WWYDW: Defense Pairings
4 years ago
The Canucks made their big splash in free agency on Monday, signing Tyler Myers to a 5-year, $30 million contract. They also added a bit of depth on the back end in the form of Jordie Benn and Oscar Fantenberg.
Heading in to next season, things are shaping up to look very different on the blueline. What defense pairings would you like to see?
Last week I asked: Who would you like to see the Canucks go after in free agency?
Goon:
Ideally, do nothing. This team is not yet good enough to warrant chasing big-money free agents.
If Benning absolutely must sign Myers, anything more than $6 million per or 5 years total would be an absolute disaster. If you could get him for $5.5×4 it’s still not great, but it wouldn’t be an albatross.
North Van Halen:
Vancouver has $17mil in cap space. Sign Boeser, Goldie, Myers & Nyqvist and Vancouver has $0 cap space. In fact, the Canucks would likely need to shed salary at that point. Well at least we know why they had to let Ben go (though the dude ain’t worth near $4mil). How do they justify this?
Somebody at Canuck HQ is trying to rush the process and it seems everyone can see this but those at Arthur Griffiths Way. Personally, I think the best move for this franchise would be to sit on our hands July 1, wait for the stupid contracts to shake out (staring straight at Tyler Myers) then pickup a couple of the value contracts from the leftovers. I’d follow that up by waiting on the teams in cap pinches and seeing if I could use some of that cap space to alleviate their problems for other value contracts or prospects & picks (has anyone ever told Benning he’s allowed to trade draft picks he acquires from other teams, they are useful).
What I absolutely would not do is tie up term and contract on more 30 year olds. If these contracts are going to mean needing to jettison more contracts both now and when Petey and Hughes contracts are up, then they shouldn’t even be considered. This team needs to take advantage of their cap space and young core, not create future cap issues with potential anchor contracts.
If Myers and Nyqvist become Canucks with term and high dollar contracts, any goodwill this management group has accumulated will be gone as well as my patience. At that point, they should be judged exclusively by the team thats fielded this October and it will be playoffs or bust, each move that attempts to accelerate the rebuild diminishes my patience.
Somebody at Canuck HQ is trying to rush the process and it seems everyone can see this but those at Arthur Griffiths Way. Personally, I think the best move for this franchise would be to sit on our hands July 1, wait for the stupid contracts to shake out (staring straight at Tyler Myers) then pickup a couple of the value contracts from the leftovers. I’d follow that up by waiting on the teams in cap pinches and seeing if I could use some of that cap space to alleviate their problems for other value contracts or prospects & picks (has anyone ever told Benning he’s allowed to trade draft picks he acquires from other teams, they are useful).
What I absolutely would not do is tie up term and contract on more 30 year olds. If these contracts are going to mean needing to jettison more contracts both now and when Petey and Hughes contracts are up, then they shouldn’t even be considered. This team needs to take advantage of their cap space and young core, not create future cap issues with potential anchor contracts.
If Myers and Nyqvist become Canucks with term and high dollar contracts, any goodwill this management group has accumulated will be gone as well as my patience. At that point, they should be judged exclusively by the team thats fielded this October and it will be playoffs or bust, each move that attempts to accelerate the rebuild diminishes my patience.
Forever 1915:
Friedman had an interesting take: “I just don’t know if there’s a team that has the want or will for Myers other than the Canucks right now.” If this is true, Benning should be picking up on the cap crunches and telling Myers that we want him at a reasonable cost that fits our budget or go elsewhere.
There are only 5 teams spending less on defence than the Canucks. Boston and the Canucks already have 7 defencemen under contract so technically, we don’t need Myers. The other 4 teams (Ottawa, Columbus, Toronto, and Dallas) have 5 defencemen but Ottawa is cheap, Toronto has no space, and Columbus just hasn’t resigned Werensky and Murray. That leaves Dallas or another team that’s already spending more than the Canucks (19.5% of cap) on defence.
I hope Benning can spin this into a Cody Franson scenario where he was expected to get a massively inflated UFA contract and had to settle on a massively discounted $3.3M x 2 contract.
Kanuckhotep:
I see no reason for Benning to go after any fat FA contract signing come Canada Day. He needs to dump the Sutter and Eriksson contracts and he’s no doubt tried to but found no takers. The Luongo retirement situation was dumped in his lap, most of all by Buttman and J.T. Miller has been added to the mix. And with Brock most of all needed to be signed how can Benning really sign anyone of note in this scenario. I wouldn’t know if ownership has him under the gun to make the playoffs next year in an all-or-nothing decree or not. This post season this year for the Canucks has been the strangest in quite some time. How this turns out is anyone’s guess.
Beer Can Boyd:
Sure hope Benning reads this forum. Every article written about free agency and a potential Myers signing has the fans holding their heads and screaming in agony. NVH is correct, sign one more bad deal and you’re on your own, Jim. We’ve tried to help.
