EternalCanuckFan

From what I have read, Studnicka has mostly played C in the AHL with the last couple years being used to try to mold him into a winger at the NHL level. He is apparently most effective at C but has so far really only shown that at the AHL level. Boston fans seem to point to the Bruins' preference for veterans (something Canucks fans can relate to, I'm sure) which has made it hard for Studnicka to supplant the veteran Cs and Ws in front of him. I'm honestly not expecting a whole lot from Studnicka but do hope that he can become an effective 3C for the Canucks. He's got decent size, skating ability and is described as a smart player, so those seem like good qualities to at least be a bottom 6 NHLer. If he can do that at the center position, then even better. If this was 2-years ago, then I would probably be more excited about acquiring Studnicka, but there is still reason to be hopeful. At minimum, if Studnicka can improve his faceoff ability and contribute on the PK, then that would give the Canucks more options. Having Lazar and Studnicka as RHCs who could play on the PK would be useful. Whether Studnicka contributes offensively is the greater unknown at this point. I don't think it'll be fair to judge Studnicka for awhile as every player takes time to settle into a new team. At any rate, looking forward to seeing how he does in his first game.

Not that Pederson is a huge piece but I like his inclusion in the deal. I guess the Canucks made the Canes pay to free up cap space, which is a nice change. I remember Pederson being a bit of an annoying bottom 6 opponent when he was with ARI and SJS. He's a good depth piece and helps shore up the very thin depth the Canucks have at C (especially if they run Miller on wing for the rest of the year). Not expecting Pederson to get much playing time in the NHL but good to have him in the system.

I will wait and see if Bear can both recapture some of the form that made him quite promising a few years ago, and whether he can gel with this D core. Not a bad acquisition for a 5th Rd pick. He's still under team control after this year. At the very least management is doing something to address the D core. Burroughs has been a great story but he really shouldn't be an everyday RHD. The pessimist in me can't help but see the last two deals as current management's Linden Vey and Adam Clendening, but both Studnicka and Bear hold more promise. Will just do my best to enjoy the ride!

I'm not as negative on the trade but I hear you. The trade doesn't move the needle much unless Studnicka suddenly hits another level in his NHL play. The greatest pain point for me is that the team has not stockpiled picks/prospects to allow them to make trades like this with less impact on the prospect pool. Successive management groups have more or less tried the same thing (on the surface). It's hard not to feel like moves like this are short sighted, especially when it involves trading from a position where the Canucks effectively have 0 prospect depth. Personally, I suspect if the Canucks had traded a LHD prospect in this situation, then it would be less "painful" since that is a position they have greater prospect depth (even if it's still not great). It's going to be an interesting season. I hope a player like Studnicka makes a successful transition to the NHL with the Canucks but I also wonder what happens if the team generally just fails to progress. Will that force an aggressive deconstruction of the team to recoup picks and prospects that will finally let the team stockpile for the future?

At this stage of Studnicka's development, it seems he's probably a sure NHLer but in a bottom-6 role. He still has top-6 or middle-6 upside, so that's what we'll have to wait and see as and when he is given an opportunity (which I assume will be soon given all the injuries). Giving up DiPietro is neither here nor there (at this point - it's a shame how he has been handled). I don't like giving up Myrenberg but there's still a long road between his promising development and actually becoming an NHLer. What I don't like about giving up the most is that he's developing well and he's still only 19 years old, but even with his promise he's probably still several years away before possibly getting a chance in the NHL. The team is also bereft of RHD prospects that it just feels strange to deal pretty much the only promising one. Having said that, the odds of Myrenberg becoming a NHL D, let alone a top-4 NHL RHD, is so low that I don't necessarily blame management for trading him to get a better qualitiy prospect. My suspicion is that the signing and good play of Filip Johansson (in the SHL) might have made management more willing to give up Myrenberg. Johansson is far more likely to have an NHL opportunity in the next 1-2 years. If Myrenberg becomes a top-4 RHD in the NHL someday, then that will obviously be disappointing, but the odds are low for that happening (not that I don't wish it for him) and the problem for the Canucks isn't so much about the loss of Myrenberg but the severe lack of other prospects at his position. Studnicka is a prospect that I thought the Canucks should have interest in but it's certainly not encouraging that he has had a tough time making the Bruins roster. Additionally, he's described as a C but my understanding is he now projects more as a winger. Hopefully Studnicka can solidify himself as a NHL-level C as that would give the Canucks more flexibility for line-ups, especially with Miller having shifted to the wing again. Personally, if Studnicka can play C and at least be a serviceable 3C who kills penalties and can contribute a bit on offence (at least for this season), then I think this trade is decent with a possible future sting of seeing Myrenberg become a serviceable NHL D.

