Canucks News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | The Final Countdown

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Vector's NHL Transaction Tracker.

Some Important Off-Season Dates

Buyout Period: 48 hours after the SCF; players without NMCs must be placed on unconditional waivers 24 hours prior (another buyout period opens if a team has a player file for arbitration)
Team-Elected Arbitration: 48 hours after the SCF
Draft Day 01: June 28th
Draft Day 02: June 29th
Qualifying Offer Date: July 1st
Free Agency Opens: July 1st, 9am PST
Summer Development Camp: July 1st-4th
Player-Elected Arbitration: July 5th
Young Stars Classic Tournament: Sep. 13th-16th

Click to read more...

 

[Vector]

Hope you feel better soon.

I've become spoiled by your summaries - especially because it means I don't have to listen to that prick Seravalli and parse through all his insanely idiotic opinions before getting to the few insider nuggets he deems appropriate to share.

I’m Michael Clarke Duncan in Green Mile. I absorb all the bad hockey shit so no one else does.

 

[MS]

Ehhh...i wouldn't have any problem with signing Jost to a minimum wage deal. But i'd be doing it primarily as depth for the Abbyfarm. I think he's a guy who has seen enough NHL chances, to know that he just doesn't have the physical tools to make a real positive impact. He's not skilled enough or smart enough for the Top-6, and not big or fast or strong enough, nor does he have the real mentality or defensive prowess for the Bottom-6. He's one of those classic "tweeners".

Not even the sort of guy i'd prefer as a call-up option, without a defined "role" of any kind. Just totally underwhelming at everything. Rather call up a guy who who may be worse than Jost in a bunch of areas, but at least has one particular niche where they might be able to contribute (PK, faceoffs, offensive minutes, something).



Ehhh...the thing with Jost is that he actually found some semblance of a game briefly in the Sabres Vortex of Suck. Then lost it again. He's also had multiple other very good opportunities in both Colorado and Minnesota, and proven time and again that he just can't run with it.

He basically needs to play at 115% intensity and effort just to get by as a decent bottom-6 filler. And it's obviously just not sustainable at all.



Has he really ever shown that though? He's floated around and been gifted multiple big opportunities due to draft pedigree and hope...but he's never really established that he can be an effective bottom-6er for more than a very brief stint at a time. He's had his production bolstered by some offensive Top-6 opportunities at times, but sucked there too and frustrated everyone.

He's basically a smaller, slower, less skilled Markus Granlund. With a BC connection though!

Jost is a guy I've followed closely and circa the 19-20, 20-21 seasons he was really starting to re-profile himself as a tenacious, hard-working defensive forward.

Then for whatever reason he lost it and has basically been a vanilla nothing for the last 3 years.

 

[biturbo19]

This is just a ridiculously emotional take.

Myers was a really solid #4 this year who offers some assets (big, right handed, some offensive IQ) that teams way way overpay for.

If we can get him for less than 3 million on a 2, or even 3, year contract you take that and run.

Yeah. I still really don't trust Myers and it's one of those contracts i wouldn't be proud to sign my name to a lot of the time...but if he's genuinely willing to take a significant discount and roll in at $3M or less...you're talking about leveraging a competitive advantage. Any other defenceman you get for that is going to have more than a few warts...and probably a lot less positives "upside" elements like size, RH Shot, proven familiarity and success in the system, liked by teammates intangibles, etc.

I think there will be quite a few older vet 3rd line centers in FA at cheap prices.

Like who exactly? Actually looking at the scheduled UFAs...it's an absolutely barren looking market for the most part. When it comes to Centers at least, and certainly ones of a real 3rd line or better caliber.

Friedman on Donnie and Dhali:

Joshua:
-has heard that players like Joshua have a really good market
-market has gone further than the Canucks are willing to go
-someone said that if you're a player like Joshua, little bit undervalued, would be comfortable coming to Vancouver because of Tocchet and the Canucks are looking at this
-agents have said that the Canucks have shown that if you are a Tocchet player you will do well

I think the bolded is a really interesting aspect of this whole thing. There may be some little advantage in getting "their guys" as projects, based on their track record of now getting Dakota's career going and earning what is likely a bigtime payday.

