TSN's Off Season Game Plan, Vancouver Canucks

[BanTSN]

I agreed with this late in the season...but I do see the reasoning why JB did not trade him..What are you telling your fanbase when you deal a 6'4 220lbs player,who is having a breakout season for draft picks,when you are a playoff bound team?...Right now,a draft pick would look pretty good for a player who is going to walk for nothing...I wonder if JB even explored the options of trading him at the deadline..?

What are you telling the fanbase when your deadline move was getting an AHLer? Probably that you're planning for the future.

Now look, we lost Matthias for nothing. That didn't seem like planning for the future.

[Pears]

What are you telling the fanbase when your deadline move was getting an AHLer? Probably that you're planning for the future.

Now look, we lost Matthias for nothing. That didn't seem like planning for the future.

Just because we haven't re-signed him yet doesn't mean we lost him for nothing...

[HC20.0]

Vrbata got 7 GWG for the Canucks this season. So let's assume that's 7 pts he was able to contribute to the Canucks.

If my math is correct than that means Canucks would have 94 PTS last season missing the playoffs.

Seems to me without Vrbata, Canucks wouldn't even make it to the playoffs.

.

No doubt Vrbata was clutch. He's a goal scorer we desperately needed. The guy does have a point though. He completely floundered in the playoffs when the season was on the line. 2 goals, one of them an empty netter. He raised some pretty big questions, and it was made public that management was not happy with him for his no show. Radim will have to silence his critics with a better effort, if we even make the big show that is.

[BOHORVAT53]

***Read the 4th line column. If it makes sense to you (theres probably better ways to explain then my wierd way), then great cuz it explains the type of impact players we desperately lack in the organization

Sedin Sedin Kassian:

-Kassian did well with them before injury, and I really believe this is the season Kassian starts to find his game (20-25 goals, 45+ pts). Kassian's main issue is his defensive work rate and positioing. With 3 solid checking lines next year, Sedin's should see 80+% offensive zone starts, which minimizes Kassian's time spent in his own zone (makes sense to put him with the guys who are constantly in the offensive zone). There will still be a bit of consistency issues with Kass, so Burr slots in during those times, and also during times in which the team is struggling and needs some line juggling.

Baertschi Bonino Vrbata:

-Signing a guy like Beleskey long term just blocks the development of our LW's. Baertschi then is a future 3rd liner, Shinkaruk 4th, Gaunce 5th. So in order to bump each of those 3 players up a line, we need to leave that slot open for future years. Ideally, it'd be nice to sign an offensive veteran like Ward for two years, playing Baertschi on the 3rd this year, and him n Ward swap lines next year when Baertschi is ready for top 6 (Ward probably goes back to 2nd for the playoffs though). With the lack of funds, we must do the same thing we did with Linden Vey last year, and thats slot him into a role without having to earn it. Luckily for us, both Richardson and Horvat were capable of stepping in at 3C last year. Unfortunately, this season we will not be seeing Kenins Shinkaruk or Gaunce play at the level of a top 6 fwd, and I think Nucks fans are sick of Higgins playing on the 2nd. Who knows though, Baertschi's vision and Vrbata's finish may just work. With the confidence Bonino will have in his second season, especially after his fantastic showing in Prague, we could see him turn into a legit number 2. Also, unlike last season where his job was as safe as Carey Price's, next year he will have sophomore's Horvat and Vey on his arse.

Higgins Horvat Hansen:

-The Hunter Hearst Helmsley line. Wow thats gonna be a very very good checking line. Our best faceoff man between our top two defensive fwds will see a lot of minutes playing against the oppositions top line. Instead of having a 1st line and then 3 rotating lines, now we can comfortably roll 4 lines during the regular season and keep everyone fresh

Dorsett Letestu Burrows:

