Canucks & NHL News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | Summer Doldrums

[Wisp]

We should hound Seattle all year and the minute they're out try for Adam Larsson.

Desharnais
Mynio
2026 1st

Give him the Tanev deal after

I'd love him as a rental but with Willander on the way I'd love to keep an eye out for a Left D instead.

Shea Theodore would be so perfect...

 

[Vector]

Is it though?

Cole on opening night last season was far better than either of Forbort or Desharnais. He fell off hard, but he was playing Top-4 quality hockey at that point. The rest is basically exactly the same, with maybe a little more established chemistry...but basically the same core guys. Minus having to play Hirose for a while for cap purposes.

Actual opening night is obviously always subject to health, but i think it's more realistic and fair to evaluate across apples to apples...how it looked over the summer, heading into the season.


I do hope they've still got a move or two up their sleaves somewhere. They had a ton of things go exceedingly well for them right out of the gate last year. They can't count on that this year. Nor will they be taken for granted early as some teams may have done last year.

I don’t know if the way the defence is constructed this off-season is better than the beginning of last but they are comparable. I think Forbort-Desharnais is roughly similar to Cole-Juulsen.

 

[JAK]

I think that the group is going to play defensively as a unit, less passengers on the forwards, and they would be expected to back check, get the puck, and break out.

 

[biturbo19]

We should hound Seattle all year and the minute they're out try for Adam Larsson.

Desharnais
Mynio
2026 1st

Give him the Tanev deal after

I'd feel a lot better giving Larsson the "Tanev deal" than Tanev. Much as i love the guy, the age difference is not on his side there, nor is the absolute beating he takes every season. Larsson would be great. There is a bit of a potential snag in giving him that sort of term though...

I'd love him as a rental but with Willander on the way I'd love to keep an eye out for a Left D instead.

Shea Theodore would be so perfect...

This is a really good point. I wouldn't fret too much about it and start putting the cart before the horse with Willander though. Realistically...maybe 2025-26 he makes the NHL jump. Might be a couple years after that before he's really ready for primetime. Or not, you never know. But i think that's a problem you're happy to deal with when it happens. Worst case, as he establishes himself if he forces his way up the roster, you shuffle Larsson down to anchor a great 3rd pairing. Worse things in the world than that. But it is something to be cognizant of, when it comes to longer-term planning. Where your organizational strength/depth is.

Theodore would be an absolute coup for this team to carry a 2nd pairing right now. But realistically, he's expressed a pretty strong preference for playing his off side. I'd consider him a RD in all but the way he holds his stick. Like Ehrhoff, i think it's one of those cases where trying to force him to play LD...you're going to get less out of him. So if you're worried about it with Larsson, i'd be thinking about it with Theodore too.

Theodore is also going to cost probably twice what Larsson might. Which makes it a much bigger potential issue. In a lot of different ways. I think Theodore made a lot more sense when Hronek was up in the air. Now that they've signed that deal, i think it closes the door on that a bit.

Would still be a heck of a rental if Vegas somehow flopped out. Or even just wanted to loan him to us for a year at a price that makes sense for that. He'd be absolutely perfect for the short-term.

I don’t know if the way the defence is constructed this off-season is better than the beginning of last but they are comparable. I think Forbort-Desharnais is roughly similar to Cole-Juulsen.

Ehhh...i guess i just think that Forbort and Desharnais are significant downgrades on Cole. Which is really the bigger deal to me. All the bottom-pairing clutter matters less to me.

I'm more concerned about the fact that Soucy has proven pretty unreliable and realistically...Cole was ahead of him on the depth chart going into last season...but either way, provided much better insurance and minute-handling ability than either of Forbort/Desharnais who are strictly..."do not play above limited bottom-pairing minutes...or you'll regret it..." type guys.

 

[ohnoeszz]

I keep seeing talk about potential acquisitions and I think we need to first look ahead at next year's cap state.

We have $40,675,000 committed to 10 forwards next year. Boeser, Hoglander, Suter, Digimon are FAs.

We have $23,350,000 committed to 5 defenders next year. Forbort, Julsen, Freidman are FAs.

We have $5,000,000 committed to Demko next year. For the sake of this excersie I am going to consider a backup signed for a cool 1 million, bringing us to $6,000,000 for goalies.

