Canucks & NHL News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | Urge to Frenzy…fading.

[bossram]

Missed the Lyubushkin and Dumba contracts today. Damn, Myers probably left 1 year and $1.5M in AAV on the table with his extension.

Apparently Jim Nill aged like Joe Biden today. Absolutely baffling contracts.

Did he miss Hakanpaa so much he had to sign his doppelganger to more than double the price?

 

[Nick Lang]

cap accrual is pretty simple, just a lot of bookkeeping

the season is ~190 days and the trade deadline is usually ~40 days before the end of the season. for every day you're a million under the cap you "bank" about $11,400. if you're 1 million under the cap from day one until the trade deadline you'll have about 1.7m to spend. however, there's only 40 days left in the season so you only need to pay the players you pick up about 22% of their contracts so you actually get to spend about 7.8m

can the canucks get 1m under the cap tho? probably not

their most probable roster is pettersson, miller, boeser, debrusk, garland, joshua, heinen, blueger, suter, sherwood, hoglander, pdg and podkolzin or aman up front and hughes, hronek, soucy, myers, desharnais, forbort and juulsen or friedman on d. demko and patera or silovs in net. that's only 22 and they'll probably carry 23 but for now assume a 22 man roster

that's 82m. there's also a little over 3m in dead cap and tucker poolman at another 2.5m

that's 87.5 or just over 500k in cap space or just under 4m in deadline cap room

the canucks could send players down on off days but they have zero waiver eligible players in that list above (except silovs, but if you send him down you need to bring up another goalie). maybe you could get aman/pdg or friedman/juulsen through waivers but it's probably not worth the risk. they'd have to cut pdg or aman and play karlsson or bains instead. if you can paper them down half the time you can squeeze out another 1.5m in deadline space though

the other problem is that you can't use ltir to replace players if you want to build up cap space. any injured players need to go on regular ir and while you can call up players to replace them the canucks probably won't have the cap space to do so without leveraging ltir (at which point you can't accrue)

tl;dr poolman probably has to go if the canucks are going to try to create cap space by running under the cap up to the deadline

Thanks for the explanation. Couldn't we also LTIR Poolman right at the deadline for another $2.5 mil ... or 22% of $2.5 ... or does that not make sense?

You don't sign a 7th defenceman for $1.5M. Forbort's either going to start the season as the third-pair LD or he's going to get traded.

Well yeah, that would be dumb. It's also super bad form to sign a guy and then just trade him to some other team before he plays a game ... isn't it or does this happen?

 

[SelltheTeamFrancesco]

Of the remaining UFAs on defense, I think Schmidt and Kylington probably fit the best. I sort of doubt that Schmidt would be apprehensive about signing here given that we've completely flipped the team culture since he was here.

Of trade options, I think Mario Ferraro makes the most sense. Signed for two more years at 3.25M and has experience playing tough minutes (although they're tained with how bad the sharks are). I wouldn't want to give a 1st round pick, but dangling someone like Podz or Hoggy wouldn't be the worst thing. But San Jose also has like... a pathetic amount of players signed, and it's probably because none of the free agents want to play for a surefire bottom 5 team in the league.

Apparently the Sharks want a haul for Mario Ferraro. They have no real reason to trade him. Brannstrom and Kylington are the only two guys in free agency that are intriguing. Kylington is a guy I always liked his game and watched him when he came back last year. Got better and better as the year went on. Maybe Marcus Pettersson but will probably have wait til the deadline when the Penguins suck and are sellers.

 

[credulous]

Thanks for the explanation. Couldn't we also LTIR Poolman right at the deadline for another $2.5 mil ... or 22% of $2.5 ... or does that not make sense?

yeah, you could do this

the canucks could probably manage 7-8m in cap space (at the deadline) if you assume no roster changes and they get through the season to the trade deadline with no significant injuries and they manage to float guys down to abby pretty aggressively without losing them on waivers

 

[DFAC]

Is there a list somewhere of the remaining unsigned UFAs/RFAs?

 

[VanillaCoke]

Similar to last offseason, I am quite pleased with Allvin's work. Between Suter last season, and Heinen/Sherwood this summer, he's gone out and signed a few of My Guys at very reasonable deals.

I know I have been one of the people adamant against signing one of the 2nd tier forwards (i.e. Toffoli, Teravainen, Bertuzzi, etc) on big deals, Debrusk is the one exception to that group and I am content they got a deal there. He's a younger UFA, very strong all-around two-way profile, crucially brings some speed on the rush, and forechecks well enough to fit Tocc's system. I think he's a very good player and a great fit. It's solid work. Drop him and Heinen on Petey's wings and I think they have a very effective line.