-Now thats a 4th line designed for the playoffs. Ya, sure guys like say Tanner Glass set the tone and eat minutes, but whats the point of having them in your lineup if having 2 hits and a plus minus of zero is a good day. The league is heading in the right direction with teams having gone away from the Tom Sestito's which is good, but I guarantee that soon we will see teams take another step further and use guys on the 4th line who not only hit and wear teams down, but are fast and can actually finish the game with a plus/minus +1. Guys like say Dale Weise. A prime example is the New York Islanders 4th line. The Canucks were at their prime when we were the most hated team in the league. Watching Kes and Burr cherp was priceless, but they could back it up. Torres was pretty awesome too. Dorsett Letestu Burrows, and in case of injuries, Kenins, would provide us with the ultimate pest line. All 3 are capable of scoring 15+ goals as well. Thats a goal every 2 games average from a 4th line. If we can dump Burrows contract instead of Bieksa to get our 2nd pair RD, i'm all for it cuz Bieksa would net us a 1st at the deadline rather then a 2nd in a few weeks. Kenins steps in for Burr and we have a 4th line perfect for the modern day game. Fast, can score, all very good on D, can all hit, love to chirp and get players off their game, and opposition players hate playing against them. During home games, coaches put their 1st line on anytime a team sends out their 4th. You would think when Micheal Ferland is put on the ice, the Sedins should be the first ones out. Instead Ferkland and Co. were the twins worst nightmare, and it turned out that the player who by far had the biggest impact on the series. Sedin's, Dorsett, and Hamhuis were 80% the players they should be, Bieksa was 70%, Ferland's linemates were 130%, Monahan, Hudler, and Gaudreau were 120%, and every other Calgary Flame played at about 110% because they had Micheal Ferland on their team. He had 2011 Milan Lucic type impact on Boston (positive) and Vancouver (negative). Toews makes his team all play at 120+%, and Quick/Doughty the same in LA. We need more impact players. Lack in the regular season made his defense play at 110% cuz they really wanted to win for him. I really doubt the Canucks, especially the Dmen, would have let the Flames get 7 behind Lack in game 6. Kesler and Burrows used to be those guys for us. Even guys like Bieksa, Lapierre, and Torres gave us a nice 5% boost. Manny Malhotra gave us a 150% boost for game 1 and about 125% for game 2. The Sedin's and Luongo only made the team play a little bit better compared to the impact other leaders/stars had on their respective teams. We need to find us some of those guys with the X-Factor. Its not just the best players, in fact it rarely is. Its the guy that wears his heart on his sleeve. They usually have certain roles, or certain characteristics that makes the fan smile, and makes you happy for the player and the team. You can't explain it, and you can't predict who it will be. It can be someone like Jarko Ruutu, or something like Jarko's hillarious smile. Theres Ed Jovanovski from behind his net with 10 seconds left in the game. Gino Odjick. fans chanting BOB-BY for Bob Essensa, the overperforming underdog, Rick Rypien when he fights. Murray Baron and Ryan Johnson blocking shots. Of course the electrifying Pavel Bure. Trevor Linden's heart and soul sty. The brabarrian Jeff Cowan. Dan Cloutier throwing his blocker into the crowd and starts throwing haymakers at the forward who crashed his crease. Brandon Reids 5 hits in one shift. Trent Klatts work in front of goal that ends with a deflection goal. Eddie Lack's shuffle, Ronny Kenins work rate, Bo Horvat doing what Bo does. Kevin Bieksa starting the game with a fight and KO after a 5 game losing streak. We need more players brought in who can steal the hearts of the fans, and the respect of teammates. Guys the team will go to war for. Those are the players that create winning environments and take us deep in the playoffs

*Extra's:

-Linden Vey is first to slot in at C or RW on line 2, 3, or 4. Even if we have a great season in terms of injuries, he'd still get 70+ games cuz its rare to have every single player healthy more then 5- 10 games a season. Maybe the first 5 and thats it.

-Brendan Gaunce, Hunter Shinkaruk and Alex Grenier should get 10 or more each.

-Cole Cassels will likely get the full season in Utica, but with our lack of depth at Center after Vey, he may actually get a call-up of 2 or 3 games over Friesen, Zalewski, and Fox. I'd be suprised if O'Reilly doesn't take a few hundred grand to go overseas, so Gaunce will likely have to play some games at his natural Center position. We may have to make another Dustin Jeffrey type signing this coming July to be our top player in Utica.

-Free Agents:

-Jan Kovar would be a great Jori Lehtera/Jiri Sekac/Artemy Panarin/Leo Komarov type signing in the offseason to bolster our top 9. Even Matthias doesn't take a reasonable contract, and Santorelli doesn't take a hometown discount, we will either have to go shopping overseas, or make a 1yr/1mil bargain signing similar to that of Ribiero, Roy, Santorelli, Winnik, Comeau, Richards, Downie, Morrow, Volchenkov, Del Zotto, McBain, . We just gotta hope it doesnt turn into a bust like Booth, Heatley, Havlat, Gagne, Kontiola, Mueller, Lombardi. There's this guy in Switzerland who plays for Davos I believe. Fredrik Pettersson. Swedish winger in his mid 20's who played better then Damien Brunner during his time in Switzerland .

