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DownUndaCanuck

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Everything posted by DownUndaCanuck

  1. I really wonder if we can somehow snag a mid to late first round pick (even if it's by trading down) and somehow snag a defenceman like Strbak. I think he's one of the guys who will fall quite a bit and end up being one of the best defencemen in the draft, a bit like how you see lots of late first rounders end up being top-2 defencemen.
  2. Silovs vs Sweden will be pretty epic, surely Sweden will wipe the floor with Latvia but hopefully Silovs has a good outing and puts his name on the big stage, up there with guys like Wolf.
  3. I don't think Miller would make that much of a difference, Florida destroyed Carolina. Maybe if they had Miller and also two of their injured top-6 forwards, they'd stand a chance but Miller alone won't change a series. So many teams bowed out of the playoffs this year who could have used a top-6 two-way rugged center - Boston, NYR and Carolina to name a few. The thing is, Allvin wants a center who can play in the top-6 if we're to replace Miller. Boston have Zacha I suppose, NYR have Chytil and Carolina have KK. They're all good 3rd line centers - maybe very bad 2nd line centers. Add these guys to a first round pick (a late one at that) and we've got a bit of a package going but still need a bit more so throw in a prospect, even if it's a B-grade one, and we've got a good deal going. Zacha + 1st + some random B-grade prospect is more realistic than Zacha + Carlo Chytil + 1st is more realistic than targeting Schneider sadly KK + 1st is more realistic than getting Morrow I think you can get a top defenceman, or center, but no way we can get both out of just Miller. We could use the first to draft a defenceman in the later bit of the first round though for sure, so Chytil + Strbak is a bit more decent, but still our team next year gets a lot worse without Miller and I think Allvin really wants to go for it now rather than in a couple of years time.
  4. Blackawhs with 41M in cap space lol. I'm not a fan of trading an 11th overall pick in such a deep draft, but I wonder if we swing for the fences here and trade next year's 1st or the year after that, to get rid of OEL? I can live with Myers in the short-term but that OEL anchor will hurt us eventually. JB would have the balls to do this, for worse more than for the better, but maybe Allvin assumes that with all these acquisitions and us playing better, we will be a solid playoff team so the first next year will be a 20-onwards one? Straight up - OEL + 2024 1st to Chicago for nothing (maybe they wanna chuck us a B-grade prospect?) With that 7M cap space, we sign Gavrikov 5.5M x 5 years and Kampf 2M If Chicago know they aren't contending for a while, they might as well take on OEL (not just as a veteran for the kids coming through but maybe he helps keep them in the basement?), and they're clearly trying to snatch up picks. Meanwhile, the Canucks assume if they make this swap, they'll be a top-half team and that first won't be too good a player. Consequentially we have to keep our 1st this year, can't go consecutive years without top picks.
  5. Looking back, that was such a mess of a draft. Such high-end players and so many people drafted busts, we weren't the only ones. Edmonton take Poolparty 4th overall. We take Juolevi 5th overall. Even Laine taken 2nd overall, not the worst, but there were far better players. PLD 3rd overall hurts as well all things considered. A redraft would be very interesting. You've got Tage going in the end of the first, a lot of teams whiffed on him, McAvoy going 14th is a pretty big slap in the face for one of the best RDs in the league, and I remember Chychrun falling (when people were talking about him going 1st overall) to 16th and go figure he ends up being a solid top pairing defenceman. Sergachev is another guy who dropped, 9th overall and he's almost a PPG solid two-way defenceman now taking over the reins from Hedman. How does a redraft look now? Tkachuk Matthews Fox Thompson McAvoy Sergachev DeBrincat Chychrun I don't worry too much about the later round picks like Fox and DeBrincat, everyone missed on them, but when you're one or two picks away from a superstar that stings because you just know the team picking after you are celebrating that you missed on a star player they want.
