[Trade] Canucks trade Adam Gaudette to Blackhawks for Matthew Highmore

[Dazzle]

2 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

Gaudette was one of those long shot bets that Benning likes to make in the later rounds.  He has some good qualities and some deficiencies which is pretty much why he fell to the 5th round.  That and his commitment to college.

 

Elite Prospects scouting report (presumably from his draft year)

 

An all-around forward that loves to compete and can play multiple roles. Strong and fast on his skates and is hard to knock off the puck. Likes to go hard to the net, where time and space is reduced. Offensively, there is a lot of flare to his game as he doesn't give the opposition a lot of time to react; gets shots off quickly and thinks ahead when making plays. Doesn't shy away from the physical game either and looks for different kinds of opportunities to create energy. Responsible defensively and transitions up-ice quickly. Gaudette is the kind of player that can be a difference-maker in a game in multiple ways. [EP]
 

How is he at the NHL level?  Compete?  Yes.  Strong?  No.  Fast?  Average.  Hard to knock off the puck?  Hell no.  Hard to the net?  Likes to, does he?  Not much.  Gets shots off quickly?  Yes.  Physical game?  Doesn't shy away but gets dominated.  Responsible defensively?  Meh.  Difference maker?  No.

 

Also, face offs?  No.  PK? No.  PP?  2nd, produced little (but Canucks rely heavily on 1st unit)

 

Face it, Gaudette is behind Petey and Horvat and in no way is going to replace either and has shown little that would make you think that he could move up the line up in case of injury.  He has pretty much been playing as a 4th liner and been partnered with 3rd line quality wingers (Roussel and Virtanen) a lot of the time and the 4C (Beagle) has been getting more ice because he is at least defensively sound and wins face offs so the line can at least retain possession to start.  But I think his biggest issue is his size.  Gaud is 6'1" and 170 which is not going to get a player who got here by playing a physical game in college very far in this league.  Bottom line, he is not hard to play against and I think that based on his ppg (0.35) is destined to be an over priced 4C.  He is 25 now and seems to have plateaued in his development.  He is what he is.

 

So Benning cut bait for a player who has lesser skills but may actually be able to hold a spot on the team that is needed.  A 4th line winger who can play centre. 

 

I'm not saying that Highmore is any screaming hell and it remains to be seen if he makes the team long term but he's getting an audition.

It's clear that both Gaudette and Highmore are gambles for both teams. Highmore is as reliable as you can expect from a bottom 6 player. However his offensive upside is not very high. Gaudette is very much the opposite. It really depends on what you need. Canucks can't afford to keep a defensive liability on the roster. They simply can't outscore their problems. 

[ShawnAntoski]

2 hours ago, Tom Sestito said:

I don't doubt that and if there was a fracture in the locker room, I have no issue with them dumping him.

 

However, people lie to fit their narratives and it's simply untrue that Gaudette was given numerous opportunities in a top six wing role with significant icetime. 

 

It's never occurred. 

Yeah, I tend to watch the TOI per game and he rarely hits double digits - imo, this trade was made by the PR dept through Aquaman and JB was just the trigger man.   Perhaps with some context, it would had been more prudent from an asset management point of view to loan him to a club in Europe; but the ED could perhaps also been a factor to consider - who knows, but Highmore as a returning asset seems like the team was just looking for a (youngish) warm body for the sake of making a trade rather than releasing AG for (the rumoured) off ice "issues".    

Edited May 1, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[davidgoliath]

2 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

Gaudette was one of those long shot bets that Benning likes to make in the later rounds.  He has some good qualities and some deficiencies which is pretty much why he fell to the 5th round.  That and his commitment to college.

 

Elite Prospects scouting report (presumably from his draft year)

 

An all-around forward that loves to compete and can play multiple roles. Strong and fast on his skates and is hard to knock off the puck. Likes to go hard to the net, where time and space is reduced. Offensively, there is a lot of flare to his game as he doesn't give the opposition a lot of time to react; gets shots off quickly and thinks ahead when making plays. Doesn't shy away from the physical game either and looks for different kinds of opportunities to create energy. Responsible defensively and transitions up-ice quickly. Gaudette is the kind of player that can be a difference-maker in a game in multiple ways. [EP]
 

How is he at the NHL level?  Compete?  Yes.  Strong?  No.  Fast?  Average.  Hard to knock off the puck?  Hell no.  Hard to the net?  Likes to, does he?  Not much.  Gets shots off quickly?  Yes.  Physical game?  Doesn't shy away but gets dominated.  Responsible defensively?  Meh.  Difference maker?  No.

