[Proposal] Sign Michael Stone to a 2 year, 1.125M AAV contract

[Ilya Mikheyev]

Proposal:

 

Sign UFA Michael Stone to a 2-3 year, >1.125M dollar deal

 

Why

 

- Stone is a right-handed, big 6'3/210 pound, physical defenseman who has a big shot and could act as steady, veteran depth

- The Canucks lack RHD in their prospect cupboard

- The Canucks lack RHD on Abbotsford - with only Noah Juulsen and Jett Woo (not NHL ready, questionable for Abby's top 4) left on the farm after Madison Bowey was let walk. Hopefully Brady Keeper can make a return this year, but the right handed defensive depth who can step in as a NHL fill-in in the case of injuries is low/questionable

- Michael Stone has signed 3 consecutive 1-year deals with Calgary (after the team bought out his much bigger salary). It looks like both Calgary is ready to move-on and Stone would probably like some stability, though I doubt he's getting too many offers

- Michael Stone and family have settled in Calgary (originally from the Peg) - so staying within western Canada is probably preferable for the veteran - on the Canucks he gets that whether he's with Vancouver or Abbotsford. On this one way deal, he gets a significant raise too, it's probably the best offer he'd get.

- The term also benefits Vancouver - we've seen this tool used a few times - with a little bit of term making teams less likely to pick up a stopgap player on waivers as they risk taking on term (i.e., Justin Dowling, Kyle Burroughs altho he didn't get waived, Curtis Lazar & Dakota Joshua this year)

- The biggest knock on Stone is his speed, especially after a number of injuries, but as a 9th/10th defenseman on the team, any player is likely to come with some fault in their game

- Stone was praised for his ability to step up in CGY's playoff run last year, putting up 5 points in 9 games with varied uses, playing from 5 mins TOI to 21 mins under Sutter depending on the context.

- LIke Lazar, this salary amount could be completely buried in Abbotsford if necessary, meaning the biggest risk is moving toward that 50 contract limit. A small price to pay for what he would bring IMO.

- Pre-injury Stone played quite a bit on a pairing with OEL, having the 3rd highest TOI/GP on Arizona between 2013-2016, so there would be organizational familiarity - and if Myers goes down, some potential chemistry and familiarity to draw from.

 

I assume there's another move in the works - but without any other trades, the Canucks D depth would look like this:

 

OEL - Myers

Hughes - Schenn

Rathbone - Dermott

Burroughs, Johansson/Stone

 

Wolanin - Juulsen

Brisebois - Stone/Johansson

Walynuk - Woo

Schmiemann, Kannok Leipert

[D-Money]

Meh, beats giving Gudbranson $16M. Forgot all about him playing with OEL, he looked really promising back then.

 

If there is still uncertainty over Poolman’s and Keeper’s health, it’s probably a good play. But if those two are tending to come back, then it might get a little crowded.

[Ilya Mikheyev]

1 minute ago, D-Money said:

Meh, beats giving Gudbranson $16M. Forgot all about him playing with OEL, he looked really promising back then.

 

If there is still uncertainty over Poolman’s and Keeper’s health, it’s probably a good play. But if those two are tending to come back, then it might get a little crowded.

Yea, I guess I wrote Poolman off, assuming his migraines will keep him on LTIR, but I guess we don't really know.

 

Gudbranson is the LOL of the off-season for sure.

[JM_]

sure, more depth can't hurt. He hasn't played a full season in 5 years tho, so we can't expect anything but injury fill in up here. Don't think we need him for 2 years tho.

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by JM_

[Captain Canuck #12]

I thought they should have signed him last year and was kind of surprised Benning didn't then, considering all the other RHD he was adding.