  6. Florida have gotten better and better as the playoffs have gone on, basically from the 5th game of the Boston series onwards they've been invincible. I think this is a classic case of a team who were in their prime last year, failed to meet expectations, then struggled in the regular season (Ekblad's injury didn't help), but in the last bit of the regular season and now the playoffs, everything is coming together - a bit of skill, a lot of hard-work and a bit of luck. It always seems to happen to some team. Meanwhile, Vegas is just playing consistently well but to be fair I don't think they've come across a team in their prime like Florida. All of their past opponents have had one weakness or another whereas Florida just look jacked up all over the ice. Should be a really good matchup and long series, Florida's clutch, speedy top-6 vs Vegas' pretty big, solid defence. Vegas' rolling 4 lines vs a very good top-4 defence in Florida. At the end of the day I don't see Vegas able to breakdown Bob, the only kind of skill able to beat a goalie of this calibre is a superstar like McDavid/Draisaitl and Vegas don't really have that.
  7. It's dangerous to look too much into these tournaments, I'd rather not use it as an excuse to ignore an entire NHL season's worth of average play. Garland put up what, 3 points against a dreadful French team, does that mean we should keep him over Boeser? I don't think so. Let's see how he fares against top teams in the finals now but regardless, it's dangerous to look at this tiny, meaningless sample size which doesn't usually equate very well to NHL or playoff success. The same can be said for Myers, he's not really facing tough opposition to be fair. This is almost like playing in AHL games and doing well. At the end of the day, one or two wingers need to go. It comes down to age, cap hit and production. For me Boeser earned his spot on the 2nd line under Tocchet - he worked his ass off, became a PPG in the last 20 or so games, and went from one of the worst defensive players in the league to a solid PPG winger with Miller under Rick. He grabbed the opportunity whereas the others didn't. Beauvillier really dropped off without playing with Petey which is a shame. He's young, 4M cap hit but he really struggled on a 3rd line without superstars which is a shame, they carried him for a lot of his points. Garland is tricky, he's so good at forechecking and everyone assumed bringing his old coach in would help his production, but he was snake bitten a lot of the year. Problem is, he doesn't do a whole lot apart from "look good" on the ice. He generates shots, chances, but doesn't really kill penalties as well as a 3rd liner could, and doesn't score enough for a 5M cap hit. He does, however, seem to carry a 3rd line unlike Beauvillier. Honestly I'd be happy if we could flip Beauvillier and Garland. That's 9M in cap space we could spend on a top defender (either in UFA like Graves/Gavrikov or elsewhere) and a 3rd line center (again, UFA or elsewhere). Those winger positions can easily be filled internally (Podkolzin, Hoglander, Karlsson maybe even) much cheaper whereas we can't really fill the 3C role internally (Ratu is a ways off) and certainly not on defence.
  8. I'd blame not picking Tkachuk on the Virtanen pick - we picked a "skilled, speedy, gritty winger" with that pick so wanted to flesh the team out and pick someone else. Even if we had taken Nylander or Ehlers, we'd probably steer clear from another winger, but Virtanen was hyped up and supposed to be Tkachuk essentially. I guess if we had taken Nylander and Tkachuk, we'd probably be way higher in the standings and not been able to secure Hughes or Petey (although I think he would have fallen to us because of his size). Regardless, we've got something like a 50% bust rate with top-10 picks which is far higher than the usual 20% or so.
  9. I'd do the 11OA + OEL for 19OA and their 2nd round pick. Swapping firsts alone seems a bit brutal on our behalf. With 19 we take Strbak, with their 2nd we take Willander or Lindstein. Out with one bad old defenceman, in with two young good ones. Even moreso, that 7M in cap space...we throw at Graves or Gavrikov and probably have 2M cash left over for a 3C (say Kampf?) So OUT: OEL In: Strbak, Willander, Graves, Kampf The alternative is we keep the pick and just draft Reinbacher or ASP which doesn't seem anywhere near as good. Even without their 2nd, it seems like a better package with 7M gone.
  10. I'd be happy with that but doubt the 11th is worth that much, the 15th OA is just a bit too much value. If we could do something similar to this, I'm sure we'll get a solid player in the mid to late first as well. Could walk away with Willander and Strbak...
