How would you rebuild the Canucks' defence next offseason?

[Bad Goalie]

I keep reading Juolevi penciled in for next season with the Canucks.

The 13th OA and 1st pick of the Canes in the same '16 draft was Jake Bean.

Jake was just won Eddie Shore Award as the AHL's outstanding defenseman. He's 21 and led his team in scoring with 48 Pts and those same 48 Pts were tops in the AHL for D-men. Rafferty was 3rd in scoring for D-men.

He recorded 21 points on the PP. The Checkers' PP finished 3rd in the league. He also played on the league's #3 PK unit. He is a left side defender like Juolevi who saw very little PP time because he was a turnover machine on the top of the PP unit. He did kill penalties and his best asset there was blocking shots. He had a whole lot of trouble with everything else on the PK.

Rafferty was only a PP guy where he recorded 20 of his 45 points. He was not good enough defensively to kill penalties. He is a right side defender.

I think I would be talking to the Canes about a left side defender like Bean. They are loaded with young D-men. If Toffoli is signed, there is a RW surplus and using that to their advantage the Canucks could get a cheap, young, rising star on defense and Bean would be a good option.

 

[Cogburn]

Trade Boeser for Dumba.
Sign Krug (8x7), Pietrangelo (10x7) or trade Gaudette, Demko, a conditional 1st and what ever salary dump we can get away with for Ekblad or Doughty or someone (not likely).

Edler-Krug/Doughty/Ekblad/Pietrangelo
Hughes-Dumba
Benn-Myers
Schenn/Fantenberg/Hamhuis

I say Vatanen, Dillon and Demelo make safer targets, from a pocketbook vs output standpoint.

If we could arrange Hughes-Vatanen, Edler-Demelo and Dillon-Myers as our D pairings, I'd feel much safer. It's fixed, but there are other areas that need focus, even assuming Toffoli, Markstrom and the rest of our free agents needed to fill out our roster. Are we better for it? Probably not, we've shifted focus is all. And we'd need all kinds of luck for that series of signings/trades.

 

[VanJack]

According Daren Dreger of TSN, teams will be able to exceed the salary cap for the 'play-in' rounds and throughout the playoffs. Although the cap is likely to remain basically 'flat' for next season.

So what's the excuse now for not signing Tryamkin? A flat salary cap means they're going to lose Tanev for sure...and unless they can get Markstrom to agree to a short-term 'bridge deal' they likely won't be able to sign him either.

If the Canucks are going to rebuild their underwhelming blueline this off-season, they're going to have to pray that 'compliance buy-outs' are part of the off-season landscape. Ridding themselves of a contract or two in their bottom six forward group, would be a game-changer.

 

[mathonwy]

Fire Benning?

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Fire Benning?

At this point, I don't even know if this solves much of an issue or just makes things worse. There are two reasons why I write this.

1) I don't think Aquilini is very smart when it comes to personnel decisions. He might just hire someone worse than Benning.

2) I think most prospective GMs now understand that Aquilini is a shitty owner to work with, given how he meddles in management decisions and pushes a "make the playoffs at all costs" agenda. GMs wouldn't have free reign to pursue their vision on constructing the team. We already saw this when Gillis wanted to rebuild in 2013 and was denied the chance, and Lombardi declining a job offer multiple times. Vancouver has become an undesirable destination for management roles due to this.

It would be nice to have a new GM with a clean slate replace Benning - at the very least, the discussions on this message board would be much more refreshing instead of retreading the same issues with the same posters over and over again. But in practice, I don't know if a new GM will really benefit the team based on the above-two factors.

 

[Horse McHindu]

Edler-Dobson
Hughes-Myers
Fantenberg-Tryamkin

Benn

1) Stecher is moved for a pick or is unqualified.
2) Tanev walks.
3) Podkolzin moved for Noah Dobson
4) Guys like Juolevi/Chatfield/Woo/Rafferty compete to try and replace Fantenberg and Benn.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Edler-Dobson
Hughes-Myers
Fantenberg-Tryamkin

Benn

1) Stecher is moved for a pick or is unqualified.
2) Tanev walks.
3) Podkolzin moved for Noah Dobson
4) Guys like Juolevi/Chatfield/Woo/Rafferty compete to try and replace Fantenberg and Benn.

Why does New York do this? A potential top pairing dman is worth more than a potential top line winger. This proposal was already made on the trade board and pretty much every NYI fan rejected it.

 

[Horse McHindu]

Why does New York do this? A potential top pairing dman is worth more than a potential top line winger. This proposal was already made on the trade board and pretty much every NYI fan rejected it.

Agreed.

