Building off another team I made. The other one, called "aggressive offseason" (look it up in the Canucks ACGM page with my username), represents what I think Benning might do as he did before the 2019-2020 season to save face by rushing us into the playoffs. This one will be what I think would make sense in a vacuum.
I like the hell out of our core. Whatever you think about Benning, our core is talented. Pettersson, Hughes, Horvat, Boeser, Demko, Rathbone, Hoglander, Podkolzin, and even Miller, to an extent. We can't completely hang the team out to dry after the season we just had and the desires of the talent we have to make the playoffs now. At the same time, our best years are far away and we need to maintain draft picks to capitalize on them.
The solution, I believe, is to clear up the space we can to sign as short of deals as we can so that they can help us in the short term and leave us be in the long term. If our season is another tire fire, trade these short term deals for whatever late picks we can a la Jordie Benn this year for a 6th.
Assuming Jay Beagle and Michael Ferland are done.
Eriksson kicks rocks in Abbotsford. Roussell joins him but comes up to replace injuries. If he gets picked up on waivers, we accompany him with a gift basket.
I bet that Virtanen is looking at a contract termination, but we'll buy him out for now.
Highmore stays because he kills penalties good.
Hawrlyuk was bright before the COVID pause, if he will take the same cap hit for a year he's serviceable depth.
Look, Quinn Hughes is supremely talented. I've gone back and forth on him but I've seen enough GM's say any team would want him. He does something noone else on the Canucks back end does and that's transition the puck from our zone with possession through his crafty passing and his incredible edges. Yes, we badly need to get him a partner that can cover him defensively. He looked slower this year than last so I think the schedule got to him. Fingers crossed. We get him through the flat-cap at $6.25 million for 3 years, leveraging his 10.2c status.
Petey is a really good 1C and it doesn't seem like anyone's questioning that. What's more, he elevates his game in the playoffs, despite his slim frame. I've heard long term, I've heard short term. Let's hope that the Barzal and a small premium deal suffices. 3 years at $7.25 million.
Hoping that Emil Pettersson turns out to be a gem. Would love to have him impress on a top line role in Abbotsford and then fit as a scoring 3C or a skilled middle 6 winger with the big club.
Edler at $2 million on a 1 year deal in a 3rd pairing role, interchanging with Rathbone, I think, makes sense. If Edler disagrees, we thank him for his service and he gets a shot with a contender. We treat Sutter the same way we treated Edler, but as a 4C. He only gets $1.5 million or he's packing his bags. At that cap hit, we can afford to give him an extra year. We are OK with $1.5 million in the press box over Lord Loui's $6 million popcorn demolishing prowess.
Hamonic on the third pair or with Hughes is just the kind of cheap deal we'd be looking at for next season. Perhaps he wants a few more years to give his family stability. We give him a slight raise and an extra year. We can stomach a $1.5 million 7th defenseman in 2022.
Vesey and Boyd kick rocks. Maybe Dubas misses their killer instincts so they go back to TOR. Whatever.
Although tempting, we don't make any trades unless we can get a steal on a 3C or a RHD. Seattle coming into the league will initiate a ****storm but we sit out the ****storm and try to make the most of the debris.
Speaking of Seattle, we have the following protection list that Seattle rolls it's eyes at due to the resulting choices they are left with:
7F: Miller, Boeser, Petey, Horvat, Pearson, Motte, Lind
3D: Myers, Schmidt, Juolevi
1G: Arturs Silovs. No? Fine, Demko.
Seattle needs to choose between Gadjovich, MacEwan, Holtby (yeah right) and Bowey. I actually think it was shrewd NOT to play Bowey because now he's an unknown quantity for Seattle but we get to see if he's worth a damn next year. Seattle agrees with Travis Green that Gadjovich is a turtle with an anvil tied to his skates so they go with MacEwan. MacEwan is a disaster in the DZ so I don't care.
We're very, VERY tempted to buy out Holtby but we're committed to going into 2022 with a clean slate.
That leaves us with just $6.5 million to sign the vets mentioned earlier. Thanks, Jim. But we don't panic since the cap is flat and the market has slowed down.
I'm thinking about the following UFA options (remember - SHORT TERM GOOD):
FW:
Joel Armia, LW/RW
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, LW/C
Nick Bjugstad C/RW
Nick Bonino, C
Tyler Bozak, C/RW
Derick Brassard, LW/C
Ryan Dzingel, LW/RW/C
Barkley Goodrow, C/LW
Erik Haula, C/LW
Mattias Janmaark, C/LW
Riley Nash, C/LW
Blake Coleman, LW/RW
Thomas Nosek, C/LW
Liam O’Brien, C/RW
Tobias Reider, RW/LW
Carl Soderberg, C/LW
Paul Stastny, C/LW
Alex Wennberg, C
Travis Zajac, C
D:
Zach Bogosian, RHD
Ian Cole, LHD
Alex Goligoski, LHD
Adam Larsson, RHD
Alec Martinez, LHD
Brandon Montour, RHD
Kevan Miller, RHD
Jordan Oesterle, LHD
Tucker Poolman, RHD
Mark Pysyk, RHD
Sami Vatenen, RHD
David Savard, RHD
Luke Schenn, RHD
Liam O'Brien's stats may have been boosted by playing with incredible players on the Avs but we'll bring him in as a better aged depth center and see if he can become the 4th line guy. He's also nicknamed Big Tuna so we can maintain our tuna/60 without Jake. Avs will be super cap strapped. I think he's a big upgrade on Graovac.
I would look at Bellemare for a year at $1 million as he has performed well for an older vet.
