[Speculation] Canucks clearing Cap for Hamonic

[DrJockitch]

I prefer letting the kids play but if we don’t sign another vet 3 of the 8 D we would typically carry would be rookies along with everyone on the taxi squad. 
We also would be playing the hell out of a second year man in Quinn. 

[Noble 6]

17 hours ago, Me_ said:

Pearson & Granlund don’t make a second line. 

Toffoli brought some serious pedigree.
Hopefully the Canucks can rectify that.

 

 

 

The Canucks did what they did last year with Eriksson as a top-6 forward for the majority of it. Toffoli only played 10 regular season games and we won our Playoff rounds without him. Granlund would be a bounceback candidate playing more minutes and would absolutely be better than Eriksson. I agree that Pearson would be upgraded ideally, but that opportunity will come next year when Hoglander and Podkolzin will be on the team full time in all likelihood. Pearson and Granlund out (UFAs), Podkolzin and Hoglander in. 

[BCNate]

22 hours ago, Boudrias said:

At 30 years old I don't see the fit. Hughes, Edler, Schmidt and Myers are top 4. #5 and #6 can be any combination of Benn and prospects. Younger players who need the TOI to show what they will be capable of in 2-3 years. 

You are 1 injury away from Benn being in your top 4 and having two rookies in your lineup.  In a condensed season, adding a depth D is wise, even more wise if the depth D is Hamonic.

[Provost]

2 hours ago, HC20.0 said:

With the addition of Schmidt, we have a decent enough top 4, but I think our bottom pairing D is among the worst in the league. Adding Hamonic would be huge, and could make our D go from average to good. 

Ya, I just think about how badly Edler will fare with a compressed schedule and being played 25+ minutes a night to shelter a weak 3rd pairing.  That is a recipe for drastically reduced effectiveness and injury.

Add a single injury to our D and having Benn or Juolevi playing those 25 minutes is disastrous and would be like going back to the days of having Pouliot and Hutton playing in our top 4.

We need a guy who can step up to play in the top 4 if needed or really anchor a 3rd pairing so it doesn't have to be sheltered.

Hughes-Hamonic
Edler-Schmidt
Juolevi-Myers
Brisebois-Benn

Taxi squad of Rafferty, Chatfield, and Sautner.  Rathbone in the AHL playing huge developmental minutes with Woo.

[BCNate]

12 hours ago, 10pavelbure96 said:

Hoglander...

 

Defense is more important than offense and we scored lots of goals without toffoli 

We also don't have Markstrom to bail us out.  Demko/Holtby will be good, but having a little more defensive support will go a long way.  

 

Schmidt/Hamonic would be a massive improvement from Stecher/Tanev.

 

If we are adding to our D, I'd be real interested in Vatanen as well as Hamonic (1, not both).

 

[BCNate]

11 hours ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Anyone wondering if Benning thought one of two things?

- Ferland would retire.

- Eriksson would be willing to be moved, or retire.

 

That's the only way I see why he brought Toffoli. Benning doesn't seem to be a straight up rental guy. 

When Benning made the deal, Covid was not a thing.  Had the cap gone up as expected, I am certain Toffoli would still be here.  Either way, Toffoli was a very good rental.

[Boudrias]

2 hours ago, Provost said:

Ya, I just think about how badly Edler will fare with a compressed schedule and being played 25+ minutes a night to shelter a weak 3rd pairing.  That is a recipe for drastically reduced effectiveness and injury.

Add a single injury to our D and having Benn or Juolevi playing those 25 minutes is disastrous and would be like going back to the days of having Pouliot and Hutton playing in our top 4.

We need a guy who can step up to play in the top 4 if needed or really anchor a 3rd pairing so it doesn't have to be sheltered.

Hughes-Hamonic
Edler-Schmidt
Juolevi-Myers
Brisebois-Benn

Taxi squad of Rafferty, Chatfield, and Sautner.  Rathbone in the AHL playing huge developmental minutes with Woo.

Are they going to run the AHL this season? 

[aGENT]

1 minute ago, Boudrias said:

Are they going to run the AHL this season? 

IIRC they have a February start date scheduled. At least for now.

[Provost]

6 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

Are they going to run the AHL this season? 

That is the "current" plan... I have doubts, at least whether it will be a really recognizable season or not.  I can see some sort of tournament style or hub play in jurisdictions where they can have fans. 

If all of that fails, then I suspect NHL teams are going to gather their own prospects and organize prospects tourneys on their own like we always see in Penticton.  They need their young guys to play minutes and develop and can't have a bunch of guys with no home to play in for what will be 1 1/2 years by the time it is likely over.  Heck, I would happily tune into the TV for a few "prospects tourneys" with all the Canadian teams playing their own available prospects against each other.  It would give the taxi squad guys and the guys with no playing home (in the absence of the AHL) to get competitive playing time.

