Confirmed with Link: Canucks re-sign Troy Stecher - 2 years, 2.325 AAV - avoiding arbitration.

[PuckMunchkin]

This site is twisted as ****,the Benning bashers can troll everything that moves and call for others to be banned??The mods are anti-benning bro's themselves so it makes sense.

What trolling are you talking about?

 

[timbermen]

f*** this site.goodnight.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

**** this site.goodnight.

Take care.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Biega or Pouliot could be waived pretty easily from a salary standpoint so that could be a spot or two if Hughes and Juolevi prove NHL ready this coming season. Worst case they force us to make a trade which would be ideal as we have 4 players (Edler, Del Zotto, Hutton, and Pouliot) who are going into the final year of their contracts. Absolute worst case nobody is waived, we trade no-one, and we still have four potentially open roster spots for the 19-20 season.

As for down years, Stecher really only had a down year offensively. Defensively, he was better in terms of plus-minus, had more hits, more blocked shots, and fewer giveaways. His offense should be excused as he went from 2:34 minutes per game of PP time down to a paltry 0:14 seconds per game which, if his numbers held from the previous season, cost him 7 points. If Stecher had been used on the PP and scored 18 points instead of 11 we wouldn't be saying he had a down season at this point.

The problem is no matter what there has to be deals and juggling to accommodate Hughes or Juolevi if in the likely event that either proves better than what we've already got. Edler and Tanev are the only dmen who are good enough to carry a pairing, they're not going anywhere. Pouliot, Gudbrason and Stecher all just got new contracts, so they're not going anywhere. Those are the gimmes. So that leaves Del Zotto, Hutton and Biega as the expendables. Who's going to move? Biega can be sent down, DZ and Hutton can garner...what? It's a logjam and it's not even a good logjam.

And don't get me wrong, I like Stecher. I've liked him ever since they signed him and last season it really hurt to see him targeted the way he was. Like Hutton, I still think he could be a very good dman if given a reliable partner in a strong system, neither of which the Canucks have.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

**** this site.goodnight.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Please come back and talk more! We're gonna miss you SOOOOO much!!

 

[Tables of Stats]

The problem is no matter what there has to be deals and juggling to accommodate Hughes or Juolevi if in the likely event that either proves better than what we've already got. Edler and Tanev are the only dmen who are good enough to carry a pairing, they're not going anywhere. Pouliot, Gudbrason and Stecher all just got new contracts, so they're not going anywhere. Those are the gimmes. So that leaves Del Zotto, Hutton and Biega as the expendables. Who's going to move? Biega can be sent down, DZ and Hutton can garner...what? It's a logjam and it's not even a good logjam.

And don't get me wrong, I like Stecher. I've liked him ever since they signed him and last season it really hurt to see him targeted the way he was. Like Hutton, I still think he could be a very good dman if given a reliable partner in a strong system, neither of which the Canucks have.

So? Rookies forcing deals are the sort of problem you want to have. Far better to be forced to trade a Hutton for a 4th because we have a rookie that just can't be denied than to gift a rookie a spot, have him fail, and possibly ruin his development ala Virtanen or Hutton.

Also, while Stecher probably shouldn't carry another D-man he's not so bad that he can't be a solid third pairing guy who gets PP time. This frees up space for whichever rookie(s) need solid pairings.

 

[wavaxa2]

What trolling are you talking about?

He must be talking about that troll with the vaguely racist user name and the Messier avatar. You know, the one who complains about fan division, yet whose entire existence here is about being deliberately antagonistic and creating divides.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

So? Rookies forcing deals are the sort of problem you want to have. Far better to be forced to trade a Hutton for a 4th because we have a rookie that just can't be denied than to gift a rookie a spot, have him fail, and possibly ruin his development ala Virtanen or Hutton.

Also, while Stecher probably shouldn't carry another D-man he's not so bad that he can't be a solid third pairing guy who gets PP time. This frees up space for whichever rookie(s) need solid pairings.

I do get what you're saying, and I agree that ultimately the best thing for the crap D is for the rookies to push their way onto the roster. I just think the way the contracts have shaken out that Benning and company are going to roll with what they've already got regardless of what Hughes and Juolevi do.

That, and I have zero confidence they'd make decent trades to clear space if it came to that.

 

[Tables of Stats]

I do get what you're saying, and I agree that ultimately the best thing for the crap D is for the rookies to push their way onto the roster. I just think the way the contracts have shaken out that Benning and company are going to roll with what they've already got regardless of what Hughes and Juolevi do.

That, and I have zero confidence they'd make decent trades to clear space if it came to that.

If that's the case we're screwed either way. Either we let assets walk to make space for untested rookies just because we don't trust our coach and GM to play rookies over awful vets or we sign them and risk our GM/coach doing exactly what we fear. I understand the trepidation and think that unless we get lucky and all our prospects hit we're probably going to need to heavily retool our team after the current management team leaves, I just don't see how that makes signing Stecher to a reasonable deal a move worth complaining about.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Fair price consider how much Hutton makes

 

[me2]

It’s $500K for a player on a team who isn’t up against the cap...The contract won’t hurt us whatsoever.