Forbort and Desharnais will get 3rd pair deployment and are paid as such. Both have pretty strong defensive impacts and are great PKers, another area of need. No issues there. Allvin/Rutherford/Tocc like their trees on the back end. I don't believe the blueline is yet finished and they need some more mobility there, but I'll wait to see what shakes loose. They could wait out a guy like Brannstrom for a league minimum deal. A top-four guy might get dumped later.

But overall, another very competent July 1st for Allvin from me.

All of this 100%.

No complaints, one of the best FA day in the league and Allvin made zero mistakes.
The rest of the league not so much..

Offseason isn't even 24hrs in, lots of time for more developments, I'd personally like to have an open spot/cap for potential waiver steal at start of season.

 

[God]

Apparently the Sharks want a haul for Mario Ferraro. They have no real reason to trade him. Brannstrom and Kylington are the only two guys in free agency that are intriguing. Kylington is a guy I always liked his game and watched him when he came back last year. Got better and better as the year went on. Maybe Marcus Pettersson but will probably have wait til the deadline when the Penguins suck and are sellers.

Yeah it makes sense if they want a lot for him, plus he's been the longest dependable player for them and they need some role models on the team.

Not a huge fan of Brannstrom but he has the "I played in Ottawa" excuse going for him and would add a sorely needed defenseman with plus skating ability. I assume Kylington is still unsigned because he's weighing his options and maybe didn't see the money he thought he'd get - given that Silovs is unsigned, we are probably priced out if he wants more than 2.5M AAV.

 

[bossram]

All of this 100%.

No complaints, one of the best FA day in the league and Allvin made zero mistakes.
The rest of the league not so much..

Offseason isn't even 24hrs in, lots of time for more developments, I'd personally like to have an open spot/cap for potential waiver steal at start of season.

Allvin added a plethora of useful-to-good players at very reasonable prices. And in all cases except for Forbort, there is an upside case for the player to provide huge surplus value over the contract. It's excellent work. He avoided all the landmines that other GMs willingly stepped in.

They still need more mobility on the back-end, and I expect Allvin knows that and will address it - either before the season or in-season. Brannstrom is a cheap name I'm interested in.

Allvin does have the LTIR pool to dip in to, if there is something he wants to act on quickly.

But I'll reiterate, it's another excellent July 1st for Allvin.

 

[arttk]

Thanks for the explanation. Couldn't we also LTIR Poolman right at the deadline for another $2.5 mil ... or 22% of $2.5 ... or does that not make sense?



Well yeah, that would be dumb. It's also super bad form to sign a guy and then just trade him to some other team before he plays a game ... isn't it or does this happen?

don’t think LTIR works like that? I think you can use the LTIR space on a player with a 2.5M or less contract?

 

[David71]

I wonder if we take a flyer on a guy like Boqvist or Brannstrom if we're looking for a low risk, high reward PMD.

why not both. if they didnt add a forbort you could have had.
hughes hronek
soucy/boqvist
brannstrom/vinne deharnais. each pairing has a puck mover to transport the puck up the ice to the forwards. spares:juulssen/friedman.

 

[mriswith]

1. I forgive OEL for ~1 mil of his dead cap because of how badly his new contract is going to screw Toronto.

2. I like the Debrusk contract. The over under for how many years he disappoints is set at 2. Hopefully they aren't years 1 or 2 where we really need him to perform but it's an acceptable risk in exchange for the stylistic fit and upside at 5.5M.

3. Boeser is going to get PAID next year and we're going to regret not doing the 8 year deal that we could have last time.

4. The blueline sucks and is missing an entire second pairing. Running it back with Soucy-Myers as the second pairing is playing with fire. Last year we made it work by having four 4.5's who alternated good and bad stretches and had their flaws covered by vezina and norris performances plus a massive PDO bender for 1/3 the season.

This year we don't even have that. I think our coaching staff is a little overconfident in their ability to convert really tall garbage into top 4d after their success doing that last year. I predict we bargain bin a 4.5d this summer and then pay to swap Forbort for someone better mid season.

5. Speaking of converting really tall garbage into top 4d, I don't care that he was better last year and took a discount to stay, it wasn't enough. Having Myers in the starting top 4 has been a losing proposition his entire career and before we assume that 34 year old Myers has unlocked a permanent new level of play, it wasn't that long ago that people here loved the OEL/Myers pairing too.

