WWYDW: Opening Night Roster

With the passing of the draft and free agency, the season is officially over now. That means it’s time for months of idle speculation about what next season will look like. Now that the Canucks appear to be done making moves, (for now) what does your opening night roster look like?

I’d be happier if Benning did nothing rather than make a big splash in free agency. Ideally, though, he’ll take a few flyers on low-risk, high-reward reclamation projects. Sign Nail Yakupov to two years at $1-$1.5 million per and see if he can find his form again. Sign Brian Elliott to a one-year, $3 million contract to play a tandem with Markstrom – if he has another up and down year like he did last year, that’s fine, he’s just holding down the fort while Demko gets more experience in the AHL, but if he bounces back to St. Louis numbers, flip him at the deadline. Add a couple low-cost vets who can fill out the lineup, but for the love of god no 6×6 monstrosity contracts that will hamper the team when they’re actually competitive again.

I’d like to see more depth in AHL d-men and forwards, so there are more options than Chaput and Megna when injuries happens or if Goldobin and Boucher do not pan out. I would rather bring in a veteran like Versteeg that can be legitimately flipped opposed to getting someone like Grigilenko as we have enough kids that we need to see if they can play or not. That said, I would sign guys like Yakapov, Grigilenko, and Pirri to two-way contracts if they wanted to prove themselves in the AHL.

There are a few spots to fill and obviously, given the state of the franchise, it’s best to stay away from another high priced Eriksson-type deal. We need another LD to come in and compete for a spot with Holm and Juolevi, another forward or two for the bottom-6 and a netminder to split time with Markstrom.

For the dman spot, Brendan Smith or Trevor Daley could be a decently priced stopgap to play with Guddy or Stecher. I’d like to see a centreman with some playmaking ability come into the bottom-6 so we can leave Sutter to play to his strengths and not have to be a distributor. Burmistrov or Grigorenko are still young and have upside, perhaps they could find some chemistry with our young shooters. Miller is still the best option to play with Markstrom, if he bolts to the Ducks then we go with any of the available 1B guys (Kincaid, Nilsson, Condon, Bernier, etc). A few more young depth forward to fill out the Comets roster would be nice too.

I’d be fine with a few lesser signings and reclamation projects. First, a back-up would be ideal and there are many options.

I’d sign Nail Yakapov to a minimum, 2 way contract.

Sign Grigorenko to a minimum type deal as well. He’s still young and could turn into something in the right environment.

Nesterov and Ty Rattie should get looks as well. Another one to look at but might be too expensive is Kulikov. Nothing wrong with some D depth.

Who I’d like to see the Canucks land:
Grigorenko (young and should be cheap – let him develop as our 4th line C or Utica depth)
Kulikov if its a very cheap deal (played with Guddy before)
Franson on the cheap as well
Yakupov to the bare minimum, 2 way deal as THE reclamation project (likely sent to Utica but worth a gamble)

If these guys fail to impress then they can be waived for Utica and if they’re claimed then so be it. Canucks need depth and talent. They also need to stay far away from another Loui Erikkson type deal.

If we are truly a rebuilding team, then I’d get no one who’s out on the market right now on F and get one depth D and a decent backup to see if Markstrom can take the reins. Up front the focus has to be on player development and at this point most of who we’d pick up as a UFA will simply block the development path of someone already in the system — and none of the projects (including Yakupov and Grigorenko, even Weal) suggest that they’re all that much better than what we have, especially in the role that they’d have in our lineup. Would any of those unfulfilled talents really flourish in a bottom 6 (or fourth line) role? I have a hard time imagining it. If you have Sedin-Sedin-Eriksson as a nominal first line, Horvat-Baertschi-Boeser as a second, Sutter-Granlund-Boucher as a third and Molino-Gaunce-Dorsett/Skille as your fourth with Megna and Chaput returned to their proper place as AHL injury callups I don’t see where you slot the others in. If there’s others that get a shot at a more prominent role with the Canucks I’d prefer it to be Virtanen, Goldobin or even Rodin than one of these others. I know injuries can mess with this plan but you’ve got at least half your forwards on a developmental (though not rookie) plan here. You do need to add one or two semi-competent D but I think that if you can get any better injury luck than the last two years then Edler-Stetcher, Tanev-Juolevi, Hutton-Gudbranson is far better than we had last year. I like the idea of Elliott or maybe Kincaid for a backup goalie. No F’s in the UFA though.

Players are only going to come to Vancouver because a) they’re from here, b) they need more ice-time to prove their worth, or c) they need a job. Accordingly, Benning should be looking at those players that want to come here, see if there is a fit, and then offering a show-me contract. If Benning starts chasing UFA’s who need convincing to be here, then he’s going to pay premiums that he can’t afford.