So if their Pro Scouting is as good as they think it is, they should have a real leg up on taking their pick of the "projects" they want to take on.

Kevin Stenlund has impressed me with the Panthers. Former 2nd round pick. 6'5 Centre and very good defensively and on the PK. He's definitely the big body, 2 way Centre type that Toch and Management like.

Problem with Stenlund is...he's impressed a lot of other teams too. The time to get him was last year. You want to sign "undervalued" guys like that before they show up on the biggest stage in the Cup Finals, looking to get paid Jay Beagle style.

I like him, he's a good player. I think i even suggested signing him last year as a guy who flew under the radar because he didn't put up any points in Winnipeg. But there's a very good chance his contract ends up stupid, just because he played a high profile role doing those sort of things that every team wants more of...right in the brightest spotlight.


One random name i'd throw out as a forgotten, undervalued sort of "defensive RH 4C" is Ryan Carpenter. He's seemed to get lost in the shuffle with a bunch of bad teams in his career, but he's a very decent, responsible defensive RH Center with a decent amount of size and grit, PK utility, etc. He's getting old, but he's the sort of guy i'd target as a penny pinching veteran on a minimum sort of 1-year deal to play as a 4C or 13th Forward type. Think he'd fit well with Tocchet's system.

Would be an interesting Joshua replacement. Also he adds a speed element that Joshua does not possess.

Dealing for Matthieu Joseph at ~$3M instead of signing Dakota to a contract that allegedly starts with a 3 would be such a colossally stupid waste of time step backwards. I'm not a hardliner on re-signing Joshua at all. I'm okay with letting him walk if there's a plan to replace what he brings to the table somehow...rather than paying out for an unsustainable career year.

But Matthieu Joseph at nearly the same sort of money is a negative asset to me. He bounced back a bit with his scoring this season, but last year he was a pure cap dump that they couldn't even get rid of. And he really doesn't bring any of the most important attributes that Joshua does.

SCF hasn't even ended yet. One other player across the entire league has be re-signed to a new contract (Chatfield) and there's been one trade (McDonagh).

Yeah. I get the sense that there's a bit of a queue lined up to announce and make moves, that is basically just waiting for the moratorium on "distractions during the Cup Finals" to end.

When that buyout window opens after the Cup is awarded...i think there's going to be a huge flurry of activity. Buyouts, trades, extensions announced, everything all at once probably. Dominoes falling and all that.

Kind of strange they can't re-sign Stephenson at roughly $6m, but will be in on Marner who has a cap hit of over $10m...

If they get Marner, I guess Stone will stay the whole season on LTIR then. I wonder what's his "injury" will be this time around, but I'm 100% sure he will be magically cleared to play by game 1 of next playoff.

It's definitely fascinating to me that Vegas came into the league with such enormous initial success by just basically having wickedly more "depth" than anyone else. But have really morphed into a team that is actually building increasingly more "top heavy".


Personally, i'd very much rather have say...both of Chandler Stephenson + Shea Theodore at basically the same price as one Mitchell Marner. But that doesn't seem to be the direction Vegas are headed these days...

 

[BimJenning]

I'd like to re-sign Joshua, but don't see how he comes in lower than $3.5M, and I'm not overly comfortable giving him more than that. The Kuzmenko comparison should be there, given both shot above 20% in their respective contract years, albeit, Kuz was also given PP time to further pad that. I'd expect a substantial s% regression from Joshua next year, putting him at 13% gives a little under 11 goals this year instead of 18.

 

[biturbo19]

Jost is a guy I've followed closely and circa the 19-20, 20-21 seasons he was really starting to re-profile himself as a tenacious, hard-working defensive forward.

Then for whatever reason he lost it and has basically been a vanilla nothing for the last 3 years.

