naslundfan921

sounds like Canucks legend Artem Chubarov.

Of our current D core only Hughes and Myers (given the lengthy contract) are long term locks so I don't quite understand why some are having this Juolevi v Rathbone or prior to that Juolevi v Rafferty argument. With Edler in his twilight, Tanev and potentially Stetcher gone this fall via free agency and the likes of Fanta, Benn as short term depth pieces, we will have more than enough spaces for these guys to play (provided they prove capable at this level). Moreover if any of our prospects do prove good enough to crack the roster this management has shown the willingness to let those who merit playing time get into the lineup even if it means burying big salary in the minors (Sven) or in the press box (Loui). Remember having competition for spots is a good thing and having good assets in the system whether as depth, in the lineup or as a trade chip is essential. If you look back on our best teams from the WCE era to even the Sedins peak the one thing that we have often lacked is depth and young competition to battle for spots.

First allow me to note my username bias (chosen all the way back in 06 to be fair which is wild now that I think about it) Naslund was our leading scorer from 99-06, a nd had a three year stretch where he was top 5 in Hart voting and another year where he finished 12th. This falls in line with Hank who also had similar 4 year runs at the Hart (winning once, followed by a 10th, a 9th and 14th place finish) and Danny (who like Naslund won the Pearson). I, like most others here love the Sedins but I feel many forget that their peak lasted roughly as long as Naslund's. The separation is that the Sedins had the longevity as the number one option partially by talent obviously but also because we lacked any sort of viable succession plan to overtake them as our top players in their twilight years and benefit of being on better teams in a salary capped league that introduced more parity. Now that being said the Sedins are unquestionably the two greatest to ever play for the Canucks but please recall that before they became stars (which took a few years) it was Naslund leading the team and was an instrumental mentor for the Sedins and Edler (our all time leading scoring forwards and D Man). People, even then were quick to rag on his quiet leadership style but I think when guys like the Sedins and Edler speak so warmly about his influence on them that speaks far greater volumes than anything else. In terms of playoff success Naslund was an unfortunate victim of circumstance in many regards. The lockout at the peak of his powers, The Moore incident which forever altered his running mate Bertuzzi coupled with poor complimentary pieces surrounding him (this was when Cloutier was letting in clappers from centre ice sparking the beach ball memes on the forums for years and the team was drafting gems like Nathan Smith with its first round picks). In our now 50 year history we flat out don't have the rich history other teams do so should a player who was arguably our best player for a decade of those 50 years be in the rafters? Absolutely, though again I will cite my bias along with a very specific subsection who grew up watching him play.

With all the uncertainty and chaos surrounding the playoffs and its structure I think we stand a better chance of running deep than we would've had the season continued. Who knows? Maybe the pick ends up being the 31st pick

Based on his numbers (currently though subject to change should he light it up or falter with us these last 20ish games) I don't anticipate him getting much of a raise (if at all) on the open market. A comparable from last year's free agency is Nyquist. Nyquist got 5.5 per for 4 years. Toffoli has slightly lesser numbers and despite bouncing back this year, isn't as consistent statistically as Nyquist so I anticipate a smaller deal for Toffolli than what was given to Nyquist. Thus I don't think the contract or term will be much of an issue for those concerned. It'll be interesting to see what else Benning has planned for the deadline and how these acquisitions fare during this stretch drive.

CDC mentality every time we trade picks or prospects. In love with the mystery box even though most of the time we move prospects they amount to mediocre NHL players at best. Not saying Madden won't be good per say but his success is hardly a given. Plus as others have noted we have too many centres as is anyway. To flip that asset for a legitimate top 6 winger, a position we are lacking makes sense especially if we can resign him at a reasonable cost. You have to give something to get something. People operate as if we can trade our junk and get value in return.

Marky's a UFA at year's end so the question is what the UFA market will be for a 30 year old starting calibre yet not quite elite goalie? If there is belief that there's a market that'll offer him long term and / or high salary then I think you have to trade him and run with Demko (who is still unproven but has shown flashes). Obviously if there's no market then you can resign Marky to a 2-3 year deal wherein we get more time to evaluate our two young goalies and that contract is much more moveable than a contract with extended term / money Given our cap situation I think that's the correct move especially given if Demko for whatever reason doesn't work out you still have De Pietro in the wings who also has potential. The more likely scenario? We ride Marky the rest of the year hopefully ending in the playoffs and he walks in free agency for money / term (good for him in that case).

We need cheaper players to fill out the roster when EP and Hughes' ELCs expire. Getting Podkolzin on a rookie deal at that point will be ideal as he is cheap and will hopefully be ready to be an impact player in two years time

39 million in projected cap space - a large portion of which will go to resigning Kerfoot and Rantanen both of whom are RFAs. That puts them at just 7 forwards signed which means they'll have a few spots to fill up front plus they'll have to find a backup goalie as well. I'm not familiar enough with their farm system to know if they can address these within (thereby allowing them to go for the likes of Panarin who'll command a very high price) but Sakic has a lot of work to do to fill out that roster

Avoid splashing in free agency, it's almost always a mistake because the term will kill you when these 27-30 year old guys want 6-7 year deals. By the midpoint those contracts become albatrosses (which is also why the Miller acquisition despite the high price is valuable as he is on a good deal with excellent term). I don't mind signing depth guys on shorter term deals though - those contracts are way easier to move.