  11. Myers and Garland keep going...wow. If Myers plays like this next year we have our top RD to play with Hughes...maybe he'll have a Karlsson-like rebirth for his new contract?
  12. Bit skeptical about some of those players, and it really depends who's available at 11OA. I would trade most of our players + 1st for Leo Carlsson, I think he'll be the real deal quite soon, he's probably a 3-4C as early as next year, dare I say 2nd line center in his sophmore year and after that the sky's the limit. Carlsson and Petey down the middle is the perfect combination of skill, size, two-way ability and even grit (despite them being both Swedes, Carlsson is a unit). I'd do 11OA + Miller + even some more to get it done. I'd absolutely avoid Laff (no need for another project winger), Carlo would be decent but lacks high-end potential, doubt Anderson gets moved, I think Hanifin is certainly up for debate (almost even as a rental as his deal expires next year), I've liked Zub for a while but we're probably overpaying with an 11OA pick but I'd do it because he's proven he can play solid 20+ minutes, Liljegren no way, he got bullied in the playoffs, PLD would probably cost a boat-load more... These are savvy moves though and I don't think Allvin has the guts to make them - he'll play it safe and just take a player. A stupid/ballsy GM like JB would be all over a trade though. At the end of the day we need a center or defenceman, ideally young-ish, and we'll probably have a stab at one in the draft. My rankings for priority go something like this: *) - Trade 11OA + almost whoever it takes to acquire a top-4 pick - this will never happen but would be fun. 11OA + Miller + whatever for Carlsson would be fun. 1) Draft ASP or Reinbacher - get them young, develop them, turn them into monsters. 2) Trade for a defenceman - probably go Hanifin > Zub > Carlo (controversial I know but Carlo plays sheltered minutes, the other two are top guys) 3) Draft a center - Leonard, Dvorsky, Moore, Benson - these guys will probably be gone so we'd be left with scraps I'm assuming 4) Trade for a center - doubt this happens. Cirelli is surely a lock on Tampa's team and anyway, he has a massive cap hit we can't fit in unless we make other moves. Lots of options but sadly I doubt Allvin will entertain many of them, he'll surely just take a safe pick, he'll get someone who falls to him who he values over the other teams. Wouldn't be surprised if we go off-board and take a Swede who did well in the U18 tournie either.
  13. I know all the chat about JT Miller + 11OA for Carlsson is nice and tempting but all those teams are quite rebuild-y, even CBJ. Gaudreau is 29 years old though so it would make more sense to try and retool quick, and that 3rd overall pick could net them a massive haul - imagine if they walk away from the draft with 1C Miller and Reinbacher. That being said, Leo Carlsson is pretty much NHL-ready, certainly not top-6 material yet but he could be in a year or two. I wonder if Montreal would want to make a push for the playoffs next year, they have so many good young players, maybe a veteran would drag them forward? 5th overall pick and looking like Smith/Michkov, but they won't be ready for a while and their core is all around 22-23 years old. Miller is obviously a lot older but....does anyone do 11OA + Miller for 5OA? Seems like a fairer trade than for the 3OA because we have to really think about it - is Will Smith that good? I'd probably take the risk and hope Reinbacher or ASP fall to us but it could make things interesting.
  14. Absolutely this - the bad coaches we had over the last half a decade cost JB his career IMO. They wanted to try and give some rookies/AHL guys a chance and it back-fired big time, I think it was during the spree where guys (in Pittsburgh mainly) were going in with no experience and having success. WD and Green were such bad coaches and it shows - neither have a full time NHL career going forward now. When you look at the wins for the coaches, I think it correlates more with the coaching staff than the GMs. Crawford was well over 0.500, AV had almost double the wins to losses, then obviously our big core gets destroyed and Torts comes in - 0.500 hockey ever since. WD and Green were below 0.500 and we finally get a tried-and-tested coach in BB who somehow coaches that same Green (133-147-34) team to 50-40-13. I think back when we hired WD and Green there was a good coaching carousel going on and we whiffed on some big names.
