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Management Thread Blurst of Times

Oh I notice you left out Drai... wonder why...
Because he has been playing with Drai duh.

Like any of our AHL Tweeners that were called up this year... If they played with Drai do you think they would have put up the same numbers?
I don't think they would have. Case in point, PDG spent most of his time with Miller, Boeser, Hughes, and Hronek last season. He had 5 goals 10 points in 51 games.

What did we expect from Sherwood? Nothing much aside from hits and playing responsibly. i think most of us assumed he would just be a a really good 4th line guy that can play to a very specific role.
:thumbu:

Yes and if we had Pod, then we would need to send another player to waivers. If you look at the opening lineup, who the hell is Pod going to beat? That’s the issue right? Management and coaching don’t have enough confidence that Pod can actually overcome his confidence issues.
First off, you don't have to sign Sprong. Many here thought he was a poor fit under Tocchet's system and he was. Second of all, Raty wasn't expected to make the roster and he was waivers exempt. I think most of us would have thought Pods was ahead on the depth chart. There were a lot of posters here who like Aman but not me. He was waived and cleared waivers after playing in 4 games. We didn't have to sign Heinen but management probably prioritized him over Sherwood so there's that.

Regardless, there was room and injuries happen. Raty played 33 games, Sasson 29, Karlsson 23, Lekkerimaki 24, Aman 19, and Bains 13.

The only way to keep Pod is to gift him a lineup spot and i don’t think you would ever want to do that. We are going to waive a more deserving player because this guy has confidence issues and needs his spot guaranteed?
I think it was Gillis who said that the goal isn't to put together the best team at the beginning of the season but the best team at the end of the season. I hate sending down a player who clearly won a spot at training camp but at the end of the day I would gift a spot to a player who would be the better player at the end of the season especially if there are waiver considerations.

At some point the team should find a way to integrate young players into the lineup. Not every player is going to step right in and star. Take Bo Horvat. Could the team have signed a veteran player who would have beat him out at camp? Of course. But there was a huge difference between Horvat at the start of his rookie year and at the start of the playoffs.

At the end of the day there has to be a balance. You can't believe that a player 100% needs to earn his opportunities while at the same time believe that a player needs to be put into a position to succeed. It doesn't always line up. Bertuzzi and Jokinen would have never become the star players they became without Mike Keenan and they both acknowledge that. Or take McCann, Players and coaches talk about confidence all the time and yet we dismiss the need to put a talented player in a position where they can gain some confidence and start excelling.
 
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Just curious: With the roster they started the season with, can you list the players who were considered as good or better that Podkolzin? (Both in an absolute sense and in terms of value)

Caveat: They had to pay to jettison Heinen and gave Sprong away after 10~ games.

Honestly only Sprong i wouldn't take, and we took a flier on him. Heinen finished the season with more pts than Pods... without playing with dria. This isn't to mention the guys in the AHL.
 
What's with these Jake Tapper-like revelations?

Summer 2022 (before the Canucks traded Horvat) multiple reporters and "insiders" all say that the teams were interested in Myers. Friedman reported that the Canucks had set a price on Myers and will speak to teams if they're willing to pay the price. I don't think anybody can genuinely interpret these reports as saying the Canucks couldn't dump Myers' contract (or the bulk of it).

Dhaliwal tweeted Friedman's reporting in October 2022 that Horvat's comparable was Couturier (i.e. $7.7M a year). The Canucks' last offer to Horvat was reported to be 7x$7.5M. When the last contract was rejected, Dhaliwal declared that the Canucks can't sign another $8M player. The Canucks initially tried to sign Horvat to a RNH-like deal.

We've had threads upon threads of discussions here. I don't recall anybody here saying we should pay Miller and Horvat $8M AAV and extend Petey. I don't recall there being too many posters here who thought Horvat was worth 8x$8M. Most of the discussions envisioned an either or scenario + Petey.

Keeping all of Miller, Horvat and Pettersson was probably a minority opinion here, but that doesn't mean much. Here's what I said October 22, 2022:

1. Keep Miller (he's staying anyway) and OEL (little choice) until the cap rises. Their salaries will become more palatable as we move forward.
2. Re-sign Horvat and run with a 3 centre rotation. This team's only comparative advantage is their centre depth and goaltender.


