[Proposal] The future can look bright with these trades

[canucks155]

NOTE: ALL OF THESE TRADES ARE ASSUMING THEY WAIVE THEIR NTC'S. Which will likely happen since they’re going to cup contenders.

Hirings:

GM: Jim Benning. This is likely going to be the new Canucks GM. Linden wants to follow the Boston model and who better to do that than a guy who’s in Boston right now. There’s a reason why a new GM hasn’t been named yet, it’s not because it’s taking this long to decide, it’s because Boston and Benning are trying to win a cup. Linden and co. are waiting until after the playoffs to start looking at candidates and Benning is at the top of their list. As the assistant GM, he serves as an advisor to GM Peter Chiarelli on all matters regarding player evaluation, trades and free agent signings, in addition to assisting the GM in overseeing all individuals in their specific duties for the Bruins. He came to the Bruins after twelve seasons in the Buffalo Sabres organization including eight seasons as that team's Director of Amateur Scouting. In that position, he oversaw the club's scouting staff and led the team at the annual NHL Entry Draft, in addition to scouting prospects at the high school, college and junior hockey levels as well as in Europe. He’s got a good draft history (in the middle rounds), played for Vancouver and has a Stanley Cup ring. Better than Feaster...

Head Coach: Anybody. I honestly don’t really give a damn who the Canucks get as coach. Since I want us to tank, I care more about who the GM is, rather than the coach. I really wouldn’t mind anybody. Get somebody who won’t lose the room, can develop the young guns into good players and is respected. I realize this isn’t an easy task but just get somebody who won’t cause negative PR to the franchise (Torts and the Flames).

Trades:

To Pit: Kesler and Hansen

To Van: Poliout, 1^st 2014 and 2^nd 2014

Why Pit does it: They have already expressed interest in Kesler and while their 1^st offer was lacking, after they get ousted by the NYR in the playoffs, they’ll come back and offer us more. The problem w/ them is their lack of goal scoring DEPTH. The only real “stars” on their team are Neal, Malkin and Sid. Kunitz isn’t a star IMO because he’s only good w/ Crosby. Adding Kesler to the mix not only makes them more sound defensively, provides a reliable faceoff taker but also some1 who can play on the wing or down the middle while contributing some points here and there. Pittsburgh has a GREAT dman prospect pool w/ Despres, Dumolin, Harrington and Mattaa. Mattaa has emerged as a great player, making Poliout expendable because they’re largely the same type of player. Hansen provides some more scoring depth and can just fly. Also, Kesler is on a GREAT contract right now. Pit’s top 9 would be Crosby, Neal, Malkin, Kesler, Kunitz, Hansen, Bennett, Dupuis and Jokinen (if he stays) along w/ Sutter (if he resigns). Not bad.

Why Van does it: Don’t kid yourself, Kesler’s best days are far behind him The Nashville series Kesler is a memory of what WAS and not what IS. He is a mere shadow of what he was. He’s injury prone and he’s not exactly a “great” player anymore. Before you go nuts in the comments, keep in mind that he’s got as many points as guys like Ward, Smith, Purcell and a bunch of dmen. W/ all that being said, he still brings a compete level night in and night out. He plays an elite defensive game, is a former Selke winner and once scored 40 G. He just doesn’t have the right players to complement him. In Pit though, he’ll be able to play w/ either Malkin, Crosby, Neal, Kunitz or some combo of them; all better than who he currently plays with. This is about as good a return as we’re going to get. Also, Poliout will add some star power to a dman pool that lacks a real “star.” We’ve got depth w/ guys like Corrado, Subban and Cederholm, but in general we lack here. The 1^st is just there so we can add to our prospects. Poliout was pretty good at the WJ’s and can still up his game. Hockey’s future has him rated as the 16^th best prospect, ahead of guys like Laughton, Wennenberg and even Horvat. So according to them, he becomes our best prospect, not bad considering we DESPERATLY need a rebuild.

