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[Proposal] Depth In The Right Places


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TRADE 1

To New Jersey

Cory Schneider

Keith Ballard

To Vancouver

Adam Larsson

3rd Round Pick 2013

Analysis

They need a goalie, and we need something good in return. With an aging Brodeur, New Jersey gets their next star goalie in Schneider. They also get immediate help defensively as Ballard can step into a top 4 role. Vancouver gets a young offensive defenseman that is touted as possibly being the next Niklas Lidström. We also dump roughly $4M in cap space, and the third round pick for 2013 can be used at the trade deadline.

TRADE 2

To San Jose

David Booth

2nd Round Pick 2012

To Vancouver

Joe Pavelski

Analysis

A bit of a lateral move for both sides. San Jose had a disappointing season, losing the Pacific division to the Phoenix Coyotes and getting booted from the playoffs with an early 1st round exit. Moreso, with the trade of McGinn to Colorado the Sharks seem to have lost their physical edge. Booth, although not a wrecking ball, does have a physical side to his game. The speedy winger had a tough year in Vancouver, but if he was paired with the right playmaker he could easily find himself in the 30-goal territory again. The second round pick adds further incentive to the deal.

Pavelski can centre the second line as Kesler rehabs from offseason surgery. He can also centre the second power play unit. Although he isn't that playmaker that Kesler needs, he knows when to pass and when to shoot. Also, he is no slouch defensively. He had 73 takeaways along with 84 blocked shots, and played 1:34 of PK time/game, while being a very good +18. By comparison, in 77 games this season Kesler had 43 takeaways and 59 blocked shots, played 2:00 of PK time/game and was a +11.

FREE AGENT SIGNINGS

Shane Doan to a 1 year deal worth $3.5M

Jason Garrison to a 3 year deal worth $3.5M per season

Jarret Stoll to a 2 year deal worth $3.5M per season

Alex Auld to a 1 year deal worth $1.0M

RE-SIGNINGS

Sami Salo to a 1 year deal worth $2.0M

Byron Bitz to a 1 year deal worth $700K

Marc-Andre Gragnani to a 1 year deal worth $650K

LINES

Daniel ~ Henrik ~ Doan

Burrows ~ Kesler ~ Pavelski

Higgins ~ Stoll ~ Hansen

Lapierre ~ Malhotra ~ Kassian

Bitz

Hamhuis ~ Bieksa

Edler ~ Garrison

Larsson ~ Salo

Alberts

Luongo

Auld

CAP $64.85M, with x amount of cap space left over for the 2013 trade deadline

TEAM ANALYSIS

Depth in the right positions is key to success. There are six top 6 forwards, with two fringe top 6 forwards playing on the third line. There are 6 centres, with 3 that can play a very strong two-way game. There are 5 top 4 defenseman, with another defenseman who may be able to handle limited time in a top 4 role.

Kesler has his best chemistry with Burrows. Similar to the Sedins, Kesler and Burrows play off of each other to create scoring chances. Since the Sedins can make anyone score 20+ goals, it would be beneficial to the team if Burrows played with Kesler, since we can never find the right line mates for him.

Doan, according to Ray Ferraro, is "built like a tank." He is your prototypical power forward and is a leader who will lead by example and will stand up for his teammates. No antics here, just straight up hard-nosed hockey. Doan should work very well with the Sedins. He can protect the puck along the boards to facilitate the cycle, and he has a knack for trucking his way towards the net. For a player like him he has great hands and footwork.

This third line, anchored by Stoll, is all about tenacity and the desire to win battles. Stoll is a good two-way player that can play great defensively on the third line, and with line mates in Higgins and Hansen they'll be able to pot in a fair share of goals. Furthermore, with two centres on the fourth line Stoll can be bumped up into a top 6 role if necessary.

Playing alongside Edler, Garrison should be able to handle big minutes against big time players. Should he falter, Salo and maybe even Larsson can take his place. That being said, we can role our two top defensive pairs without worry.

NEXT SUMMER

Doan, Burrows, Malhotra, Higgins, Lapierre, Edler, Salo, and Alberts' contracts expire, freeing up $17M in cap space. Also, other young players will need to be re-signed. We should keep Burrows and Lapierre and sign them to $3M and $2M contracts, respectively. Edler, unless he becomes a complete stud, can walk, allowing us to sign Weber. If Edler does become a stud, we could go after a high profile forward such as Crosby or Jordan Staal, as the year after next the Sedins' contracts expire.

