Well, not that I haven't voiced my stance on this, but now that it's over... This team simply couldn't afford the loss of Kuz without a replacement. The deadline is about improving a team, not gaining 1 better player. This isn't fantasy league. The move, ultimately, was lateral at best, and followed the 'play not to lose' efforts we saw down the stretch.
Lindholm is not a Kuz replacement, he was a Bleuger upgrade, a second matchup C. Discussing Linholms contributions, have pretty much nothing to do with losing Kuz at the wing.
Everyone points to the All Star game as when things started to turn, but that's just not true. The EP line started cracking as soon as Kuz started getting scratched. He glued EP and Mikheyev together into one of the best lines in the league for 1.25 seasons. Now most can't stomach to see them penciled in together.
The Canucks are largely a perimeter team, passing in circles. They had 1 guy that would regularly break the circuit and make a move to the net, that could actually pull it off. No bobbling pucks, no whiffing on open 5 holes. Kuz handled the puck like velcro, and is just a strong overall dude. He is not an easy guy to push off the puck. Over 60 career goals in 2 seasons, and at least 50 of them come with 1 foot in the crease. 'greasy playoff goals'.
At the time of the trade, Mikheyev was on a streak of 3 straight seasons, albeit shortened, with a 20g pace. I don't buy for a second that an adjusted deal couldn't have been made with him in Kuz' place. They already paid a textbook rental price for Lindholm, who by all accounts was not having a great season. Management even knew they left a hole at wing, and continued to shop around, almost surely using Mik as the cap space to do it. Just a classic case of putting the cart before the horse.
In regards to Tocch... His beef with Kuz was clearly personal. He was mostly intentionally vague as to his reasons, so as not to have double standards pointed out. Maybe he dislikes Indonesian food, or is a huge pepsi fan? He crossed the line of tough love, taking what seemed to be years of team underachievement, and offloading it all on 1 player.
We are talking about a 2nd year player here, that had the worst english on the team, just got his first dose of NHL $, and is prime age to put it all together. His turnaround was as predictable as it gets. Take a look at Kadri's bump in the 2nd half.... yea.
The EP line and PP ended up as the teams Achilles heels. We didn't even need Kuz at his best, just better than what we got from his alternatives (lol) I have no doubt we take both series in 5 if we traded the right Ruskie.