To Det: Edler and Higgins

To Van: Sproul and 1^st 2014

Why Det does it: Biggest reason, they need somebody better to play w/ Kronwall. While Edler may not be great this year, he’s better than the guys Detroit has. Edler and Kronwall could be the bruisers on the Detroit blueline in a conference which largely has more skill than size. Hopefully w/ a change of scenery, Edler can go back to being the player that he once was. Detroit is a team ready to win next year if some of their young players get better. Lidstrom 2.0 on the Wings, makes all the sense in the world to me and Detroit has already expressed interest in him already. He would also add some xp to a young d core even though Edler isn’t that old. Higgins is there to sweeten the pot, lose his salary, lose his roster spot while improving an aging core that frequently gets injured. He’s a good depth player who was 4^th in Canucks scoring w/ 39P, 4 fewer than Kesler. Sproul is expandable like Poliout because they’ve already got Ouellet who’s the same player as him, only better. This brings up the Poliout and Mattaa situation again. Just as Matta is better than Poliout, Ouellet is better than Sproul. Which again, makes him expandable. I had Jurco in here b4 but I got crap saying Detroit would never do this trade so I took him out to make it more realistic.

Why Van does it: Same story as Kesler, he’s not good as he previously was thought to have been. Edler is just AWFUL now. He has the 2^nd worst +- in the league and is having his worst season of his career. W/ Sproul we get a guy that can add to our depth of our prospect pool. As for Edler waiving the NTC, he might waive it after getting ripped by fans and Vancouver becoming a bad team; one competing for higher draft picks rather than the playoffs. Another reason would be the fact that his fellow countryman in Kronwall would be his partner. Also, Detroit is like the second Sweden now. The 1^st gets flipped in another trade so that’s why that’s there. This is probably as good a return as we’ll get for Edler. It’s not easy trading the league’s leader in +- for dmen for a lot. No matter how good he once was.

To NYR: Burrows

To Van: 2^nd 2014

Why NYR does it: Burrows can play on your top line, or your 4^th line. He’s a nice luxury to be had for a playoff contender. He has been mightily struggling this year w/ injuries and a new coach. He might turn this around w/ AV again. On AV’s team, he was almost always on the 1^st line. Maybe AV can revive the 1^st line Burrows and help the Rangers get to the Finals. His NTC wouldn’t be a problem either because he’s going to a contender and back to his old coach. NYR don’t really need draft picks but boy do they need to win or get close to the cup. There also been rumours that the Rangers and AV want him so it makes sense in this deal.

Why Van does it: Clears salary and frees up a roster spot as well as being able to get us a draft pick which I use in another trade. Burrows is a player good for contenders, not rebuilders or retoolers. Still, would be hard to let go the guy who finally got the nucks to beat the hawks and let us go to the Finals and almost win…

To Ana: Det 1^st 2014, Schroeder and NYR 2^nd 2014

To Van: Ott 1^st 2014

Why Ana does it: They get the 16^th pick and a decent player in Schroder along with a 2nd. They don’t really require anybody in a weak draft this year. They only drop down 6 spots but gain a speedy player and a late 2^nd rounder. There are still some good names left at 16 (Honka, Ho-Sang, Kapanen?, etc). They are IMO going to lose in the Finals to the Bruins and they don’t have any glaring weaknesses. They could use some more depth and this trade provides it for them w/ them only dropping 6 spots. Sending Schroeder to Anaheim can help rejuvenate his career and provide them w/ some more goal scoring depth.

Why Van does it: We have no use for picks outside of the top 10 in this years’ draft. We’ve got a decent pool of prospects with DEPTH. We don’t have lots of stars. Schroeder hasn’t panned out here and is close to becoming a bust. I’d do this deal because this draft is top heavy and starts to dwindle down in talent really quickly. Another thing w/ Schroeder is that he doesn’t fit into our team. IMO, Guance> Schroeder. No use in keeping him as a 3^rd line C or a checking winger. This isn’t an overpayment because the draft thins out after the top 10, Schroeder is useless on this team and a 2^nd. Well, it’s a 2^nd.

To WPG: 1^st 2014 Van (6^th pick)

To Van: Kane

Why WPG does it: Kane is a nuisance for Winnipeg. They’re just trying to get rid of him for a fair deal. They’re also going into (another?) rebuild. They should try to accumulate draft picks and this trade lets them do that. At this point, they’ll take what they can get for him. This gives them the 6^th pick, along w/ their 9^th pick. This gives them 2 top 10 picks which they can use to add to their prospect pool, or, they can use them to trade up and get into the top 5. They need to get more prospect wingers and there are loads on the board between 6 and 9 (Virtanen, Ehlers, Nylander, yes, he can play wing, Perlini, Ritchie, Kapanen). They can turn that franchise around quickly too.