-Viktor Tikhonov. I really like what he's done with his game. He's suprisingly a very good two way fwd. He may turn out to be that KHL star like Morozov, who should have been an NHLer (Canucks 2nd or 3rd rounder Koltsov is one of those guys. Chubarov was an awesome bottom 6 as well). I love watching that Russian flashy style of play. So Tikhonov or Radulov at less money then he'd want, would be exciting from an entertainment point of view. Even the less lazier of the Kostitsyn's would be a fun experiment.

Draft:

-It'd be great to select future 30 goal scorer Denis Guryanov with our 1st. It would be a particularly great decision because coming over from Europe, he will be eligible to play in our farm, putting a lot less pressure on management to rush Virtanen into the NHL when he's about a year away. Coming off shoulder surgery, and McCann in and out of the lineup the entire season AND playoffs, itd be best to send them back to Junior after training camp and 6 pre-season games (Virtanen can get 9 NHL games). Having no training camp and having to play catch up all year is extremely difficult. These two can be stars for Canada at the World Juniors. Gurianov is somehow only ranked in the mid 20's, when in my eyes, he is comparable to Strome, Zacha, and Barzal.

-We should deal our pick and move down 5-10 spots to get a mid-late 2nd added. Like the deal NYI offers every year. If guys like D.Gurianov E.Svechnikov, P.Bittner, J.Debrusk, J.Roy, T.Chabot, N.Merkeley, and K.Connor are still around, make the deal and we will still have a few options available to us around pick 30. With the 2nd Round pick we receive, we can add a guy like V.Dunn, J.Roslovic, A.Beauvillier, C.Fischer, D.Sprong, O.Kylington, R.Andersson, or N.Juulsen. Man with the talent available beyond the first round, I hope JB does everything he can to acquire as many top 100 picks as possible. Use Miller/Lack, Bieksa, Burrows, Higgins, Jensen, Corrado/Clendinning, and 2016 picks in trades these next 3 weeks, and dont acquire a single player in return. Just get 2015 picks in all rounds including the 7th, and sign UFA's from North America and Europe. Whatever we do, don't pick Jansen Harkins or Filip Chlapik. I think they will be major dissapointments.

-If Nick Betz is not selected, sign him to a PTO right away. He is this years Barclay Goodrow. I feel Betz plays apro-style game and can instantly make an impact in the AHL against men, and could even be a 4th liner as early as next season. With the emergence of Grenier and Kenins, and possible departures of Conacher Archibald O'Reilly Defazio and Acton, we definitely need to sign some depth up front, especially on the wing.

-In the later rounds, I would love to get Timashov. He may fall to the 6th or 7th round because of height like Spencer Watson did last year, falling fom the 2nd round, to one of the very last picks. I have faith in him though because he has solid work ethic on D, great vision, and attention to detail. The game comes to him. He won't dangle you like Vlad Tkachev or Conor Garland would, but he'll out-hustle and-muscle David Booth to the loose puck. No to taking Tkachev though. Let the Oilers take him. He'll one day get NHL time, but he will never play more then 2 games in the playoffs. He's more likely to be an AHL All-Star who gets called up on emergency basis when a team loses a top 6 fwd for a couple games.

[Industrious1]

Man....that is a mess on the blueline.

I've kind of been trying to avoid looking at it as a whole until the draft happens but do we ever need help back there.

Unless something truly profound happens for the defense core...we are years away from fixing that problem.

[D-Money]

My take is literally just this.

Benning and Linden are going to be facing some serious facts about the team the age of the team and where to get younger.

There almost has to be changes coming this off season. Without changes we move into dangerous territory where we could lose players without recouping anything due to expiring contracts or lack of value due to age or production

I hope this is the case. I think the fact that Linden/Benning did everything they said they would, and got back into the playoffs, and yet still had trouble selling out the games should indicate clearly that the fans are not content with the status quo.

Honestly, the best thing for the franchise would to be out of the playoff picture by the trade deadline. That would shift the focus to shedding some veterans at the time they generate the best returns.

[alfstonker]

i think the players with the best chance of making the big team next year, are.....

baerschi, grenier, gaunce, clendenning, corrado and markstrom...but the year after

we may be closer to the youth movement, everyone is clamouring for....

