Team Bagues

A bad October/November can kill a season. We've seen that with a number of recent Canuck teams. Tight systems early on can mitigate the transition from summer to game play, and the integration of new players. The practice schedule is determined by the NHLPA. Teams aren't allowed to add more on-ice practice. Number of practices per month and time on ice are pre-determined. Teams like Vancouver who travel more lose out, since long travel days spanning two days count as hockey activities toward a player's overall time commitments to the team. Dan Bylsma once told me teams only get 4-5 on-ice practices a month, lasting no more than 45 minutes. I think all told, the bulk of "practice" time comes in training camp and pre-season. In this situation though the two RFAs in question are familiar with the system, the returning players, and seem to be two of the smarter players on the team. They should be able to catch up quickly, and the new line-up depth might be able to get the team through Oct/Nov into a reasonable position in the standings. A top offensive D and forward are difficult to replace though - especially on the power-play - which needs to return to the form of two years ago.

This is a tough one - had to go with Naslund for the greatest fleecing in Canucks trading history. Getting the Sedins was the greatest for cunning. Most impact would have to be getting Ronning, Momesso, Courtnall, and Dirk - although the Sedins would be close on that one. Getting rid of a scandal laden Bertuzzi for Luongo has to be up there as well.

Kesler had two dominant seasons. I think that Demko, Brock, and QH will give us more than that.

Given Brock and Demko haven't reached their prime, I can only speculate. Speculation leads me to believe both those guys will be better, for longer, than the rest of the guys on the list. Brock would beat out Kesler due to Kesler's "trending toward evil" disposition. I left QH out, cause I haven't seen Eric Karlsson win anything yet - and he looks a bit like a grown up QH. I have to go with Demko, viewing him through the lens of 'semi-finals v. Vegas' Demko - who looked like a top five in the league goalie. Couple years ago at a coaching clinic Sutter, Bowman, and Crisp were asked what it takes to be a successful coach. Darryl says "well, ya know.... went to san jose, got a pretty good goalie in Mikey Vernon, then on to calgary, pretty darn good with Kipper, then L.A., well we had Quick. If you wanta be a good coach in this league, get a good goalie!". Goalies make or break season/playoff dreams - see Jack Campbell (cough).

Bobby and Murray weren't great, but Chabot and Batherson are money in the bank. I'm hoping I get one, maybe two years of sneaking Batherson in a 240 deep draft pool before people start to notice. T'chunk junior is a great player that I'd have on my team any day of the week, but not at 8x8 if I had a say. A lot to lock that much up in a power winger likely to cap at 50/60 pts a year. Early results show Matthew (his brother) as having a wider skill set, and he's on a $7 mill bridge deal, which is around the same deal that Elias should get.

I agree. While some past UFA contracts have been suspect, RFA signings have been alright, Virtanen excluded. Let's keep that trend going.

Love Linden, but no. Sedins yes, Luongo maybe. Harold Druken, a given.

If you're talking about all hockey players that would apply equally to all people engaging in some type of amateur sport. They would belong to the general population and most of them are indeed, not very smart (or bright). Professional athletes though, in any sport, are generally above average intelligence. Maybe football or basketball were once was a home for dummies, but I'd say that has changed as well.

Very true. I found high school to a good waste of time. Most professional athletes in any sport are generally smarter than the average person.

Barzal is at present a better player.

3 x 6.5

Hughes 5.5 - he'll get more once his own end matches his offence - and he stops with the ozone giveaways. Pettersson 6.5 - maybe 7.0, but he hasn't shown Barzal consistency yet. done.

The guys getting big money are getting too much in my mind. Especially the big dogs - who tend to decline sooner and quicker than the mid sized D. There's only a few guys like Pronger who were able to carry the big man game for many years. Regardless, those guys getting stupid money all actually play defence, and contribute the offense. Luckily for us, Quinn has yet to get real good at the D side, which he may never figure out. Right now he's at Tyson Barrie, Macavoy type money.

Bure was an easy choice. No other Canuck has come close to dominating the way he did.

No doubt. Seems like they're still a one line team though. My buddy is an Oilers fan, and he's real excited about McLeod. I think most Oiler fans are.

Thanks for searching that. Yep, seems like all the eggs in two or three baskets doesn't tend to work out well.

Frickin' Otto! I usually wear #16 for a reason! The Jim Robson description of Linden after Game 6 vs. the Rangers gets me every time. He Will Play!!!

Suddenly Edmonton is at the cap, with three big contracts. Hope the Canucks don't follow suit. So far it hasn't worked well for the Laughs, but maybe time will tell? - although I doubt it. I can't recall the last team to win a cup with a couple superstars and middling fillers? Did Chicago win with Kane and Toews eating up 25% of the cap?

They had a number of clutch guys on that team - very much not a top regular season team but great in the playoffs. Greg Adams, Momesso, Murray Craven, Jeff Courtnall. They had a bunch of guys throughout the line-up that would come through. If only Lafayette was clutch, and hadn't hit the cross-bar....

If the Devils did give Hamilton 9 million for 7 years as reported I'd say that's one of the worst. Glad the Canucks did not do that.

Mike Hoffman 3 years @ 4.5 MTL Jake McCabe 4 years at 4.0 CHI Blake Coleman 6 years @ 4.9 CGY Granlund 4 years @ 5.0 NSH Wennberg 3 years @ 4.5 SEA Hyman 7 years @ 5.5 EDM Those all seem quite terrible to me.

They also know that only teams with balanced salary structures go far in the playoffs and remain competitive for years. It was noted after TO got knocked out that the only team left in the playoffs with a player making $10m plus was Montreal, for Carey Price. I reckon both Pete and Quinn will get Boeser like bridge deals. He was arguably the teams best and most consistent player last year.

I was worried about our D before this, and I'm still worried. Looking forward to bringing in a couple guys who can actually play D - something we've been lacking for a long time. 94' Canucks had a couple puck movers, and the rest were pretty much guys who could punch you in the face and block a shot with his forehead. Different game, along time ago - but if you look at Tampa's D - pretty similar. Although it would have been entertaining to see Miller ram Nate's face through a locker room stall, I'm happy to see the annoying little twerp gone. I'm sure the entire Canucks team is happy to have him gone - more addition by subtraction. Good work Jim. Now please don't sign Hamilton.

Boeser isn't a flake who's going to cry in his cornflakes. He'll put on his big-boy panties and do what's best for the team. He's been playing pretty decent lately - this stretch will only make him a better player moving forward.

No doubt. Hard to believe that was a year ago. SJ has fallen off a cliff - losing three centres will do that, and WINN has lost their back end. Adding Miller up front and Hughes on the back end has made a tonne of difference. Not too mention, last year Stetch was in the top four, this year he's 5/6. It's hard to pin-point the biggest difference this year. I look at: 1) A better rounded d-core. 2) Continued, if not better goaltending 3) Emergence of a couple younger guys (Virt and Adam) 4) All-star play of Miller 5)Hughes on the back end. 6) Loui Erikson legitimately in the top six! 7) Face-offs!!! Is this a Cinderella year?