Why Van does it: 6^th is probably the worst place to draft in this draft. If one of the top 5 falls to

us, then screw this deal and grab them. The only I would want us to make this deal would be because there are way too many question marks surrounding Ehlers, Virtanen, Ritchie, Perlini and Nylander. There is no doubt in my mind that Kane just needs to get out of the Peg. He’ll grow up under Torts and will be held accountable for his actions. The Sedins and other characters on the team won’t let him get out of line, something that was and is still missing in Winnipeg. He’ll also be playing in his home province, where he played w/ the Giants of the WHL. This year’s draft isn’t the strongest and Kane is more of guarantee than any of the others. He can still grow into a legit top line player (he was drafted 4^th OVR), something I’m not sure the other prospects can do.

2014 Draft: Fluery w/10^th pick. We need more Dmen. The last time we drafted a dman in the 1^st round was in 2005 when we drafted Luc Bourdon. He’s like another Hamhuis going forward. Would form a good pairing w/ Poliout. Stay at home dman w/ an offensive one, sounds good to me.

McKeown w/ 24ish pick. This adds to our defensive depth and he has the potential to become a top 4 dman on the Canucks. Rounds out our defensive prospects. Pretty good offensively and can drop the gloves. I saw him do decently against McCann in a bout.

Smith w/ 36^th pick. He plays w/ Cole Cassels on Oshawa and is a huge guy (6’7, 218Ibs). He’s a no brainer in the 2^nd round due to his chemistry w/ Cole. He’s a guy who would just intimidate the other team while scoring.

Nejezchleb w/ 54^th pick. Aside from having the best name ever, he’s another physical player who can also score. You can’t get enough of those guys. If he doesn’t score that many goals, at least he can still hit.

Compliance Buyout: Nobody. Booth has 1 year left on his deal and played good down the stretch this season. If these trades happen, they’ll be plenty of cap space to keep him. Plus, if he plays like garbage, we lose more games and get a higher draft pick for next year.

Resign Stage: Resign everybody, we’ll have plenty of cap with the trades.

Free Agency: Sign ONLY players under age of 24ish w/ potential to be better. We need young guys. Don’t get guys like Vanek or Gaborik, those guys will just take time away from rookies.

So to sum it all up:

In: Poliout, McKeown, Nejezchleb, Sproul, Fluery

Out: Kesler, Schroeder, Higgins, Burrows, Hansen and Edler

Current Lineup:

Sedin Sedin Jensen

Kane Bo Kass

Santo Mathias Booth (Florida line)

Sestito Richardson Lain

Hamhuis Tanev

Garrison Bieksa

Stanton Weber

Lack

Markstrom

2015 Draft: Matthew Barzal w/ 5^th pick. (I think Edm will be better than us by just a bit). He’s a BC boy we have a realistic shot at getting. He had 54P in 59G for the Thunderbirds this season, pretty good for his 1^st year. He’s not small nor is he big (5’11 178Ibs) but he can still grow. He can challenge Horvat for the #1 C job. If we draft him, we’d have insane depth at Centre (Barzal, Horvat, Guance, Cassels, Fox, etc). He was fun to watch at the U18’s and while he had the turnover that led to Canada losing to the Czechs, he played well. I think he’ll be the best guy left on the board because I see the 2015 draft shaking down like this:

Buf: McDavid (obvious)

Fla: Eichel (next best player)

Nyi: Barzal, Konecny or Strome (brother of Ryan)

Cgy: Hanfin (Ekblad of this draft? They need dmen)

Van: Barzal, Konecny or Strome (All of them can be future 1^st line centers)

Future Lines:

Kane Barzal Jensen (Skill, speed, size = goal scoring)

Shink Horvat Kass (Perfect line: Sniper, 2way fwd and PWF)

Nejezchleb Guance Fox (Do it all line, hit, play d and score)

Greiner Cassels Smith (Chemistry w/ Smith and Cassels and a tough 4^th line that can score)

Fleury Poliout (O-damn and d-dman, what’s not to like?)

