CanuckFan1123 Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 While we still have lots of time left to make trades (presumably Schenn, Boeser, and maybe some others) I do think the Horvat trade at least shows that management wants to stay competitive by adding a roster player in Beauvillier and a guy who may be up full time next year in Raty. With that said, one area that’s crippled us this season is penalty killing (and defense). I have 3 fairly low budget offseason moves that I think would be massive in upgrading our overall 5 on 5 play on the defensive and physical sides but especially helping our atrocious penalty kill. And more importantly, I believe we can get all 3 of these guys without paying an arm and a leg, as all 3 make around just 4 mil combined this season. *I will also add that as much as I like some of our bottom 6 guys, I do think moves very much have to be made. Player 1: Bring back Tyler Motte Yes Tyler Motte has been injured yet again during this season, but he plays such a sensational game on both sides of the ice. We never should have let him go. When healthy, we know he is a warrior who hits, blocks shots, forechecks hard and will do anything you ask. Tyler is 28 and fits the age group of our retool. Given the injury history I wouldn’t go long term, but I think he would be willing to come back for 2-3 years, maybe on a Lazar type deal or slightly more. Player 2: Garnet Hathaway Hathaway is a little older at 31 but got a later start in his career. I think he is still in his prime and will be for 2-4 more years. He’s making a very low 1.5 mil on his final year in Washington and I expect him to get a raise, but given that he’s not very offensively gifted, I don’t anticipate a massive raise. Hathaway puts up very strong PK numbers and even more impressive is that he’s top 5 of all NHL forwards in both hits and blocked shots while only playing about 12 minutes a game. He’s great at getting in shooting lanes and sacrificing the body, while not being all that far behind our wonderful Luke Schenn in hitting people. If there’s anyone out there provides what we really need, he’s the guy. Player 3: Connor Clifton Boston has a lot of guys hitting free agency this offseason, most notably Pasta. But looking at numbers, they don’t have a lot of money to spend. I’m sure they’d like to keep Clifton but I just don’t know if they have the funds to keep him. Clifton plays 18 minutes a game and leads all Boston players in hits and blocked shots. Again, preventing shots on goal is the name of the game on this post. He doesn’t play as much on the PK as guys like Carlo and Lindholm and Forbort but his PK numbers are very solid when he’s on the ice and a lot of Boston fans have noted he’s by far having his best season and has improved his game a lot. It’s not a huge sexy dman name, but neither was Schenn when we picked him up and look how effective he’s been. I think Clifton would be a very nice add to our weak defense. He’s making 1 mil in Boston and I expect a raise but he will remain pretty affordable. If we move Schenn or fail to keep him in the offseason, Clifton is not a bad replacement. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_19 Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 (edited) They are good suggestions but I disagree that Connor Clifton is going to come cheap. We've got PK wingers, what we need are better dmen and centres for the PK. Lazar has been a disappointment thus far as a PK centre. Guys I'd hope to get would be Charlie Coyle (Boston has cap problems next year, I think we could get him as a cap dump), Luke Glendening, Adam Lowry, or Chandler Stephenson/Nicolas Roy. Jeez even Nic Dowd who slipped through our fingers. Edited February 1, 2023 by AK_19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad_BOI_pete Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 5 hours ago, CanuckFan1123 said: While we still have lots of time left to make trades (presumably Schenn, Boeser, and maybe some others) I do think the Horvat trade at least shows that management wants to stay competitive by adding a roster player in Beauvillier and a guy who may be up full time next year in Raty. With that said, one area that’s crippled us this season is penalty killing (and defense). I have 3 fairly low budget offseason moves that I think would be massive in upgrading our overall 5 on 5 play on the defensive and physical sides but especially helping our atrocious penalty kill. And more importantly, I believe we can get all 3 of these guys without paying an arm and a leg, as all 3 make around just 4 mil combined this season. *I will also add that as much as I like some of our bottom 6 guys, I do think moves very much have to be made. Player 1: Bring back Tyler Motte Yes Tyler Motte has been injured yet again during this season, but he plays such a sensational game on both sides of the ice. We never should have let him go. When healthy, we know he is a warrior