[Proposal] Shift from offence to defence

[DownUndaCanuck]

It's no surprise we're quite top-heavy at the moment with plenty of good, young forwards and a very thin defence with around 2-4 AHLers dressed any one night. To be fair, Bruce has done a good job hiding our faults by playing a fast-tempo, forechecking style which uses our young forwards to our advantage, but this style of play will never work down the stretch or in the playoffs. We need defencemen, we need young defencemen and we need some physicality. Let's start with the obvious:

 

TO NYR: Miller + Poolman + 3rd round pick

TO VAN: Schneider + 1st

 

New York do this because they get their top center and a bit of defensive depth which they lack after losing Schneider. They just fit this in under their cap. The 1st is going to be a late one anyway.

 

TO ARI: Hoglander + Rathbone + 1st (probably the Canucks will be higher but whichever)

TO VAN: Chychrun

 

Arizona's asking price is known - a top young player, a top prospect and a 1st, and this fits their needs.

 

Finally in the off-season, we'll have a bit of cap-space saved there (plus Luongo's 3M off the books) to go out and sign a UFA center (eg. Janmark, Cousins, Strome) to fill a 3rd line center spot for around 2-4M.

 

Starting lineup for next season:

 

Boeser - Pettersson - Garland

Pearson - Horvat - Podkolzin

Dickinson - Janmark (etc.) - Motte

Highmore - Lammikko - Dowling/Lockwood

 

Chychrun - Myers

Hughes - Schneider

OEL - Schenn

 

Demko

Martin/UFA/whoever

 

Cap-wise it fits the bill, seems silly to have a 3rd defenceman (OEL) on 6-7M but he'd still be playing 20 minutes. Schneider is currently playing 20+ minutes with the Rangers so I think he'd be ready for top-4 duties next season, if not then Schenn could fill in. Up front we obvious lose some firepower with Miller and Hoglander gone but there are some good 3rd line centers to be signed to replace some of that.

 

Basically we shift from quality up front to depth and defence and hope Petey and Brock can finally run with the ball offensively, but the team is much better rounded with suddenly 3 young, solid defencemen in the group for years to come.

[BigTramFan]

I like the approach but I don't think NYR or ARI would do those deals.

 

The cap issues for NYR happen next season when they have $10.6m in cap space to resign 9 players. They are not going to spend $2.5m on Poolman. In fact they would more likely pay much more if we retained on Miller because of these cap issues. 

 

You probably have more chance moving Poolman with the 3rd round pick to a team with plenty of cap space.

 

For ARI they would have many more teams offering more than Hogs + Bone + 1st for Chych. Hogs has not shown enough progress this season to be considered a "top young player", Rathbone is not a "top young prospect" yet, and I think you would be looking at multiple picks, perhaps even 2 x 1st rounders to get the deal done.

Edited February 8, 2022 by BigTramFan

[khay]

I like the Miller trade getting us Schneider.

 

But there's no way OEL plays 20 minutes with Chychrun and Hughes ahead of him.

 

I'd love for us to get Chychrun but I wonder if we are giving up too much futures especially when OEL is able to log 20 minutes right now. 

 

Basically an NHLer in Hoglander, a near NHLer in Rathbone, and a 1st rounder that is likely a top 15 pick as we are more likely to miss the playoffs.

 

JR also said that he doesn't want to trade first round draft picks.

 

I'd like to give Rathbone a shot next season. He's basically a PPG in the AHL. The kid has the all the makings of a good puck moving defenceman.

 

Hughes-Schneider

OEL-Myers

Rathbone-Hamonic

Schenn

 

I think this defence is already solid enough if Rathbone shows well and assuming Hamonic plays.

 

 

[DownUndaCanuck]

19 minutes ago, khay said:

I like the Miller trade getting us Schneider.

 

But there's no way OEL plays 20 minutes with Chychrun and Hughes ahead of him.

 

I'd love for us to get Chychrun but I wonder if we are giving up too much futures especially when OEL is able to log 20 minutes right now. 

 

Basically an NHLer in Hoglander, a near NHLer in Rathbone, and a 1st rounder that is likely a top 15 pick as we are more likely to miss the playoffs.

 

JR also said that he doesn't want to trade first round draft picks.

 

I'd like to give Rathbone a shot next season. He's basically a PPG in the AHL. The kid has the all the makings of a good puck moving defenceman.

 

Hughes-Schneider

OEL-Myers

Rathbone-Hamonic

Schenn

 

I think this defence is already solid enough if Rathbone shows well and assuming Hamonic plays.

 

 

Hamonic is the big question mark. If he isn't playing and Chychrun is simply unavailable, I wonder if we go out and sign a UFA defenceman like Zadorov or Ristolainen...