Lazar was part of what was starting to look like a decent 4th line. Boeser was looking slow. Maybe it's good for him to get more time off. It's been quite the start to the season.

I agree it's too early to rip Miller for not living up to his new contract. I think the issue with Miller right now is that the same types of things that he has been rightly criticized for in the past (not being hard enough on the backcheck, nonchalant or lazy plays with the puck) have been very evident to start the year. I think you're right that it may be a result of him being out of shape. Maybe it's also somehow related to starting the year on this road trip? Another factor is that Miller is again being relied on at C where yes, he has been very successful in the last 1 1/2 seasons, but where he might not actually always be best suited. When Miller is on, he's at least a very productive C who mostly doesn't hurt the team defensively. When he's off (like he is right now), he might still produce but he can be a liability on defense. This isn't even necessary blaming him entirely for all the goals against he has been on the ice for. As far as offensive production goes, Miller could easily get back into PPG territory with 1 multi-point game so I'm not particularly worried in that regard. I personally think the Canucks might benefit from moving him back to wing for a stretch as I'm not sure he's up to playing C right now, even in a lesser role (e.g. 3C).

Schenn has been fine, IMHO. He's been playing way too many minutes.

Motte should compliment their bottom 6 forwards nicely.

I personally don't think Poolman has to be physical to be effective but unless he learns how to slip checks like Hughes, there's a real risk that any hit he receives could cause his headaches to come back. As such, it doesn't fully matter if he is the one initiating contact. I found Poolman's play last year to be fine. He never had much of a chance to play during the stretch that the whole team improved, so it's unclear how much of Poolman's underwhelming play was due to the tire fire that the team was before Boudreau took over, and how much is just him not being an effective player. We'll see if he can at least stay healthy and contribute.

Obviously Stuetzle is still very young which gives him a lot of track to make this deal look good but yikes. Add in Debrincat next summer and that's a lot of money tied up into forwards. Everyone is young (except Giroux), which makes it slightly more palatable, but this kind of money is crazy rich. Considering Miller's deal as well, I wonder if there's some kind of league wide expectation that the cap is going to jump significantly in the next year or two. I was reading that expectations were that the cap would only rise a little next year so maybe a really big jump in Summer 2024?

Thanks for your feedback! Fair points, and yes, there's a lot untouched that provides strong potential for the show to bring in which is where there remains a lot of promise. Just to be clear about your point about a GoT entrance and a Ned Stark beheading, I wasn't expecting anything like that. As far as this being a story about the Rings of Power, I guess where I'm coming at it from so far (still early days in the series!) is that I don't feel like they really set a strong foundation for the impact of Sauron. It doesn't need to be gory, but the last shot of Finrod living is him pressed up against Orcs rather than something directly with Sauron could have had stronger resonance (again, IMHO). I guess I'm just thinking of Sauron's entrance in the Fellowship of the Ring and the kind of impact it had in setting up the stakes. It's fine if they go with the slow burn of setting up the stakes but the longer it goes the more difficult I think it will be to do it effectively.

I'm withholding judgment on ROP but initial reaction is that the experience has been quite underwhelming. The most negative reviews are far too harsh, in my opinion, but neither is the show anywhere near to being a glowing success (so far). As another poster pointed out above, Amazon was limited with the material they could draw from for this story, so I think that's a major asterisk in judging how well the story reflets the world of the Lord of the Rings. Frankly, I think it's more fair to judge this against the LOTR world created by Peter Jackson rather than the Tolkien source materials. So far I have found the scenes betwen Elrond and the Dwarves to be the most engaging. The Harfoots and the Meteor Man are also one of the more interesting story points. I feel like they haven't done enough to make viewers care about who Sauron is or why they should hate/fear him (or at least care about why certain characters would feel that way). They have tried to give Galadriel more back story with her mission to basically avenge her brother, but it just didn't feel like it had the kind of narrative impact that really helps give the story momentum. The initial montage introducing Galadriel's brother, the destruction of the trees, and the war against Morgoth was helpful but I guess it just didn't have the same kind of impact that the opening montage in Fellowship of the Ring did when it introduced Sauron. We'll see what happens when they introduce the Numenoreans. Lastly, I personally haven't found that the presence of characters played by non-caucasian characters a distraction from the story telling (as mediocre as the story telling has been so far). Through the first two episodes, it hasn't felt heavy handed. It just is, which is the way that kind of thing should be done. In summary, I'm willing to give the ROP a shot and I think there's enough in its early mediocrity to still provide for a good show over the remaining episodes. It's not bad enough to write off at this point, but it's trending toward mediocrity IMHO.

