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

[Vector]

I honestly do think a trade centered around Hoglander+Poolman for Fehervary makes a lot of sense for both teams. Capitals will operate in LTIR this season and by a substantial amount. Both Oshie and Backstrom are expected to LTIRed for their last remaining year. A trade involving Hoglander and Poolman would actually grow that LTIR pool from 4.7m to 6.25m. Poolman, like Oshie and Backstrom, would come off their books at the end of the year. They also have an open spot in their top-9, possibly even in the top-6. Fehervary hasn't progressed in his three seasons, is signed for another year at 2.675m then RFA, and the last two seasons they've pushed him further down the depth chart with acquiring Sandin then Chychrun.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Love that Tocchet interview.

Some things that stood out:
-Strength coach visiting Pettersson in Sweden and seems that he’s getting the training he needs to become stronger.

-Tocchet/Foote really seeing something in Desharnais and that his next contract will be his “big payday”

-His comments about Sprong and that he’ll “work his ass off” to help get Sprong to where he needs to be and to have him established in Vancouver rather than bouncing between teams every year, highlighting his age (27). Brushes off the idea that there’s “Tocchet type and non Tocchet type” players.

I am pretty intrigued about Sprong. He’s more a poor man’s Phil Kessel than a Kuzmenko type. Kuzmenko was our worst transitional player and didn’t have the pace/speed to get up and down the ice quick enough and was poor at generating offense in most areas other than around the net. Sprong on the other hand can create offense on his own by creating plays, generating shots, and being a threat on the rush, as well as being a puck carrier, something Kuzmenko couldn’t really do. So forget the defensive side of things, offensively, he should be an improvement in that regard alone.

If you leave Sprong beside Pettersson and Debrusk, I’ve said this many times now, there’s no way he doesn’t produce, and I’m more than confident he’ll adapt to our systems. And on the same breath, I’m curious the work they’ll do with Desharnais and whether or not he can transform his game into more of a 4/5 than a 6th D like Myers and Soucy were for us last year.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

I honestly do think a trade centered around Hoglander+Poolman for Fehervary makes a lot of sense for both teams. Capitals will operate in LTIR this season and by a substantial amount. Both Oshie and Backstrom are expected to LTIRed for their last remaining year. A trade involving Hoglander and Poolman would actually grow that LTIR pool from 4.7m to 6.25m. Poolman, like Oshie and Backstrom, would come off their books at the end of the year. They also have an open spot in their top-9, possibly even in the top-6. Fehervary hasn't progressed in his three seasons, is signed for another year at 2.675m then RFA, and the last two seasons they've pushed him further down the depth chart with acquiring Sandin then Chychrun.

Not sure I like Fehervary for another year at $2.675m. Next offseason we will be facing an increase in OEL cap penalty, a UFA BB6 that might cost up to $9m to extend, need to either extend Suter or find a competent 3C, and I hope they upgrade their 2nd pairing D. Lots can happen until then but I rather keep maximum cap flexibility going in, if Fehervary doesn't at least play like a good #5, he isn't an efficient use of his cap hit.

 

[Vector]

 

[SelltheTeamFrancesco]

Martin Fehervary (Capitals) and Alexander Romanov (Islanders) fit the bill.

I see no reason for Islanders to trade him he played really well with Dobson. I think they see him Romanov-Dobson as there top pair going forward. Kind of how the Canucks see Hughes-Hronek but to an lesser extent.

 

[Vector]

I see no reason for Islanders to trade him he played really well with Dobson. I think they see him Romanov-Dobson as there top pair going forward. Kind of how the Canucks see Hughes-Hronek but to an lesser extent.

Totally agree. He’s one of the only young players they have too. Lou just sometimes does weird shit out of seemingly nowhere.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Tocchet is such a good interview. The few years he's spent in media has really helped him articulate his thoughts. If you have access to The Athletic, very much worth a read.

