Patel Bure

Completely agree. It’s still Linden for me and it’s not even really close. The guy did everything for the Canucks. Played defense, killed penalties, power plays, moved from wing to center, fought when the situation called for it, played with two cracked ribs in Game 7, and consistently elevated his level when it mattered most. Linden was an inspiration to his teammates, the community, and ultimately, the NHLPA.

Thomas Chabot and Sebastian Aho are good comparable contracts for Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson: Thomas Chabot recently got 8 million over 8 years by Ottawa, while Carolina’s Sebastian Aho got $8,454,000 over 5 years. My opinion is as follows: The Canucks should make the above offers to both Hughes and Pettersson, with perhaps 9 million being offered to Pettersson (Carolina has far more favorable tax advantages than Vancouver and so the 8,454,000 may not be an appropriate offer if we’re using the Aho contract as a comparable). Now - here is the part where many of us might disagree on. IF the agents for Hughes and Pettersson reject the above offers and instead want premium deals offered to their clients in the neighborhood of 10+ million over 8 years, I would decline the offer if I was Benning, and counter with short term bridge deals a la Brock Boeser style. So - maybe 8 million for Hughes until his next RFA deal (3-4 years?) and 8.454 million for Pettersson (3-4 years?). Two things would be achieved by the above. 1) It would allow for the Canucks to keep their stars players under cost controlled cap hits while also allowing the Canucks to re-up both Petey and Hughes when they become RFA’s again. 2) With relatively low cap hits to both Petey and Hughes, it would allow for the Canucks to reinvest more of their money into depth. This has been the formula for cup winning teams since 2010. Cost controller elite talent + depth = championships. . Chicago, Boston, Los Angles, Washington, Pittsburgh, and St.Louis all followed the above models. If you look at the teams that currently remain in the playoffs, they are also following the above models of “cost controlled elite talent + depth = championships. Stamkos, Hedman, Kucherov, Marchand, Bergeron, Kreijci, Pastrnak, Couturier, Giroux, Mackinnon, Seguin, Boeser, Horvat, Miller, etc., Not a single one of those cup winning teams had a 10 million dollar player in their roster, nor do any current teams remaining in the playoffs have a 10 million dollar player on their rosters. People can point to players such as Toews, Kane, Kopitar, and Doughty, but those guys got paid 10+ million AFTER they won multiple cups (deservedly so mind you). However, those teams have been hard pressed to win even one playoff round once those contracts were signed. People can also point to a team like Pittsburgh and mention how Crosby and Malkin got paid BIG MONEY directly after their ELC’s expired, but I would then then point out to them that Pittsburgh got surpassed by teams like Chicago, Boston, and LA who had more cost controlled cap hits to their elite talents and that Pittsburgh only won back to back cups in 16’ and 17’ once..... 1) Crosby and Malkin’s cap hits slowly started to become bargain contracts once the salary cap started to go up (which resulted in their caps hits taking a much more appropriately lower percentage of the overall team cap). 2) Chicago and LA signed their elite players (Toews, Kane, Kopitar, and Doughty) to 10+ million dollar AAV’s. The point I’m making is this: If the Canucks aspire to have a “cup window” of sorts, they will need both Pettersson and Hughes to have a relatively low AAV for ‘x’ number of years. The absolute worst thing that the Canucks can do, is sign Petey and Hughes to 10+ million dollar deals at 8 years. If Petey and Hughes’ agents don’t like our offer (Chabot deal for Hughes, Sebastian Aho deal for Petey.....perhaps going as high as 9 million), do NOT cave in and give these guys 10+ million at 8 years. Instead, offer Petey and Hughes bridge deals which would keep the AAV’s low and keep them at RFA status when the contract runs out. You can pay them BIG money at that point (and like Chicago and LA, hopefully we will have won 1-2 cups by that time).

I’ve never been into drugs, weed, or alcohol, but I’ve been a heavy escort user for a long time. A friend of mine got a nasty STF awhile back. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we all have our vices and weaknesses and it’s best to recognize what they are before it hits home or close to home.

The estrogen levels of HF Canucks skyrocketed when we traded Forsling for Clendening. The loss of Forsling, Corrado, and McCann caused a lot of sleepless nights for the HF Canuckers.

Domingue as our back-up if Demko gets used as a sweetener to move a bad contract? With the expansion draft looming, let’s say the Canucks use Demko as a sweetener to move a bad contract. Do you guys think Domingue would suffice as a back-up for next season? I’d personally be a bit wary of this but perhaps I’m underestimating LD here. My line of thinking is that IF the unthinkable happened and Markstrom went down for a long time, we’d be screwed.

I don’t understand the purpose of this deal as the Canucks seem pretty set on LW for the foreseeable future. Miller-xxx-xxx Pearson-xxx-xxx Roussel-xxx-xxx (Hoglander replaces AR) Motte-xxx-xxxx Of those above four, the only player that I can see the Canucks moving on from in a few years is Roussel. I think the Canucks will sign both Pearson and Miller when they become UFA’s. I think Hoglander will eventually replace Roussel in the line-up. If the Canucks are going to move Virtanen, I would move Virtanen for one of the following reasons: 1) To get in on the 2020 draft. Trade for a first. 2) As a sweetener to move a bad contract 3) For a right sided defensive prospect

Justin Bailey and/or Kole Lind as viable replacements for Virtanen as the 3rd line RW Lets pretend that.... 1) The Canucks resign Toffoli 2) The Canucks either trade Virtanen for a draft pick, or use Virtanen as a sweetener to move one of our bloated contracts (I.e. Eriksson, Ferland, whoever). 3) The Canucks somehow find a way to get rid of the Eriksson contract Our team would look like this: xxx-xxx-[Boeser or Toffoli] xxx-xxx-[Boeser or Toffoli] xxx-xxx-[MacEwen or Lind or Bailey] xxx-xxx-[MacEwen or Lind or Bailey] In your opinion, is one or both of Lind and Bailey capable of playing on the bottom 6 at the NHL level? Are they good enough?

