If you're Gillis, how much would you spend to upgrade this team for this year?

[Tom Sestito]

Changes that are all working out for those teams. LOL.

Sometimes changing up personnel to improve your team works. Like it has with alot of these teams.

Changes that are all working out for those teams. LOL.

Sometimes changing up personnel to improve your team works. Like it has with alot of these teams.

But most of those players aren't the reason their teams are winning games.

[coolboarder]

No more trades, let the Canucks figure things out as they are doing well, despite not scoring a lot in last 5 games. They are dominating teams but couldn't score at all. If the Canucks miss the playoffs, they have a chance of grabbing a first overall pick as the non-playoff team get a chance on winning the lottery so please don't trade the first round pick. The Pacific division is so tough that even the Canucks could finish 5th and doesn't win the Wild Card and they are better than rest of the eastern teams and/or central divisions, and has a chance on winning the lottery and have the first overall pick, this will make them deadly in the upcoming year with the prospects.

All I know that the Canucks keeps this up with rest of the teams in the league and the goalie during this losing stretch has gotten so hot that stops the puck thrown their way. One of those days, the Canucks will start winning games with ease. So my verdict, don't trade anybody yet.

[MJDDawg]

Gillis has left this team with no cap space and no movable assets.

He should have dumped Booth ages ago but couldn't, now we have 4 million tied up in a player that brings nothing to the team.

Sorry, but gillis is probably one of the worst GMs in the league when it comes to asset management. If he had any foresight he would have packaged Schneider and Hodgson together and gotten this team a big name top 6. Instead we're stuck with no cap space and no chance to improve.

I barked up this tree for two years. Where people look at Gillis as the best GM this team has ever had or as one of the best in the league, I look at his trail of missed opportunities and the squandered assets he's left behind. I always assumed that our retooling on the fly would be via the assets we received from a package involving Schneids or Lui, and Edler. Of course, the reality became the desperation trade of Schneids for what turned into Horvat and providing Edler with a NTC that now looks like an albatross. And now Canuck fans need to face the grim reality that this team stands a good chance of not making the playoffs this year.

I grit my teeth when I look at what Jim Nill did in Dallas last summer in trading one of his best players in Loui Eriksson for a young franchise player in Tyler Seguin. Packaging Schneids and another good player surely could have landed us a player of Seguin's ilk.

Oh what could have been had we had a GM that new what he was doing. Bravo Mr. Gillis.

[DeNiro]

But most of those players aren't the reason their teams are winning games.

Silfverberg is 22 and will only get better. He's on pace to score 50 points this season, which is pretty good.

With Ryan it's addition by subtraction. It's clear he was no longer happy being the odd man out in Anaheim, and the Ducks save 4.2 mil by shipping him out.This may not upgrade them immediately, but it will going forward with their aging core.

Iginla is definitely an upgrade, and Eriksson fits what they're trying to do in Boston more than Seguin. He was not the player in Boston that he is in Dallas. He was too focused on partying. Eriksson is an upgrade for the short term, proven 70 point player.

More than half the players I listed are upgrades over what those teams had previously. The rest may not be upgrades over what they gave up, but they're a better fit and give them more depth in the long run. That's why those teams are doing so well, it's because they have depth scoring. Something the Canucks currently lack.

[DIBdaQUIB]

Deniro,

I almost always agree with you but you add players other teams in our conference added in the offseason while not listing Santorelli, Richardson, Welsch and Stanton.

I'm not saying Gillis is the best, but he is a master contract negotiator, decent at free agent signings and drafting and needs to have Torts consulted on any future trades. Yah, at trades he needs to win a few to get better marks in that category.

Please define "master contract negotiator"? If your criteria is his ability to get guys to sign at a financial discount to market value, you are not factoring in the cost of the NTC clauses he hands out to third line talent (Higgins) and under-performing players (Edler). While he saves money in the short-term, the long-term problems these contracts he is offering (think of LU's)are making it impossible to make trades or move players for the good of the team.

Short term gain for long term pain is not usually considered great contract management. You only have to look at the Lu fiasco to understand how it impacts a team's future.

[Salacious Crumb]

Please define "master contract negotiator"? If your criteria is his ability to get guys to sign at a financial discount to market value, you are not factoring in the cost of the NTC clauses he hands out to third line talent (Higgins) and under-performing players (Edler). While he saves money in the short-term, the long-term problems these contracts he is offering (think of LU's)are making it impossible to make trades or move players for the good of the team.

