Grub's Canucks & NHL News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | The Boys of Summer

[David71]

If there’s one constant with this management group, some moves will happen around camp.

i agree it always does. middle of september/ before the first game of regular season when cuts have to be made and final rosters are submitted. i do expect a defenseman to come in early at some point though.

 

[Nick Lang]

I don't want the Canucks to pursue Sprong or any forward in that range.

Find a way, gotta find a way, to get rid of the Poolman contract. Then, be patient. The Canucks are a playoff team with their current roster and can afford to be patient.

Accrue cap space and at some point acquire the difference-maker where it's really needed, on the back end. I'm talking about a bona-fide #2 or #3.

That's Benning style. Just keep acquiring players you already have lots of just so you have less cap space.

 

[sting101]

Canucks with a 23/23 roster are at 0.16m under the cap. Granted, this means they can't handle any medium term injuries.

But you have 3 spares and can still emergency recall for IR

 

[Donuts]

debrusk-ep-sprong
heinen-miller-boeser
joshua-blueger-garland
hog-suter-sherwood

pod,aman
lek

deep fwd group but as season progresses, just a total guess; whoever is not doing well might get traded for defense upgrade by tdl. Likely one of hog or garland because of cap hit

 

[VanillaCoke]

PP units are jacked compared to last season now

 

[TruGr1t]

debrusk-ep-sprong
heinen-miller-boeser
joshua-blueger-garland
hog-suter-sherwood

pod,aman
lek

deep fwd group but as season progresses, just a total guess; whoever is not doing well might get traded for defense upgrade by tdl. Likely one of hog or garland because of cap hit

Suter is defensively equivalent to Blueger with better offense, not putting him between Joshua/Garland is a bit nuts to me.

 

[Vector]

But you have 3 spares and can still emergency recall for IR

It’s more that they’re in a precarious position to stay under the cap while getting through training camp. Everyone training camp has had at least one player injured to start the season for the last two years.

 

[Vector]

i agree it always does. middle of september/ before the first game of regular season when cuts have to be made and final rosters are submitted. i do expect a defenseman to come in early at some point though.

There was the Dickinson trade mid-way through the exhibition games. Last season they traded Pearson right before exhibition games started and added Lafferty the day before rosters needed to be submitted.

If I were a betting man, I’d put money down on another transaction at training camp. This management team loves tinkering with the line-up.

 

[bossram]

Suter is defensively equivalent to Blueger with better offense, not putting him between Joshua/Garland is a bit nuts to me.

Yes. Suter is better.

But Garland/Joshua will combine to make pretty much any center they're with an elite 5v5 line. And we saw that success with Blueger.

Suter likely upgrades a different combination by a lot more than placing Blueger somewhere else.

 

[TruGr1t]

Yes. Suter is better.

But Garland/Joshua will combine to make pretty much any center they're with an elite 5v5 line. And we saw that success with Blueger.

Suter likely upgrades a different combination by a lot more than placing Blueger somewhere else.

I don’t see it. Suter should be getting more ice than Blueger, who is a prototype 4C. Suter is around the closest approximation to Lindholm you have on the roster if you want to recreate the playoff lineup. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t start there.

 

[ephmrl]

i don't really see how sprong fits on this roster but at least it's a zero risk move

Helps address their rush scoring weakness

 

[Bleach Clean]

Suter is defensively equivalent to Blueger with better offense, not putting him between Joshua/Garland is a bit nuts to me.

Agreed. You have Joshua-Blueger-Garland in your back pocket, and so give Suter a shot with Joshua and Garland to see if they can attain even better results together. If it doesn't work, go back to what is tried and true.

Aside from chemistry, Blueger makes more sense to be with Sherwood on the 4th line.

 

[TruGr1t]

Agreed. You have Joshua-Blueger-Garland in your back pocket, and so give Suter a shot with Joshua and Garland to see if they can attain even better results together. If it doesn't work, go back to what is tried and true.

Aside from chemistry, Blueger makes more sense to be with Sherwood on the 4th line.

Yeah Suter is an exceptionally smart player, he should work there and give that line even more offense. It’s about as close to the playoff lineup as you’re going to get. I think the only reason he wasn’t there last year is the lack of winger depth forced him up line-up. I give management full credit, the work on the wings this summer has been great. People will critique the D, but clearly management prioritized wing.

 

[David71]

There was the Dickinson trade mid-way through the exhibition games. Last season they traded Pearson right before exhibition games started and added Lafferty the day before rosters needed to be submitted.

