[proposal] BPA on a one year deal or one year remaining

[Ted Lasso]

Canucks management are determined to ice the most competitive team possible; with 47 contracts signed, and ~$3M cap space remaining, I have little doubt that we'll have one player added by October. 

 

As CDC has discussed potential trade and FA options for 2LW, two themes are prevalent:

 

1. a young impact young player will either cost us pieces we can't afford to lose (e.g. Landeskog) or be risky (e.g. Kane)
2. players with contracts extending into 2017-18 (especially those with NMC like Hartnell) become liabilities in the expansion draft, and take away cap space from expiring RFAs, including Horvat, Hutton and Gudbranson.  We also need to save salary for our offer sheet to Ryan Johanssen . 

 

Benning claims he has made the rounds of trade talks and is revisiting the FA market for that elusive 2LW.   He may also have scaled back his target player to a 15-20 g scorer (no mention of size or grit in this last interview).

 

If management's goal with this acquisition is to insulate Baertschi , and ice the most competitive team possible this year, we may just acquire the BPA that will take a 1 year deal (or has one year remaining on their contract).  Considering a player on a 1 year deal will not likely be a part of the team's future, we don't have to fixate on long term fit (i.e. adding youth, size to our top 6, or complimenting Sutter's lack of play-making, etc.).  Those attributes remain ideal, but become assets vs. requirements when seeking a gun-for-hire.

 

If you can agree to this premise (which may explain why JB has stopped mentioning size and grit in his search), the two routes to acquiring this player remain FA or trade.

 

If by FA...

 

Why haven't Hudler and Pirri signed yet? Most teams are also constrained by the expansion draft protection, and the best remaining FA's are probably holding out for the longer contracts than teams are willing to offer. If they are forced to settle for 1 year contracts vs. PTO/Europe, they will target maximum salary and playing time to earn their next NHL contract. The city and team-competitiveness would matter less, since it's only for 1 year.  The Canucks can offer $3M+ without making another move, and likely the least competition for top 6 minutes, of any teams willing to spend their remaining cap. The obvious benefit to this option is that we do not give up anything except cap space. The downside is we add more competition which could push out fringe NHL players like Gaunce and Virtanen.

 

Here are the best remaining UFA wingers who scored at a 15-20g pace last year (omitting Vrbata on purpose):

 

• Jiri Hudler, 32, LW/RW, $4M - 72GP - 16g - 30a - 46pts
• Matt Cullen, 39, C/LW, $800k - 82GP - 16g - 16a - 32pts
• Brandon Pirri, 25, C/LW/RW, $975k - 61gp - 14g - 15a - 29pts
• Tomas Fleischman, 32, LW, $750k - 76gp - 14g - 11a - 25pts

 

I doubt our $3M will be enough to land Hudler for one year, and I'd rather use Burrows on 2LW than bring in Cullen or Fleischman. 

 

If I read this afternoon that we signed Pirri to a 1 year, $2.5M deal, I would be ecstatic. He has similar production to Baertschi who is making $1.85M on a 2 year deal. Account for half the term, and UFA markup, $2.5-$2.75 should be more than enough to get it done. 

 

If by trade...

 

For a one year addition, it doesn't make sense to trade picks or key players, which informs a hockey trade for one or more non-core players (e.g. Sbisa, Granlund).  The benefit to this route, is that we do not add additional competition to our roster (one player in, one player out), plus we may be sending a somewhat redundant player to a better situation / team that needs them more. If we're going to maximize the value of Sbisa or Granlund for a legit 2LW, we are likely going to be trading their youth for a player that is past their prime or declining. 

 

Potential trade targets would be veteran wingers on expiring contracts, without a NMC/NTC*.  Given Loui Eriksson's versatility to play LW, I'm including RWs. They should also have been recently deployed on the 3rd line (or better) of a deeper offensive team (read: really any other NHL team), in order to make an impact on our 2nd line. 

 

Here's who tops that list, filtered by current salary

 

• T.J. Oshie, WSH, 29, RW, $4.5
• Drew Stafford, WPG, 30, RW/LW, $4.35M
• Ales Hemsky, DAL, 32, RW, $4M
• Justin Williams, WSH, 34, RW, $3.25M
• Tommy Wingels, SJS, 28, RW/LW $2.6M
• Teddy Purcell, LAK, 30, RW/LW $1.6M
• P.A. Parenteau, NYI, 33, RW, $1.25M

 

*If they would waive their NTC/NMC to come here, a few possibilities could be Iginla, Kunitz or Berglund.    

