The Rebuild...

[Island Nucklehead]

His errors were long term contracts trying to be like the blackhawks with hossa etc.
Then like Gillis not prepping for long term success.

Yeah, it's not fucking rocket science.

Like Gillis, his long term contracts were signed to keep short-term costs down.
Like Gillis, his teams were deep and successful because of this.
Unlike Gillis, he's got two cup rings.

[Chef Boi RD]

^^^Somebody likes Mike^^^

[Cousin Strawberry]

^^^Somebody likes Mike^^^

Dude your raging hate for gmmg is illogical.

He steered the team to the finals in yr 3 of his tenure and yes as with every other gm around pro sports, can attribute some of the success to his predecessor.
The team was the class of the league for most of his run and just like every single other gm that has run an NHL team his time was done and he needed to be moved along.

Time to move on...its not your fault.

[SKYO]

We should start planning on contending in 2019-2020 when Bo Horvat is 24 he'll be ripping it up for a solid 4 years after that 28/29 seems to be when the average dude starts to lose it in pro sports, unless you're a generational HHOF - It's why Tampa and Dallas should be loading up from here on out, as Stamkos/Hedman are gonna be 27, while Seguin is 25 & Benn is gonna be 28 in July.

So we got two years to load up in the draft and prospects to hopefully start blooming in 2019, 2020, just when Demko, Juolevi, Boeser, Stecher, Gaudette, Dahlen, Goldy, heck even Virtanen, (2017 picks), the inevitable Tryamkin return, the junior+college UFA's all hopefully should be developing into regular NHLer's together.

And with JB here he should keep our prospect cupboards full while churning out new NHLers every year.

So it's a good year to acquire more high draft picks this year, so we can better the odds of contending & to help Horvat in a few years when all our prospects should be fully developed.

[Tciso]

Tanev + Baertschi for Drouin straight up even better HW.

Tanev and a 3rd for Drouin and Garrison. Tampa needs cap room, and Garrison is addition by subtraction.

[ESQ]

It's a fine line though. The GM has to break a few NMC, but still keep Vancouver as a destination for future UFA players, and ensure that future NMC/NTC clauses do discount the salary. If the GM is seen as an a$$hole, that does not happen. OTOH, if he is seen as a schmoo/shmoe/schmuck, then he is behind the 8 ball on all negotiations.

I think its important to accept that Vancouver will never be a desirable UFA destination.

We'll never be the Rangers, or any of the other "metropolitan" teams where travel is basically non-existent. Many hockey players don't like non-stop media attention and high pressure, and you couple that with high taxes and expensive real estate.

The only UFAs that will sign here will be players who already are determined to come - i.e. Demitra, Hamhuis, Eriksson, Miller, etc. In those cases, the Canucks were only negotiating against themselves.

If you want to see what it will take for a true top UFA to come to Vancouver over other options, look no further than Mats Sundin. And I have to give MG credit for recruiting UFAs, as I think he was the best Canuck GM at it.

[Hockey Widow]

It's a fine line though. The GM has to break a few NMC, but still keep Vancouver as a destination for future UFA players, and ensure that future NMC/NTC clauses do discount the salary. If the GM is seen as an a$$hole, that does not happen. OTOH, if he is seen as a schmoo/shmoe/schmuck, then he is behind the 8 ball on all negotiations.

I think its important to accept that Vancouver will never be a desirable UFA destination.

We'll never be the Rangers, or any of the other "metropolitan" teams where travel is basically non-existent. Many hockey players don't like non-stop media attention and high pressure, and you couple that with high taxes and expensive real estate.

The only UFAs that will sign here will be players who already are determined to come - i.e. Demitra, Hamhuis, Eriksson, Miller, etc. In those cases, the Canucks were only negotiating against themselves.

If you want to see what it will take for a true top UFA to come to Vancouver over other options, look no further than Mats Sundin. And I have to give MG credit for recruiting UFAs, as I think he was the best Canuck GM at it.

I don't accept that premise. For sure there will be players who see negatives. For sure playing in the west with all the travel issues will hindered, not just Vancouver, but most western teams from attracting UFAs. But Vancouver has in the past been a desirable destination and will be again. What is a huge negative right now is the state of the team. We still have another 1-2 losing seasons to suffer through. That will keep more UFAs away than anything else.

Most players it seems sign their UFA deals with their home club anyway. That seems to be the bigger issue. How many top UFAs have left their team in the last 10-15 years, including Vancouver's own? Praise, Suter?

[SKYO]

Luckily this team is in a rebuild so we have zero need to target any key UFA's, plus it's a weaker one anyways.

The only players who'd want to come here currently is one's needing a NHL job in a depth role, in addition to young junior or college UFA players who know of Horvat, Boeser, Demko, Juolevi etc.

And all it takes one key draft to get a high end player (center usually), to make it more desirable in the future.

[2Fingers]

Agree HW, Vancouver will be a desirable location again once they start winning.

[Mickey107]

Agree HW, Vancouver will be a desirable location again once they start winning.

That is, of course, true.
Not meant as a put down in any way but it will also make a difference when it is clear to the hockey world, the Canucks are moving on without the Sedins. We already know that but it takes time to sink in around said hockey world.
Younger dynamos may actually want to start coming here and making something different.