I figured that Podkolzin is a higher quality prospect and so the trade off would be that the Islanders would get the higher quality prospect while we’d get the slightly lesser prospect in a more valuable position. Bode Wilde isn’t Noah Dobson, but he’s still a legitimately good RD prospect. My line of thinking was that a trade like this would perhaps make the Islanders more well rounded? A top line winger to play with Barzal perhaps?

Again - wishful thinking on my part. People will call me insane here, but I’d actually be willing to see if the Islanders were open to Podkolzin AND Virtanen for Dobson + something small (mid level prospect?....I don’t know). Not sure if I’d be onboard with both Pod and JV being moved for Dobson+, but our need for a top pairing “all situations” Dman to replace Edler in the near future is a huge need.

 

[xtra]

According Daren Dreger of TSN, teams will be able to exceed the salary cap for the 'play-in' rounds and throughout the playoffs. Although the cap is likely to remain basically 'flat' for next season.

So what's the excuse now for not signing Tryamkin? A flat salary cap means they're going to lose Tanev for sure...and unless they can get Markstrom to agree to a short-term 'bridge deal' they likely won't be able to sign him either.

If the Canucks are going to rebuild their underwhelming blueline this off-season, they're going to have to pray that 'compliance buy-outs' are part of the off-season landscape. Ridding themselves of a contract or two in their bottom six forward group, would be a game-changer.

Well this is basically their cup run them or benning will have to rebuild again cause of stupid contracts

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

This defence is not going to be rebuilt in one off-season. The Last thing this team needs to do is to overpay for another Tyler Myers or, panic and make a Hall-Larson trade. Resign Tanev if he agrees to a short-term deal or let him walk. Develop Rathbone, Woo etc properly. Only bring them to the NHL when they earn a job. Try to build assets again so, that if a top 4d is available the assets are there to acquire them.

 

[Nucker101]

If the Blues are open to moving Vince Dunn then he should definitely be a target. Too bad compliance buyouts don’t seem to be likely otherwise Myers would be a no brainer.

I’m okay with bringing back Stecher as long as the term/cap are reasonable and no ntc of any kind.

Tanev I’d only bring back if he’s willing to take a 2 or 3 year deal which I suspect won’t be the case, I don’t see him ageing well even though I thought he was solid with Hughes.

Not sure why the Panthers would move Weegar when he played well with Ekblad on their top pairing and is cheap which matters for a team like Florida.

I’d also ask the Sabres about Colin Miller since he hasn’t worked out that great in Buffalo so far.

 

[mathonwy]

Delete

 

[MS]

According Daren Dreger of TSN, teams will be able to exceed the salary cap for the 'play-in' rounds and throughout the playoffs. Although the cap is likely to remain basically 'flat' for next season.

So what's the excuse now for not signing Tryamkin? A flat salary cap means they're going to lose Tanev for sure...and unless they can get Markstrom to agree to a short-term 'bridge deal' they likely won't be able to sign him either.

If the Canucks are going to rebuild their underwhelming blueline this off-season, they're going to have to pray that 'compliance buy-outs' are part of the off-season landscape. Ridding themselves of a contract or two in their bottom six forward group, would be a game-changer.

Tryamkin is not eligible for the playoffs.

 

[Hit the post]

Tryamkin is not eligible for the playoffs.

Why would he come over though? "Regular paycheques" end once the regular season is over in the NHL. Why wouldn't he stay in Russia (where I assume they'll have some kind of post-season as well)?

 

[Horse McHindu]

But honestly.....

I probably would go as high as Podkolzin and Virtanen for Dobson and “something small” if the Islanders were so inclined (and if they obviously saw a fit).

The Canucks are in desperate need of an Edler replacement (I.e. an “all situations” bonafide top pairing dman. The “Brent Seabrook” to Quinn Hughes’ Duncan Keith).

I like Jett Woo and think he has some promise, but I can’t see him being that guy.

Hughes and Dobson as a pairing would be wicked.

 

[bossram]

This defence is not going to be rebuilt in one off-season. The Last thing this team needs to do is to overpay for another Tyler Myers or, panic and make a Hall-Larson trade. Resign Tanev if he agrees to a short-term deal or let him walk. Develop Rathbone, Woo etc properly. Only bring them to the NHL when they earn a job. Try to build assets again so, that if a top 4d is available the assets are there to acquire them.

I think there are some value UFAs out there that could reasonably improve the blueline at a moderate cost. These aren't Tyler Myers level mistakes. You could probably sign any of them for between 2.5-4 million on a 3-4 year team. I've suggested these names a number of times in these blueline threads.

Tier 1
- Dylan Demelo (quietly very effective in a top-pair role with both Chabot and Morrissey)
- Brenden Dillon (again, very quietly effective with all his partners, including Burns and Karlsson - BC boy to boot)

Tier 2
- Trevor van Riemsdyke (sheltered role, but good underlying numbers).
- Jon Merril (again more sheltered role, but good underlying numbers).

Trade Targets
- Vince Dunn (will be expensive)
- Mackenzie Weegar (again very quietly effective, and you might be able to pull one over Tallon)

I think we can build a serviceable D-core that is actually an improvement over today. Trade Myers for anything you can get, the contract will turn into a millstone very quickly. Not a fan of the Podkolzin for Dobson proposals. I never rated Dobson highly, and I think Pods will become a high-end two-way forward. I don't see Tryamkin as anything more than a #6-#7.

 

[Hit the post]

Myers has an awful contract with a NTC. I doubt he’s moveable. Course I didn’t think NoGoodBranson was movable.

 

[The Vasili Jerry]

Myers has an awful contract with a NTC. I doubt he’s moveable. Course I didn’t think NoGoodBranson was movable.

So what you're saying is that we're going to move him for another player like Pearson? I like it.

 

[701]

In an ideal world, in 1-2 years would look like this. Tanev only if available at a discount for his durability issues.

Hughes Myers
Edler Rathbone
Juolevi Tanev

I really don’t like the Myers acquisition, for the $$$.

This is an ideal scenario. I am very high on Rathbone... though expect he might need more sheltered minutes.

Juolevi, I don’t see as a lost cause quite yet though would be lucky if he ever becomes a regular. Still, they will be looking to give him a shot.

Rathbone plays left side, so forget him playing with Edler.

Regarding Rathbone, so far, six of Harvard's grad schools have announced that they will meet online-only, not on campus, for the Fall semester.
No word yet about the College (undergraduate) program. I could be wrong, but as I'm a grad and very familiar with the living and eating situation
in the Houses, and also the classrooms, I can't imagine how so many of the grad schools would have to go online-only and the College wouldn't.
It just doesn't compute, given what I know of he crowded spaces of student life at Harvard.

To me, this suggests that there won't be a Harvard hockey program during the Fall semester, which is when most of the games are played. Would
the lack of a hockey season during the upcoming academic year influence Rathbone's signing decision with the Canucks?

 

[tradervik]

To me, this suggests that there won't be a Harvard hockey program during the Fall semester, which is when most of the games are played. Would
the lack of a hockey season during the upcoming academic year influence Rathbone's signing decision with the Canucks?

Send him a book of news clippings for Patrick McNally.

 

[Lindgren]

But honestly.....

I probably would go as high as Podkolzin and Virtanen for Dobson and “something small” if the Islanders were so inclined (and if they obviously saw a fit).

The Canucks are in desperate need of an Edler replacement (I.e. an “all situations” bonafide top pairing dman. The “Brent Seabrook” to Quinn Hughes’ Duncan Keith).

I like Jett Woo and think he has some promise, but I can’t see him being that guy.

Hughes and Dobson as a pairing would be wicked.

Would that pairing be wicked enough to offer up Miller for Dobson?

 

[Horse McHindu]

Would that pairing be wicked enough to offer up Miller for Dobson?

No, not for me. JT Miller’s overall value, relative to his low long term cap hit, is extremely valuable to this team (which is why we gave up a 1st to get him).

 

[701]

Send him a book of news clippings for Patrick McNally.

Please explain. You might have something to add but I don't get it. I followed the McNally situation closely with contacts at the university, and also when travelling to Cambridge for an alumni event. McNally was a very different, complex situation, whereas Rathbone is a better prospect
who is in good standing with the school. But if you're joking about him possibly gassing the Canucks (IMO the Brackett situation doesn't help, a New England contact jumping ship while Rathbone is supposedly making up his mind), well I'm starting to feel pessimistic too.

 

[tradervik]

Please explain. You might have something to add but I don't get it. I followed the McNally situation closely with contacts at the university, and also when travelling to Cambridge for an alumni event. McNally was a very different, complex situation, whereas Rathbone is a better prospect
who is in good standing with the school. But if you're joking about him possibly gassing the Canucks (IMO the Brackett situation doesn't help, a New England contact jumping ship while Rathbone is supposedly making up his mind), well I'm starting to feel pessimistic too.

McNally had to sit out a year due to the cheating scandal and although he wound up signing with the Sharks, he has been bouncing around Europe the last few years. If Rathbone isn’t all that interested in making the NHL, he can probably do the same.

 

[Fatass]

Please explain. You might have something to add but I don't get it. I followed the McNally situation closely with contacts at the university, and also when travelling to Cambridge for an alumni event. McNally was a very different, complex situation, whereas Rathbone is a better prospect
who is in good standing with the school. But if you're joking about him possibly gassing the Canucks (IMO the Brackett situation doesn't help, a New England contact jumping ship while Rathbone is supposedly making up his mind), well I'm starting to feel pessimistic too.

Signing Rathbone would clearly make us better. Bracket leaving might make that impossible now.