CallAfterLife

Smart since his team is young and likely won't need a top calibre goalie in a while.

I'd honestly prefer to give Rafferty and Chatfield chances if it means not having to gamble on with Tanev staying healthy throughout his contract. Tanev was lucky this season and pause helped stay healthy for the playoffs. Plus it's not like Rafferty and Chatfield didn't have a similar path to the NHL like Tanev. All three were college free agents that signed and developed in the AHL and blossomed in the NHL.

I'm still upset that Mattheson was only suspended for 2 games.

I like Tanev. I think he adds grit and leadership on top of playing solid defence. But I'd much rather keep Stecher. Just as much grit and leadership and less milage. Stecher may be small but he's can play defence and win battles no question. Also size isn't what cost the Canucks against Vegas it was mobility. That's something Stecher can contribute over Tanev. I think Chatfield could parter well with Hughes since he's more defensively minded compared to Rafferty. Let Rafferty partner with someone that will give him the chance to shine and give the Canucks another good mobile pairing. I'm really curious about Rafferty. His 45 points in 57 games is quite comparable to Jake Bean's 48 points in 59 games. Rafferty is 3 years older though. And on the eye test Bean looks to be a better skater. Edler-Stecher Hughes-Chatfield Juolevi-Myers Every tandem has the ability play good defence and transition the puck up ice and support the forwards. Let Rafferty step in if injuries happen on the right side. After watching the new TSN documentary on pain killing drugs in hockey I'm really uncertain that Tanev should be signed long term. If Tanev was using Toradol like Kesler, I'm concerned for the overall health of his body long term. Like Kesler, Tanev's body could break down in the middle of his contract.

It doesn't help that a lot of the teams are in the US. The way medicine is practiced over there seems like one big ethical dilemma. Interesting how none of the teams mentioned to have contracts with medical companies were Canadian. Just another reason that Bettman needs to go.

For me Kesler should be in the Ring of Honour. He may have parted with the organization in an ugly way but he was still a big part of its most successful years. The Canucks were the top team in league in back to back seasons. Only 5 other teams in the NHL have done that since the President's trophy was instituted. Kesler was also such a big factor to the Sedins success. He really carried the team defensively. Watching the Sedins kill penalties after Kesler left was just deflating. Such a waste of their offensive talents. And so unfortunate to lose a player that was smart enough to understand how the Sedins operated on the power play. But hard not to admit that my feelings on Kesler are really tainted by the return on his trade. I know it's absolutely not his fault or his responsibility. That all lies with Gillis and Benning. Kudos to Kesler for speaking out on this issue. I hope his quality of life isn't that severely impacted by clear medical negligence. Team doctors should have advised him better. I just watched the documentary and how the NHL handles this issue should be classified as a form of abuse or assault. Just gross. Kesler isn't living a normal life and he absolutely should have been protected from this. I'm absolutely gutted for the guy.

I sort of want to see Jake get traded because it might actually present an opportunity for him to either sink or swim.

I think the Canucks are better off letting Tanev walk. Use Tanev's cap space to give Markstrom enough money that he'll agree to a contact without a NMC, sign Toffoli and give the RFA's a raise. I'm just not confident that Tanev's body will stay healthy enough to deserve both term and money on his next contract.

I'd prefer to see Gaudette used in a trade for a promising young defenceman. Like a Jake Bean or Dante Fabbro. Or even a Jett Woo type prospect. If the Canucks want to start contending now, they need a 3C that can play defence. Sutter's perfect for that.

Podkolzin's going bring the Calder back to Vancouver.

Edmonton's future lies with Bouchard and Broburg. Plus they have the chance to grab Askarov with the 14th OA this year. Even when they don't win the lottery, they win with their draft position and draft class. I'm rooting for MacKinnon though. Major props to the guy for announcing that he's willing to take less money to be part of a championship team.

