nuckster33

my read is no one has any idea who we will draft and 235 pages of the same thing is stupid

Really? are you Benning?

Please carry on talking about Shinkaruk being moved when I have stated categorically I know for a fact he will not for any move up. this is FACT. I have said I will no divulge how I know this but you can spend more pages and pages talking about it to make yourselves feel like NHL 14 GM's ... Guaranteed, I KNOW THIS, and after the draft, please do check this thread where I will tell all the trolls who respond to this comment, that I told you so... Carry on.... Package some more of our best young assets when we have very few for a maybe...this is exactly what Benning is going to do lol wow....I didn't even need a source to know this, a brain and logic could have told me that...

Shinkaruk and or Tanev and or Jensen and or Kassian WILL NOT be moved in any deal to move up. I Guarantee it. Firstly CDC needs to learn this is not NHL 14 . Linden and Benning are not all horned up so they can say we got first! We got first! Look ma we got first! Do I get a ribbon now?!!! They will make a trade if it makes sense. And making sense is not trading your best prospects for another prospect, especially when you don't have many high end prospects. These men understand drafting is a crap shoot so you don't concentrate more risk by removing your diversification! Simple. Finally .. As I said I guarantee it and I know this for A FACT. I cannot say where I got it from and I am sure the adolescents here will say don't say it didn't happen / no source. And well ya I'm not here to play who's in grade seven either I guarantee what I just said is a FACT from a source that would KNOW for a fact that this is the case. After draft day I will tell all the trolls who bark at me after this post, that I told you so.

  Ya, such a stupid idea to put a big, speedy, physical winger on any of those guy's wing hey? lol...show's how little you understand about hockey. The guy is not a plumber buddy, he has hands, can skate, but was just constantly injured here and never got on track. If he simply plays the way he did in the back half of last year (hitting anything that moved, and HARD, going to the net, playing well on the wall, and forechecking hard), well you see that does something for those players I mentioned, its called creating space. If you create even a second more for the players I mentioned to make a play, the puck will end up in the opposition's net more frequently. That's the value he would bring...I guess you didn't realize he was 2nd in hits on the Canucks (and only by a few less), despite playing alot fewer games than Kesler... On a team that lacked physical play, we are going to be getting rid of both our leading hitters lol.. Now you might want to think about his value again, ie creating room for some superstars with the ability to actually put the puck in the net if he gets a chance, and his hands will come back, players who score high 20's and 30's don't lose their hands.

I can see the Isles, NJ, Calgary, Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, any host of teams looking for a low cost moneyball reclamation player giving him a chance. He finished the back half of last season well enough to show at 2 mil he can bring value to a team and provide potential for upside still. Someone in need of a big winger who can skate, and potentially score if he finds his game will give him a shot. I really see NJ and NYI being very interested in grabbing him....NJ simply because they need the potential he can bring, hope of finding his scoring and he's big enough to play their style. NYI, heck maybe he can play on the left side of Tavares and find his game? Left side of Crosby or Malkin? He won't look bad on those teams....

regardless of his religious beliefs, who really cares man. End of the day, his on ice performance warranted that he go bought out. its too bad, i am sure he'll get a try out w a number of teams and stick somewhere wish the guy the best and hope he can find his game and re-establish his career, no need to slander anyone... just didn't work out in vancouver

Oh well all the Burr haters are going to be spazzing now... Clearly the team is making some cap moves and this was the low hanging fruit, as they say...Didn't mind Booth the last 1/2 of last year but given he had 2.5 years of not so great performance he was the best choice. Interesting to see what's next, and interesting that his happened NOW...means other moves are likely on the way and Benning wants the flexibility...

  A Canadian hockey player that doesn't want to play in Canada Definition of a guy who doesn't want to compete. No thanks

  Strength can be developed yes, but I do think his showing at the combine may cause him to drop. Issue is more of his style (I am saying the above never seeing him play so I am qualifying my comments here), if he has shown he has great leg strength/core strength and is hard to knock off the puck (ie like a Crosby), there will be no worries. If however, he plays a very fast game and his speed is what creates his oppty's and he can't fight off physical play, (aka Raymond) well then it could be an issue. Where he goes after the combine will really come down to which scouts have seen him the most, and seen how we can handle physicality...