Edited December 15, 2020 by Provost

[stawns]

6 minutes ago, Provost said:

That is the "current" plan... I have doubts, at least whether it will be a really recognizable season or not.  I can see some sort of tournament style or hub play in jurisdictions where they can have fans. 

If all of that fails, then I suspect NHL teams are going to gather their own prospects and organize prospects tourneys on their own like we always see in Penticton.  They need their young guys to play minutes and develop and can't have a bunch of guys with no home to play in for what will be 1 1/2 years by the time it is likely over.  Heck, I would happily tune into the TV for a few "prospects tourneys" with all the Canadian teams playing their own available prospects against each other.  It would give the taxi squad guys and the guys with no playing home (in the absence of the AHL) to get competitive playing time.

I don't realistically see any kind of hockey in the US after Xmas

[Boudrias]

1 minute ago, Provost said:

That is the "current" plan... I have doubts, at least whether it will be a really recognizable season or not.  I can see some sort of tournament style or hub play in jurisdictions where they can have fans. 

If all of that fails, then I suspect NHL teams are going to gather their own prospects and organize prospects tourneys on their own like we always see in Penticton.  They need their young guys to play minutes and develop and can't have a bunch of guys with no home to play in for what will be 1 1/2 years by the time it is likely over.  Heck, I would happily tune into the TV for a few "prospects tourneys" with all the Canadian teams playing their own available prospects against each other.  It would give the taxi squad guys and the guys with no playing home (in the absence of the AHL) to get competitive playing time.

I question the idea of whether they will run because the AHL is a gate driven league. Many teams won't have the resources unless their NHL affiliates give them money. When they talked about running a Canadian AHL division the $ numbers simply didn't work. 

 

Canucks have to have ice time for their prospects somewhere. They can carry an enlarged taxi squad but I question how effective that will be. This was the main reason for not wanting to sign Hamonic. At least the prospects would get some NHL games while they sit around on a taxi squad. I am hoping for Utica to run but I suspect a real reluctance by fans to attend.  

[Provost]

Just now, Boudrias said:

I question the idea of whether they will run because the AHL is a gate driven league. Many teams won't have the resources unless their NHL affiliates give them money. When they talked about running a Canadian AHL division the $ numbers simply didn't work. 

 

Canucks have to have ice time for their prospects somewhere. They can carry an enlarged taxi squad but I question how effective that will be. This was the main reason for not wanting to sign Hamonic. At least the prospects would get some NHL games while they sit around on a taxi squad. I am hoping for Utica to run but I suspect a real reluctance by fans to attend.  

It will definitely be a balance between getting game time for prospects and being competitive.  I don't see the team wanting to risk blowing the whole year just to make sure a couple of guys get a few more games.  None of the other teams in the league seem to be operating that way.

They will have to come up with a plan regardless for the bulk of prospects.  We know that they will need a taxi squad of extra players available, that isn't even a question now.  There isn't cross border travel permitted and they have to decide the plan now as it will have roster/cap implications for the NHL.  We won't even know if the AHL is running until after all the decision will have been made.

The question is what to do with the taxi squad.  Is it going to be just enough to buffer the big club for injuries like we had in the bubble?  That means several prospects just won't get much playing time.  Hence why I think it will be a strategic decision on who to keep on it.  Rathbone is probably fairly equivalent to Juolevi, but due to his age and place in the development cycle it could mean he goes and plays in the AHL while lesser (older) guys stay on a taxi squad.

The Canadian teams could decide to keep all their prospects close to home like I said above and control a year of their development.  That could be if the AHL really looks in doubt (which it is currently).  That would mean enough to ice a "prospect" team and play "some" actual games... even 4 on 4 games with real competition.  Picture 6 one week long tournaments against other Canadian prospects clubs spread over 3-4 months with a ton of development, strength training, etc controlled by the NHL club between.

We should know the answer to most of this within a few days since we are effectively out of time for a mid January start as it stands.

[ShawnAntoski]

4 hours ago, theo5789 said:

Funny because that team beat the defending champs and pretty much destroyed a cocky Vegas team's confidence.

 

That strategy wasn't our regular strategy. It was utilized because of the super compressed schedule we had versus a much more rested team. There was no doubt Vegas was the better team even prior to all of this, but we decided that we were going to maximize our most rested player up to that point after Marky went down and were a beauty Boeser chance from actually taking the series.

 

The coaching doesn't get enough credit for changing the system on the fly. It's not perfect, but it nearly worked because the players bought into it. Demko played lights out, but we kept them to the perimeter for most of it and worked the counter game. It's not the primary strategy, it was a necessary strategy given the circumstances.

 

Adding Schmidt will hopefully prevent us from going back to that system again by having another dman that can move the puck out (and hopefully OJ/Rathbone/Rafferty can provide this on the 3rd pairing). Adding Hamonic would allow OJ or Rathbone to do their thing more freely.

