Dazzle

Omg...

Rathbone has had some glaring defensive lapses and gets no scrutiny. Meanwhile Juolevi's time on the PK gets nearly no love. I think Rathbone shouldn't be rushed into the NHL.

Juolevi has been in Green's PK team this game, responsible for a stellar PK so far. Juolevi had a nice block there. Rathbone is a nice infusion of offense, but Juolevi's the one with a point. Underrated game for Juolevi.

I think the cancuks are doing pretty well. Our youth/AHL players are playing hard.

Juolevi's going to great lengths to show that he means business... This is why you don't laugh at Juolevi's bag skate....

Just do it - Gatorade

I don't think Juulsen is used as a pressure point - the guys already been with two teams in his short career. I have no idea why his stock has fallen so much, especially with his original descent in the draft.

Are you cheering for another team in the near future?

Donnie did a full-on vent after the OEL trade. It was hilarious, but for the wrong reasons.

Youtubing costs very little and the content the uploaders get it from is usually paid. Canucks Clay is a good guy for many reasons, and his explanation of hockey stuff is great for people who may or may not be familiar with the material. However, what I noticed with people like him (not just him) is that they obviously drag the videos out to maximize revenue (aka ads). I was not particularly impressed with the video he made about why jersey numbers are important to people because he barely did any research on it. Sometimes uploaders are grasping at straws to maintain a daily presence in their field. I'm not completely bashing the guy. I think he's got a great personality, and I hope he doesn't get offended because I'm pretty sure he reads this board.

It's kind of a tongue-in-cheek thing I got going with Timrafan I'm not actually obsessed with Dahlen. Timrafan's actually the one that praises him unquestioningly.

Are you new to CDC? That doesn't actually happen. Someone here (and the media especially) will find something to criticize about.

You know who seems to be too big for the Canucks? Dahlen.

I think Panarin is an incredible UFA signing, but he alone can't fix a broken team; no one can.

I wonder why you don't criticize Gillis for this then... Totally biased. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1243747-nhl-free-agency-2012-jason-garrison-signing-will-come-back-to-haunt-the-canucks "Seems like a great signing, doesn't it? Well, not so fast. While there is no denying that Garrison's 16-goal 2011-12 campaign was, indeed, terrific, one has to question whether or not Garrison will ever see that type of success again. Let's not forget that this past season, Garrison was receiving his feeds from one of the best passing defensemen in the NHL in Brian Campbell, who finished the season with an incredible 49 assists. Then there's the fact that Garrison's past shows no sign of sustained success. In fact, in Garrison's 112 career games before 2011-12, he'd only managed to collect 0.23 points per game. This season, he put up 0.43 points per game. Seems a little fishy. Throw in the fact that he was playing in the final year of his deal with Florida, and Garrison seems like the ideal "bust" signing. What's worse for Vancouver is that they gave him a six-year term on the new deal, meaning if Garrison does indeed flop like so many others who emerge out of nowhere in their contract years, Vancouver will be in serious trouble when it comes to their cap. That could turn out to be a huge problem when it comes to re-sign the Sedin twins and Alex Burrows. Canucks fans better hope that this past season was a true breakout campaign for Garrison and not just a flash-in-the-pan campaign."

Yes, perhaps it's that they can't agree to a contract?

So this happened. I know it's early, but...

There's an article that talks about Hamonic being with Vancouver. It's not about the erroneous belief that Covid ending in a short period; this is about Hamonic signing for two years, committing the Canucks for this time. Afterwards, he decides the vaccine isn't for him (it is mentioned in another Rob Johnson article or tweet, I believe, that he is unvaxxed) Then again, maybe the Canucks tried to gamble that he'll change his mind, and even gave him the security of the contract.

Agreed. I think he and the Canucks should move into contract termination. However, it's possible that the Canucks want to do him a favour and give him to a team that needs his services, in exchange for someone we could use. I found this earlier, but you might have missed this post.