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It will probably take more than Booth and a 2nd rounder to fetch Pavelski, but that's not a bad place to start. San Jose needs a change, they have a dearth of centers, and Couture's success has relegated Pavelski to the 3rd line (when playing his natural position). "Little Joe" also just went pointless in their 5 playoff games, and was a -3, so he may be starting to look expendable. But for us, with Kesler out for a while, a player like Pavelski would be perfect.

Also, I'm definitely in the "keep Schneider" crowd. Perhaps the answer here is offering Lu for Pavelski and a pick? On the one hand, I'd rather send Luongo out of the conference, but on the other, perhaps we'd get a premium from San Jose because of that?

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NJ doesn't want Ballard and his $4.2M, they're already having trouble with money and would prefer to spend it on re-signing Parise if possible. Ballard certainly isn't the overpayment extra on top of Schneider that would convince NJ to move Larsson.

Pavelski is still important to SJ but possibly could be had if they want to keep Thornton and Couture as their top 2 centers long term. I'm not sure if Booth would be what they're looking for however, as they have more of a need for right wingers. I still think SJ would want more but hard to tell.

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New Jersey gets roughly $9.6M in cap relief with the expiring contracts of Brodeur (5.2), Ponikarovsky (1.5), and Salvador (2.9), plus the $6.0M that Parise's current contract eats up. After Ballard's $4.2M, there is a rough total of $11.4M to sign Parise and Schneider. The difference in the salary cap rising can be used to re-sign their bottom 6 free agents. They have a good team already, and Schneider would thrive in a starting role and Ballard would improve their transition game. It's a tough sell, but I think it improves their team. We may need to include a draft pick or a prospect like Schroeder or Tanev to make it happen.

San Jose could use a shakeup. Like D-Money said, Pavelski appears to be an expendable asset after going pointless in the playoffs, being leapfrogged by Couture, and the unlikelihood of trading away their captain and star centre. Again, because the value is off we'll need to substitute the 2nd for a 1st or a quality prospect.

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San Jose could use a shakeup. Like D-Money said, Pavelski appears to be an expendable asset after going pointless in the playoffs, being leapfrogged by Couture, and the unlikelihood of trading away their captain and star centre. Again, because the value is off we'll need to substitute the 2nd for a 1st or a quality prospect.

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Also, I'm definitely in the "keep Schneider" crowd. Perhaps the answer here is offering Lu for Pavelski and a pick? On the one hand, I'd rather send Luongo out of the conference, but on the other, perhaps we'd get a premium from San Jose because of that?

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I think Larsson is as untouchable as anyone in the league right now. New Jersey has a future franchise d-man and I don't see them giving that up (especially after he made the jump to the NHL in his first year).

I think other teams who need a center worse would be willing to pay more, or give SJ something they need more.

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I'm definitely in the "keep Luongo" crowd. Schneider will be a great goalie, no doubt about that, but we also have Eddie Läck perfecting his game in the minors. Läck could very well be the next Pekka Rinne; an elite goaltender with size and athleticism coming out of nowhere. Luongo still has years left on him to play at an elite level. Läck, after another season in the minors, can back-up Luongo in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, much like how Schneider did with us these past two years. It'll be a near perfect transition into a new era of Canucks goaltending.

The thing with keeping Schneider is the likely possibility of having the exact same dilemma. If Läck ends up being like Rinne, who do you keep? I also believe that Schneider can fetch us a better return.

Also, if we were to trade Luongo for Pavelski and a pick, that leaves them with Antii Niemi and Luongo eating up $9M of cap space.

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Doan is not signing anywhere other than Phoenix.

Not a fan of Auld. Clemmensen, Biron, Leighton or Nittymaki for a cheap contract.

Interesting idea to trade with SJ. I wonder if they're be more careful with us after acquiring Patrick White and Daniel Rahimi from us.

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Doan is not signing anywhere other than Phoenix.

Not a fan of Auld. Clemmensen, Biron, Leighton or Nittymaki for a cheap contract.

Interesting idea to trade with SJ. I wonder if they're be more careful with us after acquiring Patrick White and Daniel Rahimi from us.

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Schneider + Ballard for Larsson isn't even close. Maybe if you change Ballard to Edler. Larsson is untouchable. The 2nd trade is bad too, Booth is horrible, overpaid, and injury prone. It is hillarious that you think if you add a 2nd you could get Pavelski, who is worth MUCH more than Booth. Doug Wilson laughs hysterically, and would ask you to change Booth to Kesler

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Everyone in the league knew that Rahimi was a C grade prospect and White was drastically struggling in College. The summer we acquire Ehrhoff was the summer where almost every team was either at the cap floor or cap ceiling. The salary cap was quite low that summer and many teams were pushed to the limit.

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