Confirmed with Link: Canucks sign C Teddy Blueger to 1-Year, $1.9M Deal

[racerjoe]

You can't not include Bloom when talking about the Dickenson trade. It is being disingenuous.

 

[Hammman]

You can't not include Bloom when talking about the Dickenson trade. It is being disingenuous.

Exactly. It's Dickinson @ 2.65 and a 2nd, or Blueger @1.9 and Bloom

 

[F A N]

Oh god this is too tiring.

I mean if I tell you we signed a center in UFA for 1.9M, the fact he makes 1.9M would suggest he doesn’t bring that much offense. That was my point, I don’t think Allvin expects much offense and he was brought here for a very specific purpose.

Kailer Yamamoto signed for $1.5M as a UFA. Does that suggest to you that he offers less offense than Blueger? Your logic is really poor here.

 

[F A N]

I just don't think we're in a great position to receive cap dumps for picks.

We can definitely disagree on the value of dumping Dickinson. I think he's quite serviceable just overpaid. I just don't think we were in a good position to trade a 2nd round pick to "upgrade" our 4th line.

You can't not include Bloom when talking about the Dickenson trade. It is being disingenuous.

How so? Unless you are saying it's a foreseeable trade, it's a separate trade. I was pretty high on Bloom at the time of the trade but his playoff performance kind of dampened my enthusiasm but apparently he has looked good at prospects camp?

 

[arttk]

Kailer Yamamoto signed for $1.5M as a UFA. Does that suggest to you that he offers less offense than Blueger? Your logic is really poor here.

He got a bunch of money from a buyout so he’s taking a lesser short term deal to prove himself. Are you purposely ignoring context?

 

[MS]

Blueger scored at a 43-point pace in 20-21 and a 35-point pace in 21-22.

He had a poor year last year which is why we got him on a cheap 1-year deal, but that poor year and his offensive numbers in it didn't happen in a vacuum, and the team is clearly expecting a rebound.

 

[racerjoe]

How so? Unless you are saying it's a foreseeable trade, it's a separate trade. I was pretty high on Bloom at the time of the trade but his playoff performance kind of dampened my enthusiasm but apparently he has looked good at prospects camp?

Because you are taking an end product. You can't add in Blueger than as that would be unforseeable. If you are including him than it has to be the entire package.

Also you don't think we took Stillman knowing we could trade him?

 

[Shareefruck]

We can definitely disagree on the value of dumping Dickinson. I think he's quite serviceable just overpaid. I just don't think we were in a good position to trade a 2nd round pick to "upgrade" our 4th line.

I think it's more likely that we disagree on the value of Dickinson himself as a on-ice-option at center. The 2nd round pick would be more of a factor if I thought the was halfway usable there.

I think of him as more of a waiver-level 5C that couldn't cut it as a 4C (even against Dries-level competition and below), and was more viable as a roaming 4W type (at his best, able to play with enough speed to be the passenger winger higher up the lineup). Regardless of whether or not Bluegers is an ideal 3C, it's very likely he'll be used in that role and be far more adept at it than our other options, so I don't really understand framing it as "upgrading the 4th line".

If we picked up Dickinson right now, I'd probably want him just warming the bench collecting dust or best-case-scenario, playing wing on Aman/Joshua's line if Podkolzin doesn't take a step forward, personally (he also CAN PK with more success than his centering abilities, but I think we have 4-6 forwards I'd rather have out there).

I don't dislike him as a professional/hard-worker, and admittedly, maybe he's gotten better since he played here and I'm just not aware of it, though.

 

[Nucker101]

Blueger > Dickinson

One guy is an actual Center and doesn’t look as awkward as a defensive dman when handling the puck.

But I agree that the Dickinson trade was annoying. It was essentially Dickinson + 2nd for Bear + Bloom

 

[biturbo19]

Not a 3C on a good team.

He's either Aman insurance or management decided they couldn't find one so they'll just use him as a stopgap.

Yeah. I don't mind the signing at all. It's a reasonable deal, 1-year term leaves us open to go somewhere else if it doesn't work. This is the problem though. He's not a real #3C on a serious, competitive team. He's been close at his peak, but he's not really at his peak anymore, or hasn't been lately. So banking on a guy who is a low-end #3C at his best, to bounce back and play that way...isn't a very solid plan imo.

I think the player is alright and the price isn't even bad. I just worry that at basically $2M...they're writing him in as the #3C and he's just unlikely to be good enough for that if this team is going to be serious this season.

You build quality teams down the middle, but we're extremely shallow there. That's a problem.

Pettersson is great, but he's not a real physical presence and isn't going to win a lot of draws. Miller is fine, but he's still kind of a winger masquerading as a Top-6C. Aman is an interesting depth player with a little bit of potential upside. But is Bluegers really the "missing link" to strengthen things up down the middle and build a robust crew of Centers as the spine of the team? I don't see it.

But at the price Bluegers rings in at, it certainly feels like that's their "answer" to the #3C hole. I get that there wasn't really a lot out there on the UFA market. It was pretty barren for real Centers, but i think that's where you've gotta explore other markets to try to find someone.

Dickinson is like 3.25? Can’t pk and can’t play as a center. As a 3rd line guy he gives you zero offense unless you give him the Grandlund treatment and also with us looked like he sucks defensively.
Bluegar is 1.9, actually good at PK and can play as a center. Offense sucks like Dickinson but at least offers some kind of utility.

Not sure I would say Bleugar is a Dickinson replacement because Dickinson never played that role for us.

Dickinson can absolutely PK. He was a fixture with significant minutes in that role with Dallas. Our PK is just...a uniquely sucky place to be, no matter who is on it.

He also can play Center. He's probably better as a winger, especially if he's in your Top-9...but as a 4th liner, he's just fine as a Center. He just doesn't really have much natural offense to give, he's not going to distribute the puck very well to help his wingers be productive. But he's entirely capable of using his size, speed, and positional sense to play the role well enough defensively.


The whole thing is just...Dickinson clearly wasn't good enough as a 3C, i don't think anyone would disagree. But now we're spending similar money on a guy who is also a kind of "aspirational 3C" more than a good solid piece there. After spending a 2nd round pick to unload the last experiment.

Instead of "hope for the best, plan for the worst"...it's kind of, "our hope and plan is for the best". Maybe they surprise me and find a deal for a better 3C option, but i really doubt it. I think this is what they intend to roll into the season with. It's not inspiring a lot of confidence for me.

 

[canuckking1]

Blueger scored at a 43-point pace in 20-21 and a 35-point pace in 21-22.

He had a poor year last year which is why we got him on a cheap 1-year deal, but that poor year and his offensive numbers in it didn't happen in a vacuum, and the team is clearly expecting a rebound.

According to Pens fans his play plummeted after an injury. Let’s hope a full off-season and training camp can get him back to where he was.

 

[Nick Lang]

Blueger > Dickinson

One guy is an actual Center and doesn’t look as awkward as a defensive dman when handling the puck.

But I agree that the Dickinson trade was annoying. It was essentially Dickinson + 2nd for Bear + Bloom

Yeah, that Dickinson trade was hugely annoying. A complete waste of a second rounder. I don't mind Bloom but Bear sucked and obviously didn't help us reach any goals at all, except burning a second rounder. Which we seem to like doing.

Blueger > Dickinson

One guy is an actual Center and doesn’t look as awkward as a defensive dman when handling the puck.

But I agree that the Dickinson trade was annoying. It was essentially Dickinson + 2nd for Bear + Bloom

Yeah, that Dickinson trade was hugely annoying. A complete waste of a second rounder. I don't mind Bloom but Bear sucked and obviously didn't help us reach any goals at all, except burning a second rounder. Which we seem to like doing.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Kailer Yamamoto signed for $1.5M as a UFA. Does that suggest to you that he offers less offense than Blueger? Your logic is really poor here.

I wouldn’t want Yamamoto even if we had the cap space to afford him.

 

[F A N]

Blueger scored at a 43-point pace in 20-21 and a 35-point pace in 21-22.

He had a poor year last year which is why we got him on a cheap 1-year deal, but that poor year and his offensive numbers in it didn't happen in a vacuum, and the team is clearly expecting a rebound.

According to Pens fans his play plummeted after an injury. Let’s hope a full off-season and training camp can get him back to where he was.

Pens fans are right. Blueger had 1 goal in his last 32 games to finish the 2021-2022 season. He then followed that up with 2 goals in 45 games for the Pens last season in 2022-2023 before scoring 2 in 18 for Vegas. His defensive metrics also went down last season. That's 5 goals in his last 95 regular season games. He's usually a non factor in the playoffs so we don't even have to go there.

We can chalk it up to bad season but if we consider his play over the 2nd half of 2021-2022 it is more worrisome.

 

[racerjoe]

Just commenting cause he has come up a few times in this thread, but I think Bear being hurt is why we still have Myers. I wouldn't be surprised to for him to currently be the domino to hold that up for us.

 

[Peat]

Pens fan creeping in to talk Blueger and his offence.

He has offence but it needs nurturing. He's not much of a goalscorer but he is a playmaker. He can spring breakaways from deep, and he can win pucks in the corners and make good passes to set people up.

He needs to be with finishers. He needs to be with guys with pace. He also needs to be with a blueline that doesn't get hemmed in. A lot of his bad stats over his last year or so as a Penguin point to him being another victim of the org not recognising Dumoulin falling off of a cliff.

Give him support and he's a useful playmaker who's always moving and usually in smart places. Expect him to score his own goals and you'll be disappointed.

 

[AHLdepth]

I'll give it to this current management regime as far as this: whereas in the past we had Jimbo and co. telling us about all the different attributes we needed to add to the team, and those attributes basically changing on a whim, this current regime has said from day 1 we want to get faster, and have targetted that without deviating.

Blueger is what he is at this point, but give him a chance to play with Mikheyev or Beauvillier or guys that can take advantage of his speed and I believe he is a great fit, offense to be determined.

One thing for sure though is that signing Blueger really puts in a ridiculous perspective how far we've come from Beagle at 4x3

 

[tantalum]

Exactly. It's Dickinson @ 2.65 and a 2nd, or Blueger @1.9 and Bloom

Well it's more than that. It's a winger @ 2.65 + a 2nd for A guy who can actually play center at $1.9 + Bloom

 

[Shareefruck]

So are we looking at something like this?

Mikheyev - Pettersson - Kuzmenko
Di Giuseppe/Beaullivier - Miller - Boeser
Beaullivier/Di Giuseppe - Blueger - Garland
Joshua - Aman - Podkolzin/whoever makes it

Pens fan creeping in to talk Blueger and his offence.

He has offence but it needs nurturing. He's not much of a goalscorer but he is a playmaker. He can spring breakaways from deep, and he can win pucks in the corners and make good passes to set people up.

He needs to be with finishers. He needs to be with guys with pace. He also needs to be with a blueline that doesn't get hemmed in. A lot of his bad stats over his last year or so as a Penguin point to him being another victim of the org not recognising Dumoulin falling off of a cliff.

Give him support and he's a useful playmaker who's always moving and usually in smart places. Expect him to score his own goals and you'll be disappointed.

That's reassuring, because assuming he gets the 3C spot, his wingers will likely be the ones doing the heavy lifting offensively (especially Garland, if that's where he ends up). His only job is to not suck defensively or hurt their offense, and be a good PKer.

 

[F A N]

I'll give it to this current management regime as far as this: whereas in the past we had Jimbo and co. telling us about all the different attributes we needed to add to the team, and those attributes basically changing on a whim, this current regime has said from day 1 we want to get faster, and have targetted that without deviating.

There's a few thoughts in response to this. First of all, I think what Benning looked for did not change on a whim. You can look at his drafts. There's a bit of a pattern. The players he targeted in trades/free agency in his later years were done to address needs that was actually supported by analytics as well. The problem really wasn't the "attributes" he looked for but the actual player targets he ultimately acquired that fail to provide much of those attributes.

Second of all, I think it's a bit early to determine whether current management has a plan in place that they are sticking with. Third of all, there's nothing wrong with changing one's thinking in terms of the type of players you need to the add to the team. It IS a copy cat league and to a certain extent it's easier to follow the lead than to forge your own path.

In this context, the Canucks went from targeting a player like Lazar and giving him a 3x$1M AAV contract to Bluedger. The Canucks went from targeting Dermott and Bear to Soucy and Cole. Trying to get faster is just a buzzword. There are different ways to get there.

Pens fan creeping in to talk Blueger and his offence.

He has offence but it needs nurturing. He's not much of a goalscorer but he is a playmaker. He can spring breakaways from deep, and he can win pucks in the corners and make good passes to set people up.

He needs to be with finishers. He needs to be with guys with pace. He also needs to be with a blueline that doesn't get hemmed in. A lot of his bad stats over his last year or so as a Penguin point to him being another victim of the org not recognising Dumoulin falling off of a cliff.

Give him support and he's a useful playmaker who's always moving and usually in smart places. Expect him to score his own goals and you'll be disappointed.

Thanks. Although I'm not sure I would use "nurturing" to describe what you outlined here. I think what most here are looking for is a potential 3C or 4th line anchor who can also anchor the PP.

Unfortunately there's been quite a few "fan favourites" who got here that became whipping boys. I hope that doesn't happen to Blueger. But if we don't have a better team, he will be hemmed in...

 

[Tables of Stats]

Blueger is going to be the best 53 this team has ever had.

 

[geebster]

Blueger is going to be the best 53 this team has ever had.

I mean who else even had 53. I don't remember any traitors with that number.

 

[Fatass]

I mean who else even had 53. I don't remember any traitors with that number.

Wasn’t there an “elephant” who recently wore 53?

 

[Hansen]

decent number for a 50 pt 3rd line OX

 

[wonton15]

Can’t wait to see Holly and Gunnar Blueger around the team!