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

[Vector]

Am I right in thinking that the Canucks are now at 50 contracts? I seem to recall the number being 48, before the signing of Silovs and the acquisition of Sprong.

Puckpedia originally had them at 48/50 before Silovs but revised it to 47/50. With Silovs and Sprong they are now at 49/50. That's another reason I think they'll move one of Podkolzin or Hoglander along with Poolman. Gets them just a little bit more wiggle room.

 

[DFAC]

Am I right in thinking that the Canucks are now at 50 contracts? I seem to recall the number being 48, before the signing of Silovs and the acquisition of Sprong.

49 - since Silovs resigning doesn't count as an additional one.

Vancouver Canucks Contracts, Cap Hits and Salary Cap | Puckpedia

See the cap space, latest contracts, injury news, and transactions for the Vancouver Canucks including salaries, cap hits, buyouts and draft picks on PuckPedia.

puckpedia.com

 

[Donuts]

a lot of new forwards to work with on the powerplay

get a good power play coach to utilize them better.

No excuse to have the same crappy powerplay that contributed to canucks losing in 7 last playoffs

 

[Phrasing]

OUT: Lindholm, Zadorov, Mikheyev, Cole, DeSmith

IN: DeBrusk, Heinen, Forbort, Desharnais, Sherwood, Sprong

I still don’t like the defense with Myers playing top 4 when he should be on the bottom pair and Forbert should be the extra D. They need another top 4 defenseman badly.

 

[brock hughes007]

I still don’t like the defense with Myers playing top 4 when he should be on the bottom pair and Forbert should be the extra D. They need another top 4 defenseman badly.

Agree strongly.

 

[TruGr1t]

I still don’t like the defense with Myers playing top 4 when he should be on the bottom pair and Forbert should be the extra D. They need another top 4 defenseman badly.

They didn’t really run a traditional top four last year. You had Hughes and Hronek at 22-24 mins and the other two pairings handling ~17-19 mins. The major question is if that bottom pair can handle that load since Soucy-Myers have proven they can play those minutes, and I see no reason either guy will take a major step back this coming year. Cole was nice since he could sort of play that quasi top four role. I’m not sure about Fobort and Desharnais (less so Forbort as when healthy he regularly handled 17+ mins for the Bruins). You don’t necessarily need another top four off the hop, but you want to make sure that bottom pair can handle above average minutes to make sure the top four guys aren’t overplayed relative to last year.

My suspicion is management/coaching are convinced they can get Forbort and Desharnais there in some capacity (paired together or otherwise) and aren’t that worried about it.

 

[UrbanImpact]

I still don’t like the defense with Myers playing top 4 when he should be on the bottom pair and Forbert should be the extra D. They need another top 4 defenseman badly.

Our July roster wont be the same as our October roster, and it certainly wont be the same as our Playoff roster.

Our Defence should be fine enough to get us in a playoff spot during the season...However, much like last year when we added Zadorov, i suspect we will be looking to upgrade on the top 4 as well this year.

Dhaliwal was on the radio today and he says the canucks have shown ZERO interest in Kylington and he doesnt see a fit for Barrie here.

I'm in line with the Canucks on that, id much rather trade for an impact top 4 Dman sometime during the year than go bargain bin shopping for a Dman now on free agency.

 

[Vector]

Assuming they leave Soucy-Myers as a pairing, I think the Forbort-Desharnais pairing will end up getting caved in, possession-wise, against some specific teams. This will become a talking point in the media. Soucy-Myers start to see their ice-time consistently elevated and their play starts to dip. Will acquire a top-4 two-way LD and the minutes will stabilize.

It's fairly clear the Canucks philosophy isn't that they need a traditional 1st pairing, 2nd pairing, 3rd pairing, but will roll with the dominant Hughes-Hronek then roll with two 2.5-pairings.

The big factor, to me, is whether Soucy can stay healthy. The depth chart on the left side is very bad.

Depth Chart:
Hughes
Soucy
Forbort
Friedman (RD)

---

Wolanin
Pettersson
Kudryavtsev
Hirose
Brisebois

Temporarily you can probably slot in whoever is performing best into the line-up but if Soucy is hurt in training camp or at the beginning of the season, that should be a big problem.

