[sd94.]

Right now, the entire Canucks forum is in panic because we didn’t sign a big name. Think of it this way. The Sedin Twins were 5 minutes away from becoming 2 of the most sought after UFAs. They are the big names that Gillis signed. Now that you’ve got that thought in your head, the world doesn’t seem like it’s coming to an end, now does it? However, there are still holes to fill (not in a dirty way ) and players out there to sign. Here’s my proposal on what Gillis should do next.

Here is our current line-up as most CDCers are predicting. There are a few open spots, obviously:
Daniel Sedin ($6.100M) – Henrik Sedin ($6.100M) – Alex Burrows ($2.000M) = $14.200M
__________ ($0.000M) – Ryan Kesler ($1.750M) – Pavol Demitra ($4.000M) = $5.750M
Mason Raymond ($0.883M) – Cody Hodgson ($1.725M) – Steve Bernier ($2.000M) = $4.608M
Darcy Hordichuk ($0.775M) – Ryan Johnson ($1.100M) – Rick Rypien ($0.550M) = $2.425M
FORWARDS = $26.983M

Alexander Edler ($3.250M) - __________ ($0.000M) = $3.250M
Willie Mitchell ($3.500M) – Sami Salo ($3.500M) = $7.000M
Kevin Bieksa ($3.750M) - __________ ($0.000M) = $3.750M
Aaron Rome ($0.550M)
DEFENCE = $14.550M

Roberto Luongo ($6.750M)
__________ ($0.000M)
GOALIES = $6.750M

Okay, let’s start with the hole up front. There are a few guys I’ve picked out as good guys to sign to fill this role, and these are who they are.

Mikael Samuelsson | 81GP | 19G | 21A | 40P | Notes: Playing 15min a game on Detroit’s 3rd line, had 7 PP goals last season. (Signed with VAN)
Alex Tanguay | 50GP | 16G | 25A | 41P | Notes: Missed 32 games, was playing on Montreal’s 1st line, hasn’t played 82 games since 2002.
Nik Antropov | 81GP | 28G | 31A | 59P | Notes: Huge body (6’6”, 230), was a -14 last season, never played a full 82 game season. (Signed with ATL)

Antropov’s stats are better than the other two, but it’s best to stay away from him because of his plus/minus and the fact he’s never played 82 games in his career. Tanguay is a good player, and would be a very good 2nd liner, but he’s injury prone and a playmaker, not what we need for the second line. That leaves us with Mikael Samuelsson. The guy is putting up 40 points on Detroit’s third line, is still pretty big at 6’2”-210 and can man the point on the PP, where he scored 7 times last season. He’s pretty good in his own end as well. He’s also going to come cheaper than the other two, so that’s who Gillis should sign.

Mikael Samuelsson (UFA): Sign for 2 years, $5.000M ($2.500M/year)
UPDATE: SAMUELSSON SIGNING IS OFFICIAL, 3 YEARS, $7.5M ($2.5M/yr), SAMUELSSON IS NOW A VANCOUVER CANUCK.

Now we have Kyle Wellwood, a very good playmaker, sitting as an RFA, and no forward spot open for him if Cody Hodgson makes the team. The best option would to trade. I've looked at what players with similar numbers have gotten to decide what we could get for Wellwood in a trade. Here is a possible trade to move Wellwood somewhere, if Gillis chooses not to keep him.

To Atlanta
C Kyle Wellwood (18+9=27)

To Vancouver
2010 3rd Round Draft Pick
2011 3rd Round Draft Pick

Wellwood has proven he has offensive talent, and his career totals are higher than Bernier, whom we got for a 2009 3rd and 2010 2nd. However, Bernier is younger and has more upside, which is why I think we could only get two 3rd rounders. Atlanta needs someone to play with Kovalchuk, badly, and Wellwood is a very good playmaker. This would give Atlanta a top line, although not the greatest, but a top line nonetheless. (Kovalchuk-Wellwood-Antropov) If the Canucks brass decides to keep Wellwood, and that Hodgson is not ready to play on the big club, this is the deal I would sign him to.

Kyle Wellwood (RFA): Re-sign for 1 year, $1.725M

The forwards are now taken care off, let's move onto the team's defense. There are two spots here, and there are a couple possibilities we can explore. One of these slots is likely to be filled by a re-signed Shane O’Brien, so we’ll just pencil him in at $1.100M right now.

