[Discussion] Off Season Moves Post-Playoffs

[Chris12345]

Trade: Tanner Pearson for a 2nd

Walk: Tyler Toffoli, Marky

 

Sign: Brandon Dillion, Chris Tanev, Buddy Robinson, Cam Talbot

 

Interested:

Vince Dunn

Edited September 10, 2020 by Chris12345

[Rush17]

Domi would be a nice fit alongside Bo. They use to play together in Jr too.  Having that guy that can throw down and fit well in our systems would be great. We could bump Pearson down to the 3rd line with Gaudette and Jake if he's still around.

 

MIller - Petey - Boeser

Domi - Horvat - Tofoffi

Pearson - Gaudette - Virt

Roussel Beagle Motte

 

I think Lind gets a long look at camp too. 

[Patel Bure]

On 9/4/2020 at 10:20 PM, Smashian Kassian said:

Am I the only one that thinks Gaudette could be a trade chip?

 

I love him as a player. But he's an offensive minded guy anchoring the 3rd line, I just don't know if that's the fit we need to win a cup considering our top 6C's. I think a guy like Adam Lowry would be a perfect fit. 

I would be open to moving Gaudette but only if we were able to get a cheap two way center in return who’d be here for the long term.   I don’t see Sutter being here after next season, nor Beagle being here much longer after that, and so the Canucks will need a good 3rd center pivot.  Gaudette is still developing and seems to be on his way.   It might be beehove the Canucks to keep him.    
 

 

[qwijibo]

On 9/5/2020 at 10:24 AM, Rush17 said:

Domi would be a nice fit alongside Bo. They use to play together in Jr too.  Having that guy that can throw down and fit well in our systems would be great. We could bump Pearson down to the 3rd line with Gaudette and Jake if he's still around.

 

MIller - Petey - Boeser

Domi - Horvat - Tofoffi

Pearson - Gaudette - Virt

Roussel Beagle Motte

 

I think Lind gets a long look at camp too. 

Thats alll well and good. But Montreal is going to want a top 6 scoring winger of equal value in return 

Edited September 7, 2020 by qwijibo

[CanuckFan1123]

Just wanted to toss a random idea out there for a possible trade.
 

To Van: 

 

Phillipe Myers RFA rights

mid round draft pick

 

To Phi: 

 

Jake Virtanen RFA rights

Mid-late round pick

 

Then try to trade Stecher’s RFA rights and move Benn for a late round pick. Re-sign Fantenberg. 
 

I really like Virtanen but I think he needs a fresh start. On the opposite end, despite some possible upcoming talent on defense such as Rafferty, Woo, and Rathbone among others, I’d like to see us add a reliable young dman with potential and size, especially since Woo and Rathbone are at least a year away still. I watched a lot of the Flyers in the playoffs and was overall very impressed with Phillipe Myers. He plays a good physical game and is good in his own end, and a pretty solid skater for his size and has a nice shot. Only thing he really needs to work on is breakout passes. I also expect and want Juolevi to make the squad next season and I think Myers would be an ideal type of linemate to help Juolevi develop. Philly has good depth on defense and will be tight up against the cap, but based on how awful their offense was in the playoffs, they need to add someone with offensive potential. Jake gets a chance to start fresh and give them potential scoring depth. We add some needed size and strength on defense. This would also save us money to try to help keep Tanev, Toffoli, Marky etc. Benn (2 mil) Stecher (3-3.5 mil?) Jake (1.5-2 mil?) vs Myers (1-1.5 mil?) and Juolevi. Thoughts? 
 

Hughes - Tanev

Edler - T. Myers 

Juolevi - P. Myers 

Fantenberg

[Patel Bure]

On 9/5/2020 at 7:51 AM, Chris12345 said:

Trade: Tanner Pearson for a 2nd

Walk: Tyler Toffoli, Marky

 

Sign: Brandon Dillion, Chris Tanev, Buddy Robinson, Cam Talbot

I’ve also been contemplating the idea of moving Pearson for a 2nd rounder while moving Virtanen to the left side.

 

Miller-Pettersson-Boeser

Virtanen-Horvat-Toffoli 

 

I wouldn’t trade Pearson and walk from Toffoli however as that would make our top 6 too weak.    You would have to wait until April for Podkolzin to come.

