Canucks News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | Will they stay or will they go, now?

[Mr. Canucklehead]

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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
Player-Elected Arbitration: July 5th
Young Stars Classic Tournament: Sep. 13th-16th

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[Hansen]

Laine is not worth targeting right now, there's simply no way Columbus retains 50% on him and that's what it would take for me. He's always been that guy who I've fantasized on Pettersson's wing (but I think they will either be PB and Jelly together or absolute shit no in between), but just not worth it

 

[Wisp]

Laine is only worth it if Tocchet thinks he can make it work.

 

[ManVanFan]

He didn't work in Florida, they in fact got better without him, not hard or gritty enough.

I don't think Duclair is the sole reason they got better.

 

[ManVanFan]

I’m a Duclair fan at around his current cap hit. Wanted us to pick him up at the deadline - he went for a song and was a nice fit in Tampa.

But I have a feeling someone will give him $4 to $5M per season, and I think there’s better options at that price.

He has been passed around a lot. Maybe some character issues. His value it's hard, teams can't pay premium prices for too many middle 6 wingers.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Doubt anyone is giving duclair anywhere near 5m, certainly not us.
Although I like his speed, he's the worse defense, faster and ten times better offense version of mik.

 

[ziploc]

I think they have to stay away from premium priced middle 6 wingers. Have to look for more inexpensive diamonds in the rough for those roles, so that a genuine top 6 winger or two can be brought in.

 

[Diversification]

Marxhessault doesn’t play centre.

ahem...

 

[aregora]

ahem...
View attachment 882067

He has 683 face off wins in 637 careers games, sporting a 42.5% win rate.

Hardly relied upon to be a center.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

He has 683 face off wins in 637 careers games, sporting a 42.5% win rate.

Hardly relied upon to be a center.

He's very obviously center there.

 

[biturbo19]

In honor of CapFriendly getting nuked by that asshat Capitals owner, i guess i'll throw up another fiddling around on CapFriendly sort of offseason concept.


Signings:

-Nikita Zadorov 6-7 years @ $4.75M. Stupid term to throw around, but if it can bring the AAV down, just do it and deal with the fallout later.

-Sam Lafferty 2 years @ ~$1.3M. Really tailed off late in the season, but if you can keep him at just a small raise, he's still a bigger body with speed when he uses it, who has good chemistry with Hoglander and positional versatility.

-Christopher Tanev @ $3.5-4M for a couple years. Rumors he'd like to come home and the team wants him. Perfect guy to sub in beside Quin for a couple years while we wait for Willander to mature into the role.

-Jake DeBrusk @ $5-5.5M for 5 or 6 years. He's exactly the sort of speedy, forechecking beast with goal-scoring touch that we need to play with Petey and help compensate for the areas of the game that Pete isn't very strong. He's got proven ability to play with more skilled, creative linemates productively.

-Kasperi Kapanen @ $1.5M for a year or two. Basically a "prove it" rehabilitation deal. We know Rutherford probably likes him, but i like him too. He's got his limitations and isn't a great fit with a lot of super high-skilled linemates. But he's got speed to burn and he can score at even strength, generating a lot of his own offense. A bit like Garland, in a different sort of way. I like the idea of adding that to guys like Garland and Hoggy in the bottom-6 who do the same, and maybe even trying him with Pettersson just for kicks, where his speed in transition might kickstart something.

-Jack Roslovic @ $2-2.5M for a couple years. Another real "moneypuck" type guy. He's got a pretty shit reputation at this point, probably going to have to look for a "rehabilitation" type deal. Particularly has a reputation for being a real defensive flake. Wasn't always like that, and he had a somewhat decent playoffs with the Rangers...where he showed that ability to play a complementary role to more skilled players again. Something that he's sort of done going back to the USNTDP days with Papi. I'd wager on him being able to read off the play well enough to be a better fit beside Petey than most of the scrubs they've tried there.

-Calle Rosen @ $900k or whatever buriable amount for a year or two. Probably just depth and maybe Abby Farm bound, but i like him as a guy like Wolanin who you can slip through waivers and i wouldn't mind playing in some NHL games if i had to, and probably will.

-Obviously re-sign Silovs to some sort of deal that probably looks like a 2-year ~$1M per type bridge.

-Various other housekeeping with AHLer guys like Karlsson, McWard, Johansson, Woo, whatever.

