[Proposal/Discussion] Filling the last pieces of roster (12/13 FWD, 6/7 DEF, 2G) with scrap UFAs

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

Preface: This is a discussion purely for UFAs left on the market, not trades.  As such, feel free to name-drop anyone else that's caught your attention.

 

Nothing particularly exciting to look at when it comes to the Canucks, since most of the team is set in stone and we are currently over the cap.  Nonetheless, we are bound to sign at least a couple more players onto the roster, either before or after training camp.  I think there's room for probably one or two more players in both the forward and defence positions, plus a backup goalie.

 

 

Well known to quite a few people here, especially those interested in proposals.  Someone please explain to me why this guy hasn't been picked up by any team yet.  He is one of the better looking bottom six centers who could've absolutely found his way on a contender... yet for some reason he's still unsigned.  The problem with him joining Vancouver is that I don't even think we could afford paying him more than $1.5M, which is far more than what he deserves.

 

 

I bet there are some people who have bumped into this guy in real life.  A local boy through and through, there's a lot to like to have him play here.  Solid skater whose work ethic helps him make decent plays on both sides of the ice.  He's firmly a bottom six player, unable to score anything even when he played a few games with Crosby.  Here in Vancouver Heinen would likely slot in with his former linemate Blueger.

 

 

This one's a true analytics pick.  Slow and not particularly skilled, ZAR has consistently proven himself to be one of the most effective defensive forwards in the league, despite never passing the eye test.  Nobody can time-waste better than this guy.  He just rags the puck and pins himself against the boards, doing absolutely nothing for 35 seconds.  Amazing useful when trying to hold a lead.  Less useful when trying to score.

 

 

Can't talk about free agents without mentioning Dumbs.  Good years, bad years, doesn't matter - Canucks fans have always wanted him on this team.  With almost RHDs left to choose from (aside from Ethan Bear), and only two top-six RHDs on our roster, Dumba is the last man standing.  This one is another surprise, where I figured he'd be signed to some ugly $4Mx4 contract, even after his horseshit season.  But here we are, at the end of July.  Wherever he ends up, it'll probably be on a cheap one-year deal that he'll hopefully convert into a better payday next summer.

 

 

A bit more of an attacking option, Jones somehow ended up with the best goal, shot, and xG differentials among defencemen on a completely shit team - even better than his big brother.  Obviously Seth is the far better player, but Caleb held his own on the 2nd pair.  For a team that is truly awful and only made major upgrades up front (two first overall picks!), Chicago had no reason not to qualify Jones.  I fully expect him to play a full season somewhere and feature on that team's powerplay.  Probably not the best fit for our team (seeing as how he's left-handed), but he's probably the best player left on a thin D-man UFA market.

 

 

This one's straightforward.  We don't really have a backup goalie.  Silovs is only 22.  If he goes through some growing pains, we default back to Spencer Martin.  Stalock is a solid veteran goaltender who can give you tons of decent games and even be an emergency starter should Demko go down again.

[DownUndaCanuck]

To be honest I'd rather let our kids take those jobs than these bottom of the barrel UFAs. I do like Suter though and think we could use another bottom-6 center who could play on the wing, just because Aman and Blueger is all we have right now really. I wouldn't be against Dumba if he was able to be signed stupidly cheaply (like 2M) but even then, he's competing against Myers for the bottom pairing RD spot. 

 

I see our roster like this right now:

 

Mikheyev - Pettersson - Kuzmenko

PDG - Miller - Boeser

Beauvillier - Blueger - Garland

Joshua - Aman - Hoglander

Podkolzin

 

Don't think we need anymore wingers, we need to give Hoglander and Podkolzin a good chance to take some minutes. PDG on the 2nd line will surely be up in the air and we'll see a lot of rotation, but if we can't move Beauvillier or Garland then we don't really have any room for another winger. Heinen is decent but I'd rather just stick to what we have if we can't flip Garland.

 

Hughes - Cole

Soucy - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

Irwin

Rathbone

 

Our defence is far from ideal but better than last year. Cole is a 19 minute guy who I think will do well on the top pairing. Soucy is a 16 minute bottom pairing guy being thrust into a bigger role, so may do well, but he may get exposed with bigger responsibilities. That bottom pairing spot is up for grabs next to Myers - Hirose or Irwin will probably snag it, I don't see Rathbone strong enough defensively to get it done. Basically, we've got a lot of bottom pairing options and have Irwin as a back-up in case those kids don't do well. The only weakness or concern is really in the middle of defence. Hughes and Hronek are great. Cole is decent. Soucy could be a top-4 weak-link depending on how he does with increased minutes and shutdown responsibilities. I don't see where Dumba would fit in all this unless he played out of his socks on the top pairing with Hughes and bumps Cole and Soucy down a pairing, but I doubt Dumba would be that good. What we could use is a solid top-4 guy like Hanifin or Pesce to push everyone down to where they were essentially playing last year on their respective depth charts.

