Sharks At Canucks Game 1 Preview: Pounding Out Aggression Turns Into Obsession

5-2 Canucks. Burr for the win.

Dank

J. Hansen GWG

The glory of free wheeling hockey returns!

I’m not sure who I dislike more…thorntonchoker or mr. vehicular homicide. You don’t have to hate Marleau, he does it to himself and that’s what really hurts.

Gillis seemed to forget that last offseason that the Canucks were just a few penalty trains and disastrous mental breakdowns from dominating the Blackhawks, or at least going up 2-0 on them. And those two games, the Canucks really outplayed the Blackhawks, suspect defense and all. And that was because of the forward depth. For all the flack Wellwood gets, he’s a really, really solid player. And Pavol Demitra brought a ton more creativity and vision and skating to this team. Not to mention Grabner.

I was worried that if Gillis focused just on improving the defense, he would forget about the need for forward depth, and he would sacrifice that forward depth for the defense. Luckily, at the deadline, that Higgins addition especially helped that, to an extent. However, the Canucks still have Higgins and Raymond where they have Clowe and Setoguchi, and even healthy, the Canucks have Malhotra where they have Pavelski.

And that’s what I’d be worried about if I’m rooting for the Canucks. In past seasons, you could kind of predict the Cup winner pretty easily, because there was always this one team who had the best defense, and the best forwards. Chicago last year, Detroit the year before with Hossa (until they got fatigued or outcoached by Pittsburgh, who was up there). Detroit certainly the year before that. Anaheim the year before. And that was what Vancouver was shaping up to be this season after Chicago dismantled. You sign Hamhuis for 4.5 million, Grabner is just going to be even better this season, maybe you re-sign Wellwood, or you spend that spare 4 million you have left after Malhotra and Torres (in lieu of Ballard) on a Mathieu Lombardi, or a Matt Cullen, or an Alex Tanguay and another 2 million dollar forward who is even better than those guys, who I don’t know about but who the wiser Gillis would know of, and there you have it, best top 9 in the NHL (or at least it’s as good as anyone elses), best defense corps, and you’re the champs.

But now, it’s not like past years. Vancouver has the deepest defense, and one of the better top 9s in the league, but San Jose’s top 9 might be better, and they have an underrated defense that people are looking over. And now it’s a question of which will prevail. Some people think Vancouver still has the advantage, and they very well might. But if I’m a vancouver fan, it’s a little close for comfort. If you have the better forwards and the better defense, I mean now you’re really set. Something is really going to have to go badly for you not to win the Cup. But with only one of the two, it leaves more room for doubt. And especially when you look at the past cup teams, I mean has been proven in the playoffs that if most your offense comes from just a few guys, that can be shut down. You need that depth. And Vancouver is very top heavy with the Sedins and Kesler. And you look at the last few Cup teams, I mean Higgins has been a good add by Vancouver, but he wouldn’t be good enough to play on the 2nd line of those past teams. And Raymond is still really learning the game, and doesn’t really do the little things well enoguh right now to score consistently. He doesn’t get the garbage goals, the tip-ins, the ones off the cycle, and all that. He’s very skilled but there’s a disconnect between his skill and his production because he doesn’t do the little things.

And then you have Maxin Lapierre and Raffi Torres on your 3rd line. Not exactly elite. Hansen also, underrated player but he’s not Ladd or Bolland or whoever else.

So, I have conflicted feelings abotu this series. I’m rooting for you guys, but the qustion for me with this Van team all year long was forward depth, and I still have big concerns there, especially with Samuelsson out, I mean he was a huge key for me with this team.

However, I still think Vancouver can win, but they have to find ways to exploit San Jose with their speed. Having it is one thing, but it doesn’t make as big a difference unelss you really set up the tactics to use it constantly. I’m talking stretch passes, just stretching out of the defensive zone in general even when you haven’t cleared yet, just so San Jose can’t pinch every time. Because they love to do that. Their 3rd forward always comes high, and their dmen pinch, and it’s really hard to get the puck out. You’re already under pressure by a low forward, you barely have the puck, or it’s on your backhand, and this defenseman is baring down on you with no inhibition because he knows he ahs cover from the 3rd forward high. You just can’t let them do that. They’ve been a very good team at coming from behind in part because they really start to get aggressive in that way, and it really works. It becomes so hard to clear the zone. So you have to stretch them. Before they even pinch, you just start skating out of the zone, get behind them, and you’re basically tellign them, hey, you wanna pinch, sure, maybe the puck will come to you, and I’ll get caught out, but I’ll still have 4 of my buddies covering there, and you probably won’t score. But, if it bounces by you, you’re in deep shit, because I’ve got a 2 on1 or a breakaway, and I have a much better chance of scoring.