I think the Red Wings are just missing 2 key pieces. A #1 defenceman and a #2 centre to play behind Larkin. They have Seider as a potential future #1. And they can draft a 2C this year. Either Byfield, Stutzle, Perfetti or Rossi. Depending on who's available. And they have a bunch of interesting young forwards that could make an impact in the NHL. Zadina. Valeno. Rasmussen Their defence is really holding them back. It's so thin that even Alex Biega is in their top 6. But Yzerman has the assets to wheel and deal to improve that. Plus they already have the veterans to help those young guys along.

I wasn't going for deep and intangible. Just purely trying to make a point about assets in and assets out. I mean come on. The guy I was responding used Linden as an example. The Sedins were franchise defining talents. I have nothing but love and respect for them only ever wearing the Canucks jersey.

Every organization tries to recycles assets. Arguments about how proficient the Canucks have been could go either way. But something to note. If the Canucks don't resign Markstrom, they'll have effectively ended up with nothing in the Luongo trade except a cap penalty. I'm not calling Benning a bad GM and there's obviously no evidence as to whether he would have drafted these players, but purely from a historical perspective it's quite interesting to note the players that could have been drafted had Benning kept certain picks instead of dealing them. Instead of Garrison becoming Vey. Roland McKeown and Brandon Montour. Both right handed defencemen. If Carolina wasn't stacked on defence than McKeown would have had an opportunity in the NHL. Montour is already an everyday NHL player and interestingly enough he and Boeser both played on the same team in the USHL. Christian Dvorak. A fast winger that can put up points and has been more consistent in the NHL than Virtanen. Instead of Bieksa becoming a 2nd that was packed to get Sutter. Dillon Dube and Taylor Raddysh. Both wingers. Dube was arguably Calgary's best playoff performer. Not really saying much since Calgary was terrible overall. Raddysh likely would have gotten a chance in the NHL if Tampa wasn't stacked on forwards. Again not criticizing. Just calling attention to possibilities.

It would be great to see Karlsson become an NHL player. But I really couldn't disagree more with this particular statement. When you look at what Benning has done with past assets, a lot of those trades don't point to anything definitive. Wins: Thomas Vanek became Tyler Motte. Hard to categorize this trade with past assets since Vanek signed as a UFA but it was a win nonetheless. Eddie Lack became Guillaume Brisebois and Brett McKenzie. Brisebois is a great depth guy in the system when injuries happen. Maybe: Alex Burrows became Jonathan Dahlen. For whatever reason that became Linus Karlsson. Neither player has made it to the NHL. Jannik Hansen became Nikolay Goldobin and 4th round pick. Goldobin couldn't make it in the NHL. The Canucks dealt the 4th to Chicago for additional picks that were used to draft Petrus Palmu and Kristoffer Gunnarsson. Jason Garrison became Linden Vey. Hunter Shinkaruk became Markus Grandlund. A short term win for the Canucks but largely a wash since both players are now in the KHL. Nicklas Jensen became Emerson Etem. Another short term win. Jensen is in the KHL. Etem is now starting a coaching career. Zack Kassian became Brandon Prust. The Canucks had to add a fifth round pick to get Prust and he spent the year injured and pouting about not being in Montreal. Kevin Bieksa became a 2nd that was swapped with Pittsburgh in a package for their 3rd in the Brandon Sutter trade. The Canucks drafted William Lockwood. Karlsson, Brisebois, Palmu, Gunnarsson and Lockwood. No offence but I wouldn't use the word amazing for this group of prospects.

I feel the exact same way. A lot is riding on the next crop of prospects to support Pettersson and Hughes. Juolevi especially. The Canucks need someone to back up Hughes. Especially against Vegas. Whenever Hughes was on the bench the Canucks tended to get stuck in their own zone. Even the players that are drafted going forward will be key to how competitive this team can remain in the long term. The team can now actually move assets around and retool around Pettersson and Hughes.

Toronto just ignored the need to play defence flat out. After signing Tavares they play as if they can just win by outscoring the other team.

