kloubek

8x9.99 (just to show he signed under double digits, like the gentleman he is).

I haven't seen him play enough to comment on him specifically, but any time you open the bank for a guy who might be a defensive liability and had ONE good season, it's a gamble. They must feel he just needed to break out, and that the sky is effectively the limit. If correct, it's a decent gamble, given recent overpriced contracts. I'm happy with Hughes at under 8.

As far as I know, his attitude has always been a sticking point. Perhaps that was affected by long-standing substance abuse, perhaps not. I imagine if you add the personal loathing that results from substance abuse, plus the physical and mental effects, combined with a declining career, it's somewhat understandable someone might break under all that. Difference being is that when kind people break, they don't take the whole ship with them and bring everyone around them into their sh*thole world. I like that you brought up Brock as reference, as it shows how even though someone might be affected by major issues, there IS a way to deal with it as gracefully as possible. A good person wouldn't WANT to hurt others because they hurt themselves, and they take actions to try to better themselves as a result. Pretty stark difference between the two, but at least Galchenyuk is finally seemingly acknowledging of who he has become.

While I can buy into at least your reasoning, I would argue that Robertson is still young and is poised to be an even more dominant scoring force than he already is. And given your username, I am surprised that you would rank Petey so low. While hardly a beast, he IS strong defensively. I don't recall who released it, but I came across something a couple of weeks ago which took many elements of a player's game across the board, and it made an argument that Petey was one of the best centers in the game already... not even taking into account the fact he's so young. I take that with a grain of salt since it isn't hard to cherry pick information to present a false case... but it sure did seem convincing. As you mentioned, Petey needs to produce this season. Actually, he should probably improve upon last season. And if he does so (which I believe WILL happen), I think we'll find his point totals in the top 5 of the league this coming season.

It would be a risk for any GM signing him after this point. His production has been quite awful over the last couple of years, so if he gets signed by anyone, it's going be at 1m or under and for 1 year only. Not sure any GM wants to bother with the risk, and the likelihood his days of decent production are likely over.

Where's Robertson? His 6th in the league in points not enough to sway you into thinking he's a top 10 player? I would also argue that not all of those players are great defensively (although most are at least decent in that regard). I feel that Elias anticipates the play well, and as long as he isn't too deep he's good at getting back to break up plays. This is why I upped him on my list. But really, we're talking about the best of the best here. He's right up there, regardless of specific impressions.

Hughes is an excellent defenseman. I didn't scrutinize his defensive ability early on, as he was clearly undersized and would likely need to learn the game at the NHL level. But I really don't believe he was ever defensively poor. The main problem with Hughes is his size. I mentioned in the Petey thread that I was worried he'd get crushed, he was so skinny. Hughes didn't even have the height. Truly an undersized player. Unfortunately, he still doesn't have height or size. It's not his game. If he did, he'd already be the best blueliner in the NHL. And maybe with that extra padding, blocking some more shots would be nice. Overall, we're very lucky to have him. He will go down as the best defenseman this franchise has ever had.

When Petey first arrived, his skills were obvious. But he was so skinny, he had difficulty fighting through the defense, and frankly, I was concerned he would end up badly inured. But I told my son that first year - "This guy is going to be a top 5 NHL player one day when he gets bigger." He's gotten bigger. His increased strength is obvious. The dude can actally hit. He's currently already a top 10 player on points alone, but when defense is considered, he's right there around 5th or 6th best player in the league, imo. I believe he's also tied for youngest, so he has room to grow still. We really have to re-up him asap. I would be surprised if he doesn't work himself to a 11.5m player by seasons end. That's a lot of money. Get er done.

I think his mental state likely played a factor over the last couple of years, and it seems his shot has never been the same since his wrist injury. The time off to absorb his fathers death along with directed training to work on his biggest deficiency (speed) should do him good. I feel his decision to withdraw his trade request says a lot. Says he was uncomfortable with his life, but things began to come into focus for him and he has direction now. There are several positive indicators that he should be poised for a strong season. A rookie-style Brock is a Brock that can really make a difference for this team.