 

[TruGr1t]

Assuming they leave Soucy-Myers as a pairing, I think the Forbort-Desharnais pairing will end up getting caved in, possession-wise, against some specific teams. This will become a talking point in the media. Soucy-Myers start to see their ice-time consistently elevated and their play starts to dip. Will acquire a top-4 two-way LD and the minutes will stabilize.

It's fairly clear the Canucks philosophy isn't that they need a traditional 1st pairing, 2nd pairing, 3rd pairing, but will roll with the dominant Hughes-Hronek then roll with two 2.5-pairings.

The big factor, to me, is whether Soucy can stay healthy. The depth chart on the left side is very bad.

Depth Chart:
Hughes
Soucy
Forbort
Friedman (RD)

---

Wolanin
Pettersson
Kudryavtsev
Hirose
Brisebois

Temporarily you can probably slot in whoever is performing best into the line-up but if Soucy is hurt in training camp or at the beginning of the season, that should be a big problem.

Yes that’s the concern. I don’t have too much concern with Forbort and Desharnais as individual players but would prefer they weren’t a pair.

I’ve been thinking you try something like this for balance:

Soucy-Desharnais
Forbort-Myers

Should allow a more even spread of minutes. Friedman can play both sides, so I can see him having to take over if a LSD is injured, but I’d agree I’d like to see one more player on that side.

 

[StreetHawk]

49 - since Silovs resigning doesn't count as an additional one.

Vancouver Canucks Contracts, Cap Hits and Salary Cap | Puckpedia

See the cap space, latest contracts, injury news, and transactions for the Vancouver Canucks including salaries, cap hits, buyouts and draft picks on PuckPedia.

puckpedia.com

That currently leaves that final spot to sign Wallinder after his season at BU is completed. Expect to see a move or two to drop the # of contracts down. Or someone gets claimed off waivers before the season begins.

 

[vancityluongo]

Assuming they leave Soucy-Myers as a pairing, I think the Forbort-Desharnais pairing will end up getting caved in, possession-wise, against some specific teams.

Yes that’s the concern. I don’t have too much concern with Forbort and Desharnais as individual players but would prefer they weren’t a pair.

I’ve been thinking you try something like this for balance:

Soucy-Desharnais
Forbort-Myers

Should allow a more even spread of minutes. Friedman can play both sides, so I can see him having to take over if a LSD is injured, but I’d agree I’d like to see one more player on that side.

Agreed - I think they have to run Soucy-Desharnais as the second pairing to start, Myers as the #5 on the third pair, and either of Friedman or Forbort as his partner based on camp.

If Soucy-Myers holds up though, I have no problem with Wolanin-Desharnais as the bottom pairing. Wolanin should be capable as a #6, especially partnered with a defensively minded guy like VD. If he can win that job out of camp over Forbort, there's a bit more balance in terms of skillset. Forbort gets into the lineup if/when Soucy is hurt.

 

[Phrasing]

Our July roster wont be the same as our October roster, and it certainly wont be the same as our Playoff roster.

Our Defence should be fine enough to get us in a playoff spot during the season...However, much like last year when we added Zadorov, i suspect we will be looking to upgrade on the top 4 as well this year.

Dhaliwal was on the radio today and he says the canucks have shown ZERO interest in Kylington and he doesnt see a fit for Barrie here.

I'm in line with the Canucks on that, id much rather trade for an impact top 4 Dman sometime during the year than go bargain bin shopping for a Dman now on free agency.

I don't mind going the trade route either, but there's a woeful lack of depth and quality past the top pair. It's not a core you can win a championship with in my opinion.

 

[MS]

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

Definitely not, and there's a reason one of those players has been consistently trusted with higher-leverage 3C minutes on good teams and the other one has spent most of his career on the wing.

 

[TruGr1t]

Definitely not, and there's a reason one of those players has been consistently trusted with higher-leverage 3C minutes on good teams and the other one has spent most of his career on the wing.

Fair, Blueger’s defensive stats are a bit better, but I don’t see a deal-breaker difference. Shouldn’t be a massive fall off, and Suter is materially better offensively.

 

[MS]

Fair, Blueger’s defensive stats are a bit better, but I don’t see a deal-breaker difference. Shouldn’t be a massive fall off, and Suter is materially better offensively.

Suter is a smallish middle-6 winger with 'emergency C' utility* and is good on the PK but defensively he isn't in the same league as Blueger who is a legit NHL 3C. Suter would get exposed if you put him in high-leverage C minutes.

