Quantum

For those who don't know, Carson Focht was invited to the Development Camp for Team Canada in prep for the 2020 World Juniors just before the draft. He's also going to be teammates with Jett Woo next season. It'll be interesting to follow him next year with both of those factors in play. I hope he makes the 2020 World Juniors squad and becomes a sleeper pick for the Canucks.

This might be a blessing in disguise. He's aging quickly and the NHL is a young man's league where speed is paramount. I think opening up spots for Hughes, Juolevi, and whoever else comes up will be for the best. Edler's past his prime and doesn't fit the age range of this new core. As much as it'll suck/be weird to see him play for another team, it's gonna be best for all parties. Also -- my bet is that Edler ends up in Winnipeg. He used to play for the Moose and he seems like the kind of guy who prefers familiarity over anything else. With Myers, Trouba, and Hayes walking -- could open up a spot for him to go to a team that's chasing a cup. Again, a win/win for all involved in that scenario.

What is going on? Why is Vancouver interested in everybody? THIS CANUCKS TEAM WILL BE RADICALLY DIFFERENT THIS FALL (lol) I assume they'd want Anton Forsberg if Richard Bachman is gonna be out for the next year. Also, with Jake Kielly and Michael DiPetrio being rookies, I don't see the Canucks having the most faith in either of them as call up options next season... and with Bachman injured + Travis having no trust in him, it does make sense for the Canucks to bring a veteran goalie in as a stop gap between Markstrom/Demko and DiPetro/Keilly.

Detroit actually moved down in the first round to dump the Datsyuk contract. They didn't just give up the pick. They dropped from 16th overall (which was used to pick Chychrun) to 20th overall (where they picked Dennis Cholowski). So that's not exactly true that they just gave up a 1st rounder to get out of the Datsyuk contract. With that said, the Bickell/Teravainen thing does make sense. You can take on a contract for a B+ prospect. The problem here is that the Kings don't have the prospect depth to give away anybody. I just don't know who the Kings would give up to dump the Phaneuf deal. Also, Phaneuf, according to Capfriendly, still has a M-NTC and I'm not sure he's gonna be all that interested in leaving LA -- since he's married to actress Elisha Cuthbert, who is LA based. I could see Phaneuf retiring if he gets bought out this summer unless he can get a 1 year show me deal for Anaheim. Canucks need to steer clear here. No need to take on a bad contract just cause. Especially from a divisional rival. Let LA suffer. I don't see a taker for this one.

This was a win/win for Ottawa and Vancouver. Vancouver made the right move and made room for Demko. And Demko delivered during his stretch of games to end the season. And Ottawa got a stop gap goalie between Craig Anderson and whoever becomes their next starter. Sure the "trade" itself wasn't the biggest win for Vancouver but we did get a 6th rounder out of it -- even if we took on Tom Pyatt's contract and also sent Darren Archibald over to Ottawa. Happy for Nilsson. He wasn't great when he was a Canuck but he seemed like a good guy.

Yeah, this was what I was thinking. But -- I wonder if they're planning on holding it earlier because the draft is in town and most of the prospects will be here for it? Especially the ones we draft this year. No need to send them home only for them to return to Vancouver a week or two later. Might as well get it done when they're all here.

First Curtis Valk, now Rodrigo Abols? Who is next? Miles Liberati?!? Carl Neill?!?!? TATE FREAKIN' OLSON?!?!? LOL -- The Panthers love our scraps!

You don't sign Edler for 3 years. 2 years max. I'm inclined to let Edler walk. Like the numbers but I don't get why you sign Boeser for 7 instead of 8 years? 8 years is the maximum amount of years you can sign him, so you might as well give him that eighth year if you're willing to commit to him for 7 years. Buy those two years of UFA status. But Boeser at 7/7.5 for 8 years is the ideal number. And I'd consider trading Hutton's RFA rights. He's a solid NHLer but he might have more value with a team with a cap crunch and so we can swap him out for a contract that a team in cap hell may want to dump... (Think a big contract in Tampa Bay for Hutton's RFA rights, for instance). But your numbers seem realistic. Especially Schenn's. Schenn at 1 year and near the minimum is perfect. A show me contract to see if he can continue what he did in the tail end of last season next season.

I am! My bad!

