Teemu Selänne

Thornton continuing to play for Davos for now. Who knows, maybe starting the year early will give him a slight leg up on players who are sitting. 1 secondary assist in 1 game in a 9-2 win, somehow ended up -1 tho.

Great price for the offense Gaudette provided last season. I thought he looked like he put a lot of effort into the playoffs after being scratched, but none (literally) of it translated to production. Hope he can pick it up again. Great that he is still RFA after this deal.

Pest type player who has Motte-esque hustle and isn't afraid to throw multiple hits per game. He will likely battle MacEwan for the 4th line RWer position but could battle for more - has shown offensive dominance at WHL, WHL playoffs, and AHL level (31 points 32 games in 2019). Has never had a long stint in the NHL between injuries and being a call up but has paced for approx 30 points over his first attempts- including 7 points in his final 9 games. Another player Benning has had his eye on for a long time - would've drafted him over Demko but he was taken a few spots up. Played in Brandon where Ferland is from and has connected with him before and looks up to him. Was a center before he made the bigs, so understands defensive responsibility and could potentially slot in multiple different places in the line-up, depending what Green needs.

Vatanen is a legit top-4 but often hurt. I wonder if playing sheltered, bottom pairing minutes with a bluechip rookie (Juolevi) and stepping up if Schmidt or Myers is injured would be more sustainable for him. Hard to gauge what his value is during the weird pandemic off-season but I would be stoked if Benning landed him. A healthy d-corp of Hughes - Schmidt Edler - Myers Juolevi - Vatanen Would be a huge improvement over last year - especially with the breakout which really hampered the Canucks against Vegas. Having a good offensive RHD would also give Newell more dynamic options on the two powerplay units in a playoff series when teams start to adapt to the Canucks PP.

I think Juolevi is gonna look great starting the year on the 3rd pairing - I hope Benning can land a decent, reliable bottom pairing RHD with NHL exp. for him to play with. A Juolevi - Vatanen bottom pairing would be unreal if he could fit under the cap- maybe a pandemic bargain. Or maybe a younger bottom pairing of Madison Bowey & Juolevi.

my hope is that Benning is waiting because he wants to announce a Virtanen & Vatanen signing on the same day

Well, the bottom-6 provided almost no offense against Vegas. Caggiula is a fast player who has been scoring at .4 point per game pace, and only had 1 powerplay point last year at that as he didn't get PP time (so, mostly 5 on 5 points). He paced for 22 even strength points over 69 games (in comparison, Jake had 27, and it's similar pace to Sutter). He's a player like Motte who seems to up his game when it counts. He definitely wouldn't fill the void left by Tof, but he would be an upgrade to the 4th line IMO - and a cheap one at that. Plus, there's always the off-chance that him and Boeser have some chemistry still and he could be a decent top-9 fill in if there's an injury. He can play all 3 forward positions so easy to slot up, and make room for developing players to play their comfortable position as needed. On top of that he IS a gritty player who had 33 hits in 8 games in the playoffs last year compared to the 2nd place person on a lacklustre team that had 20.

Yea, there's a few variables. But, rumour is that Benning is coming to terms with Hawryluk - probably to have some competition and not just hand the 4th line wing spot to Big Mac. So, I think he's gonna add a cheap forward at the very least, but yea, there could be some over moves on the horizon.

Proposal: Sign Drake Caggiula for >1.075M There are rumours Benning is looking at Jayce Hawryluk as a UFA signing to fill-out the 4th line. But what about circling back to Drake Caggiula? Played on the same UND team as Boeser (same line) & Stech (come back soon buddy) Was 2nd on that team in points PPG of 0.4 over past two seasons, split between two teams with basically no PP time 81 hits in 40 games last year - with only 11 mins of TOI per game - plays a similar gritty style as Hawryluk, plays bigger than his size Led the Blackhawks in hits with 33 in their 8 game playoff play-in - showing he can up the ante - same when he won the MOP at the Frozen Four (also dominated the playoffs in the OHJL, came 4th in goals on the Oilers in 2017 playoff run, etc). Can slot into any forward position - good for a forward signing who may have to, and allow young players some games in their 'natural' position 50/50 ozone / dzone starts last year GM Jim Benning attempted to sign Caggiula when he was a college FA: Elite prospects:

Same. And I think Benning does too: https://theathletic.com/2138908/2020/10/15/inside-the-free-agent-weekend-that-reshaped-the-canucks-and-what-comes-next/

If Joe Thornton had signed in Van on this contract I would have been happy. Dude still put up 82 points in his last 143 games (92 in 162 including playoffs). Obviously he's taken a huge decline but as a 4th liner/PP specialist/top-9 injury fill-in I would've been happy. Give some nice saucers to our 4th line sniper Tyler Motte . Plus, 700k is buriable in the minors if it doesn't work out

He just cites what he hears on the radio - he's not claiming anything else in this tweet. He sometimes exaggerates what was said for attn for sure. In this case he's citing Moj

Not a huge deal, but cool for a old star to go play for his home province

- Pierre LeBrun not gonna happen, but imagine Laine and Petey

Cuz of the Boughner connection I wouldn't be surprised; but cap wise it wouldn't work