[mll]

3 hours ago, CanuckFan1123 said:

Just wanted to toss a random idea out there for a possible trade.
 

To Van: 

 

Phillipe Myers RFA rights

mid round draft pick

 

To Phi: 

 

Jake Virtanen RFA rights

Mid-late round pick

 

Then try to trade Stecher’s RFA rights and move Benn for a late round pick. Re-sign Fantenberg. 
 

I really like Virtanen but I think he needs a fresh start. On the opposite end, despite some possible upcoming talent on defense such as Rafferty, Woo, and Rathbone among others, I’d like to see us add a reliable young dman with potential and size, especially since Woo and Rathbone are at least a year away still. I watched a lot of the Flyers in the playoffs and was overall very impressed with Phillipe Myers. He plays a good physical game and is good in his own end, and a pretty solid skater for his size and has a nice shot. Only thing he really needs to work on is breakout passes. I also expect and want Juolevi to make the squad next season and I think Myers would be an ideal type of linemate to help Juolevi develop. Philly has good depth on defense and will be tight up against the cap, but based on how awful their offense was in the playoffs, they need to add someone with offensive potential. Jake gets a chance to start fresh and give them potential scoring depth. We add some needed size and strength on defense. This would also save us money to try to help keep Tanev, Toffoli, Marky etc. Benn (2 mil) Stecher (3-3.5 mil?) Jake (1.5-2 mil?) vs Myers (1-1.5 mil?) and Juolevi. Thoughts? 
 

Hughes - Tanev

Edler - T. Myers 

Juolevi - P. Myers 

Fantenberg

 

Myers has more value than Virtanen yet Philadelphia is the one giving up more.  Don't see why Philadelphia would break their top-4 D for an inconsistent 3rd liner who didn't show much these playoffs.  Niskanen and Braun were added to buy time to develop their Ds but they aren't part of their long term future while Myers is.  

[CanuckFan1123]

31 minutes ago, mll said:

 

Myers has more value than Virtanen yet Philadelphia is the one giving up more.  Don't see why Philadelphia would break their top-4 D for an inconsistent 3rd liner who didn't show much these playoffs.  Niskanen and Braun were added to buy time to develop their Ds but they aren't part of their long term future while Myers is.  

I don’t particularly think Myers has truly “established” himself to this point necessarily. I also think Virtanen has higher value than we give him credit for. Virtanen as a 3rd line player averaging 13 minutes a game in a shortened season put up 18 goals. He really blossomed during the regular season and I think we forget that because it was so many months ago and he was fairly average in the playoffs. I still think he’s starting to figure it out despite an average postseason. To me I think it would fill needs for both teams. The flyers truly need more scoring depth as we saw and Virtanen is cheap and can help right away. They can’t afford to pay an 18 goal 3rd line player in free agency. Myers in my opinion could be a big asset for us going forward and help with some of our small skilled dmen. A lot of people keep floating Erik Cernak around but I think he will cost more than Myers because he’s a bit more proven. Meanwhile philly has Sanheim, Provorov, Gostisbehere, Hagg, and still has some quality young dmen coming up in the near future, along with some good veterans. I think it’s in their best interest to move a dman for offensive depth but it won’t happen with one of the veteran players. Maybe I was a bit off on the trade value. I think Virtanen and Myers have fairly even trade value right now but because Virtanen has such a good regular season and is a bit more established I felt his value was a tad higher. Regardless I would love for us to pursue this or something similar for an affordable big young dman. 

[poet]

Here’s my team for next year. 
 

Virtanen gets packaged with Sutter (not enough between the ears...sorry kid).

 

Stetcher walks. I like his game and heart, but he will want more.

 

The tough decision is letting Markstrom walk, especially since he might end up in Edmonton or Calgary. Maybe trade his rights to an eastern team?

 

After signing so many bad contracts Benning has some very hard decisions ahead, and we are going to lose players that we might like to keep. For instance, after next year there is no room for Edler...