I'd do both deals. For the first, I'm not sure we win that trade exactly, but it helps alleviate the cap issue which I guess is a significant factor right now. We lose a rather redundant scoring winger, and receive a bigger guy who should help make us harder to play against. We have enough wingers to make up the slack. This would help shore up the remainder of our lineup - except for the fact I still feel we need a better 3C.

Nothin' like bringing the kid back home. Always like these proposals. He isn't good enough to play with Hughes, and Hronek is likely to be 2RD, so where does he fit? Until we move Myers (?), there just isn't any room for him. Also, as a 3D pairing he's alright. But he really hasn't lived up to his 1st round pedigree. As for the original proposal, you can strike Boeser from your list; as I understand it, he's staying. Garland seems to be the one most movable, from most media and fan beliefs. Personally, I'd be fine with moving Beauvillier for a 2nd and a 4th.

I still think his career is over, but at least he owned it. I tend to cringe at these player-released statements after incidents, as so many of them try to downplay their actions, blame someone else, or otherwise try to skew public opinion in his favour. He simply admitted he f'd up, apologized, and is going to get treatment. Not sure there's much more he can do, really.

Not sure I completely agree. Clearly, Huggy is going to get as much ice time as he can handle, and will be the go-to 1LD 5 on 5 as well as the PP. If OEL was able to play nearly like he used to, he would have been played consistently on the 2PP unit and would have increased 5 on 5 time as well. It's the same reason we'll likely see a notable amount of Hronek this coming season, even though I doubt he will be paired with Hughes. I don't buy into the idea he never had opportunity. He did, but didn't fare well in the role. Yes, he and Myers did a decent job the year prior together and I agree that splitting them up was a bad idea. I also agree that with substandard goaltending, this team had no chance. We just weren't good enough keeping the puck out of own end, and our breakouts were really poor. Hopefully with these adjustments that part has been largely solved. I also believe Demko is poised to have a much better season; I think his save % was around .90, which just isn't good enough for a starting goalie. Yes, I realize our D was bad so he's going to have more high danger scoring opportunities against him, but .90 still isn't good enough. I think he should have been sitting at .91 minimum under the circumstances, and behind a GOOD defense, that should rise to .92 or higher. I don't see .925 being unrealistic, and if he plays like we saw he is capable of, even .93 is possible... if not unlikely. That would put him near the top of the league, but isn't he supposed to be one of the better goalies in the NHL? Let's keep in mind that from 20-22, he was sitting at .915 and I don't think we can say our D was that much better and certainly IS notably better for this coming season.

I don't think he went to a shutdown D because we WANTED him to be that. He did so because he just didn't have the ability any longer to drive play like he used to. But his extended stats showed he was not even capable of that last season, hence the buyout. I agree our goaltending has been suspect since his arrival, but even if you look at his stats individually compared to the other defenders, he was far from effective last year. I was hopeful he might be fully recovered and play adequately for us instead of a buyout, but given that there are zero guarantees of that plus the fact we were so far over the cap, the buyout was a totally viable option.

I think a lot of us knew this was likely a lost trade the moment it happened. For my own part, there was a belief that perhaps OEL could return at least somewhat to his former self, but his body didn't cooperate. Although it would hurt, I would love for him to be fully healed and have a good season with the Panthers. I'm really not sure what prompted ownership (as you know big A was likely involved in the decision) and management to think that assuming so much cap in return for losing expiring contracts was a good idea. Yes, clearly the hope was to compete right away, but this wasn't exactly going to be the trade that put us over the top - even if it worked out beautifully. I think the only people who felt it was a good trade are the ones who didn't consider the fact there were following seasons to play and not just the one that year. You'd think that the individuals who made this decision should know more about hockey than the general public. But in this case, it does not appear that way. Now we had to do a buyout, and can't move the only other asset we received in that trade. Bad all around. Bad bad bad. And I say this, even though I actually like Garland on this team.

