Management Thread | Regular Season Edition

[Ita]

I've said it several times now, but simply not signing Forbort and Desharnais would have left us with enough money to give Tanev the exact contract Toronto did. At least according to PuckPedia. Including Myers or Heinen in that equation makes it even easier.

Just for the hell out it. I played around with PuckPedia and swapping out all four of them means we could have fit Tanev and Zadorov. Not saying either move is necessarily good, but it really highlights how poorly utilized our cap space was.

The only reason it's not anywhere near as damning as Benning is none of the contracts are long term.

You forgot Myers

Management would rather spend the cap on a bunch of scrubs instead of a proper top 4 damn. Not surprised at how the team is doing so far.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

You forgot Myers

Management would rather spend the cap on a bunch of scrubs instead of a proper top 4 damn. Not surprised at how the team is doing so far.

That's the thing: I didn't. We had enough cap space left over that even with Myers the contract Tanev got still works. Now it could be PuckPedia miscalculating, but otherwise we had better options. Either they simply couldn't convince their prime targets to sign here or... they deliberately chose Desharnais and Forbort.

All that said, I still think Heinen was a waste of money and Myers should have gotten two years or less money.

 

[Glennis the Menace]

That's the thing: I didn't. We had enough cap space left over that even with Myers the contract Tanev got still works. Now it could be PuckPedia miscalculating, but otherwise we had better options. Either they simply couldn't convince their prime targets to sign here or... they deliberately chose Desharnais and Forbort.

All that said, I still think Heinen was a waste of money and Myers should have gotten two years or less money.

I imagine they targeted them. While I don't have the specific receipt I believe in his Christmas post-game Rutherford mentioned a "tall strategy" with Tocchet they could pivot from if it didn't work out—it sounds like they went after these two specifically.

I don't mind Forbort personally, his metrics are ok defensively, the issue is he's playing up rather in a pure shutdown/PK role rather than in the top-4. Vinny… yeah. Considering Kovacecic was on the market for a pittance, it's a shame and definitely error this off-season. Hope they pivot from this strategy ASAP, it clearly wasn't the answer.

 

[SillyRabbit]

I'm not against a scorched earth re-tool on the fly.

Boeser for a 1st rounder and a promising prospect at the deadline.

Pettersson for Necas, Kotkaniemi, Morrow and a 1st in the summer.

Trade Miller in the summer as well, you won't get an amazing return but it will be better than what you get if you trade him in season. You'll at least get a 1st rounder and a younger top 6 forward.

Use the cap space to sign Gavrikov and make a run at Rantanen if he's still on the market.

Float Demko on the market and re-sign Lankinen.

The team needs a big facelift.

Right now Hughes is the only guy doing anything, so trading all of the above players can't make us any worse, but it could absolutely make us better, while also making us younger and giving us multiple 1st rounders to work with.

 

[theguardianII]

I'm not against a scorched earth re-tool on the fly.

Boeser for a 1st rounder and a promising prospect at the deadline.

Pettersson for Necas, Kotkaniemi, Morrow and a 1st in the summer.

Trade Miller in the summer as well, you won't get an amazing return but it will be better than what you get if you trade him in season. You'll at least get a 1st rounder and a younger top 6 forward.

Use the cap space to sign Gavrikov and make a run at Rantanen if he's still on the market.

Float Demko on the market and re-sign Lankinen.

The team needs a big facelift.

Right now Hughes is the only guy doing anything, so trading all of the above players can't make us any worse, but it could absolutely make us better, while also making us younger and giving us multiple 1st rounders to work with.

Many GM's might be favorable to trading 2026 1rsts. That is supposed to be a decent draft.
But a year or two or maybe just for the 2026 draft of rebuilding, tear down without adding too many really good veterans might be better.

The core needs rebuilding.
There is a losing culture in the room, most of these core players have had only one winning season in their careers.