[mll]

6 hours ago, CanuckFan1123 said:

I don’t particularly think Myers has truly “established” himself to this point necessarily. I also think Virtanen has higher value than we give him credit for. Virtanen as a 3rd line player averaging 13 minutes a game in a shortened season put up 18 goals. He really blossomed during the regular season and I think we forget that because it was so many months ago and he was fairly average in the playoffs. I still think he’s starting to figure it out despite an average postseason. To me I think it would fill needs for both teams. The flyers truly need more scoring depth as we saw and Virtanen is cheap and can help right away. They can’t afford to pay an 18 goal 3rd line player in free agency. Myers in my opinion could be a big asset for us going forward and help with some of our small skilled dmen. A lot of people keep floating Erik Cernak around but I think he will cost more than Myers because he’s a bit more proven. Meanwhile philly has Sanheim, Provorov, Gostisbehere, Hagg, and still has some quality young dmen coming up in the near future, along with some good veterans. I think it’s in their best interest to move a dman for offensive depth but it won’t happen with one of the veteran players. Maybe I was a bit off on the trade value. I think Virtanen and Myers have fairly even trade value right now but because Virtanen has such a good regular season and is a bit more established I felt his value was a tad higher. Regardless I would love for us to pursue this or something similar for an affordable big young dman. 

 

Gostisbehere has been available for a while - it's just not working anymore.  Hagg is a D6/D7 and was a scratch for part of these playoffs as was Gostisbehere.  

 

Myers is their only young right shot D.  Niskanen is a right shot but has only 1 year left and Braun is UFA.  Myers was their 4th most used D in the playoffs ahead of a veteran like Braun who is also a RD.   Really don't see Philadelphia interested in giving up Myers for Virtanen.  

 

Philadelphia just signed Lindblom to a 3M contract - he missed most of the season battling cancer but has been able to return - he's a top-9 winger.  Farabee is also making a case for himself for a top-9 winger spot.  They also hope Nolan Patrick will be able to return next season.  

 

Will be interesting to see if Virtanen has any trade value.  Friedman believes that several teams are going to pass on qualifying some of their RFAs as they don't want to risk arbitration.  Drance thinks Virtanen has a case to get 3-3.5M in arbitration.  

 

Tampa only has 3 Ds under contract for next season.  They can't really afford to let Cernak go.  A lineup is 6Ds and Cooper likes to use 7.   Seems illogic to think they'd want Fs for Cernak when they have plenty of Fs and lack Ds and also prefer running 11F + 7Ds.

 

[Father Ryan]

Top 6 - pretty much settled now. I would explore resigning Toffoli, but it has to be cost effective. I do think his mostly no-show in the playoffs could help lower the $$ for him. We have Hoglander and Podkolzin coming up, and I wouldn't sleep on Ethan Keppen as a possible middle 6 player.

Bottom 6 - many changes needed. Gaudette's development was a little stunted this year, so his playoff no-show could be somewhat excused. However, now that he knows what's expected, that should change. Give him a 2 yr show-me contract. Sutter - move to wing, trade at the deadline, he's redundant with...Beagle, who brings better face off and size (but dang near nothing else). Roussel - kinda like a junkyard dog, plenty of yap and a little bite, but when confronted with a true brute, is worthless (Damn i miss Dorsett), need to explore getting rid of him. Motte - KEEP! Enough said. McEwen - wish they would have given him some time. He needs this coming year to either show his stuff or get someone else. Personally I like what he brings. Which brings us to Virt. I've seen enough. He's 25, he had his chance, he showed one time what he can really do, and then promptly disappeared again. He goes.

Defense - Resign Tanev. Though he finally had a healthy year, and a decent playoff, I doubt he is in line for much of a raise, not with a flat cap. Edler - I would consider resigning him, but much reduced, more in line with the role he will be playing. Stech - I'm leaning more to not resigning him, but that's about 60/40 right now. If an upgrade is available, then let him walk...but only if its an upgrade. Benn - trade bait, we can use the 2M. Fantenburg - resign him! He is one of the few players that gave a good, honest effort throughout, and I rarely heard his name (meaning very few mistakes!). Myers played ok, usually better than not, and yes he's overpriced but that was what the market was for a top 4 RHD when we signed him.

Goal - Demko's performance gives us hope that Markie can be considered expendable. 

