wren223

Im happy for Markstrom and Tanev. I want the Flames to do awful still though. I currently appluad Benning for not doing these deals. Remains to be seen if he now throws money at god awful Barrie or some other floatsome. Markstrom and Tanev wanted term and that just wasn’t a good idea. Everyone bemoans Eriksson’s deal and that’s what these would have become. It would have cost us Demko and handcuffed the team going forward. Stay the course right now. If it means we are a bit worse next year then so be it. Another reason why making the playoffs this year and getting that pick in the Miller trade sorted out was so important.

Hard pass on anything involving Boeser for Dumba. That injury seems to have lingering effects. I’d wait and see. the cap is flat, why take chance on a six million dollar dman that’s not shown he’s recovered from his injury? There are other defensemen that could be targeted with far less risk.

Hughes chirps him Go to about 1:45 of the clip. I love how Hughes gives his body and takes the hit, a nice little elbow to the head as he goes down, to make the play. Then he sits and watches the play....what does he say to the Blue’s player? I can’t catch it but he chirps him for sure. Little smile on the face and a little trash talk as he gets up. Great pass, great goal!!!

Now this is near impossible for JB to pull but how about picking up Zaitzev + Kapanen. Then flipping Zaitzev + 1.5 million retained to a team looking for D and getting a decent pick or trading to Vegas for Miller as they are up against the cap? Is the retaining enough to make Zaitzev an interesting enough 5/6 Dman? We have the cap room to eat that 1.5 for a few seasons and then we aren't stuck with that horrendous player but uses our cap to make a deal for a pick or maybe a trade to Vegas with something else added in. As for LE, shop him to a team like Ottawa trying to make the cap floor. Pay his bonus and retain some salary to make it appealing for Melynak (sp). I'd like to see Spooner dumped too. Granlund I don't know what to do with yet.

Ya, I agree. I don't think JB's best quality is his trades or signings. He seems to struggle in those areas but I'd say his drafting is good and I'm interested to see how this draft turns out. I'm hoping BPA in first round and then see what he digs up in the later rounds.

If he was getting paid to take one it could be played as using cap space. Optically the Zaitzev contract would be one he can't afford because it is too long on a player that isn't playing up to the contract. JB can't be seen to take on another porject/reclamation. The leafs think Zaitsev shouldn't cost them anything to trade so I don't think they are throwing in anything extra to make it happen. That's the only way JB imo can take the contract on is if there is something extra coming to him, but there won't be. I've had to watch Zaitsev play the last three seasons and it has been hard to see. He isn't a very sound defenseman. He isn't an upgrade on what Van has now.

I agree. JB needs to make some kind of move, but a smart move. For starters no Zaitzev. He is a terrible defenceman. The give aways, the lapses, the missed plays and just poor play and the over paid long contract just makes that a no go. He's a bottom end D man. The leafs won't throw in anything good. Dubas is so high on how amazing he is portrayed to be that he'll expect Van to give up more to get Zaitzev. So moves like this are bad calls, too long of a contract for too poor of a player. Over pay but do it for a year or two not longer. Same should go for an UFA signing we make. Overpay but don't do it for more than a season or two.

Yes. A hundred times yes!!!! ML isn't a player we need. Not at the price and the contract. We can get a fourth line tough player for way less and at a way better deal. And why is LE for ML the only trade that makes sense????? The oilers aren't the only team out there. If Benning made this trade for anything less than ML+1st (or something close to a first like Dobson) then he should simply be done. This trade doesn't even come close to needing to happen. Only should if the sweetener is so good you can't walk away, and EDM isn't going to do that.

I think we need to back this all up a bit and just ask, 'why do we have to trade LE for ML?". We don't! LE can be traded to a team other than the Oilers, it isn't like he is untradeable or anything. Retain salary, pay his bonus and trade him to a team trying to make the cap floor but not wanting to spend a lot of actual cash. Can also just not trade him if nothing is out there and then send him to Utica. He doesn't go then deal with it then. Why do we need a player like Lucic? He;s tough and hits? Who cares! We can get that a way less of a price than 6 million a year and not have to have a NMC.NTC in it. Yes, LE ripper the coach and basically has to go but we don't have to eat a bad...horrible contract to do it. Everyone talks of a sweetener making it worth it but the Oilers aren't going to give anything up. They'll throw in like a fourth or fifth rounder or some C level prospect. They are in a bad way and can't give away decent players or picks. SO don't expect much but this is going on so long that it's almost like Van has to do the trade, like it is a forgone conclusion that they make this trade. How about put the breaks on and go, 'Swap firsts and give us someone good or give us your first or else no thanks.' Why are we getting a player with little offense, let's be serious as well that ML isn't going to suddenly find his scoring touch in Van, aging and with a horrendous contract that forces us to protect him on a young rebuilding team? This makes little to no sense. Much like Benning being rumoured to be sniffing around Zaitzev. No! We don't need these horrible, over priced bad contracts for subpar players. We have enough of them already.

