Confirmed with Link: [CHI/VAN] Gustav Forsling traded for Adam Clendening

[Boose Brudreau]

Edler?

Hakan Andersson discovered Edler.

Gradin found out Detroit liked the kid, went to watch him play once and yada yada yada he's a Canuck today. His body of work prior to and since that pick speaks for itself.

 

[Barney Gumble]

Hakan Andersson discovered Edler.

Gradin found out Detroit liked the kid, went to watch him play once and yada yada yada he's a Canuck today. His body of work prior to and since that pick speaks for itself.

I don't give a **** how he found him - even if he sifted thru Andersson's garbage cans for slips of paper; he got the Canucks GM to draft him and that is all that count isn't it?

 

[Wisp]

Hakan Andersson discovered Edler.

Gradin found out Detroit liked the kid, went to watch him play once and yada yada yada he's a Canuck today. His body of work prior to and since that pick speaks for itself.

Hakan suggested another team got in on it because he wasn't careful and called Edler's junior team ahead of going to watch him play. That story always stuck me as disingenuous. Really, are you so egotistical that you can't conceive another scout independently scouting the same prospect?

 

[Boose Brudreau]

Hakan suggested another team got in on it because he wasn't careful and called Edler's junior team ahead of going to watch him play. That story always stuck me as disingenuous. Really, are you so egotistical that you can't conceive another scout independently scouting the same prospect?

i suppose it was purely coincident that we traded up just in front of Detroit to select Edler then....right?

 

[Boose Brudreau]

I don't give a **** how he found him - even if he sifted thru Andersson's garbage cans for slips of paper; he got the Canucks GM to draft him and that is all that count isn't it?

not if you want something repeatable. our drafting out of Sweden has been an unmitigated disaster for more than a decade and TG continues to dine out on this gem he supposedly discovered. colour me suspicious.....

Too bad Gradin wasn't pounding the table about Kopitar eh?

 

[leftwinglockdown]

FWIW, i like this trade. The guy we got has developed well since being drafted, fills a pressing need and has considerable (imo) upside. forsling, though headed in the right direction, is a risky bet to be a successful NHLer.

As for Gradin, is anyone else sick of hearing about his scouting prowess? He hasn't been responsible for drafting a single, solitary serviceable NHL player.....EVER. Why this guy is still employed by the canucks is a mystery to me.

Henrik, Daniel, Ohlund, and Edler say hi.

 

[me2]

i suppose it was purely coincident that we traded up just in front of Detroit to select Edler then....right?

Canucks like Edler, Canucks know Detroit likes Edler, Canucks move up to grab him before Detroit gets a chance. No team in history has ever moved up to make another team doesn't take a guy they want..............

 

[me2]

not if you want something repeatable. our drafting out of Sweden has been an unmitigated disaster for more than a decade and TG continues to dine out on this gem he supposedly discovered. colour me suspicious.....

Too bad Gradin wasn't pounding the table about Kopitar eh?

He probably was................. I can see him sitting there facepalming harder than any of the fans and we were facepalming pretty hard.

 

[GranvilleIsland]

Yeah I did.

If that's true Sbisa's f***ed

 

[Boose Brudreau]

Henrik, Daniel, Ohlund, and Edler say hi.

Interesting that Ohlund had already been drafted when Gradin rejoined the canucks as a scout for the 94-95 season.......but you feel free to believe what you want.

The Sedins were all Brian Burke.

Edler was Hakan Andersson's discovery....whether ya'll want to believe it or not.

 

[WTG]

Interesting that Ohlund had already been drafted when Gradin rejoined the canucks as a scout for the 94-95 season.......but you feel free to believe what you want.

The Sedins were all Brian Burke.

Edler was Hakan Andersson's discovery....whether ya'll want to believe it or not.

W/e Gradin scouted Forsling and that got us a pretty damn good prospect defenseman in Clendenning. So far I'm pretty satisfied with Grandin hope Benning puts more trust in him from now on

 

[Barney Gumble]

Interesting that Ohlund had already been drafted when Gradin rejoined the canucks as a scout for the 94-95 season.......but you feel free to believe what you want.