*I called him a middle 6 winger/5C last summer and people freaked out about the 5C terminology even though it was totally correct and exactly how Tocchet used him, so I'll try this terminology instead.

 

[credulous]

i dunno how i feel about the current roster. it feels like they are betting on everything going right. i think they're a demko/hughes/miller injury away from being a very bad team given their lack of depth. they have way too many forwards who need either sheltered or very specific usage and the defense without hughes is just absolutely putrid. i don't believe in silovs as a starter (yet) if demko goes down

maybe it's right to bet on everything going right when you pretty much need that to happen to be a legit stanley cup contender anyways?

i guess with the number of nhl contracts they have signed i should still anticpate a move. i can't see them waiving pdg, aman and friedman so one of hoglander and podkolzin must be done in vancouver

 

[God]

i dunno how i feel about the current roster. it feels like they are betting on everything going right. i think they're a demko/hughes/miller injury away from being a very bad team given their lack of depth. they have way too many forwards who need either sheltered or very specific usage and the defense without hughes is just absolutely putrid. i don't believe in silovs as a starter (yet) if demko goes down

maybe it's right to bet on everything going right when you pretty much need that to happen to be a legit stanley cup contender anyways?

i guess with the number of nhl contracts they have signed i should still anticpate a move. i can't see them waiving pdg, aman and friedman so one of hoglander and podkolzin must be done in vancouver

I can easily see them waiving PDG and Friedman? PDG missed a ton of time last year and is 31 in October, and Friedman barely played last year. The chances of them passing through waivers is not zero given both are decent bottom of the lineup players, but presumably if they're waived, it'll be during one of those mass roster cut days.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

i dunno how i feel about the current roster. it feels like they are betting on everything going right. i think they're a demko/hughes/miller injury away from being a very bad team given their lack of depth. they have way too many forwards who need either sheltered or very specific usage and the defense without hughes is just absolutely putrid. i don't believe in silovs as a starter (yet) if demko goes down

maybe it's right to bet on everything going right when you pretty much need that to happen to be a legit stanley cup contender anyways?

i guess with the number of nhl contracts they have signed i should still anticpate a move. i can't see them waiving pdg, aman and friedman so one of hoglander and podkolzin must be done in vancouver

That can be said for basically any team in the league.

Personally think mgmt has done a very credible job so far given how many UFAs the team had.

Everyone wants the Sun and the Moon.

Sometimes you need to be happy with a few stars.

 

[MS]

i dunno how i feel about the current roster. it feels like they are betting on everything going right. i think they're a demko/hughes/miller injury away from being a very bad team given their lack of depth. they have way too many forwards who need either sheltered or very specific usage and the defense without hughes is just absolutely putrid. i don't believe in silovs as a starter (yet) if demko goes down

maybe it's right to bet on everything going right when you pretty much need that to happen to be a legit stanley cup contender anyways?

i guess with the number of nhl contracts they have signed i should still anticpate a move. i can't see them waiving pdg, aman and friedman so one of hoglander and podkolzin must be done in vancouver

Every team is an injury or two away from superstars from being in trouble.

I agree on defense where there isn't enough credible top-4 experience if Hughes (or Hronek) gets hurt.

Completely disagree up front. They have literally 12 guys who scored at a 30 ESP pace last season (essentially 2nd line ES production) which is absolutely insane. This is one of the deepest forward groups in the NHL and they have TONS of options if guys get hurt.

 

[StreetHawk]

That can be said for basically any team in the league.

Personally think mgmt has done a very credible job so far given how many UFAs the team had.

Everyone wants the Sun and the Moon.

Sometimes you need to be happy with a few stars.

It's the reality for a lot of teams. For the Canucks, they simply have either bled too many draft picks or the ones that they have kept, haven't taken a big jump since Hughes in 2018. It's bare bones since Hughes.

Woo, Madden (traded), Pod, Hoglander, Jurmo (traded but didn't develop), Klimovich (he's leaving for the KHL right?), from round 2 in 2018 to 2021 draft in the top 3 rounds. Lekky, Petey, Wallinder, Bruz (traded) Mynio, Fernstrom from 2022-2024.

 

[credulous]

That can be said for basically any team in the league.

Personally think mgmt has done a very credible job so far given how many UFAs the team had.

