r/canucks • u/Artemchubarov Official Thomas Drance • Sep 10 '19

ASK ME ANYTHING I'm Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver: Imitator of obscure Russian-born ex-Canucks grinders on Twitter, one-time CanucksArmy overlord, author and former NHL PR guy - AMA

Hey /r/Canucks! Thanks for hosting me over your lunch hour.

Happy to be here with all of you and I'm looking forward to talking some hockey and excited to answer any questions you can dream up. Shoot your shot!

And if you want to use my discount code to subscribe to The Athletic and support what we're getting up to this upcoming season, you can do so here: http://www.theathletic.com/welcomethomas

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u/NerdPunch Sep 10 '19

Loui did what any rational person would do. He took the job that paid the most money and offered the most job security. He did whats best for himself and his family. I can't hate him for doing what I 100% would have done if I was in his shoes.

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u/mephnick Sep 10 '19

He also immediately checked out after taking that contract. No one blames him for taking it, we blame him for coasting to 1/3 his previous production while earning it.

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u/NerdPunch Sep 10 '19

We can agree to disagree, but I think it's more of a function of him being signed at an age where athletes tend to fall off of a cliff. We signed a guy coming off his 2nd highest career shooting % for his age 31-37 seasons.

Im not saying Loui deserves a letter on his jersey, I just think getting old/sucking has more to do with it than compete level.

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u/mephnick Sep 10 '19

Most of the current best players in this league are 30+. If guys like Marchand, Radulov, Burns and Gio can exceed career numbers at 31, 33, 34 and 36 respectively...it kind means the excuse of turning 30 is pretty fucking arbitrary. He took the money and went to sleep..simple as that.

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u/NerdPunch Sep 10 '19

And statistically those guys you listed are outliers. They are the exception, not the rule. Theres plenty of data out there that supports the claim that athletic ability deteriorates significantly at that age range.

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u/HenrikFromDaniel Sep 12 '19

Mike Richards is on hold, Line 1