 

Oshie is unrealistic, but would you give up a roster player for 1 year of anyone else in this group?  If so, would that be better than using our remaining cap space on Pirri?

 

As mentioned in another thread, Colorado is looking to shake things up, and needs defense.  Love the idea of Iginla for Sbisa, but that's mostly my Team Canada nostalgia and desire to troll Calgary talking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alflives]

I appreciate the thought you put into this post. I don't really have any comments about the hockey moves you proposed, other than the one you left out: Tanev for Landeskog. 

[Ted Lasso]

8 minutes ago, Alflives said:

I appreciate the thought you put into this post. I don't really have any comments about the hockey moves you proposed, other than the one you left out: Tanev for Landeskog. 

Haha... I love the idea of Landeskog, but think it's a longshot that would cost more than you suggest. 2 questions for my favourite alien:

 

1. What's the most you'd pay for Landeskog?

 

2. If that trade is not available, which of the players above would you want for 1 year?

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, Kenny Powers said:

Haha... I love the idea of Landeskog, but think it's a longshot that would cost more than you suggest. 2 questions for my favourite alien:

 

1. What's the most you'd pay for Landeskog?

 

2. If that trade is not available, which of the players above would you want for 1 year?

Tanev +Torts second.

 

i wouldn't want any of those players.  I would move Tanev to get a top line guy.  

[Ted Lasso]

Interesting, so you're penciling in Tryamkin/Sbisa in the top 4?

 

[Ted Lasso]

4 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Tanev +Torts second.

 

i wouldn't want any of those players.  I would move Tanev to get a top line guy.  

Forgot to quote you - see above

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, Kenny Powers said:

Interesting, so you're penciling in Tryamkin/Sbisa in the top 4?

 

With the inevitability of injuries, especially to our D, Sbisa will need to play top four minutes anyway, no? 

[mll]

Brandon Pirri is likely not going to command more than 1M - the Ducks are missing forwards and could have qualified him at ~1M and decided to pass.  Word from Fialkov (who covers the Panthers) is that he is a defensive liability so it's even doubtful that WD would put him in the lineup.  Gallant says he's a goal scorer and that's it.  He's not a defensive guy and not a banger so when he's not hot he sits. 

 

Rangers Islanders just signed Parenteau.  Oshie is critical to the Caps and they'll likely try to bring him back.

Cullen is holding out because he wants to sign with the Wild but they are looking for another goal scorer so they don't want to tie themselves to him before they know if they have the cap space.  

 

I think they'll look at Hudler because of familiarity re Weisbrod/Calgary.  He'll probably go for the equivalent of Vanek - about 2.5M or even less on a one-year deal.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ted Lasso]

2 minutes ago, Alflives said:

With the inevitability of injuries, especially to our D, Sbisa will need to play top four minutes anyway, no? 

Yes. Fair point. 

 

Just now, mll said:

Brandon Pirri is likely not going to command more than 1M - the Ducks are missing forwards and could have qualified him at ~1M and decided to pass.  Word from Fialkov (who covers the Panthers) is that he is a defensive liability so it's even doubtful that WD would put him in the lineup.  Gallant says he's a goal scorer and that's it.  He's not a defensive guy and not a banger so when he's not hot he sits. 

 

Rangers just signed Parenteau.  Oshie is critical to the Caps and they'll likely try to bring him back.

Cullen is holding out because he wants to sign with the Wild but they are looking for another goal scorer so they don't want to tie themselves to him before they know if they have the cap space.  

 

I think they'll look at Hudler because of familiarity re Weisbrod/Calgary.  He'll probably go for the equivalent of Vanek - about 2.5M or even less on a one-year deal.

 

 

 

 

 

Great response, thank you. I'd be happy with Hudler.

[elvis15]

18 hours ago, Alflives said:

Tanev for Landeskog. 

With Barrie re-signing with Colorado, they now have two RHD signed ahead of Tanev in their top 4. They aren't that interested in another RHD to want to give up their captain. I think we can put that to bed as a proposal.