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Potential UFA Defencemen Signings


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I still believe that our defence is the worst aspect of the Canucks team right now and needs some serious adressing. You clearly can't win in the playoffs with an offensively-minded defence - as far as it gets us in the regular season, the playoffs is a much more physical, close-checking type of game that we need to adapt to because good defences are winning Cups against us right now.

We need to get bigger on the back-end, more physical, meaner and much sounder positionally. No more stupid pinches or offensive risks that lead to odd-man rushes the other way, because in the playoffs thats how teams like Boston and the Kings have ripped us apart.

We also need some experience and age on the blueline, because guys like Edler and even Bieksa and Hamhuis are still relatively young and haven't been in the league for very long which is why they always come unravelled in the playoffs in key pressure moments. Our only greybeard is Salo but he's not a very vocal guy, nevertheless he does have a noticeable calming influence on our D-men, which is what we need more of. Just look at the Kings recent cup win and what Mitchell and Greene did for Voynov, Martinec and Doughty.

Sheldon Brookbank - 14 points in 80 games but a whopping 120 hits and 110 blocked shots. Weighs in at 6'2" 202 lbs. 32 years old hard-nosed Canadian defenceman who's somehow a +11 on the Ducks. Made just $750K last season and would be an ideal #5 or 6 guy, especially with the free-wheeling Ballard.

Michal Rozsival - 13 points in 54 games but 62 hits and 91 blocked shots. He's a surprising 6'2" 210 lbs and plays solid defence. Plus, he's been in the league for over 500 games and would bring a lot of veteran experience to our blueline. Cap hit was 5 million last season but he'd take a considerable cut, maybe 3 million if we're lucky.

Carlo Colaiacovo - 6'1" 195 lbs but 73 hits and 81 blocked shots in just 64 games shows he's a physical shutdown kind of player. His 2.1 million cap hit of last season is very likely to go up a bit but not by much.

Jason Garrison - Not going to highlight him too much, he'd be perfect for this team. Big strong and physical (127 hits, 6'1" 220 lbs and 124 blocked shots) but he's still relatively inexperienced with just 190 games under his belt. Worth a 3 to 4 million dollar deal for sure.

Jim Vandermeer - 6'1" 215 lbs and he uses all of it. He had a rough season in San Jose with injuries, but looking back he had 122 and 158 hits in his last 2 seasons of just 62 games, hitting at over 2 hits a game. He's 32 years old and has almost 500 games experience so is exactly what this team needs on the back-end. Cap hit of 1 million last year would be a steal.

Sure there's guys like Carle and Wideman who will be the big targets, but the Canucks already have 3 good offensive defencemen, now we need some big physical shutdown guys on the blueline. You win Cups with defencemen like Chara, Seidenberg, McQuaid, Ference, Boychuk, Mitchell, Greene and Martinec who play solid defence first and then think about offence, not small, fragile defencemen like Tanev, Ballard and Salo. Ideally we'd nab two of these guys (personally I'd like Garrisson and Vandemeer for around 5 million all up).

Hamhuis - Bieksa

Edler - Vandemeer

Garrison - Salo

Each of those pairings has the perfect mix of offence (Bieksa/Edler/Garrison), defensive capability (Hamhuis/Vandemeer/Salo), physicality (Hamhuis/Vandemeer/Garrison), experience (Vandemeer/Salo) and youth (Edler/Garrison) with our top pairing boasting 2 players in their prime.

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Guest AriGold

I think Garrison has just had his peak season. Highly doubt he can ever do it again, everything just clicked and i think he would fail in Van.

I graduated with him so I want to see all the best but I think hes best suited for the small town market.

Stay in the sunshine Jason...

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I think Garrison has just had his peak season. Highly doubt he can ever do it again, everything just clicked and i think he would fail in Van.

I graduated with him so I want to see all the best but I think hes best suited for the small town market.

Stay in the sunshine Jason...

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No thanks for the most part, Garrison would be a beauty but he's staying in florida. I do agree that our D blows, but I don't agree with the players you are targeting. I also don't think a couple fringe defensive D fix the problem.

You mentioned LA and Boston, well they have absolutely insane number 1 defensemen that do everything and hardly leave the ice. we don't even have a number 2 in the system. That is the difference between their D and ours, our D is more balanced than nearly all the teams but our top end D are not even in the same ballpark as the teams that went past the 1st round. We need to acquire top D, simple as that or no cup.

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Here are the guys that are currently unsigned that I would like to get if they somehow were made avaliable (I know some are unlikely)

- Ryan Suter

- Jason Garrison

- Dennis Wideman

- Brad Stuart

- Matt Carle

- Barret Jackman

- Michal Rozsival

- Bryce Salvador

Then there are others like Colaiacovo, Allen, Zanon, Kuba, Kubina and so on.

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I think we should target Garrison because of his supposed interest in playing here. From what I've heard he can play shutdown minutes and he has a terrific point shot. With the Sedins setting him up for one-timers on the PP I think it would be a deadly combination. I would try to sign him for 2 or 3 years though because if he get's unmotivated with a new contract it could backfire on us if he's signed long term.

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Allen and Brookbank...toughen up our D. Keep Hammer, Bieksa and Tanev....use Brookbank and Salo as 6th/7th guys

Move out Rome,Alberts and Ballard. Possibly move Edler in a package for a clearcut #1 guy. Keep gragnani as a #8 guy.

Hammer Bieksa

??? Allen

Brookbank Tanev

Salo Gragnani

Or

Hammer Bieksa

Edler Allen

Brookbank Tanev

Gragnani Salo

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Besides the normal Allen's, Garrison's etc,

I wouldnt mind Carkner or Bickel for the 6th or 7th Dman.

Carkner may be too slow for the team though but is suppose to be great in the room and will stick up for anyone.

Bickel seems like a young Carkner.

We need one or two real nasty guys on the backend to balance out the D.

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No thanks for the most part, Garrison would be a beauty but he's staying in florida. I do agree that our D blows, but I don't agree with the players you are targeting. I also don't think a couple fringe defensive D fix the problem.

You mentioned LA and Boston, well they have absolutely insane number 1 defensemen that do everything and hardly leave the ice. we don't even have a number 2 in the system. That is the difference between their D and ours, our D is more balanced than nearly all the teams but our top end D are not even in the same ballpark as the teams that went past the 1st round. We need to acquire top D, simple as that or no cup.

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No thanks for the most part, Garrison would be a beauty but he's staying in florida. I do agree that our D blows, but I don't agree with the players you are targeting. I also don't think a couple fringe defensive D fix the problem.

You mentioned LA and Boston, well they have absolutely insane number 1 defensemen that do everything and hardly leave the ice. we don't even have a number 2 in the system. That is the difference between their D and ours, our D is more balanced than nearly all the teams but our top end D are not even in the same ballpark as the teams that went past the 1st round. We need to acquire top D, simple as that or no cup.

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