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

[VanillaCoke]

Really don’t understand the Braeden Schneider hype. Reading comments from Rags fans, they don’t seem to love his play either. Nothing from his statistical profile really impresses me either.

I’m sure he’s an upgrade on what we have but unless he has a significant step to take as a player he doesn’t seem like a needle mover.

Seems like the main selling point is that he was a 1st round pick, he’s a RHD with some size and he cracked the nhl early?

Cool

I think it was Lafreniere tbh

 

[olafsson]

People on this website are dying for any trade and are willing to trade a 1C for a AHL player on the Devils.

Losing JT will be crushing to this team.

Trading him needs to happen. We can’t have this distraction in the room between him and EP. He needs to go

 

[Bgav]

People on this website are dying for any trade and are willing to trade a 1C for a AHL player on the Devils.

Losing JT will be crushing to this team.

Crushing in what sense? They aren’t contenders

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Big picture given his age it’s absolutely the right decision to move JT especially if he’s not happy here.
But I don’t think there’s any universe when we end up being a better team this year without Miller. Our center depth is atrocious if he leaves and we target a young D in the trade.
Longer term though I think trading him at this time makes sense. A step back this year when we aren’t really contenders anyways and then we can look at taking a step forward next year with the cap space.

 

[Ernie]

Trading him needs to happen. We can’t have this distraction in the room between him and EP. He needs to go

One moment I'm like "trade this bum" and the other moment I'm like "what if this is all a distraction from the deeper issues with this team?"

Teams can win with players who are rivals of each other. That internal competitiveness might even be beneficial.

At the end of the day, each player needs to get his shit together. Miller needs to dial down the drama, and Pettersson needs stop letting outside noise shut down his game. They both need to learn how to keep their focus in their own ways. Trade either one of them and those issues will remain with the player who stays.

 

[Nucker101]

I think it was Lafreniere tbh

I’d be cool with him, a winger isn’t ideal but a power forward winger that can score is a pretty valuable commodity

Biggest issue is that our 2nd best Center signed next year is then Teddy Blueger and we don’t exactly have much in the prospect pipeline at C

I’m hoping Lou will go senile and offer us up Barzal and we can re-sign Suter to run them both together on a line as C/W hybrids with a scorer on the other wing but that’s a pipedream

If Minny is willing to still trade Rossi that’s probably our best bet for a C coming back, I think he’s better than Cozens. I can’t see Guerin doing that though.

 

[mriswith]

In the span of about 6 hours, you went from 'it's so annoying we didn't convert JTM, BB and TD into a bunch of 1st round picks' to hoping Miller tells management that he wants to stay....so what exactly was it that was "extremely obvious" then....but not last season when we were a game away from the conference finals....but is once again extremely obvious?

I've been consistent about wanting Miller to stay at this point. We committed to the Hughes contract window a long time ago and are long past the point where trading Miller for futures helps us in that window. I don't think we can afford to take any deliberate steps back until Hughes has extended. That was not true when management first took over and they simultaneously had a clearly foreseeable, inevitable two draft classes worth of suckage ahead of them and an absolutely loaded draft class coming up in 2023.

Trading him and Boeser now would be incredibly annoying given that it should have happened back then. Doing it now when we're actually trying to be competitive and gave ourselves a short timeline to win sucks, and his value is almost certainly lower than it would have been then. It'll be almost impossible to find a trade that makes us better now. Doing it back then would have been a completely different story.

These are not conflicting opinions. Trade Miller back then=good. Trade Miller now=probably not good. Trade Miller now=really annoying because they should have traded him back then, when there was a clearly foreseeable runway of suck instead of now when we're trying to win=not a conflicting opinion.

Was it obvious then that Pettersson was going to sign a massive extension and then almost immediately disappear (or get hurt as you has posited probably 100 times over the last 3 months)

Was it obvious that JT was going to take or be given a month long LOA for personal reasons?

This team has had a ton of shit go wrong this year.....and exactly none of it was extremely obvious in the spring of 2023, nor was it obvious last year when we were a legit contender. If whatever is going on with both our #1 C isn't going on....we're like a top 4 defender away from being very good.

I agree. I've been saying the bolded all year albeit that top 4 dman needs to be someone who can legitimately carry the second pairing so what I would call a #3.

I think that the entire JT/EP drama has just been a distraction from mgmt's real failure, which is that it's 2025 now and they've only brought in one legitimate top 4 dman since taking over in 2021, and the #1 problem since the day they took over the team has clearly been the defense and that's still the case now.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

I think it was Lafreniere tbh

Yup.

