WWYDW: #TeamTank

The Canucks can’t even lose properly, or so it goes in the wake of their third win in the last four games with last night’s 4-1 stomping of the Ducks in front of the Rogers Arena faithful.

It’s a fascinating thing — watching fans of the Canucks absolutely lose their shit on Twitter, if you’ll pardon my french, over a win. Everyone knows why that’s happening though. At this stage in the Canucks’ season, it’s not about winning hockey games; it’s about losing enough to get the best possible odds in the draft lottery.

Now, I get both sides of this argument. I can understand, appreciate even, the argument that a sports team should play to win, no matter the circumstances. And in spite of what their fans want, that’s always what’s going to happen.

Then again, the best way to build a sustainably contending hockey team is with high draft picks. It’s not the only way, but it’s the most reliable way to do it. Just look at some of the Stanley Cup victors of recent years if you don’t believe me. So, why even bother at this stage? These wins are pointless. The team isn’t making the playoffs now or even next year in all likelihood.

So, with that, I want to ask you this question. It’s not a “What Would You Do” per se, but a “Where Do You Stand”, and I want to know where you stand on the issue of tanking in hockey. The floor is yours!

Last week I asked: The Canucks have made so many moves to counter stretches like these, and it’s hard to see how any of them have made even a shred of a difference. So, with that, I’m asking you, the reader, what you would do to prevent this. Get creative. Trades, free agency, you name it. I just need suggestions that will make this team a little bit more fun — this is supposed to be fun, right?

Actually, I would say for Canucks to embrace it. Stop fighting it. They suck. Rebuild properly, or be stuck in purgatory.

Otherwise, embrace the Colorado model. Not sure it will work, but it’s the best direction. If they went after someone like Carlson, they would have to way overpay. Bad idea.

Bring in Pettersson, Gaudette, Dahlen, and Joulevi.

Sacrifice one of Sutter’s balls to entreat the Hockey Gods to win the draft lottery, then ask someone else to donate one for next year’s draft lottery.

More talent, more depth and less injuries. With the talent they have in the NHL and AHL this year, the Canucks would have to be healthy to have a chance at being a bubble team. Every time they suffered injuries to important players the results showed on the ice (Horvat, Baertschi and Tanev in December and Baertschi, Boeser and everyone else to end the season). Not many teams could remain in the playoffs losing two thirds of their top line and other legitimate top 9 players for huge chunks of the season. The lack of organizational depth in the AHL and NHL showed when they had injuries. The replacements were literally replacement level or lower. If Pettersson, Dahlen, Gaudette, Lind and Gadjovich are in the AHL next year, the Canucks will be able to call up players with more upside. Some of them will end up being like Goldobin and Boucher struggle to show they belong, but others will likely make it hard to send them back down. The depth won’t be quite that good in the AHL next year as the fans will revolt if some of those players aren’t on the team.

Oh, interesting? All that’s left for that would be a couple of things: 1. Demko for a few, just because… (didn’t hurt Boeser, did it?). 2. A Mea Culpa from all in management AND coaching. Sorry Greener, you broke Hutton and the development of Goldy spotty; Boucher? Non-existent. (I’ll give you Virt, but we needed so much more, including Markstrom. They all failed. Benning did NOT supply either enough or the right depth. Trevor? Get the messaging right and the fans would eat out of your hand; you’re loved, use that leverage. “Development is our top priority; getting younger, our top priority. Winning will come; we will choose our “core” culture carriers and no free agent signings that will prevent our youth from gaining experience, both good and bad. Our youth WILL make mistakes and will be sent right back out onto the ice.” We are “building” a championship team; anything else will be a failure.

I’m actually a pretty big supporter of this site and love to joke around and have been following for a pretty long time… this is the worse post I have seen.

It’s so obviously biased, anti canuck propaganda.

A) this team is a shell of the team that started the season so they aren’t “falling apart” they are missed how many of there best players all season and this was a team that needed everything to go right, just to be competitive. Cause, you know… they are rebuilding…

B) if it’s so “difficult to cover this team right now” than let’s focus on the future because we got an unprecedented level of skilled prospects and another high end draft pick coming, dahlin or no dahlin. We also have a potential elite talent probably joining the team next year.

You guys got time to write this trash but can’t finish the prospect reports on the most interesting and optimistic subject of this team right now…

Did that Freud troll draft this up?

Come on, this is not the level of writing nor analysis that this is… or what I though it was suppose suppose to be producing.

Rant over.

well…first I’d conduct deep player interviews and interviews with Green to determine if there are any issues with communications between the players and the coach.

I’d resign the Sedins as cheaply as possible for one or two years.
I’d let Dowd walk.
I’d try to find takers for Guddy, Del Zotto, Gagner, and maybe Sutter at the draft.
I’d trade Sven and Granlund if there was a decent (2nd round or better type) return. If not I’d resign both of them as cheap as possible.
I’d ask Edler to waive and try to trade him at the draft. (probably won’t work)
I’d still insist on an A+ prospect plus a first round pick for Tanev. If I couldn’t get it I’d resign him now for another 3 to 4 years.
Resign Stetcher, Pouloit, Jake and Boucher. Making sure I could bury them in the minors if I had to.
I’d see if I could lock up Boeser for max term at around 6 million. Might be willing to go to 7.
Try to trade Neilsson and then bring up Demko for the backup.
Draft a D with our first round pick. Hopefully number one but even at number 2 overall. Because of Button’s article Bouchard would be my choice.
I’d go D again in the 2nd round and if I managed to get another 2nd round pick I’d make sure to get a goalie.
I’d look to sign some decent but cheap younger UFA shot suppressing D men as hold overs, maybe guys like Michal Kempny, Greg Pateryn or Mark Barberio….(really don’t know much about them just that their shot suppression numbers are pretty good…more of an example rather than specifics)
If I could get Evander Kane for 6 million per….then…..y……yeah…I’d do it.

Something like that.

The Canucks need to embrace going young… follow the examples set by Colorado and New Jersey. They got rid of there old players and embraced youth. Winnipeg has also done this, to a certain extent, although they’ve taken a longer more methodical approach with how they’ve developed their prospects and are now one of the best teams in the NHL.

1) Get creative. Canucks need to be willing to deal anybody not named Boeser, Virtanen, Horvat, and Stecher on this current team. Nobody should be safe from a deal. Is there an offer to offload Sutter? No heinous contract coming back? Take it, even if it’s a third and a b prospect and a guy you have to stash in the minors (like what the Leafs do from time to time). Somebody wants Markstrom? Maybe it’s time to move on from him. Or Nilsson. Whatever comes first in terms of a palpable deal. And if anybody wants any of our defensemen, they should not be safe. Despite Gudbranson just signing an extension, if I had my way, I’d still consider dealing him. At the end of the day, I’d just try and dump as many contracts as I could to whoever would be willing to take them.

2) Open up spots for youth. Canucks should be wide open at the start of next training camp with roster spots. Opening up upwards of 5-6 spots throughout the lineup. Instead of signing guys on July 1st, Canucks should be on the hunt for guys to sign to tryouts for training camp. This way youth can fight to be on the roster. From my count, upwards of 5 rookies could claw their way into this lineup. That’s insane, I know, but think about it — Gaudette, Petersson, Dahlen, Demko, and Juolevi have legitimate shots to make this club and will need roster spots. On top of this, you have guys like Jalen Chatfield, Evan McEneny, Michael Carcone, Zack MacEwen, and whoever the 1st rounder of 2018 is (if it’s one of the top 3 guys picked, you can count on them making a GIANT push for a roster spot). By committing to guys on tryouts instead of handing out deals on July 1st, the Canucks can easily sign veteran depth in the event a majority of these guys aren’t ready to play in the majors. However, as the league gets younger and faster, I have a hard time believing they’ll all sink when they show up into the NHL. Especially guys like Petersson, Gaudette, and Juolevi.

3) Let the Sedins walk. If they want to play in the NHL, let them sign elsewhere. This team needs to become Horvat and Boeser’s. The time is now to transition. We’ve had 3 seasons of collapses under the Sedins. Sure, there points will be missed, but they’re only getting older. The young guys need to be responsible and the roster spots the Sedins occupy are too valuable. If there was only 1 Sedin, it would be easier to want to re-sign them. But there’s two. And at this point, I’d only want Daniel back. Henrik clearly doesn’t have much left in the tank. Besides, I think they’d benefit the most from playing elsewhere without the burden of legacy and history and pressure on them going for one last run at a cup.

4) If Demko’s not ready and you move one of Markstrom or Nilsson, Canucks should consider waiting until waivers to pluck a goalie. A guy I think could be a savvy pickup, if he’s available, is Garret Sparks of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I’ve always liked him as a player and think he’d be a good goalie partner to Demko in the long run. He’s one of the best goalies in the AHL right now and could have been claimed on waivers this past year but wasn’t. With the Maple Leafs also having Calvin Pickard in their system, I can see Sparks getting sent down again. This would be the time for the Canucks to pounce on a guy like Sparks.

Essentially, I believe the Canucks need to get creative with how they approach the future from here on out and that’s WWYD if I could.