Canucks & NHL News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | These Little Piggies Are Not Going To The Market…

[Mr. Canucklehead]

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Vector's NHL Transaction Tracker.

Some Important Off-Season Dates

Buyout Period: June 27th, evening; 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). This buyout period ends June 30th. 8:00pm.
Team-Elected Arbitration: June 26th, evening
NHL Awards: June 27th
Draft Day 01: June 28th
Draft Day 02: June 29th
Qualifying Offer Date: June 30th
8-Year Contract Deadline: June 30th, 9pm PST
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

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[quat]

I think the poster who slotted Petey between Garland and Joshua may have identified a second line solution. On paper, Debrusk does seem like a better fit with Miller and Boeser.

The coaching staff will certainly have their work cut out for themselves next year, particularly on defence.

It also seems that management values Debrusk a lot more than most of us here. Wonder how it will work out. Hopefully not another Mikheyev. I think Debrusk is close to what Virtanen was supposed to be.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Like most years, this group will go as far as Elias Pettersson takes them.

He got his bag. Anything less than 90-100 points at that cap hit and we're in big trouble.

 

[Hodgy]

I’m overall disappointed but it’s always hard to know what players were really available anyway. But I’m disappointed because I think the two biggest needs were a hugh end offensive winger to play with Pettersson and a top four defensemen. And instead, we got a 40-50 point winger, and two bottom pairing defensemen, and some forward depth.

And the forward depth and bottom pairing defensemen are not totally useless, but these guys can be acquired for mid round picks at the deadline.

 

[Diversification]

So, now that the dust is settling, it looks like we strengthened our wings at the expense of our 3rd pairing, which looks like some combination of Deharnais, Forbort, Juulseon and Friedman...

The trend league-wide is to cheap out on the bottom pairing so there is that... But not a puck mover in the bunch could be an Achilles heel that needs to be addressed in-season/TDL.

 

[RealGudbranson]

If Debrusk as a left hand shot can play the bumper well, and heinen and Sherwood can keep up their even strength production, it’ll blunt the continued downward trajectory of last years PDO bender (and hangover).

And I think they’ll still at a PO Joseph.

 

[arttk]

I'd be very, very happy if that was the case. But it doesn't happen a lot, that's why the Sedins and Burrows was such a phenomenon.


If that works out at all cylinders firiing for all (or even most) players, I'll jump back on the train.

On paper, I am very disappointed for today's signings.

I mean that’s how everyone felt last season too and I think they have earned some trust.
I feel like we should be better at ES and PK. Really worry about our PP though.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i think this is how it’s ultimately going to work

hoglander miller debrusk
joshua petey boeser
podkolzin blueger/suter garland
heinen suter/blueger sherwood

hughes hronek
soucy myers
desharnais forbort

and we hope like hell forbort or someone else can pair with hughes so we can slide hronek down to man his own pair

and ultimately the real work will be at the deadline, when we upgrade both bottom pair dmen and add one more top six winger and possibly upgrade the 3C role

but i do wish we’d left some room for the abby guys to have a shot at moving up. best case scenario one or two do anyway and we can sell a bit of the bottom six forward depth to recoup the picks we send away for rentals

my big hope is garland can do for pod what he did for josh last year

 

[krutovsdonut]

all these signings, including debrusk, are good soldiers with a track record of playing well in a tight defensive forechecking system and contributing to the pk. the team avoided anyone who needs to play their own way to thrive. we also avoided gambles, reclamation projects and guys coming off one good season.

i now see debrusk as having been signed as a high end middle sixer to replace mikheyev, not as a pure top 6 addition. he may well play in the top 6 as middle six guys do by definition, but they made sure they got someone who can roleplay in the bottom 6. jr has had a lot of guys like that over the years. maybe i am wrong about debrusk. sadly i doubt it.

the odd men out on our roster are now hoglander and pods. i think they have to learn to be good soldiers or they are gone. i don't think outscoring your weaknesses is an option on this team so i see hogs as the next casualty unless he bears down this offseason.

 

[Nuckler]

I'd like to see them take a big swing at necas or buchnevich in the off-season and move what they have too, to make the salary work. For buch, I'd swing big time if stl would retain half. Like 1st, second, and lekkarimaki big for primary pieces. They'd have the space for it right now and could look to give buch an extension. Necas is trickier this year I think because he needs a deal.

 

[BWJM]

Really worry about our PP though.

I mean on PP1 you probably have

Hughes
Pettersson
Miller
DeBrusk
Boeser

The worry is - will they finally actually live up to their potential? Hopefully DeBrusk is some sorta long needed missing link.

 

[CanucksSayEh]

So the teams C depth is the exact same as it was when Alvin thought it needed to add Lindholm... and we are now penciling our 3rd line wingers on our 2nd line..

Don't be surprised anyone when EP picks up exactly where he left off, and the PP continues to cost games.