The Canucks botched the Horvat negotiations on multiple fronts. Everything from not meeting his number in the offseason to not cementing the OEL buyout plan early on. They were late to everything and their final number still chased his current production at that time.

Last, Myers was not good value on his $6m AAV deal in a flat cap environment. He was a cap dump candidate. Here's a quick quip from the Hockey Writers from that time: The Canucks would likely have to give up a draft pick in the first three or four rounds in a trade involving Myers.

With what he know now, it's not a good look for management imo.
 
Keeping all of Miller, Horvat and Pettersson was probably a minority opinion here, but that doesn't mean much. Here's what I said October 22, 2022:

1. Keep Miller (he's staying anyway) and OEL (little choice) until the cap rises. Their salaries will become more palatable as we move forward.
2. Re-sign Horvat and run with a 3 centre rotation. This team's only comparative advantage is their centre depth and goaltender.


The Canucks botched the Horvat negotiations on multiple fronts. Everything from not meeting his number in the offseason to not cementing the OEL buyout plan early on. They were late to everything and their final number still chased his current production at that time.
Right and that's fair. But I think there was a real need for a RHD that was only alleviated through the Hronek trade.

Last, Myers was not good value on his $6m AAV deal in a flat cap environment. He was a cap dump candidate. Here's a quick quip from the Hockey Writers from that time: The Canucks would likely have to give up a draft pick in the first three or four rounds in a trade involving Myers.

With what he know now, it's not a good look for management imo.
There was a time when the perception was that we needed to move assets to get rid of Myers' contract. In the 2022 offseason, Friedman said "Vancouver has a price, if you are willing to pay that, they will talk to you". This was quoted by Dhaliwal suggesting that he hasn't heard anything different. Seravalli said there was a genuine market for Myers. Sat spoke before that offseason speculating that Myers' contract was more movable than anyone could have imagined. I think every report at the time suggested that Myers had become an asset that teams would be interested in by the time the 2022 NHL trade deadline came around.
 
Right and that's fair. But I think there was a real need for a RHD that was only alleviated through the Hronek trade.

There was a time when the perception was that we needed to move assets to get rid of Myers' contract. In the 2022 offseason, Friedman said "Vancouver has a price, if you are willing to pay that, they will talk to you". This was quoted by Dhaliwal suggesting that he hasn't heard anything different. Seravalli said there was a genuine market for Myers. Sat spoke before that offseason speculating that Myers' contract was more movable than anyone could have imagined. I think every report at the time suggested that Myers had become an asset that teams would be interested in by the time the 2022 NHL trade deadline came around.

Myers was overpaid. Even this Canucks Army article that said he was no longer untradeable, said he was still overpaid for what he contributed: Sure, he may still be overpaid, but... Tyler Myers has played himself into tradeability, but can the Canucks afford to trade him?

Base point was that they were exploring a Myers move. He could have been dealt to create room for the Hronek upgrade. Which in fact did not require the Horvat move to execute. There was also a Garland trade request rumour making the rounds.

To sum, they could have created the cap and had the futures to keep Horvat. The trade offs between Miller/Horvat or Horvat/Hronek were not necessary.
 
Honestly only Sprong i wouldn't take, and we took a flier on him. Heinen finished the season with more pts than Pods... without playing with dria. This isn't to mention the guys in the AHL.

Heinen is better than Pods, but was also a cap dump they had to pay to get away from...

From the opening day roster, I find a spot for Podkolzin over Sprong, Aman or Raty. Those are the bottom end guys that made it, but were also moved or sent down early. Therefore, I see the Pods trade as a wasted action that didn't need to happen. He doesn't need to be a world beater for that to be true either. He just needed to be at the level or better than the 3-4 bottom end players of the opening day roster.
 
Heinen is better than Pods, but was also a cap dump they had to pay to get away from...

From the opening day roster, I find a spot for Podkolzin over Sprong, Aman or Raty. Those are the bottom end guys that made it, but were also moved or sent down early. Therefore, I see the Pods trade as a wasted action that didn't need to happen. He doesn't need to be a world beater for that to be true either. He just needed to be at the level or better than the 3-4 bottom end players of the opening day roster.