Pretty sure Kylington is a lefty who can play or even prefer the right side. Wouldn't mind the Canucks adding him (not considering cap issues), but I feel like someone like Dermott is a similar player (albeit with different playstyles) without the benefit of having had a "breakout" year (last season for Kylington).

Good price for a guy who was productive early on but has declined significantly since. He played 2 seasons with Carolina before so I guess they like what he brings. Good utility player.

Thanks for the clarifications!

Am I reading this right? CBJ has to clear about $6.5M in cap? There are 15 forwards showing up on Capfriendly so my guess is a few will be sent to their AHL affiliate, but even then, they probably need to clear at least $5M-$6M. Buyouts may be possible still. Voracek would be great but it doesn't look like they'll get much relief if they buy him out this summer. A Nyquist buyout provides some relief but not enough. There are going to be some interesting decisions in CBJ in the coming weeks. Since CBJ needs to clear space, I doubt the Canucks will be involved in any deals with them.

Part of the problem with the Canucks' lack of prospect depth is that they have little ammunition to include any in trades without further depleting the pool. I expect that a similar deal from the Canucks would have been Rathbone and a pick for Marino, but when you factor in cap problems, we just weren't in a position to give PIT what they wanted. Maybe there was talk with PIT about Miller but that would require figuring out the movement of even more pieces. At any rate, PIT seems to have been more interested in Petry. We could still see a trade made by the Canucks in the next few weeks but I'm preparing myself to see the team roll into camp with pretty much the same d-core. I'm not expecting much return from a Miller trade, and I'm instead expecting the team to try and make some cap space by shipping out a forward or to which MIGHT bring in some help on D. Management is going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to make a major improvement to this D core. Sigh. I am not a Benning hater but I do wonder about what things would be like if the Canucks had just tanked last season and let all the bad contracts expire this summer. They would have had a lot of cap flexibility.

The pool of RHD free agents is admittedly very limited, especially after day 1 of UFA. The Canucks do have some RHD at the AHL level already so that may help explain why they're not actively looking for depth RHD. Guess it shows how thin the pool of RHD are at the NHL level.

I guess management is really not too thrilled about the available RHD free agents.

I agree with your assessment. The most disappointing thing so far is the lack of action taken with the D core, but it's only Day 2 of the free agency period, Personally, I'm starting to think that the most likely outcome is that we'll see only one trade go down before or during camp, and not a Miller trade. My guess would be either Garland or Pearson. Not a knock on any of those guys, but they seem like the "easiest" to move, particularly to create cap flexibility. Between the two, Garland is "easier" to move because he doesn't have trade protection, but he has a higher cap hit. No idea on the return but it might not be very much. I think Miller might be more of a Trade Deadline deal at this point, despite all the attendant risks of injury, decline in performance, trading a major piece during a run to make the playoffs, etc. Of course, anything can happen and it only takes one highly motivated team for a deal to get done. As much as I'm all for giving the benefit of the doubt to the new management group, the stressing of patience and for standing pat on their ask does give me pause, if only because if it's tied to indecisiveness or stubborness, then that could be a quite a negative. Despite the goal of having many voices in management, the benefits of that could be reduced depending on the dynamic between the individuals involved. Still, I do believe it's too early to be particularly critical of the group so we'll see how the next few weeks unfold.

Wouldn't Kuznetsov fill in the minutes that Backstrom will miss? I get your point, and I'm not saying Strome is the answer but I can understand why the Capitals would take a 1-year flyer on Strome. He put up respectable offensive numbers with CHI last year and could still be a potent offensive player at the NHL level. Much cheaper option than attempting a trade.

I've liked Lazar as a depth option in the past, but I agree that bringing him back to Vancouver now might be good timing. He's figured out a role in the league and he's still got skill so he could still contribute more. 4th line could be quite interesting.

Did not see this coming at all, despite the rumors that CBJ was in negotiations.

He was pretty good in Abbotsford. Absolutely no problem with having him for depth.