Well, he's a senior this coming year... so this is his last year, so you've just lost your own bet hahahahaha

He's the Mackenze Stewart of his draft year. I'm okay with not signing him but man is it starting to suck that we aren't signing any of these late round defensemen we keep selecting. He joins a list of guys including: Brassard, Neill, Olson, and Candella who we are selecting in rounds 5-7 and simply not signing yet we are constantly worried about defensive depth at the AHL level. I do believe not signing Brassard is a mistake. Gunnarsson has no offensive upside so, meh. At least we traded down to get him and we picked up Palmu too because of that draft Day deal.

My free agent wants (spaces represent a "tier" space) Panarian Karlsson Zuccarello Hayes Nelson Nyqvist Skinner Edler (as a re-sign, obvs) Brandon Tanev (if we can't get the Hughes brothers, we might as well try and get the Tanev brothers together for half a season LOL) Gardiner Honestly, this year's defensive free agent class isn't great (with Myers, Edler, and Gardiner headlining it). Seems like the best scenario would be to trade a piece like Sutter or the RFA rights to Ben Hutton for a d-man and sign a dynamo offensive guy to play with Horvat.

The signings of Brogan Rafferty and Josh Teves have made Evan McEneny obsolete on the depth chart. On top of that, Ashton Sautner and Guilliame Brisebois jumped him on the depth chart. And I haven't even brought up Oli Juolevi yet. Even with Pouliot being let go, there's just no room for McEneny and Benning clearly doesn't think much of him or else McEneny would have played NHL games last season. He's done as a Canuck. He was one of the last "Gillis" guys anyways. With Gaunce and McEneny's exits from the organization, I think that leaves Edler, Tanev, Hutton and Horvat as Gillis era players. And even then Edler pre-dates Gillis. McEneny's speed was also compromised over the last few years with all of his knee/leg injuries. I feel bad for the guy and hope he gets another NHL shot because McEneny deserves it. Granlund sucks. I'm gonna say it. He's a mediocre NHL player. Swiss army players shouldn't be valued. I'd rather have guys who know their role and thrive in it over a bunch of lame "Jack of All Trades" guys who aren't particularly good at anything. With Spooner & Schaller under contract, I just don't see a fit anymore. Granlund's got to go and I'm not shy saying that. Get rid of the Granlund's. You don't make the playoffs with a bunch of Granlund's in your bottom six.

Spooner and Schaller are both under contract for next year. (There deals expire at the end of next season). I could see them being stashed in Utica if they can't break camp with the Canucks. Good chance neither gets claimed because of their contracts. I assume Granlund, Boucher, McEneny, and Kero are gonna be let go. Granlund is such a "meh" player, I don't see where he has any trade value. Another NHL team will most likely sign him (much like another NHL team will sign Gaunce to be an AHL vet/call up option) and he might be the 13th man on a better team. I see Boucher signing in Europe (Boucher would probably thrive in Switzerland/KHL). And Kero may get another NHL deal. Kero's the only one I could see the Canucks re-signing for Utica depth, at this point. Tom Pyatt won't be re-signed either (but that seemed obvious from the get go). Yan Pavel Laplante and Derek Dorsett's contracts also expires this summer, so they come off the books too. Tyler Motte seems like a 50/50 for returning. I love his "hustle" but what else does he bring? Could see him come back only to be shipped off to Utica if somebody else takes his spot (like Zach MacEwen or Lukas Jasek). So from my count it's looking like the Canucks will have 11 open contract spots going into July 1 (that 11 also includes the two goalies, Michael Leighton & Marek Mazanec who I didn't count earlier). Barring any trades, the Canucks will most likely be very active in the AHL signing front. It'll be interesting to see what the Canucks do. Hopefully they sign the right guys and make some smart trades.

He hasn't played 4 years. He's played 3. His play gave his agents leverage to get him dealt to the NHL he wanted to play for (the Rangers) and I have no doubt that Adam Fox will sign with them this summer. It's a smart play that these NCAA guys may try doing more if this works out for Fox. Instead of waiting for 4 years, demand a trade in year 3 with the threat that "I won't sign next year no matter what" and maybe you'll get to the team you want to sign with that way. It's not great and it only seems like the Harvard guys (Vesey, Kerfoot, Fox) do this but it's something to think about. I believe Rathbone will sign next year. Just a feeling.

I listened to him, read his "Provies"/"Athletties" column after every game for the last three seasons, and actually listened to the Patcast. Sure, there was a ton of stuff he wrote about that I disagreed with but he was one of the most entertaining sports reporters to ever come into hockey. RIP Botchford. Condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. He'll be missed.