Gradin was hired as a scout prior to the 1994-95 season. I don't recall exactly when in the off-season he was hired - so it's a bit murky here unless somebody has a link showing exactly when he was hired.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/archive/index.php/t-652850.html

heh...both us have been around a while here..

 

[vanuck]

1) It is disingenuous to call Forsling a 5th round pick. If you want to play that game, then in evaluating the Vey trade you have to say we traded a second round pick for a 4th round pick! It doesn't work that way and you ****ing know it.

2) He doesn't really fill a need. Our need, above all else, is a top-4 defenseman, which nobody thinks he is. He takes Weber's spot, which may or may not be an immediate upgrade. Maybe AC has a higher ceiling and develops into a top-4 D, but for this season I was fine with keeping Weber and seeing how Forsling progresses.

If he takes Sbisa's spot then great but we all know that won't happen.

Agreed.

 

[Wisp]

i suppose it was purely coincident that we traded up just in front of Detroit to select Edler then....right?

As opposed to the Red Wings propaganda the current narrative reads like? "Oh Hakan, he's the best scout and he was on to another secret good player that would have stayed his secret until the draft if he hadn't made this one mistake." It's so far-fetched when you read it aloud that a coincidence makes more sense. I suspect the truth is much messier.

Anderson said he heard about Edler from a friend and Gradin claims the same thing. Given that sort of chatter + Edler's coach getting agents attention, it doesn't seem so far fetched the Swedish scouting community had an inkling on Edler's existence and that it was unlikely Hakan wasn't presiding over a well-kept secret.

 

[alternate]

On paper, Clendening is exactly what this team needed. Far enough in his development to contribute to the Sedins getting one more kick at the can. By the time Forsling becomes an NHL regular--if he beats the odds and does it, that is--the Sedins will be watching from the rafters.

AC, Pedan and Corrado give us options as Bieksa and Hamhuis get long in the tooth. Coming up behind those guys we have Subban, McNally, Hutton, Tryamkin, maybe McEnemy. So AC (potentially) fills an immediate roster need while still having lots of untapped upside, all for a prospect that is somewhat redundant in a mix with Subban, McNally and Hutton.

As for Bieksa, if I'm Benning I say, look Kev, you're an all-time Canuck and we appreciate your dedication and commitment. But we won't be offering you a contract when this one expires after next season. So you either retire as a Canuck when this contract ends, or you continue playing somewhere other than Vancouver. If you're going to play somewhere else eventually, why not go somewhere for the last year of your contract and try it out before committing for multiple years as a UFA.

Teams X, Y, and Z have made offers that make sense for the Vancouver Canucks. Which of those teams would you potentially be willing to finish your career with?

Won't surprise me if Bieksa gets dealt at the draft. As for this most recent deal, if AC is ready for 3rd pairing minutes and can provide a spark to our PP, then we're a better team for the right now. I'd love to now see Lack + surplus defender turned into a 3rd line centre than can handle tough defensive minutes and win face offs consistently.

 

[Caspian]

If this trade results in us not having to see Luca Sbisa play for Vancouver again then its a 100% win for the Canucks.

Sadly I think someone like Stanton is gonna get the short end of the stick instead.

 

[Cancuks]

I doubt the Canucks will qualify Sbisa. They will use that cap space to sign Benning's love child Bartkowski.

 

[GetFocht]

He probably was................. I can see him sitting there facepalming harder than any of the fans and we were facepalming pretty hard.

I remember that day vividly, I was in Whistler with friends, we woke up early from a hangover and put on the draft. Kopitar kept slipping and by the time Canucks picked, we were high fiving each other that we got Kopitar. When Bourdon was announced, we were stunned followed by drinking


***** you Dave Nonis.

 

[absolute garbage]

So let me get this straight...

We got an NHL ready prospect D-man; RHS; Puck mover; 22 yrs old; trending high adter good showings in the AHL...

And we gave up a 5th round pick?