Raty put up the same pt pace as Pods... but again without Drai and in worse minutes and has certain utility. I am shocked, but Aman also put up the same pace, and he was an offensive black hole, and again more utility.

So think about that for a second... a guy that was better is also a cap dump... vs we were able to trade the worse player and get assets.
 
Raty put up the same pt pace as Pods... but again without Drai and in worse minutes and has certain utility. I am shocked, but Aman also put up the same pace, and he was an offensive black hole, and again more utility.

So think about that for a second... a guy that was better is also a cap dump... vs we were able to trade the worse player and get assets.

Heinen was a cap dump due to the contract he was given. Podkolzin didn't have that problem.

Raty was sent down due to footspeed (waiver ineligible). Aman was sent down due to lack of engagement. Sprong was traded for lack of defense. Podkolzin didn't have any of those issues. He could keep up with the play, forecheck, and defend. Big body. Points were scarce, but they didn't need him to produce anything more than 4th line numbers.

If you reason it out, it's a miscalculation... Even on the low end of things.
 
Heinen was a cap dump due to the contract he was given. Podkolzin didn't have that problem.

Raty was sent down due to footspeed (waiver ineligible). Aman was sent down due to lack of engagement. Sprong was traded for lack of defense. Podkolzin didn't have any of those issues. He could keep up with the play, forecheck, and defend. Big body. Points were scarce, but they didn't need him to produce anything more than 4th line numbers.

If you reason it out, it's a miscalculation... Even on the low end of things.

I think it was the second year more than anything, and he wasn't a good fit for us.

Those players were still better and had more room to grow, and more utility.
 
I think it was the second year more than anything, and he wasn't a good fit for us.

Those players were still better and had more room to grow, and more utility.

None of those players were better overall at that point in time. Raty and Aman got sent down. Sprong traded. Podkolzin played on an NHL roster from then onward. All 82 games primarily due to his utility outside of scoring.
 
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Or cause they didn't have better players...

What's more likely given that they're in the cup finals again?

There are strong arguments that VAN didn't have 13-14 equivalent or better forwards at the start of the season. I've seen them dismissed here out of turn. That's a mistake, imo.
 
What's more likely given that they're in the cup finals again?

There are strong arguments that VAN didn't have 13-14 equivalent or better forwards at the start of the season. I've seen them dismissed here out of turn. That's a mistake, imo.

Thats very flawed logic. When one team has Drai and McD
 
Thats very flawed logic. When one team has Drai and McD

Having Draisaitl and McDavid doesn't mean they can't also have better forward depth too.

Anyway, people are right to question the cognitive dissonance re: Podkolzin. I'm not even bullish on the player, but I can see he had a place here.
 
Because he has been playing with Drai duh.


I don't think they would have. Case in point, PDG spent most of his time with Miller, Boeser, Hughes, and Hronek last season. He had 5 goals 10 points in 51 games.


:thumbu:


First off, you don't have to sign Sprong. Many here thought he was a poor fit under Tocchet's system and he was. Second of all, Raty wasn't expected to make the roster and he was waivers exempt. I think most of us would have thought Pods was ahead on the depth chart. There were a lot of posters here who like Aman but not me. He was waived and cleared waivers after playing in 4 games. We didn't have to sign Heinen but management probably prioritized him over Sherwood so there's that.

Regardless, there was room and injuries happen. Raty played 33 games, Sasson 29, Karlsson 23, Lekkerimaki 24, Aman 19, and Bains 13.


I think it was Gillis who said that the goal isn't to put together the best team at the beginning of the season but the best team at the end of the season. I hate sending down a player who clearly won a spot at training camp but at the end of the day I would gift a spot to a player who would be the better player at the end of the season especially if there are waiver considerations.

At some point the team should find a way to integrate young players into the lineup. Not every player is going to step right in and star. Take Bo Horvat. Could the team have signed a veteran player who would have beat him out at camp? Of course. But there was a huge difference between Horvat at the start of his rookie year and at the start of the playoffs.