-thinks there's a way for some players to play with more risk in their game to generate more rush and odd-man chances
-primarily is re-evaluating how to create more offense and make the safe play a little less
-started out with his non-negotiables and locking down the defensive side so there are no more easy goals against, with the players fully bought in is looking to build off that
-says a lot of the UFAs signed for a little less to play for the Canucks; they are on short term deals and are extra motivated
-believes DeBrusk is the player that should play with Pettersson
-is interested in seeing what DeBrusk could do with Miller & Boeser but specifically mentions if that could be Heinen, Sherwood, or Hoglander
-mentions Hoglander needs to improve his game to get a top-6 spot
-doesn't mention Pettersson's injury
-Pettersson has things he needs to improve and believe Pettersson realizes this now
-says a lot of the dip in production was because he had a rotating cast of wingers
-Canucks' strength coach went out to see Pettersson and said Pettersson is doing terrific
-had two conversations with Sprong before he signed
-two or three other teams interested in Sprong
-asked Sprong why he's bounced around the league and is on the bench with 5 minutes left in a game
-Sprong signed with the Canucks 4 hours after talking with Tocchet
-asked Sprong if there's a scenario where he can establish himself in Vancouver for several years
-Desharnais decision came quick because he was talking to other teams
-think Desharnais' valuable because of his size, quick feet, and believe he's got a pretty good first pass
-told Desharnais that this contract isn't his big payday, his next contract is
-started using a 3rd goalie at practice last year to lessen Demko's workload
-people are really concerned about Demko's total number of games played but says it's more than that; management of practices, his schedule, and how they travel all factor in

Thank you for the write-up. Much appreciated.

With record low shot totals in the playoffs, it comes as no surprise that Tocchet holds himself accountable here. You had to question his coaching methodology at that point, and I'm glad he's self aware enough to question it himself. His team was too focused on defense (turtling). That has to change.

I'm surprised there was no follow up on Pettersson's rotating cast of wingers: Why didn't you put Boeser with him?

Desharnais having a good first pass is news to me. I do think he has good mobility for his size, so there's something to work with.

It's strange seeing him go from effectively running Kuzmenko out of town for his non-negotiables, to creating a very good defensive team, to now opening things back up to allow Sprong to be here... What if he had gone through this process while still having Kuzmenko in house? Have to wonder.

Will be interesting to see how Sprong differs from Kuzmenko, especially on the forecheck.

 

[Vector]

Thanks to @TruGr1t for pointing this out to me.

Large parts of this interview is him reiterating what is in the Tocchet interview article so I've just included new stuff here.

-some concern about the team's lack of centre depth
-don't have a right-handed centre
-interchanging Blueger & Suter between Garland & Joshua
-thinks they will consider seeing what Boeser can do in the faceoff circle at training camp
-not sure if it'll fit his schedule but Tocchet may go over to Sweden and spend time with Pettersson
-no guaranteed space in the line-up for Podkolzin
-Canucks were "kicking around bigger ideas" but ultimately decided to sign Sprong
-thinks there's a sense that the organization feels that they aren't getting the most out of Hronek because he defers to Hughes

 

[LemonSauceD]

Xhekaj and Evans?

Montreal’s got Matheson/Hutson/Struble/Harris/Engstrom on the left side, Guhle/Barron/Savard/Reinbacher/Mailloux on the right.

I like Xhekaj’s chances of becoming a top 4/5 defenseman and could be a natural succession option to Soucy. And we’ve been interested in him before. I’d easily throw in an extra pick or another prospect.

Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers
Xhekaj-Desharnais
Forbort

Hoglander, Poolman, protected 1st round pick + 4th for Xhekaj and Evans.

 

[TruGr1t]

Desharnais having a good first pass is news to me. I do think he has good mobility for his size, so there's something to work with.

Not the first time I’ve heard that recently. Desharnais has a small sample size anyway, so I doubt anyone’s seen a representative run of play outside the playoff series.

Organization has been uniformly bullish on him since the signing, though, and sounds like they were aggressive in signing him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s given a shot at a top-four slot in camp.

I thought he was quite good against us in the playoffs but have really not followed him before that at all.

 

[wonton15]

Hughes Desharnais
Soucy Hronek
Forbort Myers

There’s just no way we don’t see this in preseason

 

[TruGr1t]

Hughes Desharnais
Soucy Hronek
Forbort Myers

There’s just no way we don’t see this in preseason

Funny enough, the most concerning pairing here is Soucy-Hronek for me. That was tried last year, and wasn’t good. Forbort-Myers I actually think works stylistically, and no issue trying Desharnais with Hughes since he’s basically a better Juulsen, which obviously worked with Hughes in the past.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Thanks to @TruGr1t for pointing this out to me.

Large parts of this interview is him reiterating what is in the Tocchet interview article so I've just included new stuff here.

-some concern about the team's lack of centre depth
-don't have a right-handed centre
-interchanging Blueger & Suter between Garland & Joshua
-thinks they will consider seeing what Boeser can do in the faceoff circle at training camp
-not sure if it'll fit his schedule but Tocchet may go over to Sweden and spend time with Pettersson
-no guaranteed space in the line-up for Podkolzin
-Canucks were "kicking around bigger ideas" but ultimately decided to sign Sprong
-thinks there's a sense that the organization feels that they aren't getting the most out of Hronek because he defers to Hughes

Doing Yeoman's work Vector, thank you.