He definitely made some strides in trying to reinvent his game to stick around. But i think at the end of the day, to be at all effective in that, he simply had to play at an intensity level that just isn't sustainable for him. I think that's pretty much all there is to it.


Which is where i'd be fine signing him to a minimum sort of deal, stashing him in Abbotsford, and hoping that maybe he can come up at some point and give you 10 games of 200% effort and reasonable effective bottom-6 hockey. But not a guy i'd want to rely on for anything more than that...or even that brief little flourish tbh. It'd be a signing made for The Farm...and anything else you get is pure gravy.

 

[MS]

He definitely made some strides in trying to reinvent his game to stick around. But i think at the end of the day, to be at all effective in that, he simply had to play at an intensity level that just isn't sustainable for him. I think that's pretty much all there is to it.


Which is where i'd be fine signing him to a minimum sort of deal, stashing him in Abbotsford, and hoping that maybe he can come up at some point and give you 10 games of 200% effort and reasonable effective bottom-6 hockey. But not a guy i'd want to rely on for anything more than that...or even that brief little flourish tbh. It'd be a signing made for The Farm...and anything else you get is pure gravy.

I mean, obviously if you sign Jost it's as a $700k 5C/13th forward at best and anything more than that is unexpected gravy, and he's quite likely in Abbotsford. I think that goes without saying.

The thing with the bolded is that he *did* seem to sustain it for a while. It wasn't a Jack Studnicka thing where you saw it 1 game in 15. He had 2 years where he really seemed to be locking himself in as a long-term quality 3rd liner.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

Looking like we may be back to square one by October...

You just pray that some of those Abbotsford Canuck players take a massive development leap.

 

[bossram]

Rumour has had it since he was traded from Philly he's looking for around $5M AAV, which I believe is around where AFP has him. But who knows, really. He didn't have the greatest playoffs with the Avs.

Yeah, that's what I mean. He was considered a salary dump a year ago, had a poor post-TDL, but his projections indicate more of a medium-large contract.

With the emphasis teams have now on acquiring and paying for size, I could see him lingering later into the free agency period and needing to accept a smaller deal.

 

[biturbo19]

No news of a Zadorov signing after leaks that the Canucks were making him their best offer this weekend.

I think it might be time to look for a replacement.

It seems to me , the Canucks are not signing any of their current UFA's just yet until they can see what it will take to sign Geuntzel.

I know there's that 1 week window before July 1, I imagine the Canucks will know what it will take to sign JG, then sign the likes of Bleuger and Joshua etc. that same week .

The name that comes up for me as somewhat of a "Zadorov replacement", will probably trigger a lot of people...but i'd get on the horn with Dubas about Ryan Graves. Been a disaster signing with the Penguins because he simply doesn't work with Letang or Karlsson. But i think it's largely just a misunderstanding of what "type" of defenceman he is, and why that doesn't work with aggressive guys like Letang and Karlsson.

He's actually a lot more like a Zadorov type of aggressive defenceman himself. Rather than a pure "big stay at home" guy he was mischaracterized as. He likes to really push things and play moving forward. It's the type of defencemen that i think RikTok and Foote have had a lot better success with than your typical team. They kind of fit the system.

Obviously the contract is bad and particularly terrible for Pittsburgh since it's been such a poor fit. But he's still just one "down" season removed from playing a very solid 20 minutes a night of effectively shutdown/matchup pairing and PK minutes with Marino in NJD. And Marino also really struggled this year without him.

I think that with the sort of prices we're hearing this summer...if Graves were coming off that NJD UFA season this year, he'd be getting at least $1M more in AAV, if not more. Probably at least a $5.5M guy based on Zadorov estimates and others, rather than a $4.5M locked in. So i can't help but wonder if "yesterdays mistake" isn't less worse than "tomorrows mistake" in terms of potential UFA defenceman deals this year.


The real kicker for me though, would be that it could be a way to replace a lot of Zadorov's minutes and size, while simultaneously unloading Mikheyev's salary the other way. If you can do that...it'd be worth looking at imo.