Trades:

-Hronek to OTT for a 1st (BOS-25th) and a 2nd. Basically recoup the cost of acquiring Hronek, but move him out because the salary demands are dumb.
-Return for Hronek above to VGK for Shea Theodore. Cheap $5.2M cap hit for the year to help get through the crunch, and just a better player that i'd be more confident giving that big contract to next year as an absolute anchor to a second pairing that can also completely tilt the ice in our favour.

-Mikheyev and Aatu Raty to Montreal for Josh Anderson and Justin Barron. Probably make both fanbases mad. But i think Anderson still has more to give, just badly needs a change of scenery. Big dollars to take on, but i think he'd be an intriguing option to try with Pettersson, and at worst...he's just a Dakota replacement to play opposite Garland on a productive even strength 3rd line. Where Joshua is probably going to cost $4M anyway, which is stupid. Anderson still more expensive, but i think he's the better player...bigger, faster, even more physical...and with a track record of being a better goal-scorer as well. He also used to be a real solid PKer until he got the Habs who decided not to use him that way for some reason.

Justin Barron seems to be a guy that the Habs are about ready to give up on. They've got a real glut of young defencemen and it feels like he's fallen out of favour. He's still a really talented RHD with good size, skating, and offensive upside. I'd look at him as a Chaos Giraffe replacement and hope that this coaching staff can have the same sort of calming influence on his game that they did with Tyler Minors. I'd be open to keeping Myers instead...but i just don't think he's going to go below a couple million bucks in salary at the absolute lowest, and he's still just too chaotic to really trust. For a team that is going to have to pinch pennies and cut every corner possible on salary.


So that leaves a roster that looks something like:

Canucks:

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Roslovic
Podkolzin-Miller-Boeser
Anderson-Suter-Garland
Hoglander-Lafferty-Kapanen
*PDG
*Aman

Hughes-Tanev
Zadorov-Theodore
Soucy-Barron
*Juulsen/Wolanin/Rosen

Demko
Silovs

 

[Deeds26]

He's very obviously center there.

No, noo, don't do this to him. He's just a child, he doesn't understand.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

Choosing Mikheyev over Kuzmenko, just to buy out Mik months later, and bring in Laine...

Now there's a sequence that would make Benning blush.

 

[Vector]

ahem...
View attachment 882067

A++++ joke. No notes. Perfection.

 

[Wisp]

Choosing Mikheyev over Kuzmenko, just to buy out Mik months later, and bring in Laine...

Now there's a sequence that would make Benning blush.

Lol are you under the impression Mikheyev could have got the Lindholm trade done

 

[biturbo19]

not a fan of making mistakes less bad.....do it right and create the opportunity to get or keep a roster spot for someone who deserves it and fits. Role and personality.

I would much rather buyout Mikhayev and essentially be paying Joshua for 4.2-4.5 million over the first 2 yrs than Mikhayev who was not just a lack of confidence and hands but also a joke when it came time to be physical at 4.75 for 2 yrs. To me it's a no brainer unless the scouts think they can do both find another Joshua and buyout Mikhayev and free up cap

My question is????

If Myers Silovs Blueger and Hronek come in at 13million that leaves about 13 million considering a depth player from Abby is also on the roster at D or F and that's with Joshua for Mikhayev as i explained so....

Are you...
A - signing Zadorov DeBrusk with Joshua for Mikhayev + depth player (Pod/Bains/Raty/Lekk)
B - signing Guentzel Dillon with Joshua for Mikhayev + depth player (Pod/Bains/Raty/Lekk)
C - signing Guentzel Zadorov with 2 depth players (Pod/Bains/Raty/Lekk)

Joshua at anywhere north of $2.5M is a mistake to me. Anywhere north of $3M and ranging into that $4M+ range is just Clarkson shit. He's a good player and we need his size and physicality...but you can't pay a 10-12G guy that much because he had a wild, unsustainable year at age 28. This was very likely his "high water mark" on his career. He's not shooting 21.5% next year or any of the other years of whatever this deal is. And he doesn't really generate his own scoring opportunities. Garland did that for him.

he had flashes when he was with the organization, but our player development was not good under previous management and he was probably not put in the best position to succeed. That covid bubble era was weird and probably detrimental to some developing players (Diepietro got kind of screwed as well). He should have been in the AHL that 20-21 season but instead he was in our shit show being coached by Travis Green.