 

So, trades. There is a young RHD that both could be available AND not cost a ransom. Bode Wilde. You have to give good to get good. So...Rathbone and Virt (at least his RFA rights) to the Isles for Wilde. Rathbone is a nice trade piece. He is LHD, the one place we are deep enough to afford the move, and also young enough to have developmental pieces remaining. It likley would take more than that, but hopefully not a lot more.

Let 'em walk - Markstrom. Unless we can sign him in the 5M range (which we won't) then he's cost prohibitive towards maintaining our core in future years. Demko's performance really helped. Also, him not being here helps to simplify who we protect next year from Seattle. 

Toffoli - if Virt goes, he stays, provided the cost is intelligent. If Virt stays, he goes.

Stech - sorry, mighty mouse, but you're replaceable.

 

At trade deadline - Sutter, bye bye. Benn, also (unless he's already gone). Pearson, maybe moveable then. I'd say Edler, if for some reason we aren't in a playoff position, but that option has been explored repeatedly, so never mind.

 

[mll]

4 minutes ago, Father Ryan said:

Top 6 - pretty much settled now. I would explore resigning Toffoli, but it has to be cost effective. I do think his mostly no-show in the playoffs could help lower the $$ for him. We have Hoglander and Podkolzin coming up, and I wouldn't sleep on Ethan Keppen as a possible middle 6 player.

Bottom 6 - many changes needed. Gaudette's development was a little stunted this year, so his playoff no-show could be somewhat excused. However, now that he knows what's expected, that should change. Give him a 2 yr show-me contract. Sutter - move to wing, trade at the deadline, he's redundant with...Beagle, who brings better face off and size (but dang near nothing else). Roussel - kinda like a junkyard dog, plenty of yap and a little bite, but when confronted with a true brute, is worthless (Damn i miss Dorsett), need to explore getting rid of him. Motte - KEEP! Enough said. McEwen - wish they would have given him some time. He needs this coming year to either show his stuff or get someone else. Personally I like what he brings. Which brings us to Virt. I've seen enough. He's 25, he had his chance, he showed one time what he can really do, and then promptly disappeared again. He goes.

Defense - Resign Tanev. Though he finally had a healthy year, and a decent playoff, I doubt he is in line for much of a raise, not with a flat cap. Edler - I would consider resigning him, but much reduced, more in line with the role he will be playing. Stech - I'm leaning more to not resigning him, but that's about 60/40 right now. If an upgrade is available, then let him walk...but only if its an upgrade. Benn - trade bait, we can use the 2M. Fantenburg - resign him! He is one of the few players that gave a good, honest effort throughout, and I rarely heard his name (meaning very few mistakes!). Myers played ok, usually better than not, and yes he's overpriced but that was what the market was for a top 4 RHD when we signed him.

Goal - Demko's performance gives us hope that Markie can be considered expendable. 

 

So, trades. There is a young RHD that both could be available AND not cost a ransom. Bode Wilde. You have to give good to get good. So...Rathbone and Virt (at least his RFA rights) to the Isles for Wilde. Rathbone is a nice trade piece. He is LHD, the one place we are deep enough to afford the move, and also young enough to have developmental pieces remaining. It likley would take more than that, but hopefully not a lot more.

Let 'em walk - Markstrom. Unless we can sign him in the 5M range (which we won't) then he's cost prohibitive towards maintaining our core in future years. Demko's performance really helped. Also, him not being here helps to simplify who we protect next year from Seattle. 

Toffoli - if Virt goes, he stays, provided the cost is intelligent. If Virt stays, he goes.

Stech - sorry, mighty mouse, but you're replaceable.

 

At trade deadline - Sutter, bye bye. Benn, also (unless he's already gone). Pearson, maybe moveable then. I'd say Edler, if for some reason we aren't in a playoff position, but that option has been explored repeatedly, so never mind.

 

 

NYI has so little cap space.  They only have 9M to extend Barzal, Pulock and Toews (after demoting Ladd).   Boychuk has reached healthy scratch territory and there's no easy way to move him or buy him out.  They need players on ELCs like Bode to counter him sitting in the pressbox and taking valuable cap space.  