At 3C, we're not getting anything to write home about. I'm debating between Wennberg, Nash, Bjugstad, and Dzingel.
We kick tires on Wennberg, he prices himself out to > $3.5 million. Ryley Nash we offer 1 year $1.5 million, but he goes back to Columbus. If Bjugstad is willing to do $2 million for 1 year, that would be a low risk high reward gamble. I think Dzingel ends up pricing himself out, but if he's willing to do $3.5 million it might be worth it.
Ultimately, I think the Bjugstad gamble is the safest bet.
At RHD, for cheapness sake we bring Luke Schenn back for $1 million.
Finally, we pay for Tomas Nosek to help with puck possession on the third line. I think he would cost a bit of a premium to be demoted from Vegas to Van, but he's valuable.
What we're left with is a team that will struggle to make the playoffs, and since Benning was fired and I'm new, that's OK. The right side of defense is particularly abhorrant. Let's see if we can get Shane Wright and add depth through picks that we might acquire by trading some of the vets we signed.
All this work is to set up the Canucks to actually improve the team in 2022 with the rest of the bad contracts coming off the books. Before you tell me to get a life, I know.
Good read...thanks. I like your list of potential options, there are some very serviceable pieces out there. Although I fear you are correct with the resigning of Sutter and Edler, I just don't see the point of it. For less than what they will pay Edler, a younger (potentially more effective) LD can be had. Sutter is slow, brittle and not really very physical anymore.....there are much better options out there than him. Unfortunately Benning's goal is the playoffs this year and that motivation will preclude at least one more gigantically stupid move on his part (I shudder to think). As I see Colorado, Vegas, NYI etc. play now and watching other teams in the middle of methodical rebuilds (unlike our "rebuild"), a Stanley Cup seems to be getting further and further away IMO.
Good read...thanks. I like your list of potential options, there are some very serviceable pieces out there. Although I fear you are correct with the resigning of Sutter and Edler, I just don't see the point of it. For less than what they will pay Edler, a younger (potentially more effective) LD can be had. Sutter is slow, brittle and not really very physical anymore.....there are much better options out there than him. Unfortunately Benning's goal is the playoffs this year and that motivation will preclude at least one more gigantically stupid move on his part (I shudder to think). As I see Colorado, Vegas, NYI etc. play now and watching other teams in the middle of methodical rebuilds (unlike our "rebuild"), a Stanley Cup seems to be getting further and further away IMO.
Thank you! Totally, I think I defaulted Edler and Sutter back. I think I might be sentimental with Edler, to be honest. Now, I do think there is some "hidden" value in treating your veterans who've given their careers to you with respect. That being said, maybe Edler would welcome a better chance at a cup somewhere else anyway. Sutter I think at $1.5 million could possibly have a bit of a bounce back offensively - but likely your assessment is correct. I've gone with several "prove it" type moves that can be dealt if they prove it and are off the books soon if they don't. I think there are better options than Sutter, and it might be that I just like the guy (off the ice more so than on it) which isn't great business.
As for moving further from the cup, I disagree, respectfully. I think we will be much improved in 2022 even if Benning runs amock - simply because our key guys will be at the height of their primes. Now, whether that's enough to actually contend for a cup, I think you're right there. It's not. Useful depth needs to show itself. Perhaps I misunderstand you slightly, but I think we will end up with a chance at a long cup run during Hughes, Demko, and Petterssons primes. Whether that would be better served by methodical depth development, rather than rash win now to save a job moves, most probably yes.
Thank you! Totally, I think I defaulted Edler and Sutter back. I think I might be sentimental with Edler, to be honest. Now, I do think there is some "hidden" value in treating your veterans who've given their careers to you with respect. That being said, maybe Edler would welcome a better chance at a cup somewhere else anyway. Sutter I think at $1.5 million could possibly have a bit of a bounce back offensively - but likely your assessment is correct. I've gone with several "prove it" type moves that can be dealt if they prove it and are off the books soon if they don't. I think there are better options than Sutter, and it might be that I just like the guy (off the ice more so than on it) which isn't great business.
As for moving further from the cup, I disagree, respectfully. I think we will be much improved in 2022 even if Benning runs amock - simply because our key guys will be at the height of their primes. Now, whether that's enough to actually contend for a cup, I think you're right there. It's not. Useful depth needs to show itself. Perhaps I misunderstand you slightly, but I think we will end up with a chance at a long cup run during Hughes, Demko, and Petterssons primes. Whether that would be better served by methodical depth development, rather than rash win now to save a job moves, most probably yes.
My fear is that we will be good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to be a serious threat to challenge for a cup. There are so many real needs (RD, C and general depth) that can't be significantly addressed through our prospect pool and that is alarming. Benning unnecessarily wasted a lot of good assets to rush the rebuild and I am worried more of the same is coming. Canucks management/ownership have their sights firmly set on the "playoffs" this year, but at what future cost??
My fear is that we will be good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to be a serious threat to challenge for a cup. There are so many real needs (RD, C and general depth) that can't be significantly addressed through our prospect pool and that is alarming. Benning unnecessarily wasted a lot of good assets to rush the rebuild and I am worried more of the same is coming. Canucks management/ownership have their sights firmly set on the "playoffs" this year, but at what future cost??
Yeah, absolutely. I think we are foregoing the opportunity to make ourselves serious contenders. I think Aquilini prefers to have us in the playoffs every year, a la Minnesota, who have never really contended, to help the bottom line with the playoff revenue. As a fan, that's frustrating. Unfortunately I don't know if we can really do anything about that. My coping mechanism is this ACGM lol.
McDavid, Connor
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