I agree with your first statement. Especially about assets and cap space. I hate that the Canucks are in a position to lose a young RFA because of cap issues right now. The Canucks could have drafted some quality players with the 2nd round picks they dealt. The second round in 2014 and 2016 was littered with so many good players that I wish the Canucks had a chance at drafting. That perhaps might have been what they needed instead of Ferland, Eriksson etc. But we'll never know if any of them would have been picked anyway. I disagree with your second statement though. I get that the Canucks kept finishing at the bottom of the league for five straight seasons. But with a scorched earth approach the Canucks would have just been badly embarrassed every night. Likely blown out on the score sheet every night. That would have impacted the culture of the team long term. I think that's why Benning sought out high character players that could be leaders like Sutter and Gudbranson. I'm still not a fan of the strategy Benning used but I won't deny that its had results.

We may not know the true reasons why but everyone here knows that Linden didn't willingly step down. Linden walking away from the Canucks before they even saw a semblance of success in the playoffs is just laughable.

Does anyone really believe that Linden hired Benning without running it by the Aquilini's?

I think Gillis should have been given the opportunity to try and rebuild the team. I think he would have approached players about waiving their NTC. But Luongo leaving and with the fans chanting 'Fire Gillis' it was pretty much inevitable that he would be. I've been following Gillis post-Canucks and the things he has to say about successful franchises having a big front office that divides labour is really interesting. I would love to see Gillis come back in some capacity to help build that. The Aquilini's firing Gillis in April and hiring Benning in May, a month before the draft was terrible. Benning had the Kesler trade, the draft and free agency to consider in too short a period as he acclimated himself with the organization. Wasn't the writing pretty much on the wall that the Canucks would be going through half a decade of finishing at the bottom of the league as they accumulated prospects though? However Benning's tenure ends, Cup or not, I think he'll have left the team in a better place than he found it. I think that's why he deserves credit. Call me the sort of person that believes in participation ribbons.

I tend to agree with the sleazy haters about a lot of things. I wanted Benning to do more with expiring assets. I wanted picks and prospects to be accumulated. But at the same time I give credit to Benning for building a good team regardless. The Canucks are finally a good team. How much does it matter that Higgins and Hamhuis etc walked for nothing? Plus people are also forgetting that the Aquilini's never would have backed a management strategy that completely made the team a tire fire.

Nylander was my pick too. Because of the hockey IQ and growing up watching his dad play professionally. Guys that have NHL roots always seem to develop better. They don't have to be taught the little things that make a difference like eating and sleeping right. There wouldn't have been a need for Miller if the Canucks grabbed Sebastian Aho in 2015. I remember Benning and Linden trying to pry that second round pick from Carolina in the Eddie Lack trade. Carolina held their ground for a good reason. Aho was the biggest steal of the draft. I don't think Benning would have drafted Tkachuk though. Benning wanted Juolevi to be like Hughes.

If Juolevi can turn out similar to Heiskanen the Canucks can be dangerous. Congrats to the Dallas Stars tonight. So happy they beat Vegas. Roope Hintz were taken in the second round in 2015. Esa Lindell was taken in the third round in 2012. John Klingberg was taken in the fifth round in 2010. That's some decent drafting outside the first round. Drafting like this will be what it takes to support Pettersson and Hughes.

The decisions on those guys never made any sense to me. Especially Santorelli since he was at least a fan favourite that produced. No one in the fanbase would have objected to seeing him signed to a 2 or 3 year contract. I thought those other guys could have been flipped for something at some point. It really just felt as though he was just concerned with trying to make the team young in those early days. My biggest critique of Benning was the lack of vision in his first two years. Not a hindsight thing but a general direction in terms of what kind of team he wanted to build. I never understood what he meant when he said he was trying to build "a hardworking team that competes every night." That sentiment felt entirely vague. The Canucks could have out worked their opponents in those days and still have lost because they didn't have the talent to compete. Plus I wanted something specific about the kind of hockey he imagined the team playing. Now I understand that statement was simply a cultural thing. That's generally what I want to commend Benning on. Keeping the culture of the team from falling off a cliff and allowing new players to come in and cary it on.