EternalCanuckFan

Studnicka has a lot to prove to be on the roster but I do hope he can achieve it (even if it's as the 13th forward). He's a guy that has had to adapt his game to try and make it in the NHL. Still may be able to contribute more offense than he has shown, but seems less likely at this point that he'll achieve that at the NHL level. Still, he's relatively young and skates well, so hopefully he can find something that works.

EP would probably be a fine captain but Hughes probably has the better suited overall disposition for the role in terms of dealing both with on-ice and off-ice responsibilities. Looking forward to the start of the season.

If the cap goes up appreciably next year, then this deal will also keep plenty of space for them to re-sign Stamkos and still fill out the roster. Amount makes more sense than with Killorn given the age differences.

Kudos to Gurianov for signing this deal, and good for Nashville. He's had some struggles but he is a former 20 goal scorer.

Not questioning Quadrelli but curious why paying the bonus early (but after the end of the previous cap year) would be circumventing the cap. Whether the bonus is paid early or on the due date has the same effect on cap calculations, does it not (whether or not the player is traded)?

Too bad for Zadina. As questionable as some of the moves made by Yzerman have been, the Red Wings are maxed out with the cap and they have plenty of cap room next summer ($37M+) unless they bring in another big contract (e.g. Debrincat) without moving salary out. They still have young players who are being brought into the mix. If the cap goes up a lot over the next 2-3 years, then the cap hits of guys like Copp and Compher will be a lot less jarring than they are now. We'll see if the veterans added by Yzerman help improve their team next season. They were already showing some signs of improvement last season until Yzerman decide to do some cutting.

Wheeler does play C from time to time, so he has some added value that way. But yes, not much of a market for wingers. Kind of surprised Winnipeg wasn't able to trade Wheeler with 1/2 retention. It would mean a larger cap hit this season ($4M) vs a buyout ($2.75M) but the buyout cap hit will last through next season. I'm guessing teams still wanted a sweetener even with max retention

Pesce as a UFA would be intriguing. Pesce as a trade acquisition in a market where the UFA options aren't very good and the position is highly sought after is likely going to be way too right for the Canucks. Good on management for kicking the tires but I can't see how we could pony up an attractive enough package for CAR and pay Pesce market rate on his new deal next summer (along with EPs and Hronek's raises). A situation that might work is if CAR takes back Miller but if that's happening then we're talking about a MUCH bigger deal since the Canucks would need a C in return.

CHI must quite like Hall to not require sweeteners from BOS.

1 year deal I could see, but not 3 years. I think teams will be eager to give OEL a chance, but he still has to prove himself.

I assume the Canucks would offer Juulsen and Burroughs the same kind of deal Brisebois and PDG got - NHL min but high end AHL salary. IMHO, both guys deserve another shot at NHL minutes, even in a depth role. With Johansson and McWard joining Woo in Abby next season, it will be interesting to see how this all works out. Abby doesn't really need another RHD and adding one would bump Johansson and/or McWard down a level. Competition is good, but playing time is a finite resource. I wouldn't mind either Juulsen or Burroughs as a 2nd spare D with the Canucks. Personally I lean more towards Juulsen as I think his size and play style compliment the core D better. That being said, Juulsen has had problems staying healthy over this career - it's probably what's really held him back from what was a promising NHL career.

I think they're going to give him every chance to compete for a bottom 6 C position. Acquiring Studnicka as a winger didn't make sense when they made the trip and still is less than ideal. He was developed as a C in the AHL. Personally, I think Studnicka will be the 13th forward if he cannot outplay Aman for the 4C position. I don't see him playing his way further up the line-up for now, and if PDG plays the way he did to finish out the season, he very much deserves to be on the NHL roster. Studnicka's old enough now that keeping him in the press box may be less of an issue than if he were a younger prospect, and he has the versatility to play C or W as needed. I agree with you that he needs to add muscle and strength. It seemed like he had the right instincts and has good speed, but just lacked the "heaviness" to fight through traffic and contact. I know he got sick partway through the season but this was noticeable even before that. It's a tough situation though - packing on muscle may not be the best course of action if it ends up slowing him down significantly. Hopefully he'll find a good balance this offseason.

lol it's possible that OEL comes back as a serviceable NHL D but seems quite unlikely that he's going to come close to his former form. Still, if he signs cheap somewhere, he might still provide a lot of value to a NHL team in a bottom pairing role. Good for him if he wins a Cup with his new team. If that happens, then it will certainly cast a bit of a pall on the decision to buy him out. It's always a risk with buyouts. Sometimes buyouts are for players that really can't hash it out in the league anymore. Sometimes they're for players who are just badly overpaid. OEL was likely more the latter. Buying out OEL was the logical choice for the Canucks despite all the baggage it comes with. It was the only choice they had full control over, and it's the result of a bad trade that was not of their own doing. Sure we could say that they shouldn't have worked themselves into further cap hell by committing large cap hits to Miller, Mikheyev and Kuzmenko, but I also get that they are under direction to try and make the team competitive (whether or not I agree with that direction). Clearing cap space other than the buyout was presumably going to cost them assets which they can't give up either. If OEL finds good footing in the NHL again after this, then good for him, but I do think the team made the right decision. Giving up assets while continuing to compete over $7M in cap space to OEL in hopes of him at least being a serviceable bottom pairing Dman would be a worse look, IMHO.

