VanJack
Registered User
- Jul 11, 2014
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The reasons why the Canucks prioritized the signing of first Boeser and then Miller over extending Horvat, may never be fully known.
The only working theory is that the Canucks had Horvat pegged as 60-point center and figured they'd be able to extend him for something close to what he was already making. But as the season unfolded, his career year basically priced him out of Vancouver. So the likely explanation is that the Canucks gambled and lost.
But once the decision to trade him was made, the return basically in line with most deals for a player like Horvat. The price was a first round draft pick; a Grade A level prospect and and everyday player.
Even Benning thought he had managed that when he traded Ryan Kesler for Nick Bonino, Luca Sbisa and a first rounder (24th overall, Jared McCann).
At the time he was acquired, Sbisa was a promising young d-man who looked like he might be able to patrol the Canuck blueline for years. Unfortunately we all know how that worked out.
Bonino was a useful depth center making a very reasonable $1.5m a season with term on his contract. So Jimbo inexplicably trades him to the Pens in the Sutter deal. He then turns around and re-ups Sutter for five times what Bonino was making. As for Bonino, who turned out to be a better center all along, he went on to win a Cup with the Pens.
Finally, Jared McCann lasted a couple of years in the Canuck organization before he was sacrificed in the ill-fated Gudbranson trade.
So in the end the Canucks had nothing to show for trading Kesler, one the best two-way centers in team history. Fingers crossed the Horvat deal turns out a lot differently.
The only working theory is that the Canucks had Horvat pegged as 60-point center and figured they'd be able to extend him for something close to what he was already making. But as the season unfolded, his career year basically priced him out of Vancouver. So the likely explanation is that the Canucks gambled and lost.
But once the decision to trade him was made, the return basically in line with most deals for a player like Horvat. The price was a first round draft pick; a Grade A level prospect and and everyday player.
Even Benning thought he had managed that when he traded Ryan Kesler for Nick Bonino, Luca Sbisa and a first rounder (24th overall, Jared McCann).
At the time he was acquired, Sbisa was a promising young d-man who looked like he might be able to patrol the Canuck blueline for years. Unfortunately we all know how that worked out.
Bonino was a useful depth center making a very reasonable $1.5m a season with term on his contract. So Jimbo inexplicably trades him to the Pens in the Sutter deal. He then turns around and re-ups Sutter for five times what Bonino was making. As for Bonino, who turned out to be a better center all along, he went on to win a Cup with the Pens.
Finally, Jared McCann lasted a couple of years in the Canuck organization before he was sacrificed in the ill-fated Gudbranson trade.
So in the end the Canucks had nothing to show for trading Kesler, one the best two-way centers in team history. Fingers crossed the Horvat deal turns out a lot differently.