Captain Canuck #12 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I'm pretty sure Rutherford's plan is not to trade our overpriced depth players in order to turn around and sign any of the top, overpriced UFA's. There's a reason why he and Allvin have only talked about signing undrafted European and collegiate free agents. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 Realistically we need top-4 defencemen and a 3C, especially if we trade Miller. Amongst defencemen, guys like Ristolainen and Zadorov are the big ones. Big, strong defencemen who can play shutdown-hockey and play alongside Hughes. I wanted Zadorov in the last off-season because he's a big, mean guy which we lacked (before Schenn's return). Ristolainen would probably cost us 6M but he's having an off-year, maybe could talk him down to 5.5M? Trade Miller for Schneider + 1st then sign Ristolainen and suddenly we trade a top line center for two top-4 defencemen (plus a good pick). There's plenty of good possible 3Cs to replace some of Miller's minutes but we're going to have to jiggle the cap. Guys like Viktor Rask, Rakell, Strome, Janmark, Paul and Cousins are all out there to be had for anywhere between 2-5M. With Luongo's dead cap coming off the books plus another trade here or there (Poolman for a pick?) we could easily squeeze one in. Boeser - Pettersson - Garland Podkolzin - Horvat - Hoglander Pearson - Janmark (etc.) - Dickinson Highmore - Lammikko - Motte Hughes - Ristolainen OEL - Myers Schenn - Schneider Rathbone IMO a much more balanced team than we currently have which is very forward/top heavy and lacking on the blueline and all it costs us is a Miller trade and 2 UFA signings, plus we end up with a 1st + pick for Poolman. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 (edited) 6 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said: Realistically we need top-4 defencemen and a 3C, especially if we trade Miller. Amongst defencemen, guys like Ristolainen and Zadorov are the big ones. Big, strong defencemen who can play shutdown-hockey and play alongside Hughes. I wanted Zadorov in the last off-season because he's a big, mean guy which we lacked (before Schenn's return). Ristolainen would probably cost us 6M but he's having an off-year, maybe could talk him down to 5.5M? Trade Miller for Schneider + 1st then sign Ristolainen and suddenly we trade a top line center for two top-4 defencemen (plus a good pick). There's plenty of good possible 3Cs to replace some of Miller's minutes but we're going to have to jiggle the cap. Guys like Viktor Rask, Rakell, Strome, Janmark, Paul and Cousins are all out there to be had for anywhere between 2-5M. With Luongo's dead cap coming off the books plus another trade here or there (Poolman for a pick?) we could easily squeeze one in. Boeser - Pettersson - Garland Podkolzin - Horvat - Hoglander Pearson - Janmark (etc.) - Dickinson Highmore - Lammikko - Motte Hughes - Ristolainen OEL - Myers Schenn - Schneider Rathbone IMO a much more balanced team than we currently have which is very forward/top heavy and lacking on the blueline and all it costs us is a Miller trade and 2 UFA signings, plus we end up with a 1st + pick for Poolman. I like Paul, Tierney or Sturm for 3C personally but the nice thing is, this free agency is FULL of those guys, which *fingers crossed* hopefully keeps the price down. If we're able to dump Hamonic and Poolman (doubtful unfortunately but here's hoping), I'd prefer Lyubushkin IMO. Schneider is going to be top 4 sooner than later and Risto would require far more term and cap (and Lyubushkin is arguably better). (Wingers fluid) Garland, Horvat , Boeser Podkolzin, Pettersson, Hoglander (sheltered line) Pearson, Paul/Tierney/Sturm, Chytil Dickinson, Lammikko, Highmore OEL, Myers Hughes, Schneider/Lyubushkin Schenn, Schneider/Lyubushkin Burroughs Though I'd also like to see us find a pk'ing 3LD and bump Schenn down the as well. Edited February 8, 2022 by aGENT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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