I don't think Edmonton cared how big our defensemen were while outshooting us 22-2 in game 7.

 

[Quinton Byfield]

I think in the modern NHL, you have to be comfortable winning 5-4 as often as 2-1. We just doubled down on 2-1. There is no puck moving or skating ability outside of the top pair beyond Myers.

You need people to get the puck out of your zone under control and up to your forwards. It’s the linchpin of Rutherford’s champion core, mobile puck movers, and cheap players that your superstars form chemistry with.

This HAS to work, the alternative is a bunch of slug foots chasing the play getting cycled to death.

 

[BWJM]

We really need Hoglander and Podz to take a big step this year

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

So, now that the dust is settling, it looks like we strengthened our wings at the expense of our 3rd pairing, which looks like some combination of Deharnais, Forbort, Juulseon and Friedman...

The trend league-wide is to cheap out on the bottom pairing so there is that... But not a puck mover in the bunch could be an Achilles heel that needs to be addressed in-season/TDL.

I think they will look to see what D-Petey can do as a possible bottom pairing option.

 

[Russian_fanatic]

If Desharnais is sent down, how does his contract effect the cap?

 

[CanucksSayEh]

We really need Hoglander and Podz to take a big step this year

Hogs was our 2nd highest goal scoring winger. Podz had 2 points

Lets not lump their situations together.

 

[Vector]

If Desharnais is sent down, how does his contract effect the cap?

About 0.9m would still count against the cap.

 

[calnuck]

On paper this team definitely looks like it’s poised to take a step backwards this year, which is fine considering the lightning in a bottle season they had.
What I’d like to see is a focus on fixing the power play. If they can fix that then a 2nd-3rd place conference finish isn’t unattainable. If not I expect they’ll be middle of the pack

 

[arttk]

So the teams C depth is the exact same as it was when Alvin thought it needed to add Lindholm... and we are now penciling our 3rd line wingers on our 2nd line..

Don't be surprised anyone when EP picks up exactly where he left off, and the PP continues to cost games.

I don't think Edmonton cared how big our defensemen were while outshooting us 22-2 in game 7.

We added Lindholm because that was the best option at that time. It’s like yeah, you should always add another 1/2C.
I think long term we need another better winger for Petey but looking at last season, Petey played with Mik who was mostly useless post Dec and Kuz/Hog/Laff as the other winger. Debrusk is a clear upgrade on Mik and we still need to get that other upgrade at TDL.
Also assuming that a not injured Petey will rebound

 

[ManVanFan]

Ranking today's signings in terms of value.
Heinen
Sherwood
Debrusk
Forbort
Desharnais
Patera
Smith

 

[Russian_fanatic]

About 0.9m would still count against the cap.

That's not too bad. There's still some flexibility going forward.

I don't think PA is done yet. I think they will trying to aquire some more skill on the bottom 4.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

We really need Hoglander and Podz to take a big step this year

If this team is going to compete, we'll need Hoglander and Podkolzin to flirt with 15-20 goals each

 

[SelltheTeamFrancesco]

Canucks have to make a call to Washington about Poolman. Just to see what it would cost.

 

[Bleach Clean]

i think this is how it’s ultimately going to work

hoglander miller debrusk
joshua petey boeser
podkolzin blueger/suter garland
heinen suter/blueger sherwood

hughes hronek
soucy myers
desharnais forbort

and we hope like hell forbort or someone else can pair with hughes so we can slide hronek down to man his own pair

and ultimately the real work will be at the deadline, when we upgrade both bottom pair dmen and add one more top six winger and possibly upgrade the 3C role

but i do wish we’d left some room for the abby guys to have a shot at moving up. best case scenario one or two do anyway and we can sell a bit of the bottom six forward depth to recoup the picks we send away for rentals

my big hope is garland can do for pod what he did for josh last year

I think you're insight here is good. Boeser will have to play with Pettersson. That's the internal solution. They may even have to load it up with DeBrusk as well.

Before, when Guentzel was a possibilty, the idea would be keeping the pairs of Miller-Boeser and Pettersson-Guentzel intact. Now, they have to pivot to creating a good top line and have Miller support on the 2nd line.

I see it as:

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Boeser
Joshua-Miller-Garland

And then mix and match the rest in the bottom6 to try and find something.

It's not Pettersson with Joshua and Garland. It's Miller. Why? Because it all hinges on Pettersson this coming year. He must be the best forward on the team, period.

 

[ManVanFan]

I’m overall disappointed but it’s always hard to know what players were really available anyway. But I’m disappointed because I think the two biggest needs were a hugh end offensive winger to play with Pettersson and a top four defensemen. And instead, we got a 40-50 point winger, and two bottom pairing defensemen, and some forward depth.

And the forward depth and bottom pairing defensemen are not totally useless, but these guys can be acquired for mid round picks at the deadline.

The forwards they picked up scored the same as Lindholm, Mikheyev and Kuzmenko at half the price.