The Zadorov thing kinda bugs me more than anything else, as they had an opportunity to effectively sign him right after the trade at a much lower than current rate, and decided to wait. I can understand why with a new player, but that decision looks like it could result in him leaving.

I'm not so convinced that was ever really on the table. Zadorov and his agent have been known to "bet on himself". I think there was a big number thrown out to the Flames, which they balked at and immediately decided to move him. So even before he had his big playoffs...i think his number was probably way up in the stratosphere, just maybe less "justified" at the time.

 

[Jerry the great]

Jost is a guy I've followed closely and circa the 19-20, 20-21 seasons he was really starting to re-profile himself as a tenacious, hard-working defensive forward.

Then for whatever reason he lost it and has basically been a vanilla nothing for the last 3 years.

He had a a mental breakdown after Colorado traded him at the deadline the year they went on to win the cup.

 

[MS]

He had a a mental breakdown after Colorado traded him at the deadline the year they went on to win the cup.

Yeah, I forgot about that and it probably explains things pretty well as to why his career fell off and hasn't recovered.

 

[biturbo19]

I mean, obviously if you sign Jost it's as a $700k 5C/13th forward at best and anything more than that is unexpected gravy, and he's quite likely in Abbotsford. I think that goes without saying.

The thing with the bolded is that he *did* seem to sustain it for a while. It wasn't a Jack Studnicka thing where you saw it 1 game in 15. He had 2 years where he really seemed to be locking himself in as a long-term quality 3rd liner.

I don't ever really recall that being the case with Jost tbh. My perception was more of a guy that started to carve out a serviceable filler/utility role for the Avs because he was reasonably cheap and a "sunk cost" draft pick...but was ultimately just thrown away for a more appropriate, bigger, cheaper, more impactful in the role "bottom-6 forward" in Sturm.

Then he mostly dithered and did nothing with the big opportunities in Minnesota desperate for Centers with any semblance of ability.

Brief little resurgence with Buffalo where he maybe realized his career was on life support. Then fell off to basically nothing again.


Again, i don't think we really disagree on the idea that he'd basically be an Abbotsford signing. And in that, it's totally "take it or leave it" for me. Whatever. I just never really saw him blossoming into a truly impactful Bottom-6 player. Maybe his little "spurts" of overboost were a bit longer than someone like Studnicka. But it's still just not enough and it's proven to be unsustainable in any meaningful capacity.

Which is why i think penciling him in for anything more than an Abbyford role is probably a fool's errand at this point. If he didn't have BC ties and 1st round pedigree...he'd be lost in a sea of "worse than Granlunds" and nobody would even care in the slightest.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

The name that comes up for me as somewhat of a "Zadorov replacement", will probably trigger a lot of people...but i'd get on the horn with Dubas about Ryan Graves. Been a disaster signing with the Penguins because he simply doesn't work with Letang or Karlsson. But i think it's largely just a misunderstanding of what "type" of defenceman he is, and why that doesn't work with aggressive guys like Letang and Karlsson.

He's actually a lot more like a Zadorov type of aggressive defenceman himself. Rather than a pure "big stay at home" guy he was mischaracterized as. He likes to really push things and play moving forward. It's the type of defencemen that i think RikTok and Foote have had a lot better success with than your typical team. They kind of fit the system.

Obviously the contract is bad and particularly terrible for Pittsburgh since it's been such a poor fit. But he's still just one "down" season removed from playing a very solid 20 minutes a night of effectively shutdown/matchup pairing and PK minutes with Marino in NJD. And Marino also really struggled this year without him.

I think that with the sort of prices we're hearing this summer...if Graves were coming off that NJD UFA season this year, he'd be getting at least $1M more in AAV, if not more. Probably at least a $5.5M guy based on Zadorov estimates and others, rather than a $4.5M locked in. So i can't help but wonder if "yesterdays mistake" isn't less worse than "tomorrows mistake" in terms of potential UFA defenceman deals this year.


The real kicker for me though, would be that it could be a way to replace a lot of Zadorov's minutes and size, while simultaneously unloading Mikheyev's salary the other way. If you can do that...it'd be worth looking at imo.





