lmcbain

Grabner will be fine; his defensive game is not where it needs to be, but is improving and he looks like he belongs.. Raymond was similar and has made great progress with playing time. That young line has special speed and can cause fits with it and has leadership in Kesler. If we get Demitra and Samuelsson back and place them with Wellwood (the way he's playing) we should be able to afford to keep Grabner up (Bernier will remain out) and that could make for an excellent 3rd line up front. We may still not quite be there, but it IS coming.

Kovalchuk is an awesome hockey player who has another gear that few others have; however, for a team like the Canucks, with some serious dollars already committed, and a legitimate shot at building toward regular cup contenders, I don't think he's a fit (at least not his salary). We have a legitimate top line and a pretty durable one at that, we also appear to now have a very solid second line that has become a threat all it's own, with Kesler and Raymond as the anchors and both are young enough to run with for a few years. We also have another young gun in Grabner who showed enough before his injury to believe that he will be a legitimate NHLer (and he has an eye for the net). On the cash side of the equation; we will have Demitra's $4m available again next year; even if he's here, the $4m won't be. I'd also hang onto a guy like Tanner Glass, who's showing up to be very good value and may go up in price, but isn't suddenly going to jump to $2m either. Where we do need to be expecting to drop some cash is Kesler and Raymond. Hodgson is another question, he was looking so promising coming off the world juniors, then he got hurt and hasn't really palyed since, other than a very short NHL pre-season, so I wouldn't expect him to make the big club next year - but never say never. On the D side, unfortunately, Bieksa is looking pretty expensive; although he has had a couple of pretty serious freak accidents, it doens't change the fact he has not played like he did before the accident, since. We have Ehrhoff for at least another year and Edler is on file long term, Salo is likely here for another year as well; very good d-man when healthy, but of course that's the issue - when healthy. O'Brien is a young guy who looks to have potentially turned the corner and could be able to be secured semi-reasonably - the question is how much he wants to continue to be here under AV, versus trying his luck elsewhere - he's playing well enough that if he keeps it up, he'll have the option. I like Willie a lot, but pricing will likely play a role in things on that front. Just some thoughts.

I would actually like to see Sedin-Sedin-Burrows, Raymond-Kesler-Grabner, Demitra-Wellwood-Samuelsson and Glass-Rypien-Bernier running as our 4 lines. With Hansen, Johnson, Hordichuk as your extras. The chemistry that Raymond, Kesler and Grabner had was as good as the current line with Samuelsson and had even better speed and putting Samuelsson with Wellwood and Demitra would provide an appropriate level of skill that it should work. Wellwood is playing better in general and is doing quite well defensively and Demitra is fairly responsible defensively as well, which would bode well for Samuelsson, because he tends to give it away a little too often, but has offensive ability. The 4th line mentioned above would be a very strong 4th as well.