Monday Mailbag: Tanev on a one-year deal, Roussel’s value, and the greatest individual Canucks’ performance

Another week, another mailbag. Let’s see what you wonderful people asked this week!

My best memory with having Cory Hergott as a co-worker and recurring guest on Chris Faber and I’s podcast is how he was always (and continues to be) there to answer AHL/ Comets question we had.

Not only that, after you ask your question, you would end up talking and talking, and before you know it, an hour has passed. Cory loves to talk hockey and he does it a lot. I’m happy to see him taking time to be his with family more and I can’t wait for the day when our paths cross again. Now for the second part of that question:

The NHL’s playoff format will be four best of seven series (after the five-game play-in round series of course), with re-seeding after each round. 

According to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the league preferred a bracketed format, but the players favoured the re-seeding format which ultimately won out.

Personally, I like the bracket system, which has been in place since 2014, because it allows fans and media alike to try to predict each series before the playoffs have even begun.

I guess you still can even with re-seeding, but it becomes much more difficult and complicated to predict how each series is going to play out.

The chaos that ensued thanks to upsets in just about every first-round series last year was pure comedy. Nobody’s bracket was right, except for that one person, who probably made their bracket as a joke. Columbus sweeping the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round? Really?

That being said, these are unprecedented times, and at this point, the league needs to get creative, which is why I’m perfectly okay with them taking the re-seeding approach.

The number of people who think a Managing Editor gives marching orders to the contributors on whether or not we’re going to be positive or negative in our coverage of the team.

First of all, it was much to the ire of multiple NHL agents that Chris Tanev said publicly he’d be open to taking a one-year deal in hopes that the market improves next year (hopefully) post-coronavirus.

Tanev wants to stay in Vancouver, and the organization wants to bring him back. He’s their best right-handed defenceman, and is coming off one of the best seasons of his career.

If Tanev were to accept a one year deal, it would benefit the Canucks in numerous ways. It gives the team extra flexibility in the Seattle Expansion Draft next offseason as they would not need to use a protection spot on Tanev, who would be a UFA shortly after the draft takes place.

It also allows them to have more money to play with in order to lock up Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, whose next deals will certainly not come cheap.

Sutter holds some value sure, but we must remember that the Canucks tried hard to find a trade partner to ship Sutter out last offseason. The problem, as I’m sure you could have guessed, is the $4.375 million that Sutter is owed next season. If the Canucks retain some of that salary, then maybe something could be done, but it’s going to be hard to ship Sutter out without attaching an asset along with him — whether that be a future draft pick or prospect.

Thankfully, his contract will be off the Canucks’ books at the conclusion of next season, freeing up a decent amount of money for the Canucks to use to sign Pettersson and Hughes.

Most of all, the Canucks are keeping their fingers crossed that the league grants each team with a contemporary buyout so they can finally part ways with Loui Eriksson for good.

I mean, it has to be the SHL right?

Barclay Goodrow put up points at a slightly higher pace than Antoine Roussel this season, but he’s also younger and paid $925,000 per year for this season and next. He fetched a first-round pick before the trade deadline, so who’s to say Roussel can’t fetch the Canucks a mid to late-round pick?

A big part of teams’ potential interest in acquiring Roussel will be based on if he can return to the form he showed during his first year as a Canuck. He didn’t look quite the same this year, but who can blame him? His knee injury toward the end of the 2018-19 season was brutal and it was a long road back before Roussel returned at the beginning of December 2019.

Let’s see how Roussel does once the NHL returns to play and go from there. As it stands, I don’t think his play this season will result in many teams calling the Canucks offering them a mid-late pick.

It was all forwards last season, and the cupboards are looking well-stocked when it comes to forward prospects. Vasili Podkolzin, Nils Hoglander, Kole Lind, and if you still count him as a prospect, Zack MacEwen as well, all look as though they have the tools to become full-time NHLers in the near future.

On defence, however, Jack Rathbone appears to be the only prospect who is projected as an NHL top-4 defenceman — and he might not even sign with the team. Olli Juolevi seems like a long shot now, at this point, you just hope he can remain healthy for a full season.

Brogan Rafferty and Guillaume Brisebois both took major strides this season but at best are likely going to be bottom pairing d-men who can slide up to a second pairing if absolutely necessary.

To answer your question, I likely wouldn’t take all defencemen, but I certainly would select more d-men than forwards if I was running the draft.

I’ll say Sutter because he’s got one year less than Beagle on his current contract (although he’s owed about $1 million more than Beagle, as well). For the other guys mentioned, it’s hard to say anyone besides Motte simply because of the uncertainty surrounding Ferland’s future and Roussel’s cap hit.

Motte won’t cost a ton, and for the work he does on the penalty kill and the speed he brings to the fourth line, I say you take that any day.

Honestly, the one that sticks out most in recent memory are two Jacob Markstrom performances.

The first one came on December 12th, 2019 against the Carolina Hurricanes. Markstrom faced an ungodly amount of shots from high percentage areas of the ice and turned away every single one. He got just one goal in run support, and it came in overtime. Here’s the highlight package from this game, which as expected, is basically just a Jacob Markstrom highlight reel.

The second Markstrom performance that stood out to me was on Sedin retirement night against the Blackhawks. The Hawks poured on the pressure late and Markstrom continuously shut the door, serving poetic justice for fans who got to see the Canucks beat the team who terrorized Sedin era teams for so many years.

As he came out for his lap after being named the first star of the game, Markstrom pointed up to the twins’ jerseys which were forever enshrined in the rafters pregame that night.

It was an outstanding performance that tied together a night that turned out perfectly.

What’s the greatest individual performance you’ve seen live? Drop that in the comments below!

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