Hindustan Smyl

Your last point hit the nail on the head with regard to what I’m referring to. Will Benn and Stecher be used *temporarily* on the Top 4 when you consider the injury histories of Edler, Tanev, and Myers? I would argue that Benn and Stecher could be seeing a LOT of Top 4 duty at some point this season given the injury history of the aforementioned three players. Now obviously - injuries happen and are inevitable, but I think it might beehove the Canucks to bring in more QUALITY dman......especially when you consider that we now have more than enough depth to insure ourselves from injuries up front. Having said all that however, I guess it just depends. Can someone like Juolevi or Brisebois step up big time If either guy gets called up? If we’re thinking more long term, would a guy like Tryamkin be the perfect solution to my problem described above? Perhaps it’s not worth making a move? Who knows.

Not worth doing that from our end. At all.

Sorry, I should probably say one thing here: My post appears to be a little too antagonistic for Stecher and I feel that I should clarify: Guys like Stecher, Benn, and Hutton are guys that can fill in on the 2nd pairing, but aren’t guys that should be on your top 4 for a extended period of time. That’s the point that I was trying to make. The Canucks should bring in a guy that fits that bill. Will Juolevi be that guy? If so - when? Is Tryamkin still in the mix? If so - is he that guy? Does trading Virtanen get you that type of guy? All I know is that the Canucks could use a little more depth on D.

Jake Virtanen for the defensive equivalent (ie talented young dman that is currently playing in the NHL bit hasn’t lived up to expectations). THAT is the guy that I’d target if there’s anyone that fits the description.

The Canucks should consider trading one of their forwards for a defenseman. I am extremely impressed with the following: 1) Our goaltending depth: Elite prospect Demko backing up elite goalie Markstrom. 2) Our depth up front: Eriksson, Baertschi, and Goldobin can easily slot into the Top 6 if we get injuries up front. The presence of both Gaudette and Sutter within our organization ensures that we have enough centermen in case of injuries. Motte and Roussel give us depth on the bottom 6. So - in net and up front, I think the Canucks are light years ahead of where they once were. Our lack of depth on defense is still a concern to me. While the Canucks defense as a whole is vastly improved, the unfortunate truth of the matter is that 1) Edler, Tanev, and Myers are still injury prone D men. 2) While Benn and Stecher are significant upgrades over Pouliot, Gudbranson, Del Zotto, etc., they are still not top 4 calibre defensemen. If the Canucks are going to take the next step, I think they’ll need atleast one more dman that can play Top 4 Incase of injuries.....one that not only can “fill in” there, but actually be pretty decent. For example - maybe a dman that is slightly better than both Stecher and Benn......which would then make Stecher our #7. I know that would be unfair to Stecher given the years of service that he’s provided us, but Stecher being our #7 really would signify that this team is deep defensively. Think back to that 2011 team. Keith friggin Ballard was our extra.....and he was good enough to NOT look out of place on a top 4. That’s the kind of depth that I’m talking about. You had Edler, Erhoff, Salo, Bieksa, and Hamhuis. The current Canucks need one more “good” defenseman to really put themselves on the map in my opinion. Can someone like Juolevi develop into that guy sooner than later? Time will tell. I don’t know which current Canuck has the equivalent value of what I’m looking for (ie someone that is better than Stecher and Benn, but not as good as Edler, Tanev, Hughes, and Myers), but THAT is the forward that I’d look at trading. Does Virtanen get a defenseman with the above description?

I wouldn’t give up Juolevi or any other prospect. I had originally thought of trading Eriksson for Boychuk or Alzner, but that would actually cause us more cap problems long term. My best advice is as follows: 1) Be patient. Keep using Eriksson in the same way we are using him this year. 2) Send him down to Utica next year. After July 1st 2020, 31 of Eriksson’s 36 million will have been paid out to him. It’s far more realistic to believe that Eriksson would consider retiring at this time as opposed to right now. If Eriksson chooses to retire, we would then obviously be off the hook as far as his cap goes. Trading LE and retaining salary on him just extends our long term liabilities and long term obligations. Keep Eriksson around this year for depth (which seems to be an advantage for the Canucks this year) while the kids sizzle a little more on the farm, and then send him to the minors next season.

Give Miller-Pettersson-Boeser about a year or so to gel and grow, and I believe that these guys will come close to being as good as the WCE and Sedin-Sedin-Burrows.

Looks like you were wrong.

Still gonna go ahead and say that Electric Clutch was our best goal song ever.

I think Tryamkin will be in the 2.8-3.3 range, but I’m not entirely sure. Sutter gets 4.35 million if I remember correctly (I can’t access capgeek on my phone here in China).

Extending Tanev would be nice, but we have to be careful with how we spend our money. Petey, Hughes, and Markstrom will need to get PAID. Guys like Stecher, Virtanen, and Gaudette are RFA’s as well. What happens if Tryamkin wants to come back? I think it goes without saying that Important decisions will need to be made.

Yes. If we are realistically out of contention and have little to no chance of making the Wildcard.

