Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster86
I think the issue was there were no solutions to the blue line to be had in the summer. I think they tried to move Miller for something and couldn't get it. There wasn't much on the UFA market.
At the best of times there are very few deals where teams get a Weegar-like player without getting bent over for him. But when the other team knows you need it? Lol, good luck.
I agree that what the new regime has done isn't really much of anything, but I think the situation they inherited just didn't have much movement that could be done. Team is cap strapped with very few assets to move to try and improve the situation. The reality is, the team needs to move on from one of their top-9 fan favourite forwards to fix this. Hell, it may even need to be two. Miller was the obvious option, but they turned around and brought him back. Now Horvat is the obvious option. One of Garland or Boeser probably should go too. Will they? Ehh, hard to trade that kind of player. Very hard to trade them and get the value you feel they are worth back when everyone knows you're desperate.
But the only way it gets better is if you excise the tumour. The tumour, in this case, being the roster construction they inherited but are for some reason being reluctant to change.
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Really? I assume you're saying that purely from a contract status viewpoint and not who actually matters the team, because whenver I watch the Canucks, he's one of their most consistent players. Not amazing, but a solid rock in the middle six to build around.
To me, it's a team that has a few great young pieces, but that's it. I think Hughes is exceptional, as is Demko, and I think Pettersson is a 1st liner, but not an amazing one. I've never been sold on Boeser as a good player because you need more than just a good shot to play in the NHL. I really liked Miller last year, but I felt it was a great one-off season, not his norm.
They have a lot of money tied up in middling players like Pearson, Garland, Mikheyev, Poolman, etc., but also some steals with Hoglander and Podkolzin on their ELC's.
But then you have the albatross contracts of OEL and Myers. There's not much hope if you still have to carry those guys.
If it were me, I would gut the whole roster except for the following (assuming you could not find someone to take on OEL or Myers):
Pettersson, Horvat (re-signed), Hughes, Demko, anyone one an ELC. Recoup as many draft picks as you can and restart the build, focusing on those main veterans as your core, along with any younger picks/prospects.
It's a team without an identity, and as long as you have a lot of these guys hanging around, it's hard to create something new. There's a lot of work to do to fix that team, and I'm not sure they're headed in the right direction. I think the end of last year under Boudreau was a new coach bump that is a blip in their trajectory, not a trend.
It could be a year where they are forced to sell off and tank for Bedard unless they start to play better very soon. I'm just not sure they have the personnel to be a playoff team.