Dixon Ward

I agree, and I'm glad I'm not responsible for that. But a long term d that looks like this would be worth paying up for. Our goaltending is set. Maybe Virtanen and Sutter get it done? They only have 10 forwards signed and this would balance cap wise and allow them to sign another FA. Hughes Ristolainen Juolevi Woo Tryamkin Stecher

Isn't Montour also RHD. They have Casey Nelson as well on RHD. That's 5 under contract and 4 who could be top 4 possibly. I think Risto is on the move. I hope its here. He would be better than Meyers and cheaper for the next 3 years.

I will be very interested to see what Anders Lee gets in Free Agency. JT Miller has actually scored 3 more points in a 4 less games over the last 4 years. He is also 3 years younger and signed through his prime at a very reasonable cap number $5.25 million. We are not stuck with him into his 30's. Whoever signs Lee will likely pay $7-8 Million for 7 years until he is 36.

I think Sautner and Brisebois should be there with Juolevi to man the 5th and 7th LHD positions. If we are going to sign someone it should be Jordie Benn for some grit and experience. Not Hutton. We need a new look.

We don't need any of these guys. If we are going to take on more players, they should be proven nhlers.

We had an NHL player for 215 games who scored 69 points and was good defensively, killed penalties. Shinkaruk played 14 games and had 4 points and is now totally sucking for Montreal in the AHL. How did we not win the trade?

I think more like mid 2nd. There are some guys behind him on the games played list who are stronger nhlers at this point. He only played 4 games in the AHL. He probably could have used some more development time. Who knows?

He was drafted 147th overall in the 5th round. He played the 25th most games in the NHL of the entire draft class and the most from the 5th round. He is a very successful 5th round pick. He is just not worth the cap hit. This is the right thing to do. He is a 5-7th defenceman at best and we shouldn't spend over 4 million on that.

There are 13 names on the list that were selected in the 1st round. More from the 2nd round.

We are all tired of Eriksson. They have to get to the cap floor. I would do the following. To Ottawa Eriksson, Spooner, Schaller ($18mil real dollars, $11mil cap hit this year) They get veteran players to fill out their roster and mentor their younger players. They save $4.5 million but get a higher cap hit which doesn't matter at this point. The would still have lots of rume to sign some RFA's and FA's. To Vancouver Bobby Ryan ($22.5mil real dollars, $7.25mil cap hit) Get a player who is a bit better offensively than LE, worse defensively. Seems like a character guy. We get a lower cap hit. We also clear out some space for more contracts and actual space on the roster.

I get it. I do too. i just marvel at how everybody is losing their $&!# over giving up potential maybe 4 years from now that might be nothing. They all say that Jim's teams lose so he is a failure, but then he brings in a serious player to help them win and he is an idiot for not waiting over 4 years for a lottery ticket.

Interesting when you think how crazy everybody is going that we gave up a 1st rounder.

Quick question...how can 2 players both be unanimously wanted?

Agreed. I was driving alot Saturday morning when the Miller trade broke and Scott Rintoul couldn't say a sentence that didn't start with, "some fans in the community will be very unhappy and feel we overpaid, but..." At that point he had just heard about it and he was already putting negative words in everybody's mouth. It was ridiculous. JT Miller is a great player and whomever we picked in the 3rd round has a small chance of playing in the league let alone the top line. A pick in the middle of the first round in 2 years might play in 4 years and then take a bit to get up to speed. Still very little certainty that player will play top line minutes. JT Miller should have been a great story on a great weekend when we got 2 steals in Podkolzin and Hoglander. We should have been rejoicing instead of mourning the loss of a future draft pick.

Are you under the impression that other GMs picks and trades all work out to their advantage? If so, then why don't all 30 of them have perfect teams? Why doesn't everybody get a Stanley cup every year?

I am not saying he can't, I just don't get all the hate. He has done more good than bad by far imho.

