Grub's Canucks & NHL News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | Christmas Presents

[bossram]

His 'pre-concussion' results were also in a 30-game sample size of the softest/fewest minutes he's received in his career.

I don't see the red flags. He's pulling positive goal differentials this year and a positive Corsi from 23 minutes/game of mid-leverage on that Buffalo tire fire with a PDO of 100.

By Evolving Hockey's RAPM and HockeyViz's Isolated Impact, his defensive results have been pretty bad. Like shockingly bad.

His xG impact relative to teammates was negative in 22-23 in COL, negative in 23-24 pre-trade, very negative in 23-24 in BUF, and slightly negative this season. Of their top-six defenseman, Byram is last in xG% in BUF this season.

Combined with the injury history, yes, many red flags.

 

[bossram]

Okay you're concerned about his elevated injury risk and current play, I am not.

Given their circumstances idk if his price is that high anymore, we shall see shortly I'm guessing, but surely mgmt has done their own risk and value assessments, including the concerns you have.

Majority of my frequent Byram viewings have been positive and I think the fit here is very good, not that he's the only option. But Buf and VAN seem to have mutual interest in each others rosters.

Yes. Because we know he has a higher-than-normal injury risk and his level of play has not been particularly good.

If you want to ignore those factors, alright. But your original position was to deny these were factors at all.

I don't know what management's evaluation is. I think Allvin has largely done quite good work, but I don't have blind faith in anyone.

 

[bossram]

Of all the trades I looked at, not a single top prospect was given up. Only one actual prospect was even traded. The return almost always ended up being draft picks and occasionally a young player.

That’s what I’m working with when coming up with the trade proposal.

I don't doubt your research of comparable trades was thorough.

Just in these particular circumstances, it's hard to imagine BUF being interested in a package of redundant assets. You also can't research the trades that didn't happen. It could be the case that in trades where the selling team wants an elite prospect in return...then no trade happens.

I.e. if there is a trade, the package will be similar to what your proposed. But it may be equally or more likely that there is no trade at all.

 

[Russian_fanatic]

Bring the BC boy home

 

[LemonSauceD]

A couple depth targets I’d love for us to add would be Frederic and Brazeau. Frederic in particular is enticing considering he’s a highly efficient 5 on 5 player and for reference as more even strength goals than Bennett and Marchement over the course of the last 2.5 seasons.

He’s one of those versatile hybrid players that can play center or wing as well as provide some 5 on 5 offense. Brazeau’s speed and size is also very impressive and could be another potential gem.

We really need to add size and speed to our forward group. Its rather small and too slow.

 

[Rowlet]

By Evolving Hockey's RAPM and HockeyViz's Isolated Impact, his defensive results have been pretty bad. Like shockingly bad.

His xG impact relative to teammates was negative in 22-23 in COL, negative in 23-24 pre-trade, very negative in 23-24 in BUF, and slightly negative this season. Of their top-six defenseman, Byram is last in xG% in BUF this season.

Combined with the injury history, yes, many red flags.

I'm also not particularly excited by the prospect of Byram, when guys like Pettersson and Miller have much better possession stats.

 

[Peter Griffin]

I think a Byram/Zucker package might be the target. Then when Hronek returns you move Zucker or Boeser if he doesn’t re-sign.

 

[Vector]

Yes. Because we know he has a higher-than-normal injury risk and his level of play has not been particularly good.

If you want to ignore those factors, alright. But your original position was to deny these were factors at all.

I don't know what management's evaluation is. I think Allvin has largely done quite good work, but I don't have blind faith in anyone.

Yes, definitely. I was quite interested in what the historical comparison were since pretty much every name has been thrown out there. Whether the Sabres would be interested really just comes down to my "GMs can be dumb" theory and whether Adams feels he can parlay that return into a different player later. Other than pointing those out, there's not really much to discuss since that part is just speculation.

 

[bossram]

Yes, definitely. I was quite interested in what the historical comparison were since pretty much every name has been thrown out there. Whether the Sabres would be interested really just comes down to my "GMs can be dumb" theory and whether Adams feels he can parlay that return into a different player later. Other than pointing those out, there's not really much to discuss since that part is just speculation.

As always,

How to be a good GM: Phone the dumb ones.

