Kootenay Gold

Gaudreau is not going to come cheap if they want to re-sign him. I am guessing they will try and do that but will need to move Monahan's contract if they can find a taker for him. Other player of note is Mangiapane who will also be looking for a big jump in his salary after a 30+ goal season. Canucks are not the only club that will have to juggle the roster in order to fit everyone in under the cap. Don't think Deadmonton is in much better shape either goaltending and D are still suspect.

When you look at how Tkachuk's contract was structured you can bet he will be asking for the moon this off season. His QO will have to be 9 mil or more unless the club takes him to arbitration. I am expecting him to sign somewhere North of 10 mil on a long contract.

I agree in part that he was outplayed. That being said; he is on an ELC and the Canuck's needed to do more to ensure that Silov's was getting games somewhere and were, IMO, very slow in making that happen. Glad to see he is having some success in the ECHL and I do wonder if he will be recalled to Abby for insurance backup once the playoffs start

None of these questions are relevant right now. At his present stage of development the answer would probably be no to all of the above. Does he have the "potential" to be better than Brock.... yes. Lots of work needs to be done on Aidan's part to improve all aspects of his game, especially his skating. Just how much he can improve in the next year or two will determine where his NHL future lies.

You will not get him for that price. The best the Canuck's could probably hope for would be to take him to arbitration or trade him. Even if they took him to arbitration he can not be paid less that 85% of his actual earnings in his last season played. In other words $6,375,000. From Cap Friendly they can take him to arbitration in lieu of making him a QO.

I believe that the veteran rule still applies to the playoffs so that would need to also be taken into consideration when composing the lineup.

Both Pods and Petan were papered down so both are able to re-join the Abby club for a run at the Calder.

Now they just need to out point Bakersfield over the remaining games in order to gain home ice advantage. Crappy playoff format as the team lower in the standings does not get even one home game in a best of three playoff to start the Calder Cup run.

Dermott can play either side so that may be an option. I guess it all depends on how well he performs over the rest of the season.

Jack Rathbone checks all the boxes that management stated they were looking for; faster, younger and with exceptional hockey IQ and skating ability. No way you trade a guy like this over a 33 yr. old player who is on the downhill side of his very modest career. I fully expect JR to make the team out of camp next year. They will make room for him IMO.

I think that Petan was also papered down at the same time as Pod's

Abby has all but clinched a playoff spot as only the two bottom teams in the division don't make it. I believe Abby is just 3 games out of clinching. They just have SJ and Tucson to eliminate.

He will still have his business degree and can make a very good living away from hockey even if he has a bad year, gets injured or does not sign or be offered an ELC with the Canuck's. Not like it's the end of the world for him if things don't pan out hockey wise. Not the end of the world for the Canuck's either. He was, after all, a 7th round pick; so really a long shot from the get-go.

As much as I would have liked to have seen him signed and playing in Abby it probably makes more sense to him to finish college and get his degree. He probably knows that making it to the NHL is still very iffy and having the degree to fall back on just makes more financial sense to him for the long term. I still think he will sign next year once his college season is done. The Canuck's have plenty of time to sign him before he becomes eligible for UFA status in August.

IMO; he has out performed a number of 1st and 2nd yr. draft picks and is fully deserving of a ELC.

You best suck back some more whiskey Alf your starting to lose it Lol.

Actually Abby is is decent shape for making the playoffs so there should not be much of an issue to bringing either up for a few games before the end of the season IMO.

I see that the parent team only papered down Petan and Pod'z so they still have two more that they can call up. My guess would be Lockwood and Rathbone..

Management indicated that they want the team to be younger and faster. Chiasson is neither. Lockwood; on the other hand is both younger and faster and also cost controlled for a few years. He is the most likely replacement over Chiasson.

Frankly; I don't see Chiasson on the team next year one way or the other.

You do realize that waiting till the end of the season would have resulted in him likely walking to free agency and getting nothing in return. His value to a contender goes to zero once the trade deadline has passed. Best to trade him now while they can still get something in return for him

That added cap space is not nothing. As for the two good players; Yes they are decent players but in order to free up cap space sometimes hard decisions have to be made. Hamonic barely played for the team this year and really was not much of a factor in the team making a run for the playoffs. As for Motte; I really liked what he brought to the table but we may never know if he was even thinking on playing here on a cap friendly extension or was firm in his wish to test free agency. My thought is that management is looking at possibly having a line of Highmore, Lammikko and Lockwood for next season if things work out in next years preseason. It would be a fast skating in your face line with a very cost effective cap hit. Richardson is not the player he once was but should be able to fill in for the balance of the season in place of Motte. He is not fast by any means but still has positional savvy to partially make up for that.. Dermot is a relative unknown to me as I have not sen him play very much. He too may be just a place holder till the off season; time will tell.

On a Cap strapped team just what were you expecting???

In a cap free world he probably would still be a Canuck but paying a 4th line winger 2.5+ mil / yr was not in the cards. The play of Lammikko likely made Motte expendable. Richardson is just a stop gap to fill for the balance of the season when more moves to the roster are very likely.

But of course ..... and the Coilers retain 9 mil/ yr of his salary