[Discussion] Which forwards will be back for 2019-20 season?

[Rush17]

 

This is a fun little exercise I wanted to run through. Evaluating which players will most likely be back and who may be on the outs. I wouldn't be surprised if Jim lets a few of these guys walk or trades them to add 1 or possibly 2 more forwards in free agency. (If you disagree with the positioning of players feel free to suggest your placements! A couple of kids are in the MAY be back section. This is simply due to rumours circulating, last seasons play, and/or current contract status.) 

 

Players who WILL be back

Bo Horvat (Safe ✔)

Brock Boeser (Safe ✔)

Elias Pettersson (Safe ✔)

J.T Miller (Safe ✔)

 

 

Players who highly LIKELY will be back 

Tanner Pearson (Highly Likely ✔)

Jay Beagle (Highly Likely ✔)

Anton Roussel (Highly Likely ✔)

 

 

Players who most LIKELY will be back

Tyler Motte (Travis Greens poster boy of hard work)

Tim Schaller (1 year left - The Coach seems to like him for his jam)

Adam Gaudette (Promising kid who struggled to produce in his rookie season. Likely gets to earn a spot at camp.)

Sven Baertschi (Had a rough season with injuries. Likely returns to prove he can stay healthy and rebound. Low trade value ATM)

 

 

Players who MAY be back

Jake Virtanen (We have heard his name in trade rumours - unconfirmed Tyson Barrie talks)

Ryan Spooner (The team traded for Spooner thinking there may be upside left. Likely see him at camp and team will re-assess then)

Nikolay Goldobin (No word yet on a contract extension - Could return, could be packaged for a blueliner. - *Please let me know if he has a QO*)

Josh Leivo (Green seemed to like him. Likely comes back but could be a trade chip if they see an option to upgrade.)

 

 

Players who may NOT be back

Brandon Sutter (Limited centre roles - Could be a 4th line winger with Beagle until Roussel returns)

Markus Granlund (A utility player who didn't do much last season. Agent was supposed to be contacted by Jim this weekend. No word yet on a contract offer)

Loui Eriksson (Rumours his family have left Vancouver - He wants out. Good chance he isn't in Vancouver next season)

 

 

Top 2 categories are all but guaranteed imo. Aside from a crazy trade but based on Jim's loyalty to players and his love for the guys in those lists I don't see them going anywhere. Feel free to debate and question my placements!

Edited June 23, 2019 by Rush17

[ReggieBush]

Forgot about Baer. Could slot in nicely alongside Gaudette and Virtanen maybe

[Canckelhead]

I would like to see Baer traded and put Leivo, Goldy, or Virtanen a chance in top 6. Baer is just not gritty enough

[Sergei Shirokov]

I'd imagine Granlund would be back. Not really worth much. High utility player that green seems to like. Also doesn't like there is much coming from the farm in terms of help.

[McIlhargey the Lesser]

I would move Schaller down a bracket.  No one denies his jam, but aside from his two goal outing, he had his best offensive production playing with Bo, and I don't think anyone sees that as part of the plan moving forward.  He was signed at his salary for the offensive upside to his jam and that didn't really come through that much so I think he's a little more expendable than you've got him pegged in at.

Despite his injuries, I'm still pretty high on Baer.  He scores when he plays, and he plays a responsible game to boot.  Definitely a top six winger if he can stay healthy.  I know that health is the issue, but the last time we gave up on a player because of head injury issues he went on to win the cup with L.A. I just want to give this guy the time he needs to get 100% right and then let him be the guy.

I also think Marcus Granlund and Josh Leivo will slot into the most likely to come back.  These are good depth pieces that are somewhat versatile.  You win with them further down your charts, so long as they are not eating much cap nor being relied upon (which they have been).  These guys value has dropped in the Canuck fan estimation, not because of what they are, but because of what they've been expected to do on a team that doesn't have a solid top six.

I don't know about Spooner and Goldobin.  Could go either way I suppose based on outside interest and what they show in camp (this especially for Goldobin).

[JM_]

So much depends on the cap hits of the next d signing and Boesers deal that we'll actually need to shed a little cap space too.

 

But, thankfully this is do-able:

 

Buyout Spooner - 2.66 mil saved

Bury Schaller in the minors - 1.025 saved

Bury Loui in Utica - 1.025 saved (last resort of course but its a real option)

 

Saving 4.71 mll of cap space. 

 

That's not bad considering what shedding 5 or 6 mil of cap space costs these days. 

 

Hopefully we can just trade Loui but if not I see this as the most likely scenario. 

[Laoag]

Baring any other trades and FA signings i think we will look like this

Miller-EP40-Boeser
Pearson-Horvat-Baertschi

Leivo-sutter-Virtanen

Gaudette-Beagle-motte

granlund
Roussell (in the mainline up when healthy, swap with motte)

our of the players we currently have, this would probably be the best lineup we could ice. A healthy sutter with two quick straightlined wingers would be very good at shutting down and be able to get the odd goal here and there.

Decent forward group but this seems like an “IF” line up though,  IF Virtanen takes another step, IF sutter stays healthy, IF gaudette can start adding more to the team, IF baertschi can stay healthy... if those dont work out... if will be hard to score goals again, but we will at least be competitive.

It really is decent though, not bad. If we can find some other pieces and shed maybe sutter, move gaudette into the middle on the third  i think we could graduate from decent to good. It’s all about the D group though. How well can the D men move and distribute the puck? How many Pouliot type gaffs happen that get us hemmed in our own zone? 

which forwards being back and how we will look is a fun exercise but its all about that D-core this year. If Benning can pulling something decent off we could actually be good this year!