I can't stand the thought of having the anchor that is Lucic's contract on the team for four more years! It is so much more dreadful.

That comment wasn't about Zaitzev. It was about Nylander and how Dubas said he wouldn't trade him while he was GM, yet Nylander has no clause preventing it. So, might be funny to see later if he gets moved. I agree with King Heffy that his poor play and large contract make it hard to trade him at the moment.

All I've heard reported is he wants out for personal and off ice issues. You're right that on most any other team the media would be digging and pushing to find out what that all meant. You also know somethings up when you see Dubas talk about it and he totally skirts the issues and just says they're trying to be the good team and help the player out. It's all about the player. The media around the leafs don't seem to want to touch it so so be it. They just want to crow how amazing Dubas is, how smart and talented he is and how he's learn from Lou and took it all in and is destined to be the best GM out there. I think if teams are smart they won't deal with the leafs for a bit, past June 26 when Marner can speak to other teams. Leafs want to dump Marleau on the Kings but if I was the LA I'd hold out and wait until Marner is offer sheeted or Kappanen or another leaf is offer sheeted and then when they are desperate go in for a much better deal. The leafs are competition and I'd be doing them no favours, wait until they are forced to make a move from desperation and then you can ask for more. Dubas wants Marleau gone because someone offer Marner 10.8 - 11 million and someone offered Kappennen and Johansen (sp) as well then he'll be a lot more motivated to get something done so he has control and power with those other deals. It was noted that say a team like Nashville offer sheeted Marner and leafs couldn't match that yes it is a lot of first round picks put Nashville should go deep each year and you are talking low 20s and up for picks for a few seasons then the leafs got ripped as those are almost second rounders and don't come close to equalling the value of Marner. It'll be an interesting time coming up.

Also using the media to make Dubas look like such an amazing guy. He isn't trading Zaitsev because he's a horrendous defender but because Dubas is a great guy and when he was told Zaitsev wanted out for personal reasons he just had to step up to make it happen. Nothing to do with on ice performance or salary cap issues. Wow, that Dubas is such a great guy. Maybe we can give him our first round pick for Zaitsev?.....no? Also be interesting to see what happens in a few years if Nylander isn't doing so great because didn't Dubas say he'd never be moved while he was GM of the leafs? Such a nice guy....oh wait Nylander didn't get a NTC/NMC? Well, let's see how that plays out. But boy, that Dubas is so nice.

I remember that July 1st and the LE signing was seen very differently from today. Most fans were going insane that we had to sign one of the big names. We had to have Lucic but then ED got him and people were mad, then JB signed Eriksson and crisis averted. He'd just had a great year in Boston and it seemed a good signing if we were big game hunting which was supposed to get us a little bit more playoff action before the Sedins were done. It seemed a good idea but fit right into that 'big year on the contract year' situation where afterwards it wasn't worth it. There was a lot of pressure on JB to sign one of the big FAs and he did. If he hadn't people would have lost their minds. So its a damned if you do and damned if you don't sort of deal. That all being said there is no way we should entertain a Lucic for Eriksson trade unless it has Lucic waving and not having his NTc/NMC honoured by the Canucks. Why the heck would we protect this plug over a younger player in the expansion draft? ED's 8 OA pick comes pack and we send nothing else. Why would we do ED a favour and help them out? They signed Lucic who everyone knew was going to get old and slow, so they can suffer or pay to get out of it. If that deal isn't to ED's liking then cool we will keep LE. He can go to Utica and ride the bus for the next few seasons and maybe we can trade him later. We don't have to trade him this minute, Van isn't in a cap trouble situation so we can wait it out. Again, why do ED any kind of a favour...because Lucic wants to come here and wants out of ED? Who cares. Same goes for Zaitzev in TO we don't need that kind of contract at all, and TO won't put anything good in. No one is going to help Van with LE so we don't need to go help someone else unless it benefits us. We just aren't in a bad enough cap situation that we can't sit on LE a bit longer.