At the end of the day there has to be a balance. You can't believe that a player 100% needs to earn his opportunities while at the same time believe that a player needs to be put into a position to succeed. It doesn't always line up. Bertuzzi and Jokinen would have never become the star players they became without Mike Keenan and they both acknowledge that. Or take McCann, Players and coaches talk about confidence all the time and yet we dismiss the need to put a talented player in a position where they can gain some confidence and start excelling.
Well I think if they don’t sign Sprong they would’ve signed someone else. I think not gifting young players a roster spot is a principle they have.
Gillis also waive Grabner when he didn’t play well at training camp…. The odds of Pod getting waived at training camp is pretty damn high. I mean he scored 24 pts playing with McD and Draisaitl as his main line mates. It’s really hard to argue that well if we kept him he would’ve produced and not be waived…
 
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Well I think if they don’t sign Sprong they would’ve signed someone else. I think not gifting young players a roster spot is a principle they have.
It wasn't a principle when Rutherford first took over. When talking about his pitch to college and European UFAs: "Our sales pitch to those people is that we can guarantee guys spots on the team."

Of course in a "win now mode" a younger player is less attractive than a seasoned veteran.

Gillis also waive Grabner when he didn’t play well at training camp….
Gillis never waived Grabner. Plus he had a habit of acquiring players just before the season and insert into the lineup without earning a spot (including waiver wire pickups) so Gillis was certainly not opposed to gifting a spot to a young player.

The odds of Pod getting waived at training camp is pretty damn high.
That's just your perception. Tocchet seems to love him.
I mean he scored 24 pts playing with McD and Draisaitl as his main line mates. It’s really hard to argue that well if we kept him he would’ve produced and not be waived…
McDavid was not Pods' main linemate. I have no idea where this false narrative comes from and keeps repeated here to attack Pods' lack of offensive production. It just makes you sound uninformed.

Again, Podkolzin doesn't need to produce like a top 6 player playing a top 6 role. He's absolutely fine in a bottom 6 role and fitting into what Allvin says he wants to do" get younger, faster, and harder to play against at 2x$1M AAV.
 
It wasn't a principle when Rutherford first took over. When talking about his pitch to college and European UFAs: "Our sales pitch to those people is that we can guarantee guys spots on the team."

Of course in a "win now mode" a younger player is less attractive than a seasoned veteran.


Gillis never waived Grabner. Plus he had a habit of acquiring players just before the season and insert into the lineup without earning a spot (including waiver wire pickups) so Gillis was certainly not opposed to gifting a spot to a young player.


That's just your perception. Tocchet seems to love him.

McDavid was not Pods' main linemate. I have no idea where this false narrative comes from and keeps repeated here to attack Pods' lack of offensive production. It just makes you sound uninformed.

Again, Podkolzin doesn't need to produce like a top 6 player playing a top 6 role. He's absolutely fine in a bottom 6 role and fitting into what Allvin says he wants to do" get younger, faster, and harder to play against at 2x$1M AAV.
Name a player that JR gifted a spot to.

Management was in lockstep with coaching. Tocchet wanted Desharnais and Sprong and management went out and got them for him. Management wouldn’t trade away Pod if Tocchet didn’t agree with it.

Just look on his most common linemates, first half it was Drai and McD. Second half it was Drai and RNH.

Dude produced like a 4th liner playing along side the 2 best players in the world. That’s the issue. You have to be crazy unproductive to put up that little points playing with the 2 generational player. If he can only put up 24 pts playing with those guys, how many points can he put up on our team playing with Bluegar and Suter? If he’s not producing and not have a roster spot locked up, we know the pressure of needing to produce gets to him and he becomes ineffective. If we lock him into a roster spot, he’s going to sink his linemates because he’s not going to offer anything offensively and we don’t have a McD or Draisaitl to pair with him and don’t have to worry about Pod sinking them.
The key point was, when he is not guaranteed a roster spot, he’s plays nervous and he is consistently behind the play. The whole, he’s going to offer more beyond scoring, that never happened for us.
 
