NHL97OneTimer

Exactly my thoughts. This team cannot afford to go on a winning streak lol but the haul one could get for a healthy Demko that's not far from in-form could be a good thing moving forward.

I have to think you work with Schenn on this one. Give him a legitimate chance to win a cup again (and continue to grow leadership on a team which has it altogether) and play in a city he doesn't mind. I know it's all about what return we'd get but you have to factor on the return of him in the summer. If you send him somewhere he's not interested in, he's less likely to trust this organization enough to sign here again.

Trade him. Easy.

Honestly, trade him as soon as possible....as with Brock, as with Miller, as with Garland. Draft picks and cap space. Cap space would be the key for me as that can be used to take expiring bad contracts for more picks which are badly needed at this point. While we suck, I'd like to see some nasty pieces of work on the team too.

With Ryan Reynolds changing the jerseys to a deadpool logo. Ottawa DeadPuckers. Someone please photoshop this

Bo signing quickly with the new team shows the character he has. Didn't drag the new city through the muddiness of free agency or pre-free agency. The fans get to be excited to have him locked up right away. We'll miss him and I hope he does really well....after we hopefully get a very good first rounder.

Thanks......and huh.....that doesn't sound great. I loved Miller's play last year but I hated the contract he signed. It definitely had a WTF ring about it.

It's pretty appalling to think about the number of years we've had dead cap space though (more like when did we not have dead cap space?!!!). But I agree with Stillman to a point.....it's very short-term at a time when we shouldn't be worried about bringing in expensive assets anyway. If they can't trade him or lose him to waivers without dead cap space, then this makes good sense. I just hope the Canucks find a way to create a lot of cap space in the next 6 months because that can be a huge asset to bringing in good draft picks and prospects without giving up more players (e.g. take on bad contracts that expire like Arizona did with us, but with draft picks or prospects in return).

It doesn't matter what they call it, even if they don't rebuild / retool, he may head elsewhere regardless at this rate. One would hope JR / PA have the foresight to have a new contract in place well before the last TDL. If we lose EP, we better do it at a time when we get maximum return.

I missed those comments......now I'm curious!

Agree

Ha, this reminds me of a Jim Jefferies clip on drunk God at a party....

No buyout please. Surely we can get some assets for him. Better to retain salary than buyout, no?

Sure we dodged a bullet, but we've already been hit with this same bullet with Miller's contract. That should be #1 on the master plan moving forward if there's hope for a proper rebuild / retool. I liked Bo a lot, as I did Miller a year ago........but you just don't win cups with either of those two at those contracts.

Interesting article after I wrote my comments.....it seems this author seems to link tradiing Demko with a decision to rebuild vs retool. This was my perspective. But I do agree that trading EP would also signify a rebuild.....but a rebuild doesn't have to mean losing EP. https://nhlrumors.com/nhl-rumors-the-canucks-to-trade-luke-schenn-brock-boeser-and-maybe-thatcher-demko-if-they-got-a-haul/2023/02/05/

If the goalie's gone, the captain's gone, and they're trying to get rid of Brock, Garland and Schenn, it's a rebuild. Retooling is like tinkering.....not taking out the backbone of the club aside from 2 good players. The #1 goalie, for the Canucks especially, is part of the top core of the team. When you say good-bye to that piece without having a legitimate #1 in the wings, that is it for this core and this team for a number of years. Management can use the word retooling to not get the owner's knackers up to his throat, but when you remove most of the core, that's a rebuild.

The cap really limits most teams though. I'm sure most teams would love him on their team but can't afford him. Vancouver's one of them.

True...just not sure that Vancouver would want him back. You never know but it's a risk.

My point is that there's no point in keeping him as we won't be competitive......so getting rid of him would signal the capitulation is complete. EP is young enough on the team to be considered part of a rebuild in my books. Not Demko. We could draft a top scorer this year to replace EP but we can't draft a goalie and have him ready in 2-3 years. Big difference. But we're splitting hairs here. Losing either is a signal which would state the obvious truth to the situation.....they're starting over regardless of what they call it.

I was waiting for this nugget. It's tricky for him to come back here. On one hand I recall reading that he missed home. On the other hand I recall him complaining about how he was used by the coaches. The latter breaches trust and that's tough to repair. As much as a free asset would be desirable, I can't see them wanting him here.

A lot of speculation but not a lot of meat on that bone. I think it's easy for us to sit in armchairs and complain like half the world complains about politics, but there's so much that happens outside of the public eye that we have to give a little faith that someone actually made it into the office and made a few calls.

Moving your top player is very significant, but moving your #1 goalie without another option to carry the team is a clear rebuild. Demko has shown he can carry a team through the playoffs. No other player on the team can do that. The thing about Demko (injuries aside), he's now at an age where we hoped the team would have been entering a peak cycle. Since we're on a decline, Demko's age does not time well with what will likely be another 4+ years before we're competitive. So there's no point in keeping him right now if we have a chance to get the return we'd like to see.

Agree.....I think he'd have to come back and show good form in order for us to retain any value in a trade. The good news is that there's probably no rush. If a team rolled the dice this season with a high draft pick, great......but next year is more probable. Besides, if they trade Demko, this is officially a rebuild and not a retool......which makes the Miller contract that much more absurd unless they can offload that without penalties too.

Was there evidence that they didn't really know what other offers would have been or were already in play? It's hard to imagine that they jumped at the first offer after months of speculation that Bo would be traded.

Gamble?