You’ve been hired as the Canucks’ new GM; what do you do?

So, if Jim Benning were to be fired tonight and you were to be chosen as the new GM, what do you do for this season, next season, and beyond? Do you go hard on trades? Do you think you can make small changes to the roster and still make the playoffs? Do you fire Green?
Try to keep it based in reality (no, you can’t trade Virtanen for Heiskanen).

 

Fire literally everyone. Hire Gallant. Hire a competent NHL GM as my assistant (Gillis?). Then I resign and let my experienced assistant gm take over.

 

Shortest GM signing of all-time.

 

Good thread, deserves it's own.

Trade Virtanen + 2nd rounder + for underappreciated D man. I would play him in the top 6 or do something to raise his stock. I wouldn't trade him until he had a really good stretch.

I would CONSIDER a bold move of trading a very high pick in this draft year, on the draft day, when GMs see the player they really like on the board for a real good youngish D, who might not be fitting in another teams system, or theyre rebuilding.

I would pay the price to offload Roussel
I would pay the price to offload Beagle
I would trade Sutter at the deadline (i imagine gain mid rounder pick)
I would buyout Eriksson at the end of the year (i cant recall but I believe very minimal savings)
I would shop Gaudette around or add him into a package, only if the player coming back is highly valuable. But would be reluctant to get rid of him.
I would give green another couple years. The team overperformed due to a goalie, it's young. GM didn't sign any veterans and allowed the team to take a step back. Willing to give him a good long look
I would pay the price for somebody to take Myers, whether thats Seattle or whoever. But I don't believe hes as untradeable as most would think (theres gms that believe he brings quite decent value and that hes just overpaid some), I would be willing to retain a percent.
I would be shopping for under the radar d men across the league and be willing to part with picks. I don't think at this point, draft picks are of huge value to this team and as long as the players the team is targeting are solid defensively, it's worth it.
I would seek out options that have Holtby off the team at the end of this year. Whether thats Seattle or whatever, a team will need a goaltender.
I would resign Pearson if the price is right and push him down to 3rd line, you need depth to compete and when you have less fat on your team, you can afford a third liner making what Pearson is likely to demand
I would walk away from Jamie Benn, no matter how cheap he came.
I would walk from Hamonic (unless something drastically changes)
Walk from Edler, no matter the price.
I would not trade any of our core forwards and that includes Hoglander for D help because I do not think it is necessary.
I would use the savings in players that we paid alot of picks in to get rid of, and put it towards a UFA d man
Would need to find a cheap backup. I suppose willing to stay with Holtby if absolutely nothing can be done and Seattle took Myers.
Get Tryamkin signed for 2 years. He DID look solid as a Canuck and he was raw. Even a slightly more refined player is a solid #5 at minimum, and a d man who can give what Myers gives, without the dumb penalties and can actually stand up for himself and others when needed and handle large forwards. I don't think he would demand much so it would be rather low risk.
Sign a 3C (via free agency)

Target undervalued d men whose stock is never as high as what they bring. The d men without the flashy game, guys like Jake Mccabe. I would look at Buffalo in general due to their depth on D.

I would be willing to shop this years and next years picks.

We are getting pretty close to being able to contend and I dont think drafting & gambling or waiting on a D man is the right way to go. It is unlikely they are impactful soon enough. I think there are teams who would value that piece more than the Canucks

---

Boeser - Pettersson - Miller
Podkolzin - Horvat - Hoglander
Pearson - UFA - Gaudette
Bailey - Lind? - MacEwen
jayce hawryluk

Hughes / McCabe (he plays left but just hypothetically speaking)
Schmidt / big UFA d man or trade of 1st rounde
Juolevi / Tryamkin
depth signing d man

Demko
Cheap backup

-Roussel
-Beagle
-Eriksson
-Edler
-Sutter
-Myers
-Virtanen
-Possibly Holtby

The Canucks have a huge advantage in this league being a desirable city with up and coming stars. Despite the current play of the team. If we put in a decent offer, we have a good chance at most UFAs. It's just being smart about who you acquire

You fill in the 4th line with cheap guys and you ice them for less time. You circle guys in and out until you find something that works, find guys passing through waivers. Benning puts too much stock on the 4th line.

 

Get hired and spend the money on “lady companionship” and candy.

