GDT: 2018 Free Agency: Jay Beagle 4 x 3M, Antoine Roussel 4 x 3.25M, both w/ limited NTCs

[member 290103]

McGuire is a dip****

Craig Button and Ray Ferraro are my guys

I agree with about 98% of what Ray says.

McGuire is a total idiot. He's a guy that loved Sutter and Gudbranson - said that Sutter would solidify the second line centre spot and is an "elite" gritty defensive centre that can replace Kesler. He also thought the Gudbranson deal was a total heist by Benning.

He's just a hyper moron that likes to hear himself talk. He's irrelevant.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

What a depressing offseason. Like I don't have a lot of faith in Benning but I really didn't think "older and slower" could possibly be the plan for yet another year.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Other teams are picking up free draft picks meanwhile Jimbo is getting into a heated bidding war over a 33 year old 4C.

Peak Benning.

Should just repost and or retweet this on every platform everyday

 

[Peter10]

So if they do sign Beagle and Roussel, this will be a likely lineup

Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser
Eriksson-Sutter-Pettersson
Roussell-Gagner-Virtanen
Leipsic-Beagle-Granlund
Gaunce

Edler-Gudbranson
MDZ-Tanev
Pouliot-Biega
Stecher

Markstrom/Nilsson

That is one rookie (Pettersson) and 3 players (Horvat, Boeser, Pettersson) below 24 in total. Better go out and sign more vets!!!

Funnily enough, those 3 young guys might end up the 3 best players on the team during the season.

 

[WTG]

As I said, if they can't trade Sutter, I question whether they should sign Beagle at all. But let's leave that for later. Let's first consider what happens if they sign Roussel, and assume Pettersson makes the team out of camp. Virtanen is a lock and won't be traded.

Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser
xxxx-xxxx-Virtanen
Eriksson-Sutter-Pettersson
Rousel-Gagner-Granlund
yyyy
yyyy

That leaves 4 spots open: two in the line-up and the 13th and 14th forwards. These four spots will be fought over by Gaunce, Leipsic, Goldobin, Gaudette, and Dahlen. It is more likely than not that Dahlen will start in the AHL where he should be. So you have:

Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser
Goldobin/Leipsic-Gaudette-Virtanen
Eriksson-Sutter-Pettersson
Rousel-Gagner-Granlund
Gaunce
Leipsic/Goldobin

Under this scenario, injuries will occur and Dahlen will get plenty of opportunity at the NHL level, if he earns it.

I also hope that Gaunce can show he's an everyday player and displaces Gagner to the press box.

One of Goldobin or Leipsic needs to step up.

I don't particularly like the roster but it gets the kids plenty of opportunity to play while pushing Gaunce, Goldobin and Leipsic to be better than replacement players.

Now, if Sutter is traded (highly unlikely but worth the effort to ask the question) and Beagle is signed, nothing changes much. Except that Beagle + assets returned for Sutter is likely much better than keeping Sutter.

This all assumes that the contracts for Roussel and Beagle are two years or less, which probably means my entire post is irrelevant

You are making the assumption that Gaudette/Dahlen/Goldobin all will be fringe NHLers, but if they are fringe NHLers they should still get playing time instead of our vets. Knowing the coach, knowing the GM there is no way that if these players are signed and if they get their spots taken away from the young players, they'll still play the vets over them. Also, you are right, this team ain't going to trade Sutter, he's their guy. They won't move over older players for the younger ones, they'll put the young guys in positions they can't succeed at stuck next to offensive holes like Beagle/Roussel/Sutter.

As for having warm bodies for injuries, we can just sign Archibald or some other PTO type player to fill those injury holes.

Look, all you have to do is look at the precedent this club has already set. How many games did Gagner sit last year? Eriksson? Dowd? Granlund? Jokinen? Del Zotto? Gudbransson? They clearly have a heavy bias towards playing vets and scrubs over prospects. What going into next season with Beagle/Rousel is going to change?

This narrative that these signings won't hurt young players is a lot like last years narrative that they acquired Del Zotto/Gagner/Vanek as trade chips. Fooled me once, won't be fooled again.

 

[iceburg]

It's really amazing looking with looking at the UFA's he's going after just the complete collection of junk Benning has acquired, he may be the first and only 'hoarder' GM I've ever seen. Looking at forward we basically already have 16 guys in the mix:

Eriksson, Horvat, Sutter, Gagner, Granlund, Boeser, Gaudette, Pettersson, Gaunce, Leipsic, Boucher, Archibald, Virtanen, Baerstchi, Motte, Goldobin

Benning could still surprise us but there doesn't seem to be any plan on moving guys other than pushing them through waivers: Gaunce, Boucher, Goldobin, or waiver exempt players who at this point should be getting a shot at the team: Pettersson, Gaudette, Motte, or just letting them walk: Archibald (I'm assuming we're not going to try with Dowd and Jokinen).

As things stand now this is more or less the position we were in to start last season, after adding a number of UFA's. So it's going to be laughable if/when we pay a premium to add more bottom six guys like Beagle and Roussel on premium multi-year contracts.

I actually think it's a little better than when the opitons were Megna and Chaput but, yeah, it's still a bit of a dog's breakfast (in relative terms - I think any guy who plays in the NHL has serious chops).
This is the consequence of a misguided strategy of a few years ago. It will now take some time to recover.

 

[WTG]

At the end of the day you still need those types of guys to play those roles. Ideally you don't want Dahlen, Petterson, Lind, Goldobin, or even Leipsic playing in your bottom six. Expecting to just throw all these kids in your bottom six and expecting them to be filling roles in three years is completely unrealistic.

This team doesn't need over priced bottom 6 players. This team needs to develop talent.

I don't see the problem with running a young top 9 with no grinders. That's how the NHL has been trending for years. By filling it up with over-priced 2-way players (really just 1 way offensive sink holes) you are just going to build a team that will once again be at the bottom of the scoring charts next year.

 

[iceburg]

Being realistic:

Horvat/Boeser/Bear likely start the year on the top line
Sutter and a pair of wingers get the 2nd most ice time to play the checking role.

Then, it's up to Green to decide how to figure out who gets the 2nd offensive line and what type of 4th line he wants to see.

Best wingers for a pure checking role likely are Granlund/Gaunce/Eriksson/Leipsic. Don't see any reason to put anyone else there if Sutter is in a checking role.

Then, in the offensive role, you have the likes of Gaudette/Petterson/Goldy/Virtanen/Gagner competing. Can drop Bear down in replace of one of the wingers to balance out the youth.

4th line, honestly, given what Green had to role out there for the final line last season, mostly a mashup of Gagner/Vanek/Eriksson/Virtanen after the Henrik line, Bo line, and Sutter line, there was no consistency in offence from them.

They can afford to add 1 forward, but I don't see the need to add 2 this off-season.

Signed guys up front are:
Horvat/Boeser/Granlund/Gaunce/Eriksson/Gagner/Sutter/Leipsic
ELC Gaudette/Petterson/Dahlen/Goldobin/Motte
RFA in Bear and Virtanen

That's 15 guys. I don't expect either of Lind or Gadjovich to make the roster. Best to let them play in the A.

Adding 1 forward like Beagle brings them to 16 guys.

Motte likely sent to the AHL, drops them to 15. Dahlen likely starts in the A as well, so that drops them to 14. They will carry 8 D, so 1 more F needs to go down. Goldy needs to clear waivers. Gaudette and Pettersson don't, but doubt the fans would be happy if they put up a solid pre-season and get sent down. Pretty much leaves them to drop Leipsic. He needs a good camp to show that he belongs as well.

They shouldn't be adding contracts greater than 3 years. I mean, Nik Hjamarlsson got extended 2 years in AZ. His current deal expires when he's 32. Edler is 32 now so his deal expires at age 33. Guaranteed that if this group keeps Edler, it will be longer than 2 years that Hammer got in AZ.

Even with guys like Edler/Hutton/Nilsson/MDZ/Granlund, Gaunce/Leipsic/Goldobin/Dorsett coming off the books in 2019, there is no need to cram up too much bottom end guys. Overpaid bottom end guys with term don't net you anything in terms of a trade.

Between Loui/Sutter/Gagner and say another $3 million for Beagle, that would be about $16.5 million for these 4 guys.

Excellent post. Change the bolded to two years and I agree with everything you said.

 

[JuniorNelson]

The push for some of these veteran free agents might be from Green?

 

[Quinning]

The f*** are they doing...the last thing this team needs is older and slower players with term.

I would rather have Beagle than Roussel, the latter starts fights and then keeps his visor on. It took years to distance us from having that reputation, why go back to it?

 

[MrBojangles]

So if they do sign Beagle and Roussel, this will be a likely lineup

Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser
Eriksson-Sutter-Pettersson
Roussell-Gagner-Virtanen
Leipsic-Beagle-Granlund
Gaunce

Edler-Gudbranson
MDZ-Tanev
Pouliot-Biega
Stecher

Markstrom/Nilsson

That is one rookie (Pettersson) and 3 players (Horvat, Boeser, Pettersson) below 24 in total. Better go out and sign more vets!!!

Funnily enough, those 3 young guys might end up the 3 best players on the team during the season.

Could make case Stecher the #1 dman here now and you don’t have him in top 6.

Big question going into season is who does Elias play with.
Dahlen? Eriksson?
Everyone has Horvat Boeser pair but could be interesting see Petterson/Boeser combo

Good chance Horvat, Boeser, Petterson are this teams only top 6 forwards.

 

[Intangibos]

Edler, a top pairing defenseman for years, you call a scrub?

Gagner, who holds the NHL record for most points scored in a single game and came off a 60 point season before signing here, You call a scrub?

I could go on and on. None of the guys you listed are all stars (even though most were at one point) but none of them are scrubs.

Yes, Gagner is a scrub.
Every player in the NHL is one of the best hockey players in the world. However, among NHL players Gagner is definitely a scrub.

 

[iceburg]

You are making the assumption that Gaudette/Dahlen/Goldobin all will be fringe NHLers, but if they are fringe NHLers they should still get playing time instead of our vets. Knowing the coach, knowing the GM there is no way that if these players are signed and if they get their spots taken away from the young players, they'll still play the vets over them. Also, you are right, this team ain't going to trade Sutter, he's their guy. They won't move over older players for the younger ones, they'll put the young guys in positions they can't succeed at stuck next to offensive holes like Beagle/Roussel/Sutter.

As for having warm bodies for injuries, we can just sign Archibald or some other PTO type player to fill those injury holes.

Look, all you have to do is look at the precedent this club has already set. How many games did Gagner sit last year? Eriksson? Dowd? Granlund? Jokinen? Del Zotto? Gudbransson? They clearly have a heavy bias towards playing vets and scrubs over prospects. What going into next season with Beagle/Rousel is going to change?

This narrative that these signings won't hurt young players is a lot like last years narrative that they acquired Del Zotto/Gagner/Vanek as trade chips. Fooled me once, won't be fooled again.

Well maybe I'll be fooled again. I don't think Petterssen, Gaudette, Dahlen, and Goldobin should be gifted spots just cause they're young. But I do believe, even now, they are better options than a lot of the roster. Pettersson for sure but Roussel and Beagle aren't going to impact his roster spot. It's not the end of the world if the others have a slower path to full-time roster spots, provided it is to their development advantage. Like you, I am skeptical that management/coaching won't default to playing aging veterans under the premise of "teaching the young guys what it takes" ahead of earning their ice time. But I'm hopeful.

 

[Canucks LB]

What a depressing offseason. Like I don't have a lot of faith in Benning but I really didn't think "older and slower" could possibly be the plan for yet another year.