I am not sure about Clendening or Corrado SJ, I much prefer Pedan and Biega. Hope these first two are part of trade package.

[alfstonker]

This offseason is gonna be interesting and a real awkward one for the management team if they have to start asking our core players to waive their NTC's

Personally, I'm pretty certain Higgins will get dealt and maybe bieksa if they can find a right fit for him.

And what if they don't want to leave?

I got the distinct impression Kevin was a bit annoyed at the suggestion of moving on.

Anyway I'm not sure Clendening OR Corrado are as good as KB3 yet, are you?

[aGENT]

I dont know why people keep saying trade Vrbata. Yes he didnt do well in the playoffs, but you need a sniper and power play threat to get you to the postseason. Without Vrbata's huge goals this season, we wouldnt have even made the playoffs.

That's why you move him at the deadline. You get the benefit of ~2/3 year of his regular season production and then flip him for assets.

He's leaving next summer anyway...what's the big deal if it's a few months sooner?

[alfstonker]

I got a few questions; 1) why is everyone wanting Vey on the team.... cause he's Willies boy, IMO he didn't show enough to stay and he's pushed around and off the puck to easily

2) if Canucks trade Bieska who clears the opposition forwards from the front of the net or tries....not one the Dmen we have now or any of the resticted Dmen that would have to clear waivers-- trade some of them and get an Odyula(?) or someone like him.

3) why do Canucks need to look for depth forwards, we have young guys in Utica. if Canucks can get a goal scorer fine but because of Millers, Sbisa's and a few other contracts Canucks are up at Cap pretty well. JB and Linden keep saying changes are comming and they want to be hard to play against but aside from a few, Canucks are not hard to play against and few of the forwards are willing to take a beating to go right front of the net to score or look for rebounds. Watching Horvat and Keanins(?) play a lot of our forwards should be embarrased and if the other young guys give an effort like those 2 we should be competative.

Maybe the other forwards were too busy scoring goals and putting up points to be embarrassed.

I agree with what you said about Bieksa and about looking to Utica for some reinforcements but here's a newsflash, the Comets are finding it very difficult to score goals so don't be too ready to kick the Twins, Burr, Vbrata, Higgins etc out of the bed yet.

As for Vey, I think you are totally biased. If he was one of our draft picks, scoring the points he did in the AHL despite being only a 4th round pick and in his first FULL rookie season you would be all over him and wishing to give him as many chances as it takes.

[alfstonker]

Thank god. By the 2016-17 season I think it will be mostly the Utica guys all on the team. At least Virtanen, gaunce, shinkaruk, grenier, clendenning, corrado and bartchi. That's huge we have never had anything like this. That's not even including McCann and cassels and Bo who's only 20. The future looks bright if we can just land a number one dman in the draft but that's asking a lot...

The future MAY look bright. Personally I will always harp back to goal scoring. Without it I don't see a bright future at all.

Ok we may pick up someone off UFA but the chances of getting people of the calibre of the Sedins is zilch imo. Even now they are carrying the team (along with Vbrata)

This is why unlike many I don't see our priority in the draft as a D but as some serious goal scoring to got with the players you have mentioned coming through.

I'm glad we have Benning figuring this out.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Without addressing the D, in particular the speed and ability to carry the puck out of the d-zone, it won't matter how many 'goal scorers' you get, (not that serious help is avail at 23rd+,) because they'll be in their own zone all game long. During the building phase of their current dynasty team, Chicago addressed their D first, and then locked up Keith to an insane steal of a contract.

It's not easy to go through a rebuild, no plan is perfect, and there will be hiccups, but I think you can recognize some of the major patterns with winning teams.

Landing a pmd who can play 30mins a game, kill penalties, run a power play and do everything well transforms a mediocre team into a contending team.

[Warhippy]

I hope this is the case. I think the fact that Linden/Benning did everything they said they would, and got back into the playoffs, and yet still had trouble selling out the games should indicate clearly that the fans are not content with the status quo.

Honestly, the best thing for the franchise would to be out of the playoff picture by the trade deadline. That would shift the focus to shedding some veterans at the time they generate the best returns.

Interesting. I forgot there was still issues selling tickets. One would have to think that should be eye opening to owners and management.

[alfstonker]

Excellent Overview -- the best I have seen. (By excellent I mean that it mostly agrees with my opinions.)

