Confirmed with Link: Canucks sign F Ilya Mikheyev to 4-Year Deal ($4.75M AAV)

[Uhmkay]

I think it's a massive overpayment in both AAV and term for a player who hasn't done a thing in the NHL to deserve it. He has 3 total years in the NHL and his highest point total was his contract year(surprising) in which he totaled a whopping 32pts(his career high).

We just recently shed a few bad contracts and this new management team goes a head and anchors us with another one that I'm sure we'll be regretting in short order. I sure hope I'm wrong but this deal stinks for me.

This post literally screams "I don't know this player at all".

Tell me you don't know anything about the player without telling me you don't know anything about the player.

Great post.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I'm pretty comfortable in my stance on this one. I think the player is good, the term and the value are fair. But I'm just left feeling like something has to give. The pessimist in me feels like it means Garland is gone.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

Career averages are 20g 40p on the dot, plus the other things he brings that makes him a unique player.

Maybe you'd like it to be 4M AAV but the term is great.

I think it's a great addition, & hopefully he can continue to produce atleast 40 pts a year.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

I'm pretty comfortable in my stance on this one. I think the player is good, the term and the value are fair. But I'm just left feeling like something has to give. The pessimist in me feels like it means Garland is gone.

Hopefully not. Rather deal Pearson & Miller.

Feel like we need the offense Garland creates since JTs days are numbered.

 

[Orca Smash]

I think it's a massive overpayment in both AAV and term for a player who hasn't done a thing in the NHL to deserve it. He has 3 total years in the NHL and his highest point total was his contract year(surprising) in which he totaled a whopping 32pts(his career high).

We just recently shed a few bad contracts and this new management team goes a head and anchors us with another one that I'm sure we'll be regretting in short order. I sure hope I'm wrong but this deal stinks for me.

Thats fair, depends how you look at it. He played 53 games last year, 21 goals, and got hard defensive zone duties, and no primary PP time and is in his prime years.

 

[BimJenning]

I don't see a lot of griping here that the player is ineffective; I don't get the notion that "everyone is whining and doesn't know what they're talking about" going on in here. I think a lot of people (myself included) believe there was a better use of money than a mid 6 winger, particularly with some of the free agents getting squeezed this year. I'm not sold that it will be easy moving any of the glut of mid 6 wingers we already have either.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Can’t say that Vancouver isn’t a destination for Russian players now..?

I’m looking forward to seeing Ilya in the lineup.

 

[me2]

There is a lot to love

Size: tick
Speed: tick
ES production: tick
PK: tick
Contract length: tick. 27/28 yo

Salary: cross. Do not like.

I think the late July dumpster divers are going to get some nice bargains. We spent too much early.

 

[Grub]

Don’t like the signing. Could have used this money for a D.

 

[MS]

Don’t like the signing. Could have used this money for a D.

Not in free agency.

This salary gets you a Chiarot and barely more than a Gudbranson.

 

[F A N]

Like the player. Dislike the contract. I feel that they are going to trade Garland now. From an asset management standpoint that's not bad but I feel Garland is the superior player.

Just so you guys are all clear - don’t feel bad at all clowning me about how stoked I was for Poolman. There are a lot of guys with a lot of Ws under their belt here when it comes to talent evaluation (looking at @MS and @Melvin ). I ain’t one of ‘em.

It's easy to rack up those Ws. Just say a UFA signing is too much money for too long a term and you'll probably get it 80% right. In the case you are wrong, you can say something like I stand by my opinion that it was too much money for a player for a 27 year old player who has scored more than 8 goals once in his career.

 

[Raistlin]

I like the signing, they are addressing the teams weakness. We used to have one guy with speed, he went and assaulted someone and we had to buy him out, the rest of the roster is pretty unremarkable in that department. Since we are not getting Necas, Mikheyev is a similar tier of speedster in the vein of Grabner, with a much higher ceiling. he is figuring out the N.american game year by year, he is overpaid by a million yes, ideally Pearson gets traded who is also overpaid by a million.. but PK and speed are sorely needed with Dickinson busting. This is a good move for this team.

I wont address D in FA, this is how you get Myers@6.

 

[Jyrki]

If Mikheyev was a center who's really good on draws the contract would've been a lot more bearable. But as a winger the value is questionable. While he scored at a high pace last season he was buoyed by high shooting % and it's very unlikely he can replicate it over a full season - all while being deployed defensively. So unless he pulls a Danault it's very unlikely he'll be a 40-50 pts guy, more like 25-30. He should bring value regardless because we don't have many forwards like him but he'll struggle to live up to the contract.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Not in free agency.

This salary gets you a Chiarot and barely more than a Gudbranson.

This. We're going to have to improve the D through trade. And we now have a surplus of forwards

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

 

[Jay26]

Fan of the player. Don't know if I'm a fan of the signing. At the very least it's a player who could definitely turn out to be worth the contract, rather than a Roussel or something where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt it's a disaster of a contract.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Don’t like the signing. Could have used this money for a D.

4.75 gets you Ben Chiarot at 4 years

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

I know the advanced stats favour this guy, however I feel like we weren't in a position to make this sort of signing. Feel like I would have had no issues had we had no depth on wings and he was signed to a 4 mil x 3 year contract but we're really at a stage now where we lose any leverage in trades since we have to be cap compliant to start off the 2022/2023 season. You really see the importance of ELC's and drafting smart. Guys like Hyman and Mikheyev were absolute bargains for their caphit for Toronto. Mikheyev is a middle 6 player that plays a smart two-way game. He's definitely not a 4.75 mil player, but this team really felt like they had to add speed and a two-way presence so here we are...

