An Oliver Ekman-Larsson buyout is the only way the Canucks can re-tool the defence

[VegasCanuck]

5 hours ago, iinatcc said:

I would pause considering a buyout and hope there's a GM somewhere that values OEL the same way Benning did. 

So, the problem here isn't necessarily the ability to move him, he has a full NMC which means, we can't even send him to Abbotsford without his approval.

 

I believe that he needs to leave the team, but how he leaves the team, our hands are tied. If he will agree to waive, we'd be better off overall, retaining 25% of his contract and letting it run out somewhere else. If not, we may be in a position where we have to buy him out.

 

This summer should be the last of the smaller cap increases with it moving up by 1 million. Next summer, it's expected to jump by 4 - 5 million which softens the blow on doing a buy out. If we are going to entertain a buyout, this is the summer to do it. We would only absorb about 150k hit on the cap for next season which, combined with moving Myers, would give us effectively 13 million additional in cap space to work with this summer. It would give us the ability to do some much better upgrades, especially since a number of teams are in a position where they will likely need to dump players this summer to make things fit for next year.

 

If we can create space, this is likely the last year to take advantage of other teams need to dump.

 

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, stawns said:

media and fan driven I would think.......I would hope the management group isn't so stupid as to carry a big dead cap hit for 7 more years

And it’s better to carry OEL’s 7.2 for the rest of his career? 

[Googlie]

5 minutes ago, spook007 said:

They put an implant into his helmet... every time he passes the blue line, he get electro shock... it seems to help 

A Clockwork Orange?

[Strawbone]

Those cap savings for the next two years are MIGHTY tempting.

 

To me it all hinges on whether he has simply declined to the point where what we saw earlier this year is the new normal for him. If that's the case, I think a buyout makes sense. He was doing nothing but hurting the team. If he was really injured and could come back fully healed and play more like last season, then he's still not nearly worth his contract but he is a useful player, and could really benefit from the team's much stronger defensive structure where he doesn't have to react to multiple major defensive breakdowns every game. His foot speed just wasn't there this year to deal with breakdowns like that.

[HKSR]

7 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Our owner has never cut such a large buyout cheque, so of course he’s unlikely to do it now. But the idea of creating 7 mil in cap room (using an OEL buyout) for next season is certainly being discussed with him.  I don’t know how Aquilini speaks privately with JR and Allvin but I doubt he expresses his views on an OEL buyout with the words you choose. Would be funny if he did though! 

NO owner has ever cut such a large buyout cheque.  It'd be the largest buyout in terms of real dollars of any player in the history of the league.  Wrap your head around that folks.  YES, even bigger than the Suter and Parise buyouts.  They both only had $10M in TOTAL remaining in their final 4 years when they were bought out.  OEL is owed $29M!!

[spook007]

2 minutes ago, Googlie said:

A Clockwork Orange?

There's the blue line.......

 

[stawns]

6 minutes ago, VegasCanuck said:

So, the problem here isn't necessarily the ability to move him, he has a full NMC which means, we can't even send him to Abbotsford without his approval.

 

I believe that he needs to leave the team, but how he leaves the team, our hands are tied. If he will agree to waive, we'd be better off overall, retaining 25% of his contract and letting it run out somewhere else. If not, we may be in a position where we have to buy him out.

 

This summer should be the last of the smaller cap increases with it moving up by 1 million. Next summer, it's expected to jump by 4 - 5 million which softens the blow on doing a buy out. If we are going to entertain a buyout, this is the summer to do it. We would only absorb about 150k hit on the cap for next season which, combined with moving Myers, would give us effectively 13 million additional in cap space to work with this summer. It would give us the ability to do some much better upgrades, especially since a number of teams are in a position where they will likely need to dump players this summer to make things fit for next year.

 

If we can create space, this is likely the last year to take advantage of other teams need to dump.