How can anyone complain? This is like the Vey trade: a future that may or may not pan out in exchange for a young NHL ready prospect that fills a team need.

That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time.

And he's actually trending low, if we use that word correctly.

After 2 very good AHL seasons he hasn't been able to make the jump to NHL and this season has been passed by other young defencemen coming in the system. Also the Rockford team is performing significantly better this season with Clendening playing in diminished role, compared to the years when he put up big numbers in a bigger role. Could be coincidence but something to consider given his progress and reports we've heard about him.

This, combined with Corrado's showing during his call-up, makes Weber and Sbisa completely expendable. Stanton, too, but he's the best of the 3 IMO, and played with Clendining in the AHL.

This is how you build youth. Bad GMs make these kinds of trades for UFAs or other project prospects. Benning has, three times now, traded for prospects from teams who are logjammed. It would be like if we traded Gaunce/Cassels/McCann for a pick of significantly lower value just because we have a lot of bottom 6 ayers already (except none of those players have shown well in the AHL like the ones we got have).


Well done, Benning. Just like there was a spot for Vey to take, there is one for Clendening right away.

I can't agree with you here. Benning is not "building youth". What he is doing is taking a shortcut by switching picks and prospects to guys in their early 20's, skipping one part of the development process, and hope to have these young guys ready to play in the NHL right away (or at least much sooner).

We'll see how that goes. The issue and risk here is that these early 20's guys, like Vey, Pedan and now Clendening, have all been deemed as odd man out by their previous organisations (this usually happens for a reason, like we've all seen with Vey and Pedan) and are closing in to the waiver point in their careers.

It's also questionable how the Canucks will benefit from all these young, fringe defencemen right now. After veterans there's only the third pairing that has spots open and you have Sbisa and Stanton on the left side and Weber, Corrado and Clendening on the right side.

 

[TheWanderer]

We've been short NHL ready D-man prospects, and specifically ones like Clendening, and you guys know it. Forsling has certainly excelled beyond his draft position in only a half year, but let's not forget that we still only drafted him half a year ago. He has a long way to go before making the NHL. Clendening is at the point of his pro hockey career that we need some defenders to be at. We already have Subban and Tryamkin deep in the ranks, and if we fall short in the prospects 3 or 4 years from now, left by Forsling, we can make the exact same type of move once again.

The only way this trade looks bad right now is in the eyes of fanboys who cannot be objective. Chicago swapped a player in a logjam for an asset they may be able to use later on. Vey trade was similar, but we played even less than what we did for Vey. Fanboys will say Forsling has higher upside, but that is a ridiculous assertion to make against a player who has actually succeeded in the AHL.

The only way this trade looks bad in the future is is Forsling ends up actually being better than Clendening. I guess there will be two or three posters here who can say "I told you so," but I hold little value to that in contrast to the fact that Clendening fills a hole in our youth, and quite possibly could step into a role this team needs filled immediately.

Remembering that Corrado has already made Stanton/Weber/Sbisa look like a waste of time, I fail to see how anyone can have a problem with obtaining an asset that duplicates this effect. I think it's fair to say that we weren't shopping for an established, high salary top-4 d-man, and anyone who thought we were or should have been is a fool.

Edler - Tanev
Hambuis - Corrado
Stanton - Clendening
(Sbisa - Weber)
*Bieksa

 

[IntangiBo]

1) It is disingenuous to call Forsling a 5th round pick. If you want to play that game, then in evaluating the Vey trade you have to say we traded a second round pick for a 4th round pick! It doesn't work that way and you ****ing know it.

If we had traded for Linden Vey when he 18 then I'd be on board with this otherwise useless attempt at an analogy.

 

[Reckage]

T
It's also questionable how the Canucks will benefit from all these young, fringe defencemen right now. After veterans there's only the third pairing that has spots open and you have Sbisa and Stanton on the left side and Weber, Corrado and Clendening on the right side.

I take the view that Weber, at 26, Sbisa, at 25, and Stanton, at 25, are not 'young, fringe defencemen'. They are at a stage (especially over the next two years) where they are either getting ready to step into their prime and nail down a spot in the lineup, or preparing for number 7 status/AHL callup/Europe.