 

Also, face offs?  No.  PK? No.  PP?  2nd, produced little (but Canucks rely heavily on 1st unit)

 

Face it, Gaudette is behind Petey and Horvat and in no way is going to replace either and has shown little that would make you think that he could move up the line up in case of injury.  He has pretty much been playing as a 4th liner and been partnered with 3rd line quality wingers (Roussel and Virtanen) a lot of the time and the 4C (Beagle) has been getting more ice because he is at least defensively sound and wins face offs so the line can at least retain possession to start.  But I think his biggest issue is his size.  Gaud is 6'1" and 170 which is not going to get a player who got here by playing a physical game in college very far in this league.  Bottom line, he is not hard to play against and I think that based on his ppg (0.35) is destined to be an over priced 4C.  He is 25 now and seems to have plateaued in his development.  He is what he is.

 

So Benning cut bait for a player who has lesser skills but may actually be able to hold a spot on the team that is needed.  A 4th line winger who can play centre. 

 

I'm not saying that Highmore is any screaming hell and it remains to be seen if he makes the team long term but he's getting an audition.

Thanks for digging up the old scouting report. I think you analyzed it correctly. Only thing I would challenge is that Roussel and Virtanen are are third line quality wingers. I would describe their quality level as fourth liners on a last place team.

[davidgoliath]

On 4/27/2021 at 9:38 AM, Azzy said:

oh cool, another poster that argues their pov in a passive-aggressive manner while completely ignoring what the other person was actually saying.

 

- Not at any point did I mention rookies, so quite why you're inferring I did is bizarre.

- Boeser played 9 games, and he was a significant part of the team once he joined from UND.

- Virtanen did play 10 games (congratulations on having some neat fact-checking there) and was second on the team in PDO while playing 52% DZ starts. Hardly sheltered.

- 5 of the guys you mentioned played less than Boeser, so by your own metric of not being a significant part of the team shouldn't have featured in your list.

 

I could go on for hours but you clearly won't understand this very simple point: the veterans on this team are the ones doing the damage. It's not all of them, just most of them, and Benning can fix that by waiving four of them today and bringing in reinforcements from Utica. Give Eriksson some games towards his 1,000, helping him earn his salary for a change too, while we wait for quarantine to pass then hand the torch over to Horvat and say 'you're the guy, show these kids how to play'. We get 100% more effort out of our bottom six and can actually get excited about seeing our bottom six play.

I wouldn’t give Eriksson anything. He’s been a complete bust at his salary level. He should be donating most of it to Canuck Place for kids, or giving it back to the Aquas. I wondered if it is taxed as “unearned income”?

[iinatcc]

18 hours ago, guntrix said:

Claiming that the Blackhawks won the trade because of Gaudette's goal is just as silly as claiming that the Canucks have won the trade because Gaudette sat his first few games. See what I did there?

Well I think the Sam Bennett trade thread everyone there is talking about Florida won the trade and situation with Bennett an Gaudette appears to be similar. Underperformed with the original team this season but is off to a good start with their new team. So if we can make fun of Calgary because of Bennett the same should apply to the Canucks. 

[babalu]

This trade will go down as one of JB's worst.

Highmore looks like another meh player.

At least Gaudette could put the puck in the net.

[Drakrami]

12 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

Gaudette was one of those long shot bets that Benning likes to make in the later rounds.  He has some good qualities and some deficiencies which is pretty much why he fell to the 5th round.  That and his commitment to college.

 

Elite Prospects scouting report (presumably from his draft year)

 

An all-around forward that loves to compete and can play multiple roles. Strong and fast on his skates and is hard to knock off the puck. Likes to go hard to the net, where time and space is reduced. Offensively, there is a lot of flare to his game as he doesn't give the opposition a lot of time to react; gets shots off quickly and thinks ahead when making plays. Doesn't shy away from the physical game either and looks for different kinds of opportunities to create energy. Responsible defensively and transitions up-ice quickly. Gaudette is the kind of player that can be a difference-maker in a game in multiple ways. [EP]
 

How is he at the NHL level?  Compete?  Yes.  Strong?  No.  Fast?  Average.  Hard to knock off the puck?  Hell no.  Hard to the net?  Likes to, does he?  Not much.  Gets shots off quickly?  Yes.  Physical game?  Doesn't shy away but gets dominated.  Responsible defensively?  Meh.  Difference maker?  No.