Short term gain for long term pain is not usually considered great contract management. You only have to look at the Lu fiasco to understand how it impacts a team's future.

Hey DIBdaQUIB,

Always enjoy your posts. Perhaps 'master contract negotiator' was a bit strong, however he is definitely well above average in this regard imho. Without breaking down every single contract, overall he has done very well. Who has not done things that they later regret, so sure, some contracts have been less than stellar.

Having said that a NTC is as binding as a marriage, as soon as 1 party wants out, it's over. If your significant other said they wanted to see other people...maybe it's best to move along.

Edler, Kesler, Burrows, Higgins can all be moved and it would not surprise me in the least if Lu opts out at the end of the year. So to get back on point...NTC's mean Kawakian monkey-lizard poop.

[DIBdaQUIB]

Hey DIBdaQUIB,

Always enjoy your posts. Perhaps 'master contract negotiator' was a bit strong, however he is definitely well above average in this regard imho. Without breaking down every single contract, overall he has done very well. Who has not done things that they later regret, so sure, some contracts have been less than stellar.

Having said that a NTC is as binding as a marriage, as soon as 1 party wants out, it's over. If your significant other said they wanted to see other people...maybe it's best to move along.

Edler, Kesler, Burrows, Higgins can all be moved and it would not surprise me in the least if Lu opts out at the end of the year. So to get back on point...NTC's mean Kawakian monkey-lizard poop.

He's not the worst GM for sure and I will give you that he has signed some good contracts though despite the ability to move a player with a NTC, it still increases the difficulty in doing so and Gillis has to be careful about how it looks to offer a NTC and then ask a player to move it. Once he goes down that road, future contract negotiations will get tougher as that weapon is gone from his arsenal.

I believe LU would waive his NTC now if asked. I really don't think he wants to be here and while he is a pro and will honour his contract, he would rather be somewhere else. Unfortunately, for now, we need him as Lack is still green and of course, Schneids is gone. The time to move LU was last year or the year before but Gillis was greedy and that ship has sailed.

[Baggins]

Those were great depth signings but none of them addressed our need of a second line winger.

His number 1 goal early in the season should have been to dump Booth. He couldn't do it, and now we're at a disadvantage cause we have 4 million in cap space doing absolutely nothing for us.

At this point we would have been better off signing Raymond for a mil.

And who in this league is going to trade for Booth? Nobody. Booth has no trade value, just a big salary.

[canuckfan85]

And who in this league is going to trade for Booth? Nobody. Booth has no trade value, just a big salary.

the guy meant buy him out, which we could not, because booth was injured.

Honestly - it is going to take a significant upgrade of one legit top 6 player to make us a playoff team at this rate. If that is going to cost us the farm, like more than 2 of our good young players, then I say forget it and do the following

-draft another solid crop of players

-sign an impact player in off season - go balls in like 5.5-6mill for steen, 5-5.5 mill for callahan,

-incorporate a couple young guys like Horvat, Corrado, Shink

then give it a run

my prefernce would be for somehting like

Tanev

Jensen

2014 1st

Hansen

Booth

maybe add Gaunce?

for

Kane

2014 2nd

[UFCanuck]

Nothing. Let the season play out and keep all the picks/players.

[elvis15]

the guy meant buy him out, which we could not, because booth was injured.

...

Well, we couldn't have bought him out early in the season, which is when DeNiro suggested it should have been the #1 goal, so I can see why he read it that way.

[Canuck Surfer]

You look at all the top teams that made upgrades this season to improve their rosters:

Anaheim: Silfverberg

Boston: Eriksson, Iginla

Chicago: Versteeg

Dallas: Seguin, Horcoff, Peverly

Detroit: Alfredsson, Weiss

LA: Frattin, Scrivens

St.Louis: Roy, Morrow, Lapierre, Paarjarvi, Leopold

Tampa: Fillipula

Washington: Grabovski

And then there's Gillis sitting there with his fingers in his butt because he backed himself into a corner getting stuck with Booth.

It seems to me like we've got a lame duck GM who's on his second term and has no vision for the team.

Your expressing a lot of frustration there.

Anaheim, St Louis and Boston, all cap teams took some petty big risks to get what they want. Detroit had cap space left from you know who retiring. LA's moves are just depth moves. Boston in particular gave up an extremely promising young player. We're still reeling from how heavily we spent to win in 2010/11, combined with waiting on success from the signature acquisitions that guys here accept as ok (Kassian & Garrison) since. We are not top contenders because neither of these are playing like all stars and boosting the team. But having made those, we have not been in a position to make signature moves unless we take risks.