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Name a player that JR gifted a spot to.
You said it's a "principle" management has and I provided you with a direct quote from Rutherford saying that their sales pitch to European and college free agents is that they are guaranteed a spot. Like our POHO literally said "when we say to those free agents, you're going to be on the team, our word is good — they're going to be on the team.” I think this "guarantee" of a spot helped convince Kuzmenko to sign here.

You're trying to make things black and white when it's not. Like the Canucks gave Joshua a two-year one way deal and a job was his to lose. They didn't sign a couple of seasoned veterans to block him.

Management was in lockstep with coaching. Tocchet wanted Desharnais and Sprong and management went out and got them for him. Management wouldn’t trade away Pod if Tocchet didn’t agree with it.
Same way Tocchet "agreed" to management trading Miller a few months later?

Just look on his most common linemates, first half it was Drai and McD. Second half it was Drai and RNH.
Uh no... I think you're thinking of Hyman.

Dude produced like a 4th liner playing along side the 2 best players in the world.
Didn't happen.

That’s the issue. You have to be crazy unproductive to put up that little points playing with the 2 generational player. If he can only put up 24 pts playing with those guys, how many points can he put up on our team playing with Bluegar and Suter?
How many points did PDG put up with Miller and Boeser the season before? Hyman had 44 points this season along side McDavid.

If he’s not producing and not have a roster spot locked up, we know the pressure of needing to produce gets to him and he becomes ineffective.
Well you called Pods "crazy unproductive" "playing along side the 2 best players in the world." Did the pressure of needing to produce get to him? Seemed like he was effective most of the season.

The key point was, when he is not guaranteed a roster spot, he’s plays nervous and he is consistently behind the play. The whole, he’s going to offer more beyond scoring, that never happened for us.

That's where coaching and player development comes in. Podkolzin is extremely hard working. His bursts of speed has basically disappeared in his last two seasons here probably because like you said he is consistently behind the play. If you recall, Podkolzin's nickname in Russia was "raging bull" this was not a passive player that needed to increase his motor. Like Tocchet said, Pods needed to play more reckless. You can't talk about developing players and putting them in a position to succeed and worry about how a player would play when not put into a position where he's not constantly looking over his shoulder. A lot of high profile guys bust early in their careers because they weren't given a defined role within the team.

As for Pods' effectiveness "with us" vs in Edmonton. Let's look at his stats from last year with us:

Playoffs among Canucks forwards (small sample size): 2nd in hits/60 and takeaways/60. No giveaways. On the ice for 1 EVGF and 0 EVGA

Regular season among forwards: 1st in hits/60, 3rd in takeaways/60, 1 giveway.

With Oilers:

Playoffs among Oilers forwards: 1st in hits/60, 5th in takeaways/60, 1 giveaway. On the ice for 8 EVGF and 2 EVGA.
 
Myers was overpaid. Even this Canucks Army article that said he was no longer untradeable, said he was still overpaid for what he contributed: Sure, he may still be overpaid, but... Tyler Myers has played himself into tradeability, but can the Canucks afford to trade him?

Base point was that they were exploring a Myers move. He could have been dealt to create room for the Hronek upgrade. Which in fact did not require the Horvat move to execute. There was also a Garland trade request rumour making the rounds.

To sum, they could have created the cap and had the futures to keep Horvat. The trade offs between Miller/Horvat or Horvat/Hronek were not necessary.

I was responding to the part you bolded which you wrote "The Canucks would likely have to give up a draft pick in the first three or four rounds in a trade involving Myers."

Whether Myers was overpaid is irrelevant to the point that the Canucks ~2022 trade deadline and in the offseason could have traded Myers without giving up a significant asset. Given Friedman's report at the time, it sounded like management would only trade him if their price was met and it wasn't. Clearly, management valued Myers as well.
 
You said it's a "principle" management has and I provided you with a direct quote from Rutherford saying that their sales pitch to European and college free agents is that they are guaranteed a spot. Like our POHO literally said "when we say to those free agents, you're going to be on the team, our word is good — they're going to be on the team.” I think this "guarantee" of a spot helped convince Kuzmenko to sign here.

You're trying to make things black and white when it's not. Like the Canucks gave Joshua a two-year one way deal and a job was his to lose. They didn't sign a couple of seasoned veterans to block him.


