By: Brayden Fengler / December 10, 2022
Have you ever composed a tweet that ends up getting zero engagement? Well, if you’re like me and aren’t boasting a number of followers similar to that of Rogers Arena’s seating capacity, then I would say the odds are pretty high. This series, “Left on Read” is our attempt here at StadiumChinatown.ca to play a small role in addressing some tweets around #Canucks Twitter that at least deserved one or two more eyeballs on them.
Tis the season to give, and with that, we give our attention to a handful of Canucks tweets that were left on read out there in the void of Twitter.
2011 Was How Long Ago?
This is a very understandable feeling to have. Whether a player, fan, or coach. No one wants to be reminded of the time you lost, especially when that opportunity has presented itself again a grand total of zero times over the last 11 years. In many ways, the Canucks’ Game 7 Stanley Cup loss to the Boston Bruins is like if you were about to marry the person of your dreams, you do everything right and finally make it to the big day, yet at the altar you fumble the bag so hard that they run off with that jerk from high school who for some reason was invited to your wedding.
Then you have to spend the next decade listening to how happy they are, and how strong their marriage still is, while you just can’t seem to get out of your mom’s basement.
What that tortured simile was trying to say, is that it sucks. It sucks to hear about 2011, because no matter the context it’s hard to relive as a fan. It’s of course in the news cycle again due to Zdeno Chára’s mention of seeing Canucks players rehearsing how they were going to lift the cup while practicing at TD Garden during the 2011 series.
True or not – and Kevin Bieksa says it’s not – I think a lot of people feel sick of hearing about 2011 just like Josh does. In a world of bold takes, that one is based squarely in reality.
Brock’s Latest Destination
Per a Rick Dhaliwal report, Montreal has an interest in trade batted Brock Boeser, potentially in exchange for Sean Monahan. Monahan and Boeser have seen similar production levels so far this season with just 17 points for Monahan in his first 25 games of the year, compared to 16 points after 21 games for Boeser.
Monahan would come with a cap hit at $250k less than what Boeser is costing the Canucks at the moment, but Monahan is currently in the last year of his seven-year deal with the Habs, whereas Boeser has two more years after this season still under contract with the Canucks.
At 28 years old, it seems like this trade would only make sense from the vantage point of flipping Monahan as a rental later in the season, prior to losing him for nothing. The other option, of course, would be for the Canucks to acquire and then re-sign the 28-year-old, producing just about the same as the slumping 25-year-old Boeser, that they already have locked down. I don’t know about this one.
Still man!
Neither Stillman nor the Canucks as a whole have been great, this much is undoubtedly true. Even when this team is winning, they are letting the opposing team fill the back of their net far more than is acceptable.
In part, this has been due to Demko’s poor start to the year. Now with his injury, it’s exposed even further how this team relies on the hope that their Goalie might go lights out and save the day. Struggling or not, with Demko out of the picture it’s pushed more responsibility onto the Canucks defence, which has been a sore spot, for years at this point.
Stillman is not the worst thing to have ever happened to this team, but he is playing on a team that is demanding a lot from their defence core. Yet sadly Stillman and company simply don’t have what the Canucks need right now. At 16+ minutes a night, Stillman is being deployed like a reliable, balanced defenceman and, unfortunately for the Canucks, he’s proven that at that deployment, he is not. This is more of an indictment of the talent that the Canucks have to deploy at those minutes, rather than solely on Stillman himself.
Miller Light on Minutes
During the Canucks last game against the San Jose Sharks, where they went into OT yet again, many viewers were quick to notice that J.T. Miller was not present during the 3-on-3 action. Bruce Boudreau said on Friday in a media scrum in relation to Miller’s lack of play in OT , “Every now and again some players are having an off night, and we’ll do whatever it takes to win”. He later stated that Millers’ lack of deployment during that overtime outing is not going to be a reflection of how he is deployed in the future.
Miller is obviously a skilled player, but as Bruce pointed out, he wasn’t having a particularly good night, so it’s not hard to understand why Miller wasn’t turned to during the do-or-die situation that is 3-on-3 hockey. Also, may I add, HAS ANYONE EVEN SEEN HIM BACK CHECK? Overtime is not for the faint of heart, players need to be moving at both ends of the ice. If Miller doesn’t backcheck on a good day, Bruce probably had good sense to keep him off 3-on-3 action during a bad day.
Still Winning…
The Canucks may have won seven of their last three contests, but they still sit third last in the Pacific Division and their goals-against record is frightening. Vancouver sits with 20+ more goals against than the team ahead of them in the Pacific, the Calgary Flames, who have played the same number of games as the Canucks to this point in the season. The wins that the Canucks have been grinding out have been exhausting to watch.
The Canucks sadly do need Demko to be playing lights out in order to walk away with respectable wins. That is just how the team is built. It’s not good, it’s not good at all, but it’s the truth. If the Canucks wanted any chance of a legit run this year, they needed Demko to come out of the gate playing like he did last year, and the fact that he didn’t only shows that he is in fact human and that this team has a very long way to go before they can be considered more than a bubble team.
Read and Replied
Some of these replies were more direct than others, but nevertheless, there are now five tweets out there in Canucks twitter land that have now been given some overdue engagement… even if that engagement was leaning a bit towards overkill.
We learned that 2011 is an inescapable topic that will haunt Canucks fans for all time, and we also learned that this team is visibly flawed across many key aspects of on-ice play. From the net, to the blue line to the uncertainty in the top 9. As always, it’s a hell of a time to be a Canucks fan.