The Vegas series exposed a few major flaws associated with the roster and the staffs tendency to play a prevent type style when the team is leading in the third - imo.  The affect on Vegas' confidence was not really about some amazing strategy that the Canucks was employing (cause Vegas' strategy of heavy forecheckin was working) but rather it WAS THE AMAZING PERFORMANCE OF DEMKO.

 

The Canucks during the St Louis series was mostly (imo) about them burying there chances against a struggling Binnington and if Binnington was not struggling with that defence & there style of play that series would had been a different story.

 

The addition of NS is great for the d core and hopefully it will allow the staff to employ a different strategy when protecting a lead in the third rather than defaulting to a prevent style strategy which in the past cause them to over deploy certain player(s) - Edler.

 

Really looking forward as to how the staff will utilize this re vamp roster.  

Edited December 15, 2020 by ShawnAntoski

[J.I.A.H.N]

21 hours ago, Filthy McNasty said:

Virtanen is not and will not be a top six forward, he has had his chance and could not put it together he will be a decent top 9 if he can be consistent with using his size which seems to be a problem. I don’t see guadette as being able to fill tofolli shoes  he had plenty of Time in the top six as well , so unless hogs comes in and wows us to fill that top six then we have massive hole, and we have had holes  for years chucking who ever we could with BO and not finding the solution when we got tofolli we finally, finally had a full top 6

 

if we can’t fill it then once again we will put the blender on max speed for Bo  which is not fair to our captain 

Hey Filthy

 

I know what you are saying about Virtanen, and his effort in the playoffs was dismal to say the least

 

But,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Go to NHL.com and go to stats

 

Punch in RWers and you will be surprised with how Virtanen compares, statistically

 

His points (tied for 33 Over all) and his goals (tied for 25 Over all) are either late top 30 or early top 60 for all RWers....

 

and that is with some of the lower minutes (71st Over all) played

 

That is pretty much top 6 as it stands

 

[Goal:thecup]

Every thread devolves into Jake, or Covid, or Unies, or something other than the topic.

 

"Speculation: Canucks clearing cap for Hamonic"

- Jake sucks; no he doesn't.  Rant rant rant.

- Top 6, Top 9, AHL start, NHL start.  Rant rant rant.

- Dumb Nuk trolls and lands someone.  Rant rant rant.

- I get on here and rant about thread devolutions.  Rant rant rant.

 

Oh yeah, any news on the speculation that the Canucks might be clearing cap space for Hamonic?

 

[kloubek]

14 hours ago, ShawnAntoski said:

There is ofcourse a level of risk going with our d prospects due to there inexperience but these prospects (esp Rafferty) seems to be very much aware of the opportunities available in our d core and they are coming in prepared to earn the opportunity. 

Well, therein lies the fact we need to accept that Green and Benning know what is best for our team, and if players like Rafferty (who I agree seems ready) or Juolevi truly are ready to be strong contributing members of our team. If they are, then great. But if the rumors are true, it would appear management isn't so sure...

[RakuRaku]

I would only approve the Harmonic signing if we get Benn off our books... we gotta give spots to the youngsters who can prove to be NHL ready.... I expect to see Rathbone and Juolevi on the roster on opening night!

[73 Percent]

26 minutes ago, Virtanen#18 said:

I would only approve the Harmonic signing if we get Benn off our books... we gotta give spots to the youngsters who can prove to be NHL ready.... I expect to see Rathbone and Juolevi on the roster on opening night!

I get that they're young and take time but if they cant beat out hamonic and or benn, then they dont deserve to be with the big club. Players should earn spots not be gifted spots. 

[ShawnAntoski]

4 hours ago, kloubek said:

Well, therein lies the fact we need to accept that Green and Benning know what is best for our team, and if players like Rafferty (who I agree seems ready) or Juolevi truly are ready to be strong contributing members of our team. If they are, then great. But if the rumors are true, it would appear management isn't so sure...

No way to predict the future despite all the technology, methodology and etc, they are all just a form of risk management - imo.  Management and the staff have a better idea who these players are and how they fit and the only real way to find out is to put these rookies into those situations - perhaps during training camp and make them EARNED THAT ROSTER SPOT but I am not so sure that Green is willing risk his tenure or future opportunities with a bunch of rookies.   

 

Perhaps the rumours are being spread to prevent any complacency from any players trying to earn a spot.   Hope our prospects are aware that they will have to REALLY earned that spot to get it.

Edited December 16, 2020 by ShawnAntoski

[ilduce39]

 I’m all for it but it comes down to price point.  If he’s willing to take Ferland’s $ at Holtby’s term boy does that really solidify the D.  He’d replace Tanev and add some muscle. 
 

Still leave a prime opportunity for at least one young guy to make the team since Schmidt (and Benn) can play either side. 
 

Would be a nice Xmas gift!