[Crabcakes]

Just the Miller trade.   

 

The Chychrun trade creates cap inefficiencies. We're fine on LHD and having $7,2M on the 3rd pair doesn't work.  They can be looking for another RHD when Myers contract is expiring in a couple of years.  FWIW both Myers and OEL will be very difficult to move because they are bad value

[aGENT]

Don't feel like we need Chychrun if we get Schneider. And then we hang on to Rathbone and Hoglander. Also feel like Chytil is coming back in any NYR-Miller trade. I'd wager they'd also ask for Schenn over Poolman. Maybe want Motte too/instead.

[Junkyard Dog]

Unless we get rid of OEL we have no need for Chychrun. 

[DownUndaCanuck]

I understand that OEL is still near the end of his prime and good for 20+ minutes for another few seasons (maybe 2?), but we really lack solid lefties in our pipeline who can defend well, and most importantly kill penalties. We've basically got OEL, Hughes, Rathbone, then a combination of AHLers and no real left-handed prospects who can kill penalties. We already run into problems when OEL is in the penalty box or injured and have to throw out guys like Burroughs on our penalty kill going up against some solid PPs.

 

That's why I suggested Chychrun, a big strong all-around left-handed defenceman. Timing might not be perfect with OEL but we're going to need some sort of progression plan in place. If not Chychrun, we should target a younger guy who's not ready for 20 minutes yet, but these guys are all hard to come by. 

 

Some of the young defensive prospects on the left hand side who can play good shutdown hockey, kill penalties and play physically (and who aren't untouchable like Owen Power) are guys including Jakub Zboril, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Kaiden Guhle, Jake Sanderson and (although he's close to untouchable) Luke Hughes. The asking price for all of these guys would be high but I wonder if we could involve a trade around Rathbone to upgrade him to one of these guys? Realistically we can't have 2 puck-movers on the left side going forward who can't kill penalties well, and it would make sense to do a Rathbone + pick/player for one of the above guys.

 

Is there a Garland for Zboril (+ pick?) straight up trade possible to Boston? The Penguins defencemen are pretty set for a while, is there a way we can flip POJ for Hoglander in the off-season once they sort out their cap/re-signings?

 

I just think we need to shakeup out prospect pool, especially on the left defensive side. If not by trade, then by draft, but we need someone who can play a physical defensive game and kill penalties on the left side in the very near future.

[RWJC]

On 2/8/2022 at 2:12 AM, DownUndaCanuck said:

Hamonic is the big question mark. If he isn't playing and Chychrun is simply unavailable, I wonder if we go out and sign a UFA defenceman like Zadorov or Ristolainen...

Could you imagine signing Zadorov and luring back Tryamkin for your potential 5/6 D pairing...?

 

Beautiful, haha.

[aGENT]

19 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

I understand that OEL is still near the end of his prime and good for 20+ minutes for another few seasons (maybe 2?), but we really lack solid lefties in our pipeline who can defend well, and most importantly kill penalties. We've basically got OEL, Hughes, Rathbone, then a combination of AHLers and no real left-handed prospects who can kill penalties. We already run into problems when OEL is in the penalty box or injured and have to throw out guys like Burroughs on our penalty kill going up against some solid PPs.

 

That's why I suggested Chychrun, a big strong all-around left-handed defenceman. Timing might not be perfect with OEL but we're going to need some sort of progression plan in place. If not Chychrun, we should target a younger guy who's not ready for 20 minutes yet, but these guys are all hard to come by. 

 

Some of the young defensive prospects on the left hand side who can play good shutdown hockey, kill penalties and play physically (and who aren't untouchable like Owen Power) are guys including Jakub Zboril, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Kaiden Guhle, Jake Sanderson and (although he's close to untouchable) Luke Hughes. The asking price for all of these guys would be high but I wonder if we could involve a trade around Rathbone to upgrade him to one of these guys? Realistically we can't have 2 puck-movers on the left side going forward who can't kill penalties well, and it would make sense to do a Rathbone + pick/player for one of the above guys.

 

Is there a Garland for Zboril (+ pick?) straight up trade possible to Boston? The Penguins defencemen are pretty set for a while, is there a way we can flip POJ for Hoglander in the off-season once they sort out their cap/re-signings?

 

I just think we need to shakeup out prospect pool, especially on the left defensive side. If not by trade, then by draft, but we need someone who can play a physical defensive game and kill penalties on the left side in the very near future.

D tend to be productive up until 34 FWIW. OEL's got a while yet. 

 

Chychrun's, a real good D, but IMO now you're overloading the left side with too much cap. I'd rather we try to target a young guy like Bahl to play 3LD. The Garland to NJD rumours were interesting in that regard. Sharangovich, Bahl and a pick would be an interesting return....