We have $712,500 retained for Mikeheyev next year.

OEL's buyout penalty jumps to $4,766,667 next year.

This all adds up to $74,504,167 committed next year with 6 open roster spots still.

This year, the salary cap is $88,000,000. Expectations are it will go up again next year - how much is hard to say. I've seen some suggest 5+ mil. For this exercise, let's copy this year's jump of $4 million and set a tentative projected cap of $92,000,000.

I see about $17.5 million to re-sign Boeser/Hoglander and improve the roster.

Boeser could cost from $7-9 million so let's call it 8. If Hoglander hits 20+ goals again under a rising cap we are probably looking at $3-5 million so let's call it 4. $12,000,000 set aside to keep Boeser/Hog leaves $5.5 million for upgrades/depth in 4 roster spots.

Let's say 3 of those spots are minimum cost $775,000 players. You are left with 2,675,000 to upgrade your final roster spot (LD) if you maintain the same roster next year.

---------

I lay all this out to point out that we really don't have room to add salary next year without losing players we currently have.

Rentals are going to be our targets this year unless we move a larger salary and we have a lot of NTC/NMCs.

Soucy is NTC until next year when it is modified making him movable - I could see us moving him to make salary space then.

Garland is worth his money but you wonder if they might look to trade for value and reallocate the money.

Hoglander being due a raise makes him an interesting trade chip. Personally I'd try to re-sign for an undermarket deal long term but things are aligned for a trade here.

Rutherford's Boeser comments (looking to move him? - "No, no, no.") make me think he remains a piece to re-sign as a top line winger.

We likely aren't trading for long term salary this year. If we do Garland or Hoglander are going the other way to make the cap work for next season.

 

[David71]

shea theodore would be a nice add on the left side but too bad he shoots left. would the canucks prefer a younger guy 24ish-27 or a guy older on the 2nd pairing. soucy is bound to get hurt at some point next year. still need a reliable top 4 defender.

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights/players/could-the-golden-knights-trade-shea-theodore

 

[biturbo19]

I keep seeing talk about potential acquisitions and I think we need to first look ahead at next year's cap state.

We have $40,675,000 committed to 10 forwards next year. Boeser, Hoglander, Suter, Digimon are FAs.

We have $23,350,000 committed to 5 defenders next year. Forbort, Julsen, Freidman are FAs.

We have $5,000,000 committed to Demko next year. For the sake of this excersie I am going to consider a backup signed for a cool 1 million, bringing us to $6,000,000 for goalies.

We have $712,500 retained for Mikeheyev next year.

OEL's buyout penalty jumps to $4,766,667 next year.

This all adds up to $74,504,167 committed next year with 6 open roster spots still.

This year, the salary cap is $88,000,000. Expectations are it will go up again next year - how much is hard to say. I've seen some suggest 5+ mil. For this exercise, let's copy this year's jump of $4 million and set a tentative projected cap of $92,000,000.

I see about $17.5 million to re-sign Boeser/Hoglander and improve the roster.

Boeser could cost from $7-9 million so let's call it 8. If Hoglander hits 20+ goals again under a rising cap we are probably looking at $3-5 million so let's call it 4. $12,000,000 set aside to keep Boeser/Hog leaves $5.5 million for upgrades/depth in 4 roster spots.

Let's say 3 of those spots are minimum cost $775,000 players. You are left with 2,675,000 to upgrade your final roster spot (LD) if you maintain the same roster next year.

---------

I lay all this out to point out that we really don't have room to add salary next year without losing players we currently have.

Rentals are going to be our targets this year unless we move a larger salary and we have a lot of NTC/NMCs.

Soucy is NTC until next year when it is modified making him movable - I could see us moving him to make salary space then.

Garland is worth his money but you wonder if they might look to trade for value and reallocate the money.

Hoglander being due a raise makes him an interesting trade chip. Personally I'd try to re-sign for an undermarket deal long term but things are aligned for a trade here.

Rutherford's Boeser comments (looking to move him? - "No, no, no.") make me think he remains a piece to re-sign as a top line winger.