  15. Bob is getting better as the playoffs goes on, unreal to see what he's done to Carolina. I know they're missing key offensive weapons but they're still playing such solid hockey, peppering him with shots and no one can bust through. Carolina really lack that star quality shot to beat Bob but regardless, he's stood on his head. Looking back at his career, Bobrovsky had such a good start and middle of his career then struggled hard after his massive contract and now look at him - 34 years old, had a pretty bad regular season (GAA over 3) and he's put it all together and having the playoffs of a life-time. This just shows - never give up on a goalie (or player probably), and I've always thought that goalies get better with age. You have to wonder if Vegas have enough fire-power to beat Bob, they seem to be overwhelming and breaking Oettinger slowly, should be a good matchup in the SCF.
  16. I don't think Weegar is going anywhere, newly acquired and just extended. Anderson has been massive for them, Tanev is getting older, Zadorov played pretty well but Hanifin is surely the odd-man out, a lot of talk about moving on from him which is surprising considering he's still fairly young and logging massive minutes. I'd target Hanifin for sure. He's 26 years old, on a 4.9M contract for 1 more year then a UFA, a solid two-way (but can really play shutdown hockey) LD. Calgary surely want more offence, their stars were anaemic last year, Toffoli lead the team in scoring and wasn't even a PPG scorer. They have the centers there who they'll surely expect to produce better with a new coach (Huby, Kadri, Lindholm), but they could use wingers and the Canucks have loads of them. I think there's a deal to be made revolving around Boeser and Hanifin. Obviously Hanifin has more value so we'd have to give them something more, perhaps a decent pick or (most likely) a young defenceman going back to replace some bottom-pairing minutes. Burroughs or Rathbone are the obvious choices there. I would do Boeser + Rathbone (+ a late pick?) for Hanifin, even if it means we have to retain a mil or so to make it work cap-wise. Hanifin - Hronek Hughes - Bear OEL - Myers Having a solid young two-way (but mainly shutdown) guy to pair with Hronek will have a huge trickle-down effect. Leaves Hughes to play offensively freely, and Hughes can carry a pairing so we could play anyone with him (even Burroughs to be honest) whereas Hronek isn't good enough for that. Obviously it'd be nice to shift Myers somehow but even if we didn't, that is a solid defence. Minutes-wise we'd have to split them something like this: Hanifin - 20 minutes (mostly PK and 2nd unit PP) Hughes - 22 minutes (mostly PP, barely any PK) OEL - 18 minutes (mostly PK, no PP) Hronek - 21 minutes (mostly PK, some 2nd unit PP) Myers - 21 minutes (mostly PK no PP) Bear - 18 minutes (no PP, few PK) Obviously that'd change game-by-game but it'd be nice to limit Hughes' minutes, and we don't want OEL playing over 20 minutes if he's as bad as he was last year. I have no problem plonking a 7M defenceman on the bottom pairing if we have bargains like Hanifin and Hronek - 9M for a top pairing, and essentially 8M for a 2nd pairing is a very sweet deal.
  17. He had 17 goals last year but I get what you mean, shame though because he isn't fantastic at killing penalties - if he was, the 5M would be justified. By comparison, Kuzmenko is going to cost 5.5M next year and had 39 goals last year. Neither kill penalties, Kuz is massive on the PP, but Kuzmenko doesn't quite play with that "grit" and great forecheck. At the end of the day though, forechecking shouldn't cost us that much - Garland is playing and producing like a 3M winger. It's not a load of money but it adds up when you have so many expensive wingers.
  18. Carlsson and Fantilli playing in the IIHF World Champs is pretty interesting, so far neither have really wowed just yet, they're basically playing bottom line minutes. Carlsson with a goal and 2 assists in 6 games, Fantilli with just 2 helpers but racked up like 25 PIMs in the last game. I wonder if this WC will have any impact on these guys and their seeding, to me Carlsson just seems more NHL-ready but Fantilli's offensive ability probably has a higher ceiling.
