[Signing] Canucks sign Jack Rathbone

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Jack looks so serious all the time.

[JustABandwagoner]

Thank god for Higgins and Johnson

[the grinder]

7 hours ago, Tre Mac said:

Funny Dhaliwal called this out earlier this week and he also verified Sekeres's rumor, imagine that.

 

 

Anywho great work by Benning to get him signed - he should be a steal and easily has the best name on this roster.  

Funny  Benning has said they were going try and sign Rathibone months ago ,  and were just waiting on Rathibone decision  to go back to Havard or not . Imagine  that  a reporter confirming what the gm has said months ago  , So not really a big news scoop there , Sekeres is still a blowhole and has no credibility  whatsoever

[UKNuck96]

Great news TV at he has signed.

 

can someone explain to me though why it burns this season, giving us only 2 years of the entry level contract? 
 

Also why would we want that as surely the aim is to have players at this level in the team on the elc for all 3 years allowing the team to have high skill low price to offset the cap of the older players. (Who then get moved or retired as the contracts come up) and the cycle repeats 

[Gurn]

7 minutes ago, UKNuck96 said:

Also why would we want that as surely the aim is to have players at this level in the team on the elc for all 3 years allowing the team to have high skill low price to offset the cap of the older players.

By doing the signing now,  Jack will not be eligible for an offer sheet from any other team when he becomes an RFA.

 

[Canuck Surfer]

On 7/15/2020 at 9:03 AM, Darkstar said:

Best comparison for play style is Cale Makar. He likely won't be as good as Makar, but they play a similar game.

Sam Girard is my take. With a better shot!

 

Not quite the dominance of Makar. Hounding the puck up ice as no one can stop him with it on his stick. 

 

But its worth noting the switch went on in Colorado? The instant Matt Duchesne left...

 

AND when Girard arrived! With great nift for getting the puck up ice! They went from last place to play off team almost overnight!

[Herberts Vasiljevs]

32 minutes ago, Canuck Surfer said:

But its worth noting the switch went on in Colorado? The instant Matt Duchesne left...

 

AND when Girard arrived! With great nift for getting the puck up ice! They went from last place to play off team almost overnight!

Yeah I like to think that it's Colorado that more or less started this trend. And to think that Byram is on the way too.....

[Herberts Vasiljevs]

 

[EternalCanuckFan]

Gonna have solid competition for a roster spot next season for D-men.

 

Edler-Myers

Hughes-Tanev (?)

Rathbone/Benn/Stecher/Rafferty

 

Can't see the team not re-signing Tanev unless they swing a deal.

 

 

[theo5789]

13 minutes ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

Gonna have solid competition for a roster spot next season for D-men.

 

Edler-Myers

Hughes-Tanev (?)

Rathbone/Benn/Stecher/Rafferty

 

Can't see the team not re-signing Tanev unless they swing a deal.

 

 

Agree with Tanev. If Stecher signs, he pretty much locks in that bottom RD spot. Although I think it's more likely we let Stecher test UFA with Rafferty as insurance and if Stecher can get a deal, then he would sign here for cheaper (although he could bypass that and just sign a cheaper deal if he wants to stay here).

 

On LD, Benn and Rathbone for sure and also Brisebois IMO who will need waivers next year. Brisebois and Rafferty had shown good chemistry in the AHL, but not sure we would have them both win out the bottom pairing role. So if Rafferty does make the team, he's probably partnered with Benn. If Stecher stays, then Rathbone and Brisebois have a better shot of making it. Rathbone and Stecher would be a smaller duo though and not sure if that would be favourable.

[billabong]

I think we’ll have the Toronto model for a few years when you have to rely on ELC’s to play sooner rather than later 

 

edler-rafferty

hughes-Myers

rathbone-benn

xxxxx-xxxxx

rafferty is insulated by edler, but during the season may need to shake it up to line match against top players 

need a guy to be the defensive presence on pairing with hughes (Myers ain’t that guy). Someone around 2.5m-3.5m like a demelo or even bring back schenn on a cheap 1 year deal 

[aGENT]

2 hours ago, theo5789 said:

 Rathbone and Stecher would be a smaller duo though and not sure if that would be favourable.

