Gawdzukes

Yup, and 3 is awful. I sure hope they wouldn't even consider that. He's been so-so to alright but hasn't proven himself enough for more than a 1 year deal. In fact I would hope we can upgrade if competing next year is a priority. Either him or Myers holding down the last spot and hopefully someone else brought in to be RD2.

I think it will all depend on what they are able to accomplish this summer. While Hronek may be just what we needed I don't think he will improve us by 25 points by himself, nor will Demko being healthy. We still have a porous defence, in the back and up front as it stands. We also have AHLers and unproven players playing in our bottom 6. It remains to be seen just how much Tocchet and co can change this team's attitude in a shot time. That will be a key, do we get the buy in from the start of the season or not? One other issue is the teams around us and above all for the most part have a better ability to improve whether it be through quality prospects making the jump or cap space and assets to improve through trade and free agency. We could challenge for a wildcard or it may be another lean year or two while we shed dead weight.

Awww, suck it up buttercup. Not everyone is going to think exactly like you. It's a discussion board where everyone has a right to express their own viewpoints.

Yup, the mental gymnastics are mind boggling. Like yeah, we're just hanging out in 6th / 7th just for kicks. Yeah, I think you're delusional in your view on this subject. Talk about lying to oneself. You be you though. I don't know of many rational people who just dismiss a team being this poor overall and wallowing at the bottom of the league all season, yet thinking they are really a playoff team. Have you seen our defence? It's full of scrubs ... but carry on I'm done with this for today lol. I'm not counting out the possibility of turning the corner but thinking it's a forgone conclusion is way out there.

Do you think before you type? We're this year's poster child for that. I mean

I'm just realistic. The team has serious flaws. Perhaps you haven't been paying attention. We're one of the worst teams statistically in the modern era. I'm not depressed and I don't need to lie to myself and others to make myself happy. Hey maybe they turn the corner and have a decent year, maybe some moves are made that change things but you literally have to have zero understanding of hockey to think we're a shoe in to win next year.

The fact you have to go and put down other very good players to try to make you feel better about our players tells me all I need to know. Stutzle is very much a star. One of the best players in the game. Can't they all be very good young players?

That's so true. I forgot. We should easily finish top 3, or top 5 at the very least. This team is destined for greatness. Maybe one of the best ever by next season.

It's pretty sad. Bieksa was a super cool guy and teammate but he sorely lacked the ability to defend. If he's the best ... man I don't know. Salo was better, very solid all around but he wouldn't even be mentioned on most teams. Ohlund, Jovonovski, Lumme, were far better imo. Was Ohlund LD, I can't quite remember?

So Anaheim and Ottawa don't have stars because they haven't won anything but we do? A perfect example of cdc logic at its finest. Another horrible and predictably poor prediction by some happy go lucky on cdc. Sure, pretty solid.

Yeah right. Most of CDC was predicting a division championship this year. We're going to suck again until the last 15-20 games and then go on a tear. This team is so frustrating lol.

Sucks to be a Canucks fan. Same crap every year. M E D I O C R I T Y Inc.

It could also be worse. I'm expecting the Islanders are all in on next year too. They'll probably be better despite some people's wishes.

I get it and I feel the same way about the risk too. I just find the timing comments to be a little short on understanding the complexities of obtaining such a piece. Of course it would have been better to have all the cards in our favor and make a decision when it suited us. Rarely works out that way and waiting often means doing nothing and sees you miss out on what you wanted to do.

Yup, keeping Larkin I think keeps them well ahead of us. They're still pretty good. There is a small chance 2 longshots jump ahead of us in that scenario and we finish 11. I think we'll end up picking at 8.

Yeah but the point is you don't have like 5-10 top RD you can choose from whenever you want. Regardless of whether or not the timing was good for us that deal or one like it simply may not have been available. Risk on both sides but like I said if one's preference was to obtain a RD that's the risk that management felt they had to take to get one. They probably know better what and when players were/are available.

They're still crap.

Yup, I mean people can bitch at what they want but if you're someone who wanted them to find a qualified RD, they did. It's not like they could have just went to the real good RD store in the summer time.

Yeah , the return is looking good and I agree with your sentiment. I mean most us thought that Beuvillier was a cash dump. I am on record for liking him right off the bat though. Hopefully Raty improves ... I think he will as he is incredibly young and was trending in the right direction before the trade for sure. I think he just needs to get settled and an entire off season with little pressure should bode well for us.

Yeah I can live with all that. All things being equal though I'd rather try someone else besides Bear. Ultimately I think he's a replacement level guy. However, he seems to like Van and maybe he puts in the work in the offseason to improve on his consistency and prove me wrong. When he's off he's Myers level ugly. I guess he's been lacking games so maybe that's the problem and it can be improved. I'd like to see us take a run a guy like Zack Whitecloud, or similar from a cash strapped team.

Sure, but shitting on Bo because he's not a 50 goal guy is just being a complete child and a whiner. He's not even on our team ... no need to dump on a guy that gave his heart to our team for as long as he did. Alf is littering the board with his garbage hate posts of Bo. It doesn't make Bo a horrible player because he got an awesome contract. He went out and played his ass off, he deserved it as much as any other pending UFA. In my opinion it's also quite obvious he worked his ass off to improve his shot, his tips, and net front play in the off-season. All things that would make him an even more prolific playoff performer. Just because he got paid and performed when the time was right doesn't make him some horrible human being or hockey player.

Yeah, it's really up in the air as to which players, or bad contracts they will be able to move, and what the price will be. I for one will be glad if Garland goes, he's too tiny and defensively poor to be effective in the top 6 or on the third line imo. Little guys need to be more dynamic than simply doing sinparamas all game. He's a waste of $5 mil in cap space imho.

What a childish approach. 13 games in and Bo is known for his attributes aside from counting stats like being the best face-off guy in the league on a defensive team. But hey let's judge him on his point totals 13 games in after losing Barzal. Whatever, but this is childish and pouty. Having said that the contract he got is not one I would have wanted so in that sense we got a decent return but like you said way to early to proclaim this a win.

Oh yeah me too 100% but it seems like we're still forcing Boeser in there. I've heard RT likes him but I don't know if that's true or it's just supreme pump and dump. We really could benefit from getting out of that contract.

I would go with Johansson, or even Juulsen, at this point. I think it would be a mistake to re-sign Bear. He's got flashes but his overall defensive game is very poor. Too many mistakes imo. However you do make a good point. We're between a rock and a hard place right now so it may be the best we got. Anything over league minimum and 1 year is a mistake though. If we truly are looking at competing/playoffs (not going happen realistically) we need to find a better player somewhere ... which shouldn't be hard really ... clearing the cap will be the hard part. Maybe Myers goes and we bring in two moderately priced guys with Schenn as a 7th d.