Benning's War plan: How to proceed into the deadline, draft and free agency

[Bert Diesel]

This club has now has reasonable to above average prospect depth in the forwards with the likes of McCan,Virtanen, Horvat, Baertschi, Gaunce, Shinkaruk, Boeser, Grenier and even Anton Rodin(scoring well in Sweden) all with potential to be NHL'ers. There are also some veteran guys obviously still being productive; Hansen, Sedins, a healthy Sutter, Vrbata and Dorsett being relatively effective in their respective roles.

We don't have a grade A offensive prospect but the glaring need on this team is on defense. Vancouver is weak in the big club, farm, and prospect pool compared to most of the league on the blue-line. Our blue-line has not had an elite puck mover in his prime since Ehrhoff and still lacks a physical presence.

We also don't know what we have in Pedan, Subban, Tryamkin and other prospects like Sautner, Brisebois, Olsen and Carl Neil. Biega looks like he may stick and Sbisa has started to become more of an effective shutdown guy until his injury. Hutton has been a hugely positive surprise but would be better served being given easier minutes. Having him on an entry level contract for three years is incredibly positive for Vancouver and its fans.

Bartowski, Weber and Hamhuis before injury have been particularly horrendous. All three are in need of an upgrade if this team is to become a well-rounded contender while the Sedin's are still productive. With all three on expiring contracts I want to get your opinion on who we could target to upgrade the D for next season. I see no reason to make a trade for a d man this season. Go with what we have and load up in the draft. If were lucky we'll have one of the top 5-8 picks and be able to land one of Matthews, Puljarvi, Laine, Tkachuk, Nylander, Gauthier or one of the top defensive prospects like Chychrun, Juolevi, Sergaychev,  Fabbro. Draft the best player available; this draft is too important to not land a stud in this seemingly powerful draft year. We should accumulate picks in the draft for Prust, Vrbata, and anyone who would do us a favor and take Higgins, Bartowski or Weber. Hamhuis should stay only if he takes a significant haircut and signs for under 2.5 million for short term. His play has slowly declined and i'm sure this current injury will not help.STOCK UP ON MORE D MEN IN THE LATER ROUNDS OF THE DRAFT.

In the Summer prioritize a UFA from the current pool of defense-man. Overpay a little if we must. Don't worry about Lucic until one or two solid defenseman are signed.

We will have around 16-18 million in cap room

Here is what i'm thinking in regards to free agent priority.(estimated salaries) I'M NOT SAYING THESE GUYS WOULD SIGN HERE; JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH THE CANUCKS WOULD BE WILLING TO SPEND ON THEM.

1. Alex Goligoski 6-7 million

2 .Keith Yandle 6-8 million

3. Dustin Bfugylien if he can fit into the dressing room culture. 6.5-7.5

4. Jason Demers 4-5 million

5. Milan Lucic if he takes a hometown discount; we could stomach term. 5-6 million

6. Brian Campbell on a short term contract 3yr max. 4-5 million

7. Andrew Ladd : also B.C. connection 5.5-6.5 million; no more than 4 year term(that would make it un-likey)

8. Jiri Hudler 5.5-6.5

9. Resign Radim Vrbata 3.5-4.5

10. Kyle Quincey/Brayden Coburn/ Niklas Grossman  around 3-4

What do you people think? What would be your draft/ free agent priorities?

[TheGuardian_]

Your prospect depth and talent opinion is at odds from about the other 2 to 300 statisticians, scouts, scout reporting agencies, the NHL and maybe a few fans. FYI, the prospect rankings for the Nuck Dropped from 8th to 27th this year, so I guess your opinion may be influenced by the sales job. Not that those named are horrible but are you comparing them to players outside of the team, yo know the rest of the league.

Apart from the over valuing of the team's prospects, a good read.

[Fanuck]

Don't want any of your listed UFA's either because of who they are as players or because of how much they'll want in money/term, sorry. 

Still hope JB can acquire the asset we need (younger PMD) in some sort of deadline deal.

[Bert Diesel]

1 minute ago, TheGuardian_ said:

Your prospect depth and talent opinion is at odds from about the other 2 to 300 statisticians, scouts, scout reporting agencies, the NHL and maybe a few fans. FYI, the prospect rankings for the Nuck Dropped from 8th to 27th this year, so I guess your opinion may be influenced by the sales job. Not that those named are horrible but are you comparing them to players outside of the team, yo know the rest of the league.

Apart from the over valuing of the team's prospects, a good read.

But I was referring to the forward depth alone. We are mostly weak because we have nothing in the D pool as I made clear.