[mll]

22 minutes ago, ReggieBush said:

Forgot about Baer. Could slot in nicely alongside Gaudette and Virtanen maybe

He's not a good fit with them though.  Baertschi is a give-and-go player that likes to be fed right in the scoring areas.  Gaudette is not that kind of playmaker and he doesn't seem to see those same holes in coverage.  Maybe it's best to trade him and get someone that could fit better on that line.   At some point the team has to start moving out players who don't fit and find lines that have chemistry.  

 

[Rush17]

I found this video rather interesting. This guy is a good youtuber here in VANcity. 

 

 

He wants the losing to stop too. Really good insight kind of fits into this whole discussion. Covers D and G too. Recommend watching :D

 

[smithers joe]

i see the line-up more like;

miller...pettersson...boeser

pearson...horvat...gaudette

roussel...sutter...virtanen

               beagle

 

 

[coastal.view]

1 hour ago, Jimmy McGill said:

So much depends on the cap hits of the next d signing and Boesers deal that we'll actually need to shed a little cap space too.

 

But, thankfully this is do-able:

 

Buyout Spooner - 2.66 mil saved

Bury Schaller in the minors - 1.025 saved

Bury Loui in Utica - 1.025 saved (last resort of course but its a real option)

 

Saving 4.71 mll of cap space. 

 

That's not bad considering what shedding 5 or 6 mil of cap space costs these days. 

 

Hopefully we can just trade Loui but if not I see this as the most likely scenario. 

i appreciate your post and the thoughts

too easy for a thread to be about who will here and who won't

a person really needs to address the tougher question first

how will the players that you may not want to be here, be made to be gone

and simply saying buy them out, is not the best answer, as it shifts salary dead weight to years when we will really need the cap space

i like what you have suggested

Edited June 23, 2019 by coastal.view

[Sbriggs]

1 hour ago, Canckelhead said:

I would like to see Baer traded and put Leivo, Goldy, or Virtanen a chance in top 6. Baer is just not gritty enough

Baer is one hit away from being done, I'd trade him for a box of beer at this point

[Sbriggs]

1 hour ago, Laoag said:

Baring any other trades and FA signings i think we will look like this

Miller-EP40-Boeser
Pearson-Horvat-Baertschi

Leivo-sutter-Virtanen

Gaudette-Beagle-motte

granlund
Roussell (in the mainline up when healthy, swap with motte)

our of the players we currently have, this would probably be the best lineup we could ice. A healthy sutter with two quick straightlined wingers would be very good at shutting down and be able to get the odd goal here and there.

Decent forward group but this seems like an “IF” line up though,  IF Virtanen takes another step, IF sutter stays healthy, IF gaudette can start adding more to the team, IF baertschi can stay healthy... if those dont work out... if will be hard to score goals again, but we will at least be competitive.

It really is decent though, not bad. If we can find some other pieces and shed maybe sutter, move gaudette into the middle on the third  i think we could graduate from decent to good. It’s all about the D group though. How well can the D men move and distribute the puck? How many Pouliot type gaffs happen that get us hemmed in our own zone? 

which forwards being back and how we will look is a fun exercise but its all about that D-core this year. If Benning can pulling something decent off we could actually be good this year!

I could live with most of what your saying except Sutter has to go. I would get rid of Baer as well simply because he's one hit away from being done

[Brovat]

Miller, EP, Brock

Leivo, Bo, Tanner

Roussell, Gaud, Virt

Motte, Beags, Granlund 

 

LE has to go one way or another. Send one of Sutter or Goldy away. Whoever doesn’t go and Tim can be around for injuries. 

 

For the emotional bunch I have no personal issue with Sutter. I just think he doesn’t fit into the new core and that between his injuries and lack of production for the Canucks he would be a better fit somewhere else. 

 

Looking at all those names they’re all hard workers and all play defense. Feels like things are looking up. 

 

If LE and Sutter went that would go a long ways in cap space for a d man. Just saying. 

[Brovat]

Haha forgot about Baer. Don’t even know anymore. 

[Gurn]

1 hour ago, Sbriggs said:

Baer is one hit away from being done, I'd trade him for a box of beer at this point

Every single player is one hit away from being done.

Crosby was in the same position, seems to have turned out ok.

[Sbriggs]

7 minutes ago, gurn said:

Every single player is one hit away from being done.

Crosby was in the same position, seems to have turned out ok.

Ok I'll give you that, but Baer is no Crosby and Crosby I'd continue to take a chance on but not Baer plus I think were going to need his cap space

[Chris12345]

32 minutes ago, Sbriggs said:

Ok I'll give you that, but Baer is no Crosby and Crosby I'd continue to take a chance on but not Baer plus I think were going to need his cap space

Yea that's basic risk reward. 

[Sbriggs]

31 minutes ago, Chris12345 said:

Yea that's basic risk reward. 

Exactly

[Glug Datt]

5 hours ago, Canckelhead said:

I would like to see Baer traded and put Leivo, Goldy, or Virtanen a chance in top 6. Baer is just not gritty enough

I wouldn't call Sven gritty, but he's not exactly a muffin either.. big problem with him is the whole concussion issue.. might change his game a bit? 

 

on the other hand, you list Leivo, Goldy & Virt as replacements.. Leivo is gritty I guess, but Goldy really isn't.. and Jake hasn't quite figured out how to use his size yet. 

 

Goldy at least has the skill, but will he even get a contract? either way, I'm not sure any of those guys are the top 6 solution you're hoping for..