2024 Offseason - moving forward

[Raile]

Debrusk isn’t a 3rd line player.

mgmt should have just let DJ81 walk. Or at least put DJ81 on hold until they know if they could get Debrusk. Not sure if spending like $8M on wingers on the 3rd line is a prudent way to manage a roster.

Yah, I was thinking more of DJ81 and Garly8. We pay Garly like $5M as well and he plays primarily on the 3rd line.

Seriously though, might be time to give Garly a chance in a more offensive role and better players. He showed he can elevate his game in the playoffs.
Tocc should try a line of Debrusk-EP40-Garly for an extended stretch.

I was suggesting this too. you don't want us to spend money on wingers, but we are currently 2 top 6 wingers short, unless we promote from within. Getting Garland in the top 6 makes a lot of sense.

Also, Toffoli will be 36 at the end of his 4 year contract, Debrusk will be 34 and the end of his 7 year contract. This is a no brainer imo.

[Cousin Strawberry]

The door is open for a prospect to step into one of those 2 vacancies. Whether or not they're ready for this is the only question...

I can see Lekky starting off in Abby and if he has any success, get promoted to spot duty/injury relief for the big club

Also, wingers are dangling from every corner around the trade deadline. If we have another good season the Raisin will sick his Smithers (and the '25 1st) on another addition guaranteed

[Todd Bersnoozi]

I was suggesting this too. you don't want us to spend money on wingers, but we are currently 2 top 6 wingers short, unless we promote from within.

Debrusk will be 34 and the end of his 7 year contract. This is a no brainer imo.

Yah, fair enuff. I just feel we spent too much $$ on the wings and we have a surplus of guys there now. Right now, I don't even know who should go where. I'm not sure Podz and Hogz will get much ice with all the new guys and I thought those 2 are looking rdy to make some steps in their NHL game.

I do feel we went cheap on D with Forbort and Desharnais and I think D is a vital postion. I think mgmt should have paid for @ least 1 proven D-man, someone like B.Dillon or Edmundson. I like Myers, but it might be too much to ask of him to play regular heavy top 4 minutes, especially at his age now. Once he makes a bad play or has a bad game, we won't hear the end of the Chaos Giraffe comments. One added legitimate NHL D-man allows us to slide a guy up or down to cover injuries or bring some experience and stability to the pairings.

If it's clear the 2 new bottom pairings guys are not working out, I guess they can try to move out a winger then and add a proven D-man by TDD.

[Raile]

I was suggesting this too. you don't want us to spend money on wingers, but we are currently 2 top 6 wingers short, unless we promote from within.

Debrusk will be 34 and the end of his 7 year contract. This is a no brainer imo.

Yah, fair enuff. I just feel we spent too much $$ on the wings and we have a surplus of guys there now. Right now, I don't even know who should go where. I'm not sure Podz and Hogz will get much ice with all the new guys and I thought those 2 are looking rdy to make some steps in their NHL game.

I do feel we went cheap on D with Forbort and Desharnais and I think D is a vital postion. I think mgmt should have paid for @ least 1 proven D-man, someone like B.Dillon or Edmundson. I like Myers, but it might be too much to ask of him to play regular heavy top 4 minutes, especially at his age now. Once he makes a bad play or has a bad game, we won't hear the end of the Chaos Giraffe comments. One added legitimate NHL D-man allows us to slide a guy up or down to cover injuries or bring some experience and stability to the pairings.

If it's clear the 2 new bottom pairings guys are not working out, I guess they can try to move out a winger then and add a proven D-man by TDD.

definitely a tricky situation trying to balance the lineup, but I think you saw in the playoffs the lack of wingers, especially with any toughness, really became a problem for us.
Guess time will tell if they got the balance right this time around or if you are right and our D is not good enough. I agree another top 4 D would feel a lot more comfortable, and maybe they still find one before start of season

[theman]

Any guesses on why Silovs hasn't signed yet?

Would think that he doesn't have that strong of a bargaining position so shouldn't be that hard for the Canucks to get a 1 or 2 year deal done.

[UWSaint]

Any guesses on why Silovs hasn't signed yet?

Would think that he doesn't have that strong of a bargaining position so shouldn't be that hard for the Canucks to get a 1 or 2 year deal done.

Is there any news that the Canucks have offered him anything other than the QO? (which is $813K, I think). I think that QO is a two-way given Silovs hasn't played or been the backup in a sufficient number of NHL games.

I expect the Canucks are not moving (or not moving much) on this. They either want to stay out of LTIR (and that only means something if its not right up against the cap for moving players back and forth during the year) or they want to be in LTIR only if they make another signing -- and this contract can't materially cut into that prospect.

My guess is that the Canucks are offering to make it a one way deal or at least to make the AHL salary decent. And Silovs is probably thinking, that's nothing, I'm going to be the backup as it is. He probably thinks that's leverage enough. He's not necessarily right about that. The Canucks may prefer him in Abbotsford as a starter for a good chunk of the season and give the waiver wire, the big kid, or the new guy some NHL games.

[Hockey Widow]

I agree UW re Silovs. They staked a lot on him by using him instead of DeSmith, once DeSmith was cleared to play. He was vented by the Oilers and his weaknesses exposed. The kid still has some work to do.

Re other issues about wingers Vs d’men, the Canucks may have tried to get a stronger candidate once they lost out on big Z. We don’t know for sure although the Forbert signing happened pretty early after FA opened which may suggest otherwise. I think we all saw the need to upgrade the top 6 and most were clamouring for it. Most also saw the need to keep a strong defence. It is a balancing act at the best of times, one made more difficult in a cap world. I would really like to know what the issue with big Z was. Was it 6 years v 5 years? Was it the cap? Was it something else like trade protection? Will we ever know?

