...
Wait until this summer and he has to deal with the large number of RFAs and Edler. Then he'll dive into the free agent market. If he operates on past behavior, the end result will be cha-ching for extended contracts with NTCs/NMCs and the Canucks spent to the cap. ...
JB has money to spend, roster spots to spend it on, a job to save and a team to turn around in a hurry so as to make the playoffs every year. If this summer goes as badly as I worry it will, it could set the franchise back years.
... Then he has a bunch of RFAs that could be dealt for draft picks which don't take up contract spots.
That would only be in character to the extent that he’s dealing guys he’s decided he doesn’t want to keep anyway, so the picks that could come back would be in the bottom two rounds. On past performance imo he’s more likely to deal multiple pieces for somebody coming to the end of his waiver exemption or elc that he can give an extension to based on his perception of that guy’s worth, so that he can then trade that acquisition a few years down the road for somebody else’s bad contract.
For the life of me I can't fathom how anybody who has ****ed up as much as he has can still have a job. ... [/QUOTE]
In wondering that you’ve got considerable company on this forum.
I keep thinking that when the season is over it will be impossible for Aquilini to fail to realize the damage the guy he’s put in charge is doing to that billion dollar investment. But then I’m also the (naive??) guy that thought the Canucks would actually allow Gaudette to develop in the AHL this season.
I believe that if Benning isn’t fired early this offseason his signings and trades could do a great deal of damage to the long-term health of the Canucks.
To some extent you in Utica have it worse than we do in British Columbia. At least Benning cares about and pays attention to the Canucks. In another way you could have it better in the future. It doesn’t take as long to build an AHL contender as it does to build an NHL contender. The level of play is lower, it is the next step up for prospects rather than being a couple of steps up, every summer there are players who could be useful to an AHL team that can be signed at a price that the Canucks can afford to spend and there is no limit to the active roster and no salary cap. Think of what kind of roster Lorne Henning with help from Pat Conacher could have put together for the Comets for 2015-16 if both were there and they had a budget equal to what the Canucks eventually spent on payroll for the Comets. Think Chris Higgins and Brandon Prust. The only serious constraint would be the limit on veteran skaters that can be dressed for a game and, as usual, a lack of prospects, at least at the start.
... I can't believe the number of posters who have Olli penciled into the Canucks lineup next season. ...
I'm guessing it's a similar number to the number posting lineups with Cole Cassels as the 3rd line center and Jordan Subban a regular on defence in the 2015 offseason.
Now we get lineups with Juolevi a defensive regular (sometimes in the top 4) and MacEwen stepping in at forward.
You’ve been consistent in pointing out MacEwen’s weaknesses. I’d posted some time back that the Canucks would give him a callup and try him out. They did and it wasn't a surprise to those that read reports about Comets games that the Canucks found he wasn’t ready for the NHL. It doesn’t stop people from holding the view that Juolevi is about ready and MacEwen could replace a Canuck 3rd line forward right now.
... We'll wait on Hughes. He could be shiny object #3. ...
I see Hughes as a very good prospect. Many others are certain he will step into the NHL and be effective immediately. They might be right. I’m never so sure how a prospect will turn out. The one thing we know is that he WILL be the next shiny object. I can’t see any realistic chance that Benning gives him time in the AHL unless and until the coach refuses to play him.
... We'll wait on Hughes. He could be shiny object #3.
Demko has not played anywhere near enough games to be considered for the #1 job which many seem to think he can handle and thus are saying Markstrom could be dealt now while the iron is hot. ...
I had a strange thought yesterday. It will be really unpopular on this forum (and would be more so on CDC) but it came from a poster talking about trading Markstrom.
The idea is actually supportable, though it goes way off your topic. The supporting argument, which I'll throw out there for discussion (in italics) would go something like:
The Canucks are a franchise in trouble that hasn’t begun to rebuild. The supporting cast is so weak that they need much more than what many anticipate. Normally a rebuilding team would trade players who are past the usual prime years or reaching the end of the usual prime years who are good enough to have considerable value to other teams. The Canucks have almost nobody who fits that description. They’ve lost their chance to trade Edler, Tanev’s value is way down from what it was three years ago, Sutter’s value has to have dropped, Pearson is worth next to nothing, Baertschi’s trade value is hurt by the question of how his multiple concussions will affect his career going forward and there is virtually nobody else in the right age range with a reasonable positive trade value except Markstrom.
Jacob Markstrom is 29 years old, coming off a good season and plays a position in which players notoriously blow hot and cold from one season to the next. He may never be better than he’s been this season and may have some value on the trade market. If he does, perhaps it is best to get future assets that may be of value in a few years, when Markstrom will be an aging goalie. Just as a team contending for a Cup may trade future assets for present ones, maybe this team that is years from contending for a Cup should trade present assets for future ones.
They’d then have to scour the free agent market and find a replacement for Markstrom, but decent goalies sometimes are available relatively cheaply as summer free agents. The Canucks don’t need a top-notch goalie, they just need somebody good enough to look like an NHL goalie while the prospects develop to make the team good in the future.
There is also the chance that it may be hard for the Canucks to extend Markstrom after next season. If so, they need to move him to get some value for him rather than lose him for nothing.
Most wouldn’t accept that argument, but it isn’t totally out of line. I thought the Canucks should explore what the trade value for Tanev was back in the summer of 2016. If their pro scouting was good enough to trust to come up with a replacement who wasn’t embarrassing, I’d take the position they should be making that kind of inquiry about Markstrom now. Maybe there wouldn’t be an offer worth considering, but if one accepts that the 2019-21 (or longer) Canucks are just treading water until some of the prospects mature, all sorts of thing become possible.
Otoh, I’d prefer the Canucks make no important moves until an astute general manager is in place, so I don't want the Canucks to explore trading Markstrom at this time.
