Canucks conundrum

sketchpad

No coach, two No.1 goaltenders, consecutive first round losses including a sweep this year.
What would you do?
Trade Kessler, buy out Ballard, hire Tortorello:eek:?

Rented Mule

sketchpad wrote: »

No coach, two No.1 goaltenders, consecutive first round losses including a sweep this year.
What would you do?
Trade Kessler, buy out Ballard, hire Tortorello:eek:?

1) Tortorella is one of the most overrated coaches in the NHL. He rode a hot goaltender (Khabibulin) to a Stanley Cup in 2004. He did nothing with all fo that talent in New York.

2) I love how everyone in Vancouver wants to throw Kelser under the bus. Ryan Kesler is one of the major reasons that Vancouver made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011. He had an outstanding season/playoff run (as well as winning the Selke that year). He has been banged up for the last couple of years, so I wouldn't expect to start a rebuild around the draft pick(s) that you're going to get in return.

3) Your best bet is to trade Schneider. No one is going to take Luongo and give you market value. He is also never going to waive his no-trade clause to go to a team that he don't feel he can win with. Schneider is going to bring you a higher return. The problem is that Luongo has proven time and again that he can't win the 'big game'.

4) The problem that I see in Vancouver is that very few of your players have the 'heart' to put it all on the line. You have a fine regular season team (in the weakest division in hockey) where they don't have to battle night in and night out to be successful. To rearrange a Herb Brooks quote 'you have enough talent to get by on talent alone'.

5) Gillis has made a lot of mistakes with this team/roster, particularly with the contracts that he has given to players. He has also been dreadful in the trades/drafts that he has made.

Hockey Futures has the Canucks ranked #27 over all:

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/team-rankings/spring-team-rankings-2012-13/page/3

He also made a huge mistake in making the Chicago Wolves their minor league affiliate. The Wolves are a franchise that are in business to compete for the AHL Championship each season. They are not a 'developmental team'. The Canucks found that out the hard way.

So what do you do ? You either try to compete with the team that you have, or you blow it up and start from scratch. I feel the same way about the San Jose Sharks. They have been middling around for the past ten years....close....but can't put it all together and win the Cup.

tolosenc

sketchpad wrote: »

No coach, two No.1 goaltenders, consecutive first round losses including a sweep this year.
What would you do?
Trade Kessler, buy out Ballard, hire Tortorello:eek:?

What would I do? Blow up the team and move up the draft. It's pretty deep this year.

Players to keep: Sedin, Sedin, Kesler, Kassian, Jensen, Higgins, Corrado, Tanev, Garrison, Schneider, Lack.

IMO:
1st round pick (24) + Luongo = 1st round pick (11) + Bryzgalov. Buy out Bryz.
Ballard = 3rd round pick.
Edler + 1st (11) = 1st (2).
Hamhuis + Burrows = Antropov's rights (UFA) + 1st round (13).
Bieksa + Hansen + 1st round pick (2014) + 1st round pick (13) = 1st round pick (3).

So-
In: 2nd overall, 3rd overall, Antropov.
Out: Luongo, Ballard, Edler, Hamhuis, Burrows, Bieksa, Hansen.

Draft McKinnon and Drouin. Sign Jagr, Leopold, O'Byrne, and Hannan

Sedin - Sedin - Jagr
Booth - Kesler - Higgins
Kassian - McKinnon - Drouin
Sestito - Antropov - Lain
Gaunce

Garrison - Tanev
Leopold - O'Byrne
Alberts - Corrado
Hannan

Schneider
Lack

sketchpad

The problem with Kessler is that he's injury prone and cannot be relied upon for long stretches.
What use is a Ferrari if its in the shop all the time.
His sulky demeanor doesnt help him win over the crowd either. I mean if your watching your team 40+ games a season you want to see guys who at least look like they want to be there. I'm not saying Kessler doesn't want to be there but hey a smile every once in a while would help!

sketchpad

While I agree with tolosenc that the D needs a serious overhaul, getting rid of Edler, Hamhuis and Bieksa is a bit drastic.
Jannik Hansen had a career year and was imo the Canucks player of the year. 27pts from a 3rd liner, must stay.

Rented Mule

tolosenc wrote: »

What would I do? Blow up the team and move up the draft. It's pretty deep this year.

Players to keep: Sedin, Sedin, Kesler, Kassian, Jensen, Higgins, Corrado, Tanev, Garrison, Schneider, Lack.

IMO:
1st round pick (24) + Luongo = 1st round pick (11) + Bryzgalov. Buy out Bryz.
Ballard = 3rd round pick.
Edler + 1st (11) = 1st (2).
Hamhuis + Burrows = Antropov's rights (UFA) + 1st round (13).
Bieksa + Hansen + 1st round pick (2014) + 1st round pick (13) = 1st round pick (3).

So-
In: 2nd overall, 3rd overall, Antropov.
Out: Luongo, Ballard, Edler, Hamhuis, Burrows, Bieksa, Hansen.

Draft McKinnon and Drouin. Sign Jagr, Leopold, O'Byrne, and Hannan

Sedin - Sedin - Jagr
Booth - Kesler - Higgins
Kassian - McKinnon - Drouin
Sestito - Antropov - Lain
Gaunce

Garrison - Tanev
Leopold - O'Byrne
Alberts - Corrado
Hannan

Schneider
Lack

These are always fun to save for opening day.

I wouldn't count on may of those signings/trades, but it's nice to have a plan.

tolosenc

Rented Mule wrote: »

These are always fun to save for opening day.

I wouldn't count on may of those signings/trades, but it's nice to have a plan.

I can dream.

sketchpad wrote: »

While I agree with tolosenc that the D needs a serious overhaul, getting rid of Edler, Hamhuis and Bieksa is a bit drastic.
Jannik Hansen had a career year and was imo the Canucks player of the year. 27pts from a 3rd liner, must stay.

D doesn't need an overhaul, per se, it's just that Gillis has too much invested in there. Hamhuis, Edler, Bieksa, Garrison, Ballard eat up 24 million in cap. Add in others, and the goalies, and you have 35+ million of 64 million without any forwards.

Gillis claims to be all about offence and scoring goals, claiming that teams like LA and Boston are bad for the game (which I totally agree with), but he doesn't back it up.

smackbunnybaby

Vancouver and NYR doing a wife swap?

sketchpad

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Vancouver and NYR doing a wife swap?

Starting to look that way. Two very different personalities, might do both teams good?

Rented Mule

sketchpad wrote: »

Starting to look that way. Two very different personalities, might do both teams good?

This isn't meant to be rude to trollish, but I don't really think much of either man as a coach. It would definitely be a change of personalities for both teams. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of very good coaches available this off season. It just seems like both teams are looking at 'names' and not their results.

COYW

sketchpad wrote: »

Hire Tortorello?

You have the players to win a cup, imo. Hire him, give him a few years to organize your roster properly and I think that you will win or come damn close to winning a cup. He will organize your 'D', which is your biggest problem.

Rented Mule

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=425777

OFF-SEASON GAME PLAN: VANCOUVER CANUCKS

The Vancouver Canucks were swept from the first round, their second straight first-round exit, and enter the summer with significant changes coming.

Off-Season Game Plan looks at the job facing GM Mike Gillis, as he tries to extend the Canucks' window as contenders.

Gillis already promised roster changes in his season-ending press conference: "Clearly the landscape has changed and we need to address those changes going forward. We don't have a choice. We need to get younger." How much younger will the Canucks get?

Here's Scott Cullen's take on the Canucks off-season.