TheCustodian

Bad pick. He's like Virtanen without the high-end skating. Also has character issues. Cam Robinson hates it.

They're buying Benning's sales pitch that OEL is a top-pairing defenseman who just had a "tough couple years" versus another Myers. Should have just flipped the 2nd for Garland.

He could very easily be a better two-way version of Boeser.

Don't joke. Dylan Guenther was a top 3-4 ranked prospect on most scouting lists. He'd have been a score at 9.

Benning basically saying he made the trade based on OEL regaining his form from 5+ years ago. Cross yo' fingers. These kind of bets don't work out too often. Probability is players that start a 2-3 year decline, continue it regardless of age.

No it’s not they both play the LS and that pairing would get slaughtered defensively 5-on-5. The LS is currently Hughes-OEL-Rathbone. Schmidt is currently our top pairing RS D playing his offside.

Hughes is a way better offensive defenceman than OEL and he plays the LS on PP1.

You can see the stats but a lot of it is engagement levels and the fact he’s extremely soft on the puck. Either something broke with him physically or he has serious issues with competition level.

He’s been straight up terrible except for the PP. and Hughes has the PP1 LS spot locked up.

He has been brutal 5-on-5 for three years and is soft as butter. Let’s call it the “Holtby effect” where people only recall when players were actually good and don’t account for recent performance. Could also be called the “Benning lens” or something cause everyone apparently thinks OEL is coming off his rookie season. Worst contact in the league.

Holy crap no he is not. OEL has been borderline terrible outside his PP production for three years. He may be worse defensively than Myers.

OEL is basically Tyler Myers and we will be paying him over $1M more AAV forever. $13M for the Myers/OEL combo.

I don't love the Oilers, but it's not hard to see Edler viewing a nice 2-year contract in Edmonton offering him a heck of a lot better chance at a Cup than Vancouver without moving too far away. Either Edler or Hamonic also make a lot of sense for Edmonton and Calgary.

Both have more cap flexibility. And I think both Edler and Hamonic are destined for Alberta.

Given what Risto just got the Canucks are far, far better off keeping Schmidt at this point. They will not be able to replace him with a better defenseman given the trade market and lack of cap space. If they are serious about the playoffs the no-brainer move is to mend relations with Schmidt and keep him.

Ristolainen is by all metrics an objectively awful hockey player. He also has 1-year to unrestricted free agency. You would by any imaginable metric be a better team with Schmidt on his contract playing 20+ mins per night than Ristolainen full stop.

Seriously, Schmidt is a significantly better player by all metrics and has contract/cost certainty ... too bad we couldn't get that package out of Philly for him. Benning will now magically get an inferior return on a better player.

Unfortunate, I wonder if he would have signed that deal in Vancouver without the expansion draft. Looks like 9th OA should be in play for a defenseman.

Kraken will be better than the Canucks.

MH is definitely a better two-way defenseman.You would likely get Hughes on a 3-year bridge at $6-$6.5M. I guarantee Hughes' camp is thinking he will be worth as much as MH over the long-haul, however, and will take a "prove it" deal.

Very likely. The Canucks don't have the cap space or assets to effectively add two top-four defensemen, which they will need to at least stay afloat compared to last year. I don't see anyone capable of taking Edler's defensive minutes, and I doubt Hamonic is back either. We really don't have a top-pair at this point; Hughes can handle it with the right partner, but that partner better be damn good.

Rick is likely right, this is about contending for a Cup. I will not be surprised if Canucks fans are mad about the eventual contract, but the team cannot offer him one last shot at at championship before he retires. I don't see any way our defense doesn't take a step back next year. Probably makes the push for Hamonic stronger. Don't be surprised if he takes a bit less to go to a competitive situation. Edler probably also has some type of front office job lined up in Vancouver after he retires.

The structure, length and details of that contract as given to a player his age is unforgivable in my opinion. He got things all-star players get out of free agency and he freaking sucks. That would be a contract to buyout immediately, but you actually lose money buying him out.

As noted numerous times, and now outlined in detail in Drance's latest article, the only buyouts that actually offer you cap savings are Virtanen and Holtby. The rest don't do a damn thing for the cap. I'm still not convinced they'll buyout Holtby as that would be extremely against brand for this ownership and management group for numerous reasons. Virtanen is gone. Also as an aside, that Jay Beagle contract is one of the worst pieces of front office work in the last ten years in the entire NHL.

The team is bad defensively and they play a lot of minutes so I'd wager they have something to do with it. I just don't think you can have two second-pair guys that have been mediocre defensively jointly making that much money in the cap era. Like I said, it is a case of dollar efficiency and there are a lot of holes to fill on the roster. If we didn't have cap issues I'd likely not have an issue with either player.