BigTramFan

We have too many bottom 6 forwards right now. But if we could clear some of those guys out I would be looking at someone like Nick Shore who would be a good 4C to replace Sutter or Beagle at a quarter of the cap cost. Great faceoff guy, defensive forward. Cheap and reliable.

If Severson was on the Canucks team I would rank the D as follows: Hughes > Edler > Tanev > Severson > Myers = Stecher > Fantenberg > Benn You didn't ask me, but I have watched Severson closely this season and he is developing well. But he still has a lot of errors in his own end. When comparing to current Canucks I would say that his game is most similar to Edler's. He has some size that he uses a little, but not as much as he should. He plays an all round game and he eats a lot of minutes. His offense is pretty good, he still needs to develop in his own end. There is no question in my mind that Edler is a much better player at the moment. Severson is much younger and will likely improve to become a similar level player to Edler in his prime. Tanev will likely always be a better defensive player than Severson. Severson has better size than Stecher and better offense than Myers. I don't think the Devils will do Severson for Virtanen. DS is a good young Dman on a great contract. It would require something more like Boeser to get Severson (shades of Hall for Larsson...no thanks)

Compliance buying out of Loui is a no brainer. I can't see management buying out Myers. Even if it is not counted towards the cap, they will still have to pay the guy about $19m of his $23m remaining on the contract. So although it might look like a nice way to clear cap, they aren't going to spend $19m just to clear some space.

Toffoli has scored 30 goals only once in his career. It was 4 years ago. He is still a good player but Boeser projects to have a better future than Toffoli. I would hope that JB keeps them both. Tanev gets injured because he puts everything on the line for this team. Usually blocking shots. He has been quite healthy this year and I believe this has to do with the way that he plays with Hughes as a D pairing.

Severson is a good target, but the idea of this thread was: 81,500,000 to spend. only canucks that we own. removing whoever you want. Tanev is the best defender that the Canucks own, so it is a no-brainer that he is in my lineup under the above conditions. However, if it was up to me to build a contender I would have traded Tanev (50% retained) + Stecher to TOR for a 2020 1st and Ceci a few months ago when Reilly and Muzzin were on IR and TOR were desperate to stay in the race. Canucks probably would not have made the playoffs, but our team is not ready to contend and I would have banked the asset. This would have given us two 1st rounders in the 2020 draft. Stecher will likely walk after this season anyway, and we could have resigned Tanev in the summer as a UFA.

Miller Pettersson Boeser Pearson Horvat Toffoli 6 Roussel Gaudette 3 Virtanen 3 Ferland Beagle MacEwen 1.4 (Motte 1.5) Edler Myers Hughes Tanev 5 Tryamkin 3 Stecher 2.5 (Rafferty) Markstrom 6 (Demko) Cap hit about $81m

Couple of good suggestions there with Severson and Edmundson...getting both would be a significant upgrade over Stecher and significant age reduction over Tanev. D corps next season could be: Edler Myers Hughes Severson Edmundson Tryamkin Benn Rafferty Doesn't look too bad, even without Tanev. Excellent mix of size, grit, offense, pushback. Also adding those two guys means we don't miss losing Edler so much the following season: Hughes Severson Edmundson Myers Juolevi Tryamkin Rathbone Rafferty

I agree that losing Eriksson, Sutter, Baer, Beagle and Roussel is not exactly "blowing it up" it is simply moving on from older players as they age out (perhaps 1-2 years before their contracts were planned to end) but that is no big deal. Even trading Boeser would not be overly surprising as long as the return is worthwhile. I would prefer we keep Boeser tho. And I personally would hold on to Beagle and Rous for now as they provide veteran experience for the bottom 6. Sutter and Eriksson have been outplayed by Gaudette and MacEwen, and they should be moved on. My sense is that it will cost a lot more than everyone thinks in order to move these bloated contracts. I don't think LE or Baer will retire. I would like to be surprised, but I don't think they will. RW is going to be an interesting position because if we resign Toffoli it will be quite crowded with BB, TT, and JV. I'm not sure we can afford to be paying for that amount of RW talent. Again though, Pearson's contract ends after next season and, if he walks, TT could switch to 2LW to leave our second line as Toffoli - Horvat - Virtanen. There are many permutations possible. In terms of D, it is going to be interesting to see what happens with Edler and Tanev. Will Tanev be resigned for a few seasons to try and reduce the impact of losing both Edler and Tanev. Will JB resign Edler to a short term and lower value contract after his current contract expires? Or will JB look to move on? It will not be so easy to replace those two. Dumba is not the answer. Perhaps in 1-2 seasons there will be some consistent performers coming through from our prospects/reserves list. Otherwise JB will need to find a trade to bring in a #2 or #3 Dman that can log big minutes, play PK, stays healthy and preferably has some size to clear the crease.

As far as I am aware this is a discussion forum for Armchair GMs. A major part of being a GM is dealing with cap issues. So are you trying to say we shouldn’t talk about this stuff? Haha If you have a problem with people posting on the forum then I suggest you stop reading the posts. Pretty simple. Last thing I would say is that your responses are not well thought out and parts of them are just plain wrong. If anyone is posting “off the cuff” without sufficient understanding it’s you. We are all Canucks.