who hits, blocks shots, forechecks hard and will do anything you ask. Tyler is 28 and fits the age group of our retool. Given the injury history I wouldn’t go long term, but I think he would be willing to come back for 2-3 years, maybe on a Lazar type deal or slightly more. Player 2: Garnet Hathaway Hathaway is a little older at 31 but got a later start in his career. I think he is still in his prime and will be for 2-4 more years. He’s making a very low 1.5 mil on his final year in Washington and I expect him to get a raise, but given that he’s not very offensively gifted, I don’t anticipate a massive raise. Hathaway puts up very strong PK numbers and even more impressive is that he’s top 5 of all NHL forwards in both hits and blocked shots while only playing about 12 minutes a game. He’s great at getting in shooting lanes and sacrificing the body, while not being all that far behind our wonderful Luke Schenn in hitting people. If there’s anyone out there provides what we really need, he’s the guy. Player 3: Connor Clifton Boston has a lot of guys hitting free agency this offseason, most notably Pasta. But looking at numbers, they don’t have a lot of money to spend. I’m sure they’d like to keep Clifton but I just don’t know if they have the funds to keep him. Clifton plays 18 minutes a game and leads all Boston players in hits and blocked shots. Again, preventing shots on goal is the name of the game on this post. He doesn’t play as much on the PK as guys like Carlo and Lindholm and Forbort but his PK numbers are very solid when he’s on the ice and a lot of Boston fans have noted he’s by far having his best season and has improved his game a lot. It’s not a huge sexy dman name, but neither was Schenn when we picked him up and look how effective he’s been. I think Clifton would be a very nice add to our weak defense. He’s making 1 mil in Boston and I expect a raise but he will remain pretty affordable. If we move Schenn or fail to keep him in the offseason, Clifton is not a bad replacement. I like tyler mottes game but his ability to stay healthy is concerning.. he averages 43GP a season and for that reason i am out unless he signs for under the replacement level of 1.175m a year... injuries may catch up to him at any point... I would be sure he is only getting offered 1 and 2 year contracts, and for that reason i would offer him a lowball offer of 1 million x 4 years... if his injuries come and strip him from his game we just waive him and say thank you for being a canuck. Connor Clifton like schenn has some really good numbers this year.... when he plays with Hampus Lindholm, when he isnt they are not impressive at all, and for that reason i am out... he likely will get paid for his stats and I think he is getting his tires pumped by Hampus... I am all for Hathaway size and strength and willing to sacrifice the body. he is very defensive minded which is what you want from your 4th line guy, but 12 goals and 25 points is not bad at all... I would be wary giving him a contract longer than 2 years... age creeps up faster on 4th line guys... 1.65x2? I would like another few players to add to the list.... Scott Mayfield... he is a monster at 6'5" and 220 and plays RD. He is the NYI number 1 PK man for a dman and blocks alot of shots 37th in the league... he plays very tough minutes very well and is utilized as a shutdown dman, like clifton his success is only being noticed this year, but he is doing it running the line on the third pairing averaging almost 21 minutes a game... He does not throw the body too much but is in the range of successful dmen... where he is right in the middle of the pack. he is not a scorer but i think if he played with Hughes their games would compliment each other very well... if we tell him that we are targeting him to play alongside hughes and be our number 1 PK'er he may want to sign with us... I would be willing to pay him in the 3-4 million dollar range for 4 years. Ideally i would like to keep Bear and Schenn and make them compete for the 6th spot until injuries open up a spot... Ian Cole or carson Soucy are the best defensive LD available and may be had for near 3 million a year.... Alexander Edler... 1 year to finish his career as a canuck he will be brought in as depth all these signings mean we need to shed a forward, im looking at garland or Boeser... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 Clifton is going to get a juicy contract if it's not with BOS. If he stays in BOS, he'll probably take a significant discount. RHD that can play (and play upto 20min a night) don't come cheap. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckFan1123 Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 39 minutes ago, AK_19 said: They are good suggestions but I disagree that Connor Clifton is going to come cheap. We've got PK wingers, what we need are better dmen and centres for the PK. Lazar has been a disappointment thus far as a PK centre. Guys I'd hope to get would be Charlie Coyle (Boston has cap problems next year, I think we could get him as a cap dump), Luke Glendening, Adam Lowry, or Chandler Stephenson/Nicolas Roy. Jeez even Nic Dowd who slipped through our fingers. The only issue with the guys your naming is that they are all still under contract beyond this year. I was naming guys that will hit the market. No doubt, a guy like Chandler Stephenson would be probably very top of the list if he were expiring. Coyle could maybe be had in a trade with Boston likely to have cap issues. The rest I’m not sure would be moved without a good haul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckFan1123 Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 35 minutes ago, Bad_BOI_pete said: I like tyler mottes game but his ability to stay healthy is concerning.. he averages 43GP a season and for that reason i am out unless he signs for under the replacement level of 1.175m a year... injuries may catch up to him at any point... I would be sure he is only getting offered 1 and 2 year contracts, and for that reason i would offer him a lowball offer of 1 million x 4 years... if his injuries come and strip him from his game we just waive him and say thank you for being a canuck. Connor Clifton like schenn has some really good numbers this year.... when he plays with Hampus Lindholm, when he isnt they are not impressive at all, and for that reason i am out... he likely will get paid for his stats and I think he is getting his tires pumped by Hampus... I am all for Hathaway size and strength and willing to sacrifice the body. he is very defensive minded which is what you want from your 4th line guy, but 12 goals and 25 points is not bad at all... I would be wary giving him a contract longer than 2 years... age creeps up faster on 4th line guys... 1.65x2? I would like another few players to add to the list.... Scott Mayfield... he is a monster at 6'5" and 220 and plays RD. He is the NYI number 1 PK man for a dman and blocks alot of shots 37th in the league... he plays very tough minutes very well and is utilized as a shutdown dman, like clifton his success is only being noticed this year, but he is doing it running the line on the third pairing averaging almost 21 minutes a game... He does not throw the body too much but is in the range of successful dmen... where he is right in the middle of the pack. he is not a scorer but i think if he played with Hughes their games would compliment each other very well... if we tell him that we are targeting him to play alongside hughes and be our number 1 PK'er he may want to sign with us... I would be willing to pay him in the 3-4 million dollar range for 4 years. Ideally i would like to keep Bear and Schenn and make them compete for the 6th spot until injuries open up a spot... Ian Cole or carson Soucy are the best defensive LD available and may be had for near 3 million a year.... Alexander Edler... 1 year to finish his career as a canuck he will be brought in as depth all these signings mean we need to shed a forward, im looking at garland or Boeser... Mayfield is the 2nd guy on my UFA wish list after Clifton on defense. My preference of Clifton is that he’s a few years younger and plays a more physical game and I still don’t know that people know just how good he is yet because this is the first season where he’s just really actually shown the top notch talent. I think he will certainly be paid far north of the 1 mil he currently makes but I still feel he will be affordable. I think he could be very successful with Hughes, like Schenn has been. In a perfect world we keep Schenn but my hunch is he gets moved and doesn’t come back in the offseason. Clifton seems to be a strong replacement. I didn’t name any LD’s in my post because I don’t think OEL will go anywhere and I think Dermott will still remain around. I’m hard pressed to see a LD spot opening for us because of Hughes, OEL, and Dermott and maybe Rathbone even finally emerges. I am a huge fan of Soucy as well and would be all for him if a spot opens. I’d love to see Edler retire with us too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckFan1123 Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 40 minutes ago, HKSR said: Clifton is going to get a juicy contract if it's not with BOS. If he stays in BOS, he'll probably take a significant discount. RHD that can play (and play upto 20min a night) don't come cheap. Period. I anticipate Clifton will get something in the 3-3.5 range. He’s still playing mostly behind Carlo and of course McAvoy so he’s not really getting utilized to his fullest. But I also think that he’s really come into his groove. When we picked up Schenn at his bargain price he was playing a lot less minutes in Tampa. I think Clifton will still be fairly on the cheaper side but could be convinced to come play with Hughes and get big minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 2 minutes