Should that situation play out, I'd imagine we'll pair Edler with Stecher and Rathbone with Myers.

[theo5789]

21 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Should that situation play out, I'd imagine we'll pair Edler with Stecher and Rathbone with Myers.

Possibly, but Edler and Myers seemed to have formed some chemistry and are the big time regular minute players together. If Rathbone lives up to the hype, then I suppose the minutes could be balanced out.

 

Alternatively Tanev (assuming he's back) could help shelter the next rookie in Rathbone/Juolevi, Myers could potentially play with Hughes (although it didn't seem to work as well so far) leaving Edler with Stecher/Rafferty.

 

I could see a Brisebois and Stecher pairing that could look decent as well as a true 3rd pairing.

 

Many options, hopefully something works. Starting to look like a bit of a logjam on LD though.

 

 

[Gaudette Celly]

On 7/14/2020 at 4:17 PM, Virtanen#18 said:

But then he's a smallish D-man... is it even possible we'll keep 3 smallish D-men on roster: Rathbone, Stecher and Hughes? Could this be the last season for Stecher? 

5'11 190 at age 20, and can play physical.  Very good open-ice hitter.

 

On 7/14/2020 at 5:07 PM, The_Rocket said:

floor is probably Del Zotto

Cold, stone cold.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

On 7/14/2020 at 5:07 PM, The_Rocket said:

floor is probably Del Zotto

Yikes! Only time I’d wanna hear that is in reference to these guys:

http://www.delzottobuilders.com

 

Although if Rathbone’s floor is a 700 game NHL player with a 37 point rookie season, I suppose I’ll take it.  

[EternalCanuckFan]

On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 12:06 PM, theo5789 said:

Agree with Tanev. If Stecher signs, he pretty much locks in that bottom RD spot. Although I think it's more likely we let Stecher test UFA with Rafferty as insurance and if Stecher can get a deal, then he would sign here for cheaper (although he could bypass that and just sign a cheaper deal if he wants to stay here).

 

On LD, Benn and Rathbone for sure and also Brisebois IMO who will need waivers next year. Brisebois and Rafferty had shown good chemistry in the AHL, but not sure we would have them both win out the bottom pairing role. So if Rafferty does make the team, he's probably partnered with Benn. If Stecher stays, then Rathbone and Brisebois have a better shot of making it. Rathbone and Stecher would be a smaller duo though and not sure if that would be favourable.

Can't see Baumgartner and Green pairing Rathbone and Stecher together.  Size aside, not sure if their styles of play compliment one another.  It's going to be really interesting to see how management moves forward with Stecher.  I agree that there is a good chance they do the same thing with Stecher as they did with Hutton.  He's just too expensive to qualify at his current base.

 

I totally neglected to include Juolevi.  While that's my bad, it's also sadly because he doesn't really register right now.  I'm not writing Juolevi off in any way.  A lot has been written about how Juolevi can still be a solid D.  He has taken a lot of time to recover from injury and be fit for play, so I really hope he can solidify a spot on the roster moving forward.

 

Edler-Myers

Hughes-Tanev (?)

Juolevi/Rathbone/Benn/Stecher/Rafferty

 

As much as Brisebois has been a solid contributor with the Comets and hasn't looked terribly out of place at the NHL level, it will be quite something if the Canucks include him as ae regular next year. Given Brisebois' age and experience, I could see him kept as a 7 or 8 in replacement of Fantenberg.  There's not much development left for Brisebois.  He's a decent depth D but not much more.  If the Canucks don't want to lose him to waivers (assuming there's a strong risk of that), then keeping him as a 7th or 8th D makes sense.  Assuming Stecher is re-signed, then that would have to push down two of Juolevi, Rathbone and Rafferty.  I think the Canucks will want to see what they have in Juolevi (might even get a chance if the playoffs do in fact go ahead) so Rathbone and Rafferty seem like the odd ones out unless the Canucks are prepared to waive Brisebois and send him to the Comets (which is reasonably possible).