[UWSaint]

Re other issues about wingers Vs d’men, the Canucks may have tried to get a stronger candidate once they lost out on big Z. We don’t know for sure although the Forbert signing happened pretty early after FA opened which may suggest otherwise. I think we all saw the need to upgrade the top 6 and most were clamouring for it. Most also saw the need to keep a strong defence. It is a balancing act at the best of times, one made more difficult in a cap world. I would really like to know what the issue with big Z was. Was it 6 years v 5 years? Was it the cap? Was it something else like trade protection? Will we ever know?

Zadorov is a 4-5 guy at best who was about to be paid like a top 4. The Canucks went about replacing him/Cole with the guys they think will be a bottom pair. Of course it would be nice to have Z around, but I just don't see a $30 million man from his play.

I think the moves they made spoke to a philosophy of what they want out of their defense. I am not sold that's better than going after a guy like Walker whose more agile, more of a puck mover and more of a solid second pairing guy and let the bottom pair have a hole to be filled by who wants it most in the organization.

But I give them credit, they have an idea about what a successful playoff blue line looks like, they set about filling that vision with the reasonably priced players, and they made it happen.

[Cousin Strawberry]

It was interesting to see them hold fast on Zadorov and not step beyond their line. They have a vision of how to build the Defense and overpaying for a 4-5 was not in it I guess.

Forbert and Desharnais are likely stop-gaps til they see how the chemistry looks with the group (and if Elevenpointsixersson comes back the moody melodramatic woman that ended the season or not) before looking to the trade market for another 3-4.

I realistically think the Canucks take a small step back and don't enjoy quite as much early season success as last year but that won't matter as much as how they look once the playoffs kick off.

We've graduated to the next stage

[donlever]

Agreed.

I also expect to see some regression early and overall.

They may not win the Division.

Not that they will, overall, be a worse team by any means.

But opponents will be ready for them.

They'll want to build momentum from front to back next season.

I also believe they'll be ready to make at least the WCF once post season hits.

I trust this management team to make moves to help do so.

So much depends on EP's play and Demkos health.

[Cousin Strawberry]

Demko's health is a new wrinkle. Was he really overplayed that much? I didn't get that feeling at the time but the end results say he was I suppose.

Silovs and whoever it was we added aren't going to change that workload enough to make a difference though so JR must be planning on stealth shopping for a 1B/notable upgrade I think. I could see Silovs being the asset going the other way even

As far as EP40 goes....has anyone figured out what the fuck happened there? He was mumbling something about a knee but the consensus is that was a bullshit excuse he dropped on the exit interview table.

These 2 issues are definitely far more important than if Forbert or Desharnais are an upgrade won Zed or not

[Chef Boi RD]

Agreed.

So much depends on EP's play and Demkos health.

Pretty much this. I’ll add a better version of Quinn Hughes than what we saw after the Nashville beat down

[donlever]

Patera (a big goalie in the Vasilevskiy range although slightly smaller) has yet to prove he is a qualified AHL goalie let alone a NHL back up.

Silovs is clearly not ready to back up full time.

They need a qualified, experienced back up to not only lessen Thatchers workload but also (knock on wood) as inury protection.

.... a better version of Quinn Hughes than what we saw after the Nashville beat down

Completely fair.

As well as factual.

[Carl Yagro]

As far as EP40 goes....has anyone figured out what the fuck happened there? He was mumbling something about a knee but the consensus is that was a bullshit excuse he dropped on the exit interview table.

These 2 issues are definitely far more important than if Forbert or Desharnais are an upgrade won Zed or not

Yes, clearly an excuse... and I'm not saying he didn't have some knee "discomfort" during the season. But there was nary a mention of it except for his Bambi legs all season and now it was serious even though it didn't and still doesn't require surgery. Hmmm... I'm sure the do-nothing Sedins will recommend him train some squats this summer and run up the Grind a few times.

Prior to the ASG, the fanboys were all lapping PeteyBalls as usual. All of a sudden after the new contract and the ASG when competition increased, well, our golden child didn't have anyone competent to play with? So he made the Russkies the previous season, but now they're dragging him down? Even re-forming the Lotto couldn't pull him out of a funk.

Honestly, we've talked about whether EP is more Forsberg or Naslund. It's always been pretty obvious to me. His arrogance confidence is Peter the Great, but he chokes on his fragility like the former captain. This team needs him to be da man because JTM at 31, is already crested over the top of the roller coaster. I like Pettersson but I've also never put him on a pedestal. He's probably the 4th most important guy on the team right now.

Re: the defence... the Baldies did the right thing but that doesn't mean it doesn't scare the heck out of me. As much as Myers was one of the steadiest Dman last season (oh, you know it's true. Nobody can honestly deny it), a second-pairing of him and Soucy over 82 games don't give me the warm fuzzies. One Soucy-like injury and you got a Forbort up there and a bunch of 7-8 depth guys playing everyday. You still can't convince me that Juulsen is suddenly an everyday 3-pairing guy. Nope, not buying it. Fuck, we still have Friedman on the team. I'd rather dress Foote and Gonchar.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Hoping EP40 comes back and shoves it up the naysayers ass next season. Knee tendinitis like elbow or shoulder can be extremely painful. They don't do surgery for that. A person needs rest.

Still a couple moves to be made. What I like is there haven't been any overpayments to the UFA or the RFA for that matter.