The worst part is that his contract either blocks Willander or blocks signing a legit top 4 RD to push him down out of the top 4 and so far it seems like the latter. Beating out NSH's offer for Carrier was a no brainer. Is the only reason we didn't make a move like that because we're locked into Myers and are banking on Willander to offset the worst OEL contract years? We'll never know but I'd have beaten out both the Carrier deal and the Chychrun deal easily and would have been thrilled to go into the season with both of them instead of the Myers/Forb/Desh trio. It will take a couple more moves to fix this.

6. The forward group is among the best in the league. Pettersson once again draws the short end of the stick but better than last year and the bottom six will compensate by giving every other team in the league fits. We basically have 3 low end first lines and a 3rd line and that might be underselling them all.

5. There's a bunch of moves by other teams that are dreadful day 1 moves but Seattle really stands out as a surprise. I didn't realize Francis was that desperate. GM's that know their ass is on the line tend to make their worst and most crippling moves in the last ~18 months of their tenure so I hope that in addition to circling the Sens corpse when their season falls apart we're also keeping in close contact with Seattle if they start to bomb.

 

[David71]

Yeah there weren’t a lot of teams interested back when was first available and he could actually play. Will be interesting to see if there is any team that is willing to take him on even if they are paid.


He’s probably going to get like 17-18 min per night playing PP2 and mostly ES minutes. Myers is fine when his minutes are down to that range.


I expect moves around Dec..

maybe waiver pickups. usualy alvin does his deals in october. remember pearson for desmith earlier? even before game 1 of the regular season hasn't started. patience is the game. say for example they find another top 4 guy right shot who can move the puck, easier to acquire early on than at the deadline. more time to get accustomed to the teams system/structure.

 

[DFAC]

why not both. if they didnt add a forbort you could have had.
hughes hronek
soucy/boqvist
brannstrom/vinne deharnais. each pairing has a puck mover to transport the puck up the ice to the forwards. spares:juulssen/friedman.

What happened to Myers?

 

[Hodgy]

1. I forgive OEL for ~1 mil of his dead cap because of how badly his new contract is going to screw Toronto.

2. I like the Debrusk contract. The over under for how many years he disappoints is set at 2. Hopefully they aren't years 1 or 2 where we really need him to perform but it's an acceptable risk in exchange for the stylistic fit and upside at 5.5M.

3. Boeser is going to get PAID next year and we're going to regret not doing the 8 year deal that we could have last time.

4. The blueline sucks and is missing an entire second pairing. Running it back with Soucy-Myers as the second pairing is playing with fire. Last year we made it work by having four 4.5's who alternated good and bad stretches and had their flaws covered by vezina and norris performances plus a massive PDO bender for 1/3 the season.

This year we don't even have that. I think our coaching staff is a little overconfident in their ability to convert really tall garbage into top 4d after their success doing that last year. I predict we bargain bin a 4.5d this summer and then pay to swap Forbort for someone better mid season.

5. Speaking of converting really tall garbage into top 4d, I don't care that he was better last year and took a discount to stay, it wasn't enough. Having Myers in the starting top 4 has been a losing proposition his entire career and before we assume that 34 year old Myers has unlocked a permanent new level of play, it wasn't that long ago that people here loved the OEL/Myers pairing too.

The worst part is that his contract either blocks Willander or blocks signing a legit top 4 RD to push him down out of the top 4 and so far it seems like the latter. Beating out NSH's offer for Carrier was a no brainer. Is the only reason we didn't make a move like that because we're locked into Myers and are banking on Willander to offset the worst OEL contract years? We'll never know but I'd have beaten out both the Carrier deal and the Chychrun deal easily and would have been thrilled to go into the season with both of them instead of the Myers/Forb/Desh trio. It will take a couple more moves to fix this.

6. The forward group is among the best in the league. Pettersson once again draws the short end of the stick but better than last year and the bottom six will compensate by giving every other team in the league fits. We basically have 3 low end first lines and a 3rd line and that might be underselling them all.

5. There's a bunch of moves by other teams that are dreadful day 1 moves but Seattle really stands out as a surprise. I didn't realize Francis was that desperate. GM's that know their ass is on the line tend to make their worst and most crippling moves in the last ~18 months of their tenure so I hope that in addition to circling the Sens corpse when their season falls apart we're also keeping in close contact with Seattle if they start to bomb.

Agree with most, but doubt either Carrier or Chychrun was available to us.

 

[David71]

What happened to Myers?

lol my bad. myers droped to third pairing.

 

[bossram]

why not both. if they didnt add a forbort you could have had.
hughes hronek
soucy/boqvist
brannstrom/vinne deharnais. each pairing has a puck mover to transport the puck up the ice to the forwards. spares:juulssen/friedman.

