Luongo for Lecavalier

[DownUndaCanuck]

I stopped reading as soon as I saw "release Willie Mitchell". Sorry, but the only reason MG doesn't re-sign him is if this concussion thing could keep him out next season, and I doubt it will.

[Ace of Spades]

Terrific post. Very well thought out.

I really like the look of that forward group, I think that all we really need is a guy like Torres on our 3rd line. Seeing as guys like Raymond, Grabner, and Kesler are only going to get better with their age.

On D, I'd personally prefer a guy like Hamhuis, whom I think we'd have a better shot at getting and would probably come at a bit of a cheaper price. In your proposal, getting Polak would make him our shutdown guy, so I think a more rounded D man like Hamhuis would make for a better fit.

Not too sure that Volpatti is going to be quite ready next year. If not, I could see MG going for a guy like Greg Campbell, to make our 4th line more of a top checking line. Then keeping Rypien and Volpatti/touch guy acquisition on the roster for toughness.

As a last though, the trade still looks a little bit one-sided in St.Louis' favor. It might be just me, but I think that all the St.Louis fans on HF overrate their players a tad much. Adding a 3rd rounder to us would make the trade a more even.

As I said before, very well thought out post and excellent proposal.

[Ace of Spades]

I stopped reading as soon as I saw "release Willie Mitchell". Sorry, but the only reason MG doesn't re-sign him is if this concussion thing could keep him out next season, and I doubt it will.

[Bob.Loblaw]

Raycroft will never sign for .6 million. He has proven his ability and he'll definitely become a 2 million dollar goalie in the offseason. For a team that likes to share the weight between two netminders, Andrew Raycroft will be a valuable player. Jannik Hansen will want at LEAST 1 million. I can't see him taking minimum wage with his amount of talent. .800 seems right.

[aamazing]

Then Raycroft and Hansen can walk. Simple as that.

This is the first season since his days in Boston that Raycroft has put up higher than a .900SV% and that was the year he won the Calder. He's a fantastic back-up but a poor starter. He's also only a year younger than Luongo so can't be considered young anymore. If he goes somewhere else for more ice-time and/or more money, good on him for earning it with his admirable play this season, but anything north of higher than a million and I have no problem saying good-bye.

Jannik Hansen has done nothing thus far to ask for a million. Even .800m is too high for him. Until he puts up a full season of consistent results, the most he gets is a slight raise on a one-year deal to prove himself. Anything more than that, he can walk.

Honestly, neither of these two guys are difficult to replace. I'd like the continuity and going with proven commodities on the ice and in the locker room, but if they price themselves out of the Canucks range, they're easily replaceable.

[Bob.Loblaw]

Then Raycroft and Hansen can walk. Simple as that.

This is the first season since his days in Boston that Raycroft has put up higher than a .900SV% and that was the year he won the Calder. He's a fantastic back-up but a poor starter. He's also only a year younger than Luongo so can't be considered young anymore. If he goes somewhere else for more ice-time and/or more money, good on him for earning it with his admirable play this season, but anything north of higher than a million and I have no problem saying good-bye.

Jannik Hansen has done nothing thus far to ask for a million. Even .800m is too high for him. Until he puts up a full season of consistent results, the most he gets is a slight raise on a one-year deal to prove himself. Anything more than that, he can walk.

Honestly, neither of these two guys are difficult to replace. I'd like the continuity and going with proven commodities on the ice and in the locker room, but if they price themselves out of the Canucks range, they're easily replaceable.

[Ghostsof1915]

You mention shoring up our D, and your answer is not Hamhuis, but Volchenkov?

Hamhuis is putting up slightly more points, and is a BC kid, and might sign for $4 million.

Torres has been hit by minor injuries and this is his best season in 5 years, but Armstrong had 40 points last season, and is a plus player on a crummy Atlanta team. Torres "search and destroy?" he only has like 7 more hits than Armstrong does. I'll take a few less hits, and a better plus/minus.

The better Vancouver plays this offseason the more likely we can sign better UFA's.

I would look at picking up another defensive prospect, one that's close to playing in exchange for Grabner and a pick in 2011? Would LA be willing to give up Tom Hickey?

