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Everything posted by DownUndaCanuck
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Plenty of 3rd Line Centre Options
DownUndaCanuck replied to Herberts Vasiljevs's topic in Canucks Talk
Depends what Rick wants his team to look and play like. BB wanted 3 rolling scoring lines, surely Tocchet wants more defence and checking from his bottom-6. If he wants offence, sure, go for Barbashev who will cost us another 5M and mainly end up playing on Miller's wing. Shame Monahan got snapped up because he's a great offensive option. There's a lot of weaker guys like Puis Suter and Sundqvist who could explode, or could be crap. Same goes for Girgensons, big guys but not fantastic at anything. Defensively there's some great guys - Kampf, Kerfoot, Killorn, Janmark. It's tricky - personally I'd want a good center man who can play a checking game and kill penalties - our 3C should be our top penalty killer, take some relief off Miller and Petey and let them focus on other things. It's nice to have Petey and Miller as 2nd or 3rd penalty killers but you want someone else to be out there on the first faceoff. I think Kampf fits that role, not very flashy and a great 4C in Toronto last year, he could play a very boring role for us. The problem is our 3rd line wingers are far from good forechecking defensive wingers. We've got Beauvillier who's a bit of nothing and Garland who can forecheck and defend well but is tiny. There's Hoglander though who could play that position nicely, and Podkolzin who is a bit too offensive for that position, so I think our team would need some tweaking. We've got PDG who will probably start on our 2nd line but could easily play that position for us too. Training camp will really decide, but we basically have good offensive options for the 2nd line and good grinders for the 3rd and 4th lines (or if Rick wants he'll probably mix and match them, but focus on good forecheckers for our 3rd line). -
[Rumour] Canucks interested in Carson Soucy
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
I do really like Soucy but he can't be the answer to our problems on D. OEL was bad, no doubt about it, but he was a pretty consistent 20-22 minute defenceman. Sure, that's on bad teams, but Soucy averages around 16 minutes a night. Great physicality, great defensively, alright on the PK, but he's a big step down from the top targets this off-season like Graves, Gavrikov and Hanifin. For our bottom pairing I really don't mind Hirose and Myers, or Rathbone in there at LD as well, but then that's it for small guys. If we're looking to get an LD to replace OEL, sure we could target Soucy but he rarely plays over 20 minutes a night. It's a gamble. You know what that means - poor Hughes is going to get wrecked with 25-30 minutes a night, Soucy at around 18 minutes and Hirose or Rathbone will eat like 12-15 minutes. We need a real sold 20-22 minute guy to take a big load off Hughes. Soucy is far from a top defender but he's a fantastic (if not one of the best) depth guys. We could cut it so many ways - we could acquire Soucy but then really should go hunting for a solid top-4 guy to play with Hughes like 20+ minutes a night...or...my preferred option would be to go after a really solid 20-22 minute LD who is mainly solid defensively - for example, Hanifin, M Pettersson, Graves to name a few, and then just plonk some 16 minute guy with Hughes (a bit like how we did with Schenn). Hughes can carry any partner but I don't think Hronek can. I know it's a small sample size but Hronek was great with Hughes, pretty bad when playing with other guys. Not sure if Soucy can play defensively well on the right but boy would that be a perfect match of both worlds - we sign him for like what...2-3M and play him with Hughes mainly for 5-on-5 and PK minutes so he will probably rack up 16-17 minutes a night. -
[signing] Monahan re-signs with Canadiens.