We took a prospect, not a difference maker for Schneider, largely cuz we had no cap space. Booth was ineligible for a buyout. In any case if we traded Horvat now, we have no room for anyone regadless. We picked up Dalpe, not Boyes or Gagne.We did not trade Edler before his NTC kicked in. I would have let him walk btw. Good player, but not a top end puck mover and we have two way D. But MG could not bear to give up an asset, redundant or not. So, i concluded pre season (and everyone laughed at me) that we were playing for next year.

We're playing for next year still!

PS; What can we buy with Hansen, Gaunce and a first... Its what I put on the table.

Its clear your critical. What do you propose?

[Canuck Surfer]

And who in this league is going to trade for Booth? Nobody. Booth has no trade value, just a big salary.

http://forum.canucks.com/topic/353715-is-alexander-semin-the-elite-sniper-we-need/

[gradin123]

No rentals for this year.

I am all for a real hockey trade though.

Edler and Richardson for O'Reilly.

I think the Canucks need top 6 forward help and if Edler can bring that I would do it. But only if the player is young enough to still have some good years in front of him.

[Baggins]

the guy meant buy him out, which we could not, because booth was injured.

He said, "His number 1 goal early in the season should have been to dump Booth."

As he couldn't be bought out the only way to "dump him" is through a trade.

[Baggins]

http://forum.canucks...sniper-we-need/

I read that post and it gave me a pretty good chuckle. Trade a bad deal that the final year is bought out at the end the year for a worse deal that the final four years are bought out at the end of the year. If you're the owner would you like to see your GM buyout the remaining $4.75m of a bad contract or trade that contract and buyout the remaining $28m of a bad contract instead? There will be four years left on Semins deal after this season, not the three DeNiro said. Although the owner can afford it, as DeNiro said, do you think he'd be pleased about that deal? I see that deal as a good way for Gillis to get himself fired.

[Baggins]

No rentals for this year.

I am all for a real hockey trade though.

Edler and Richardson for O'Reilly.

I think the Canucks need top 6 forward help and if Edler can bring that I would do it. But only if the player is young enough to still have some good years in front of him.

Have you ever heard of a player waiving his ntc immediately after negotiating it into his contract? Edler waiving his ntc this season is about as likely as Booth scoring 50 goals.

[Nas19]

Gillis is gutless.

The Hawks just won a cup, again a top powerhouse team in the league and what do they do? Upgrade even more and get better mid season. Gillis still can't see the glaring need for a 2nd line with at least one top forward.

Higgins Santorelli Burrows is laughable for a 2nd line and you are going no where with that. And this is where it frustrates me why Horvat and Shinkaruk are not in the lineup.

You claim to be "all in" and contending, yet Gillis hasn't done a damn thing to address our hole and make us a contending team. So if we are a bubble team, why not use this year to get our rookies in and a full year under the belt so we are 1 year ahead for their development while we have a solid core so we can be contenders again in less than 5 years?

The way the Sharks, Bruins and Hawks are doing it, implementing their young prospects with their core players still producing. So when time comes the young players can slowly be moving up while the core players can sit in the back while still contributing. That is a smooth transition.

Yeah okay.

Gillis has made some extremely ballsy trades. Trading Hodgson one of the top rookies that year for Kassian a power forward who had barely played in the league is extremely ballsy. Trading Cory for nothing but one guy who may or may not turn out is extremely ballsy.

Throwing Shinkaruk and Horvat into the league when they're not ready isn't going to do anything. The Sharks, Bruins, and Hawks young guys that are playing for them aren't 18 years old (Hertl is 20, Krug is 22, Pirri is 22). They're guys who are 19-23 years old. Throwing a couple 18 year old rookies into the lineup isn't going to do anything except for possibly stunting their growth or make them injury prone (Nugent-Hopkins anyone?)

I would prefer to just wait it out this year and add a couple pieces at the deadline if possible. We're going to have a crap tonne of cap space this summer (assuming we buy-out Booth) and we could add a guy like Cammalleri (Gillis' former client) or something for our 2nd line. Then you could have a couple young guys (Horvat, Shinkaruk, Gaunce, Jensen, Corrado take your pick) make the lineup, adding NHL ready youth to our team.