We likely aren't trading for long term salary this year. If we do Garland or Hoglander are going the other way to make the cap work for next season.

This is where you really have to lean on "homegrown" guys stepping up. Hopefully some of them start to emerge this year, but next year it's going to be crucial to get some of those contributions.

Whether that's Willander, Lekkerimaki at the higher end. Or DPetey, McWard, Hirose, Woo finally sticking, or depth guys up front like Arshdeep, Raty, Linus Karlsson, or whoever. Gonna need some guys within the system to step up on dirt cheap deals.


But it may also require looking at some hard decisions on guys like Hoglander, Garland, et al.

It's not really that bad though. A lot of those guys that are FAs are great but also replaceable if the price is too high. Boeser is probably the only real "big ticket" item on the docket right now. The rest is pretty much continuing to churn depth and/or space for upgrades.

shea theodore would be a nice add on the left side but too bad he shoots left. would the canucks prefer a younger guy 24ish-27 or a guy older on the 2nd pairing. soucy is bound to get hurt at some point next year. still need a reliable top 4 defender.

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights/players/could-the-golden-knights-trade-shea-theodore

I don't really think Theodore playing as a Lefty on the Right Side would be that big of a holdup for this staff. It's clear that they strongly prioritize it...but they didn't completely rule out playing a guy like Ian Cole there, because he was comfortable there.

So in the case of a guy who actually seems to prefer it...i think they could work around that. I don't see them as being that stubborn.


Theodore really would completely change the way this team is able to move the puck and attack beyond the Hughes pairing.

It's just...it'd be a big acquisition cost for what would have to be a rental at this point. He'll be looking for at least a Hronek/Montour sort of deal i'd think. And i'm just not sure how tenable it would be to have all of Hughes/Hronek/Theodore locked up to those sort of deals.

Still fun to think about though. That'd be a serious Cup Contender caliber blueline built around the three of 'em.

 

[David71]

This is where you really have to lean on "homegrown" guys stepping up. Hopefully some of them start to emerge this year, but next year it's going to be crucial to get some of those contributions.

Whether that's Willander, Lekkerimaki at the higher end. Or DPetey, McWard, Hirose, Woo finally sticking, or depth guys up front like Arshdeep, Raty, Linus Karlsson, or whoever. Gonna need some guys within the system to step up on dirt cheap deals.


But it may also require looking at some hard decisions on guys like Hoglander, Garland, et al.

It's not really that bad though. A lot of those guys that are FAs are great but also replaceable if the price is too high. Boeser is probably the only real "big ticket" item on the docket right now. The rest is pretty much continuing to churn depth and/or space for upgrades.




I don't really think Theodore playing as a Lefty on the Right Side would be that big of a holdup for this staff. It's clear that they strongly prioritize it...but they didn't completely rule out playing a guy like Ian Cole there, because he was comfortable there.

So in the case of a guy who actually seems to prefer it...i think they could work around that. I don't see them as being that stubborn.


Theodore really would completely change the way this team is able to move the puck and attack beyond the Hughes pairing.

It's just...it'd be a big acquisition cost for what would have to be a rental at this point. He'll be looking for at least a Hronek/Montour sort of deal i'd think. And i'm just not sure how tenable it would be to have all of Hughes/Hronek/Theodore locked up to those sort of deals.

Still fun to think about though. That'd be a serious Cup Contender caliber blueline built around the three of 'em.

hughes hronek
soucy theodore would be lethal and deadly. 3 puck movers

 

[Nucker101]

-- Patrick Allvin first year 2022\23 --

Hoglander - Pettersson - Kuzmenko
Pearson - Miller - Boeser
Joshua - Horvat - Garland
Podkolzin - Aman - Lazar

Hughes - Schenn
EkmanLarsson - Myers
Stillman - Burroughs

x aman, mikhayev, dries, dermott, rathbone

G - Demko, Martin



-- Patrick Allvin second year 2023\24 --

Beauvillier - Pettersson - Kuzmenko
Suter - Miller - Boeser
Joshua - Blueger - Garland
Di Guiseppe - Aman - Studnicka

Hughes - Hronek
Soucy - Myers
Cole - Juulsen

x mikhayev, hoglander, podkolzin, wolanin, friedman

G - Demko, Desmith


But in two years on paper its;