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

1 hour ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

Can't see Baumgartner and Green pairing Rathbone and Stecher together.  Size aside, not sure if their styles of play compliment one another. 

I agree it’s unlikely we see a Rathbone-Stecher pairing, but stylistically speaking, I actually suspect they’d be decent together, if given the chance.

 

While they played similar roles in college, Stecher has changed his game a lot since going pro. I’d say Stech is getting closer to a “transitional defensive defenceman” these days, or a matchup, two-way D, than he is an offensive D. 

(Even the Canucks’ prototypical “transitional defensive defenceman,” Chris Tanev, wasn’t always a “that guy.” As a rookie at RIT, Tanev was something like the 4th leading scorer on the entire team.)

 

I actually think Stecher could play something akin to the Tanev role to Rathbone’s Hughes.
 

In fact, in the limited action Hughes-Stecher have seen as a pairing, they’ve actually put up some really good results, on both sides of the puck.

 

It’s possible Rathbone-Stecher could do the same.

 

And while they’re both “undersized,” they also have plenty of heart, and are both quite strong pound-for-pound. No doubt they’d have some struggles at certain times against some of the bigger forwards, but there are trade offs with most Dmen. I think potentially they could make up for some of their in-zone defensive issues, by being really effective in transition and on offence. And they could be effective defensively too, just maybe not when it comes to the specific issue of physically controlling/moving the bigger opposition players (but honestly, most of the bigger Dmen who excel at this one aspect tend to have many other warts to their game, on both sides of the puck).

 

But you’re definitely correct that Rathbone-Stecher is a highly unlikely pairing for the coaches to actually choose to try. 
 

That doesn’t necessarily mean it wouldn’t work, though.

Edited July 17, 2020 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

[theo5789]

4 hours ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

Can't see Baumgartner and Green pairing Rathbone and Stecher together.  Size aside, not sure if their styles of play compliment one another.  It's going to be really interesting to see how management moves forward with Stecher.  I agree that there is a good chance they do the same thing with Stecher as they did with Hutton.  He's just too expensive to qualify at his current base.

 

I totally neglected to include Juolevi.  While that's my bad, it's also sadly because he doesn't really register right now.  I'm not writing Juolevi off in any way.  A lot has been written about how Juolevi can still be a solid D.  He has taken a lot of time to recover from injury and be fit for play, so I really hope he can solidify a spot on the roster moving forward.

 

Edler-Myers

Hughes-Tanev (?)

Juolevi/Rathbone/Benn/Stecher/Rafferty

 

As much as Brisebois has been a solid contributor with the Comets and hasn't looked terribly out of place at the NHL level, it will be quite something if the Canucks include him as ae regular next year. Given Brisebois' age and experience, I could see him kept as a 7 or 8 in replacement of Fantenberg.  There's not much development left for Brisebois.  He's a decent depth D but not much more.  If the Canucks don't want to lose him to waivers (assuming there's a strong risk of that), then keeping him as a 7th or 8th D makes sense.  Assuming Stecher is re-signed, then that would have to push down two of Juolevi, Rathbone and Rafferty.  I think the Canucks will want to see what they have in Juolevi (might even get a chance if the playoffs do in fact go ahead) so Rathbone and Rafferty seem like the odd ones out unless the Canucks are prepared to waive Brisebois and send him to the Comets (which is reasonably possible).

Yeah I haven't written off Juolevi next year, but I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if he gets a spot out of camp. With his waiver eligibility along with needing more ice time, I suspect that he at least starts in Utica.

 

There is a lot of competition on LD.

[hammertime]

On 7/15/2020 at 4:11 PM, UKNuck96 said:

Great news TV at he has signed.

 

can someone explain to me though why it burns this season, giving us only 2 years of the entry level contract? 
 

Also why would we want that as surely the aim is to have players at this level in the team on the elc for all 3 years allowing the team to have high skill low price to offset the cap of the older players. (Who then get moved or retired as the contracts come up) and the cycle repeats 

his next contract will be cheeper than if he had 3 years.