Everyone wants the Sun and the Moon.

Sometimes you need to be happy with a few stars.

i don't think it's true to the same extent it is in vancouver though

if miller goes down you can try to make pettersson and boeser work i guess but then your second line is being anchored by pius suter or teddy blueger. if hughes is out the defense is a total shambles and it's hard to see anything really working. same with demko missing significant time again

i think people vastly overestimate how good the forward lineup is when you take opportunity into account. heinen isn't going to be the same player lined up with aman and podkolzin or whatever as he was playing with pastrnak. if he DOES gets minutes next to miller and boeser it's going to be at the expense of hoglander or sherwood or sprong not getting that opportunity. management has done a good job giving the coaching staff a lot of different options but there's diminishing returns to quantity. you need some quality too

 

[VanJack]

I see Podkolzin was playing in the 'NHL lineup' at the recent KHL-NHL all-star classic at the CKSA Rink in Moscow. Not sure if he got on the scoresheet, since the only highlight I could find was Artemi Panarin's 'half-Michigan, spin-o-rama shot' from the slot, that almost went in.

But hard to overstate how important this upcoming training camp is for Podkolzin. He's no longer waiver exempt. So he either sticks, or is dealt. Really out of options with this player.

 

[StreetHawk]

But hard to overstate how important this upcoming training camp is for Podkolzin. He's no longer waiver exempt. So he either sticks, or is dealt. Really out of options with this player.

How long is training camp these days? Seems like it's 4 days before they begin playing pre-season games. So, he needs to mesh quickly with whomever he is paired with on the forward lines.

 

[cc]

i don't think it's true to the same extent it is in vancouver though

if miller goes down you can try to make pettersson and boeser work i guess but then your second line is being anchored by pius suter or teddy blueger. if hughes is out the defense is a total shambles and it's hard to see anything really working. same with demko missing significant time again

i think people vastly overestimate how good the forward lineup is when you take opportunity into account. heinen isn't going to be the same player lined up with aman and podkolzin or whatever as he was playing with pastrnak. if he DOES gets minutes next to miller and boeser it's going to be at the expense of hoglander or sherwood or sprong not getting that opportunity. management has done a good job giving the coaching staff a lot of different options but there's diminishing returns to quantity. you need some quality too

The encouraging part of this is that these players didn't have much of an 'opportunity' prior including heinen who bounced around the bruins lineup from what I've read

Right now with the current depth, I have pods and aman slotted as the 13th and 14th forward so it will take an injury to play with either of those players mentioned

 

[Vector]

i don't think it's true to the same extent it is in vancouver though

if miller goes down you can try to make pettersson and boeser work i guess but then your second line is being anchored by pius suter or teddy blueger. if hughes is out the defense is a total shambles and it's hard to see anything really working. same with demko missing significant time again

i think people vastly overestimate how good the forward lineup is when you take opportunity into account. heinen isn't going to be the same player lined up with aman and podkolzin or whatever as he was playing with pastrnak. if he DOES gets minutes next to miller and boeser it's going to be at the expense of hoglander or sherwood or sprong not getting that opportunity. management has done a good job giving the coaching staff a lot of different options but there's diminishing returns to quantity. you need some quality too

Of the playoff teams last year, if they lost their top-line centre they'd be in pretty much the same situation as the Canucks.

Bruins: Lindholm injury; Zacha and Poitras next in line
Hurricanes: Aho injury; Kotkaniemi & Drury
Avalanche: MacKinnon injury; Mittelstadt & Colton
Predators: O'Reilly injury; Sissons & Novak (shift over Stamkos)
Islanders: Horvat injury; Barzal & Pageau
Rangers: Zibanejad injury; Trochek & Chytil
Lightning: Point injury; Cirelli & Paul
Capitals: Dubois injury; Strome & McMichael
Jets: Scheifele injury; Perfetti & Lowry

---

Interestingly, I think most teams defensive corps are pretty bad this season. Golden Knights and Capitals have probably the deepest defenses in the league. Most teams have a good top-pair and then it falls off pretty significantly.

I kind of agree with you in that the Canucks have a lot of forwards but I don't like referring to this team as a deep. The top-end forward talent is limited to about 3 players then a lot of good role-players. I don't like the defense composition but see where a top-4 two-way guy can tie the 2nd and 3rd pairing together.