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[Signing] Canucks sign F Sam Gagner [3 year x $3.15M AAV]


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I think Gagner is going to have a huge impact on this team, he's far from just a bottom-6 center. This guy showed some pretty nice skill last season and made players around him better. He's in his prime right now. I expect him to start as a center, probably with some rubbish linemates, but eventually as the season goes on and he scores more and more, I expect him to end up playing on Horvat's wing. Those two will complement each other nicely. Gagner is a decent playmaker, Horvat a great two-way center and Baertschi or Boeser will be the sniper. Gagner getting top PP time as well will really boost his stats.

 

50 points last year on a solid team was nice and I doubt he can re-create that on a struggling Vancouver team, but 40 points isn't out of reach for Gagner again. You never know. Come deadline time, he might be able to nab us a very decent prospect. If an ageing Burrows and Hansen got us two future top-6 wingers, I wonder what Gagner could get us. Package him with a 2nd round pick and we might even get a decent defensive prospect.

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9 hours ago, CanadianRugby said:

Term/length isn't terrible as long as there's no NTC.  

 

Though I agree with what Ray Ferraro said on TSN.  

"Vancouver is going to sign 3 vets today but I don't know what they're trying to do, get from 29th to 23rd?  What's the point of that?"  

 

I'm hoping Gagne was signed so that he can be given an opportunity to play big minutes and has another good season, then gets flipped at a trade deadline.  

This is what I was thinking as well. Undoubtedly these move will improve the team to some degree but not to the point where it's going to make a positive difference in the short or long term. Really what's the best the Canucks can do now? Maybe a wildcard and a quick exit next year? What's the worst if things dont completely go haywire? Like Ferraro said, 23rd? 

In my opinion I think these moves were made to keep the Canucks in the playoff race until maybe March rather than December/January so as to keep the fairweather fans interested until then. I think it's counterproductive to the rebuild but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

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This gives us decent depth at center for our rebuild.  Interesting to see how the lines shakedown at the beginning of the season.  Gagner, Sutter, Bo and Hank, with a few others waiting in the wing to fill in.  We should have 4 decent lines, maybe short on offense, but we'll have to see if and who make a jump in production.  I'm genuinely excited.

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19 minutes ago, Riviera82 said:

This is what I was thinking as well. Undoubtedly these move will improve the team to some degree but not to the point where it's going to make a positive difference in the short or long term. Really what's the best the Canucks can do now? Maybe a wildcard and a quick exit next year? What's the worst if things dont completely go haywire? Like Ferraro said, 23rd? 

In my opinion I think these moves were made to keep the Canucks in the playoff race until maybe March rather than December/January so as to keep the fairweather fans interested until then. I think it's counterproductive to the rebuild but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

goaltending is whats gonna keep is in the basement.

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11 hours ago, Rob_Zepp said:

Ray Ferraro seems to be a knowledgable guy and I always think someone who played that long is worth at least listening to but what does he think progression involves?   You don't go from 29 to 1 - you go 29, 23, 17, 14 ...... etc. sort of thing.    Anyway, of all the things he says, this one is the oddest in a while as if your team isn't showing some progression then what is the point?    Even grabbing a generational first round pick may not move you up six spots in the standings all in one  year.....so is the plan always to either be 30th or 1st?    

Yes but how many teams in recent memory have made that slow climb up the standings into being a steady contender? I cant think of any off hand. Teams that were terrible like Chicago, Pittsburgh, LA, and Washington for example made a giant leap virtually overnight. Seems to me that the teams which inch their way up the standings year by year top-out around the middle and in bubble territory.

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1 hour ago, Riviera82 said:

Yes but how many teams in recent memory have made that slow climb up the standings into being a steady contender? I cant think of any off hand. Teams that were terrible like Chicago, Pittsburgh, LA, and Washington for example made a giant leap virtually overnight. Seems to me that the teams which inch their way up the standings year by year top-out around the middle and in bubble territory.

Possibly - but point is you don't go from worst to first in one season.  Not often.   Doesn't need to take 10 years either.

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Just now, Rob_Zepp said:

Possibly - but point is you don't go from worst to first in one season.  Not often.   Doesn't need to take 10 years either.

He has a point though.  Columbus made a huge jump this year, but often we see a young developing team with good talent but struggling suddenly "get it" part-way through the season and maybe even have a decent playoff.  The next year they really come together and take off.  Calgary in 2015 and Florida in 2016 appeared to be on the verge of that but then fell back a bit.

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A consistently 40-50pts player who is entering this prime... signed for $3.15 million/year?  If that's not a bargain, what it?

 

Depending on who he is playing with, it's not unforeseeable he can be close to PPG. 

Baertschi-Horvat-Gagner <--- legit 1st line / high-end 2nd line

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20 hours ago, Warhippy said:

 

Just go huddle in the corner with Terrible.Dee and complain about today.  Try not to have any fun by yourselves

 

The rest of us will enjoy this low and moderate stop gap signing with decent term and cap hit allowing us to trade him easily enough after pumping and or dumping him in the next 2 years

 

And THIS is why we need more plusses every day. 50 plussses and 5 minuses per day please mods!

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19 hours ago, CanadianRugby said:

Term/length isn't terrible as long as there's no NTC.  

 

Though I agree with what Ray Ferraro said on TSN.  

"Vancouver is going to sign 3 vets today but I don't know what they're trying to do, get from 29th to 23rd?  What's the point of that?"  

 

I'm hoping Gagne was signed so that he can be given an opportunity to play big minutes and has another good season, then gets flipped at a trade deadline.  

Funny thing is the Canucks lost the most man games due to injury last year, we were in the playoff hunt oddly enough for most of last year until injuries were too much to bear as well. The reason we were 29th is cause we had NO depth to handle injuries. With all these signings we aren't gonna be seeing the likes of Skille, Megna, Chaput, Biega as much (Hopefully in cases like Chaput and Megna we don't see them anywhere near the top 6 let alone in any capacity). And even if we only move to say 23rd/24th good, it's improvement. I want to see this team improve. Wanna know where the team that finished 24th drafted in the draft this year? 2 spots ahead of us, almost like it's a lottery and tanking isn't as guaranteed to net you a top 3 pick anyway. I seriously think if we weren't decimated by injuries last year we don't finish in the bottom 3. 

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