Post-Game Talk: 2017 Trade Deadline Postmortem

[TheWolf*]

Man I'm salty we didn't move Miller.

You can't tell me that a offer wasn't put forth for Miller from a team on his trade list.

Benning played hardball and lost.

Benning knew we were going to be seller's and the best way to kick start a rebuild was to ship Miller out. There is no reason to resign Miller next year as we have Markstrom but most importantly...moving Miller now can only improve our Draft position in this lost year.

It's funny, that's not the take I had at all. It was interesting when Benning was interviewed today and asked about Miller. He kept the cards to his vest - refused to answer anything about interest in Miller. Not like Benning at all. I got the impression that there was really no interest in him and he did not want to say that so as to insult the player. Either that or there was interest, but not from a team that Miller would agree to play for.

There's no way there was any tangible offer for Miller to a team that Miller wanted to play for and that Benning simply turned the trade down. I don't buy that at all, if that's your conclusion.

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

The second Benning heard "all I can offer is this" SOLD! let me call him a cab.

"We're willing to offer you all the coffee you want..."

"I'LL TAKE IT!!!"

 

[Tim McCracken]

"We're willing to offer you all the coffee you want..."

"I'LL TAKE IT!!!"

Giddy Up!

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

Miller staying is a big indicator that this team is still going to try to contend as it attempts to change what feels like the 50th horse midstream.

I figured Benning wouldn't want to retain Miller, and would send him packing at the end of the year, as Millay would give the team a greater chance at "winning." Coming up supremely short before the deadline should've led to Miller being moved, but, whoops. He stayed.

$20M in cap space and Miller needing a new deal is scary.

 

[arttk]

"We're willing to offer you all the coffee you want..."

"I'LL TAKE IT!!!"

Miller or coffee .... mmm

 

[canuckster19]

Miller staying is a big indicator that this team is still going to try to contend as it attempts to change what feels like the 50th horse midstream.

I figured Benning wouldn't want to retain Miller, and would send him packing at the end of the year, as Millay would give the team a greater chance at "winning." Coming up supremely short before the deadline should've led to Miller being moved, but, whoops. He stayed.

$20M in cap space and Miller needing a new deal is scary.

If there's no market for Miller at the deadline as a rental, who out there is going to throw money at him on a team he wants to play for? LA? No SJ? No, Anaheim? No. He's where he wants to be and we have all the leverage. Besides, if management is finally serious about the direction of this team, then they might as well go with Markstrom and Demko.

 

[arttk]

If there's no market for Miller at the deadline as a rental, who out there is going to throw money at him on a team he wants to play for? LA? No SJ? No, Anaheim? No. He's where he wants to be and we have all the leverage. Besides, if management is finally serious about the direction of this team, then they might as well go with Markstrom and Demko.

Well if you read around, there was a market for Miller 2-3 weeks ago when Yzerman took Bishop off the market. But we were "still in" the playoff race at that point and management didn't seize that opportunity.

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

If there's no market for Miller at the deadline as a rental, who out there is going to throw money at him on a team he wants to play for? LA? No SJ? No, Anaheim? No. He's where he wants to be and we have all the leverage. Besides, if management is finally serious about the direction of this team, then they might as well go with Markstrom and Demko.

Calgary would be a prime candidate, IMO, assuming Miller is interested in not being strictly on the West Coast.

RE: the market. LA apparently was interested in Miller up until about 2 weeks ago but (quelle surprise) management were too busy [MOD] and talks stalled. Again, my belief is that Benning is keen on keeping Miller around for next season and wasn't aggressive in exploring the trade market with him.

Also, look at how well having "all the leverage" worked out the last time around. $18M and an upgraded NTC. This post seriously reads like it resurrected from circa 3 years ago.

 

[Paulinvancouver]

Guess I'm late to the party on this thread.

You cn never call something a complete and total success. But it dod beat my expectations. Always leave room for improvement.

Expansion made this year a bit of a buyers market. No market for goalies. Even bishop got crap return. BISHOP!!


Burrows and Hansen are pretty much worthless these days. Surprised we got anything above a 2-3roubder for jannik and a 3-4 rounder for burr in this weak draft. Very impressed.

Keep adding bullets to the chamber, Jim... Something will payoff.

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

Guess I'm late to the party on this thread.

You cn never call something a complete and total success. But it dod beat my expectations. Always leave room for improvement.

Expansion made this year a bit of a buyers market. No market for goalies. Even bishop got crap return. BISHOP!!


Burrows and Hansen are pretty much worthless these days. Surprised we got anything above a 2-3roubder for jannik and a 3-4 rounder for burr in this weak draft. Very impressed.