So that’s a key tactical thing.

Higgins, Hansen, Lapierre, Raymond, etc etc, these are all good players to varying degrees, but I think just the fact that they are all so fast, and a lot of them play with each other, that together they can become greater than the sum of their parts. Higgins may not be an elite player, but together with Raymond and Kesler, both of whom can fly, he can have a huge impact, because that line should be able to chase down most the lose pucks, and close most the gaps, and backcheck the opposion when they try to gain the zone. And on the flipside, they can gain the zone easier than normal because when backcheckers from San Jose try to close them and trap them at the blueline with the defenseman, many of their skaters won’t be able to catch these guys.

I think you saw about halfway through the season, San Jose started to rely more on defense and structure, and sort of trapping at soem points, to win games. I think their formation, and backchecking, and creating those traps for the opposition at their blueline, is a huge part of what’s made them a good team. And I believe Vancouver is best equipped to stop this portion of their game compared to any of the other teams, strictly because of their overabundance of speed.

So that’s the key for me. Clowe is a better player than Higgins or Raymond right now, but if whichever winger plays Clowe’s side can use their speed, they can create a tactical problem. They can match him just by breaking down SJ’s tactics. If Clowe is low in the ofefnsive zone, and Vancouver gets teh puck, and pushes it at full speed, Clowe can’t catch Higgins or Raymond on the backcheck. And against slower teams like LA and DET, SJ has really relied on being able to catch their forwards on the backcheck. If Vancouver plays smart tactically, and uses their speed, they can gain the blueline with regularity without a backchecker. Just lots of 1 on 1’s, 2 on 2’s, 3 on 3’s, with San Jose forwards caught deep. And with that type of space to get the blueline, that’s huge. That’s what will create a lot of goals. If Vancouver does that consistently, that’s how you win. I think Vancouver’s greatest strength is, if their forwards aren’t amazing passers, or just good, sizeable, top-end scorers like the Sedins, then they’re grade-A speedsters. I mean Raffi Torres in the top 9 aside, you basically have two elite All-stars, who you’re happy to have on the team, grade-A speed or not, because they’re elite all-stars, and then you have 6 grade A speedsters in Burrows, Raymond, Kesler, Higgins, Hansen, and Lapierre.

So that’s the strength for me. There aren’t a lot of Tanner Glass type players on this team who really have no elite skill to offer in any area. If someone isn’t the best body chcker, well then they have great speed to offer. If someone isn’t the faster (like Raffi Torres), he’s a good body checker and pest. Basically the whole top 9, even without Samuelsson, you don’t have a lot of bland players who just are kind of there, and they don’t offer anything. Everyone brings at least something to the tale, and a good chunk of players more than two. I still wish this team had something closer to Chicago’s 3rd line last year than what they have (and that they had another top-end forward on the 2nd line to go along wth Kesler, so that Higgins or Raymond could play on line 3), but they don’t. And what they do have, there are skills that can be used to break down SJ. I guess we’ll see how they fare. Also the defense HAS to get shots through and put up offense. Ehrhoff needs to start taking a shorter backswing again and start getting his shots on net again. He still has plenty of power to spare.

Higgins with the winner (why mess up a good thing?) and one of Burrows/Kesler for the empy-netter.

Oh, and I just wanted everyone to know that if San Jose’s goalie had balls he’d be Uncle Niemi. That’s all.

I can’t wait for the game to start!

I know that we Canucks fans are passionate about and committed to our team. I desperately hope that we are able to keep some perspective in this series. Let’s all agree at the outset that this is not going to be a swept series. There are going to be mistakes made and games lost. Let us agree that we will not declare ourselves the invincible Champions when we win a game. Let us all agree also, that we won’t descend into negativity and finger pointing at the first whiff of adversity. Let us remember that the series is not won or lost until one of the contestants wins a fourth victory. Let us agree that that team will be the Canucks. Stay the course fellow fans. Keep calm and stay supportive. Of each other that is. The players have other things on their minds and probably don’t hear a word we say so great is their focus. The Canucks in six.

I just wish AV would put together a 4th line of Tambo-Hodgson-Oreskovich already. Speed, speed and then some more speed.

Not that Glass isn’t speedy when he’s on his game, but he hasn’t been on his game for almost a month now. I just don’t recall him doing anything at all in these playoffs. Honestly though, what has he been doing out there?

I’m toast in the predicting contests, so I’ll say…4-3 Canucks in this game (Dank), but the Sharks’ll win in 7.