Then fire Travis Green.

 

Give up whatever it takes to get these guys off the books (Eriksson, Roussel, and Beagle). Use the cap space to find a 3rd line center + 2 RHD.

 

I would say to myself, "self, what would Benning do ('WWBD')?"


Then I would do the opposite, and plan the parade.

 

So you would take the Dwight approach. Solid.

 

Give it the ole Hank Scorpio

 

I'm a proponent of the "we're doomed until the end of 2021-22, just let the bad contracts expire and do little else" theory, which I know not everyone is a fan of. Among other things, I think this helps create a medium term strategy that can be executed and then used as a building block for a contending team. Obviously one concern with this approach, among other concerns, is how does Horvat work into this as he might become a UFA before we become an actual high class playoff team. But....there's difficult trade offs no matter which direction we go...

So with that said, first off, I don't really have any thoughts on the coaching side of things. I'm skipping that. Second, I hire Vancouver's very own Computer Boys to help out and help find players, do contracts, etc.

Roster

- Pearson & Sutter go at the deadline
- I've switched to supporting keeping Virtanen at least until next season.
- Not much else for the rest of this season, really.

Expansion Draft

- Work to have our exposed players basically be the ones with bad contracts, and have one of them picked up, Sibsa style. So try to expose Eriksson, Roussell, Beagle, Myers & Holtby. Best case of course would be if Seattle turns out to be dumb and takes Myers, but they'll take one of the expiring contracts.
- Target a Defenceman that projects to be useful over the next handful of years and who can't be protected from a team and offer a pick. (ideally, one of the above gets picked up to help cover whatever the cap cost of this person is)

Draft and trade (if it happens this year)

- pick a hall of famer (duh)
- no trading of picks within the first 3 rounds to help get rid of contracts. Sorry, can't afford it.
- if holtby is picked up, just find a million dollar goalie for a year.
- no firm opinion on Pettersson's and Hughes' contracts at this stage

2021-22
- No desire for push for the playoffs. If we fluke into it 2020-21 style, ok yay, but if we crash and burn, meh.
- Hopefully Virtanen rebuilds some value a trade opportunity presents itself
- continue waiting it out, if a good opportunity presents itself, great, but just keep on walking through the mud.
- maybe some sucker actually takes one of the expiring contracts?

2022-23
- ????

 

Apologize to the fans because I'm not qualified, but a job is a job.

Then I would comfort them by reminding them there is no way I'll be around in 7 years if I do poorly because only a lunatic would keep a trashcan manager around for that long.

 

I'm honestly not sure tbh, I really dont see a path to success with this group of players/contracts & a lot of them are un-tradeable, I can really see another tear it down rebuild needing to happen because of the complete mess Benning has made of this roster, we're gonna be in cap hell forever

 

Take a nap in tort's Murphy bed. Then get to work.

 

Trade Pearson, Sutter(50% retained) and Benn(lol) for the highest draft capital possible. Look to move Virtanen for either a d-man in a similar situation or one that may be exposed in expansion draft or for a more suitable bottom 6 forward. Do the same with Gaudette. Or move both for picks.

In the offseason use the acquired draft capital along with our own 2nd to shed the final years of Roussel and Beagle. Buyout Eriksson($2M savings). Re-sign both EP and Quinn to the Barzal contract (3 years, $7M AAV). Re-sign Demko to a 3 year deal in the $2.5M AAV range. Bring back Edler on a 1 year, $3M deal if he’s willing. This would give us roughly $18Mq to spend with this lineup:

Miller - EP - Boeser
Hoglander - Horvat - Podkolzin

Hughes
Edler - Schmidt
Myers

Demko
Holtby

My biggest priorities would be to find a partner for Quinn as well as a play driving 3rd line center. I’d target teams facing expansion draft squeeze as we’ll have spots open to utilize. I’d also look into bringing Pearson back or similar UFA on a 2 year, $3M AAV deal. If there’s any cash leftover look to upgrade Edler on 2nd pair.

Either that or I trade anyone over 25 and do a mini rebuild around a core of EP, Hughes, Boeser, Hoglander, Podkolzin and Demko. Miller/Horvat could probably fetch some high potential pieces that could have big impacts in a few years when they may be looking to move on if things don’t turn around.