 

Also, face offs?  No.  PK? No.  PP?  2nd, produced little (but Canucks rely heavily on 1st unit)

 

Face it, Gaudette is behind Petey and Horvat and in no way is going to replace either and has shown little that would make you think that he could move up the line up in case of injury.  He has pretty much been playing as a 4th liner and been partnered with 3rd line quality wingers (Roussel and Virtanen) a lot of the time and the 4C (Beagle) has been getting more ice because he is at least defensively sound and wins face offs so the line can at least retain possession to start.  But I think his biggest issue is his size.  Gaud is 6'1" and 170 which is not going to get a player who got here by playing a physical game in college very far in this league.  Bottom line, he is not hard to play against and I think that based on his ppg (0.35) is destined to be an over priced 4C.  He is 25 now and seems to have plateaued in his development.  He is what he is.

 

So Benning cut bait for a player who has lesser skills but may actually be able to hold a spot on the team that is needed.  A 4th line winger who can play centre. 

 

I'm not saying that Highmore is any screaming hell and it remains to be seen if he makes the team long term but he's getting an audition.

No one's saying Gaudette is some hidden 1st line player. The point is asset management, we are not even a contender, still just a bottom feeding team 7 long years under this management. You don't trade a 24 year old on pace for 46 points last season playing just 12 minutes a game for nothing. Even if Gaudette's last season performance is just an anomaly, at least get a 3rd rounder back. Benning's ability to wait and make the right trade is 0. Just like when he rushed the Kesler trade 2 months into his job. When it's been proven again and again in the league waiting for the right trade ripes the rewards. Look at how the Duchene trade is doing wonders for Avalanche. 

[Azzy]

4 hours ago, babalu said:

This trade will go down as one of JB's worst.

Highmore looks like another meh player.

At least Gaudette could put the puck in the net.

According to CDC bottom six players don't need to score, they only need to 'not be bad defensively'. Which apparently requires 15mins a game of ice time.

[Warhippy]

I still don't like this trade.  Still feels a lot like making a trade for trade's sake.

 

I sure as hell won't get in to the behind the scenes stuff.  None of my business.

 

On ice Gaudette wasn't producing much but big deal, nobody on the team is.

 

Highmore still seems like a far more redundant player than Gaudette did/does on the team

 

Time will tell but I still don't like this trade at this moment.

 

Bu then I also was pissed about the Shinkaruk trade when he was our only essential LW prospect so 

[Me_]

40 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

I still don't like this trade.  Still feels a lot like making a trade for trade's sake.

 

I sure as hell won't get in to the behind the scenes stuff.  None of my business.

 

On ice Gaudette wasn't producing much but big deal, nobody on the team is.

 

Highmore still seems like a far more redundant player than Gaudette did/does on the team

 

Time will tell but I still don't like this trade at this moment.

 

Bu then I also was pissed about the Shinkaruk trade when he was our only essential LW prospect so 

Man... Shinkaruk...

[Me_]

6 hours ago, babalu said:

This trade will go down as one of JB's worst.

Highmore looks like another meh player.

At least Gaudette could put the puck in the net.

Haha! If the Gaudette trade is the worst trade Benning does, then we’re in great shape.

 

No Pettersson + late round push last year + cap crunch, it is normal that the Canucks find themselves where they currently are; about to draft in the top 5 which we all know will turn out to be a top 3 player anyways.

 

Toffoli, Markstrom and Tanev were redundant anyways. 
 

With Tollofi, Höglander doesn’t have a chance. With Markstrom at his currrnt price, Femko doesn’t have a chance. with Tanev out came Schmidt.

 

The Pettersson injury is an extra goal or two per game gone.

 

The current defense is very good but badly coached. That needs to be rectified for next year. Juolevi is going to be very good when he figures it out. We will probably see it in two years, with more responsibilities next year. 
 

Up front, Podkolzin is still to come in. That will be a major add. 
 

In the next two years, the heavy contracts are all coming off the books, including the Luongo penalty, finally.