Hughes-Myers Edler-Barrie Juolevi-[Benn-Stecher] Hughes takes over for Edler as the top pairing dman on our team while Edler moves to the 2nd. Myers, Edler, and one of Benn or Stecher (Canucks keep one of these) takes on the tougher defensive match-ups while Hughes, Barrie, and Juolevi take on more offensive roles. The question that we need to ask, is if the offensive that Barrie would bring would outweigh the defensive prowess that Tanev would bring. While it’s definitely true that Tanev is arguably our best defenseman at taking on the toughest match-ups, the other side of the coin is that the Canucks only currently have one good puck moving dman in Hughes. Myers is the other guy (half decent). If you add Barrie to that mix however, you all of a sudden have two excellent PMD’s however that can help our forwards generate offense. 1) Hughes acts as a catalyst for the Miller-Horvat-Boeser line. (Or whatever our top line ends up becoming). 2) Barrie acts as a catalyst for the Pearson-Pettersson-Toffoli line (or whatever our 1A/2nd line ends up becoming). Unlike previous seasons, both the Horvat line and Pettersson line would have both A) Two good wingers that can offensively complement the centers (up until the Toffoli trade, Horvat really only had Pearson) B-) A good PMD on the back-end (Hughes was our only good PMD).

True, but I think in order to really keep this core together (as early as this off season), the Canucks would have to find a way to get rid of the Eriksson contract in its entirety. I’m not sure if Demko or Virtanen by themselves would be enough of a sweetener.

1) 4 hub cities for all 4 divisions. Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal. 2) 42 game season where all teams only play teams within their division. Baseball style format where you play a series against the same team for ‘x’ number of games. 3) After the 21st game, there is a ‘x’ number of days break where players fly back to their homes. After the break, they come back, quarantine, hold a few days of practice, and re-start. 4) The last 21 games take place in the same way, and the same break protocol takes place at the conclusion of the season. After the quarantine period and a few practices, each team gets one exhibition game before the playoffs start. The playoffs will consist of traditional conference rankings done in the same way that it’s done now. Playoffs will consist of 2 hub cities for each conference.

People will hate me for saying this, but the only way we can keep this core together for as long as possible, is if they use Podkolzin as a sweetener to get rid of Eriksson and Ferland. You may even have to use Podkolzin and Hoglander in separate deals to clear as many bad contracts as possible. (by the way, I do NOT propose that we do the above).

My guess is that they’ll say that Markstrom won the game for us and that we would have lost 9-0 had it not been for Markstrom.

Meanwhile, over at HF Canucks, MS, tantalum, y2kCanucks, and Peter10 are all missing in absence as expected.

Good bounce back game for the boys tonight. We survived the onslaught and hung in tough. In and out, In and out. This series is starting to have a Rocky vs Drago type feel to it.

What source has reported that Virtanen has requested a trade? Where did this rumor originate from?

That was my line of thinking as well. Demko + Eriksson to Detroit. I’ve been told however that Demko + Eriksson isn’t enough and so that’s why I was trying to find what the “happy medium” on here was by adding Juolevi to the proposed package (although that’s probably overkill if the reactions on here are of any indication). Maybe Demko + Rathbone + Eriksson gets it done.

So, bye bye Tanev? I also notice that you haven’t qualified/re-signed Stecher in your scenario. Next year’s defense: Edler-Rafferty Hughes-Myers Juolevi-Benn Wouldn’t you agree that the above defense is fairly mediocre? And that’s at full health! What happens if there’s one injury?

In answering my own question, I don’t think I’d do the above. I *might* be willing to do Demko + Rathbone + Eriksson, but I doubt that another team bites on that. Im very interested to see what becomes of Juolevi and so I want him to stick around.

Do you think the Canucks will have enough money right now as is, without having to clear cap space, to re-sign the following? -Toffoli -Virtanen -Gaudette -Motte -Markstrom -Tanev -Stecher ??? If so, may I please hear your ideas as to how you would go about things? I was under the impression that signing all of these players was impractical, and that some things would have to give, but I could be wrong.

There is no reason to trade Eriksson? #CapCrunch

For me, it wouldn’t really matter, just as long as those two sweeteners got us rid of the Eriksson contract in its entirety. I have no idea what we’d receive in return. 5th, 6th, and 7th rounder?

[proposal] Demko + Juolevi as sweeteners to move Eriksson (zero retention) 1) Do you do it? 2) Does another team bite on it? My line of thinking is that with Dipietro in our system, and with the expansion draft looming, Demko might be expendable. Louis Domingue as a back up for year should suffice........right? The presence of Rathbone might also make Juolevi expendable as well.

It may or may not be but it sounded like a good enough noun to me. :-p

Re - Vegas’ name calling and childish antics. It’s a part of the game and I’m sure our boys weren’t affected by it. Keep in mind however that Roussel was the one that started it with Lehner and so retaliation was to be expected. (although the bizarre romantic feelings that both Roussel and Anthony Stewart developed towards Ryan Reeves was not expected at all).

Hamilton may not age well as you say, but the guy should still be one hell of a player in 2021-2022. If Hamilton can be the guy that can form an elite top pairing with Hughes and help take us to the promise land, then I'm all for it, even if he doesn't age particularly well after that.