SpeedySingh

Its no secret we need work in a few areas of our lineup. See a lot of blockbuster trades on here but heres what I could see Benning doing realistically. Players leaving: Edler (6M) Sutter (4.3M) Baertschi (3.3M) Spooner - (1.03M) Eriksson (Buyout - 2M savings) Holtby - (Buyout - 3.8M savings/ Expansion draft 4.3M) Virtanen - (Buyout/Terminate - 2.5M) We would gain approximately 22.9M in cap space through these transactions. Lets say after signing Hughes and Petey at approximately 8.5M AAV each, we would have about 5.9M in cap space. Once you account for Pearsons extension (500k less AAV) and Demkos extension (4M more AAV) we are left with about 2.4M in cap space. Still cant do anything with that. Heres where things may get tough. Potential trades: VAN - DET Van trades: - Roussell (3M) - 2021 5th rd (VAN) - 2021 6th rd (WPG) Det trades: 2021 7th rd VAN - NJD Van trades: - Jay Beagle (3M) - 2021 5th rd (CHI) - 2021 6th rd (VAN) Njd trades: - 2021 7th rd VAN -TB Van trades: - 2023 2nd rd TB trades: Erik Cernak (2.9M) Im not sure exactly what it would cost to offload those contracts but both of those teams have decent cap space available and lack veteran forwards, so i assume a few picks would be enough to sweeten the pot for 1 season of those contracts. Also, Tampa does this trade because the general consensus is that Cernak will be left exposed in the expansion draft and this way the lightning dont lose him for nothing. Cernak is exactly the kind of defender you want to pair Hughes up with. Cap space: 5.5M UFA signings: - Blake Coleman 3yrs @ 3M - Jonathan Bernier 1yr @ 2M * Bernier may resign with Red Wings, so ideally we would need a cheap, experienced backup option (Mike Smith, Dave Rittich, Jaroslov Halak, Carter Hutton, Brian Elliot etc) Projected lineups: Petey - Miller - Boeser Pearson - Horvat - Hoglander Motte - Coleman - Podkolzin Highmore - Graovac - Macewan Lind, Vesey, Gadjovich* Hughes - Cernak Rathbone - Schmidt Juollevi - Myers Hamonic* Demko - Bernier What we have at the end is an improved 3rd line with a true 3C and 2 high energy wingers in Motte and Podkolzin. We also gain Cernak; a 24 year old top 4 defenseman, whos playing style should mesh well with Hughes. Big body, great defender and has great IQ. Realistically, in the Canucks current situation, a lot of background work is required to gain very little. But I think these moves, in addition to the progress of our young core puts us in a better spot than we are currently in. Would love to hear your thoughts!