That'd be sweet enough for me but somehow I don't think they'd go for it. I've seen suggestions of Lucic + 8 for Eriksson + 10. I think that is one hell of a price to pay to move up two spots in a draft were 4-15 can have a lot of play. I guess it's how bad does Edmonton want out from Lucic but would getting out from him and taking Eriksson back really be a big enough win to get that first?

With ours going back or just theirs coming to us?

That's all I was cautioning against. What do you think Edmonton is willing to throw in to make it a sweetener? What would it take to make this deal sweet enough to palate?

Read this too and was just shaking my head. Why would anyone in the Canucks organization think this was a good idea? Lucic is big, slow (and only getting slower) and expensive. He takes a roster spot from a possible young player. His contract is a year longer. He doesn't score. He has a ntc that means come the expansion draft we have to protect him. He hits....sometimes but why pay a lot for that service. The team could easily sign someone in the off season to do that. Edmonton would have to sweeten that pot a whole lot for the trade to come off. There is also the chance that you could trade Eriksson to a team like Ottawa. I'd explore that long before I'd take Lucic's contract on.

Would rather not trade for a guy that I hope that a new CBA will give me the option to buy out. Why put yourself into that situation and hope a solution presents itself later. No thanks.

Weightwise right? He's 6'2"ish which is a good height but he is small in body size at the moment. That can be remedied. I can see that. If he dominates what more is there for him to gain right? I agree. I still think there is big value in him playing against men. I think the adapting to NA ice doesn't have to be done in a whole season in Utica or it being a big reason for him to be in Utica. He is smart and he will figure that out quickly I think. I'd be of mind to let him keeping playing against men in Sweden. He is good enough for the NHL and get decent minutes then bring him over to make the transition to the NHL. I don't think he'll benefit that much from the AHL other than say controlling his diet, workout routine and training a little more to bulk him up. I'd say that's the big debate for me is bringing him over to control all that or letting him do it in Sweden playing against men. Tough call but I'm sure Benning will make the right one. Heck, EP may say he wants to be in Utica next season.

When he was first drafted I wasn't sure but getting to watch him play was great. This kid is smart, very very smart. He has skill, brains and drive and will be a gamer in the NHL for sure. He needs to fill out a bit but he's still a kid. I think him playing in Sweden next year is a great idea. Tougher competition, playing against men and he gets a ton of ice time and responsibility. Let him develop slowly. Having him go to Utica and have so-so linemates or in the NHL but playing limited minutes isn't worth it. Let him stew a year then bring him in and see how he pans out. I think Benning may have been right about this kid's skills and IQ and im excited to see him grow and develop and become a number 1C.

So many comment on his skating and flaws, yet he's one of our prospects. Where is the support? He isn't super fast at skating but he never got beat or seemed to lag behind or cost anyone a play because he was slow. So I don't think his skating is that bad. It is something that can be improved and he seems very self aware and I suspect he will focus on this in offseasons. The guy wants to play and make the big show so he will figure out what's lack and go at it. He is a good penalty killer, I'll take that on our team for sure. He had solid positioning and was aggressive when he needed to be but not dumb where he got out of position and burned. He, and the team, communicated well. There were several times in games you could see him point or yell out info about incoming players, where a puck was. I think this is a big skill for him. He's got some smarts and knows how to use it. He gets in front of the net. Saw him parked on the door step constantly and he's hard to get out of that area. He won't just be pushed around. He has some nice hands as well and makes some plays in tight. The pass he made to I believe Kyrou was very solid and showed good awareness of others on the ice. He belonged on team Canada, he filled specific roles but he wasn't lost like McCabe was in the Olympics that year (embarassing). He knew what was expected and did it and did it well. He wasn't flashy and didn't make highlight reels but if you watched the games he was in the right place doing the right things and playing solid hockey abd being a threat on a third line. Tha'ts important and something I think Van can sorely use. A tough, smart, hard working player who does what's asked and gives his all. You need guys like this throughout the line up to go deep in the playoffs. I'm pumped he's ours and congrats to him for winning a gold medal.

Hahaha that'd be awesome but I somehow I don't think that'll happen.

Would you do it only once Benning is on the clock so we know exactly who is left or do it now?

What do people think of the chance Benning moves back in the draft? He spoke about it on TSN radio the other day, and there was another thing about him mentioning it in Chicago either this morning or yesterday. How far back would people be willing to go? What does he charge to move back?