 

why does he need to leave the team, exactly?  Because there's some kind of misguided notion that he's suddenly turned into this horrible dman after years of being a top line player?  The same people crying about OEL are the same people who thought Myers was the worst dman in the league and are now singing his praises as a player who has "finally got it", with no acknowledgement that the complate lack of a defensive system under BB was the culprit and not the individual player.  

 

My guess is, when OEL comes back, you will see the same "resurgence" in his game, under a decent defensive system.  

[CanucksJay]

I think its worthwhile seeing what a healthy OEL can do with good systems and good defense coaches (Foote and Gonchar) while being paired with an up and coming star like Hronek. 

If he can even play like a 4.5m d man, it's worth keeping him rather than buying him out but I have a feeling we'll see him do really well in a complimentary role. Yes he's being paid like the go to #1 guy but he clearly isn't. Best we can hope for is him being a solid 4D and I think he has it in him to do that. 

Hughes helped Schenn put up career numbers and now he is making Juulsen look like a competent NHLer. I'm hoping Hronek can do the same for OEL. 

I would try that first before buying him out

[CanucksJay]

3 minutes ago, HKSR said:

NO owner has ever cut such a large buyout cheque.  It'd be the largest buyout in terms of real dollars of any player in the history of the league.  Wrap your head around that folks.  YES, even bigger than the Suter and Parise buyouts.  They both only had $10M in TOTAL remaining in their final 4 years when they were bought out.  OEL is owed $29M!!

I don't see a buyout happening if it's gonna cost Francesco 29m.

Frankly I'd like to see OEL healthy and paired with Hronek before buying him out. 

[HKSR]

1 minute ago, CanucksJay said:

I don't see a buyout happening if it's gonna cost Francesco 29m.

Frankly I'd like to see OEL healthy and paired with Hronek before buying him out. 

It's not technically $29M as a buyout means only 2/3 of that I think... but still.  Massive money.

[HKSR]

5 minutes ago, stawns said:

why does he need to leave the team, exactly?  Because there's some kind of misguided notion that he's suddenly turned into this horrible dman after years of being a top line player?  The same people crying about OEL are the same people who thought Myers was the worst dman in the league and are now singing his praises as a player who has "finally got it", with no acknowledgement that the complate lack of a defensive system under BB was the culprit and not the individual player.  

 

My guess is, when OEL comes back, you will see the same "resurgence" in his game, under a decent defensive system.  

I feel that way too.  Then for those wanting to buy him out, they need to find a replacement 2nd pair LHD in place of OEL... it becomes completely pointless.

[DrJockitch]

50 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Hughes, Mayfield

Gravrikov, Hronek

OEL, Livingston 

Back to overpaying for UFAs when not a playoff team. Great idea Benning. 

[DrJockitch]

3 minutes ago, HKSR said:

It's not technically $29M as a buyout means only 2/3 of that I think... but still.  Massive money.

Yeah, I quoted that number earlier but was mistaken. Buyout is $19M in the summer. 

[VegasCanuck]

8 minutes ago, stawns said:

why does he need to leave the team, exactly?  Because there's some kind of misguided notion that he's suddenly turned into this horrible dman after years of being a top line player?  The same people crying about OEL are the same people who thought Myers was the worst dman in the league and are now singing his praises as a player who has "finally got it", with no acknowledgement that the complate lack of a defensive system under BB was the culprit and not the individual player.  

 

My guess is, when OEL comes back, you will see the same "resurgence" in his game, under a decent defensive system.  

I believe that he needs to leave because he's taking up too much salary on the left side. We need to reconstruct how our defense functions and its overall composition.

 

In my mind, Myers and OEL need to go and be replaced by faster, lower cost guys. 

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

There are those who are saying he might return a more effective defender after recovering from his injury or just play better under Tocchet.  That is extremely wishful thinking.  OEL was hot garbage at the time Benning traded for him.  He actually improved his first year here in Vancouver before regressing back to what everyone expected of him.  I say again - OEL was bad two years ago and everyone seemed to know it except our former GM.  This was from 2021:

 

[EternalCanuckFan]

1 minute ago, HKSR said:

I feel that way too.  Then for those wanting to buy him out, they need to find a replacement 2nd pair LHD in place of OEL... it becomes completely pointless.

In theory, if Hughes and Hronek can each carry a separate pairing, then the Canucks may be able to run with a very cheap 3rd pair while running less expensive partners with each of Hughes and Hronek.

 

The long-term penalty from an OEL buyout is not very palatable so I'm interested to see how a healthy OEL pairs with Hronek. Having said that, even with a resurgence in play, OEL's long-term cap hit will presumably be a factor with re-signing Hronek after next year, and improving the rest of the D core. If the cap rises significantly by 2024-2025 and OEL is playing at a respectable level, then maybe it will be less of an issue, but I suspect an OEL buyout will continue to be discussed either until OEL's contract is completed or until the buyout happens.

 

I was honestly quite surprised at OEL's form this season. Last season actually provided a reasonable hope that OEL could continue playing at least at a low-to-mid level top-4 D, but there's no doubt he had a significant drop off this season (for whatever reason - my guess is he never got fully healthy after getting injured at the World Championships). I think OEL deserves a chance to have a lot of time to get healthy for next season, but I guess we'll see what transpires this summer.

[canuck73_3]

26 minutes ago, Alflives said:

And it’s better to carry OEL’s 7.2 for the rest of his career? 

honestly smarter than dead cap, OEL was good last year, injured this year when playing coaching was mediocre. He's nowhere near as bad as people make him out to be here objectively. 

[HKSR]

1 minute ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

In theory, if Hughes and Hronek can each carry a separate pairing, then the Canucks may be able to run with a very cheap 3rd pair while running less expensive partners with each of Hughes and Hronek.

 

The long-term penalty from an OEL buyout is not very palatable so I'm interested to see how a healthy OEL pairs with Hronek. Having said that, even with a resurgence in play, OEL's long-term cap hit will presumably be a factor with re-signing Hronek after next year, and improving the rest of the D core. If the cap rises significantly by 2024-2025 and OEL is playing at a respectable level, then maybe it will be less of an issue, but I suspect an OEL buyout will continue to be discussed either until OEL's contract is completed or until the buyout happens.

 

I was honestly quite surprised at OEL's form this season. Last season actually provided a reasonable hope that OEL could continue playing at least at a low-to-mid level top-4 D, but there's no doubt he had a significant drop off this season (for whatever reason - my guess is he never got fully healthy after getting injured at the World Championships). I think OEL deserves a chance to have a lot of time to get healthy for next season, but I guess we'll see what transpires this summer.

Same.  It was surprising.  I mean, I get it when players get older, their offensive capability can drop off a cliff pretty quickly, but from a defensive standpoint, it usually doesn't fade that quickly.  OEL is only 31, it's not like he's 36 going on 40 lol.

[canuck73_3]

9 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

There are those who are saying he might return a more effective defender after recovering from his injury or just play better under Tocchet.  That is extremely wishful thinking.  OEL was hot garbage at the time Benning traded for him.  He actually improved his first year here in Vancouver before regressing back to what everyone expected of him.  I say again - OEL was bad two years ago and everyone seemed to know it except our former GM.  This was from 2021:

 

Arizona has been garbage for the better part of 2 decades. One player can only do so much.

[Googlie]

6 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

There are those who are saying he might return a more effective defender after recovering from his injury or just play better under Tocchet.  That is extremely wishful thinking.  OEL was hot garbage at the time Benning traded for him.  He actually improved his first year here in Vancouver before regressing back to what everyone expected of him.  I say again - OEL was bad two years ago and everyone seemed to know it except our former GM.  This was from 2021:

 

Impressive, but what do those numbers mean?

 

Eg that first row of 5 boxes, what does "PP 1%" mean?  That he gets 1% of the powerplay time? That's hard to believe. That 1% of his TOI is powerplay? That's more credible .  But if so, then does "PK 31%" mean that 31% of his on ice time is on the PK? Obviously not

 

Help me understand why these statistics are so damning