I’ve got a good handle on the cap situation for the next two seasons. The biggest unknown is how much the cap will rise. Eriksson’s $6m is not “forced saving” in any way. Firstly, if we do nothing, his contract will still be here in 2021/22 right when we are trying to resign EP and QH. Even buying it out at the start of that season will only save $2m in cap hit. Secondly clearing Eriksson earlier (this off season) gives us the opportunity to pay more of the 2020/21 performance bonuses in that same year (expected to be about $4m) which will otherwise push into 2021/22 and will effectively reduce our cap space by another $4m. Together that is about $10m of space we won’t have in 2021/22 to resign EP and QH.

Thanks for your comments. But really if the main issue you have with the lineup is the 3rd D pairing then I think JB is doing well!!! In my original post I said that we will likely either resign Fanta for 3LD, or perhaps Tryamkin comes in instead. This means our third pairing could be Try-Raff or Fanta-Raff. I don't see a lot of difference between those two options. Fanta probably cheaper. Tryamkin probably has a more physical impact on play. I think the Dumba - Boeser trade has been done to death on this forum and the general consensus was that Minny says "no". Boeser is not a player I would trade anyway.

I would argue that Eriksson and Baer have negative value. Don't you agree with that? If they are allowed to remain on the books until they expire then this will negatively impact the team more than losing Virtanen and Benn. It will likely mean that we will not resign one or two of Marky, Tanev, Toffoli next season, and potentially impacts the resigning of Pettersson and Hughes. These guys are more important to the success of the Canucks IMO. The two assets (Virt and Benn) are the cost of clearing out the negative value (Eriksson and Baer). You may argue that the value is off, or that other assets could be used instead of Virt/Benn, or that JB has a magic trick up his sleeve. From my perspective I would rather lose Virt & Benn as assets, than giving up top prospects and picks because those assets will be more useful in the long term when Petey and Hughes have matured and are ready to lead us to glory. I think many people underestimate the cost of clearing cap from bad contracts. Most teams are not operating at cap floor anymore, the cost of clearing bad contracts is increasing. No one should be surprised if JB pulls out some deals similar to the two I proposed, because he will likely be forced to do so for the overall betterment of the team. If JB truly has a magic trick up his sleeve (such as an Eriksson retirement plan) then no one will be happier than this Nucks fan.

What value do you think you could get for Eriksson, Benn and Baer?

I'm not worried about it either, and JB will figure it out for sure. I just like to post ideas on a discussion forum in order to discuss them, so thanks for your reply and thoughts. Yep you are 100% right. JB could make those moves too. It's all down to who you wanna keep on the team. Obviously I would LIKE to keep Virtanen. However, I would rather resign Marky, Tanev, Toffoli, Gaudette; and to do that we really need to move all of Eriksson and Baer's cap hit out (not just save a million by waiving him to the minors). Virtanen is a valuable piece that could be used in a trade.

...and save about $1m...which are inconsequential savings at this point...

If you think jettisoning Eriksson's contract is "nothing" then I have no words for you... Realistically, unless there is some kind of "gentlemen's agreement" for LE to retire at the end of this season, then Virtanen is the kind of asset(s) we will have to give up to clear the LE contract. I don't believe there is any such retirement agreement.

This trade is proposed for the off season. DET only have 26 contracts for next season.

Thoughtful reply

Trade 1...in the off season as long as JB can sign Toffoli to a reasonable contract... To BUF: Virtanen + Eriksson (after signing bonus paid) To VAN: Future considerations BUF need forwards and currently only have 4 forwards signed for next season. Virtanen could be a fantastic young piece in their rebuild around Eichel and Dahlin. Eriksson is the price that BUF pays to be able to sign Virtanen long term. Eriksson has shown that he can still produce at NHL level and his cap hit is easily affordable for BUF (plus LE's salary cost is only $5m for the remainder of his contract). VAN needs to shed cap space for next season (i.e. Eriksson) and if they resign Toffoli they likely cannot afford to keep both TT and Virtanen in 2021/22 with the projected raises for EP and QH. Trade 2...also in the off season... To DET: Stecher + Benn + Baer To VAN: Future considerations DET need help on D for next season. They only have Nemeth, Cholowski on LD and Hronek on RD. Stecher could fill a major gap in the 1st or 2nd pairing as Seider continues developing. One year of Baer is the cost of acquiring two NHL Dmen. DET have a stack of young RFAs that require resigning, but they also have $35m in cap space. Baer could remain on the roster as 14th forward (replacing Gagner) or they could play him in the AHL. Either way DET can afford the small price of cap hit in order to recruit two NHL Dmen for their roster. Again VAN needs to shed cap. Tanev needs to be resigned which means we cannot afford to keep Stecher (likely replaced by Rafferty). Benn has been displaced by Fantenberg this season. Possibly we resign Fanta or Tryamkin returns to VAN. There is also Juolevi pushing for a place in the lineup. Canucks Lineup for Next Season: Miller Pettersson Boeser Pearson Horvat Toffoli Roussel Gaudette MacEwen Motte Beagle Sutter (plus Hoglander or Lind, if Ferland is on LTIR) Edler Myers Hughes Tanev Tryamkin Rafferty Juolevi Markstrom Demko