  19. Risky pick, he's going to ball loads. Someone may fall as well because of a poor showing at the combine or interviews too. But at the end of the day if Michkov is somehow around at 11OA you take him and run. He'll still surely go top-5, who knows, maybe some of the American kids will bump him down, but in 5 years time Michkov may be one of the best players of the draft. People are putting him in Bedard's tier in some chats, I think that's pretty insane but he may well be the 2nd best player of this draft. I think the McDavid/Kucherov comparisons for Bedard/Michkov are interesting and may be pretty fair.
  20. Absolutely classic that Garland is PPG and Myers is Canada's big minute man on defence yet they both suck with the Canucks. Hopefully this big off-season turns around their careers for next year. I have really given up on Garland and want him and his 5M contract moved but if he somehow became a 20 goal scorer over this off-season somehow, he'd be worth keeping.
  21. Wonder which direction they'll go in now, they can't quite rebuild, I bet they'll come out and say they want to retool just like half of the league. Obviously they won't be able to move Huby or Kadri so you start looking at other guys to move out. Backlund, Mang, Coleman, Dube etc., none of these guys are particularly bad but they need a big change. Their defence is pretty solid on the whole. I wouldn't be surprised if they just name a coaching change and leave the lineup pretty similar just to see what happens to start the season.
  22. Dallas let that one slip away, terrible play but I think Suter to giveaway the tying goal, Vegas are just playing good playoff clutch hockey right now. 4 rolling lines vs a stud goalie is an interesting matchup but Vegas are just edging Dallas out now. Big clutch play by Eichel and co., this series could easily have been 2-0 Dallas though but they just lack the clutch finishing that Vegas is showing. Oettinger was having a massive game and they still find a way to crack him in the end. Don't see Carolina or Dallas coming back in either series, should be a really solid finals.
  23. Imagine passing on Tkachuk for literally anyone let alone a bust.... Anyway, he has really taken over this series. Don't see Carolina coming back into this but it is a close series so far despite the two wins. I think Carolina win the next one but Florida still wins in 5 or 6. Florida vs Vegas will be a great David and Goliath/good guy/bad guy series but I don't see Vegas cracking Bob, and Florida just get so much clutch scoring. It's not just Tkachuk, their whole top 6 is playing clutch right now. Bennett and Reinhart deserve some credit and looks like Barkov has finally arrived too. I said it before, I'll say it again, their top 4 defence is so well balanced, they can score, they can hit and they can clamp it down.
  24. To play Devil's advocate, JB acquired all those guys, we just gave up on them early. You could argue none of them were really that good with us - they all developed into solid players on much better teams. We never gave Forsling a chance, but the other guys had a chance here and there and were never amazing. I thought McCann could have done better if we were patient with him but we never were. I never thought much of Chatfield and realistically he's a 6th defenceman so not that big of a loss. I will argue that JB had good intentions and made moves at the right time to address the team's needs, the problem was exactly scouting - we got the wrong player and they all sucked with us. OEL and LE are the big names that come to mind. The same goes for drafting, watching Tkachuk and Nylander buzzing in the playoffs hurts when they should have been Canucks. That being said, every team makes a mess of their drafting, top 10 picks though are very rarely busts and having two in a couple of years sets us way back - Petey and Hughes outplaying their draft doesn't quite negate Juolevi and Virtanen. You might call it bad luck but I think it's on our scouts to identify players who will do well in our system, and it seems as though most of the players who left the Canucks did well, and those who were doing well and came here did poorly.
  25. Obviously not 3OA but teah trading down, I'd do it if we don't have a shot at a decent player like Reinbacher/Leonard/Dvorsky. Making a trade like Hronek makes me think Allvin might be keen to acquire another player in the offseason, a decent young guy, and if it only costs us 11 spaces in the draft which means we get a solid young shutdown RD for 10 years and a partner for Hughes then I'd do it.
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