 

[Vector]

Canucks

• Have been very aggressive on the market
• Looking for a top-4 defenceman and a winger
• Wonders if they are looking for a winger to protect themselves in-case they can’t come to a contract extension with Boeser
• One team told Dhaliwal that top-4 defencemen prices are very expensive
• Teams are looking for top prospects; some teams aren’t interested in trading because they want to make the playoffs
• We know the Canucks like Bowen Byram
• Canucks also like Ivan Provorov
• Wonders if the Canucks prefer to acquire someone with team control over a rental
• If they acquire an upcoming UFA, he thinks they would want an extension on that player
• Working at a Boeser extension

 

[SelltheTeamFrancesco]

I think the biggest question mark with Byram is what is he looking for on his next contract?

 

[valkynax]

Pardon my ignorance but can someone tell me about the roster freeze thing?

It's not really the TDL right? What is the roster freeze for?

 

[Rowlet]

Canucks

• Have been very aggressive on the market
• Looking for a top-4 defenceman and a winger
• Wonders if they are looking for a winger to protect themselves in-case they can’t come to a contract extension with Boeser
• One team told Dhaliwal that top-4 defencemen prices are very expensive
• Teams are looking for top prospects; some teams aren’t interested in trading because they want to make the playoffs
• We know the Canucks like Bowen Byram
• Canucks also like Ivan Provorov
• Wonders if the Canucks prefer to acquire someone with team control over a rental
• If they acquire an upcoming UFA, he thinks they would want an extension on that player
• Working at a Boeser extension

You're losing your touch Vec, we did this already last page and you missed the Serevalli interview!

Pardon my ignorance but can someone tell me about the roster freeze thing?

It's not really the TDL right? What is the roster freeze for?

Players can't get traded over Christmas so they don't have to pack and move their whole family on Christmas.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Pardon my ignorance but can someone tell me about the roster freeze thing?

It's not really the TDL right? What is the roster freeze for?

Holiday freeze.

 

[Vector]

You're losing your touch Vec, we did this already last page and you missed the Serevalli interview!

Didn't read my posts about how my recap for the Seravalli interview will come later, I see.

 

[valkynax]

You're losing your touch Vec, we did this already last page and you missed the Serevalli interview!



Players can't get traded over Christmas so they don't have to pack and move their whole family on Christmas.

Holiday freeze.

That makes a lot of sense from a humanity's point of view, thanks for the clarification.

Yeah, I can imagine just how horrible it'd be if on Christmas eve you tell your family hey honey good news we're moving across the continent!

 

[Vector]

Pardon my ignorance but can someone tell me about the roster freeze thing?

It's not really the TDL right? What is the roster freeze for?

NHL players don't want to get traded around Christmas time so there's a week where no transactions can take place. Call-ups are only allowed under emergency circumstances or for injuries.

 

[Regress2TheMeme]

Would Byram be a good fit on a team where Hughes eats up all the offensive minutes? I feel like we need a defense first player that has some puck transition abilities, like prime Tanev ideally. Someone that can also be a solid PK guy would move the needle more than a gold plated PP2 defender.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Would Byram be a good fit on a team where Hughes eats up all the offensive minutes? I feel like we need a defense first player that has some puck transition abilities, like prime Tanev ideally. Someone that can also be a solid PK guy would move the needle more than a gold plated PP2 defender.

Byram could play with Hronek.

Eventually, Willander could play with Hughes.

 

[credulous]

Would Byram be a good fit on a team where Hughes eats up all the offensive minutes? I feel like we need a defense first player that has some puck transition abilities, like prime Tanev ideally. Someone that can also be a solid PK guy would move the needle more than a gold plated PP2 defender.

i dunno how you can watch the canucks and think hughes is enough when it comes to the transistion game. you need every guy to be able to move the puck. the bolded is what forbort and desharnais are and that hasn't worked out at all

 

[Regress2TheMeme]

i dunno how you can watch the canucks and think hughes is enough when it comes to the transistion game. you need every guy to be able to move the puck. the bolded is what forbort and desharnais are and that hasn't worked out at all

They clearly need guys that can evade a forecheck and get the puck up to the forwards smoothly. I would be targeting a defender that has some skating and puck moving chops but plays a safe, defensive game over a player that has flashy offense but isn't going to play on the PK. Sandhiem would be ideal if he was available.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Yes. Because we know he has a higher-than-normal injury risk and his level of play has not been particularly good.