What's overpaying everybody 10-25%. It can't hurt, it's not like there is a salary cap.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

If that's the case we're screwed either way. Either we let assets walk to make space for untested rookies just because we don't trust our coach and GM to play rookies over awful vets or we sign them and risk our GM/coach doing exactly what we fear. I understand the trepidation and think that unless we get lucky and all our prospects hit we're probably going to need to heavily retool our team after the current management team leaves, I just don't see how that makes signing Stecher to a reasonable deal a move worth complaining about.

Well, just because I'd like that deal in a vacuum but unfortunately I've just lost all confidence in management. I dunno, see: all other threads on this forum.

And it's too bad because I really like Stecher. I liked his attitude when he signed, I liked his winning with UND, I liked his aggression with the puck when he got here, I liked that he was the only guy we had at the time who could get a shot on bloody net from the blueline...and all that's been whittled away since.

 

[Tables of Stats]

Well, just because I'd like that deal in a vacuum but unfortunately I've just lost all confidence in management. I dunno, see: all other threads on this forum.

And it's too bad because I really like Stecher. I liked his attitude when he signed, I liked his winning with UND, I liked his aggression with the puck when he got here, I liked that he was the only guy we had at the time who could get a shot on bloody net from the blueline...and all that's been whittled away since.

I'm with you, I don't want any more of Lindenning and my level of trust is pretty low as well. The only options are to disconnect until the management changes or to hope that some of their moves turn out well in spite of all logical expectations. As illogical as it may be I choose hope and try to focus on the rare good moment.

I totally understand if others, especially those that actually post around here unlike my mainly lurking self, are too burnt out to do that.

 

[Horse McHindu]

HS, I think you need to take a break from posting here. Either you are trolling us and should be banned from posting, or you are seriously getting paranoid about your friend Benning being hunted by everything that moves or that stays still but looks damn suspicious.

How does finding positive aspects to Stetcher's play (100% Benning acquisition) as opposed to bashing Gudbranson (100% Benning acqusition) equal "creating a divide between casual fans and Bennin?"

LOL.

Well why don’t you tell me how you REALLY feel? :p

Look man, I’ll be the first to admit that Gudbranson and Pouliot were the drizzling shits last year. I just think that Hutton and Stecher and were equally as pathetic.

For whatever reason though, I just find the “JD Burke crew” on here over exaggerating the horrid ness of Pouliot and Gudbranson, while downplaying the horridness of Stecher and Hutton. Go ahead.....do a search.

If you listen to the JD Burke crew on here enough times, you’d be leas believe that Gudbranson and Pouliot were 3rd pairing AHL calibre defensemen, while Hutton and Stecher would be borderline 2nd pairing guys under a different circumstance. Hutton has poor conditioning and a lacksadaisical attitude and this somehow gets spun as “Green ruined Hutton.” Stecher has appealing advanced stats in certain areas, but a simple eye test easily shows that this guy was a train wreck last year.

Based on last year, all 4 of Stecher, Hutton, Gudbranson, and Pouliot played like middling 6th pairing defensemen. So why do Gudbranson and Pouliot receive far more criticism than the other two guys?

 

[PuckMunchkin]

LOL.

Well why don’t you tell me how you REALLY feel? :p

Look man, I’ll be the first to admit that Gudbranson and Pouliot were the drizzling ****s last year. I just think that Hutton and Stecher and were equally as pathetic.

For whatever reason though, I just find the “JD Burke crew” on here over exaggerating the horrid ness of Pouliot and Gudbranson, while downplaying the horridness of Stecher and Hutton. Go ahead.....do a search.

If you listen to the JD Burke crew on here enough times, you’d be leas believe that Gudbranson and Pouliot were 3rd pairing AHL calibre defensemen, while Hutton and Stecher would be borderline 2nd pairing guys under a different circumstance. Hutton has poor conditioning and a lacksadaisical attitude and this somehow gets spun as “Green ruined Hutton.” Stecher has appealing advanced stats in certain areas, but a simple eye test easily shows that this guy was a train wreck last year.

Based on last year, all 4 of Stecher, Hutton, Gudbranson, and Pouliot played like middling 6th pairing defensemen. So why do Gudbranson and Pouliot receive far more criticism than the other two guys?

Lets grant you all that you just said. How does this tie in to unfair treatment of Benning like you said earlier?

 

[JuniorNelson]

Uh...why would you think the defense is improving?

Edler = vet.
Tanev = vet.
Gudbranson = vet.
Del Zotto = vet.
Biega = vet.
Stecher = young, but coming off a crap season.
Hutton = youngish, but coming off a crap season where the coach totally lost confidence in him.
Pouliot = youngish, but coming off a crap season where he was utterly lost in his own zone.

What logical basis is there to think that one of if not the worst d corps in the league last year will improve aside from hope and wishful thinking?

And we've got 8 dmen signed now. What spots are there for the rookies to challenge for?

You're looking down. That blue sky is in fact a chewing gum wrapper floating in a parking lot puddle.