10 years will include the Gillis era. This will include the Manitoba Moose/Chicago Wolves. The latter team was a complete black hole for our prospects. Gillis did not do a good job developing prospects. In fact, he did not develop a single player under his tenure, minus Horvat, Hodgson, and Hutton. Two of those players were first rounders that did not see much AHL time (Hodgson had one season), and Hutton was a serviceable bottom 6 defenseman. Now, if we were to get into Benning, he was given next to nothing. So realistically, you have to reset the clock for Benning to develop players. So no, you don't have a point there. We finally have stability with regards to prospect development, and we can see some good development with Woo, Rathbone and Gadjovich. We did not have a single one of these prospects under Gillis, at any point in time. Horvat and Hodgson were very high first round picks. Aside from that, Gillis basically ruined the Canucks prospect pool with his "aggressive" trades and poor drafting.

Given that Hamonic signed the 2 years, demonstrating that he had a commitment to the team, but now says that he wants to play for the States, I think we can see what happened. Seems like Hamonic flip-flopped about what he wanted. Now he wants to sit out without mutually ending the contract. I think he wants the commitment, but doesn't want to commit. Sorry, I don't like how Hamonic handled this situation. I wanted to believe he did this for his family, but his lack of vaccine (supposedly) and his desire to play elsewhere (also allegedly the case) says otherwise. I'm ready to move on from him.

How exactly is it "piss poor"? The development process has improved leaps and bounds since Benning took over. It takes YEARS for a player to become a full time NHL player. Benning started out with basically nothing, and he had to struggle between 'retooling' and building for the future. Not a single defensive prospect was in our system (not counting Tanev or Hutton, neither of whom were prospects). We had no reliable forwards to step in. Brendan Gaunce was not a good prospect, even if he was a good person. Now look at it today: Rathbone, Woo, Brisebois - these three has seen NHL time, and they LOOK like they can fill in at any point in time. We didn't even have one of these throughout the Gillis tenure. Remind me again why our development system is "piss poor"?