Keep adding bullets to the chamber, Jim... Something will payoff.

Fewer bullets is better when playing Russian Roulette.

 

[canuckster19]

Calgary would be a prime candidate, IMO, assuming Miller is interested in not being strictly on the West Coast.

RE: the market. LA apparently was interested in Miller up until about 2 weeks ago but (quelle surprise) management were too busy sticking their fingers in their bums and talks stalled. Again, my belief is that Benning is keen on keeping Miller around for next season and wasn't aggressive in exploring the trade market with him.

Also, look at how well having "all the leverage" worked out the last time around. $18M and an upgraded NTC. This post seriously reads like it resurrected from circa 3 years ago.

If any of those teams want to throw 5-6 million at Miller then by all means let him sign there.

 

[me2]

Management accepting the direction of the team is probably the biggest win for me out of this deadline.

Have they or are they just moving out some vets (Hansen to protect Granlund) and Burrows is going so they can buy more Benning vets/retools.

Guess we wait to find out.

 

[Jack Burton]

Guess I'm late to the party on this thread.

You cn never call something a complete and total success. But it dod beat my expectations. Always leave room for improvement.

Expansion made this year a bit of a buyers market. No market for goalies. Even bishop got crap return. BISHOP!!


Burrows and Hansen are pretty much worthless these days. Surprised we got anything above a 2-3roubder for jannik and a 3-4 rounder for burr in this weak draft. Very impressed.

Keep adding bullets to the chamber, Jim... Something will payoff.

Willy is that you?

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Management accepting the direction of the team is probably the biggest win for me out of this deadline.

Have to go with this.

Okay, we didn't pick up any draft picks. But we actually got good returns for Burr and Honey Badger, and picked up a decent (for us) 4th liner for free.

But the big story is Benning finally making moves consistent with a rebuilding plan. Now hopefully he and the rest of the executive staff are canned so the rebuild can begin in earnest.

 

[me2]

This is a textbook definition of double standard.

You can't be serious comparing Henrik/Daniel to Vrbata. Vrbata has never been a franchise player anywhere. The fact he wasn't traded today was as much fail as when Benning had Vrbata at the TDL. His value is nowhere near what people are expecting.

If you criticize Benning for not moving Vrbata, then you should criticize Chayka to the same standard.

I think that is fair.

The only difference are

* Benning didn't want Vrbata on his team and Chayka does. More emphasis on Benning to trade him. More emphasis on Chayka to be selective.

* Salary bonus structure. Benning didn't have to deal with this and still failed. This was much more of a trouble for Chayka, then again he signed the deal so no sympathy for having it.

* The fact they agreed on the clause in the first place (on a team expected to be bad team) suggests they weren't serious about trading him.

At the end of the day it someone somewhere else screws up it doesn't mean Benning did OK when he screwed up. People need to stop trying to use this defense as an excuse.

 

[SgtToody]

But last year at the trade deadline I ran out of patience with Benning. We are now finding out details, like Vrbata provided a list intentionally to prevent being traded and Hamhuis didn't help matters much either. But I think a proactive GM who recognized early that selling at the TDL was not just a possibility, but a probability would have began the dialog to make it work much earlier. Finally, not "papering" players so they could be assigned to Utica for the playoffs was an indication of not just a difference in approach, but incompetence.

This year was a strong positive, but IMO, it in now way makes up for all the past blunders.

Both last year and this year a huge obstacle was how long management took to see what was obvious - it is not a playoff team nor trending in the right direction. Even this time, Benning was hemming on being a buyer or a seller just 2 weeks ago, despite all the signs, the schedule. Same issue last year. It applies to Willie too, who remains stubborn and obstinate to a fault. Today Moj and DOn Taylor mused how all things considered, Willie has done a good job moving young players into the lineup. Excuse me? Tryamkin only got into the lineup after the usually placid media began openly questioning the Russians absence, and how Larsen had been underwhelming. The meme became Tryamkin wasn't in shape but he refused a conditioning stint; this is the same squad that crowed how Virtanen was working hard in the offseason, spending time with the Twins -- apparently it was fraternal twins Carl and Harvey... Moj and Donnie then laid out the punch line - how they'd be fine if Willie returned "to guide this younger lineup in to the next season". How often does a coach get to record back to back bottom three or four finishes, and get a callback? This isn't junior B; if Willie's back I would be hard pressed to commit much time with this team, and while he's stockpiled a lot of potential 2nd, 3rd and 4th liners, Benning is still a failure. The last couple of days, where he waited to where Hansen's value had diminished and a year of rebuilding was lost, has not given me much hope that he actually knows what he's doing. Just who will Eriksson be skating with in 2, 3 years?