[aamazing]

You mention shoring up our D, and your answer is not Hamhuis, but Volchenkov?

Hamhuis is putting up slightly more points, and is a BC kid, and might sign for $4 million.

Torres has been hit by minor injuries and this is his best season in 5 years, but Armstrong had 40 points last season, and is a plus player on a crummy Atlanta team. Torres "search and destroy?" he only has like 7 more hits than Armstrong does. I'll take a few less hits, and a better plus/minus.

The better Vancouver plays this offseason the more likely we can sign better UFA's.

I would look at picking up another defensive prospect, one that's close to playing in exchange for Grabner and a pick in 2011? Would LA be willing to give up Tom Hickey?

[briefhistory]

in your scenario, cory walks and raycroft stays, but there's no way he'll stay for .600 - he'll want at LEAST a mill, probably more like 1.5. IMO, we should pursue him and consider it money well-spent. we need a proven solid back-up. if luongo plays 70 games a season, having raycroft means around a 20 point difference because we can count on raycroft to not outright lose us games like other shoddy back-ups.

[JHansenFan]

All in all a very nice proposal. No Huge flaws. The complaints are just a different point of view. However there is one problem i see. We don't have a Legitimate fighter. I say replace Volpatii with Rypien for now. Let Volpatii develop a bit, and reach more of his potential before throwing him in the NHL. Rypien would bring the harder meaner part of our game back. Very good proposal however, even if i didn't agree with the blues trade.

[STOP asking for Kovalchuk]

Hmmmm... I don't like that this line-up still features Bernier haha

Also, I don't think Hodgson and Grabner are ready to play on the same line. Splitting them up maybe, but putting two new guys to our roster along side bernier of all people sounds like we are setting them up to fail. Cool ideas for the fourth line though.

I like the rest of your line-up, no major changes, but this also suggests we will not make many (if any) trades in the off-season. I think it might be too early to tell what we will look like, because it will have a lot to do with this year's playoff performance.

[farmermike]

All in all a very nice proposal. No Huge flaws. The complaints are just a different point of view. However there is one problem i see. We don't have a Legitimate fighter. I say replace Volpatii with Rypien for now. Let Volpatii develop a bit, and reach more of his potential before throwing him in the NHL. Rypien would bring the harder meaner part of our game back. Very good proposal however, even if i didn't agree with the blues trade.

[Patrick Kane]

The only thing I'm going to say is, its going to cost a lot more to get Roman Polak.

Roman Polak is 23 years old, at a great cap-hit of 1.1 million. Right-hand shot, shut-down defenseman, very strong, great skating ability, and offensive upside. He remains a plus player on a very bad St.Louis team, and has decent stats (3g, 16a, 19 pts) for a shut-down defenseman.

[Patrick Kane]

I like the additions of Campbell and Thompson, but I think Hansen should be in the line-up, as he shows great potential to become a two-way winger.

Unless you traded him for something good, he should be in that line-up/re-signed.

I'm liking the defense, but I think we could package Bieksa + Bernier for someone with more mobility then Sutton. Thus keeping O'Brien.

[BM24]

I really like that 3rd line, except like said before, try to move Bernier for something else. But if you can get something decent for Bernier and place that place along side Cody Hodgson, and Grabner, they would be set up to succeed IMO.

I think since the Canucks don't have Ryan Johnson their penalty kill could suffer a little more then it would in past years. Johnson would be greatly missed.

On the defence now, I'm not too sure if Dennis Seidenberg will be leaving Boston, unless he knows they aren't going anywhere in the next few years, because they're having trouble scoring. But I could see Seidenberg coming to Vancouver because, he would play with fellow countrymen, Christian Ehrhoff.

I love Andy Sutton. Love him. He is 2nd in the NHL in blocked shots, he is a big body listed at 6'6, 245 pounds, he would be a upgrade over Andrew Alberts IMO. He can also stand up for himself and others, no one would want to mess with this guy. He is a good shut down defenecman, but maybe the Canucks could get someone better on the market or via through a trade, but I like the idea of getting Andy Sutton.