Sounds like Hamonic's done in Vancouver. Good news is that 3M could be potentially freed up. We just need to find some kind of replacement (if need be), and the money can be used to pay Hughes/Pettersson, with 1M left over for a defenseman of some kind. Article written by Rob Simpson https://vancouverhockeynow.com/2021/09/28/vancouver-canucks-nhl-jim-benning-travis-hamonic-rob-simpson/ Vancouver Canucks With Hamonic Out, Ultimately the Canucks are the “Victims” Whether it’s opting out of the season, which is irreversible and must be decided by Friday, retirement, or trade, Travis Hamonic is not returning to the Vancouver Canucks. Barring a shocking reversal by the player, the Canucks likely top-pair right defenseman has gone AWOL (Absent Without Leave, to use an old military term). It leaves Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning left holding an empty bag. When Hamonic signed a two-year, $3-million per season deal on July 28, should we really have expected the team’s GM to say, “Now remember Travis, there’s a pandemic, you’re sure you want to play, right?” No. Reasons aside, lack of vaccination and family matters are apparently the issue here. Of course, to be fair to Hamonic, Covid optimism and the outlook has changed to a degree since July, when many of us believed the pandemic might be mostly on its way out by the time hockey season started. Obviously, it’s still omnipresent and strict protocols are in place. We won’t get into personal reasoning or beliefs. Some have suggested the best way for Hamonic to protect his family is to get vaccinated, but that’s not for us to say. There is absolutely nothing malicious here regarding his decision or his status. Reasons not withstanding, GM Benning is ultimately the “victim” of the scenario if it plays out as expected. Right or wrong, fans have a right to complain about any maneuver a team’s management makes. They’re ultimately paying the bills. But in this case, Benning signed a blueliner in good faith, who had played 38 games with the Canucks last season. He appeared to have decent chemistry with young star defenceman Quinn Hughes and signed for a pretty decent sum. Hamonic’s career-high salary was just more than $3.8-million in when he signed for seven years with the New York Islanders back in 2013. Four years into the deal, he decided he wanted to go home to Manitoba, or as close as possible, to be near his family. His request was honoured in June of 2017 when the Calgary Flames shipped a first-rounder and two second-rounders to the Islanders in exchange for Hamonic and a fourth-round pick. After three years in Alberta to finish that contract he signed in Vancouver last year for one season at $1.25-million dollars, which means he’d be walking away from a pretty good raise, not that far from his career max’. That $3-million cap hit would immediately be available to the Canucks. A consolation prize, yes, that can be utilized to potentially sweeten the pot and speed up a resolution to the Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson contract impasse with agent Pat Brisson. If you think the agent isn’t waiting to see what happens to Hamonic’s money over the next few days, you’re kidding yourself. In fact, they could negotiate today with that potential money in mind. Negotiations are indeed taking place today, very likely as I speak. But the consolation prize is just that. The bigger issue is the D-corps. If any money remains it won’t replace Hamonic, and what’s considered the weak spot on the roster, the back-end, only gets shallower. That’s a problem for a manager and coach who’s survival revolves around making the playoffs. Meanwhile, we were told Monday afternoon that the Canucks are considering the trade option, and why wouldn’t they. There is no rush from their perspective, unless they think they can get a valuable player in return. That’s unlikely for cap reasons especially considering the aforementioned negotiations. They’re likely left trying to solve the D-issue internally for now. Overall, they can trade this contract at any time even when the player is sitting out and even after the trade deadline, as Hamonic would be ineligible to play. Good luck finding takers. Vancouver would likely have to include other considerations, another reason to be extremely annoyed. Even if they’re not getting an actual player and a cap hit in return, they have every reason to want to eventually unload Hamonic. If he opts out, are they really going to count on him coming back next summer and being ready to play? Regardless of why, how would they feel about being jilted? How would those in the dressing room feel, particularly if this player isn’t vaxxed? From Hamonic’s perspective, if he’s not vaxxed, the trade scenario would indeed involve a rush job. He’d be able to play in more games this season with a US team simply based on the number of franchises south of the border. Cross-border play would be next-to-impossible based on quarantine rules etc., so not being vaxxed and playing a limited number of games with a Canadian franchise is not an option. Although ironic based on his earlier work location desires and the fact he’d be away from family, one could understand an interest in moving south to keep his career going; he’s 31-years-old and should have a lot of hockey left. Then again, what team would want a part-time player who would potentially have to sit out a playoff series. Again, it would likely involve the Canucks somehow sweetening the pot to lose the cap hit. Ultimately, one can see why the Vancouver Canucks would want to wash their hands of this player, just as Travis Hamonic has apparently washed his hands of the Vancouver Canucks. We’ll have an answer in about the next 72 hours.

Of course Juolevi's injury has held him back, to the point where he's been arguably overtaken by other players. The problem is that this narrative about Rathbone being underappreciated is a major exaggeration. Rathbone is good, and his performance in camp has arguably helped his case more so than Juolevi. That being said, Juolevi provides something that Rathbone doesn't - the PK. Juolevi made some pretty good defensive plays, including one where he saved a goal by breaking up the pass. For all the things that Rathbone gets praised for, Juolevi is actually the one who is underappreciated. He has never been flashy, so it's hard to argue that he'd "look better" than Rathbone. But you have to look beyond the offense of Rathbone - does he play a complete game? There are questions about Hughes' game and the fact that his defensive game needs work - is Rathbone at the stage that Hughes is? You have to ask these questions about how Rathbone will fit into the roster, in light of these supposed defensive deficiencies. It takes a lot of time for defensemen to come and play hard NHL minutes.

This is some made up narrative. Rathbone was never underappreciated. Many of us who follow our prospects knew he had some kind of potential and he did quite well in some viewings, which led people to compare him to Hughes-lite. Just because he was a 3rd rounder, Rathbone probably had the least amount of pressure to succeed. That being said, the Canucks badly need him to pan out, which looks to be the case. Benning's drafting (along with the staff that he assembled) has once again shown the importance of drafting in all rounds. Of course not all players will hit, but getting something out of a draft pick is pretty good, let alone someone like Rathbone or Lockwood.