Same way Tocchet "agreed" to management trading Miller a few months later?


Uh no... I think you're thinking of Hyman.


Didn't happen.


How many points did PDG put up with Miller and Boeser the season before? Hyman had 44 points this season along side McDavid.


Well you called Pods "crazy unproductive" "playing along side the 2 best players in the world." Did the pressure of needing to produce get to him? Seemed like he was effective most of the season.



That's where coaching and player development comes in. Podkolzin is extremely hard working. His bursts of speed has basically disappeared in his last two seasons here probably because like you said he is consistently behind the play. If you recall, Podkolzin's nickname in Russia was "raging bull" this was not a passive player that needed to increase his motor. Like Tocchet said, Pods needed to play more reckless. You can't talk about developing players and putting them in a position to succeed and worry about how a player would play when not put into a position where he's not constantly looking over his shoulder. A lot of high profile guys bust early in their careers because they weren't given a defined role within the team.

As for Pods' effectiveness "with us" vs in Edmonton. Let's look at his stats from last year with us:

Playoffs among Canucks forwards (small sample size): 2nd in hits/60 and takeaways/60. No giveaways. On the ice for 1 EVGF and 0 EVGA

Regular season among forwards: 1st in hits/60, 3rd in takeaways/60, 1 giveway.

With Oilers:

Playoffs among Oilers forwards: 1st in hits/60, 5th in takeaways/60, 1 giveaway. On the ice for 8 EVGF and 2 EVGA.
Yeah it’s a principle because actions > words. So is there a guy that was gifted a spot? We signed Joshua to play on the 4th line, he was paid 825K and he had to earn a job out of camp. Note that we have a bunch of guys like that playing for a roster spot like PDG. The notion we didn’t sign guys to block Joshua is laughable.

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No I am thinking about Pod, his most common lineage is Drai. And yes 24 points playing primarily with Draisaitl is poor production.

Using PDG is the perfect example, nobody was happy with that and the only reason it happened was because we lacked depth. He got hot for like 10 games and it worked then it sucked and we did not have the depth and most importantly cap to have a proper replacement. I don’t think anyone looked at that situation and said anything but yeah that’s a 4th line dude playing on the 1st line. Which is exactly my point with POD except it’s on steroids because it’s f***ing Draisaitl and not Miller and Draisaitl >>> Miller.

Hyman’s main linemate is McD and yes he struggled for like half a season, but he also put up 50 goals last season so with a track record like that people are more forgiving.

Putting up 24 pts along side the 2 best player in the game is a stretch of the word, effective.

Tocchet kept on saying Pod needs to be reckless and guess what, he was anything but that playing for us because the pressure of needing to earn a spot was too much for him. Like I get it, I wished it worked out here but the pressure of being a 10OA was too much for him here. Tocchet wasn’t going to gift him a spot, we’ve seen how he treat younger guys, look at Hog. He said he was the best conditioned guy at camp and a couple mistakes he was benched hard. If Pod played the way he did in the preseason, there was no way Tocchet would keep him on the roster over the other guys and he would’ve been waived.

Anyway I am done with this convo, it’s really not worth continuing. we have very different view points on this
 
Are the Canucks keeping quiet so they don't distract from the playoffs?

Almost no news or even rumors. Silence is deafening.

Makes me think something big is in the works, "big" in Vancouver might be different than in other winning markets though.

Is there an EP trade out there being worked on? Or waiting to be finalized?
Still nothing on Demko but they have a season to deal with that so not so pressing, the same with Garland, Blueger and Sherwood. All these player will have enhanced value at the TDL.

This is what makes me think Allvin and the Chipmunks (other 3 GMs) are running the show, Rutherford has a reputation of being first making deals.
 
Are the Canucks keeping quiet so they don't distract from the playoffs?

Almost no news or even rumors. Silence is deafening.

Makes me think something big is in the works, "big" in Vancouver might be different than in other winning markets though.

Or nothing is about to happen. In sure they are talking to other teams but talking and getting it done are two different things. Fixing the team is going to be hard, decent 2Cs are rare and the canucks are going to have to decide how much they want to win the bidding war against other desperate teams. Sellers are going to be slow roasting desperate buyers
 
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