Yet another local reporter talking about a right handed centre... The 'kicking around bigger ideas' was probably this RHC.

Interchanging Blueger and Suter between Garland and Joshua, yes please.

Tocchet going over to Sweden for Pettersson is just... Gillis-esque. He needs his franchise centre to be at his best. Good on him.

Hronek on a different pair would definitely help the depth.

 

[LemonSauceD]

I’d target Jake Evans for a RHC. I’d almost do a Suter for Evans swap but that probably wouldn’t entice Montreal.

1 year $1.7M. Has speed and some size.

 

[Vector]

I’d target Jake Evans for a RHC. I’d almost do a Suter for Evans swap but that probably wouldn’t entice Montreal.

1 year $1.7M. Has speed and some size.

They’d be looking to add Evans not dump Suter given Suter’s cheap contract and positional flexibility.

 

[arttk]

Doing Yeoman's work Vector, thank you.

Yet another local reporter talking about a right handed centre... The 'kicking around bigger ideas' was probably this RHC.

Interchanging Blueger and Suter between Garland and Joshua, yes please.

Tocchet going over to Sweden for Pettersson is just... Gillis-esque. He needs his franchise centre to be at his best. Good on him.

Hronek on a different pair would definitely help the depth.

guessing we will have 2 targets around TDL, RHC and puck moving D. Wondering if we will target Giroux.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Hughes Desharnais
Soucy Hronek
Forbort Myers

There’s just no way we don’t see this in preseason

I still think it's going to be:

Hughes Desharnais
Forbort Hronek
Soucy Myers

Soucy made alot of partners look good and I think that thought process continues by pairing him with Myers.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Not the first time I’ve heard that recently. Desharnais has a small sample size anyway, so I doubt anyone’s seen a representative run of play outside the playoff series.

Organization has been uniformly bullish on him since the signing, though, and sounds like they were aggressive in signing him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s given a shot at a top-four slot in camp.

I thought he was quite good against us in the playoffs but have really not followed him before that at all.

I've caught multiple Oiler regular season games this year and it seemed like Kulak was the one more charged with passing the puck out of the zone. In the playoffs, yes, Desharnais steadied Nurse (even though Oiler fans say this was the time Desharnais played himself off the team).

We can hear this sort of thing from Allvin/Tocchet, but we need to see it from Desharnais and Forbort. The lack of puck movement from the back end killed VAN in the playoffs.

 

[Vector]

guessing we will have 2 targets around TDL, RHC and puck moving D. Wondering if we will target Giroux.

He’s neither of those things!

 

[arttk]

He’s neither of those things!

Giroux is RHC no?

 

[Vector]

I still think it's going to be:

Hughes Desharnais
Forbort Hronek
Soucy Myers

Soucy made alot of partners look good and I think that thought process continues by pairing him with Myers.

At the very least they’ll try this combination at training camp.

I don’t think the defensive pairings matter all that much because there’s two that can relied upon, to different degrees, if need be.

 

[Vector]

Giroux is RHC no?

He hasn’t played centre regularly in a very long time. He takes face-offs but he’s not a centre.

So you could acquire him looking for a right handed faceoff guy since he’s very good at face-offs.

He’s actually make sense in the Lindholm-mold only actually play on Pettersson’s wing.

 

[arttk]

He hasn’t played centre regularly in a very long time. He takes face-offs but he’s not a centre.

So you could acquire him looking for a right handed faceoff guy since he’s very good at face-offs.

He’s actually make sense in the Lindholm-mold only actually play on Pettersson’s wing.

good enough!!!
or we can just get Crosby .. even though he's not RHC, he'll do.

 

[TruGr1t]

I still think it's going to be:

Hughes Desharnais
Forbort Hronek
Soucy Myers

Soucy made alot of partners look good and I think that thought process continues by pairing him with Myers.

I’m not sure Fobort can keep up with the type of minutes you’d want Hronek playing in that scenario. You want him at least close to 20 mins per game. Forbort did that a few times with the Bruins but not regularly.

You probably want a way to find Soucy more minutes than Forbort.

 

[wonton15]

I’m not sure Fobort can keep up with the type of minutes you’d want Hronek playing in that scenario. You want him at least close to 20 mins per game. Forbort did that a few times with the Bruins but not regularly.

You probably want a way to find Soucy more minutes than Forbort.

Agreed. But at the end of the day, they’re going to go back to Hughes-Hronek for a majority of the season and all of the playoffs so moot point. Unless we acquire Shea Theodore!