I don’t feel comfortable moving Sutter until Gaudette absolutely starts owning that 3rd line C spot. Sutter is an excellent insurance policy to have Incase of injuries. For the first time in almost 5 years, the Canucks have respectable organizational depth that makes us far less susceptible to injuries........and you want to trade that away? No thanks from me. Only move players once we cross the bridge known as “the cap storm.” For now however, let’s use our depth to our advantage.

I don’t mind this deal at all, but would Honka be happy here being a 7th defenseman? Especially during an RFA year? I’m not so sure.

Scissors is a young, hard working, and effective 3rd line Center that is signed at an excellent long term cap hit. Nashville won’t be giving him up so easily.......especially for that package.

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements? 1) Josh Leivo is an ideal bottom 6 winger. 2) Jake Virtanen is being wasted away on the 4th line. If you agree with the above, then you might see a more “ideal” line-up looking like this: Miller-Pettersson-Boeser Pearson-Horvat-##### Ferland-Gaudette-Sutter Schaller-Beagle-Leivo Like I said in my initial post, Puljiu has shown absolutely nothing at the NHL level thus far, but we’ve also seen numerous instances of players leaving Edmonton only to blossom elsewhere. Puljiujarvi is still young, and has also been a PPG player in the league he’s playing in right now (whoop dee doo, but still.......). We also simply can’t ignore his potential. The one thing to consider to the above however, is that Podkolzin will be coming here one day and so our “solution” for 2nd line RW might already be within our system. What’s the old saying? Swing for the fences? Go big or go home? A guy like Bertuzzi didn’t figure things out until the age of 22-23. Naslund and the twins entered superstardom at the ages of 26. If Puljiu were to ever break out in Vancouver and live up to his potential, we’d go from being a wildcard calibre playoff team to possibly a top 1/3rd team.....maybe even higher.

Given our upcoming cap storms, I do wonder if someone like Gaudette could be used to recoup the first round pick that we traded away? I’m not saying that we should do that, but I’m wondering if that’s an option?

People in Lethbridge hate Calgary based sports team with a passion, lol. It’s hardcore Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Oilers nation down there.

An observation that often goes overlooked by the JD Burke cult, and the braying donkeys over at HF Canucks. Since our playoff loss in 2015, the Canucks have been a wildcard calibre playoff team for the most part - when healthy. They tended to free fall however when they had 1-2 key injuries (which is typical for a rebuilding team). As crappy as the contracts of Baertschi, Eriksson, etc., are, one minor advantage of those contracts is that they give us organizational depth. Not only that but we can easily send guys like these to the farm without really having to worry about these guys getting claimed.

No to Simmonds. He’s old and expensive and signed to a multi year long term contract if I understand correctly (I can’t access capfriendly or other team cap sites on my phone in China but I seem to recall him being signed long term). I’d keep atleast one of Goldobin or Baertschi for now since they give us some solid depth (for what seems like the first time in many years). If someone on our 2nd line gets injured for instance, guys like Baertschi, Goldobin, and even Eriksson could be decent fillers. The last thing I want after all these years is to see the Canucks freefall after a few injuries. Let us actually enjoy our depth for a change.

Holiday is good, but that song represents a different era of Canucks hockey. That song was synonymous with the Gillis/Sedin era and had it’s “day in the sun” so to speak. As far as the current song goes, I neither like nor dislike it. My favorite goal song was Electric Clutch - worry. One of the best goal songs in the league at the time in my opinion. I wish the Canucks had kept that.

I’d still like to see the Canucks get yet another defenseman if possible: As the OP mentioned, our D definitely looks much better this year but we still haven’t really faced any adversities in terms of injuries. If this decade has taught us anything about being a Canucks fan, it’s that injuries can and likely will happen to our defense......lots of them......:and to our key players when we need them the most. I’m not sure what kind of calibre defenseman Mark Pysk is, and where he’s fit into our line-up, but I’m interested to see what Florida’s asking price is.........and if Florida needs wingers (I have no idea what Florida’s needs are). I’d strongly consider making a Baertschi for Pysk deal. The Canucks get more depth to their defense while trading an extraneous part in Baertschi (Eriksson, Motte, and Goldobin can fill in if there are injuries up front).

My gut feeling tells me that Buffalo’s asking price for Risto will be far more than what the Canucks would be willing to give up. I can’t see a deal taking place at all. I’m not entirely sure what Florida’s needs are, but If they are in need of more wingers, I’d kick the tires on a Baertschi for Mark Pysk type deal. I have no idea if that’s fair or not.

About 4 years ago, I had assumed that a line of Baertschi-Horvat-Virtanen would be our next WCE but it didn’t pan out that way. To be honest, I don’t think we need another WCE, but rather, just a very good top line. I think Miller-Pettersson-Boeser has the potential to be an extremely good top line for us. For the long term, I also expect Podkolzin to be an excellent fit with Horvat (and what I hope is a resigned Pearson if he keeps this level of play).

This 100%