 

get rid of sutter/pearson to contending playoff teams for picks. why would u retain 50 percent on sutter when he's a upcoming ufa... someteam will find value in these guys. trade jake somewhere for a fresh start. Hire experienced people in the front office. gilman/futa/whomever is avaliable in the offseason. tell the owner to f*** off and not meddle in day to day operations. find takers for the other overpaid guys. im 50/50 on green but its time to let him go because his roster decisions are still baffling..

 

My trades are basic placeholder trades. The idea is that we get rid of bad salary with picks as an incentive. I believe it is imperative to shake our bad contracts in order to sign actual good players. 2nd and 3rd rounders are the cost we have to pay to reclaim YEARS from our young core's potential window. It doesn't sit well with everyone, but we can't afford to piss away years waiting for contracts to expire.
ok try to make it work - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

The jist of my plan is a scorched earth of bad contracts. Buyouts and salary retention where sensible combined with draft pick sweeteners for the less onerous contracts. Expecting NOTHING in return except cap space. That cap space is used to sign the Douggie Hamiltons, RNH, Blake Coleman and Granlunds that could be available. If we fail to sign those players we weaponize our cap space to take on expiring bad contracts and fill our roster with flat-cap casualties.

 

First order of business is navigating the trade deadline. Pearson and Sutter should be moved for picks, Id hold out for a 2nd for Pearson and whatever you can get for Sutter.

Use the pucks acquired from those deals to move out money. One of Jay Beagle or Antoine Roussel and a 2nd | 3rd for a 7th then buyout whoever wasn’t traded of the two.

The key is to move that Myers contract as he’s starting to become one of the worst contracts in the league, try and move him before the rest of the league realizes how terrible he truly is. Try and entice Seattle to take him in the expansion draft, would pay good assets for that. I’d throw money at an undervalued guy like Ryan Murray to replace Edler’s minutes.

Pettersson and Hughes, sign them long term it’s pretty simple there.

In the forward pool of free agency Id like to take a look at Tomas Tatar or Nikita Gusev on short term deals as both possess high skill. If not I think Josh Leivo would actually be a fantastic fit on this team.

A huge need is also a 3C that can free up matchups for players like Pettersson and Horvat. Hilariously enough a guy like Nick Bonino would probably be perfect or Casey Cizikas.

Obviously moving Wriksson is a pipe dream but I would attempt to dump him to a team like Ottawa it’s 5 AM so not going to look at the specifics of a deal but there’s likely a deal to be made there where Ottawa sends more actual money (salary) of a player for Eriksson who’s actual money is far lower than his cap hit.

Miller / Pettersson / Boeser
Hoglander / Horvat / Podkolzin
Leivo / Bonino / Virtanen
Bailey / Shore / xxx (decent winger in the system)

Hughes / Mayfield
Murray / Schmidt
Juolevi / Vatanen

Demko

Is the team leaps and bounds better? Of course not, but you cut the dead weight get younger and cheaper moving forward and gain much more depth.

Id also consider moving the pick in this years draft along with pretty much any non Hughes/Pettersson asset if a young top pairing defender ever became available, but that’s a pipe dream as players like that are usually never on the marketplace.

 

I dont know...

I think trading something I hate to part with would be in the books. This team has so few assets as it is that rebuilding it in to a contender seems like some painful decisions would have to be made. Something like shopping Horvat...

 

The no plan plan that has no goals and hopes Seattle takes a bad contract for nothing.


You’re proposing to waste two seasons imo.

If you don’t show the important young pieces (there’s only 2 of them) you can be a decent team in the near term trending to very good they’ll want out too.

It’s absolutely negligent to do nothing in the near term.

 

Because he’s overpaid and at half his cap hit there’d likely be more interest. What an odd question.

 

I’d change the lock on my office door, and not allow Aquilini a key.

 

First thing I do is re-hire Benning so I can fking fire him again myself.

 

Completely bottom out to Ottawa’s level. Literally ice a roster not able win a single game the rest of the season. Oh wait they’re already doing that nvm.

 

I let Green ride out the season but he's not going to be renewed. And the only reason I let him ride out the season is because of Covid and needing 2-3 weeks to get a new guy behind the bench. I'd rather have Green in charge then any of the assistants on even an interim basis.

I then hire my right hand man: