I don't really view Vancouver as an "attractive" city to Americans (like Roy). And many Americans write-off Canada completely, just off the bat. I don't think he would absolutely refuse to sign in Vancouver, but I see no advantage Vancouver would have over other competitive clubs, and would likely have to pay a premium.
Demelo has pretty much been chronically underpaid his whole career, and I think will want to get full value. Again, I'm not saying he would refuse to sign with the Canucks, but I'm saying I don't think it's realistic because Vancouver likely has to pay full market value (or a premium) and I don't think they're in a position where they can do that.
I like both players. I don't see them choosing Vancouver out of the other suitors they will have, especially given if they just want money they will certainly have better offers.
Yeah. It's kind of a weird thing to suggest, given the heavily "American" content of this current Canucks team.
But they've largely got them either via trade, draft, etc. and had them decide they like the place after all, like the team or group or coaches...or we're talking about guys further down the pecking order who tend to have a lot less potential deals on the table, to where
their own options are more narrowed. Or both.
Where i think it becomes a bigger factor is when you start talking about some of those "bigger ticket" RHD that everyone and their mother are looking to acquire. That's where they'll have a bundle of offers on the table and can afford to be a little more "picky" about things...for their own convenience, potential earnings relative to cost of living, etc.
fans here underestimate how much worse travel from vancouver/edmonton/calgary/winnipeg is than from the rest of the nhl. if you are from the boston area or detroit area or minnesota area you're looking at a full day travel to get back "home" from from the canadian west (and then a full day to get back). if you're in toronto or montreal or any of the us markets you're no more than a five hour flight from where ever you want to be (in north america at least, latvians got other problems)
the reason luongo was so much more willing to play in toronto than vancouver is because you can head to the airport at 5pm in toronto and be in miami for bedtime. you want to leave from vancouver and make it to miami for bedtime? your flight is leaving at 8am
some players are gonna care more about this than others but there's a real penalty to living in vancouver if the center of your life is in ann arbor or chelmford or burnsville
my partner and i relocated from the midwest to nevada largely because we both have aging parents on the west coast and we were making frequent trips "home" that were just killing us in terms of time. now i can wake up in vegas and decide to be in vancouver and be there by lunch time instead of having to plan ahead and maybe getting to vancouver for dinner the next day
Yeah. This is a big factor. It's not just even just about how long it takes to get "home" across the country if that's where your life and family, etc. are largely centered.
When these players sign big UFA deals...they move their families to the new city. But because of the travel schedule for the Canucks (and the Alberta teams)...the players are simply "away from home" on the road a lot more days during the season. During the summer? Who cares...they'll go "home" to train and do whatever. But during the season...you're going to get spouses and young families that aren't going to be keen on getting left alone for long stretches in "rainy dreary grey Vancouver" all winter. Especially not if their family and support networks are established back on the other side of the continent.
It's a beautiful city...but it's certainly not for everyone. Especially not through the winter. I don't think it's a complete coincidence the franchise has often had a very Scandinavian flavour.
Vancouver is also among the highest "cost of living" cities in the NHL at large. Which yes, these are guys signing multimillionaire contracts...but they're also potentially signing their last big paydays, where every extra million in the bank and invested can make a big difference to them in the long-run.
There are just a whole host of reasons that may not completely "exclude" Vancouver from consideration for everyone, but will absolutely cross it off the list for certain players, and put us in a somewhat disadvantaged negotiating position with others.
We've also had some that have gone out of their way to sign there because they adore the city, the province, grew up there, etc. So it's certainly not all doom and gloom. But there tend to be certain players that even we as fans can glean, might be more (or less) interested in the city/team.
I'm not saying I know where they'll end up. I'm saying that I don't see any of them other than Tanev giving any kind of preference to Vancouver, if the offers from multiple teams are all roughly market value.
And yeah, you lack the offensive element if you go from Hronek to one or more of the UFA list. Montour and the projected deal there I would stay faaaaar away from.
Yeah. I've got a really bad feeling about what the Montour deal is going to end up looking like. Wherever he signs it, but particularly if it's not in Florida. He's really never been more than an offensive 4/5 tweener at best defenceman with glaring holes in his game...outside of the Florida Panthers. Maybe that's a real "late bloomer" finally figuring it out. But you're likely talking about #1D money with regrettable "retirement years" tacked on the end with term. That's an enormous gamble. Especially when a guy can go from "late bloomer" directly to "oh wow he's starting this 7-year deal at age 30 already?
That's the nice thing, there is actually a decent selection of RH defensemen on the market this year, that's only eight of them. You can get one of those guys for Hughes, keep Myers, and then there's a fairly good list to pick from for the bottom pair to bump Juulsen off. Offense will be the challenge, but Hronek was not exactly producing over the back half of the year anyway.
Yeah. It's not that Hronek was a superlative offensive generator (in the back half especially)...but he
is still one of two real puck movers on this defence corps last year. So if you're moving him...you need to be replacing that. We need
more of that...not
less.
A lot of these "options" are not that bad at moving the puck. Even Tanev with zero offensive juice, can still move the puck efficiently.
But the other element of replacing this "offensive ability" on the back end...is that you
do still kinda need somebody to dither around on that 2nd Powerplay unit. They don't play a ton...but you still need someone who can man that point and at least pass the puck around and get it through to the net. Doesn't necessarily even have to be a Right Hand Shot. But if your LHD are going to be Hughes-Zadorov-Soucy...it kind of
does have to be somebody that'll be playing the right side. Since i don't think Zaddy is really cut out for it despite his shot, and Soucy certainly isn't.
So it's another wrinkle to "replacing" Hronek to think about.
I do think that a handful of those UFA options might be enough to do the trick. They don't have to me a PPQB Maestro...just...competent. Or maybe you go out on the secondary trade market to find a guy...even to just fill that bottom-pairing or Myers role. Needs to be accounted for somewhere in the mix though, just as the PK has to be kept in mind with any of these changes.