What are you talking about? Gillis is the most successful GM in Canucks history. He was a forward thinker. The Canucks won 2 President's Trophies and got to game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup finals. He brought sleep science to the club, was the first guy to head to the NHL offices every year to make sure the Canucks got the best schedule possible, he actually hired Judd Brackett as a scout, etc. Sure, he did come into his role as a rookie BUT he's not a rookie anymore and he was very successful when he was with the Canucks, and he brought Ian Clark into the organization THE FIRST TIME among other things too... Sure, the Goalie Controversy (which, in hindsight, he did make the better call as Luongo was the better goalie then and oddly now and we got Horvat because of that deal), Tortorella (Apparently that wasn't Gillis's call, it was an Aquillini call), and his drafting record (it was BAD) but if you pair Gillis as the President (and his forward thinking approach to sports management) with Benning as GM and Judd Brackett as head of scouting... it could be interesting. I'm not sure Gillis would return but I don't really understand why he's been blacklisted from the NHL to this point. He was good at his job for the most part. I'd be happy if he returned. Just not as GM. If not Gillis... I could see Ralph Kreuger being a candidate. He's really done well as President of Southhampton, would probably do a spectacular job here too.

What are the odds that Trent Cull gets fired at the end of this season? I gotta assume they're high.

Does anyone know how many years Manukyan has left on his KHL deal? I'd love to see him in Utica in the next year or two. Seems like he's being buried in the KHL. With the departure of Dahlen from the Canucks organization, it feels like Manukyan could fill a nice role in Utica next year as a point getter if given the opportunity.

Hutton is due for a big raise too. Taking a chance on Rafferty and shipping Hutton out for some picks would be ideal. You get slightly younger and cheaper. Would be a win. Hutton is a great guy and a solid NHLer but this d core cannot be brought back... One (if not two) of Hutton, Tanev, Edler, and Biega can't be brought back. Also, Rafferty is older so he should be more physically mature to jump in. I'm more worried about Teves. I definitely see Teves logging big minutes in Utica to start next year. Juolevi is a wild card. He should be ready to debut in the NHL but also his injury history makes me wary.

I'm going to say it now... Brogan Rafferty is my stealth candidate to make the Canucks roster out of training camp next Fall. I really like his game.

Brogan Rafferty has a pretty incredible story that makes him a guy to root for. He's legally blind in his right eye, overcame childhood scoliosis, and (no joking) he was mistaken for the Craigslist Killer in Ohio because he actually shares his name with a Serial Killer (also named Brogan Rafferty and both Brogan Rafferty's were born in the same year). It's all detailed in this article -- https://www.nhregister.com/sports/article/Quinnipiac-freshman-Brogan-Rafferty-already-11324220.php?utm_campaign=CMS Sharing Tools (Desktop)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral I've copy and pasted the article below. It's a few years old but still a helluva read. I hope he becomes a player for us because he's already got one of my favorite back story's of the year and if he cracks the NHL roster as a mainstay next year, could be a sneaky Masterson Trophy nominee down the line.

I kind of like the idea of signing him to a 1 year "show me" deal. Maybe 1 year, 1 million. If he can't keep up the pace he's having at the end of this season next season, gives the Canucks flexibility to trade him/waive him. I don't like the idea of a 2 year deal because we could fall into a Del Zotto/Gagner/Schaller trap where you realize there's multiple years on a deal that clearly sucks within two months of the season starting.

I think the sales pitch for Duszak by the Toronto Maple Leafs was twofold. With Jake Gardiner, Martin Marincin, and Ron Hainsey on expiring deals and Justin Holl probably going the way of Josh Leivo and being dealt if he can't get playing time with Babcock next year, that's going to *potentially* open 4 defense spots. The Leafs do have Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren, and Joe Duszak banging on the door. Chances are two of those three get significant NHL time as the Leafs head towards a major cap crunch. Josh Teves doesn't have the luxury of probably getting himself a roster spot on the Canucks d-core next season. With Stecher, Tanev, Hughes, and probably Hutton & Edler guaranteed spots + the likes of Sautner, Juolevi, Chatfield, Schenn, Brisebois, other UFA signings will be fighting it out for roster spots. By burning a year now, Teves gets a raise and the Canucks get a sense of the player they signed. Teves is older so he should have a leg up on some of the competition BUT that doesn't guarantee anything. I suspect Teves will play at least a third of next season in Utica. Truth is, I would much rather had Duszak but I get why he signed in Toronto. Teves is a decent consolidation prize but it's still a "meh" signing until I see him play. I hope he turns into a player but I have a feeling Teves is more in the Griffin Molino mold.... I just hope I'm wrong.