Myers is one of those guys who burst onto the scene and looked to be a high end Dman but who eventually was never really able to exceed or even maintain that level of play. I don't think there's much question that Myers hasn't been worth his contract but it's probably too much to conclude that he's not a NHL Dman. His lack of success with the Canucks is probably the confluence of his own limitations, coming here when the team has not been good, being tasked with high end responsibility during this period, and never really having a D partner that complimented him well. The one stretch 2-seasons ago where OEL and Myers played together quite well (during the Boudreau Bump) probably shows what Myers can do in a better overall situation, but even then he's still overpaid. For cap reasons alone, it's hard to see the value of keeping Myers for the entirety of next season.

They're either going to want as high a pick as possible in return, or a good, young, and cheap prospect. My guess is they will aim for futures since they can probably graduate someone like Holtz next season (unless they use Holtz in a trade of course).

Can't see the Canucks having the pieces for Hanifin unless they're looking at moving a 1st Rd pick. Hanifin is 26 and will need a new contract after this one. If the 11OA is in play for Hanifin at a division rival, then I will feel a lot less positive about the cap space the Canucks just bought. To me, the goal now is to continue to try to move out cap but to require more assets in return now that there is cap space to work with. At the same time, the team needs to continue adding young depth, ideally with a longer time horizon not just for team control but also a lower AAV. Hanifin could be a $7M+ dman next summer at the rate prices are increasing, and the Canucks will have to re-sign Hronek too. If there was some way to bring in Hanifin without trading a 1st, then sure, I'd be interested, but I can't see why CGY would do that with the Canucks.

They also have Boqvist at $2.6M. My guess is their D pairs will look like: Werenski-Peeke, Provorov-Severson, Bean-Boqvist, and with Blankenburg and Gudbranson as extras. I doubt they will find a taker for Gudbranson unless they retain. I suppose they could demote Gudbranson to save $1.125M in cap and run with only 1 spare D. It's a strong D core. They're still severely lacking at C though. Jenner was their #1C last year, and Roslovic is a low quality 2C. If Kent Johnson and/or Cole Sillinger show significant improvement, then they might be fine, but that's a lot to expect for very young players. It would also be a lot to expect for either Carlsson or Fantilli to step in right away as a 1C or 2C. It will be interesting to see how they address there lack of C depth. I doubt they would trade their 3OA but could they have interest in Miller? I know this has been discussed before but it is an intriguing question. Miller and his $8M cap hit are actually not that bad when considering this summer's FA market. If CBJ is really going all in and if they are convinced Miller is a full-time C, then he's a good option for them. If the Canucks don't push for the 3OA but are willing to take players back, then maybe CBJ may be more willing to make a deal? Something along the lines of Miller (or Miller+) for Johnson/Sillinger, Roslovic, Ceulemans, (and maybe another piece?)? The Canucks get a blue chip and very young C prospect, someone to play 3C, a very good RHD prospect, and some cap space (and Roslovic is a UFA next year which opens up room for Raty to make the jump or money for a FA signing). CBJ keeps their 3OA but receives a major upgrade at the C position from Roslovic and keeps one of Johnson/Sillinger.

I think it's impossible to ignore the OEL trade when considering Benning. That trade was made on the basis of a wing and a prayer that OEL would bounce back. That trade would only have been defensibly good for the Canucks if OEL recaptured the form that made him an exciting player with the Coyotes for several years. It has been far from that. I'm not an OEL-hater but it's hard not to see that deal as being of the franchise crippling variety. Hard not to pin that on Benning. Even if it was possible to ignore the OEL trade, I would say that one of the most observable things about his tenure is that he made terrible bets, or at least too many bad ones. Eriksson, Ferland, Virtanen, Juolevi, Gudbranson, Myers, Vey, Clendening, etc. Baertschi was a bit less of bad bet - if he stayed healthy then he may have made more waves - but at the end of the day that bet went sour on Benning too. Miller was one of the few genuine "wins" for Benning, IMHO. Hughes fell into their laps, though Pettersson was a good pick, so at least there's that. I'll give them credit for drafting and developing Demko. Every management team will have bad bets, but Benning's team just never seemed to be able to make enough good ones.