If you can somehow ship out guys like Boeser, Dickinson and/or Pearson then this becomes somewhat of a win. However if you lose an equally talented guy like Garland then it becomes a somewhat pointless FA signing.

Long-term, there are too many signs suggesting there's that continued mandate of making the playoffs with no sense of stepping into any sort of retool.

 

[kcunac]

Pretty clearly a Garland replacement. Coaching and management never liked Garland and I’m pretty meh on him. I’ll reserve my judgement till I see Mikheyev play. If he is able to effectively replace Garland then:

1) signing a player for cheaper AAV and same term to trade for assets the player he replaces is good asset management;

2) signing a player to replace a guy that we paid the 9OV pick reflects very badly on that trade, underscoring the need to never pay premium assets for a non-elite non-ELC winger.

Of course if Mikheyev sucks and Garland does well with his new team then this management will have to own the mistake.

If Mikheyev can provide some 5v5 offence with better speed and defence then He could be a better fit on this team than Garland. For this saying Mikheyev has stone hands, I don’t think we can argue that Garland wasn’t completely snake bit and many many scoring chances died on his stick.

As for the contract, all teams overpay for UFAs, especially of Day 1 and yes, this is an overpayment. Hopefully Mikheyev can play up to the contract.

 

[mossey3535]

I think the player himself is a great get as someone who has been following the Leafs semi-closely for the past couple seasons. Good motor, defensively responsible. We saw last year when Motte was carrying his line what some speedy guys can do for the team. This way we get one of them with a big upside. Was showing surprising scoring touch at the tail of last season.

Contract-wise, yeah I agree it's not ideal by about $1M. Hoping we can ship out Pearson somehow. They both produced roughly the same amount of points last season, but are seemingly headed in opposite directions in terms of form.

 

[Vman]

I like this signing.

Gives them a Russian factor that can give Podkolzin and Kuzmenko and a boost.

I can see the PK get better with him and Lazar. Easier to acquire speed than to teach it. Watching the PK will be fun and I‘m going to look forward to see Mikheyev and EP work together on the PK. I can see more SH goals.

Besides Hughes, now I’ll be watching Mikheyev’s skating and speed as well. Going to be fun! This should make Boudreau excited.

 

[mossey3535]

Pretty clearly a Garland replacement. Coaching and management never liked Garland and I’m pretty meh on him. I’ll reserve my judgement till I see Mikheyev play. If he is able to effectively replace Garland then:

1) signing a player for cheaper AAV and same term to trade for assets the player he replaces is good asset management;

2) signing a player to replace a guy that we paid the 9OV pick reflects very badly on that trade, underscoring the need to never pay premium assets for a non-elite non-ELC winger.

Of course if Mikheyev sucks and Garland does well with his new team then this management will have to own the mistake.

If Mikheyev can provide some 5v5 offence with better speed and defence then He could be a better fit on this team than Garland. For this saying Mikheyev has stone hands, I don’t think we can argue that Garland wasn’t completely snake bit and many many scoring chances died on his stick.

As for the contract, all teams overpay for UFAs, especially of Day 1 and yes, this is an overpayment. Hopefully Mikheyev can play up to the contract.

Honestly, I would prefer to keep both. They add speed and potential skill (not always realized for both). Not realistic from a cap perspective but IMO makes sense from a team building perspective. For all those years of late starts it would be nice to have a line that could set the tone with a certain amount of pace and skill (I don't think the 4th line inspired anyone despite their fairly consistent effort).

 

[Raistlin]

I know the advanced stats favour this guy, however I feel like we weren't in a position to make this sort of signing. Feel like I would have had no issues had we had no depth on wings and he was signed to a 4 mil x 3 year contract but we're really at a stage now where we lose any leverage in trades since we have to be cap compliant to start off the 2022/2023 season. You really see the importance of ELC's and drafting smart. Guys like Hyman and Mikheyev were absolute bargains for their caphit for Toronto. Mikheyev is a middle 6 player that plays a smart two-way game. He's definitely not a 4.75 mil player, but this team really felt like they had to add speed and a two-way presence so here we are...

If you can somehow ship out guys like Boeser, Dickinson and/or Pearson then this becomes somewhat of a win. However if you lose an equally talented guy like Garland then it becomes a somewhat pointless FA signing.

Long-term, there are too many signs suggesting there's that continued mandate of making the playoffs with no sense of stepping into any sort of retool.

just want to add that neither are drafted by toronto. Hyman opted to test FA after his college career, and Mik was undrafted so he played for his hometown team in Omsk. JR started doing just that with the signing of Kuzmenko, fingers crossed he becomes as useful as Hyman or Mik in toronto, hopefully more.

What JR?Allvin is doing is rebalancing the roster. There is no speed currently, this has to be addressed in a division with McDavid, not to mention a whole team of speedsters in the Avs. His goal is to be competitive in playoffs by year 3 I am guessing.

 

[MS]

I love how Mikheyev + a bigger role for Podkolzin gives us a totally different look in our top 9 with two big, heavy, high-motor possession-driving two way wingers.

This team has been an easy to play against, small, slow, soft ES pushover for basically all of Benning’s tenure and this is a big positive change. Feels like something resembling an identity at long last.

 

[mossey3535]

I got a warning for sharing my sentiments on the Jason Dickinson signing. It was dumb to trade a 3rd rounder and that contract was even f***ing worse.

Hilarious how many bottom 6 guys are signing for cheap right now. Go figure.

Bottom-6 guys have been taking peanuts for years now, all around the league other teams were getting decent deals. Look at Spezza/Perry, and those are just the brand name guys. It's just completely accelerated now.

Another reason Benning was dumb - the trend has been there since before his first year on the job, but he kept overpaying and trading for bottom-6.