I can't handle people keep suggesting Boqvist. He's so bad. Legitimately one of the worst players defensively in the league. His awareness and engagement in the DZ is non-existent, and he's never fixed it going back to his draft year.

 

[David71]

I can't handle people keep suggesting Boqvist. He's so bad. Legitimately one of the worst players defensively in the league. His awareness and engagement in the DZ is non-existent, and he's never fixed it going back to his draft year.

foote/gonchar can do that. sometimes defenseman take longer to develop

 

[theguardianII]

All righty. that wasn't fun.
BUT
This is the group.

So no more lamenting last year's crop.
This management style may take some getting used to.
Still not thrilled with shedding so picks, all the Russians at costly deals and being very close to capped out.

IMO I think Desharnais can be coached up.
I also think all this concern to find a playmate for Petey so he can score again better be just a distraction because most of the scoring improvement will have to come through him playing better.

Size matters

This is the group, I am not certain they are better.

We'll see.

 

[arttk]

1. I forgive OEL for ~1 mil of his dead cap because of how badly his new contract is going to screw Toronto.

2. I like the Debrusk contract. The over under for how many years he disappoints is set at 2. Hopefully they aren't years 1 or 2 where we really need him to perform but it's an acceptable risk in exchange for the stylistic fit and upside at 5.5M.

3. Boeser is going to get PAID next year and we're going to regret not doing the 8 year deal that we could have last time.

4. The blueline sucks and is missing an entire second pairing. Running it back with Soucy-Myers as the second pairing is playing with fire. Last year we made it work by having four 4.5's who alternated good and bad stretches and had their flaws covered by vezina and norris performances plus a massive PDO bender for 1/3 the season.

This year we don't even have that. I think our coaching staff is a little overconfident in their ability to convert really tall garbage into top 4d after their success doing that last year. I predict we bargain bin a 4.5d this summer and then pay to swap Forbort for someone better mid season.

5. Speaking of converting really tall garbage into top 4d, I don't care that he was better last year and took a discount to stay, it wasn't enough. Having Myers in the starting top 4 has been a losing proposition his entire career and before we assume that 34 year old Myers has unlocked a permanent new level of play, it wasn't that long ago that people here loved the OEL/Myers pairing too.

The worst part is that his contract either blocks Willander or blocks signing a legit top 4 RD to push him down out of the top 4 and so far it seems like the latter. Beating out NSH's offer for Carrier was a no brainer. Is the only reason we didn't make a move like that because we're locked into Myers and are banking on Willander to offset the worst OEL contract years? We'll never know but I'd have beaten out both the Carrier deal and the Chychrun deal easily and would have been thrilled to go into the season with both of them instead of the Myers/Forb/Desh trio. It will take a couple more moves to fix this.

6. The forward group is among the best in the league. Pettersson once again draws the short end of the stick but better than last year and the bottom six will compensate by giving every other team in the league fits. We basically have 3 low end first lines and a 3rd line and that might be underselling them all.

5. There's a bunch of moves by other teams that are dreadful day 1 moves but Seattle really stands out as a surprise. I didn't realize Francis was that desperate. GM's that know their ass is on the line tend to make their worst and most crippling moves in the last ~18 months of their tenure so I hope that in addition to circling the Sens corpse when their season falls apart we're also keeping in close contact with Seattle if they start to bomb.

I don’t think they will be so arrogant that they will just let the D be if it doesn’t work almost right away. Remember how we made the Zadorov I think the moment Soucy was injured? I think they have to be aware of the risk they are taking.
The D at ES is going to be meh but I think with the new addition, it’s a real possibility that we end up with a top 10PK and PP. If they can get that special teams advantage, then expect us to play an exceptionally tough low event grindy ES game which our giant D will be great for.

 

[lawrence]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1807856352540385612

Just saw this sht f%^*ery on x.

Gg senators.

Apparently they have to forfeit a first round pick within the next 3 drafts.

 

[Shareefruck]

It wouldn't make much sense to bring in another RD only to sit Desharnais on he bench. Myers and Hronek play every game and Desharnais played 78 last year. But I could see a LD to replace Forbort from time to time as he's had some injuries and performance concerns . It would push Friedman down to the AHL. I think they are more likely to bring in a cheap UFA as compared to trade. Who knows though.

I wanted an upgrade D too but I think this is what we're going with to start the year with. Unless they signed Forbort to be a sub. I hope they told him that if so.