Kuzmenko -> Kuzmenko -> Debrusk
Horvat -> Blueger -> Blueger
Hoglander -> Beauvillier -> Hoglander
Pearson -> Suter -> Heinen
Lazar -> Studnicka -> Sherwood
Schenn -> Hronek -> Hronek
OEL -> Soucy -> Soucy
Stillman -> Cole -> Forbort
Burroughs -> Juulsen -> Desharnais
Martin -> Desmith -> Silovs

We've spent two years to upgrade Lazar into Sherwood

We've spent two years to upgrade Pearson into Heinen

We've spent two years to upgrade Hogs back to Hogs with a Beau stop in between.

We've spent two years to upgrade Burroughs into Desharnais for double the salary.

We've spent two years to have Soucy as an OEL replacement while eating the biggest buyout ever.

Then Horvat\Schenn for Hronek\Blueger is a wash or maybe favors us due to salary demands, age, position, whatever but not by much.

While I agree with you that the actual roster doesn't look that much better, I think you're incorrect in using the 2022-2023 opening lineup as the starting point vs the actual starting point for Allvin, like you're weirdly using Kuzmenko against Allvin when he's the one who brought him in, ditto with completely ignoring Joshua. That's like saying the Benning regime already had Demko when they technically brought him in.

I would compare the current roster to this one:

 

[JT Milker]

While I agree with you that the actual roster doesn't look that much better, I think you're incorrect in using the 2022-2023 opening lineup as the starting point vs the actual starting point for Allvin, like you're weirdly using Kuzmenko against Allvin when he's the one who brought him in, ditto with completely ignoring Joshua. That's like saying the Benning regime already had Demko when they technically brought him in.

I would compare the current roster to this one:
View attachment 893099

Wow Alvin lost a 950 goalie on waivers!!!

 

[RobertKron]

Dang, I totally forgot Halak was ever a Canuck.

 

[JAK]

Dang, I totally forgot Halak was ever a Canuck.

Garth Snow, Felix Potvin, Braden Holtby, among others, who all had a short Canucks careerafter their glory days.

 

[ChilliBilly]

I keep seeing talk about potential acquisitions and I think we need to first look ahead at next year's cap state.

We have $40,675,000 committed to 10 forwards next year. Boeser, Hoglander, Suter, Digimon are FAs.

We have $23,350,000 committed to 5 defenders next year. Forbort, Julsen, Freidman are FAs.

We have $5,000,000 committed to Demko next year. For the sake of this excersie I am going to consider a backup signed for a cool 1 million, bringing us to $6,000,000 for goalies.

We have $712,500 retained for Mikeheyev next year.

OEL's buyout penalty jumps to $4,766,667 next year.

This all adds up to $74,504,167 committed next year with 6 open roster spots still.

This year, the salary cap is $88,000,000. Expectations are it will go up again next year - how much is hard to say. I've seen some suggest 5+ mil. For this exercise, let's copy this year's jump of $4 million and set a tentative projected cap of $92,000,000.

I see about $17.5 million to re-sign Boeser/Hoglander and improve the roster.

Boeser could cost from $7-9 million so let's call it 8. If Hoglander hits 20+ goals again under a rising cap we are probably looking at $3-5 million so let's call it 4. $12,000,000 set aside to keep Boeser/Hog leaves $5.5 million for upgrades/depth in 4 roster spots.

Let's say 3 of those spots are minimum cost $775,000 players. You are left with 2,675,000 to upgrade your final roster spot (LD) if you maintain the same roster next year.

---------

I lay all this out to point out that we really don't have room to add salary next year without losing players we currently have.

Rentals are going to be our targets this year unless we move a larger salary and we have a lot of NTC/NMCs.

Soucy is NTC until next year when it is modified making him movable - I could see us moving him to make salary space then.

Garland is worth his money but you wonder if they might look to trade for value and reallocate the money.

Hoglander being due a raise makes him an interesting trade chip. Personally I'd try to re-sign for an undermarket deal long term but things are aligned for a trade here.

Rutherford's Boeser comments (looking to move him? - "No, no, no.") make me think he remains a piece to re-sign as a top line winger.