Shane O’Brien (RFA): Re-sign for 3 years, $3.300M ($1.100M/year)
UPDATE: O'BRIEN HAS RE-SIGNED WITH VANCOUVER. 1 YEAR, $1.600M.

Now here is where we’ll start exploring different scenarios. The first will be that Gillis is not comfortable with Edler, Bieksa, Mitchell and Salo as the team’s top 4 defencemen. Gills may want someone else in the top four, and I wouldn’t disagree, seeing as all Edler’s turnover problems have me a little worried about him taking extra minutes. This also means he’s confident Edler can become that puck mover we need, which is still very possible. The other possibility, is that Gillis is confident in the top four the way it is, and I’m thinking that this scenario is the most likely, especially with our cap space issues.

Kurtis Foster | 10GP | 1G | 5A | 6P | Notes: Coming off a serious leg injury and has bad foot-eye (is that right?) co-ordination, but a good skater, has a booming shot and is very big.
Francois Beauchemin | 20GP | 4G | 1A | 5P | Notes: Inconsistent offensively, but has a huge shot. Short at 6’0”, but still punishes forwards. A little on the slower side, and asking for $4.5M. (Signed with TOR)
Sergei Zubov | 10GP | 0G | 4A | 4P | Notes: Aging, injury-prone, and not very physical. However, he’s a puck mover.

In the scenario that Gillis is comfortable with the top 4 defencemen as Edler, Bieksa, Mitchell and Salo, the best option here is Kurtis Foster. Beauchemin, while the best out of this group, is out of our price range and Zubov is too old. He hasn’t played a full season since 2002, and we’ve already got Salo who’s constantly out of the lineup. Foster earned just over $1.000M with the Wild last year, and put up solid numbers in the few games he returned for at the end of the year. Nicely enough, he’s also going to come cheaper than all the others in the group.

Kurtis Foster (UFA): Sign for 2 years, $3.500M ($1.750M/year)

There were a few options I considered for a backup goaltender. Curtis Sanford is too small, and we saw that in the period Luongo was out of the line-up this season. Manny Legace is washed up, and I won’t be surprised if he announces his retirement soon, or signs with an AHL team. Dany Sabourin was unhappy with his playing time here, so he won’t want to come back. That leaves only a couple options for us. Calling someone up from within, or if we’re going to take someone out of UFA, there is only one option I can think of.

Andrew Raycroft | 12W | 16L | 3.14GAA | 0.892 SV% | Notes: Extremely streaky, but when on his game, very good. (Signed with VAN)
Cory Schneider | 28W | 10L | 2.04GAA | 0.928 SV% | Notes: Won AHL Goalie of the Year, but was mediocre in his NHL stint.

Raycroft, thought very good when on his game, is way too streaky to sign. The best option here is to call up Cory Schneider, and have him play 15-20 games. With the way that it looks like Luongo will be signing an extension in the ballpark of 5 years, those games will show Schneider off to the rest of the NHL and hopefully, raise his value considerably for a trade next off-season, or possibly at the deadline.

With everything said and done, here is how the line-up would look for next season:
Daniel Sedin ($6.100M) – Henrik Sedin ($6.100M) – Mikael Samuelsson ($2.500M) = $14.700M
Alex Burrows ($2.000M) – Ryan Kesler ($1.750M) – Pavol Demitra ($4.000M) = $8.250M
Mason Raymond ($0.883M) – Cody Hodgson/Kyle Wellwood* ($1.725M) – Steve Bernier ($2.000M) = $4.608M
Darcy Hordichuk ($0.775M) – Ryan Johnson ($1.100M) – Rick Rypien ($0.550M) = $2.425M
FORWARDS = $29.483M

Willie Mitchell ($3.500M) – Sami Salo ($3.500M) = $7.000M
Alexander Edler ($3.250M) – Kurtis Foster ($1.750M) = $5.000M
Kevin Bieksa ($3.750M) – Shane O’Brien ($1.100M) = $4.850M
Aaron Rome ($0.550M)
DEFENCE = $17.400M

Roberto Luongo ($6.750M)
Cory Schneider ($1.084M) [A. Raycroft Signed, 1yr @ 500k]
GOALIES = $7.834M

-Italics means the player has been signed by Vancouver.
*If Hodgson doesn't make the team, Wellwood plays here. If Hodgson does, see the trade scenario mentioned.