I understand the "system" argument, but Chatfield has elite wheels. Maybe not the change of direction that Hughes has, but his acceleration is better than anyone currently on the Canucks or in the system (Wilander may get there). I just don't share the pessimism that he's not going to be able to get the puck out of the zone, or deal with the forecheck. This is not the same player we saw in 2020/1. He's a lot bigger and stronger and has played 200 pro games since then. His puck skills have improved a lot and there is absolutely no reason why that won't continue.

I really don't get the fixation on Chatfield. He's a nothing player. He's improved a lot since he left the Canucks terrible development system at the time...but he's still just a totally nothing bottom-pairing no even defenceman.

He's played almost exclusively with Orlov as a legit top-3D in a soft as warm butter bottom-pairing role in terms of matchups. I think that's leading a lot of people to completely misinterpret what Chatfield actually is as a player on his own. It's like when Ethan Bear looked kinda solid with Hughes. Or as a weird callback...Shane O'Brien was pretty darn solid beside Ehrhoff when he first arrived here.

If someone really pays Chatfield, it's probably going to be a mistake. Even if it won't be real "big money".

Hearing that Laine wants out of Columbus and that his agent has been given permission to talk to teams made me think of this possibility...

Something around Mikheyev (4.75) for Laine (8.7) equals +3.95 mil. Add Marchessault (another similarly priced 3C perhaps?) estimated at 6.25 now equals 10.2 million...right around what Guentzel might sign for.

If Laine wants a change of scenery and the Canucks are a team he WANTS to play for, is getting Laine and Marchessault at around the same salary as Guentzel a better option?

I'm so torn on this Laine thing. If you can get him for the right price, he's got such sky high upside. But there's so much else going on there that makes me wary.

Marchessault is also definitely not a Center. lol. If you're looking to sign a Center from Vegas, that's Chandler Stephenson, who i'd be all for signing. But he's probably going to fall in that $6M x 6 range that we simply cannot afford. I'd love to sign him as a #2C and just run the Lotto Line full time. I just don't know if we can afford to do that and still ice a decent 2nd line. Stephenson is a bit like Lindholm in that i think they both need more offensively dynamic wingers to make things happen.

1) Hronek to Anaheim -> Zegras to Calgary -> Rasmus Andersen to Vancouver!

2) Then gamble on Laine and acquire him for cheap.

3) profit!

I'm very into the idea of shipping Hronek out in a way that would let us acquire Rasmus Andersson. His cheap $4.55M contract for a couple years would be enormously helpful in keeping the team together as a whole. And he's honestly a better player than Hronek too. Kind of similar in a lot of ways...but just a + in almost every aspect.

Anthony Duclair? Yah or nay.

Like for Yah
Laugh face for nay

Duclair sucks. He's one of the biggest "fools gold" wingers in the league. Fans always covet him because he finds a way to get his points...but he's just a terrible player. He compromises everything else about the game, in exchange for skating fast and scoring some goals. There's a reason he bounces around so much and nobody really wants or values him in trade.

I've had a few moments where I've been 'hmmm ... maybe?' on Laine (a player I absolutely loved 6 or 7 years ago and thought would be a megastar) but unless it was 50% retention AND taking Mikheyev it's an absolutely terrifying move to me.

Over the 450-ish games he's been eligible to play over the past 6 years, he's been injured or a coach-killing checked-out defensive liability for about 350 of them. One of the biggest things we had going for us last year was 20 guys buying into the same system every night and tossing an absolute wildcard like this into the mix is ... who knows?

The Laine thing is such a challenge. I'm not even sure we're in a position to make that kind of move, cap-wise. But it's one of those enormously risk/reward sort of moves that either puts you over the top, or absolutely kills your window.

That upside of being a 40-50G scoring winger with size and a real imposing presence offensively, is just so enticing. If he clicked with Petey, i think that's what you're getting. That's just landscape altering sort of stuff.

The downside though...is that you're making room for an $8.7M player who is more like Boeser prior to this season. If he doesn't buy in like Boeser did...i don't know how you can justify that player at that sort of cap hit. That's scary. Especially if you're giving up real value to acquire them, in addition to the cap number. Especially if that attitude starts to spread around the team again.