I'm not so convinced that was ever really on the table. Zadorov and his agent have been known to "bet on himself". I think there was a big number thrown out to the Flames, which they balked at and immediately decided to move him. So even before he had his big playoffs...i think his number was probably way up in the stratosphere, just maybe less "justified" at the time.

Graves have FIVE more years at $4.5m, is 29 years old and has lots of signing bonuses left on his contract, if he doesn't turn it around that would be a MASSIVE mistake. Even if its a one-for-one deal with Mik, I probably would say no. Pits would have to throw in a huge sweetener for me to consider taking on that risk.

If Zadorov walks, the easiest and most logical replacement would be Dillon. A Hughes-Soucy-Dillon LSD is solid enough and shouldn't break the bank, allow us to allocate cap space to upgrade elsewhere (ie: RSD and top 6 wingers).

 

[biturbo19]

Yeah, that's what I mean. He was considered a salary dump a year ago, had a poor post-TDL, but his projections indicate more of a medium-large contract.

With the emphasis teams have now on acquiring and paying for size, I could see him lingering later into the free agency period and needing to accept a smaller deal.

Walker is definitely going to be an interesting UFA to watch. That "breakout" with Philly, and some decent play with the Avs after the deadline probably do jack his pricetag up into that "solid Top-4D" range. Which is at least $4-5M these days.

But at the same time, his lack of size and a lackluster playoffs probably hurt him a little bit, at least in terms of "priority of signing". So i agree, he could be a guy who has to wait for more of that "second wave" of signings.

I don't see him as a very useful fit for Vancouver in any case though. He's going to be too pricey to be a "budget option". I don't see him being a fit with Hughes. And i don't think he's capable of really "carrying" a second pairing. So it'd be really paying "Top-4 money" on a smallish 3rd pairing D. Much better off just re-signing Myers to basically fill that same sort of role...while bigger, more proven in our system, liked by teammates, etc. Probably cheaper too.

 

[MS]

I don't ever really recall that being the case with Jost tbh. My perception was more of a guy that started to carve out a serviceable filler/utility role for the Avs because he was reasonably cheap and a "sunk cost" draft pick...but was ultimately just thrown away for a more appropriate, bigger, cheaper, more impactful in the role "bottom-6 forward" in Sturm.

Then he mostly dithered and did nothing with the big opportunities in Minnesota desperate for Centers with any semblance of ability.

Brief little resurgence with Buffalo where he maybe realized his career was on life support. Then fell off to basically nothing again.


Again, i don't think we really disagree on the idea that he'd basically be an Abbotsford signing. And in that, it's totally "take it or leave it" for me. Whatever. I just never really saw him blossoming into a truly impactful Bottom-6 player. Maybe his little "spurts" of overboost were a bit longer than someone like Studnicka. But it's still just not enough and it's proven to be unsustainable in any meaningful capacity.

Which is why i think penciling him in for anything more than an Abbyford role is probably a fool's errand at this point. If he didn't have BC ties and 1st round pedigree...he'd be lost in a sea of "worse than Granlunds" and nobody would even care in the slightest.

There were a couple years where his compete/motor stood out to me virtually every time I watched a Colorado game. Was playing an effective 200-foot game with enough talent to score 25-30 ES points which is pretty decent from a 3rd line.

You want 5 or 6 guys who can play NHL C on your roster between your AHL and NHL team. Jost is a young-but-experienced guy who you can toss into the mix with Aman or whatever at $700k. And having a Sea of Granlunds in those types of roles is fine. A good thing, actually. The problem is when you're paying the Granlunds $2 million to be top-9 forwards.

 

[Jerry the great]

Yeah, I forgot about that and it probably explains things pretty well as to why his career fell off and hasn't recovered.

I think he could be a guy that bounces back though. Still young, with the physical tools to come back....and he hasn't earned FU money yet.