Boeser, Demko, Miller and Pettersson. Most fans go "oh but that will ruin the team" but will it?
Boeser isn't really a "driver", doesn't carry a line, a superior complimentary player and his contract is up.
Demko with one more year and his potential will get something decent
Miller should be rewarded for his years here, it was never his choice to come here in the first place.
Pettersson will do better in a new market.

So yes, all your ideas are more than worthy.
There is a much deeper issue than just a simple not winning, there is a why?
Some pieces just don't fit together or go out of alignment as they age.

Doing a full blown rebuild of the core will not be done over night, the start can be overnight and the end in a year or two but then waiting for the growth.

IF management did decide to redo the core and did make these players available any rebuild of the core might be much, much quicker than anything Vancouver has seen in it's history.
None of this one "meh" player per year with a few blown picks thrown in, Horvat was the poster child of "young" on this team for 6 years, Boeser for 6, Pettersson is still thought as young, he's 27 yrs old next year.
Draft picks on this team from 2016, three, only 3, Petterson, Hughes and Boeser.

What the team needs is two top picks a year for two years. Top 5 picks would be nice. That only two 1rst for any other the above named players.

And then there is the nuclear option of a Hughes departure which might be inevitable anyway. Hughes for the first overall in 2026, McKenna if the Canucks don't own that pick due to a judicious playing of what is the system.

Management had no issues with bringing in 8 new players. so why not this?
Changing the goal of the team from playoffs, playoffs, playoffs at all costs, to new, younger players with loads of cap space. Fans will still be sold Hughes dashing around getting points and Norris talk for another year anyway.

Not matter what is is past time that Allvin and the other three GM's with Rutherford altered what Rutherford knew from the beginning when he warned fans that they would do things the fans might not like

 

[Cancuks]

The honeymoon for this management group is finally over. I'm glad people have come back to their senses and judge this management objectively instead of always comparing to that shitshow Benning.

Everyone knew the problem going into this season was the d-core and what did they do? They spent money on Desharnais and hoped a bunch of career 7th defensemen in Juulsen and Forbort could suddenly become 4th and 5th defenseman. And then they splashed money to DeBrusk, who IMHO, was an unnecessary addition.

Tonight they showed absolutely ZERO fight back or resolve. Hell if I was Tocchet it would be bag skates tonight and tomorrow.

Who was that ex-Canucks that called the dressing a room "a country club"? He wasn't wrong.

They spent money on Debrusk because the solution to Pettersson's struggles were getting him a winger to play with apparently. I don't have a problem with Debrusk but the expectations are too high. He's a second line winger. He's not elite,but neither is Boeser and Debrusk is fine as a replacement for him at a lower salary.
That said, the team's main problem is still it's attitude, mental problems, and whatever is happening behind the scenes. There are many teams with much less talent and depth that win more hockey games than the Canucks. They need winning players. Pettersson isn't a winner, he's a loser. So is Miller. Tampa won the Cup once Miller was gone. Hughes is a winner. You can build teams around a player like this. I'd rather jettison both Pettersson and Miller, get as many ready to play top prospects/young players as possible. I don't want draft picks, because I don't trust the regime's drafting abilities. Rutherford's record in Pittsburgh was awful.
Get rid of Demko while he's "healthy" and offload Boeser, Suter, Lankinen as well. Goalies are a dime a dozen and we can replace both of them in the offseason with UFAs or via trade.
Fire Tocchet as well, because he's a one trick pony and his team looks like they have no brains behind the bench. Don't even know when to call a time out.

 

[David71]

when the sedins retired the canucks moved the c to horvat with only really tanev, edler, gudbranson (uhhh) and eriksson (blech) as the leadership group to back him up. i think we can all agree it went pretty badly and probably directly lead to horvat's departure

i think management need to recognize they've put hughes in a similar situation in his first couple years as captain where he only really has myers and miller backing him up. i'm not a big believer in mentorship but the team clearly needs some more experience and wisdom in the room right now

agreed. someone like cole type schenn type that could "deal with millers antics" probaly beat his ass practice. the mgmnt has to answer the media theyve been incognito for so long with the drama going on this year.