 

[Apricot]

All I know is that if Benning doesn't do anything, they'll be a war on CDC

[Bert Diesel]

2 minutes ago, Fanuck said:

Don't want any of your listed UFA's either because of who they are as players or because of how much they'll want in money/term, sorry. 

Still hope JB can acquire the asset we need (younger PMD) in some sort of deadline deal.

Who would you suggest? We would have to give up a lot more to get a young guy. it might serve us better to plug that gap temporarily and develop some young guys on our own. Look how badly Calgary paid for Hamilton.

[Guest]

If we land in the top 5, and are able to get Chychrun, great. If in the next tier, Sergaychev. And yes, stock up a little more on Dmen. The reserve pool that we have is almost embarrassingly small.

[BanTSN]

Just now, wizardB said:

yeah but only for comic relief.

Like a lot of the media coverage, it it white noise, yes.  There are a few main points that are taken note of and some posters are more followed than others.

[appleboy]

Should Benning grab Gormley and waive Weber? Salary is 850,500 and he is only 23 years old. He can,t be any worse can he?

For me it is a D like Sergaychev or a forward like Gauthier . Unless we get into the top 5.

 

[LaBamba]

If we are +\- 5 points of a playoff position we aren't trading away any pending UFA's. We will take the same approach as last deadline. 

If he can acquire a pending RFA that is a fringe NHL player with some upside he may surrender a 2nd or higher to add the player, but that is about as far as he goes IMO. 

He has said on multiple occasions that trading away his prospect depth is completely out of the question.

i don't know why people insist on otherwise. 

If we do fall off a cliff, he might move a few players for some picks, but with players soon to return off the IR I highly doubt that will happen. 

[appleboy]

5 minutes ago, LaBamba said:

If we are +\- 5 points of a playoff position we aren't trading away any pending UFA's. We will take the same approach as last deadline. 

If he can acquire a pending RFA that is a fringe NHL player with some upside he may surrender a 2nd or higher to add the player, but that is about as far as he goes IMO. 

He has said on multiple occasions that trading away his prospect depth is completely out of the question.

i don't know why people insist on otherwise. 

If we do fall off a cliff, he might move a few players for some picks, but with players soon to return off the IR I highly doubt that will happen. 

I will be shocked if they give up a pick when we have players like Gaunce,Shink and Grenier in our system.

[Wilbur]

2 minutes ago, LaBamba said:

If we are +\- 5 points of a playoff position we aren't trading away any pending UFA's. We will take the same approach as last deadline. 

If he can acquire a pending RFA that is a fringe NHL player with some upside he may surrender a 2nd or higher to add the player, but that is about as far as he goes IMO. 

He has said on multiple occasions that trading away his prospect depth is completely out of the question.

i don't know why people insist on otherwise. 

If we do fall off a cliff, he might move a few players for some picks, but with players soon to return off the IR I highly doubt that will happen. 

I'll add to that, Benning has said recently when teams are calling the Canucks regarding trades it's about our young players.  There just isn't the market for the Higgins', Vrbata's, Burrows', and Hamhuis' right now.  Closer to the deadline, perhaps things will open a little bit but don't look for anything franchise altering.  Think what Philly got for Lecavalier and Schenn and you're in the ballpark.

[Alflives]

5 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

I'll add to that, Benning has said recently when teams are calling the Canucks regarding trades it's about our young players.  There just isn't the market for the Higgins', Vrbata's, Burrows', and Hamhuis' right now.  Closer to the deadline, perhaps things will open a little bit but don't look for anything franchise altering.  Think what Philly got for Lecavalier and Schenn and you're in the ballpark.

So nothing for the trade, but they did open roster spots for some prospects.  

[LaBamba]

5 minutes ago, appleboy said:

I will be shocked if they give up a pick when we have players like Gaunce,Shink and Grenier in our system.

I'm not sure I know what you mean here.

are you saying we should trade these players over picks? Or are you implying that we have enough organizational depth?

[Fanuck]

22 minutes ago, Bert Diesel said:

Who would you suggest? We would have to give up a lot more to get a young guy. it might serve us better to plug that gap temporarily and develop some young guys on our own. Look how badly Calgary paid for Hamilton.

There are absolutely guys out there who,  because their teams decide to go all in, or because they are stuck in a stacked system,  or because their GMs are desperate,  who will become available for the right price. 

Theodore,  Pulock,  Matheson,  Bowey, Poulliot,  just to name a few who aren't NHL regulars just yet.

Not saying it wouldn't cost us, but a case could be made for each of those guys' GMs dealing them for various reasons.  