ago, CanuckFan1123 said: I anticipate Clifton will get something in the 3-3.5 range. He’s still playing mostly behind Carlo and of course McAvoy so he’s not really getting utilized to his fullest. But I also think that he’s really come into his groove. When we picked up Schenn at his bargain price he was playing a lot less minutes in Tampa. I think Clifton will still be fairly on the cheaper side but could be convinced to come play with Hughes and get big minutes. He'd probably be 3-3.5 for BOS. I highly doubt he'd take that low of a deal on the open market. Erik Gudbranson got $4M x 4 last year alone and I'd argue Clifton is a much better RHD. I'd say $4M AAV is reasonable. Could get more depending on how desperate teams are for a RHD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_314 Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 If Schenn goes Clifton would be a nice add, as long as the term isn't too long and we don't include any clauses. Secondary options I'd suggest would be Erik Johnson; while he's 34 he's also a winner and could help our patchwork RD still. Hopefully he doesn't come close to his current $6 million AAV, if he'd take 1 year/ $3 million I'd probably do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 We obviously need D but with Bo gone will really need a 3rd line center who can defend well. Lazar is a lock on the 4th line, Raty or Karlsson/Klimovich could sneak in there but it'd be nice to have a proper bonified guy there and Raty get the call up only if needed, if injuries or on the wing to start. There's many out there, Haula, Sundqvist, Puis Suter, Byron etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckFan1123 Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 2 hours ago, Phil_314 said: If Schenn goes Clifton would be a nice add, as long as the term isn't too long and we don't include any clauses. Secondary options I'd suggest would be Erik Johnson; while he's 34 he's also a winner and could help our patchwork RD still. Hopefully he doesn't come close to his current $6 million AAV, if he'd take 1 year/ $3 million I'd probably do it. EJ is a great player but at his age I don’t see him being excited to waltz into a retool. He will want to stay or join a team that gives him one more cup shot next year. We have to make a big splash to be able to entice him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckFan1123 Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 3 hours ago, HKSR said: He'd probably be 3-3.5 for BOS. I highly doubt he'd take that low of a deal on the open market. Erik Gudbranson got $4M x 4 last year alone and I'd argue Clifton is a much better RHD. I'd say $4M AAV is reasonable. Could get more depending on how desperate teams are for a RHD. If we move Boeser and other money out I’d be ok at 4 or 4.5 on Clifton. I think he’s in kind of a JT Miller pre Canucks role where he’s peaking into a high tier guy but stuck behind depth that doesn’t allow him to fully explode. I think he can be a top pair guy especially with someone like Hughes. I think he could really be valued between 6-8 mil if he was going into UFA as a top pair guy. I think that’s the kind of guy you really have to make sure you get before his value erupts. 3-4 years at 4.5 even would be a heist the way he is trending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKSR Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 27 minutes ago, CanuckFan1123 said: If we move Boeser and other money out I’d be ok at 4 or 4.5 on Clifton. I think he’s in kind of a JT Miller pre Canucks role where he’s peaking into a high tier guy but stuck behind depth that doesn’t allow him to fully explode. I think he can be a top pair guy especially with someone like Hughes. I think he could really be valued between 6-8 mil if he was going into UFA as a top pair guy. I think that’s the kind of guy you really have to make sure you get before his value erupts. 3-4 years at 4.5 even would be a heist the way he is trending. Yup, I could see Clifton at 4 to 4.5 on a mid-length deal (ie. 4 years). Worrisome thing is if he doesn't keep trending in the right direction, you now have another anchor on the blueline. We'd also have a very small top pair with Hughes and Clifton lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckFan1123 Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 2 hours ago, HKSR said: Yup, I could see Clifton at 4 to 4.5 on a mid-length deal (ie. 4 years). Worrisome thing is if he doesn't keep trending in the right direction, you now have another anchor on the blueline. We'd also have a very small top pair with Hughes and Clifton lol He’s definitely progressing nicely during his career. Haha he is small but he plays tough which I think makes up for his size. I think he’d be worth the risk and even if he played with OEL instead, I think he’d be a good player to get on the blue line and at a good price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now