Would have liked the Canucks to sign him as a free prospect. There should still be college FAs who will become available to sign in August that will draw interest.

I think Gillis did a lot of good with the Canucks, but it did seem like he wasn't generally liked by other GMs which might have made it more difficult to get deals done. While being liked by other GMs is not a job requirement (or necessarily a good thing even), he generally seemed to have an antagonistic relationship with other teams and the league. I suspect that has been a big factor behind Gillis not being back in the GM role after so many years (it also might not just be lack of interest from teams). Personally I thought highly of Gillis' management. That management team's lack of success drafting was an issue however, notwithstanding the fact that they generally drafted low due to their success.

OEL has a NMC so unless it's confirmed that it was voided after he accepted the trade to Vancouver, I think shipping him out in this kind of deal is highly unlikely. I'm not totally against moving down in the 1st round if it means: moving out an appreciable amount of cap; and recouping at least a 2nd Rd pick in addition to retaining a 1st Rd pick and moving out cap. Chicago's 2nd would be a very high 2nd Rd pick which would be perfect for the Canucks to scoop up prospects that unexpectedly fall out of the 1st Rd. If the cap really does go up by $4M, then Chicago will need to add more money to at least meet the cap floor. They can obviously do that by doling out money haphazardly, but a player like Garland could still be very productive for them at his cap hit (which also has a fair bit of term left which benefits the Canucks and possibly Chicago if Garland plays well for them). Does it suck that the Canucks have to consider this kind of move? Yes, but it's not entirely outside the realm of possibility and could still provide value to the team. While it would be nice to see the Canucks move up in the 1st Rd (e.g. the CBJ rumors), I can't see that happening unless CBJ is very motivated to try and compete immediately. That's not entirely unfathomable given their signing of Gaudreau and where Laine is in his career, but they still have a lot of holes.

I think the Tavares deal, one of the first things Dubas did, set the team off on the wrong foot. Signing Tavares wasn't the problem - I actually like Tavares and have thought highly of his game since he was drafted by NYI. But signing him for $11M AAV for 7 years was a bad idea. Having so much cap committed to just a handful of players, no matter how good they are, is not a formula that is working. Sure, Edmonton made it to the WCF last year, but even with an arguably improved team this year, they couldn't make it past the 2nd round. Dubas had a good run to test out his vision but it didn't yield much success, at least in the post-season. I'm sure he'll get another shot but I do wonder what lessons he'll take from his time with TOR if he does manage elsewhere.

Besides Carolina's defensive strength, their forward depth is also stronger than TO's. They might be missing top end talent due to injury, but every line has a solid mix of players, including at least one who's not afraid to get to the net. It'll be an interesting series for contrast in styles. I think Florida will give them a bit of trouble though. Florida's not as green as NJD and is a bigger team overall. Unrelated to the above, but this will be an interesting series also because all the Staal Brothers still in the NHL are in this one series.

If the Canucks do absolutely nothing this offseason due to cap constraints and not wanting to use sweeteners to move cap, then what does the roster look like next season? They still need to re-sign Bear and they will need to acquire a 3C somehow. I doubt they will run with Aman as 3C next year but who knows. If I'm not mistaken, then Hoglander and Kravtsov are not waiver exempt next year, so if they need to be assigned to Abbotsford, the Canucks run the risk of losing them on waivers. As others have suggested, the Canucks could demote a bigger contract player (e.g. Garland, who doesn't have a NMC) to make additional cap room (and I'm sure they won't mind if he's scooped up off waivers), but boy will it be tight. I agree with others who have argued that the best choice for the Canucks may end up being to stand pat and work the cap internally however. They're a year away from a bit more cap flexibility, although we were in the same position the year the Canucks acquired OEL...

This is another reason the Hronek trade was a bit confusing. I get that maybe he wouldn't be available in the summer, but it further limited any cap flexibility the Canucks may have had, especially after re-signing Kuzmenko. I wasn't totally against the Hronek trade but for a management team that has been talking about looking for cap flexibility for well over a year, they weren't doing themselves any favors. If teams are insisting on a 1st or 2nd to take a cap dump and the Canucks bite, then I wonder if they'll be able to "get away" with a future 1st. That's the only way I can see any cap dump including a 1st being even remotely defensible. Garland doesn't have a NMC so he could theoretically be waived and demoted (even though he doesn't deserve to be demoted). If the Canucks can trade Myers with minimal retention, demote Garland, and have both Poolman and Pearson on LTIR, then they might be able to make the cap work, but they probably won't have much room to make any other meaningful alterations this offseason.