If you need a pick me up, just remember we got hughes and "won" the draft.
That is good enough for me

 

[Quinning]

If you need a pick me up, just remember we got hughes and "won" the draft.
That is good enough for me

I'd say the Islanders won the draft. They got two top 5-7 picks at 11 and 12.

 

[Canucker]

Betting other GM's are just f***ing with Benning, driving up the price for Beagle.

 

[VanJack]

The push for some of these veteran free agents might be from Green?

Beagle and Roussel wouldn't add much of anything to the Canucks, and Benning will have to overpay in terms of money and term to get them here. I just don't get it. If you can legitimately improve your team through free agency, then fine. But both these guys add next to nothing that the Canucks don't already have, and just take ice-time away from kids like Dahlen and Gaudette.

Everybody knows the Canucks are a definite lottery team next year, so why the push to sign these kind of veterans?

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

I can't see them signing both Beagle and Roussell and not trading a winger after that. It is Lindenning, stupid moves are certainly in their playbook, but it would be hard to see this team wanting to create another logjam in our lineup.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

We're totally gonna up up spending around $6.5 million a year on Roussel and Beagle aren't we.

That will go perfectly with the 14.375 million a year spent on Eriksson, Gudbranson, and Sutter.

 

[pgj98m3]

So if they do sign Beagle and Roussel, this will be a likely lineup

Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser
Eriksson-Sutter-Pettersson
Roussell-Gagner-Virtanen
Leipsic-Beagle-Granlund
Gaunce

Edler-Gudbranson
MDZ-Tanev
Pouliot-Biega
Stecher

Markstrom/Nilsson

That is one rookie (Pettersson) and 3 players (Horvat, Boeser, Pettersson) below 24 in total. Better go out and sign more vets!!!

Funnily enough, those 3 young guys might end up the 3 best players on the team during the season.

All in for the Hughes Sweepstakes

 

[brokenhole]

The **** are they doing...the last thing this team needs is older and slower players with term.

I would rather have Beagle than Roussel, the latter starts fights and then keeps his visor on. It took years to distance us from having that reputation, why go back to it?

We can watch Roussel turtle like a mofo when Kassian comes to town.

 

[clunk]

The fact we're going into this season with the EXACT same defense is embarrassing.

Oh, AND such a veteran lineup but that was expected cause our FO are goofs.

 

[VanJack]

Canucks are like 'two organizations in one". They get an A- for drafting and a 'D' for trades and UFA signings. Why is this? It seems to me if you can successfully project 18-year old prospects in a draft, you should be even easier to assess what pro players in other organizations would potentially bring to the table.....but this regard, the pro scouting staff just seems to be brain-dead.

 

[clunk]

Canucks are like 'two organizations in one". They get an A- for drafting and a 'D' for trades and UFA signings. Why is this? It seems to me if you can successfully project 18-year old prospects in a draft, you should be even easier to assess what pro players in other organizations would potentially bring to the table.....but this regard, the pro scouting staff just seems to be brain-dead.

I don't think they deserve an A- in drafting, else they would have done better with the Virtanen and Juolevi picks...

Those are two huge picks we clearly could have done better on that people usually ignore when it comes to them.

 

[iceburg]

Canucks are like 'two organizations in one". They get an A- for drafting and a 'D' for trades and UFA signings. Why is this? It seems to me if you can successfully project 18-year old prospects in a draft, you should be even easier to assess what pro players in other organizations would potentially bring to the table.....but this regard, the pro scouting staff just seems to be brain-dead.

Because they are serving two masters.
1. Acquire and develop players that can be impactful for years to come
2. Try to be competitive now because the company line is that, without winning, the revenues will drop. This, all under the guise of young players need veteran leadership to guide them.

The gross irony is that the revenues have reached the bottom already and installing exciting young talent into the line-up would only drive them up. There are signs that they're learning this but time will tell whether they actually are.

Their only focus should be drafting and developing while using veterans only when younger players clearly aren't ready.