DownUndaCanuck replied to qwijibo's topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Bargain but he was injured loads, wish we could have snagged him. He's good for 40-60 pts and can play all over the ice, 2M is a bargain but he must want to prove himself again on this deal. -
[Rumour] Canucks interested in Carson Soucy
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
I really like him but he doesn't consistently play 20+ minutes, he's a bottom pairing guy on a deep team. He might step up but also like Dickinson/Poolman, he might not be good enough. Hope we're in on some bigger fish. Soucy is one of the best bottom pairing D in the league but he'd be a pretty average 2nd pairing guy. -
Garland is nowhere near good enough, even if Mantha is a cap dump. Those 3 spots don't seem much but getting into this draft's top-10 is going to land a star whereas 11OA onwards is a lot less likely. I know we're hot on a defenceman anyway which we should get a shot at at 11OA, but 8th overall makes things tricky. Someone will fall, you could have a crack at Benson, Dvorsky or Leonard at 8th overall, and there's no way Garland is good enough to get us there. Maybe if it was Boeser + 11OA for Mantha + 8OA that's a bit more fair but even then I wouldn't do it. We don't necessarily need a guy like Benson, even if he becomes a lights-out small playmaker who can drop 90+ points, we need some size and grit. A guy like Dvorsky or Leonard would be sweet, sure, but I'd rather we pick at 11OA onwards and take a solid defenceman and keep Boeser. I don't have high hopes for Mantha to turn his career around either. If we really want to dance with Washington, they have so many good young defencemen to pick from. Alexeyev didn't play much but is a massive unit, Iorio is pretty young but the same goes for him. Feheravy is poised for a breakout season and Sandin came in and basically scored at a PPG rate. They have so many young, good defencemen with a good mix of puck movers and size. I'd target Alexeyev - he can play either side and we could really develop him nicely. He's still maybe just a bottom pairing guy but could easily play 20 minutes maybe towards the end of next year. I think Iorio is a bit far off right now and Feheravy and Sandin are too good. This is a risky play...but... Garland + 11OA for McMichael + Alexeyev + 40OA Probably moving down far too much there but we get two stud young players. It's a big gamble but McMichael is a young former first rounder who scored at almost a PPG in the AHL last year and Alexeyev is a brute Russian defenceman we need. Most importantly we get 5M in cap space too - sign Graves, draft Lindstein with the 40th pick and look at us go: Graves - Hronek Hughes - Alexeyev Hirose - Myers Burroughs Rathbone
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[Proposal] MATTA TO VAN
DownUndaCanuck replied to JohnTavares's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
Pretty interesting deal, mainly because of the trade down. Maata wouldn't be my first choice for 2nd pairing LD but he's alright. We really need a bit more physical but he does have good size and has been around the block, not to forget a cup winner. Walman is really interesting, pretty similar to Maata, maybe a higher ceiling but I think they're really hot on him over there. The picks are really interesting though, their 2nd isn't too flash but we could surely snag a decent defenceman with the 17 OA pick (I'd be thinking Willander or Simashev will be around then), and with the 2nd, we take a flyer on a defenceman like Gulyayev, Dragicevic, Bonk, Allen or Lindstein etc. Overall great proposal though! -
Can Tyler Myers still become a good defenceman?
DownUndaCanuck replied to brokensticks's topic in Canucks Talk
I think there's a potential for a rebound - he just needs to be managed sadly and I doubt we can find us a replacement RD anyway. If we put him with a guy like Hirose, ouch, look out. If we pair him with an absolute beast like say Gavrikov, I think he'd be a machine. -
[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Yes but 5M of free cap space would be quite nice, a lot of people are talking about adding a sweetener to move Garland... -
[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
That team has 26M in cap space. They obviously have to re-sign half of their forwards (mainly depth guys), but will have Bahl and Nemec and Hughes probably pinching minutes on the blue-line all quite cheaply. Do we dare try and trade them Beauvillier or Garland for Graves? Absolute cheek move if they want some depth scoring. We basically call it a wash cap-wise, they get the opportunity to let someone walk for a free young depth winger, both of whom are pretty good in the playoffs. -
Neither coach was exactly a proper NHL coach... No surprise that the same team JB constructed on paper goes on a mad run as soon as Green is fired and we get a proper NHL coach in Boudreau. We were top-10 in the league with BB for like 50 games of the season - the exact same team on paper that Green had to work with. JB made some bad moves, no question about it (Eriksson, OEL trade), but in the scheme of the team it didn't make much of a difference on-ice, they're just a couple of players and bad caps. The main stars were mainly brought in by JB and were all great for us, we just never unleashed their potential. Sure, JB didn't create a power-house, but that team should be better than under 0.500 and we were well over it with BB. No surprise the first true NHL coach to come along lifts us out of the basement. JB made a lot of mistakes but his coaching choices were (rightly so) the reason for his firing.