[Madcombinepilot]

Agree HW, Vancouver will be a desirable location again once they start winning.

That is, of course, true.
Not meant as a put down in any way but it will also make a difference when it is clear to the hockey world, the Canucks are moving on without the Sedins. We already know that but it takes time to sink in around said hockey world.
Younger dynamos may actually want to start coming here and making something different.

younger dynamos have no say on where they play.. they get drafted, then they play there, or they don't play at all.

That's that. You don't sign a younger dynamo as a UFA....

[Mickey107]

Agree HW, Vancouver will be a desirable location again once they start winning.

That is, of course, true.
Not meant as a put down in any way but it will also make a difference when it is clear to the hockey world, the Canucks are moving on without the Sedins. We already know that but it takes time to sink in around said hockey world.
Younger dynamos may actually want to start coming here and making something different.

younger dynamos have no say on where they play.. they get drafted, then they play there, or they don't play at all.

That's that. You don't sign a younger dynamo as a UFA....

Duh! Not talking about 18 year olds.
C'mon....

[SKYO]

Agree HW, Vancouver will be a desirable location again once they start winning.

That is, of course, true.
Not meant as a put down in any way but it will also make a difference when it is clear to the hockey world, the Canucks are moving on without the Sedins. We already know that but it takes time to sink in around said hockey world.
Younger dynamos may actually want to start coming here and making something different.

younger dynamos have no say on where they play.. they get drafted, then they play there, or they don't play at all.

That's that. You don't sign a younger dynamo as a UFA....

Duh! Not talking about 18 year olds.
C'mon....

Like a Panarin.

[Madcombinepilot]

Agree HW, Vancouver will be a desirable location again once they start winning.

That is, of course, true.
Not meant as a put down in any way but it will also make a difference when it is clear to the hockey world, the Canucks are moving on without the Sedins. We already know that but it takes time to sink in around said hockey world.
Younger dynamos may actually want to start coming here and making something different.

younger dynamos have no say on where they play.. they get drafted, then they play there, or they don't play at all.

That's that. You don't sign a younger dynamo as a UFA....

Duh! Not talking about 18 year olds.
C'mon....

Duh yourself. You "c'mon" And engage your brain. Nobody said anything about 18 year olds.

I am simply saying There is no such thing as a 'young dynamo' UFA...

Most guys are not a UFA until late 20's (And we can now argue about your definition of 'young' if you like) but those that are, NEVER hit UFA status. You can have all the wet dreams about guys like Stamkos and Tavares all you want, but seriously, in the HISTORY of the NHL, how many times has a guy like that hit UFA?? Now, (and more importantly) refine your search to the cap era of the NHL. That's a pretty short list right there. No GM who wants to keep his job lets a 'young dynamo' get to UFA, and to think anything else is silly, unrealistic, and simply belongs back in the 'fantasy' thread.

This team is not going to be rebuilt by 'attracting young dynamo' players through UFA. There might be a decent veteran (27-30 years old) who helps along the way (probably what Benning was hoping Ericson was supposed to be), but young dynamos are drafted, or traded because of cap reasons. Not signed as UFA.

(And Panarin isn't a UFA for a couple more years)

[Mickey107]

Agree HW, Vancouver will be a desirable location again once they start winning.

That is, of course, true.
Not meant as a put down in any way but it will also make a difference when it is clear to the hockey world, the Canucks are moving on without the Sedins. We already know that but it takes time to sink in around said hockey world.
Younger dynamos may actually want to start coming here and making something different.

younger dynamos have no say on where they play.. they get drafted, then they play there, or they don't play at all.

That's that. You don't sign a younger dynamo as a UFA....

Duh! Not talking about 18 year olds.
C'mon....

Duh yourself. You "c'mon" And engage your brain. Nobody said anything about 18 year olds.

I am simply saying There is no such thing as a 'young dynamo' UFA...

Most guys are not a UFA until late 20's (And we can now argue about your definition of 'young' if you like) but those that are, NEVER hit UFA status. You can have all the wet dreams about guys like Stamkos and Tavares all you want, but seriously, in the HISTORY of the NHL, how many times has a guy like that hit UFA?? Now, (and more importantly) refine your search to the cap era of the NHL. That's a pretty short list right there. No GM who wants to keep his job lets a 'young dynamo' get to UFA, and to think anything else is silly, unrealistic, and simply belongs back in the 'fantasy' thread.

This team is not going to be rebuilt by 'attracting young dynamo' players through UFA. There might be a decent veteran (27-30 years old) who helps along the way (probably what Benning was hoping Ericson was supposed to be), but young dynamos are drafted, or traded because of cap reasons. Not signed as UFA.

(And Panarin isn't a UFA for a couple more years)

Not what I meant by young dynamos. I really want nothing to do with pricy old free agents.
Justin Schultz chose Edmonton over us a few years back. More recently, Drake Caggiula chose the Oilers over us and that, we thought was in the bag. Then there's Tryamkin.
A little older, and you start seeing things like trade lists on contracts. You want to be on them.
Sorry about the misunderstanding, I was just quoting what Reef said...