If you want to ignore those factors, alright. But your original position was to deny these were factors at all.

I don't know what management's evaluation is. I think Allvin has largely done quite good work, but I don't have blind faith in anyone.

Because they're not factors for me. Ymmv.

Anyways I'm not interested in arguing about one minor aspect of larger posts, not now and not usually, too many times minutae are focused on when the broader view is what's important.

I have zero issues with any (post mik) of management's decisions, targets or evaluations, so I'm pretty much just excited to see what happens the next few weeks.

 

[Phrasing]

Here’s a Bowen Byram trade proposal from trades of similar aged players: Byram & 4th for Hoglander, 1st, & 2nd

I’m working on an article that explains my reasoning. Right now it’s just 6 pages of jumbled thoughts. I looked at 7 fairly recent trades as comparables.

Just heard Matt Sekeres read your post out loud and endorsed your handle. Seems he agrees.

 

[Vector]

Here's my recap from Frank Seravalli's interview this morning from Halford & Brough.

Buffalo Sabres

• Felt like he was working for The Onion when reporting on the meeting with ownership
• Thinks everything has to be on the table from a trade perspective
• Have to find a way to be willing to trade their players
• Making the same defensive mistakes and looks like a team playing summer hockey
• Believes they should take one of their top-4 defencemen and make a trade around that
• Next trade would have to be a lot along the lines of the original Mittelstadt for Byram trade
• Maybe should consider trading one of Dhalin or Power
• A lot of teams have presented formal offers but haven’t been able to get engagement from Kevyn Adams

Canucks the Trade Market for Defencemen

• Market is thinning in a hurry
• Canucks are one team that he has his eye on between now and the trade freeze
• Have been pretty active in the last few days
• Are going after an efficient puck-moving defenceman
• Haven’t been able to nail down exactly what they are looking at or who they are talking to
• Everyone draws the line to Buffalo and Bowen Byram but when he looks around the league sees “way more pieces on the chess board”
• Heard increased chatter over the last two days about the Canucks being involved in trade conversations
• Hasn’t been able to pin-point the team
• Was hoping to get some additional intel but haven’t got there yet
• Working through the process of elimination
• Has been told they are working on a trade more substantial than just trading Desharnais for cap space
• Trying to make a top-4 defenceman and talks have picked up on that front; some sense that talks have gotten closer
• By far the #1 thing on the Canucks wishlist, since training camp, has been to add a top-4 defenceman

New York Rangers

• Not all that different than the Sabres; are willing to consider a lot of different things
• Drury is willing to engage in conversation with other GMs
• Are all over the map in terms of what they are looking at
• Wonders what they will do with Ryan Lindgren
• Would be selling low on K’Andre Miller
• Kaapo Kakko put a target on his own back with his comments yesterday
• How many moves can the Rangers make that will actually improve them for this season?
• Their owner demands that they compete
• More than likely they do eventually go out and make a significant trade

Washington Capitals

• Dylan Strome is pretty much the same player he’s always been but is now given the opportunity
• 30 teams passed on Dylan Strome; Capitals were the only team to offer him a contract
• Sometimes a change of scenery and opportunity is needed

Seattle Kraken

• Time is of the essence; only a matter of time before the NBA returns
• Fully recognize the timeline
• Stuck in no-man’s-land
• Don’t have any stars
• Have some not-so-difficult decisions to make
• Have received calls on Yanni Gourde & Brandon Tanev
• Need a shot in the arm; need to make a big move
• Ron Francis is good at making a competitive team but nowhere near close to being in contention

 

[TruGr1t]

Would Byram be a good fit on a team where Hughes eats up all the offensive minutes? I feel like we need a defense first player that has some puck transition abilities, like prime Tanev ideally. Someone that can also be a solid PK guy would move the needle more than a gold plated PP2 defender.

The only issue I'd see is those reports Byram sees himself as a "#1D" and has a contract coming up. Outside of that, no he'd be a good fit for a variety of reasons.