Provost

I am on a roll here... called the Luongo trade and called this. I am the expert in "Captain Obvious" predictions! Eat your heart out SamJam! Next move... they announce some homeboys as part of the organization to assuage season ticket holders. Naslund as European Scout? Linden as either president or heading the selection committee for new GM along with Quinn?

By the way, I love Linden... but he isn't the answer as either GM or coach. He is far less respected outside Vancouver than you think. Lots of older players blame him for getting a lousy contract when he was in the PA. He was vilified pretty strongly even years afterwards. Linden as President or some PR role is fine.... Naslund as Head of European Scouting is fine.

Gillis won't resign... he will let himself get fired. That way he keeps getting paid through to the end of his contract. I suspect that his tone in that 1040 interview was intended to get himself fired.... well an ultimatum really, either he gets to do things his way or the owner can fire him. It was different enough that his other interviews, I am confident there was an ulterior motive at work.

Ummm we didn't win our division this year. Most of the stuff you talk about is done by the assistant GM. What guys like Nicholson or Gretzky get you is someone who has lots of respect in the hockey world. That is in stark contrast with Gillis who started off as already having a bad relationship with most other GMs in the league as a holdover from his agent days.

I think people give too much credit to Gillis for getting guys signed. It has been a pretty easy sell when you are the President's trophy winner and perennial Cup contender to entice guys to sign for under market value. When you are on the downslope, it is a whole different matter. We would have to hope for someone wanting to return to Vancouver because of family or something.

Don't expect us to make any major free agent signings. Everyone else has a ton of cap space as well... most more than us. There are very few high quality UFAs out there this summer and every team has enough space to add one. You will see mediocre players like Callahan getting the $7 million he wants on a long term deal just because of supply and demand. If we are going to get better it will have to be through trades.

Just one of them would do, both is greedy

That interview smacked of a public ultimatum to ownership... let me do things my way or fire me. I suspect we see Gillis fired as soon as we are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

That sound you don't hear is the point of the post flying over your head... Nowhere did I say that Garrison is a top defenceman. What I said was that you have to consider the cost of salaries this coming summer (and for the next couple as the revenue from the new TV deal starts taking effect). Add in the fact that the Panthers are going to suddenly be a cap ceiling team and have the space to basically overpay and add the top 3-4 UFAs on the market to their roster. Everyone else will have millions to spend competing for a very thin UFA pool of talent. All that equals stupid money being spent on average players. A guy like Callahan was smart to hold out for more because he will get it... and he is nowhere near an elite level player. Plug defencemen who are much worse than Garrison will get more than $5 million per year this summer. I would peg Garrison as a #4 guy... in the UFA market you will pay more than his salary for a #4 guy. Buying him out makes no sense when you have to replace him at a super premium.

Keep in mind the huge inflation we will see due to the rising salary cap this summer. Any top 4 D man will cost you a ton... #4 guys are going to be getting offers north of $5 million. The top pairing guys are going to get $8 million per, on long term deals. All of our players under contract will start looking like pretty good value,

I don't really subscribe to the "league is out to get us" mantra... but sometimes it is just nuts how inconsistent they are. Kassian gets 10 games if he does the same hit.

I thought he sold his place in Arizona, then sold his place in Thousand Oaks and now lives in WestLake or thereabouts... Of course, I don't think I am on his list of people to send his forwarding address to if he has since relocated again.

Gretzky got his $9 million owed from the league and wants to be involved in hockey again. How much would we have to bribe him to leave his nice California home and relative anonymity to come be the GM here? Probably more than the Aquilini's can afford. Having said that, as much as he was a terrible coach... he would be a great GM. He calls you and you listen. Players would sign here just on the force of his reputation.

He knows it will be a long summer with no playoffs so wants to improve his handicap early. The players will be following him onto the course in the near future.

Brutal....