 

[Dirtyclapper]

Let's trade away our first line centre for a bunch of picks and start rebuilding when we are 1 point out of the wild card.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Let's trade away our first line centre for a bunch of picks and start rebuilding when we are 1 point out of the wild card.

It’s not as simple as this.

 

[VanillaCoke]

I’d be cool with him, a winger isn’t ideal but a power forward winger that can score is a pretty valuable commodity

Biggest issue is that our 2nd best Center signed next year is then Teddy Blueger and we don’t exactly have much in the prospect pipeline at C

Idk if the Canucks are convinced Laf isn't a C, especially behind an already established two way 1C..

The brooks comments and castonguay connection are too strong imo, and nows clearly the time to get whatever you can from drury.

 

[Canucker]

If they trade for Lafreniere you can bet that spells the end of Brock Boeser as a Canuck. Not even sure I like Lafreniere but he's probably the biggest piece they could expect to get in a return.

 

[Dirtyclapper]

It’s not as simple as this.

It really is because if we trade him we are not going to get a centre back of that caliber. It's very simple actually. Pettersson can't play 1c we will get destroyed. I wish everyone would understand this before it's too late lol

 

[Nucker101]

Idk if the Canucks are convinced Laf isn't a C, especially behind an already established two way 1C..

The brooks comments and castonguay connection are too strong imo, and nows clearly the time to get whatever you can from drury.

Has he played C at any level?

 

[God]

Lafreniere would be a pretty damn excellent return for Miller if the team's decided this is untenable.

But then JT goes and blanks McBaby at ES, and makes this decision much more difficult.

 

[DFAC]

Marek mentioned something around Miller for Nemec+

I'd be into it

 

[Nucker101]

It really is because if we trade him we are not going to get a centre back of that caliber. It's very simple actually. Pettersson can't play 1c we will get destroyed. I wish everyone would understand this before it's too late lol

We have no idea what’s going on inside that locker room. If Hughes has had enough of Miller than management has no choice

They chose Miller over Horvat so it’s not like they want to move Miller for hockey reasons.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I like something centered around Lafreniere. Didn’t think the Rangers would actually entertain parting with him.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Marek mentioned something around Miller for Nemec+

I'd be into it

There was some buzz yesterday around Nemec and Mercer which, IMO, is at least the nucleus of a good deal. I get the feeling that’s the Canucks’ ask and not what the Devils want to give, though.

 

[Vector]

Idk if the Canucks are convinced Laf isn't a C, especially behind an already established two way 1C..

The brooks comments and castonguay connection are too strong.

He ain’t a centre and has never been a centre when it’s relevant to professional hockey. He does make a lot of sense as a target given all the rumoured interest and connections.

However, it’s not like Lafrenière is without risk. He’s having another middling season and signed for a very long time. You have to be extremely sure that it’s the environment holding him back.

If there were other pieces, mostly futures, I would if those would be flipped for a 2nd line centre. Even one on a short term contract would be worthwhile.

 

[Vector]

There was some buzz yesterday around Nemec and Mercer which, IMO, is at least the nucleus of a good deal. I get the feeling that’s the Canucks’ ask and not what the Devils want to give, though.

Two days ago and that was fan driven. Rangers are the only team where the return for Miller has been reported in any capacity that isn’t speculation.

 

[Ernie]

I like something centered around Lafreniere. Didn’t think the Rangers would actually entertain parting with him.

Never doubt the short term desperation of a GM who is trying to keep his job.

 

[StickShift]

If they trade for Lafreniere you can bet that spells the end of Brock Boeser as a Canuck. Not even sure I like Lafreniere but he's probably the biggest piece they could expect to get in a return.

I quite like Lafreniere as the return for Miller. I think he has the highest upside and would likely score the most points of any asset involved in the deal over the duration of their signed contracts.

That he is winger shouldn’t really matter. They shouldn’t force a trade for position in a year that they don’t really look ready to contend. They should focus on getting the best possible player they can get and then sort out the supporting cast for subsequent seasons afterwards.

 

[Ernie]

Two days ago and that was fan driven. Rangers are the only team where the return for Miller has been reported in any capacity that isn’t speculation.

TBF I'm not sure the "experts" are all that more reliable than the fans in most cases.

 

[Ernie]

I quite like Lafreniere as the return for Miller. I think he has the highest upside and would likely score the most points of any asset involved in the deal over the duration of their signed contracts.

That he is winger shouldn’t really matter. They shouldn’t force a trade for position in a year that they don’t really look ready to contend. They should focus on getting the best possible player they can get and then sort out the supporting cast afterwards.

He's the right age. Signed long term. Fills a hole. The Canucks aren't winning the Cup this season so makes a lot of sense.