You aren't wrong. This is how any market-based commodity works. However, I would argue that if you really like that comfy couch and nobody wants it, then keep it and move another couch which people want more. Yet, in all the accounts of players on the block, Garland is consistently the couch in play regardless of that fact. Case in point: Once the bonus is out of the way, Myers will only be paid 1m actual dollars. To me, that DOES make him attractive to a non-contending team with cap space. He's a sellable couch, and gives us the space to lay out our room. In my opinion, he's the couch that by far takes up the most room. My second pick would be Beauvillier - as he has presumably increased his value in the market after a solid appearance in Vancouver. I just can't get my head around having to add sweeteners along with a player who is quite useful to the team. I realize this is the cap world we live in now, but I still just can't come to grips with it.

No, what you need is to stop assuming your own opinion to be the truth. Garland as a 3rd liner is about as good as it gets for the position. The guy typically gets 2nd line points, sometimes better.

If everyone was biting for Garland, he'd be moved. But I refuse to believe he actually has negative value. Season before last he was one of the only guys we had contributing 5 on 5. He's fiesty and slippery. No, he's not a big guy but shakes off checks as good as any. I think a lot of teams just have difficulty with the cap being lower than expected, and gms know Vancouver must move it. Frankly, if there could be a deal made somehow for Myers, I'd far sooner see that happen than move Garland. Put it this way. At worst, hes an elite 3rd liner with energy. A shiftier Hansen with less weight. Nothing wrong with having such a player who can move up in case of injury. Just a little pricey in that capacity...

Wow... that's just... disgusting. With these words released in the media, combined with hit sh*tty play over the last seasons, it would appear his NHL career has come to a close. None too soon, apparently.

That'd likely put him around 10.5. Frankly, that's not unreasonable given how he's developed his all-around game. But somehow, in my head, I really hoped he'd sign at 10 or a little bit under. I think 9.9 would make a statement that we all know he could have pushed for more, but opted to not hamstring the club to squeeze every last bit he could.

I love how in hindsight he now says the Canucks gave up on him too early. We didn't hear him claiming this before, when he was struggling to find his game. The current fact remains: The Canucks didn't give up on him too early. He was a slow developer with confidence and personality issues. For half a decade, his main contributions were using up a roster spot in place of an alternate player who COULD have impacted his team. Only now, 6 years later, is he actually producing as was expected on draft day. Pretty easy for him to pipe up now, isn't it?

Man, the 'chuk has really moved around. One has to wonder what his deal is, and in this case, why Arizona of all teams pulled off a hire and fire. SImply put: The guy is washed up. Was a pretty good player back in the day, but has become pretty irrelevant for years now.

Well, that would effectively burn off his last year making him RFA. This might be good from a contract perspective for the Canucks, but I really think it's now or never for Podz; he should have been an impact player already (ideally), and I fear the longer he is held out of the bigs, the more confidence he may *lose* as a result. However, the idea of moving Beau at TDL (especially if we aren't making the playoffs) I am 100% on board with.

To my eyes, he looked "ok". Seemed to play a pretty solid defensive game and was quite poised, but didn't contribute much in way of points or rushes, and frankly, was a pretty boring player to watch. (This isn't always a bad thing for a defenseman). I recall quite a few on CDC claiming they were optimistic he would become a truly decent 2-way defender, but I never really saw that in his game. I know we have other 3rd pairing defenders as well, but comparing Dermott to Hirose, so far, I'm quite happy to let Dermott walk. Good luck to him.

Awesome - thanks for that. It appears I was incorrect. Nothing likely changes in the end though; if he manages to play 42 games this season, chances are good that he's proven his worth to be in the lineup. Unless he's only there due to having no other NHL-capable wingers to play. Considering our glut of wingers, we would have to sustain quite substantial injuries for that to become the case. As I said, I'm betting both Podz and Hogz to be in the lineup on a nightly basis. If they are sent back down by this point in their careers, one has to wonder how much worth they really have to this organization...