HKSR, I like your take on the cap situation because I think it is quite realistic and obviously the team retains key assets in Markstrom, Tanev and Toffoli. The salary values for resigning are reasonable. I would say that they may be a little on the low side, but I do believe that these players WANT to stay with the Canucks. Marky, Tanev, Virtanen have helped to build this team and will want to resign here to see what it can achieve. I believe that trading Benn and Baer will be reasonably straightforward (although we may need to add a sweetener to move Baer without retention - which is critical). Trading Sutter is potentially going to be more difficult because of his modified NTC where he can select 15 teams he cannot be traded to. This may be more of an issue than finding a team willing to accept his full cap hit. Finally, one other issue that JB will need to consider is the Ferland LTIR situation. If Ferland comes back healthy and starts playing on the roster then JB will need to work out how he fits him in under the cap. It could be a tricky situation...

The Blues have some decisions to make and RD is one of them. Pietrangelo, Faulk and Parayko are a formidable right side, but can the Blues afford to spend around $22m for 3 x RD? I say no. They will want to resign Pietrangelo and that will cost them around $10m+. They have to move out some contracts to afford Piet. They have just resigned Faulk to a $6.5m x 7 year deal. So I think, as long as they can get the Piet deal done, Parayko is on his way out of STL. My sense is that Parayko is available for the right price. However, the Blues will be looking for a high value, low cost return on Parayko. I don't think that is Boeser. I can't think of a package that would be attractive enough to STL to get a deal done. There are other teams better placed to take on Parayko's cap plus another cap dump (e.g. Bozak) in return for some top ELC performers, high end prospects, or picks.

I’m wondering if a deal may be able to be done with BUF in the off season. They literally only have four Forwards signed in 2020/21 and $34m in cap space. They could definitely use some NHL players to fill out their roster without giving up any assets. We may be able to swing a deal such as: Sutter (after signing bonus paid) Eriksson (after signing bonus paid) Baer Stecher RFA rights for future considerations. perhaps throw in a 3rd round pick. Would require Sutts and LE to waive their NTCs. BUF could use some vets like that in the short term to fill in while their youth develop. Stecher could be a good young piece for their blue line moving forward. Cap hit for Sutter + Eriksson + Baer would be $13.7m, but their salary is only $6.9m. Additionally... If JB needs to move Benn then perhaps Winnipeg is an option. They need cheap, reliable D as they only have 4 signed for next season and not much cap space to work with.

Hi, yes I was referring to your post, cheers I'm not really arguing whether the players are worth the salaries you suggested, and I am sure JB will work hard not to overpay because he is tight on cap. But I can't figure out where my total cap hit is different to yours. I have pasted below from cap friendly the 2020-21 season with a cap limit of $83m, if you're interested. Using the salaries you suggest that we resign our guys to, cap friendly indicates cap hit total of $81m. Unless you can show me where I mucked up?? This $81m certainly does not include performance bonuses. And what is clear is that we will be paying ALL of the performance bonuses from this season, next season. Nobody knows what the 2019-20 bonuses will come to yet, but they could be as high as $4.7m. I think you are assuming this season's bonuses might be about $3m, which is not a bad guess, however even $3m added to the $81m of cap hit, this brings us to $84m. And we cannot carry the 2019-20 performance bonuses over to 2021-22, they must be paid next season. In addition, this probably means that we are going to be tight to the cap limit next season (very likely over the cap limit and utilising LTIR for Ferland). And if this happens we will have to pay for the 2020-21 performance bonuses in 2021-22 (which is the season that Pettersson and Hughes will require resigning). It's potentially a bit of cluster.... JB has his work cut out for himself. At least we are looking like a competitive team for the first time in a long time. And fitting a team of good players into your cap limit is a good problem to have!

Agreed. The salaries are too low for everyone except Marky and Toffoli. Also OP - you have missed something because when I punch your resignings into Capfriendly for next season, I get a cap hit total of $81m. Maybe you have missed the Luongo recapture penalty or something? (please note: I assumed Stecher is not resigned, have used Rafferty as 7D since he is only signed for $700k, and have assumed Ferland is on LTIR so salary is not included in the $81m). If the cap goes up to $83m (and that is a big IF from what I have read) this actually leaves only $2m of space in 2020/21 for performance bonus overages from 2019/20. These may be more like $4.7m. To me this means that it will not be enough to just move Baer and Roussel. In order to resign our most important UFA/RFAs and cover up to $4.7m in bonuses overages next season, we will need to move Baer, Eriksson, Sutter. I sure hope JB has a plan!

We're not in the playoffs yet, so hard to say what Green will do in that situation. I bloody hope he would play an enforcer and MacEwen, over LE in the playoffs! Also I am not suggesting MacDermid plays every game, but someone like him could be useful playing specific games, providing toughness and energising this team. If you check his +/- MacDermid is not completely inept, he is a role player and he can actually score.