TOTAL SALARY: $54.717M
CAP SPACE: $2.083M

With this, Gillis now has $2.000M left to spend on depth signings, at the deadline, or possibly on Mats Sundin if he decides to return at a (huge) discount, however I don’t know where you can slot Sundin in. Sundin or not, you’re getting a team that can compete for the NW Division title. Other teams in the division have added big names, but they’ve lost big names too. What I think will work with this team, is there are no “superstars” besides Luongo, so there’s no one thinking they have to do everything, and that is a very important thing in my opinion.

This post has been edited by sd94.: 06 July 2009 - 05:01 PM

[kanucks25]

I think right now, Wellwood is somebody we can't just let go. His skill-set is something that no other player on our team has, and the chemistry with him between Raymond and Bernier really looked good late last year (good mix of speed, skill and size). Yeah, Hodgson might be ready to come up, but another year can't hurt him, and with Demitra and Wellwood (who will hopefully have a one-year contract) being UFAs after next season, it would be the perfect time to put bring him in.

Other than that, Samuelsson would be an excellent goal-scoring second line winger to play with Demitra on a line centered by Kesler. He is a player that can work the PP and is relatively defensively responsible. Beauchemin is really the best choice considering the D-men that are left; he is good in both zones, can also work the PP (which we all know needs some help), and can move the puck quite well. I would also like to see O'Brien back as he is physical and will only get better as he is young (not to mention he will be pretty cheap, too). However, I do think there are other options to fill the backup role in addition to Kolzig and Raycroft, such as Stephen Valiquette and Mikael Tellqvist.

I was going to make pretty much the same proposal, and the lineup is exactly as I would have it (except for the Wellwood change):

- The Twins and Burrows is a no-brainer considering how they played together last season.

- As Kesler has moved up to a top-6 postion, he will join our other top-6 in Demitra and whoever fills the hole on the second line (hopefully Sammy).

- The third line of Raymond-Wellwood-Bernier can definitely help score and can be relatively defensively responsible.

- The fourth line, in my opinion, is one of the best: Hordi is a good enforcer, we all know that Johnson is an absolute beast, and Rypien is just an energy-ball that has some skill to score.

- Salo and Mitchell together late last season teamed up for an excellent shutdown line.

- Once Bieksa was demoted, him and O'Brien (who is hopefully signed) worked well together, and they were definitely a physically intimidating duo.

- Edler is the only one left, so whoever MG brings in will probably play with him (hoping... again... that it's Beauchemin). They can be one of the PP units, too, along with the other tandem of Salo and Bieksa.

This post has been edited by kanucks25: 02 July 2009 - 09:37 AM

[sd94.]

Yea, I wasn't sure what to do with Wellwood, because Hodgson is pretty much a lock for the team, and Gillis wants to get the young guys playing so he was the odd man out.

[VanMAn]

sd94., on Jul 2 2009, 09:31 AM, said:

Yea, I wasn't sure what to do with Wellwood, because Hodgson is pretty much a lock for the team, and Gillis wants to get the young guys playing so he was the odd man out.

Grabner will get the shot as his cap hit is less than Cody's and he is more NHL ready than Cody who did not look AHL ready. Cody has glaring weakness such as physical strength to play with men, lack of speed, the need to have quicker first 3 steps, and his passing against bigger and faster players. They could play Cody but it would be better to use him in OHL and let him develop. If the Moose make the playoffs then he could get another shot depending when his team's season ends. There are other prospects that we have that could be used as cheaper cap hits. The 1 mill you would save not playing Cody could make the difference in signing a better d.

Not sure we can afford anymore contracts longer than 1 year as we have our backs against the future cap wall. Most trades people list do not move enough cap space out to cover the incoming cap hit and still leaves us filling more hole and cap space. If anything people are moving out our bargins in the way of cap space.

[TheInsideScoop]

I think this is a very good proposal. Sammy is exactly the ty pe of player I can see Gillis getting too. I like how you pointed out he was able to achieve 40 points only logging 12-15mins. I do agree I'd throw well on 3rd line centre again, which would also free up some cap, ober hodgson, and aloow for a 13th forward. I would also make our B/U goalie a cheaper option if possible. Definately solid though! This would allow for good foundation for upcoming years.

