As was stated today by Dahli on 650 the AHL dmen in the system and Willander will take 3 or 4 years to be NHL regulars/ready.
So with the emphasis on accuring cap space the team has to find a player with a cap hit of less than 1 mil.
Even if they trade Hoglander that leave less than 2 mil.
If they go for someone more expensive they would require the other team to retain and that would cost extra in sweeteners.
If that scenario did happen it is probably for a rental because of the cap crunch next season so wasting assets for nothing essentially or borrowing on tomorrow for temporary relief today.
With the constraints of the cap and roster figures that leaves Jiricek as the best option even if they trade tomorrow the assets they use can be reflected in that Jiricek will be around for awhile so not just thrown away.
Jiricek, like Necas wanted out because he knew he could play more and better, this also happened with Trouba. It was a failure with Dubois though.
This is Dahliwal being Dahliwal. A couple of weeks ago I did an analysis of age of entry of D men. I didn't save it
So I just now took a quick look at number of D-men for each age (20-26) playing regularly in the NHL this year:
20: 3
21: 6
22: 10
23: 18
24: 19
25: 14
26: 18
It's pretty clear that the peak is reached by age 23 and that a large number of the players, greater than 50%, of those that are going to make it are already playing regularly in the NHL at age 22.
So, what does that mean in the context of Dahliwal's comments and the Canucks prospects?
D-men 23 and under who have a realistic shot of playing NHL games:
Kudryavtsev 20 (turns 21 in 2 months)
Mynio 19
Pettersson 20 (turns 21 in 2 months)
Willander 19 (turns 20 in 2 months)
McWard 23
McWard is already trending to below average. If he was going to make a significant impact at the NHL level he should already be playing regularly. Mynio is a very long shot but he has time.
So, Dhaliwal's comments really only apply to Willander, Pettersson, and Kudryavtsev. I think it's fair to expect Willander to play regular minutes next year at age 21 but certainly the following year at age 22. Kudryavtsev is already one of the top D-men on his AHL team. I think it's very reasonable to expect him to play regular minutes the year after next, a year in which he turns 23. Likewise, if he's going to make it, Pettersson should play regular minutes the year after next, a year in which he turns 23.
Barring suprises and not counting replacement level players, the players in the organization that have a more than decent chance of making an impact at the NHL level are somewhere in the 18 to 24 month range, with Willander possibly sooner.
Maybe I'm splitting hairs here but it just annoys me when RD makes off the cuff comments that aren't grounded in reality.