Based solely on what I've read (including that great post in the Other Leagues section of CDC) I like Kakko better than Hughes. Hoping that we land the 2nd pick so it's an easy can't go wrong decision as there seems to be a divide in opinion from 3 onward

He strikes me as a Higgins type utility player capable of playing up and down the line up as needed. Hopefully as we acquire more talent on the wing he can be used as a nice 3rd line piece with Gaudette and Virtanen.

So when Virtanen comes back, Spooner goes down to Utica to take Dahlen's spot and when Hughes' College season ends he comes in to theoretically take Guddy's spot. That's roughly the roster math right?

Knowing nothing about the guy. What the OP says is very encouraging, echoing what others have said, the one definite strength of Benning's tenure has been scouting and we tend to do well in Sweden so here's hoping he can make an impact down the line

We clear up some short term cap space with this deal (Nillson was expiring I believe) so maybe Benning is gearing up for another move? That, or he sees this trade as a wash and gets an additional pick out of it (something his detractors always say he doesn't do enough of)

The assumption is that this move is to allow Demko to come up but I don't see why the rush? Right now Marky is playing some of the best hockey of his career and it does not seem like Demko is in position to usurp him at least not RIGHT NOW. I'd leave him with the Comets for the rest of the year, let him get in more games and have this McKenna guy take the spot starts. I anticipated Demko splitting the net next year but I guess they have accelerated the plan with him.

My understanding since Benning drafted Demko in his first draft at the helm was that Marky was/is the stopgap until Demko is ready to take over. With only 1 more year on his deal, I expect him to split the net with Demko next year before departing via trade or free agency depending on how Demko adapts to the NHL. For now, things seem to be adhering to that outlook.

Oh, I am well aware, Hard to believe perhaps but I predate even you on this forum. I've been here for so long I remember Tommi Santala jokes, how Mattias Weinhandl is the missing "third Sedin", The Rory Fitzpatrick all star movement, Cowan the Bra-Barian and countless others. I'm not on here nearly as much (in fact over 2000 of my posts from those times are now erased - thank god cause I'm sure I said some idiotic things back then) but I've seen every instance of stupidity with rare amounts of actual insight on this forum

I'm sure it has already been mentioned at some point in the 511 pages of debate but remember Ohlund was a guy we took in the early first round that took 4 years to make his way to the Canucks. I can only imagine what that would have looked like had message boards been around in the 90s. For those who might not remember Ohlund ended up playing over 10 years for us and was consistently one of our best defenceman for large chunks of that stretch. Pretty sure at some point I've gone on record to say I think OJ will be fine. Maybe he won't be a Norris winner but if he turns into a rocksteady guy we can have on the back end when we are ready to compete for the cup again I'm more than happy regardless of how those picked after him turn out

This may be lazy given their nationalities and positions as I don't profess to be any sort of draft expert but if the top 2 in this draft is another Matthews-Laine (in terms of player QUALITY NOT TYPE) scenario, I would be happy with either #1 or #2. Either way you've seen what landing one of those types has done for the likes of Toronto, Buffalo and Winnipeg in accelerating their rebuilds. It'd be nice for us to get some luck for once (we are hosting the event right?)

I remember when Horvat went down to the Utica for that brief 5 game stint his rookie year and people were freaking out that he went pointless over that stretch. He also had that stretch in his sophomore year where he went forever without finding the back of the net and again some on here freaked out. His progression was a long one (in comparison to the instant impact guys we've been fortunate to have like Boeser and EP) but few would complain the way he's playing now. I think Juolevi can still be that top pairing defenceman for us, people just need to have patience (which on here is a tough ask I know). Oh and for the record, Horvat is a career -48 for the Canucks including a minus 3 on the year as of writing this post despite our hot start. I guess by some people's logic on here, he sucks as well?

Pouliot and MDZ have been very subpar this season (so far). I think OJ could outperform both of them right now in our lineup (low bar) but it might be better for his development eating up heavy minutes on a comets team that in theory won't get shelled every game like the Canucks have thus far. I don't know if JB can find anyone to take either Pouliot or MDZ though but both Tanev and Edler have been great (relatively speaking) so maybe they get flipped for futures opening up the spot for OJ to come up

Based solely on scouting reports seems like a Dumba / Bieksa type?

Excited to have two blue-chip smart D Men in the system now. Heard Hughes say he could play either side so maybe one they form an elite top pairing for us. Camp will be interesting with these two pushing for spots as well. I am more conservative in my expectations though so I don't expect all of our kids to come up at once. I think gifting them spots is bad for their long-term development. Of our pool, I will predict only Gaudette and EP will crack the opening day roster with OJ initially being sent down but quickly returning when the inevitable injury hits and becoming a regular

It's important to temper expectations on Hughes - most likely he will require time before he makes the pros. With this fanbase though you just know that if any of the D picked after him make it pro faster or if Hughes shows any sign of struggle next year (wherever he plays) there will be people calling him a "bust" .