best Canucks defenseman was Zadorov, or at least he sure stood out like one.
Best Edmonton forward, McDavid or Draisaitl? Debatable. (Points off McDavid for being a whiner to the refs, which was an unpleasant surprise). More clear is my opinion that Bouchard was the Oilers' best defenseman, clearly the kind of point-shooting artillery piece which the Oilers had and the Canucks did not have.
Well anyways, it is done. The Oilers are the last Canadian team in contention so if the Canucks cannot bring the Cup back to this side of the border, they should.
No matter how testy this series got at time
Exactly. It sounds like management-written bullshit. Not that I doubt he had a nagging injury, but as you said, if it was impacting him on ice, they should have rested him, certainly after clinching the playoff spot.
1) Players play with small injuries all the time, especially in the playoffs. They do heroic shit like block 90mph shots and hobble to the bench, then come back for more. And if they can't, they set aside their pride and let someone else take them spot rather than be a liability.
2) You know who did get injured right around that time ? Thatching fucking Demko, our #1 goalie. The team went through all this playoff battle mostly with an untested 3rd string goalie. (And he was great, thank fuck!)
Signing & non-signings for next season will be interesting, maybe frustrating.
Lindholm, Zadorov, Dakota Joshua, they need to keep. Silovs too, he definitely earned it.
I have no opinion on keeping Cole or Hronek. Was not impressed with them in the playoffs.
In general, I do not want them to be keeping the guys who underperformed while trading away the guys who performed well.
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