Corrado, at 21, and Clendening, at 22, are in an entirely different group. Corrado is showing he can be a full-time NHL defenseman. Give him four years NHL experience, to reach Sbisa/Stanton age, and we should be talking about how good he will be in his prime, not whether he can hang onto his lineup spot.

If Clendening can make some kind of contribution to this team in the short term (powerplay?), enough to keep himself in the NHL, hopefully we will be asking the same questions about him as we are likely going to be asking about Corrado.

With the certainty that we will be losing Bieksa, 34, soon and Hamhuis, 32, at some point in the near future, having two early 20's defensemen in the lineup is critical.

If the addition of Clendening gives us five locked in defenders for next season, leaving Bieksa, Stanton, Sbisa and Weber to fight it out for the remaining two NHL spots, I think that is a step in the right direction.

There's a big ugly mess at the forward positions, but at least the defence could be stable.

 

[Uhmkay]

Anyone here watch Forsling in the SEL on a regular basis? IE: More than just a few games? I met a guy from Sweden last night who is over here visiting relatives and we were talking hockey, mostly about MoDo and the issues they'd been having around the team over the last several years. I then asked him what he thought about Forsling and he said that he thought he was not looked at as that great of a prospect even for the SEL and that he was having a disappointing season.

He also said that he was a bottom pairing guy on his team, not particularly effective, and was basically just known to have a good shot but not much else. He said he didn't think the kid would ever make it to the NHL.

This took me a bit by surprise as I had been lead to believe (And it was my opinion) that he was at least a good prospect.

Anyone who actually WATCHES the SEL able to weigh in? Was he not having a very good season in the SEL? I'd like someone to weigh in who isn't just looking at stats... although his stats weren't very impressive either. Not very offensive numbers for an offensive defenseman.

 

[realist99]

Anyone here watch Forsling in the SEL on a regular basis? IE: More than just a few games? I met a guy from Sweden last night who is over here visiting relatives and we were talking hockey, mostly about MoDo and the issues they'd been having around the team over the last several years. I then asked him what he thought about Forsling and he said that he thought he was not looked at as that great of a prospect even for the SEL and that he was having a disappointing season.

He also said that he was a bottom pairing guy on his team, not particularly effective, and was basically just known to have a good shot but not much else. He said he didn't think the kid would ever make it to the NHL.

This took me a bit by surprise as I had been lead to believe (And it was my opinion) that he was at least a good prospect.

Anyone who actually WATCHES the SEL able to weigh in? Was he not having a very good season in the SEL? I'd like someone to weigh in who isn't just looking at stats... although his stats weren't very impressive either. Not very offensive numbers for an offensive defenseman.

The answer to the above questions is a resounding no. How anyone can have an opinion on a player that they haven't watched play amuses me....and 3 games of the WJC isn't a big enough or realistic sample size.

Informed opinions interest me. Uninformed opinions? Not so much, except for the lol factor.

 

[Wisp]

Anyone here watch Forsling in the SEL on a regular basis? IE: More than just a few games? I met a guy from Sweden last night who is over here visiting relatives and we were talking hockey, mostly about MoDo and the issues they'd been having around the team over the last several years. I then asked him what he thought about Forsling and he said that he thought he was not looked at as that great of a prospect even for the SEL and that he was having a disappointing season.

He also said that he was a bottom pairing guy on his team, not particularly effective, and was basically just known to have a good shot but not much else. He said he didn't think the kid would ever make it to the NHL.

This took me a bit by surprise as I had been lead to believe (And it was my opinion) that he was at least a good prospect.

Anyone who actually WATCHES the SEL able to weigh in? Was he not having a very good season in the SEL? I'd like someone to weigh in who isn't just looking at stats... although his stats weren't very impressive either. Not very offensive numbers for an offensive defenseman.

Some important context you're missing: He's an eighteen year old in mens league.

The reason we all found the Juniors so encouraging is because he was doing it with players his own age.