Not sure there will be many suitors for Virtanen.  Drance believes he has a case to get 3-3.5M in arbitration.  Teams close to the cap are unlikely to risk bringing in an arbitration case and be forced to clear cap space late in the off-season.

[86Viking]

PP coach needs to be replaced, we should have won game 7 with a 5 minute PP, unfortunately epic fail by the team but its on the PP coach.

 

Trade: Sutter- overpaid might have to retain some to get a better pick.

Pearson: needs to go, was making numerous bad plays and not that noticeable vs Vegas.

Virtanen- don't see him putting it together or being given the top 6 minutes under coach Green, see what offer we get for him?

Roussel: Like the player but he is on the downside of his career, move him if you can to free the 3m

#21- that 6m could be so nice  to have...but gonna cost a high end prospect plus to move that dumpster fire contract...so unlikely.

Stecher- love his heart, but he is a bottom pair guy or fringe #4, can we get him to sign for the same or less or is his QO high like Hutton?

 

Keep:

 

Tanev if he doesn't want a big raise or long term, 3-4yr 4-4.5m per, can't give him 5m plus to be a defensive D with injury concerns

Toffoli- would like to keep but depends on cost, 4yr 5m per?

 

Markstrom- I am for keeping Demko, so unless he wants a 1-2 year deal I would move on from him. Over 30 yr old, wants a big $ deal he might deserve it but we also have to lock up Hughes and EP soon. Cap is staying flat so I wouldn't spend a ton on Marky, rather improve our D more.

 

Try to recover some picks by moving out some players, need to keep drafting as many picks as possible over the next 2 drafts cause after that we will be trading picks away for rentals.

 

I am also on the hold off on giving Green a long contract extension, we had a whirlwind summer of hockey, we were lucky to be part of the extended 24 team format and we beat a poor Minnesota team and then a flat unprepared or out of shape Blues team. I am not sold on Green being an elite coach, I do believe we need to bring in at least 1 new assistant coach with some quality NHL coaching experience. Would Gallant take an Associate Coach position?

[Father Ryan]

17 minutes ago, mll said:

 

NYI has so little cap space.  They only have 9M to extend Barzal, Pulock and Toews (after demoting Ladd).   Boychuk has reached healthy scratch territory and there's no easy way to move him or buy him out.  They need players on ELCs like Bode to counter him sitting in the pressbox and taking valuable cap space.  

Not sure there will be many suitors for Virtanen.  Drance believes he has a case to get 3-3.5M in arbitration.  Teams close to the cap are unlikely to risk bringing in an arbitration case and be forced to clear cap space late in the off-season.

Rathbone, or Joulevi, are a wash on the ELC. And though Virt showed fairly good in the regular season, his playoff performance took some of the luster off of that. I seriously doubt he will get that figure, especially with a flat cap. I truly believe he will get one more "show me" contract. He has reached the place in his career where he either shows enough to stick around, or he ends up in the KHL as a "coulda been". If Virt gets more than 2.5M, I'd be surprised.

 

As to the NYI cap space, I see what you mean. NHL SpotTrac has them with 10.119M in space. Boychuk has virtually the same drag on them as Eriksson has on us. Unlike us, they have a little room to maneuver. I don't see any dead weight contracts (ie Luongo), so they have some space there. Sending both Ladd and Boychuk to the minor gives them 2M extra. 

Rathbone replaces Andy Green on their active roster; virtually same size, a whole lot younger and a whole lot more offense. Wilde isn't even on their active roster, and with the depth they have on RHD, could be expendable for the right price. For sure he is stuck behind Noah Dobson. 

 

Of course, this is just an armchair GM talking!

[DownUndaCanuck]

I have a feeling JB can keep it all together if the boys buy in and take some cuts, but he'll need to do some serious negotiations:

 

1) Toffoli - scored 10 points in 10 regular season games but wasn't that great in the post-season, only 2 goals and 4 points in 7 games. Based on that performance he only really deserves 4.5M IMO especially considering the Covid-cut that players should be willing to take. Yes, 5M before Covid and the playoffs, but drop that to 4.5M. He is the type of player who could try and make a big splash somewhere and get stupidly over-paid and if he's asking for 5-6M then JB should let him walk. I hope he enjoyed his time here and is willing to stay for 4.5M medium-term (say 3-4 yrs?)