B+

[sd94.]

bump

[sd94.]

1 down. Let's go get us Beauchemin too!

[eQuilibrium]

I would rather have Beauchemin. He is a top tier d man and would be vital to our team unlike Kaberle. We have Yann Sauve in the system to act as the puck moving defenseman but that could take a few years of straight up development. I have seen Edler carry the puck well and we all know how calm he is for such a young player.

What we need to do is Sign Beauchemin.

make Edler carry the puck more

Develop Sauve

[GrassyPonderous]

Sauve needs to have a big year in the Q this season. That jerk coach is gone (I don't know the name, apologies), so hopefully his development gets back on track. He will probably need AHL seasoning down the road before he his ready for the Canucks, but this is the norm for drafted defencemen (obvious exceptions, but don't start comparing him to Doughty / Bogosian / Schenn).

[Nuckz4life]

Put CoHo

[sd94.]

Nuckz4life, on Jul 3 2009, 11:40 AM, said:

Put CoHo

I have CoHo in the lineup.

[sd94.]

Someone mentioned Wellwood, I've added two scenarios that would solve that.

[sd94.]

Completely updated the defence and goaltender sections.

[brandon13251]

i say kurtis foster is the best choice (but he is VERY injury prone) and i would say 2-2.5mill for him. He is a solid #3 d-man that can eat up time and help edler on the PP. He has never hit 60 games in an entire season but averages almost a point every 2 games.

[Hallzy]

What would you think of this

Sedin - Sedin - Burrows
Demitra/Sammy - Kesler - Wellwood
Sammy/Demo - Hodgson - Grabner
Hansen - Johnson - Rypien

I think the 2nd line would work well, Wellwood is a gret playmaker and sammy and Demo are solid finishers not to mention the all around ability Kes brings to the table

[sd94.]

Hallzy, on Jul 3 2009, 10:29 PM, said:

What would you think of this

Sedin - Sedin - Burrows
Demitra/Sammy - Kesler - Wellwood
Sammy/Demo - Hodgson - Grabner
Hansen - Johnson - Rypien

I think the 2nd line would work well, Wellwood is a gret playmaker and sammy and Demo are solid finishers not to mention the all around ability Kes brings to the table

Where did Bernier and Raymond disappear to? I think it's a very weak line-up. Grabner is unproven, Wellwood isn't good enough all-around to be a 2nd liner, and the team gets a whole lot weaker without out leading hitter from last season (Bernier).

This post has been edited by sd94.: 03 July 2009 - 10:31 PM

[therosberg]

VanMAn, on Jul 2 2009, 09:51 AM, said:

Grabner will get the shot as his cap hit is less than Cody's and he is more NHL ready than Cody who did not look AHL ready. Cody has glaring weakness such as physical strength to play with men, lack of speed, the need to have quicker first 3 steps, and his passing against bigger and faster players. They could play Cody but it would be better to use him in OHL and let him develop. If the Moose make the playoffs then he could get another shot depending when his team's season ends. There are other prospects that we have that could be used as cheaper cap hits. The 1 mill you would save not playing Cody could make the difference in signing a better d.

Not sure we can afford anymore contracts longer than 1 year as we have our backs against the future cap wall. Most trades people list do not move enough cap space out to cover the incoming cap hit and still leaves us filling more hole and cap space. If anything people are moving out our bargins in the way of cap space.

as much as I would want to see CoHo in our line-up you are totally right. All the things you mentioned he still lacks of. For all those people that are wondering who our backup will be the obvious answer is Schneider who would gain in market value (being a young promising goalie, probably the best right now) then he is traded at the deadline simple as that.

[sd94.]

I picked Schneider for my final lineup, but there ya go, Raycroft has been signed! O'Brien too, but I was way off on the terms.

3 for 3 now.

[Cogburn]

Can you pick some lottery numbers for me?

[Canuck23]

Now that TO has signed beauchiman i can see a trade sending us Kaberle MAYBE, but then again he has a young goalie in Pogge so schnieder is kind of not great trade bait, we need to shed like two million in cap to fit kaberle, im not saying i love kaberle and would love to see him here but him and SOB could make a good pairing or him and mitchell