Over the past few days I have been shocked at the local and national media and the fans for the negative pile-on of Jim Benning. He has made some bad moves, yes. He has made some bad trades, yes. Name 1 GM who hasn't. He inherited a team that had Brendan Gaunce as it's only possible prospect who may ever make the NHL. The drafting of the 10 years before him was the worst in the league. He had aging superstars that he was not allowed to trade. The owner stepped in when he did try to clear out some FA's for picks(Hamhuis). Thanks to the stupid NHL lottery system he has fallen backwards in every draft he has picked in. He had Bo Horvat and a bunch of old guys with NMC's. Under him we have done the following: Brought along Horvat, Boeser, and Peterson into an enviable young core. Developed Markstrom into a number 1 and Demko to the point of challenging and Dipietro looking like a great future option. Picked up Baertschi, Granlund, Leivo, Stecher, Goldobin to attempt to fill in the missing generation of Canuck draft picks. WE have a great prospect pool quickly moving to nhl readiness Defence with realistice chance at NHL Hughes(Top 2 D) this year Juolevi(Top 3 D) later this year Sautner (4-6 D) ready Brisebois(4-6 D) ready Woo (Top 4) 1-2 years Tryamkin (Top 4) 1 year Rafferty (4-6 D) close Rathbone(2nd pair) 2 years Utunen (5-7th D) 2-3 years Forwards with realistic chance at NHL Gaudette (top 9) now Podkolzin (top 6) 2 years Lind (2-3 Line) 1-2 years Hoglander (2nd line) 1-2 years Madden (2-3 line) 2 years Gadjovich (3-4th line) 2 years Lockwood (depth forward) 2 years Goaltenders with a realistic chance at the NHL Dipietro (Starter) 4 years Kielly (backup) 2 years He has now added JT Miller who fits perfectly in our top 6. So we have great long term depth in quality goaltenders. We have 4-5 our our long term top 6 forwards. We have some excellent bottom 6 forwards. We have some quality Defensemen and are shopping for FA's. From where he started and with the restrictions he has had, I think he deserves much better coverage. Chiarelli started with McDavid, RNH and Draisatl and destroyed the team. Shanaplan is now falling apart despite having much better luck in the lottery and having the top FA centre available for years fall in their laps. They have terrible defence and are losing 2 of the ones they have. They have 6 million in space to improve their blueline and signe 10mil+ Marner after losing out in the 1st round. They are about to have 35$million committed to 3 forwards for the next 7 years. Anyway, I know I will probably get skewered. No I am not Jim Benning's biggest fan. I think he has made some bad trades. I just don't get the overwhelming $h!tstorm that the media and fans seem to want to inflict on him.

I say give Brisebois and Sautner a chance to take his place. They cost 1/4 of what he does and can likely do as much. We just don't need Hutton at 4mill+. I like him more than most, but we don't need him. We clearly need a top 4 RHD by we don't need Hutton. Edler Stecher Hughes Tanev Sautner Biega Brisebois Rafferty Juolevi(if he is recovered?) incoming Meyers/Gardner Tryamkin Woo Rathbone

All the talk about building through the draft, dumping older players for draft picks, etc.. for the past few years has, imho, lead many on cdc to overvalue draft picks. I have heard many on hear talk about offer sheeting high end guys. This would require a ridiculous cap hit, term and giving up a number of top draft picks. I have also heard many people talk about signing "top" Free Agents like Lee, Ferland, Dzingel, etc... which we all know would cost big $$ and at least 7 years. I would much prefer Miller at his cap hit and term, to any of these free agents at their cap hits and terms. He is a proven top 6 player who is still young enough to play a big role in our next step. Gives Petey and Bo a great winger to play with, kills penalties, etc... I am very happy with this trade. At some point the picks need to translate into real players who can win a hockey game. We only have 6 spots in the top 6 and now 4-5 of them are taken for awhile. This year Pearson, Baertschi, Spooner, Leivo, Goldobin and maybe Nyquist will be fighting for them. Podkolzin, Hoglander, Madden, Lind will be fighting for them in future.

I feel confident in saying that if Hoglander was in the US develpment program he would have gone top 20. Combine European with small and you drop. He looks fearless and skilled and confident and determined. I think he, Hughes, Podkolzin, Madden, Woo, Peterson, Dipietro, Gaudette were steals at their draft place. I am hoping to say the same thing about Rathbone, Keppen, Lind, and Utunen. I am pumped about the next 10 years of the club.

Funny that's who I heard JT Miller compared to as well.

Crawford coached over in Europe for a bit and maybe took the blinders off a bit.

The only FA forwards I would consider at this point would be great playmakers. Panarin, maybe Nyquist for the right price, and maybe Zucarello for a short term. Our second line, and our team in general, has more size now, more shooters, but, Petey and Boes are the only two I would term playmakers. 1 more would nicely round out the top 6.

Dzingel 56 pts/78g/16:49mpg (Career high 56 pts) Nyquist 60 pts/81g/17:30mpg (Career high 60 pts) Lee 51 pts/81g/17:05mpg (Career high 62 pts) Ferland 40pts/71g/14:06mpg (Career high 41pts) JT Miller 47pts/75g/14:40mpg (Career high 58 pts) Plays a heavier game than Dzingel and Nyquist and scores as much or more. Scores well beyond Ferland, and about the same as Lee in less minutes. This is a great player and they cost something. These guys all are going to cost 7 mill plus on 6-7 year deals because Kevin Hayes got that and Miller is better than Kevin Hayes too.

There are only 6-7 nhl defencemen jobs on a team. We Need to add a veteran to the group, but here is what we have so far: NHL players Edler Tanev Hughes Stecher Hutton Biega On the verge Sautner Rafferty Brisebois Juolevi Top Prospects Tryamkin Woo Rathbone Chatfield Utunen Eliot Teves McEneny That is 18 guys plus we all want JB to sign at least 1 free agent and many wanted Schenn back as well. That means this year Edler FA Hughes Tanev Hutton Stecher Sautner Schenn Brisebois Juolevi There are only so many spots and if the team looked at it and thought that they had already added Teves and Rafferty in FA and have Tryamkin, Woo, Rathbone, etc.. waiting, they should only draft defencemen if the have a strong chance of being better than what they have. Obviously they didn't. There is 7 spots on the club and 7 on the farm. For forwards there is 26 so they need a lot more options.