 

2) Virtanen - Basically scored during the regular season at a 20-goal, 40 point pace which is pretty decent from a top-9 forward but was invisible in most of the playoffs sadly. Deserves a raise and honestly should be in the 2-2.5M vicinity but I hope JB gives him a bridge contract with the vision to extend after Sutter and Pearson's contracts expire. 2.25M contract 1 year let's see what happens, he has the potential to break-out still.

 

3) Motte - man deserves big bucks, only 25 and he was the heart and soul of this team in the playoffs. You hope to lock him down and quite frankly he does deserve 2M for all that hard PK time he puts in. Might be an overpayment for most 4th liners but Motte has proven he consistently deserves it. If I were JB I'd try and lock him up long-term, say 2M x 4-5 years.

 

4) Gaudette - deserves a qualifying offer for sure, invisible in the playoffs but 30-odd points in 50-60 games is pretty decent for basically <10 minutes a game. I'd give him one of those classic qualifying contract, bridge-type things say around 900K-1M for 1-2 yrs and see what he can prove. Him and Virtanen could have big raises if they really explode but we'll shed a lot of veteran baggage by the time their contracts expire.

 

5) MacEwan - deserves an 800-900K contract, short-term.

 

6) Tanev - difficult one, he's still got a couple of good years of 20-minute, top PK man ability and you'd hope he plays it with Vancouver. Hope he takes a pay-cut as he can take some slightly reduced minutes and sign for 4M. If it weren't for Covid, he deserves 4.5M to be fair.

 

7) Stecher - again, I do hope JB keeps Stecher as he's such a big character in our locker-room and a warrior, and that's the sort of player JB wants to keep and build around instead of just getting some random 5-6th defenceman UFA to fill the hole. I think a contract similar to his last would be perfect - 2.3M is great for a bottom-pairing defenceman

 

8) Fantenberg - Similar to Motte, I thought he was brilliant in the playoffs, especially when called upon to play bigger minutes. A bridge contract would be nice at around 1.5-2M for 2 years to take him to 30 years old.

 

9) Markstrom - Lights-out of course for us but turning 30 so who knows how much good hockey he has left. You'd like to see a 4.5-5M contract for 3 years but you just know he's going to get picked by Seattle, but at least we'll have him for another year to slowly hand the reins over to Demko. Give the two 40 games this season and whoever's hotter at the end of the year takes the playoffs, but with so many crammed back-to-back games this coming season, Marky will have a huge impact in this team in what may be his last year.

 

Considering we have just over 17M to play with we basically have to shed around 6.5M to make this all happen. Quite frankly, I'd honestly consider trading Eriksson + 1st rounder next year (or 2nd round + prospect) just to clear that space to fit everyone in because it'd be worth it (especially if we pull a 25-30 overall pick).

 

Sadly I think Toffoli will be the odd-man out and Stecher might get squeezed out as well if he asks too much, and we just try and roll in some of our young guys to fill the gaps.

[mll]

5 hours ago, Father Ryan said:

Rathbone, or Joulevi, are a wash on the ELC. And though Virt showed fairly good in the regular season, his playoff performance took some of the luster off of that. I seriously doubt he will get that figure, especially with a flat cap. I truly believe he will get one more "show me" contract. He has reached the place in his career where he either shows enough to stick around, or he ends up in the KHL as a "coulda been". If Virt gets more than 2.5M, I'd be surprised.

 

As to the NYI cap space, I see what you mean. NHL SpotTrac has them with 10.119M in space. Boychuk has virtually the same drag on them as Eriksson has on us. Unlike us, they have a little room to maneuver. I don't see any dead weight contracts (ie Luongo), so they have some space there. Sending both Ladd and Boychuk to the minor gives them 2M extra. 

Rathbone replaces Andy Green on their active roster; virtually same size, a whole lot younger and a whole lot more offense. Wilde isn't even on their active roster, and with the depth they have on RHD, could be expendable for the right price. For sure he is stuck behind Noah Dobson. 