[BM24]

I don't think St. Louis needs Cory Schneider at this point in time. They already have Jake Allen working his way up to the NHL. They also have Ben Bishop who has some potential. So adding Cory Schneider would give them a headache in my opinion. They would have to trade one of Schneider, Bishop, Allen.

The signing of Anton Volchenkov seems perfect in order to get him in my opinion. He is a defensive defenceman, blocks tons of shots, and is always top 5 in the NHL with blocked shots. But maybe Willie Mitchell would be the better deal, as he could sign for a hometown discount. Willie isn't as good as Volchenkov, but he has a active stick, and uses his big body to his advantage.

[grandmaestro-k]

Although bernier has not lived up to potential he is still a solid NHL 3rd liner. He is a 100+ hitter, 12-20 goal guy, that has decent speed and size. he has struggled due to pressure and injury but he is still relatively solid. You will not be able to get somebody that brings more than bernier without giving up significant assets or cap space. The only tuff thing is that his cap hit is more that what he is delivering, but not by much.

I think Bernier brings NHL experience, size, and the forcheck to the 3rd line. Having two rookies on one line is never ideal but having them both on the third line where the will not face the top defenseman, nor told line player is good. They will only be expected to play 13ish min a game and put up points similar to what welwood, glass/hansen have put up. which i think they can.

It will be tough for boston to sign seidenberg because they are going to be in cap trouble with wheeler's raise and lucic new contract kicking in.

The thing is both bernier and bieska's stocks are down now. You will not be able to get payers with what they bring without giving up more cap space of assets. If they have a reasonable bounce back year next year then i think they will be just fine.

Johnson will be missed. But Thompson plays as much on the pk as johnson, blocks almost as many shots, wins as man faceoffs, but also has 4X as many hits and way more takeaways. Also helping with the lose of johnson in that campbell also blocks shots and plays the pk. so do seidenberg and sutton.

Another very serviceable player that has a low cap hit is weaver. he is a huge part of the st louis league best pk, has the 2nd most pk time per game, has a right hand shot, tough for his size. he has improved since being here. by signing him to a contract below 1m you can allocate more money to a player. Ie not having bieska + sutton and signing neidermayer for 6 and weaver for 700K. You gain an enormous amount of skill but lose size, hits, blocked shots, and team toughness.

neidermayer salo

erhoff seidenberg

edler weaver.

[aamazing]

Hrmm. Something a little more realistic, relying only on players currently within the system and UFAs-to-be:

Sedin - Sedin - Burrows

Raymond - Kesler - Grabner

Bernier/Hansen - Hodgson - Samuelsson

Nystrom - R Niedermayer - Bernier/Hansen

Rypien

Edler - Salo

Seidenberg - Ehrhoff

Alberts - Z Michalek

Rome

Luongo

Schneider

Trade Bieksa for picks/prospects. Sign Nystrom, Niedermayer, Seidenberg, Michalek. Hopefully Nystrom sees the Flames falling apart around him and wants out. Michalek, I think, would be the hardest of the four to sign. Send O'Brien to Boston or Phoenix for negotiating rights to either Seidenberg or Michalek.

If Seidenberg and Michalek come in at ~7.000m for the pair (essentially replacing Mitchell's and Bieksa's salaries) and Nystrom and Niedermayer come in at ~2.000m, the Canucks should be good for space, even with raises to Hansen and Rome and bringing up Schneider to be the back-up.

[Bure80]

This year the son of Erich Kühnhackl will be in the Draft.He was ranked 30th overall at midseason rankings.He had some injuries and he didnt want to go to the Ohl, so he is ranked lower now.In my opinion he could be a steal in the mid or last of the 2 round.He will play for the Windsor Spitfires next year.

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=741832

If the Canucks would pick him it would be especially funny cause in youtube videos sharks fans always wants him to play for SJ.

Another interesting player is Tobias Rieder.He will be in the Draft 2011 and not less say that he is more talanted that Kühnhackl.

He is 16 now and plays man hockey in the 2nd best league in germany.

[Kyle-]

k