 

[me2]

Keep adding bullets to the chamber, Jim... Something will payoff.

I'm guessing Jim hasn't worked out how Russian Roulette works.

 

[Cupless44]

Miller staying is a big indicator that this team is still going to try to contend as it attempts to change what feels like the 50th horse midstream.

I figured Benning wouldn't want to retain Miller, and would send him packing at the end of the year, as Millay would give the team a greater chance at "winning." Coming up supremely short before the deadline should've led to Miller being moved, but, whoops. He stayed.

$20M in cap space and Miller needing a new deal is scary.

We will see.

The main reason Miller was not moved is that was an extremely difficult trade to make. Miller had a small list and would not go to Calgary. Fleury wasnt moved and either were any other goalies aside from Bishop.

Benning did not sound committal in his interview. I think it would have to be the right short term deal.

 

[Fat Tony]

The main reason Miller was not moved is that was an extremely difficult trade to make.

Yeah, getting rid of Miller would have required quite the sell job.

I'm reluctant to say it but Benning did decently well this TDL.

 

[Cupless44]

Yeah, getting rid of Miller would have required quite the sell job.

I'm reluctant to say it but Benning did decently well this TDL.

Agreed. You have to give credit where credit is due. Benning had a good deadline. He made the kind of deals he needs to be making and brought home the best 2 prospects moved at the deadline.

 

[Horse McHindu]

Belated Trade Deadline Thoughts

Hey guys,

Was away for the past week.

Just had a few thoughts from the trade deadline:

1) The Burrows deal: Sad to see Burrows go, but am VERY excited about the return. Jonathan Dahlen (Ulf's kid btw), has the potential to be a dangerous Top 6 forward, and plays both LW and C. Some hockey pundits say that this has potential to be Erat for Forsberg part II.

2) The Hansen deal: Although I liked the Burrows deal better, this one also has potential to be great.....especially if the Sharks win the cup! (4th rounder becomes a 1st if that happens). Nikolai Goldobin is similar to Dahlen, in that, his skillset and offensive ability is quite advanced....but needs some work on his commitment to defense.

All in all, the Canucks really improved their prospect pool here.

It will be interesting to see what the Canucks do with Miller in the off-season. My gut feeling is that the Canucks will re-sign Miller to a 2 year deal at a slightly lower cap hit. I don't think the Canucks have enough confidence in Markstrom to be the guy, and they also don't want to rush Demko.

3) Media and Canuck fans confuse me:

Here's one thing that annoys the ### out of me. Seems like many Canuck fans and hockey media are saying, "Hey look! Benning is finally committing to a rebuild with these moves. They are changing direction."

That's just false in my opinion. Guys who are saying this clearly don't understand Benning's plan in my opinion. Linden and Benning have ALWAYS been committed to rebuilding and transitioning to a younger team while they've been here. However - they also realize the importance of having TRUE veteran mentors on this team to guide the youth, and to also take pressure off of prospects (i.e. the presence of key vets on this team allow the kids to develop in lesser roles where they can be slightly "pushed" out of their comfort zone, but not thrown to the wolves).

Here's another important thing that this management group realizes:

"A VERY important component to a rebuild, is getting your kids to compete for a playoff spot, and attempting to get said kids playoff exposure."
Period.

That's why it's always important to never go into a full blown tank. Even if you're rebuilding, it's important to get the kids to compete hard every night with realistic expectations of making the playoffs. That's why it's important that even during a "rebuild," a GM should still remain active in the UFA market to bring in key vets.....as the Canucks did with Loui Eriksson.

If there are holes on the team, and holes of which would be too much of a challenge for prospects to fill, then you need to bring in vets to cover those roles. Hence - those trades for Brandon Sutter, Brandon Prust, etc.

The point I'm making is this: Benning and Linden know what they're doing, and I'm glad that they're leading the way. I just wish more fans and media were a little more aware of what this management's group plan, vision, and philosophy is......and has been.....since they've been here.

4) Joseph Cramarossa: I'm a fan of this waiver wire pick-up. Cramarossa skates very well, hits like a truck, and is a top fighter in this league from what I understand. He was one of the best 4th liners in Anaheim, and Ducks fans are legitimately pissed that he was waived. He's only 24 years old.

I know a lot of Canuck fans *still* have some kind of weird infatuation/Stockholm Syndrome with the Boston Bruins, and so to you guys, I say this:

"Cramarossa could end up being our version of Shawn Thornton."