If I were a betting man, I’d put money down on another transaction at training camp. This management team loves tinkering with the line-up.

wonder which type of LHD would alvin target. theodore would be a nice pickup. or someone in 24-27range

 

[pitseleh]

It may seem strange but I actually think Sprong could be a good fit with Bluegers. Bluegers actually does a good job of getting the puck into tough scoring areas but has no finish once he gets there. Sprong would help immensely, while playing with someone who could do the heavy lifting defensively.

Only works if the team is moving away from having a low event fourth line, which is presumably something they’re considering with the depth they’ve added.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Based strictly on that Sprong highlight package, he'd drive Tocchet nuts on the defensive side of the puck. If Tocchet couldn't live with Kuzmenko, despite his 39 goals, then his confidence in this player wouldn't even last a game.

I mean Sprong is now 27 and on his sixth NHL organization. How is that even possible?

I mean it’s not really that different than Max Domi in Toronto who bounced around a lot and finally figured it out. And Domi was 28.

 

[TruGr1t]

It may seem strange but I actually think Sprong could be a good fit with Bluegers. Bluegers actually does a good job of getting the puck into tough scoring areas but has no finish once he gets there. Sprong would help immensely, while playing with someone who could do the heavy lifting defensively.

Only works if the team is moving away from having a low event fourth line, which is presumably something they’re considering with the depth they’ve added.

In some ways Heinen, Hoglander and Sprong are fluid pieces. I’d expect some movement there unless something pops immediately. Sherwood as well, but he’s less of a known quantity.

You basically have DeBrusk, Joshua, Heinen, Hoglander down the left and Boeser, Garland, Sprong, Sherwood down the right. Mix as required. Since Tocchet won’t have to technically play anyone off their natural shot side, I assume he’ll try not to.

 

[MarkMM]

I mean it’s not really that different than Max Domi in Toronto who bounced around a lot and finally figured it out. And Domi was 28.

Also the salary difference makes this a more easily buriable / sittable bet.

 

[VanillaCoke]

My guess right now -

Heinen - Miller - Boeser
Sprong - Pettersson - DeBrusk
Joshua - Blueger - Garland
Sherwood - Suter - Hoglander
PDG

That’s a pretty slick four line setup.

It's stacked.

They identified and filled all the gaps with quality, effective value deal players, more than compensates for what we lost to free agency.

From pp to pk to offensive abilities, speed and rush chances to 2way play, size, toughness etc they nailed it all.
Under a year from now the Canucks will have easily three of the top five ufa deals of this offseason.

Add in coaching and systems and this team is going to be faster, extremely competitive, difficult to play against and higher scoring. If Demko’s stays healthy then sky's the limit.

 

[vancityluongo]

this is a mid-summer heatwave smoked out thought - but i wonder if now that there are many more offensive options throughout the lineup, boeser's counting stats fall significantly such that he signs a much more palatable 7.5x5 or something vs the 9x8 that he'd probably be looking for if he was a current free agent

don't think management is galaxy braining it and that's why they added sprong, but it could be a downstream benefit of having so many guys capable of playing offensive minutes

 

[Canucks LB]

It's stacked.

They identified and filled all the gaps with quality, effective value deal players, more than compensates for what we lost to free agency.

From pp to pk to offensive abilities, speed and rush chances to 2way play, size, toughness etc they nailed it all.
Under a year from now the Canucks will have easily three of the top five ufa deals of this offseason.

Add in coaching and systems and this team is going to be faster, extremely competitive, difficult to play against and higher scoring. If Demko’s stays healthy then sky's the limit.

This team is absolutely stacked offensively, but we still have huge puck, moving problems on the backend.

Back it needs to be fixed before the season, not just at the deadline.

We need another option

 

[ziploc]

At this point we really can afford to trade both Hoglander and Podkolzin, even just to move Poolman.

If they moved those three contracts, they would have room to bring in Kylington, and to stay out of LTIR (I believe) so that they can add a significant piece if they want to during the year.

I thought last year's offseason was remarkable, but this one is turning out to be as good if not better.

 

[Soups On]

Even if they don't move anyone, this creates a lot of competition for limited spots. Hoglander, Sprong, Podkolzin and potentially Lek are all competing for similar spots here with Podkolzin having the edge in bottom 6 utility.

Also way too many of you guys are underselling Hoglander here. Yes he's small and can be better defensively - but he and Petey did really well in their minutes together and Hoglander is great at even strength scoring. Guys like Hoglander, Sprong, and Garland do so well at even strength such that they are absolutely pivotal in depth scoring when the PP dries up, just like in this last run.

This depth is really good for longevity during the season. Being able to spread the ice time out and not forcing 20+ minutes for Miller and Petey on multiple nights will seriously help performance going into the playoffs.

 

[BWJM]

Feels like we will see a trade for D now, but not sure who gets moved to clear the cap..

 

[sting101]

Kylington 1 x 850?

lets go