Corrado Tanev (Reliable and calm pairing, can play more in playoffs)

Sproul McKeown (Both have potential to be top 4 dmen and they both score)

Subban Cederholm (Both have ? marks but could be movable assets for forwards if they pan out or they could play and you could trade somebody else f)

Markstrom (IMO, will be better than Lack)

Lack (GREAT backup; Swedish duo in net)

Improvements for the future:

Top 6 Winger : This all depends on whether or not Kassian and Shink turns into a good players or not. If they do, then we don’t need anything else. If they don’t, then we need a good top 6 winger to take one of their spots and bump them down to the 3^rd line (if Kassian isn’t good) or trade them for a real top 6 winger with something else included (if Shink isn’t good).

While some may argue these trade are lacking in value for us, the end result for the future is worth it. I think these trades vastly improves our prospects pool and put us up there in terms of prospects. This future lineup provides us with speed, skill and goal scoring w/o letting us get pushed around. If we can get either Mathew Barzal, Travis Konecny, or Dylan Strome, then maybe 1-2 more years of high draft picks and we’re set to win the cup J.

[smithers joe]

they may look good in different ways....maybe linden has some ideas of his own.....i'll wait and see.

[Tearloch7]

A very well thought out set of 'changes', OP .. very optimistic!

[JeremyCuddles]

Am I the only one that thinks we kind of overpay on some of these?

Edit: nevermind pretty fair all around. But I'd like to keep one of Hansen or Higgins. Just cause they make our 3rd line great.

I wouldn't do all these trades cause we need some vets our we become Edmonton.

[Fateless]

You assume way too much.

You're essentially playing Russian Roulette by throwing away all our proven players (regardless of what line they are on, they are proven NHLers) for a bunch of prospects that may never be able to make the leap to the NHL, or contend with top lines in the NHL.

Do you honestly expect every single one of our prospects to pan out? You are projecting everyone at the top end of their potential ranges and throwing away the rest of our team on that assumption.

Not to mention that you're throwing away a lot of of our high-value players for picks in a shallow 2014 draft class.

This isn't even a rebuild. Those players need to be able to learn and rely on veteran experience so make the leap to the NHL, but you have boys playing alongside boys against men. Its laughable.

Edit: And why does everyone have a massive hard-on for Kane? The last thing this team needs is another drama Queen who is going to ruin the peace and give Vancouver an even worse reputation than we already have. Being good on the ice isn't all that matters in this sport.

[canucks155]

You assume way too much.

You're essentially playing Russian Roulette by throwing away all our proven players (regardless of what line they are on, they are proven NHLers) for a bunch of prospects that may never be able to make the leap to the NHL, or contend with top lines in the NHL.

Do you honestly expect every single one of our prospects to pan out? You are projecting everyone at the top end of their potential ranges and throwing away the rest of our team on that assumption.

Not to mention that you're throwing away a lot of of our high-value players for picks in a shallow 2014 draft class.

This isn't even a rebuild. Those players need to be able to learn and rely on veteran experience so make the leap to the NHL, but you have boys playing alongside boys against men. Its laughable.

Just out of curiosity, what do you suggest we do? Make the playoffs and get swept by the Hawks? No thanks, I'd rather tank.

[JeremyCuddles]

Just out of curiosity, what do you suggest we do? Make the playoffs and get swept by the Hawks? No thanks, I'd rather tank.

We match up well against Chicago. We get 2 or 3 wins. LA and Anaheim school us though.

[canucks155]

We match up well against Chicago. We get 2 or 3 wins. LA and Anaheim school us though.

You can't be serious.

Chi top 6, stacked w/ 4 stars and 2 good players:

Kane Towes Hossa

Sharp Shaw Saad

Our top 6, old vets, production declining, 2 3rd liners, Kassian is only + in the top 6:

Sedin Sedin Burr

Kass Kes Higgins?

Keith and Seabrook are shutdown dmen.

Crawford >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lack or Markstrom

Quenville > Whoever we hire.

Chiacgo would DESTROY us.

[JeremyCuddles]

You can't be serious.

Chi top 6:

Kane Towes Hossa

Sharp Shaw Saad

Our top 6:

Sedin Sedin Burr

Kass Kes Higgins?