Juulsen's the one on the two-way, so I wouldn't be surprised if Friedman stays as the #8 and they do that instead.

It would be pretty solid depth if they somehow manage to squeeze in Forbort as the #7 and Juulsen as the #9 in the AHL, while picking up a puck-mover to play with Desharnais, but seems unlikely.

 

[kanucks25]

Every cent of cap counts, so I don’t know if it would work - but Motte is still out there, and a fourth line of Sherwood/Suter/Motte would sure be nice.

Gonna be an unpopular opinion but I think Motte is the most overrated Canuck in like the last decade.

 

[kanucks25]

as an aside, it's really funny to me seeing Zboril, Debrusk, and Kylington as UFAs because of how long ago the "Oh shit, Boston could get Connor, Barzal, Kylington here" tweet was.

Not sure where you're getting Kylington here from.

Replace the first one with Senyshyn and the second one with Chabot.

 

[StickShift]

I was offline most of yesterday afternoon so I couldn't comment sooner—but I really like the day that Vancouver had. Clear vision of what they are trying to accomplish. I really don't get the doom and gloom that twitter (Taj) is proclaiming. This July 1st and last July 1st were so refreshing compared to the clear and obvious mistakes that Benning used to make.

• The term on DeBrusk is a risk, but as a young free agent, I think there is a ton of upside. Let's not forget that he had that success in Boston despite things not always going smoothly between him and the coaching staff nor always having a quality center. I think there is a lot of potential for him to explode in Vancouver playing alongside Pettersson and with Tocchet's guidance. There is a roadmap for him to elevate his game to the same degree that JT Miller did when he came over from Tampa/NYR.
  
  
• Can't help but recognize that the cap hits of DeBrusk, Heinen, and Sherwood work out to nearly the same cap hit as what Guentzel would've required to sign here. Someone should track the number of points generated by our three signings against Guentzel + TB's 11th forward + TB's 12th forward (because let's face it, if we had signed Guentzel, we're probably filling out our 11th/12th roster spots with $775k players).
  
  
• Love the Heinen and Sherwood signings. Heinen probably starts on Pettersson's other wing, but I really like how you can plug him in up and down the lineup. There is so much tenacity and forechecking available on every line now. I don't see anyone else in the west that will be as much of a pain in the ass to play every night.
  
  
• I look at the moves as management calculating how they need to adjust to beat Edmonton next year in the playoffs. I think they recognize that any path to the Stanley Cup probably goes through them. It's clear to see that they aren't trying to compete in a track meet with the Oilers—not many can against McDavid/Draisaitl—but they believe the philosophy to defeating them next year is to wear them down and stop the puck before it gets up the ice. It's also clear that they made smart investments in the PK (Heinen, Forbort, DeBrusk, Joshua, Blueger) to try and limit the effectiveness of the Edmonton power play.
  
  
• Not how I would've built out the defense corps, but you can clearly see that the organization has confidence that they can transform big, strong defensemen into outsized performers. We saw meaningful upgrades over career norms last year to Myers, Zadorov, Cole, and Joshua. Can't help but think that Foote, Gonchart, and Tocchet, and Canucks pro-scouting saw things that they liked in Desharnais and Forbort that they believe can make them more effective than what they've shown to date. And even if they don't quite achieve that—there will always be a trade market for big defensemen. It's why Erik Gudbranson is still in the league.
  
  
• Like last year, I don't think this team is quite done with its roster construction. They may try and make a trade, or wait late into the summer for a discount free agent signing. My guess is that they wait until the season to take advantage of accruing cap space and then make deals at the deadline for 50% retained players.
  
  
• Wouldn't be shocked either if they invite a veteran former top-six forward caliber player or two to camp on a PTO: Hoffman, Pacioretty, JVR, Tatar, etc. 95% likely none of them would make the team, but will help create some internal competition in camp.
  
  
• They won't be able to do it all—but areas they may choose to address before the TDL or as a discount summer signing:
  • Another established top-six forward
    • Premium—Ehlers, Laine, Necas, etc.
    • Budget—Sprong, Zadina, Olofsson, etc.
  • Another top-four defenseman, ideally RD
    • Premium—Andersson, Larsson, Gavrikov, etc.
    • Budget—Girard, Maatta, Savard, etc.
• You have to give to get—five roster players most likely to be included in trades:
  • Nils Hoglander
  • Conor Garland
  • Pius Suter
  • Vasili Podkolzin
  • Noah Juulsen

 

[DekeyPete]

It's nice to not jump into the madness and sign guys to insane contracts. Good job . Now we need some kids to start pushing for jobs.