Forsy

tbh, I'd say screw Demers. But I agree about Chiasson, unfortunately he doesn't seem to be signed.

Continue to draft prospects that become good players. Continue to develop current young players into good players. Re-sign young players who become good players to not-too-expensive contracts. Trade for and/or UFA sign good players with reasonable contracts. Year-to-Year salary cap changes versus existing contracts determines the amount of deviation you can make on these four keys.

Someone watches the Price is Right :D

Ever have lawyers representing you? Even if as a client I may dictate what I ultimately want and what I would ultimately cave into/accept (from the other side's requests), I don't dictate their strategy in negotiation. So No, I don't see a reason to blame a couple of young guys skating around in Michigan.

3:10pm

Hoping for 8! But guessing it's gonna be 3.

thank you, someone finally said it

100%, I have been more tired of Canucks Pessimistic Media than the Canucks Defensive Woes, Biased Refs and Eriksson's Contract combined.

I never thought it was about being next best league. Isn't the AHL best in filtering out players? Meaning that AHL success doesn't guarantee success in the NHL, but it seems that not being successful in the AHL would likely mean the player will struggle in the NHL. Maybe there are many exceptions that I just don't remember? Can someone research this: Players who were terrible in the AHL but ended up being pretty good, or even superstars?

haha which video?

These are franchise/top players, and therefore, the rule of thumb would be reverse. They will accept slightly less on a shorter contract knowing they will get paid a heck a lot more on the next contract, and thus more overall. $9M x 8yrs now is less than money than say $8M x 3yrs bridge, then $10M+ x 5yrs+ later (inflation, contract starts during their prime, etc). But I agree with you, might as well bridge contract and see how they really look in 2-3 years time, and hope that inflation hits right after their contracts come (so they represent a smaller percentage of the cap).

Well, we have two franchise players as RFA to sign, so it is quite a tight squeeze. That said, we have about 19.65M to sign Elias, Quinn, Dickinson and Juolevi. I project 8M, 8M, 2.75M, 900K. If we go cheaper for 3 years for the dynamic duo, that's gonna be an expensive upgrade in 3 years. Locking them up for their 20s long term now at a lower AAV would be nice - assuming they'll accept 8M or lower. If they want higher, we're gonna have to go for a short bridge contract so everyone fits in this year's cap, and then huge payday for them on their next contract.

I liked your take OP, I pretty much agree with all of it. But EVERY move is dependent on how well each player continues to develop. NOTHING is Guaranteed, including the guarantee that some people have that players will just blow and produce albatross contracts. I think this is a season that is least likely to be predicted because many major factors start pessimistic because of a terrible season for continuing canucks players, and OEL coming from a situation he did not like, which gives a greater chance to rebound from these lowered expectations. The exceptions seem to be Garland, Hughes, Dickinson and Pettersson, who we all seem to be sure will succeed. This could happen... Garland becomes a perrenial 25pt player? Schmidt becomes a 40+ pt player? Halak blows and gets us 1-2wins max? Sutter becomes completely useless? Schenn becomes a perrenial #8 dman? OEL continues to degrade and suck? Poolman is a perrennial #7 dman? Hamonic is barely a #6 dman? Juolevi becomes irrelevant and is AHL forever? Dickinson is a 4C at best? Hughes drops in production, and stays terrible on D? Pettersson does not recover from injuries and becomes a 40-60pt player at best? On the other hand, this could happen... Garland becomes what he has projected to be, a 60-70pt player? Schmidt maintains being a 20-30pt player? Halak does well and plays a solid 25-30 games and wins 15+ games? Sutter is a great 4C who can even score two goals once in a while? Schenn is a great bodyguard for Hughes and plays good D? OEL is empowered by Hughes and forward group and goes 40-50pts a season? Poolman is a shutdown dman that solidifies our 6man group? Hamonic is another shutdown dman, which gives us two shutdown defensive pairs? Juolevi takes the next step and becomes an all-around 20pt defender? Dickinson is a shutdown 3C beast? Hughes maintains his crazy point production and builds up decent defensive play? Petterson recovers well and builds up his ppg+ capability? NOBODY can predict which of these things happens (or somewhere in between). We just have to see how they do next season, and see how well they gel and integrate their skills together as a team. But I can say that I like the odds of his moves. If even 75% of his moves work out, we're in really good shape.

Fans just hate contracts that are longer than 2 years remaining, or a contract that takes them past the age of 30. There is some sense to this because: If a player blows, it doesn't matter what age, the contracts will suck if it's longer than 1-2 year remaining. If they play well, most forwards will do well into age 30-32, and defensemen into age 32-34. But in the end, contracts being good or bad are all about how well the player the plays. If they play well, their value is good/fine even into age 35-36 no problem. But with that kind of logic, you're not likely to get any good players through trades/UFA, because no one would give those players up without massively overpaying. It's only possible by drafting that player years beforehand. We needed another really good dman, and this is as good a choice as any that is actually possible to obtain.

Hometown discount!