Thisbteam is about to turn a major corner. I say this year is the crouch before the big jump.

 

Unless of course, Covid has done permanent damage to all of them.

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Me_

[Me_]

2 hours ago, Drakrami said:

No one's saying Gaudette is some hidden 1st line player. The point is asset management, we are not even a contender, still just a bottom feeding team 7 long years under this management. You don't trade a 24 year old on pace for 46 points last season playing just 12 minutes a game for nothing. Even if Gaudette's last season performance is just an anomaly, at least get a 3rd rounder back. Benning's ability to wait and make the right trade is 0. Just like when he rushed the Kesler trade 2 months into his job. When it's been proven again and again in the league waiting for the right trade ripes the rewards. Look at how the Duchene trade is doing wonders for Avalanche. 

Negative

[iinatcc]

6 hours ago, Azzy said:

According to CDC bottom six players don't need to score, they only need to 'not be bad defensively'. Which apparently requires 15mins a game of ice time.

Don't forget the Intangibles 

[RWMc1]

We sheltered Gaudette last season and he responded with decent offence. This season, not so much. The problem with his drop in production is that he is arbitration eligible. He can use his inflated stats from last season to get a pay raise in arbitration. Benning has walked away from players like that in the past. The market decided that he was only worth another bottom 6 player. Obviously Highmore was the best Gaudette could command. That's all there is to it. Fans smooching his butt does not increase his value.

[Crabcakes]

7 hours ago, Drakrami said:

No one's saying Gaudette is some hidden 1st line player. The point is asset management, we are not even a contender, still just a bottom feeding team 7 long years under this management. You don't trade a 24 year old on pace for 46 points last season playing just 12 minutes a game for nothing. Even if Gaudette's last season performance is just an anomaly, at least get a 3rd rounder back. Benning's ability to wait and make the right trade is 0. Just like when he rushed the Kesler trade 2 months into his job. When it's been proven again and again in the league waiting for the right trade ripes the rewards. Look at how the Duchene trade is doing wonders for Avalanche. 

Fair comment.  I have no idea why Benning was as hasty as he was. I wasn't really commenting on the asset management aspect but it is an important part of the issue and I agree with what you are saying.

 

I think that this is going to be a big off season for the Canucks.  Demko is re-signed and Pettersson and Hughes are yet to come.  But also, what is Benning going to do with Sutter and Edler?  Do they walk?  If so, who takes their place?  Do they get offers?  If so, how much?

 

Benning is also auditioning players for the bottom 6 and trying to graduate some young D to the big club.  What happens there?

 

And then there's the expansion draft

[oldnews]

Highmore

6 games

22.9% ozone starts.

10 hits. 6 blocks

1.6 on ice goals against per 60 5on5.

even 0 +/-

1:50 /game on the pk.

14:31/ ice time / game.

 

very solid numbers / a good fit on a shutdown unit.

has had and created some good chances as well.

I like his game.

[combover]

Highmore 6 games 7 shots +2 0 points 
Boyd 7 games 3 shots -2 0 points 
Vessy 8 games 15 shots -5 0 points.

all gifted ice time 
Thank god we didn’t just give these spots to the youth and actual future. Lol

Green and  Jb think this is a playoff team. 

Gaudette has more points than all three combined in two games. But he wasnt developing in his limited 3rd and 4th line rolls. 
jb = failure 


 

[Junkyard Dog]

Gaudette is playing with Strome and Kubalik on the 3rd line. That's a lot better offensively than what we have in our bottom 6.

 

Safe to say we could use more secondary scoring especially with the amount of youngsters coming up.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

29 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Gaudette is playing with Strome and Kubalik on the 3rd line. That's a lot better offensively than what we have in our bottom 6.

 

Safe to say we could use more secondary scoring especially with the amount of youngsters coming up.

We can't afford secondary scoring because of cap space.  If Gaudette played well around talent, then he should've been put in that situation.  Just like last year.  A lot of eyes will be on Aquaman if some of the personnel don't get fired this summer.

[wallstreetamigo]

Highmore has done sweet &^@# all. He takes up space and ice time without adding anything substantial at either end.

 

While we are slagging the defensive effort of a guy like Gaudette, I am sure everyone caught Highmore blowing his coverage on Matthews right before his second goal, right?

 

Right?

 

Oh ya, no one will admit that.