[smithers joe]

when i read the heading, i thought benning had given a interview and said what his plans are...sort of misleading title...your just offering your opinion on what he should do...i liked what tiger williams said once...when asked why the canucks don't take the fans suggeations...tiger said, because the fans don't know what they are talking about...

my thought is while we believe we have sound opinons, management has to weigh many aspects of building a team...all you have to do is write down every suggestion and you'll find that not every fan can agree on everything. benning has a plan and says he is sticking to it...all the fans can do, is to see how close their opinions come to what the team does..

[Odd.]

.

[Odd.]

45 minutes ago, Bert Diesel said:

This club has now has reasonable to above average prospect depth in the forwards with the likes of McCan, Horvat, Baertschi, Gaunce, Shinkaruk, Boeser, Grenier and even Anton Rodin(scoring well in Sweden) all with potential to be NHL'ers. There are also some veteran guys obviously still being productive; Hansen, Sedins, a healthy Sutter, Vrbata and Dorsett being relatively effective in their respective roles.

We don't have a grade A offensive prospect but the glaring need on this team is on defense. Vancouver is weak in the big club, farm, and prospect pool compared to most of the league on the blue-line. Our blue-line has not had an elite puck mover in his prime since Ehrhoff and still lacks a physical presence.

We also don't know what we have in Pedan, Subban, Tryamkin and other prospects like Sautner and Carl Neil. Biega looks like he may stick and Sbisa has started to become more of an effective shutdown guy until his injury. Hutton has been a hugely positive surprise but would be better served being given easier minutes. Having him on an entry level contract for three years is incredibly positive for Vancouver and its fans.

Bartowski, Weber and Hamhuis before injury have been particularly horrendous. All three are in need of an upgrade if this team is to become a well-rounded contender while the Sedin's are still productive. With all three on expiring contracts I want to get your opinion on who we could target to upgrade the D for next season. I see no reason to make a trade for a d man this season. Go with what we have and load up in the draft. If were lucky we'll have one of the top 5-8 picks and be able to land one of Matthews, Puljarvi, Laine, Tkachuk, Nylander, Gauthier or one of the top defensive prospects like Chychrun, Juolevi, Sergaychev,  Fabbro. Draft the best player available; this draft is too important to not land a stud in this seemingly powerful draft year. We should accumulate picks in the draft for Prust, Vrbata, and anyone who would do us a favor and take Higgins, Bartowski or Weber. Hamhuis should stay only if he takes a significant haircut and signs for under 2.5 million for short term. His play has slowly declined and i'm sure this current injury will not help.STOCK UP ON MORE D MEN IN THE LATER ROUNDS OF THE DRAFT.

In the Summer prioritize a UFA from the current pool of defense-man. Overpay a little if we must. Don't worry about Lucic until one or two solid defenseman are signed.

We will have around 16-18 million in cap room

Here is what i'm thinking in regards to free agent priority.(estimated salaries) I'M NOT SAYING THESE GUYS WOULD SIGN HERE; JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW MUCH THE CANUCKS WOULD BE WILLING TO SPEND ON THEM.

1. Alex Goligoski 6-7 million

2 .Keith Yandle 6-8 million

3. Dustin Bfugylien if he can fit into the dressing room culture. 6.5-7.5

4. Jason Demers 4-5 million

5. Milan Lucic if he takes a hometown discount; we could stomach term. 5-6 million

6. Brian Campbell on a short term contract 3yr max. 4-5 million

7. Andrew Ladd : also B.C. connection 5.5-6.5 million; no more than 4 year term(that would make it un-likey)

8. Jiri Hudler 5.5-6.5

9. Resign Radim Vrbata 3.5-4.5

10. Kyle Quincey/Brayden Coburn/ Niklas Grossman  around 3-4

What do you people think? What would be your draft/ free agent priorities?

I love how you don't mention Virtanen loool.

[Bert Diesel]

34 minutes ago, TheGuardian_ said:

Your prospect depth and talent opinion is at odds from about the other 2 to 300 statisticians, scouts, scout reporting agencies, the NHL and maybe a few fans. FYI, the prospect rankings for the Nuck Dropped from 8th to 27th this year, so I guess your opinion may be influenced by the sales job. Not that those named are horrible but are you comparing them to players outside of the team, yo know the rest of the league.

Apart from the over valuing of the team's prospects, a good read.

Also, they dropped mostly because Horvat made the jump. He's only 20. That only diminishes our prospect ranking because the whole concept is sometimes arbitrary. By prospect depth, basically I meant forwards in their first couple pro years, ELC guys.

[Bert Diesel]

1 minute ago, Odd. said:

I love how you don't mention Virtanen loool.

I just noticed that, whoops. I think he's better suited to the small rink and will be successful if he just plays it very simple. Elite skating and hitting. So yes, obviously he adds to our organizational depth here.