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[PROPOSAL] THE PLAN
DownUndaCanuck replied to Elias Pettersson's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
That D is hot and heavy and honestly is the way forward but we obviously lose some offensive depth which I don't mind. I doubt Boston give up Carlo unless we give a 20 minute defenceman back, they want cap space but they still want to be competitive. How about: 1) Myers (50% retained) + Raty + extra (Rathbone, Hoglander or a pick) for Carlo + Zacha Raty could maybe play 4C next year, maybe a year of 3C minutes. He's big and strong, the sort of player Boston love. They get a big gangly guy in Myers but most importantly - that's 3-4M going in to them and they get rid of just under 9M. 5-6M in cap space is priceless for them, they can re-sign some of their offensive guys so barely lose a beat. Zacha wasn't that good with them despite signing a big deal, Bertuzzi blew them out of the water so you know they want to try and keep him, and can do with this deal so it's a lot more worth than just the players - that cap space is huge for them. The Canucks now have the cap space to spend and this fixes our two biggest needs and for the next little while as they're both young. 2) Sign Graves 5x5M Carlo is great but we need a solid LD. We could go after a cheap guy like Soucy but according to Cap Friendly, after LTIR we have like 12M in cap space. The trade above cost us 12M in cap space so we have to get a bit funky... 3) Flip Garland no matter what it costs. Get rid of his sweet 5M to fit Graves in. Give up anything but a 1st, I'm sure we can swindle it. Some people are saying he can get us a pick back - great, otherwise I'd happily package up one of our many 3rd and/or 4ths to get it over the line. Mikheyev - Pettersson - Kuzmenko PDG - Miller - Boeser Beauvillier - Zacha - Hoglander Joshua - Aman - Studnicka Hughes - Carlo Graves - Hronek Hirose - Burroughs Such a solid top-4 (top-5 in the league easy), so solid down the center, a bit weak on the bottom D pairing but that's a hole we can cover easily with such a strong young, physical top-4 defence. -
[Proposal] Would You Do This 3-Way?
DownUndaCanuck replied to HKSR's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
Byram has barely played his entire career and is a great puck-mover but we need a solid physical guy. Hughes isn't bringing any physicality and Hronek's just coming off a medically-managed shoulder injury so will surely be taken down a peg. We have enough puck movers now. Look at the 4 Cup conference finalists - they all had one, maybe two puck movers, and then 4 or 5 absolute physical brutes on defence. That's what we need to start acquiring. I'd rather use the 11OA to draft Reinbacher who could maybe be that guy that acquire another small slick puck mover who's never played a full season. I like Mayfield as an idea but doubt he moves on from NYI, they're both quite keen on re-signing him. We're going to have to get crafty. -
[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
How it isn't "a defenceman, a defenceman and a 3C" is beyond me. Allvin has made some good moves so far to address our needs (eg. acquiring Hronek, clearing OEL's cap) but if they dare waste all that good work on acquiring a winger, this team is finished. I get why they're hot on Barbashev but he was a 3rd to 4th line center, sometimes winger, turned top line forward for the Cup winning team and basically scored at a PPG in the playoffs. He's going to out-price us and we have no need for another scorer unless we're looking to move 2-3 of our current draggy wingers out. Barbashev is going to command, and deserves, 5M+ and that's far too much for what we need - a checking PK specialist 3C. Unless we want to go the Boudreau route of having 3 scoring lines, we need a defensive center, and getting Barbashev really doesn't suit Tocchet's style of play. You know he wants a gritty forechecker at 3C, not a flashy scorer who can play gritty and mostly plays on the wing. If we get Barbashev you know he'll end up on Miller's wing with Boeser and we'll have Dries at 3C again. Spend 2M on a boring guy like Kampf and that extra 3M we could acquire a depth defenceman like Soucy. Very boring moves but gives this team far more balance. We've got the flashy guys up front, we really need some solid defensive physical guys. If it's a choice between 5M for Graves or 5M for Barbashev...oh boy... -
Nowhere near NHL head coach material yet but if he's an assistant he might fit in well. He's a head coach at the AHL/assistant at the NHL level at best right now but who knows, after around 10 years he might be NHL head coach worthy. He wasn't all bad in Vancouver but never really had a consistent winning record. I think JB's fall was really due to Green that the other way around but they really didn't help each other.
