Monday Mailbag: Tyler Myers, Alternate Captains, and the Ryan Kesler Apology Tour

My hope is that it doesn’t come to that, because Demko is a hell of a price to pay just to dump a year of salary. With any luck, the Canucks will either find other ways to clear cap space. or another potential Eriksson deal that doesn’t involve shipping away a premium asset like Thatcher Demko. If it comes down to signing Pettersson and Hughes or losing Demko, though, you make that trade ten times out of ten, especially because there’s a decent chance they’ll lose Demko anyway.

I would imagine that a rebuilding team would be very interested in taking on Eriksson’s contract if the Canucks attach a young starting goaltender. My guess is that both the Sens and Wings would probably have interest, but it’s always tough to know when it comes to goalies because teams differ in pretty significantly in their process for evaluating netminders.

There will always be outliers who don’t play an NHL game until well into their late twenties and go on to make an impact, but I think it’s disingenuous to call a 24-year-old player a “prospect”, even if he may have a chance to break into the NHL at some point. Based on what we know about aging curves, the vast majority of hockey players will be reaching their peak by the age of 24, and it they aren’t knocking on the door by that point, it’s far more likely that they will remain AHL depth than ever see any significant time in the NHL.

For whatever it’s worth, we’ve used Calder eligibility in the past to determine which players will be included on our prospect lists.

I can’t speak for anyone other than myself, but when Myers was signed, reactions from the CA staff seemed to range from abject horror to indifference. It’s not the most ringing endorsement, but I think the consensus is that the contract is much worse than the player, who has mostly been hit-or-miss this season. He provides some offensive pop from the back end and has been okay in terms of shot and expected goal shares, but he’s been questionable defensively and prone to ill-timed gaffes. In other words, he’s been more or less what people expected. My biggest concern is that, at 30 years old with four more years on his deal, Myers is due for a significant decline. There’s a decent chance he’s a replacement or below replacement-level player by the time his contract expires, which is less than ideal for a team that has a lot of young players they need to re-sign.

I think Miller is an excellent choice based on everything I’ve heard about him from an off-ice perspective. He’s clearly a leader on the ice, given how strong his play has been this year, so he seems like a natural fit. Jay Beagle might be another candidate given his reputation around the league and status as one of the team’s oldest players, and Tyler Myers plays a fairly significant role as well, so he’s probably on the shortlist. I think eventually Elias Pettersson is going to get an A, not only because he’s the team’s best player, but because there have been countless stories to come out about how much he’s inspired teammates to work harder on and off the ice, but he’s probably still a little young.

I don’t really agree with the premise of this question, if I’m being entirely honest. Neither is “wrong” because both are a description of events that have occurred. The standings are “right” insofar as they describe what happened. The Canucks have won more games than other teams in the Pacific. The underlying metrics are also “right”, insofar as they indicate that the Canucks have allowed a lot of shots and scoring chances, and have been saved by their goaltending and, to a lesser degree, their high-end talent.

Traditionally, one of these things has been more predictive of future wins than the other, but no one can say that either is wrong. The Canucks have won a lot of games, and you can’t change that just because they haven’t played particularly well. At the same time, I’d also probably bet against them in a playoff series against any team that isn’t in the Pacific.

That’s a tough one. I think people underestimate how difficult it is to get ice-time in the KHL as a youngster, and for that reason, I give the edge to Podkolzin, especially given his physical tools, but it’s very close.

I don’t know who “you guys” are, but I think it’s perhaps even more important to point out a bad decision making process when it leads to favourable results than unfavourable ones because it’s less likely to be scrutinized. Ultimately, my opinion on the Miller trade hasn’t changed a whole lot, because a couple of bounces are likely to determine who does or doesn’t make the playoffs in the Pacific, and the risk always outweighed the reward. Only a few wins separate the best team in the Pacific from the one that won’t make the playoffs, and no one if praising this trade if the Canucks end up giving up a top-three pick. I appear to be one of the few people in the market that doesn’t have blind faith in a management team that’s made its fair share of mistakes, and I’m not going to suddenly change my mind on this trade because a bunch of teams in the Western Conference simultaneously imploded.

I think the main lesson to be learned from every team that unloaded a first round pick this offseason is that it’s very hard to predict where a team will end up at the end of the season in June. So many teams misjudged their window this offseason, and a couple of wins is going to make the difference between those that make the playoffs and those that miss. If I had one takeaway from any of the moves involving first round picks this year, it’s that it’s unwise to deal a first in the offseason under the new lottery system unless you’re one of the 5-8 teams in the league that could truly be considered elite.I thi

I think it’s a little of column A and a little of column B. I believe Kelser when he says he was simply playing the heel after being traded to Anaheim and that he has a new perspective on things now that he’s older and wiser. At the same time, I think it’s a lot easier to be apologetic when you’re in your mid-thirties with a broken-down body and no cup. At the end of the day, he played his best years here and I think he has a vested interest in being remembered for that time, regardless of whether or not his apology is sincere.

At the end of the day, he has no reason to be embarrassed. He was single-minded in his quest for a cup, and sometimes you have to step on a few toes to get to that goal. His assessment of the team was also ultimately correct, because they didn’t round the corner towards competitiveness again until this season, so it’s hard to blame him for his decision to jump ship. But he also can’t expect everyone to forgive and forget so quickly. It’s going to take some time.