There's a lot to unpack here.
Eh? The Edler contract expires yes, but the Myers contract goes until 2024 at a $6 million cap hit, and he's performing as a bottom pairing defenseman in year 2 of his contract.
The Hyman part is definitely debatable, but ignoring that, just because the Canucks getting cap space back doesn't mean they'll spend it wisely nor is it the whole picture. Your GM says you'll be competitive in two years, ok. Before that though Boeser will be an RFA and will likely want a raise from his current $5.85 million cap hit. After that, next season Horvat and Miller will need extensions, and in Horvat's case most likely a raise from his $5.5 million cap hit. Haven't even mentioned Demko's need of a new contract after this season, and he'll definitely want more than what Holtby is making at $4.3 million. Essentially, this current Canucks core of Demko, Pettersson, Hughes, Horvat, Boeser, and Miller, will only have one kick at the can (if we're going by your GMs timeline) before two of those guys are UFAs. All of them will be making much more money against the cap and while it's better to spend on star talent than the garbage Benning has spent on recently, it'll make it very difficult to build a defence corps that can actually play defence, and fixing a bottom six that contributes virtually nothing.
I'm sorry three year rebuild? Your own GM wanted this team to be competitive for the playoffs every year, he said this back in 2014. He's been there for 7 years, where does this notion of a three year rebuild come from when that has never been stated nor been the plan? Falling bass-ackwards into great young talent does not mean your franchise had been planning to do so, otherwise your contractual structure with this core wouldn't be so volatile. Unlike the Leafs, who have ensured that they'll have at least 4 more years (including this season) of being competitive before any questions need to be answered. We also don't have to waste time mucking about for two years due to incompetent management.
We're handing out trophies for second round appearances now? Especially to a team that had a high chance of falling out of the playoff picture if not for COVID? And that last bit lol. Yeah the Leafs just went through their worst stretch of the season and they're still first in the division with games in hand, while the Canucks are on their best stretch of the season and still on the outside looking in while having played more games.
I don't get the logic of coming onto another team's board to defend a management group that has done nothing but screw up their team outside of a fluke run and throwing stones at another teams cap when yours is the poster boy for piss poor cap management. John may be struggling right now but he's still performing close to a point per game and has improved defensively with an added focus to that side of the game. Is $11 million expensive for that? Yes, but it's not absolutely destructive like some other contracts.