 

Of course, this is just an armchair GM talking!

Virtanen has arbitration rights and could get more than 2.5M.  According to Friedman teams are very worried this year.  The league uses neutral arbitrators that rule on all sort of issues - they are part of an official association.  They normally get the same arbitrators each year who have experience ruling on NHL cases.   With the adjustment to the calendar they could be assigned arbitrators who have never ruled on hockey cases.  

 

The player deadline to file for arbitration is after the start of free agency.  Teams can't walk away if the award is below a certain amount (was 4.4M last year).  Virtanen will likely get an award where the team can't walk away.  It would force them to clear cap space late in the off-season.  Also this year as soon as the hearing starts it's no longer possible to stop the process and agree on a contract. 

 

With the little cap space they have NYI will probably want to spend it to extend Barzal, Pulock and Toews than add another bottom-6 player.  

 

They probably need to find a way to move a few of their bottom-6 to bring in 1M contracts if they want to keep their top-6 intact. Beauvillier is also going to need a raise in a year.  

Edited September 7, 2020 by mll

[aliboy]

23 minutes ago, mll said:

With the little cap space they have NYI will probably want to spend it to extend Barzal, Pulock and Toews than add another bottom-6 player.  

 

Which means Matt Martin might be available, may be a good fit for us if he'd come to Vancouver.

[Kevo882]

1) Find any way possible to get Loui Eriksson off the books and out of town. The guy is useless and yes, it may be easier to trade him next year with only one season left on his contract, but at this point he's completely dead weight who can't do anything anymore and is taking up room in the system on top of eating up an extremely valuable $6mil.

 

2) Sign Toffoli, Virtanen, Tanev and Motte. Toffoli keeps our stacked top 6 intact (and unlike other people on here I think he played very well in the playoffs). Virtanen has grown and continues to get better. I think he's still a valuable part of this team (you can't buy that shot or speed for the amount we'll sign Virtanen for). And Tanev and Motte? Well, those are no-brainers.

 

3) Let Stecher walk. I absolutely love this guy's heart and effort, but neither can overcome his size unfortunately. That became painfully obvious in the playoffs. Our money is much better spent on re-signing Fantenberg who proved in the playoffs just how solid and reliable he is (doesn't need to be flashy). On top of that, Juolevi is ready to finally claim his spot in the NHL as long as he can stay healthy. I was super impressed with what I saw in his brief playoff action. He looks calm and smart with the puck. And apparently he really impressed the coaching staff at camp.

 

4) Let Markstrom walk. Jim Benning can say all he wants about wanting to keep him and wanting to have 2 good goalies. The only logical choice in my mind is to let him walk. If they sign him, the rest of the team will suffer and we'll be back in the same position as this year's playoffs: relying on Vezina performances every night to win.

 

5) Trade Roussel - it's clear that this guy has nothing left in the tank and is a former shell of his old self. I don't know it's the concussion or just age, but he's not even near worth what we're paying him. Ship him out!

 

6) Keep Sutter - when he's able to stay healthy, he still brings a lot to our team. I would go on record and say he's the 2nd best 2 way player on our team besides Horvat. People just look at his contract and think "not worth it" just because he's not doing something flashy or noticeable every night. He can play 3rd or 4th line, kills penalties, wins faceoffs, and actually has pretty decent hands for the odd goal. That package is pretty hard to replace.

 

In summary, let me say this: team chemistry was a HUGE part of the Canucks' success this year. It's a great group of guys and great mix. If Benning is able to make smart moves and the hard decisions, it is possible to keep 90% of that group together. We have internal candidates who can step in when needed (ie. Macewan and Lind, Juolevi and Rafferty). I feel like Macewan can be our tough guy with a little more seasoning. Absolutely no need to upset the chemistry by making all sorts of trades like most of you are proposing. Just trades to get rid of a couple of the awful contracts.

 

Oh. And I agree with a couple of you on here who said get rid of Newell Brown. 100% agree. He's been around way too long and we could use a fresh face running the PP. That'll make a huge difference. But we all know that'll never happen. Oh well, wishful thinking.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Kevo882

[BigTramFan]

Here's what I would do if I was GM in my armchair...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by BigTramFan