I don't think the defense is improving enough to be left alone. I think the team thinks that and they are too optimistic. It's sort of naïve, really. They project best case scenarios. They did it last season in net. They do it when they sign free agents. They do it when they re-sign guys.

I agree with your later post that this management will not be able to quickly accommodate a breakout season from a rookie. I expect they will rely on injuries to open spots. I totally doubt they open with a bunch of rookies, even if they make the team. They prefer to plod along slowly and watch other teams advance.

 

[mossey3535]

Remember, it's actually Stetcher's underlying offensive stats that are good - like zone entries and shot contributions. It's the possession numbers that have remained stable - and to me that agrees with the eye test. With the extra/tougher minutes he couldn't be as tenacious and he wasn't surprising anyone this past season. He struggled in his own zone and his gap was often poor.

I thought he was snakebitten in terms of not producing points but had the issues an undersized sophomore d-man would face.

Actually if you look at the Canucks Army article what jumps out to me is that Hutton/Stetcher were 51% with each other - which handily outpeformed Stetcher/Edler or Stetcher/MDZ. Either guy's performance with Pouliot/Guds isn't worth talking about.

The real issue with this team is letting Edler keep an undeserved role on PP1 (there is another PP unit, it's not like they'd be kicking him off the PP entirely) and basically having to cart around MDZ/Guds/Pouliot. With the exception of early season MDZ those guys sunk any pair you could put together. So this should really be a "why do we have useless vets" rather than pitting Hutton/Stetchers development curves against each other.

 

[CherryToke]

Fair price consider how much Hutton makes

Two wrongs don't make a right.

 

[vancityluongo]

Meh. I'm pleasantly surprised he didn't get 6M like Dumba, since both are undersized RH defensemen. Jokes aside, I was half-prepared for a Sbisa-contract. Expectations are truly that low at this point.

This is a contract to squabble about when there aren't like, 15 other contracts that are worse on the team. It's not great on an absolute basis, but whatever.

 

[Pip]

Fair price consider how much Hutton makes

A steal considering what Eriksson makes

 

[Pip]

Genuinely curious. How much weight do arbitrators place on advanced stats vs counting stats (pts, ice time, +/-). Our management certainly doesn’t value the former, so I’m not sure where they came up with this evaluation.

I’m not saying that Stecher wont earn/outperform this contract but I feel like they could have grinded him down to 1.5-1.7/year. If you’re not saving on your RFA contracts, and you’re overpaying in free agency, then your cap space is going to disappear fairly quickly.

 

[Jay Cee]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Please come back and talk more! We're gonna miss you SOOOOO much!!

2 million dollar contracts are really serious business around here.

 

[Pip]

The god damn JD Burke crew. They think Boeser is the greatest but crap all over Granlund. It’s not fair!

 

[Jay Cee]

LOL.

Well why don’t you tell me how you REALLY feel? :p

Look man, I’ll be the first to admit that Gudbranson and Pouliot were the drizzling ****s last year. I just think that Hutton and Stecher and were equally as pathetic.

For whatever reason though, I just find the “JD Burke crew” on here over exaggerating the horrid ness of Pouliot and Gudbranson, while downplaying the horridness of Stecher and Hutton. Go ahead.....do a search.

If you listen to the JD Burke crew on here enough times, you’d be leas believe that Gudbranson and Pouliot were 3rd pairing AHL calibre defensemen, while Hutton and Stecher would be borderline 2nd pairing guys under a different circumstance. Hutton has poor conditioning and a lacksadaisical attitude and this somehow gets spun as “Green ruined Hutton.” Stecher has appealing advanced stats in certain areas, but a simple eye test easily shows that this guy was a train wreck last year.

Based on last year, all 4 of Stecher, Hutton, Gudbranson, and Pouliot played like middling 6th pairing defensemen. So why do Gudbranson and Pouliot receive far more criticism than the other two guys?

On the bright side JD Burke endorsed Juolevi’s projected corsi.

 

[StreetHawk]

Genuinely curious. How much weight do arbitrators place on advanced stats vs counting stats (pts, ice time, +/-). Our management certainly doesn’t value the former, so I’m not sure where they came up with this evaluation.

I’m not saying that Stecher wont earn/outperform this contract but I feel like they could have grinded him down to 1.5-1.7/year. If you’re not saving on your RFA contracts, and you’re overpaying in free agency, then your cap space is going to disappear fairly quickly.

An arbitrator would have decided his contract this season if they didn't come to terms.

Canucks were certainly free to go to arbitration and push for those numbers if they wanted to. No reason to give Stecher $2.3 million per if they felt that they could convince the arbitrator to come close to those numbers. Canucks would go in citing comps on the low end, while Stecher would use comps on the high end. Ultimately, the arbitrator will weigh all of the numbers, underlying stats, comps, etc. and make a ruling.

The Canucks are in a position to grind Virtanen to around a $1 million or so contract since he has no leverage whatsoever. He has no arbitration rights and with the number of 1 way deals on this roster, he can't afford to miss camp. And he has until Dec 1 to sign or miss the season. His numbers haven't been great during his ELC either. And I doubt any team is coming in with an offer sheet on him.