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[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Bit unfair to just exclude our biggest defenceman for no reason...considering he played 20 mins last year... Even with Myers though we're tiny and more importantly play soft. Myers doesn't crush guys the way he could. Even Hronek is tiny compared to some of the big boys in the playoffs. We need to be looking to complement Hughes and Hronek with 2 beasts. Graves is big but far from a physical juggernaut but he sure would help, then just one more piece...not going to be easy. Reinabacher's already 6 foot 185 lbs... -
[Proposal] Filling in the holes VAN/TBL/CBJ
DownUndaCanuck replied to bones's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
Cernak is one of the best RDs in the world and only 26 - he's probably in Tampa's long-term plans as their old core pass the batton to their new younger core, so I doubt they move him. To get him alone I think we'd have to trade someone like Miller to be honest. After Hedman, Sergachev and Cernak, their D isn't that great so if anything they need more quality on their blueline, not to lose any of it. Like the CBJ deals though. Peeke is mainly an RD though. I wonder if we can get our 3C from CBJ as well - Kuraly or Roslovic at a stretch. Boeser + Garland + Rathbone for Peeke + Kuraly They have plenty of good young centers getting better and are probably going to add bloody Leo Carlsson to that list so Kuraly becomes pretty useless for them, but they could really use some middle-6 wingers. Obviously on D they just loaded up and Peeke is the odd man out now. Gaudreau - Jenner - Laine Johnson - Roslovic - Boeser Garland - Carlsson - Marchenko Texier - Sillinger - Bemstrom They have a lot of young kids in their forward group so adding Boeser and Garland really takes them to another level depth-wise. On defence, they've still got: Werenski - Severson Provorov - Boqvist Bean - Blankenburg Gudbranson Really no room for Peeke there and it looked like even Blankenburg and Boqvist were getting more minutes from Peeke. CBJ is a much better team for making that deal next year. Cap-wise they'd be around 1.5M over the limit so I wouldn't mind retaining a touch on Boeser to get us over the line. -
I don't think I'd give up our 1st for Hanifin, we've made enough desperate moves and it'd really throw this team's prospect pool in the gutter if we end up trading away 3 high picks in one year, not to mention not having a 2nd next year too. Calgary surely want some scoring help, their stars didn't produce and they need help up front in their top-6. As much as I love Boeser, I could really see him as a Flame in a swap with Hanifin. We'd probably have to add a depth defenceman to help their numbers, either Burroughs after re-signing (ouch) or Rathbone (again, I could see him having success as a Flame). It'd really hurt to have more ex-Canucks on that team but for once, we'd end up with the better player. Hanifin would unlock this defence. He made one of the best shutdown pairings in the league with Tanev not long ago. He's still young, big and strong and a reliable two-way defenceman, not much offence but sound defensively which is what we need. He'd make the absolute perfect partner for Hronek - a very versatile pairing who could realistically play together for the next 5 years and really start to grow some chemistry.
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[Proposal] Hannafin for first 2023?
DownUndaCanuck replied to canucksnihilist's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
You could argue exactly the same thing about the Hronek trade - why take a chance on a pick and wait 3-5 years for them to make an impact on our roster when we want to win now. Hanifin gives us a massive boost we desperately need and we might be able to re-sign him to a team friendly long-term deal. He's 26 years old, consistently puts up 30-50 points and logs big minutes for Calgary, up around 21-24 minutes a night. He's a top pairing LD and throw him into a team with a top-3 NHL defenceman and suddenly we have a playoff-worthy defence. I'd go hard for Hanifin or someone similar, like I've mentioned before, Graves or Marcus Pettersson. All these guys are good two-way defencemen, can play physically if need be and can log some big minutes - mainly on the PK - to shelter Quinn a bit in ways that OEL never could before. Not to forget, Hanifin was a former 5OA pick. 11OA for 5OA? Even if we draft Reinbacher and he becomes an absolute stud, he's not playing top-4 20+ minutes a night for a good couple of years at least. All depends on how desperate Allvin wants to be but based on his most recent trades and moves, I think he's dead desperate and wants to go all-in and sacrifice our futures. Not having a 1st or 2nd pick for so many years is just a dumb, dangerous game to play though in the long-run - we're in no position to be such desperate buyers the way say Tampa are, but if there's a deal around Boeser for Hanifin, you'd have to look into it. Right now he's on a 4.9M cap hit, surely he ends up getting a 5.5-6 x 6 year deal, maybe if we give him longer term we can get that number down to a very friendly 5M but he deserves 6+M easily. -
[Proposal] Go-time on the off-season
DownUndaCanuck replied to DownUndaCanuck's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