It is hard for me to find points to disagree with. Personally I would have been a bit more positive about Horvat. For a 19-year old he had a great season. Most significantly he improved dramatically over the course of the season and, at his age, you expect rapid improvement. We should expect him to improve more next year. There are two very good options for Horvat next year. One option is to give him better offensive wingers, like Baertschi and Vrbata, for example, in which case that line would be the second line and should be very good offensively and defensively. The other option is to put him with good defensive wingers, like Higgins and Hansen, and have a legitimate shut down line for the first time since 2010-11 when Malhotra was with the team.

What would be disappointing would be to see Horvat put back with Dorsett and Kenins, both of whom are no better than 4th liners. That line would be fine as a 4th line but would waste Horvat's talent.

Were you watching the games?

These two along with Hansen helped Horvat to the level he achieved. You act like Bo carried them which is ridiculous. We didn't have a 4th line we had two 3rd lines.

[alfstonker]

Without addressing the D, in particular the speed and ability to carry the puck out of the d-zone, it won't matter how many 'goal scorers' you get, (not that serious help is avail at 23rd+,) because they'll be in their own zone all game long. During the building phase of their current dynasty team, Chicago addressed their D first, and then locked up Keith to an insane steal of a contract.

It's not easy to go through a rebuild, no plan is perfect, and there will be hiccups, but I think you can recognize some of the major patterns with winning teams.

Landing a pmd who can play 30mins a game, kill penalties, run a power play and do everything well transforms a mediocre team into a contending team.

And where do we pick this guy up from? If 23rd is hopeless for a forward (I don't agree) it is doubly so for a "leading pmd who can play 30 mins a game" don't you think?

In any case I thought that was where Clendening and Subban came in.

[Gstank29]

Without addressing the D, in particular the speed and ability to carry the puck out of the d-zone, it won't matter how many 'goal scorers' you get, (not that serious help is avail at 23rd+,) because they'll be in their own zone all game long. During the building phase of their current dynasty team, Chicago addressed their D first, and then locked up Keith to an insane steal of a contract.

It's not easy to go through a rebuild, no plan is perfect, and there will be hiccups, but I think you can recognize some of the major patterns with winning teams.

Landing a pmd who can play 30mins a game, kill penalties, run a power play and do everything well transforms a mediocre team into a contending team.

You dont find these guys in every draft let alone at 23

[aGENT]

And where do we pick this guy up from? If 23rd is hopeless for a forward (I don't agree) it is doubly so for a "leading pmd who can play 30 mins a game" don't you think?

In any case I thought that was where Clendening and Subban came in.

Subban's a bit of a wildcard. Could be anything from a dynamic, top pairing offensive D (with the right partner) to a career AHL'er who lacks the size to make the NHL.

I have a feeling he'll fall in the middle and be a good 2nd/3rd pairing, complimentary offensive D in his prime. A bit more dynamic than Weber.

Clendening though, I think that's his ceiling. 2nd/3rd pairing complimentary offensive D. He's probably more of a sure bet to get there but likely a lower ultimate "what if" ceiling.

Either way, that still leaves a need for more "sure thing", at least a good #2'ish guy who can play in all facets of the game or at the very least excel at most of them.

[TOMapleLaughs]

And where do we pick this guy up from? If 23rd is hopeless for a forward (I don't agree) it is doubly so for a "leading pmd who can play 30 mins a game" don't you think?

In any case I thought that was where Clendening and Subban came in.

Gee, I dunno...

People always tell me where Keith and Subban were picked... So there's that. Maybe this Dunn guy learns better defense and pans out? We'd need to be patient and cross our fingers though.

Other than that there's this guy, but we'd have to wait a year to draft him.

↓↓↓

[D-Money]

You dont find these guys in every draft let alone at 23

Really?

It seems a lot of the existing ones were 2nd rounders (Keith, Weber, Subban, Josi, Faulk...)

Carlson was at #27 not too long ago.

[awalk]

What are you telling the fanbase when your deadline move was getting an AHLer? Probably that you're planning for the future.

Now look, we lost Matthias for nothing. That didn't seem like planning for the future.

It looks exactly like that whole "dual track" thing that every one of our GMs tries....build for the future, while we win now. Remains to see if it can actually be done though, and Toronto is giving up on it ... Wonder if Calgary will head back down to earth next season, or be proof that it can be done. Looked like Montreal was doing it well, but then they screwed it up too.