 

[bossram]

Walker is definitely going to be an interesting UFA to watch. That "breakout" with Philly, and some decent play with the Avs after the deadline probably do jack his pricetag up into that "solid Top-4D" range. Which is at least $4-5M these days.

But at the same time, his lack of size and a lackluster playoffs probably hurt him a little bit, at least in terms of "priority of signing". So i agree, he could be a guy who has to wait for more of that "second wave" of signings.

I don't see him as a very useful fit for Vancouver in any case though. He's going to be too pricey to be a "budget option". I don't see him being a fit with Hughes. And i don't think he's capable of really "carrying" a second pairing. So it'd be really paying "Top-4 money" on a smallish 3rd pairing D. Much better off just re-signing Myers to basically fill that same sort of role...while bigger, more proven in our system, liked by teammates, etc. Probably cheaper too.

I'm only interested in Walker if they can't reach some kind of agreement with Hronek. In that case, they'll need another defenseman with some offense and mobility. I'd also be intrigued to see what level of production he could reach paired with Hughes as well.

I saw your Graves suggestion and while I get the premise...It's just a no. Big no. Massive risk of downside. And this isn't coming from his disaster season in PIT. I've been down on him since his COL days. You've correctly identified that he is less of a pure defensive defenseman and more someone who likes to be aggressive all over the ice (i.e. closing gaps. pinching, jumping in the rush, shooting too much). The problem is....he is bad at that. His instincts and style of play are not aligned with what he needs to do to be effective. His best season, last year with Marino, was because he largely contained those inclinations and played within himself for the most part, embracing the actual "shutting down" of the shutdown role.

 

[biturbo19]

Graves have FIVE more years at $4.5m, is 29 years old and has lots of signing bonuses left on his contract, if he doesn't turn it around that would be a MASSIVE mistake. Even if its a one-for-one deal with Mik, I probably would say no. Pits would have to throw in a huge sweetener for me to consider taking on that risk.

If Zadorov walks, the easiest and most logical replacement would be Dillon. A Hughes-Soucy-Dillon LSD is solid enough and shouldn't break the bank, allow us to allocate cap space to upgrade elsewhere (ie: RSD and top 6 wingers).

The thing is...Graves is literally a month older than Zadorov, who is clearly going to come with at least 5 years of term, if not more. So we're already talking about big risk anyway. Zadorov was obviously awesome for us in the playoffs and really brought everything...but if anything, i'd say Graves actually has the bigger track record of playing Top-4 minutes to "turn it around" to. Whereas Zadorov could entirely turn back into a pumpkin...or the #4/5 "tweener" that he's been for pretty much his entire career.

Even Dillon is going to be 34 this season. Is he signing a 1-year deal? Doubtful. So if you're potentially spending $3.5-4M on a guy through his 34, 35, 36 year old seasons...is that really that much "safer"?


Graves would obviously be a huge risk that could blow up in your face. I just sort of look at it like...the deal has already blown up in Dubas face. The grenade went off already. So if you take it on, you're doing it already seeing and understanding the carnage. And by that, i mean dumping the Mikheyev grenade that already went off, back the other way...without giving up the assets it would otherwise take to unload his bad deal.

Ultimately, all of these UFA options are super risky as well. Entirely liable to turn into the Graves contract or worse in short order. That happens a lot.


idk. I'm not married to it. It's just an idea that i toss around in my head from time to time, as a way to somewhat kill two birds with one stone. If the Zadorov ask really is as insane as it sounds, and dumping Mikheyev is pretty necessary to creating any kind of flexibility.

I probably also just like Graves more as a player than most.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Surprised at the love Chandler Stephenson is getting. He's coming off a rancid year and just turned thirty.

Don't mind taking a one-year flyer on him to play on Pettersson's wing, but would be opposed to any more term than that.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Surprised at the love Chandler Stephenson is getting. He's coming off a rancid year and just turned thirty.

Don't mind taking a one-year flyer on him to play on Pettersson's wing, but would be opposed to any more term than that.

Out of touch with the current ufa climate, doubt we'll see many 1 yr deals at all.