  Sorry but NO ONE has ANY CLUE what has been offered by any team to the Nucks for Kesler yet. It is purely speculation and media hype and twittering....please don't say 'pull the trigger' when no one has any clue They will make a smart trade and are the right people to be doing it, they aren't here to give us something to yammer about over the summer. And they don't need to rush anything either. The more time that passes towards the draft, the more teams will get worried. Reality is, even with Spezza or Thornton (maybe) available, Kesler still brings a lower cap hit, and a more balanced game to any team wanting him. Moreover, any team needing a 2c that can play a shutdown/defensive/physical game - aka playoff hockey - NEEDS kesler.... Therefore, the price goes up. Understanding the other side's needs in a negotiation is key. Yes those two players are available but do they solve Anaheim/Chicago/Pitts issues? No chance

Trading Horvat plus potentially Nylander / Virtanen / Ritchie for a maybe So 2 maybes of high skill for 1 maybe of high skill when NO ONE HAS ANY CLUE HERE HOW ANY OF THESE PLAYERS WILL DEVELOP, NOR DOES ANY NHL TEAM, NOR IS REINHART = CROSBY/MALKIN LEVEL IS PURE AND UTTER STUPIDITY AND THOSE SUGGESTING THAT (OR MORE LIKE TANEV PLUS 6) FOR A TEAM SHORT ON YOUTH NEED TO HAVE THEIR HEADS EXAMINED oh, and get away from NHL 14 gm mode please, the real world is not the same as your game

I think my point about forwards creating traffic has alot to do with Defensemen's shooting percentage as well. As you may or may no realize, most goalies in the NHL will stop most point shots if they can pick them up visually relatively early. When screened, or having to change their position to see the shooting lane (have to look around players and move), this is often when a shot from the point will find a way in. Not many players, including even Chara, Weber and Subban are able to simply wind up from the point and hammer it home when the goalie sees it. It's a combination of getting it on net, putting it in a tough spot (which is often dictated by the defenders and if they are filling the shooting lanes) and traffic. This is also why, soft shots will often find a way in, and not the big Garrison bomb's. If the goalie can see it, most of the time from that distance, he will stop it. If the defender is getting shots through traffic, which clearly based off Baggins's stats, our guys surprisingly are, and are better than that of many league leaders in defensive scoring, the only other rational explanation is, the goalies are obviously seeing the puck early. If the goalies are seeing the puck early, logic tells us, our forwards are not getting to the hard spots and creating traffic and screening. In addition, given we had our lowest scoring group in history last year (or close to it), again logic says, our players are not going to the hard areas to score. We all know, the cliche 'greasy goal' is often what it takes right? Greasy goals come from traffic. Based on that, its pretty obvious our defensive group was not an issue in terms of our offense last year. It was our forwards, who also played very poorly in our own end. Given the above, if we get 6 and 10 this year, I'd love to see us grab both Nylander and Ritchie/Virtanen as I do think last year is showing we do need guys with the size who can get to the net (if 2011 didn't show us and and LA didn't), and that they are ALWAYS VALUABLE, no matter what era we're in.

yup!

  I doubt it bc the sixth is actually highly valuable to anyone trading down. You don't trade down far enough to lose the guy you want and you get other value. I do not however see a need to move up and lose 6 and any existing youth, ie Tanev, Jensen, Kassian, Shink, Horvat, Corrado etc, its simply trading 2 young talented players for one and when some of those guys are proving they can play. Tanev is a top 4 clearly, Kassian has shown he can become a top 6 if keeps improving, and Jensen has shown albeit briefly he can play and score at the NHL level, Corrado will play at the NHL level likely 3/4) plus a draft pick is silly, esp this year is a crap shoot. Now if its Tanev and 6th for first and we draft Ekblad AND we make a deal where we have Anaheim's 10th/24th and another young player for Kesler, it may make sense as you are arguably upgrading Tanev to Ekblad who will bring more. Just don't like the idea of swapping youth (that's proving itself) for youth that hasn't, on a team lacking a pipeline of youth, totally counter intuitive! That being said there are alot of moving parts and my guess is they will want to move Kesler before the draft so they have a good view of the position they are in to trade up etc prior (as Kesler won't be waiving to go to any team picking before us).