Keith and Seabrook are shutdown dmen.

Crawford >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Lack or Markstrom

Quenville > Whoever we hire.

Chiacgo would DESTROY us.

On paper, but if you actually watch the Canucks.... you'd know.

[canucks155]

On paper, but if you actually watch the Canucks.... you'd know.

I did watch them. I watched them secure the 6th OVR pick in the draft. Meanwhile, Chiacgo is chugging along in the playoffs, ready to repeat w/ only LAK standing in their way (assuming MTL beats Boston)

[JeremyCuddles]

I did watch them. I watched them secure the 6th OVR pick in the draft. Meanwhile, Chiacgo is chugging along in the playoffs, ready to repeat w/ only LAK standing in their way (assuming MTL beats Boston)

I meant against each other, are you slow? Jesus...

[Pears]

Am I the only one that thinks we kind of overpay on some of these?

Nope. I thought about stopping after Kesler AND Hansen for Pouliot, but did after Edler AND Higgins for Sproul and a 1st. Those are horrible overpayments by us.

[canucks155]

I meant against each other, are you slow? Jesus...

Chi town won the season series 2-1. Sure the games were close, but that was b4 the wheels fell off.

And I think u might be the slow 1, believing in the outdated fallacy known as religion.

[canucks155]

Nope. I thought about stopping after Kesler AND Hansen for Pouliot, but did after Edler AND Higgins for Sproul and a 1st. Those are horrible overpayments by us.

Kesler isn't good anymore. I'm not going to repeat what I have to say regarding his value as I already did in the "Why Vancouver does this" part.

Do you think Detroit (or any other team for that matter) would give us anything more for the guy w/ the league's worst +-.

[Pears]

Kesler isn't good anymore. I'm not going to repeat what I have to say regarding his value as I already did in the "Why Vancouver does this" part.

Lol. Prove to me why one of the best two-way forwards in the game 'isn't good anymore'

[01rameetludu01]

This is actually a really good proposal. Some of you say that we shouldn't fully rebuild because we will end up like the Edmonton oilers with all rookies and no vets to mentor the rookies. However, what if we hold on to our players because "they are proven" as apposed to trading them for "unproven players"? We will end up like the Calgary flames..... Holding on to our assets too long, causing their value to go down and then starting the rebuild way too late

If we wait too long to rebuild it could take 20+ years for us to make it anywhere close to the cup final again

[01rameetludu01]

Ayyyeee I got you're back Canucks155

[canucks155]

Lol. Prove to me why one of the best two-way forwards in the game 'isn't good anymore'

-Wasn't nominated for Selke

-Didn't play full 82 game season

-Was a -15

-Had 81 PIM's (I don't know if u call that good or bad)

-Had 43 Points

-All this, when he was avging the most ice time for Canucks forwards

-He had as many points as Brouwer, Ennis, Hemsky, Tarasenko , etc

-Stripped of assistant captaincy

-Dives/has a rep for diving

-His team ended up w/ 6th OVR pick

Are those enough reasons? He isn't on the same planet as Toews, Kopi, Datsyuk, Bergeron, ROR, etc. Yes, even ROR is better than Kesler.

[canucks155]

This is actually a really good proposal. Some of you say that we shouldn't fully rebuild because we will end up like the Edmonton oilers with all rookies and no vets to mentor the rookies. However, what if we hold on to our players because "they are proven" as apposed to trading them for "unproven players"? We will end up like the Calgary flames..... Holding on to our assets too long, causing their value to go down and then starting the rebuild way too late

If we wait too long to rebuild it could take 20+ years for us to make it anywhere close to the cup final again

exactly

[JeremyCuddles]

Chi town won the season series 2-1. Sure the games were close, but that was b4 the wheels fell off.

And I think u might be the slow 1, believing in the outdated fallacy known as religion.

I don't quite believe in Christianity or whatever, saying Jesus when I read BS is just habit. Even if I did that'd be a pretty ignorant thing to say given anyone's religious belief's has no barring on anything sports related. Unless you are ignorant. You a homophobe too? Racist? Stay classy.

Back on topic, 2-1 is pretty good given our team sucked this year. Considering they, in your words, "destroy" us.