Centers especially thin, Lindholm is by far the best option.

 

[biturbo19]

There were a couple years where his compete/motor stood out to me virtually every time I watched a Colorado game. Was playing an effective 200-foot game with enough talent to score 25-30 ES points which is pretty decent from a 3rd line.

You want 5 or 6 guys who can play NHL C on your roster between your AHL and NHL team. Jost is a young-but-experienced guy who you can toss into the mix with Aman or whatever at $700k. And having a Sea of Granlunds in those types of roles is fine. A good thing, actually. The problem is when you're paying the Granlunds $2 million to be top-9 forwards.

Yeah. That's fair enough. And i really don't mind the idea of signing Jost at all. I also like having those sort of utility guys available as experienced depth. Heck...If i could, i'd probably build a team with 12 Forwards who can play some NHL Center.

Just wouldn't expect anything resembling a 25-30 ES points guy with a decent 200-foot game. Even when he was doing something vaguely resembling that productivity-wise though, i recall it being as much more of a "quasi-Top-6" sort of floater role. Pius Suter stuff, but worse and less skilled or reliable.

And that was younger, fresher, and less demoralized.

 

[StickShift]

Dealing for Matthieu Joseph at ~$3M instead of signing Dakota to a contract that allegedly starts with a 3 would be such a colossally stupid waste of time step backwards. I'm not a hardliner on re-signing Joshua at all. I'm okay with letting him walk if there's a plan to replace what he brings to the table somehow...rather than paying out for an unsustainable career year.

But Matthieu Joseph at nearly the same sort of money is a negative asset to me. He bounced back a bit with his scoring this season, but last year he was a pure cap dump that they couldn't even get rid of. And he really doesn't bring any of the most important attributes that Joshua does.

Mathieu Joseph makes a more interesting fit as a top-six option than as a Dakota Joshua replacement on the third line. I think his speed and forechecking would really help Pettersson or Miller’s line. I agree that salary is not the best value if he is just playing the third line.

And frankly—I think that is the same dynamic that I would want our pro-scouting to consider when looking at re-signing Dakota Joshua: do they believe his effectiveness is tied to playing with Garland? Or can he continue his late-career development into a top-six forward?

If it’s the former—you end up with an expensive third line forward. If it’s the latter—you end up hitting a home-run value top-six forward.

 

[Jerry the great]

I'm only interested in Walker if they can't reach some kind of agreement with Hronek. In that case, they'll need another defenseman with some offense and mobility. I'd also be intrigued to see what level of production he could reach paired with Hughes as well.

I saw your Graves suggestion and while I get the premise...It's just a no. Big no. Massive risk of downside. And this isn't coming from his disaster season in PIT. I've been down on him since his COL days. You've correctly identified that he is less of a pure defensive defenseman and more someone who likes to be aggressive all over the ice (i.e. closing gaps. pinching, jumping in the rush, shooting too much). The problem is....he is bad at that. His instincts and style of play are not aligned with what he needs to do to be effective. His best season, last year with Marino, was because he largely contained those inclinations and played within himself for the most part, embracing the actual "shutting down" of the shutdown role.

Graves also doesn't have the mobility to recover from himself. Big with below average mobility is okay if you're smart and make the right decision most of the time (Carson Soucy for example).

 

[bossram]

Graves also doesn't have the mobility to recover from himself. Big with below average mobility is okay if you're smart and make the right decision most of the time (Carson Soucy for example).

IMO he is pretty mobile for a big guy, skates well, especially once he gets going. The issue is more hockey IQ related.

 

[VanJack]

A couple of 'buy-low' candidates who are currently UFA's in Colorado.

Brandon Duhaime, a 27-year winger linked to the Canucks at the TDL. And then there's Riley Tufte, a former first round draft pick, who looks like he might be ready for a third or fourth line role in the NHL after busting out in the AHL last season.

Tufte is 6'6" and 230 Dumaime is a 6'2 200 pound winger who is hard on the forecheck. Worth a flyer in Vancouver?