We likely aren't trading for long term salary this year. If we do Garland or Hoglander are going the other way to make the cap work for next season.

I would be perfectly happy to trade Boeser to an eastern team at the deadline if we haven't negotiated a friendly contract by then. Of course a lot will depend both on how he is doing, and how the Canucks are doing. But if he is having a decent year, and is looking for big bucks, getting a first a prospect and player on a decent salary would give us a ton of options. And this is what smart teams do, is let decent players go when they are about to decline. He will be 28 at the TDL.

 

[Britton]

I would be perfectly happy to trade Boeser to an eastern team at the deadline if we haven't negotiated a friendly contract by then. Of course a lot will depend both on how he is doing, and how the Canucks are doing. But if he is having a decent year, and is looking for big bucks, getting a first a prospect and player on a decent salary would give us a ton of options. And this is what smart teams do, is let decent players go when they are about to decline. He will be 28 at the TDL.

They do not do that when they are looking to compete in the playoffs, unless the Canucks season totally tanks they will not be trading Boeser in season for futures.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Dang, I totally forgot Halak was ever a Canuck.

To be fair, I think both he and Canuck fans on the whole want to forget about that.

 

[bossram]

I think it really is this. A cheap "asset" to hold through the season (and maybe pump up in soft minutes with scoring) to trade for value later, given the lack of cap space there. If that's the gamble, I think I take it in their shoes (not high on Savoie either)

Yep. If there is some other team that (incorrectly) believes Savoie is an elite/bluechip prospect, then it's a fantastic move for EDM. They can flip Savoie to the right team for an upgrade at the deadline.

Acquiring him purely to add to the prospect pool...puzzling justification at best.

 

[wetcoast]

i don't think Edmonton should be making that trade either. McLeod could play and was a win now player.

Combined with their maneuver into the first round at the draft, you can of see Edmonton worrying about what happens when McDrai either get expensive... or if they walk.

I disagree as Savoie could easily step into the lineup next season and impress, he's got a great skillset.

 

[bossram]

logan stanley just re-signed with winnipeg for two years, $1.25m AAV

stanley was RFA but i feel like he’s the upside of a desharnais right? and he’s a good version of forbort. so it feels like we overpaid on our giant bottom pair D?

Stanley is substantially worse than both.

 

[David71]

How the Canucks can use their remaining cap space to take advantage of these 6 teams

For the first time in recent memory, the Vancouver Canucks actually ha...

canucksarmy.com

Is it worth the Canucks’ while to trade Tucker Poolman’s contract this summer?

The more things change, the more they stay the same. <a href="https...

canucksarmy.com

just reaquire ethan bear and call it a day. has played with hughes before. drops hronek to second pairing to anchor his own. 3rd pairing could be a combination of forbort/friedman/dehernais/noah

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

How the Canucks can use their remaining cap space to take advantage of these 6 teams

For the first time in recent memory, the Vancouver Canucks actually ha...

canucksarmy.com

Is it worth the Canucks’ while to trade Tucker Poolman’s contract this summer?

The more things change, the more they stay the same. <a href="https...

canucksarmy.com

just reaquire ethan bear and call it a day. has played with hughes before. drops hronek to second pairing to anchor his own. 3rd pairing could be a combination of forbort/friedman/dehernais/noah

where does myers play?

and hey whatever happened to wolanin? i liked him

 

[Vector]

where does myers play?

and hey whatever happened to wolanin? i liked him

He was injured for a good chunk of last season and took a long time to get back into form.

 

[David71]

where does myers play?

and hey whatever happened to wolanin? i liked him

myers third pairing. i always forget hes sitll on the team lo.

 

[TruGr1t]

myers third pairing. i always forget hes sitll on the team lo.

Haha … You forgot about the guy who played nearly 20 mins per game in the playoffs and was pretty much the only defensman that didn’t get physically worn down?

 

[Three On Zero]

myers third pairing. i always forget hes sitll on the team lo.

I hated Myers, but he was actually serviceable under Tocchet in the playoffs. Given the market, I am OK with what he got re-signed for

 

[JT Milker]

Myers was serviceable all year and is perfectly fine playing under 20 mins with Soucy while Hughes and Hronek play silly minutes.