That is fine, they don't need to give us Maata... I will take Neal instead

No idea really... I would say that we would take Clemmensen since there is little chance Thomas would report to a team in Canada, especially the Canucks. Then again, wouldn't it be a treat to see his backing up Luongo on the same team More likely, we would take Clemmensen and Thomas would get flipped somewhere else and they have Markstrom learning from Luongo I can imagine that Kesler could be convinced to go to Florida... they will be a player in the near future and it gets him out of the spotlight for a bit. He can sign wherever he wants in two years.

Tinordi will bring that to Montreal next year but with much bigger size. It is true that you can't have enough guys who are hard hitters on your blue line though.

I don't think it is that crazy to believe Ottawa would do this deal (with some other parts going either way likely). I honestly believe you could remake this team with just a few trades. 1. Edler for Ryan - both teams need changes, Jump on the Edler-Karlsson Olympic buzz while it is hot 2. Burrows +(Hansen?) for Emelin - Not sure what we would have to add, but we have plenty of 3rd liners, both players sucking bad this year. Burrows has a better resume to believe he will improve again, Emelin has a greater upside but is also a greater risk to see if he can ever regain form 3. Kesler and Luongo for Bjugstad, Goc and the 2014 1st rounder - Florida wants to spend money and make the playoffs next year. This trade gets them there even without spending the other $20 million extra they have to play around with in the UFA market. Goc is simply a piece to keep us OK for this season as he is a pending UFA. Kesler replaces Bjugstad in their lineup and is much better in the near and medium term. Luongo is far better than who they have or spending $7-9 million on a UFA goalie. All of a sudden we are no worse in the immediate term, and have a much brighter future. Next year: Sedin-Sedin-Ryan/Kassian Shinkaruk or the 1st round pick we get-Bjugstad-Ryan/Kassian Higgins-Horvat-Jensen Richardson-Lain-Sestito Santorelli Hamhuis-Bieksa Garrison-Tanev Emelin-Stanton

That is pretty uncalled for considering how things have shaken down in the past couple years for Luongo. They were pretty tame comments expressing his own feelings.

I have no idea what the team is thinking unless Florida is now in the market for Luongo since they have a ton of money to spend. I know the coach makes the on ice decisions, but his boss should have something to say about this if it means having an extremely unhappy starting goalie and yet another circus. They just have to trade the guy now and move on.

I don't know that is true in the cap world. We would almost certainly have to take some salary back... they would likely be a useful player, albeit likely someone on an expiring contract. It means we don't tank the season for just futures... but get something to keep us going in the meantime as well until at least next season or the season after.

Definitely need a better player coming back in return for a star player. Quantity almost never works out compared to quality. You can fill roster spots around an elite player fairly easily. Decent players get more minutes and improve, young guys get a chance for more meaningful roles, mid-range UFAs are always available. If you get a top player, it trickles down in your lineup making everything better. If we got a top line player, then Burrows gets shuffled to the 2nd line... maybe Higgins back to the 3rd line, Kassian to the 4th. Suddenly you have strengthened every line by inserting one player. A team like Buffalo could afford to take on two solid players in return for one of their top assets because they have so many holes to fill. For us, we have plenty of guys who fit in the roster kind of in the space between the 2nd and 3rd lines (great 3rd liners... but only good enough for temporary 2nd line work).

Yep... that is a good trade, even if we didn't get the 1st round pick (just like us, their mid/late round pick is likely going to be a project at best or just a washout) or if we had to send a serviceable roster player like Hansen their way. With Detroit's scouting staff I would rather THEY make the pick and then we include whomever they choose in the trade. They would look awfully nice if you added Kesler to Datsyuk or Zetterberg's line. Kesler playing the wing with an elite playmaking centre like either of those guys would be ridiculous. Detroit doesn't do that deal to win this year as some folks have suggested, they do it because Kesler is still signed beyond this year and they would have a good chance of re-signing the hometown boy for another contract (they would get a pretty big hint in that direction if he waived his NTC to go there).

Good grief... he can push all he wants, there are few places Luongo would want to go to less than staying here. Either a contender, or somewhere in the East where he can be closer to Florida and family.