Yeah there would be some cap space available, wonder if we target someone a bit better like Monahan or Barbashev. They're both far more offensive though which would have worked under a BB scheme but under Rick, a checking 3rd line suites us better. -
(proposal) Vancouver - Anaheim
DownUndaCanuck replied to VegasCanuck's topic in Proposals and Armchair GM'ing
Anaheim or Chicago could use Myers but honestly in the saddest way, we need him more than ever right now. Otherwise we have 2 NHL defencemen and 4 AHLers which is on par with the bottom feeders. -
[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
We need to re-identify the D. Last year OEL and Myers were a great shutdown pair, this year they were trash. Myers on 1 more year surely doesn't get re-signed unless he plays out of this world. We've got Hughes and Hronek in our top 4 locked away for a good 7ish years at least. Neither are the toughest guys out there, Hronek threw some nice hits in Detroit but he's far from a physical defenceman, and he's coming off a big shoulder injury. We need to complement these two good 2-way defenders with two physical beasts going forward. I don't think they have to necessarily be 25 years old or young, I'd take a veteran physical guy any day - look at what impact Gudas had on that top 4. -
[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
I think there's two big points there. We can have small forwards and win in the playoffs if we surround them with big guys. Right now our top-6 consists of Mikheyev (pretty decent size and strength), Miller who's got a good frame and can play physically, PDG who is pretty solid, then Petey, Brock and Kuzmenko who are relatively non-physical. I agree in that a physical top-4 defence will just own a guy like Benson, but then look at what Pat Kane went and did. That being said, the Blackhawks weren't just a team of tiny Kanes - they had some real big guys on that team too. Hossa, Byfuglien, Sharp and Toews could all play a gritty style when need-be. Looking at Tampa, you could say the same about Point or Kucherov. Neither are tough guys, but their team is stacked with physicality. If we take someone like Benson we have to back it up and build some size around him. The flip side of your point is, look at the Vegas defence. Look at the Florida defence. Heck, look at the conference finalists, Carolina and Dallas' defence. Rock solid. Physically they could shut us down so easily. Our defence right now consists of Hughes (as good as he is, he's no big shutdown defenceman), Hronek (just come off medical management of a shoulder injury, never was a big physical guy but pretty decent), Myers (getting older and slower and has never used his body physically, and when he does gets penalized) and...that's it. We don't have Burroughs or Bear under contract right now but I expect Burroughs to be re-signed and he adds some physicality but again he's only 6 foot and under 200lbs. How this team could use one or two Whitecloud/Gudas/Pesce-type players... Maybe it all starts at the draft, we have an opportunity with Reinbacher or Simashev for sure... -
[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Yeah it'll be really interesting if it comes to 11th overall and ASP, Reinbacher, Benson and Dvorsky are available. 2 weeks ago I'd say take Dvorsky or Benson and run, they have such high ceilings. Benson could end up the next little Pat Kane, Dvorsky the next Kopitar. But...look at our defence right now. Under contract, we have Hughes, Hronek coming off an injury, Myers...and a bunch of AHLers. In the prospect cupboard we have...Elias Pettersson, that's about it. We've only taken a defenceman high twice, Hughes and Juolevi (not to mention guys in the 70s like Tallon). Since the 90s, we've drafted these defencemen in the first round: 1) Ohlund - arguably the 2nd best defenceman in franchise history after Edler. 2) Brad Ference - not great, played around 250 games 3) Bryan Allen - ended up with 700+ games so I'd call that a career 4) Bourdon - RIP but he was trending to be such a solid kid and defenceman 5) Juolevi. I get it about BPA, but look where it's gotten us - a bunch of over-paid wingers and 3 NHL defencemen under contract for next year with arguably no real defensive prospects in the cupboard. This is PA's chance to stock up big time. -
[Buyout] Oliver Ekman-Larsson
DownUndaCanuck replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
Yeah there are lots of options, I really like Kerfoot from Toronto too and my main guy would be Kampf. Killorn is 33, just dropped a 60pt season so I think will get paid well but surely won't get a lengthy deal, maybe a short but expensive 3 year 5M? I'd rather we throw something like 2-3M at Kampf or Kerfoot but it may cost us 5 years. Anyone in their late 20s is going to want a contract which sorts them out until they're 35 though, unless we try them on a 3-4 year deal and argue it's a way for them to earn their next contract which takes them to retirement. Either way, we need a solid guy who can kill penalties and win faceoffs. Raty will probably be Abby's 2nd line center next year in all honesty the way he finished last year so strongly. He's maybe 1 year away from the Canucks bottom-6. Aman looks so solid but when Raty is ready, he'll probably come in and start on the wing and then naturally just steal minutes off whichever center we have there. If it's Kampf or Kerfoot, they can slide onto the wing if/once Raty is more dominant. Never a bad thing to have too many bottom-6 centers.