The other aspect of this is that Laine seems like honestly a little bit of a weirdo. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but i feel like he's potentially the wrong sort of weirdo for the Vancouver market. He seems like someone who actually reads the internet and fan opinions and things and lets that get to him. Which is an extremely poor fit in Vancouver if that's the case. Our media are f***ing intolerable, ultra negative dickheads most of the time. So when we talk about a "change of scenery"...it might not be the right change for him. Or maybe it just fires him up and he goes full JT Bozo. idk. But it just adds to the risk of the whole proposition.

 

[krutovsdonut]

incredible work

 

[arttk]

He's very obviously center there.

Fact

 

[Nuckles]

I feel like all the Canucks could afford to give up is Mikheyev and a conditional pick for Laine with $4M retained. And it would have to be a crazy condition, like a 2026 4th that becomes a 1st if the Canucks win the cup or Laine scores 35+ goals in a season.

But Columbus would likely get a better return elsewhere. It's probably too risky of a move for the Canucks to give up meaningful guaranteed assets.

 

[Wry n Ginger]

Regarding the Laine/Marchessault ideas, I wasn't so much thinking about March as a center, but more about the value of Laine "with a new lease on life etc". I brought up March as an example just to fill the 3rd line center spot but if he was in the top 6 forwards that works just as well. Adding March and Laine to our top 6 vs just Guentzel at the same price?...something to think about for sure.

Laine for the next 2 years costs around 4 million more than Mik. Does Mik rebound from his surgery? Does Laine rebound from his personal issues? Either way you are out and clear of those 2 contracts in 2 years. If you want to sign Guentzel you are locked in for 5, 6, 7 years?

If the Laine's agent reaches out to the Canucks (KEY POINT HERE), and he tells them his client is eager to join the organization, then I would bet on a Boeser like resurgence from him and make that trade in a heart-beat. The chances of Laine providing value at 8,7 in that example are much higher than Mik providing value at 4.75 imo.

 

[David71]

Any chance you have a reference for that comparison because that’s not how I remember it. My memory of Chatfield is that he had great mobility and was a fearless player but could get out of position or cough up the puck too much to be a reliable defender. So definitely not like Tanev on those two key points.

maybe my mind was a blur. but that was before. now could be different

 

[David71]

This has the potential to be an absolute bombshell amazing offseason.

Heck yes sign me up for Guentzel (+ Laine + Necas!)

we need goalscorers. let lindholm walk and get the 7x7 or whatever hes asking for elsewhere.

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

Obviously Mikheyev gets thrown into a Laine deal but I think the dark horse who could be added and nobody is talking about is Tucker Poolman. If you get a little retention on Laine it could be possible and that would definitely help our Struggling PP.

I think we need to save all the money we can on long term deals for Bedard and Celibrini. These guys bleed Canucks colours and are great friends. 100% they would love to bring home the 1st Cup in franchise history and become absolute legends (wishful thinking)

 

[biturbo19]

Obviously Mikheyev gets thrown into a Laine deal but I think the dark horse who could be added and nobody is talking about is Tucker Poolman. If you get a little retention on Laine it could be possible and that would definitely help our Struggling PP.

I think we need to save all the money we can on long term deals for Bedard and Celibrini. These guys bleed Canucks colours and are great friends. 100% they would love to bring home the 1st Cup in franchise history and become absolute legends (wishful thinking)

So far as i know, Poolboys contract isn't an insured one. So that's probably a non-starter for a team like Columbus.

I don't think that works for a team like Columbus.


Also lol...it'd be sweet to have Bedard and Celebrini come home to roost. But that's basically unheard of. Tavares going back to Toronto was the closest we've seen and...well...look at how that contract is aging. But more than that, it's well over half a decade away from happening. Why would saving cap now have any relevance to that? lol.

 

[Wisp]

So far as i know, Poolboys contract isn't an insured one. So that's probably a non-starter for a team like Columbus.

I don't think that works for a team like Columbus.

There's no indication that Poolman's contract isn't insured. You might be thinking of Ferland's, no one would insure it when Benning signed him to it thanks to his concussion history.

 

[F A N]

No thanks on Laine. He’s damaged goods who needs to be on PP1 and I haven’t forgiven him for his snide comments towards the Canucks. Maybe he has learned a lesson after his years in Columbus and realize team bonding is actually important. I would avoid here.