CanucksArmy Monday Mailbag Part 2: 4th Lines, Making Room For Youngsters, and More Angst

There’s a lot to unpack here. Let’s start with the Vegas comparison. I don’t think there are really any similarities. Tomas Nosek is 25 and an RFA who had a cap hit of 615k when the Knights made their run to the final. Ryan Reaves was on a two-year deal with a 1.1 million dollar cap hit. He got a raise, but still makes less money and term than either of Antoine Roussel or Jay Beagle. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is an older depth player, but was on a two-year deal with a 1.45 million dollar cap hit. We can debate their effectiveness, but that’s what you want to allocate to your fourth line. Those three players alone only counted for just over 165k per year against the cap more than Jay Beagle will for the next four years. The situations aren’t remotely close.

As far as having nothing better to spend money on, players become free agents every year. Trade opportunities come up every year. You have to plan for that. Spending money on things you don’t need just because you have money is a bad financial plan for anybody. It’s even worse when the amount of money you can spend is limited by a salary cap.

The Canucks’ front office doesn’t strike me as a group of party animals. Maybe John Weisbrod. He seems like he likes to have fun.

I feel like this is more of a rhetorical question, because he won’t, and they can’t. That’s the end of it. We haven’t seen this team prioritize playing the kids if it means veterans have to sit in the press box. It hasn’t happened yet and there’s no evidence that’s going to change.

You might be putting the cart before the horse a little bit. The projected Canucks lineup for next year did have some youth, with many prognosticators giving Elias Pettersson, Olli Juolevi, Jonathan Dahlen, and Adam Gaudette spots in the opening night lineup. Obviously that isn’t happening now. You’re half right, though. These contracts won’t insulate the youth movement, they’ll block it from happening. And the projected opening night roster after these signings isn’t remotely young anymore.

I think when a rebuilding team has the opportunity to give fourth-line players money, term, no-trade clauses, and bonus-laden contracts, they have to take it.

This is an interesting question and would be a pretty good idea. Signing Beagle would seem to portend a Sutter trade at some point down the line. I’ll answer your question with another question, though: based on the type of moves the Canucks have made in the past, does inflating Sutter’s stats seem like something they would do?

I’ve got nothing, Jamie.

First overall picks just don’t get traded. I think it’s unlikely something like what you’re suggesting could ever materialize with the way the NHL currently operates.

Look, I like Travis Green, but there’s nothing about his first year on the job that gave me the impression he would even want to bench players like Jay Beagle. Brandon Sutter was one of his most utilized players last season. He refused to scratch Michael Del Zotto at any point last season. Even if he felt he could scratch veterans, he’s given no indication that is something he would do.

I can’t even begin to speculate as to why the Canucks have been so attached to such an objectively bad roster. It can’t be that they’re scared trades will make the team less competitive, they’ve been awful for three seasons now. It can’t be because trades weren’t on the table, we know there has been interest in Tanev, Sutter, and even Loui Eriksson. The only answer I can give you is that they feel they aren’t getting fair offers. Let’s be honest, though: there’s a wealth of evidence that this team as awful at negotiating.

Players like Del Zotto and Gudbranson won’t be getting scratched to make room for younger defenders. Hutton and Pouliot will be the odd men out. Maybe even add Troy Stecher to that list.

The rule you’re referring to wouldn’t apply to Hughes, who would be playing in the AHL next season if he signs and doesn’t play with the Canucks. The NCAA doesn’t allow players who have signed NHL contracts to play, so Hughes can’t return to college if he signs. No matter what, Hughes will burn the first year of his ELC if he signs.

EDIT: Turns out I completely misremembered things. This rule does apply to Hughes. If he signs before December 31st and plays 9 games or less he will not burn the first year of his ELC.

Adam Gaudette will start the season in the AHL. There won’t be any surprise forwards who make the team out of camp. Nikolay Goldobin could be on the outside looking in, too. As far as Virtanen goes, I think the organization has accepted at this point that he’s a bottom six player, so that’s where I expect to see him.

You’re correct to point out Ryan Johnson as someone who has a bright future in the organization. Jonathan Wall seems like a bright guy who could move up the ranks at some point in the future. I’m also curious as to whether or not Thomas Gradin might be interested in moving into a managerial role. He’s done an excellent job on the amateur scouting side of the organization, I wonder if that would translate to operations at the pro level.

Refer to the answer to question #5.

Despite Trevor Linden’s recent comments about weaponizing cap space, I get the impression that the Canucks are still a little bit behind a large chunk of the league when it comes to acquiring bad contracts. It wasn’t long ago that Jason Botchford reported that Jim Benning expressed genuine confusion at the concept.

For better or worse, the Canucks seem to have a very straightforward approach to player acquisition. If they’re goign to trade for a player, there will have to be genuine interest. I’m guessing they didn’t like any of the players with bad contracts that were on the marke

You know, in spite of the well-earned criticism, I still think the Canucks are closer to contention than either of Montreal or Ottawa. Montreal loves to trade good players for worse players, and has no centre depth whatsoever. Ottawa is just a complete gong show and likely will be until the team is sold. I give Calgary the advantage over Vancouver, though. The Dougie Hamilton trade was questionable, but Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin are still good players and they have a great forward group. I wouldn’t bat an eye at them making the playoffs next season.

I’m not sure what you mean. What’s my crazy prediction? My crazy prediction is that none of the Canucks young prospects will make the team out of camp. No Pettersson, no Gaudette, no Hughes, no Juolevi, no Dahlen, no Demko. I don’t really believe that, but it’s the craziest thing I could see realistically happening.