 

I think regardless, we'll have around 1.4M in cap space after LTIR so not really much room for anyone decent. I wouldn't mind Puis Suter though if he can slot in somewhere in the bottom-6 and take the odd faceoff for us.

[NorthWestNuck]

7 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

To be honest I'd rather let our kids take those jobs than these bottom of the barrel UFAs. I do like Suter though and think we could use another bottom-6 center who could play on the wing, just because Aman and Blueger is all we have right now really. I wouldn't be against Dumba if he was able to be signed stupidly cheaply (like 2M) but even then, he's competing against Myers for the bottom pairing RD spot. 

 

I see our roster like this right now:

 

Mikheyev - Pettersson - Kuzmenko

PDG - Miller - Boeser

Beauvillier - Blueger - Garland

Joshua - Aman - Hoglander

Podkolzin

 

Don't think we need anymore wingers, we need to give Hoglander and Podkolzin a good chance to take some minutes. PDG on the 2nd line will surely be up in the air and we'll see a lot of rotation, but if we can't move Beauvillier or Garland then we don't really have any room for another winger. Heinen is decent but I'd rather just stick to what we have if we can't flip Garland.

 

Hughes - Cole

Soucy - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

Irwin

Rathbone

 

Our defence is far from ideal but better than last year. Cole is a 19 minute guy who I think will do well on the top pairing. Soucy is a 16 minute bottom pairing guy being thrust into a bigger role, so may do well, but he may get exposed with bigger responsibilities. That bottom pairing spot is up for grabs next to Myers - Hirose or Irwin will probably snag it, I don't see Rathbone strong enough defensively to get it done. Basically, we've got a lot of bottom pairing options and have Irwin as a back-up in case those kids don't do well. The only weakness or concern is really in the middle of defence. Hughes and Hronek are great. Cole is decent. Soucy could be a top-4 weak-link depending on how he does with increased minutes and shutdown responsibilities. I don't see where Dumba would fit in all this unless he played out of his socks on the top pairing with Hughes and bumps Cole and Soucy down a pairing, but I doubt Dumba would be that good. What we could use is a solid top-4 guy like Hanifin or Pesce to push everyone down to where they were essentially playing last year on their respective depth charts.

 

I think regardless, we'll have around 1.4M in cap space after LTIR so not really much room for anyone decent. I wouldn't mind Puis Suter though if he can slot in somewhere in the bottom-6 and take the odd faceoff for us.

No way PDG ends up on the second line. I know he was used there down the stretch, but that was with Mik out of the line up. PDG will probably be on the fourth line with Aman and Joshua or else the 13th forward.

 

Hirose could steal that third line LD spot, but the fact that he doesn’t have to clear waivers may mean he starts on the farm team. I think Irwin, Brisebois, and Rathbone fight for the spot.

[Alflives]

8 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

To be honest I'd rather let our kids take those jobs than these bottom of the barrel UFAs. I do like Suter though and think we could use another bottom-6 center who could play on the wing, just because Aman and Blueger is all we have right now really. I wouldn't be against Dumba if he was able to be signed stupidly cheaply (like 2M) but even then, he's competing against Myers for the bottom pairing RD spot. 

 

I see our roster like this right now:

 

Mikheyev - Pettersson - Kuzmenko

PDG - Miller - Boeser

Beauvillier - Blueger - Garland

Joshua - Aman - Hoglander

Podkolzin

 

Don't think we need anymore wingers, we need to give Hoglander and Podkolzin a good chance to take some minutes. PDG on the 2nd line will surely be up in the air and we'll see a lot of rotation, but if we can't move Beauvillier or Garland then we don't really have any room for another winger. Heinen is decent but I'd rather just stick to what we have if we can't flip Garland.

 

Hughes - Cole

Soucy - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

Irwin

Rathbone

 

Our defence is far from ideal but better than last year. Cole is a 19 minute guy who I think will do well on the top pairing. Soucy is a 16 minute bottom pairing guy being thrust into a bigger role, so may do well, but he may get exposed with bigger responsibilities. That bottom pairing spot is up for grabs next to Myers - Hirose or Irwin will probably snag it, I don't see Rathbone strong enough defensively to get it done. Basically, we've got a lot of bottom pairing options and have Irwin as a back-up in case those kids don't do well. The only weakness or concern is really in the middle of defence. Hughes and Hronek are great. Cole is decent. Soucy could be a top-4 weak-link depending on how he does with increased minutes and shutdown responsibilities. I don't see where Dumba would fit in all this unless he played out of his socks on the top pairing with Hughes and bumps Cole and Soucy down a pairing, but I doubt Dumba would be that good. What we could use is a solid top-4 guy like Hanifin or Pesce to push everyone down to where they were essentially playing last year on their respective depth charts.

 

I think regardless, we'll have around 1.4M in cap space after LTIR so not really much room for anyone decent. I wouldn't mind Puis Suter though if he can slot in somewhere in the bottom-6 and take the odd faceoff for us.

The bums, like PDG, are on the club until a younger player forced them out. New management is super smart. They sign bums to 1 year contracts and know a young guy can push the bum out and take that job any time during that year. 

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, NorthWestNuck said:

No way PDG ends up on the second line. I know he was used there down the stretch, but that was with Mik out of the line up. PDG will probably be on the fourth line with Aman and Joshua or else the 13th forward.

 

Hirose could steal that third line LD spot, but the fact that he doesn’t have to clear waivers may mean he starts on the farm team. I think Irwin, Brisebois, and Rathbone fight for the spot.

Here’s a fan who understands internal team competition for ice-time. PDG is a placeholder, at best. He will be pushed out by Pods. I’m hopeful Hogs pushes Garland to the curb too. 

[DrJockitch]

We have about 3 too many forwards and still feels like despite how many rebuilds of our D that we have been through we still haven’t found a regular partner for Quinn. 
If we can move one or two of the wingers we need to move and/or Myers would be for Dumba as potential partner for Q. Just be fast and violent, don’t worry about offence. 
Would consider Puis Suter as well as we are likely still short a bottom 6 centre despite our glut of forwards 

[DownUndaCanuck]

1 hour ago, Alflives said:

The bums, like PDG, are on the club until a younger player forced them out. New management is super smart. They sign bums to 1 year contracts and know a young guy can push the bum out and take that job any time during that year. 

Yeah I think you're right, but I'm hoping the bums are Garland and Beauvillier. PDG worked his butt off last year and Tocchet liked his chemistry with Miller and his forechecking ability, but he's realistically an AHL player up in our top-6. Surely we've got to have one of our many other wingers do that job better and bring more offence. I'm looking at Hoglander and Podkolzin to steal minutes off PDG, Garland and Beauvillier. 

 

I think Mikheyev, Kuzmenko and Boeser all remain in our top-6 - they've got enough quality and top-end skill, but those middle-tier wingers all have to fight it out for minutes.

[DownUndaCanuck]

1 hour ago, NorthWestNuck said:

No way PDG ends up on the second line. I know he was used there down the stretch, but that was with Mik out of the line up. PDG will probably be on the fourth line with Aman and Joshua or else the 13th forward.

 

Hirose could steal that third line LD spot, but the fact that he doesn’t have to clear waivers may mean he starts on the farm team. I think Irwin, Brisebois, and Rathbone fight for the spot.

Don't know, Tocchet really liked PDG with Miller. He was a good forechecker, is a big body and I noticed a lot of neat passes and chemistry with Miller. 6 goals in 30 games is good for like 16G pace over a year, which isn't that dissimilar to what Garland and Boeser produced...

 

I agree though, I'd rather someone like Beauvillier or Podkolzin steals the spot but Tocchet loves the combination of a grinder, playmaker and sniper.

 

On defence yeah Brisebois and Wolanin have a good chance, I think Wolanin is the best all-around option, Brisebois is a step below him, Rathbone is the best offensively but weakest defensively, Irwin is the most solid physically and maybe defensively but is quite slow now, and Hirose is very quick, decent defensively and makes a great first pass. Wolanin was IMO our best player last pre-season and the AHL's best defenceman all season long, I think he deserves a decent shot, but I liked Hirose-Myers in the few games they played together and we've got to groom Hirose well, ideally at the NHL level. They'll all duke it out in training camp and pre-season and we'll probably do a little rotation depending on our opponents.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

1 hour ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

To be honest I'd rather let our kids take those jobs than these bottom of the barrel UFAs. I do like Suter though and think we could use another bottom-6 center who could play on the wing, just because Aman and Blueger is all we have right now really. I wouldn't be against Dumba if he was able to be signed stupidly cheaply (like 2M) but even then, he's competing against Myers for the bottom pairing RD spot. 

 

I see our roster like this right now:

 

Mikheyev - Pettersson - Kuzmenko

PDG - Miller - Boeser

Beauvillier - Blueger - Garland

Joshua - Aman - Hoglander

Podkolzin

 

Don't think we need anymore wingers, we need to give Hoglander and Podkolzin a good chance to take some minutes. PDG on the 2nd line will surely be up in the air and we'll see a lot of rotation, but if we can't move Beauvillier or Garland then we don't really have any room for another winger. Heinen is decent but I'd rather just stick to what we have if we can't flip Garland.

 

Hughes - Cole

Soucy - Hronek

Hirose - Myers

Irwin

Rathbone

 

Our defence is far from ideal but better than last year. Cole is a 19 minute guy who I think will do well on the top pairing. Soucy is a 16 minute bottom pairing guy being thrust into a bigger role, so may do well, but he may get exposed with bigger responsibilities. That bottom pairing spot is up for grabs next to Myers - Hirose or Irwin will probably snag it, I don't see Rathbone strong enough defensively to get it done. Basically, we've got a lot of bottom pairing options and have Irwin as a back-up in case those kids don't do well. The only weakness or concern is really in the middle of defence. Hughes and Hronek are great. Cole is decent. Soucy could be a top-4 weak-link depending on how he does with increased minutes and shutdown responsibilities. I don't see where Dumba would fit in all this unless he played out of his socks on the top pairing with Hughes and bumps Cole and Soucy down a pairing, but I doubt Dumba would be that good. What we could use is a solid top-4 guy like Hanifin or Pesce to push everyone down to where they were essentially playing last year on their respective depth charts.

 

I think regardless, we'll have around 1.4M in cap space after LTIR so not really much room for anyone decent. I wouldn't mind Puis Suter though if he can slot in somewhere in the bottom-6 and take the odd faceoff for us.

So it seems some of the first responses line up perfectly with your argument, while others are in disagreement.  Here's my response.

 

You're suggesting we let the kids play and give minutes to Höglander and Podkolzin.  How will the two do either with you putting them on the fourth line and/or the press box?  Both guys should be playing 2nd/3rd line minutes but here you've buried them.  The youngsters won't be effective in these roles - it's foreign to them.

 

We have too many top-six forwards clogging up our depth chart, with nobody able to actually flourish in those bottom six roles.  Our current roster is going to be an extremely inexperienced team that'll get cooked by strong teams.  Joshua and Blueger are good choices but I dont think we have anyone else.

 

As for defence, you're taking another risk by starting the season with only 2.5 NHL-ready D-men who can shoot right handed (including Juulsen).  That doesn't sit right well with me.

[DrJockitch]

41 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

So it seems some of the first responses line up perfectly with your argument, while others are in disagreement.  Here's my response.

 

You're suggesting we let the kids play and give minutes to Höglander and Podkolzin.  How will the two do either with you putting them on the fourth line and/or the press box?  Both guys should be playing 2nd/3rd line minutes but here you've buried them.  The youngsters won't be effective in these roles - it's foreign to them.

 

We have too many top-six forwards clogging up our depth chart, with nobody able to actually flourish in those bottom six roles.  Our current roster is going to be an extremely inexperienced team that'll get cooked by strong teams.  Joshua and Blueger are good choices but I dont think we have anyone else.

 

As for defence, you're taking another risk by starting the season with only 2.5 NHL-ready D-men who can shoot right handed (including Juulsen).  That doesn't sit right well with me.

I am concerned about the composition of our bottom six but this is not hockey from the 70-90s.  Most teams have one of the top 2 lines that can take matchups, one solid defensive line and a third line that can generate some offence (a third line not the third line).

There are very few of the 2 offensive lines, 2 defensive lines setups.  Good teams almost always now have 3 offensive lines or just 4 all situation lines.

It is problematic that 2 of Hogs, Beau, Garland will likely be in our bottom six but not as problematic as in the dead puck era.

There are no perfect teams in the cap era.  I do think we still need another right shot D and a decent right handed centre away from being a good team.  Still feels like we have rebuilt the D twice without finding a partner for Q.

[hammertime]

Let the kids play. Maybe ZAR for depth he at least hits which is something we don't have enough of but I think our rosters pretty much done until some cap space is created.

 

I would like to see a healthy rotation up from the farm so we know what we have and the kids know what they need to work on. 

[Crabcakes]

15 minutes ago, DrJockitch said:

I am concerned about the composition of our bottom six but this is not hockey from the 70-90s.  Most teams have one of the top 2 lines that can take matchups, one solid defensive line and a third line that can generate some offence (a third line not the third line).

There are very few of the 2 offensive lines, 2 defensive lines setups.  Good teams almost always now have 3 offensive lines or just 4 all situation lines.

It is problematic that 2 of Hogs, Beau, Garland will likely be in our bottom six but not as problematic as in the dead puck era.

There are no perfect teams in the cap era.  I do think we still need another right shot D and a decent right handed centre away from being a good team.  Still feels like we have rebuilt the D twice without finding a partner for Q.

You're right Garland (4.95) and Beauvillier (4.15) in the bottom 6 are inefficient use of cap and this needs to be corrected.  I think that Hogs and Podz eventually replace them and they need to be careful how much salary they pay those 2 if they're going to be top 6 / bottom 6 tweeners.

 

The most I can see paying a 3rd line winger is what Pearson is getting (3.25) but only if that player is a jack of all trades type (PK, up and down the line up); like Higgins and Honey Badger used to be.

 

[DrJockitch]

3 minutes ago, Crabcakes said:

You're right Garland (4.95) and Beauvillier (4.15) in the bottom 6 are inefficient use of cap and this needs to be corrected.  I think that Hogs and Podz eventually replace them and they need to be careful how much salary they pay those 2 if they're going to be top 6 / bottom 6 tweeners.

 

The most I can see paying a 3rd line winger is what Pearson is getting (3.25) but only if that player is a jack of all trades type (PK, up and down the line up); like Higgins and Honey Badger used to be.

 

It is more that they are small, offensive minded wingers who aren’t great defensively. Not the building of a classic grind line.

[Putgolzin]

37 minutes ago, DrJockitch said:

It is more that they are small, offensive minded wingers who aren’t great defensively. Not the building of a classic grind line.

it would be like an even-more-classic version of a third line where it can actually score rather than just "bring energy".

Despite the cap inefficiency, I kind of like both Garland and Beauvilleur on the third line - assuming whoever plays at C can work with them to create offense.

If that third line had three players all around 35-40 points, I'd say a good offense is the best defence.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

4 hours ago, DrJockitch said:

I am concerned about the composition of our bottom six but this is not hockey from the 70-90s.  Most teams have one of the top 2 lines that can take matchups, one solid defensive line and a third line that can generate some offence (a third line not the third line).

There are very few of the 2 offensive lines, 2 defensive lines setups.  Good teams almost always now have 3 offensive lines or just 4 all situation lines.

It is problematic that 2 of Hogs, Beau, Garland will likely be in our bottom six but not as problematic as in the dead puck era.

There are no perfect teams in the cap era.  I do think we still need another right shot D and a decent right handed centre away from being a good team.  Still feels like we have rebuilt the D twice without finding a partner for Q.

 

3 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

You're right Garland (4.95) and Beauvillier (4.15) in the bottom 6 are inefficient use of cap and this needs to be corrected.  I think that Hogs and Podz eventually replace them and they need to be careful how much salary they pay those 2 if they're going to be top 6 / bottom 6 tweeners.

 

The most I can see paying a 3rd line winger is what Pearson is getting (3.25) but only if that player is a jack of all trades type (PK, up and down the line up); like Higgins and Honey Badger used to be.

We simply don't have cheap depth forwards.  The UFA forwards I've proposed are all incredibly cheap and are proven bottom-six players who probably haven't been signed because of a tight cap - a situation our team is also struggling with.  It's still a very team-friendly market right now and I feel like Vancouver still has some potential to exploit that more.  Staying put is going to result in an another ineffective forward core beyond the top six.  I mean, just look at this trio and ask yourself if you think they can do better in the bottom six:

 

 

You put them on a line together and nothing's going to happen offensively.  But they are probably going to give up a lot of scoring chances.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

5 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Don't know, Tocchet really liked PDG with Miller. He was a good forechecker, is a big body and I noticed a lot of neat passes and chemistry with Miller. 6 goals in 30 games is good for like 16G pace over a year, which isn't that dissimilar to what Garland and Boeser produced...

 

I agree though, I'd rather someone like Beauvillier or Podkolzin steals the spot but Tocchet loves the combination of a grinder, playmaker and sniper.

 

On defence yeah Brisebois and Wolanin have a good chance, I think Wolanin is the best all-around option, Brisebois is a step below him, Rathbone is the best offensively but weakest defensively, Irwin is the most solid physically and maybe defensively but is quite slow now, and Hirose is very quick, decent defensively and makes a great first pass. Wolanin was IMO our best player last pre-season and the AHL's best defenceman all season long, I think he deserves a decent shot, but I liked Hirose-Myers in the few games they played together and we've got to groom Hirose well, ideally at the NHL level. They'll all duke it out in training camp and pre-season and we'll probably do a little rotation depending on our opponents.

Brisebois and Wolanin should not be first options for your top six defencemen - not if you're trying to make the playoffs, and not when are still a couple of cheap (better) options left on the market.  The nice thing about players like Soucy and Cole is that they can play more minutes and do just fine.  I just don't trust our current depth D-men to play 18 minutes a night.

 

I'm not saying we sign all six players I've mentioned, but they are all fairly clear upgrades on whatever players we currently have on the roster.  The biggest perk is that they probably all cost around $1M each.

[Crabcakes]

7 minutes ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

 

We simply don't have cheap depth forwards.  The UFA forwards I've proposed are all incredibly cheap and are proven bottom-six players who probably haven't been signed because of a tight cap - a situation our team is also struggling with.  It's still a very team-friendly market right now and I feel like Vancouver still has some potential to exploit that more.  Staying put is going to result in an another ineffective forward core beyond the top six.  I mean, just look at this trio and ask yourself if you think they can do better in the bottom six:

 

 

You put them on a line together and nothing's going to happen offensively.  But they are probably going to give up a lot of scoring chances.

What I mean to say is that they're going to have to work on this.  Top of mind for this offseason had to be improving the D and bringing in a 3C all of which could also help the PK.  I think that to one degree or another Allvin has been successful.  It remains to be seen how successful though.

 

The job is clearly not finished.  Cap efficiencies need to be found, bottom 6 improvements made and organizational and prospect depth improved.  Who knows, we may see prospects moving up to the big club.  Wouldn't that be something? 

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

3 minutes ago, Crabcakes said:

What I mean to say is that they're going to have to work on this.  Top of mind for this offseason had to be improving the D and bringing in a 3C all of which could also help the PK.  I think that to one degree or another Allvin has been successful.  It remains to be seen how successful though.

 

The job is clearly not finished.  Cap efficiencies need to be found, bottom 6 improvements made and organizational and prospect depth improved.  Who knows, we may see prospects moving up to the big club.  Wouldn't that be something? 

It certainly was something watching our team last season, half-consisting of Abby players...

 

We don't have a great prospect pool.  Out of the NHL-ready prospects we have, you have to play the law of averages and assume not everyone will break out.  "Letting the kids play" only works when you have a high-end prospect pool like Buffalo has.

[ilduce39]

Dhaliwal made a comment that a lot of these guys are waiting on teams to clear some space but didn’t specifically mention the Canucks.

Pure speculation but maybe Dumba has a handshake with the Canucks after they move Myers post-bonus.  If they could get him for a show-me deal, maybe room for Suter as well.
 

It’s a pipe dream but adding Dumba and Suter would present a fairly competitive lineup going into the year, if a little small side.

 

If Myers is off the table, it might even be worth paying to offload Boeser or Garland to land those two. Way too many variables at play to see that happening though.

[Phil_314]

3 hours ago, Bob.Loblaw said:

 

We simply don't have cheap depth forwards.  The UFA forwards I've proposed are all incredibly cheap and are proven bottom-six players who probably haven't been signed because of a tight cap - a situation our team is also struggling with.  It's still a very team-friendly market right now and I feel like Vancouver still has some potential to exploit that more.  Staying put is going to result in an another ineffective forward core beyond the top six.  I mean, just look at this trio and ask yourself if you think they can do better in the bottom six:

 

 

You put them on a line together and nothing's going to happen offensively.  But they are probably going to give up a lot of scoring chances.

Agreed about Aman, just not sure I understand the love for him, he's probably the next Lammikko nothing burger.  With Suter still around, if his ask is not too excessive I'd love it if we could take a shot on him.  Boeser I'd personally want to see get another chance, family circumstances and all, but I find it hard to believe in Beauvillier, he's rarely been consistent, and if there was no sweetener needed (like in the Hall trade) I'd love to send him to Chicago and let someone like Podkolzin or Hoglander get bigger roles.