WWYDW: The… Vegas Model?
By J.D. Burke
5 years agoSomehow, someway, the Vegas Golden Knights are in the Stanley Cup final. They have a 12-3 record in the playoffs, serving as an exclamation point on the 51-24-7 mark they set in the season.
Nobody (not even Petbugs), saw this coming. Not a damn soul. Even the Vegas Golden Knights thought they were two or three seasons off from the post-season, and four-to-five from taking a real run at the ultimate prize.
There’s been a lot of post-hoc rationalizing in all corners of the hockey world, regardless. A lot of it serves as useless navel-gazing. Every now and then, though, you find a couple of pieces that look to explore underlying reasons for the Knights success with honest, thorough analysis to see what everyone might’ve missed. This piece from CanucksArmy’s Ryan Biech does a great job of that; so too does this one by The Athletic Vancouver’s Jason Brough.
So, you’re not going to impress anyone by saying you saw this coming. You’ll just look like a giant ass. Instead, what do you think is a useful lesson that one might learn from then, with the benefit of hindsight. What would you do, if given the opportunity to pick a lesson from the success of the Golden Knights inaugural season?
Last time I did this I asked: Where does Baertschi fit with the Canucks? Is he somebody who’s going to be around with the team when they’re ready to compete? Has he done anything to prove he’s worth more than a one- or two-year contract? Is he better off being used as a trade chip?
West Coast Hockey Fan:
Edmonton wants to win now… Edmonton needs a winger … Edmonton needs a right d… Edmonton needs cap space… Edmonton makes great trades (ex. Hall and Eberle)…
hmm Vancouver has a winger (Baertschi)… Vancouver has a right d (Tanev)… Vancouver has cap space and could retain salary…. Vancouver should know they are not going to win soon…
What am I missing?
SJ:
I’d listen to offers for him, but prefer to keep him. If the offers don’t blow you away, use what leverage you have (injury history, etc.) to sign him to the best contract you can in 3-4 year range. He’ll probably prove to be worth the contract, but either way it’ll be expiring at or just after you have to pay Pettersson.
Killer Marmot:
Keep him.
Baertschi is a favourite recommendation for trades, yet I don’t see why. He’s a young defensively sound middle-six left-winger who can produce perhaps 50 points a season when he’s healthy. Those guys don’t grow on trees.
Nor are the Canucks overrun with left wingers, even assuming that this is where Petterson will play. Eriksson can move to the right side on those rare occasions when all the LW are healthy.
apr:
One of the most frustrating things in this market, and fueled by the writers on this site (a free site that I visit often) is the notion of unwanted Canucks players (Sutter, Gubrandson, Vanek, Granlund, Baertschi, etc..) will fetch a premium asset.
The “late first rounder” or early 2nd for Baertschi is prime example. What cap strapped playoff team want to give up a first for a guys who has not scored 20 goals and is looking for $3 mil a year? Or a non playoff team wanting Baertschi to block one of their prospects? Is there one? Maybe, hopefully. But the reality is that there is not a huge market for Baertschi; and by all accounts, teams are willing to wait out Benning (as in Vanek) and give him peanuts because they know this market demands so so much more.
Rodeobill:
Not only with Baerschi, but anyone who can be utilized towards making this team a legitimate contender looking forward by getting more than they are worth to that end should be considered! The age gap disparity, along with all other details are a secondary consideration to be looked at once the core of a real contending team is in place. Watching these playoffs I realized, almost every team has at least one player that stands out as a game changer, or elite. Even the bottom teams this year have a McD, a Karlsson, etc. (sorry, yotes). We have MAYBE Boeser, and unproven hopes for EP. So, yeah. If we can get a greater value back, then do it! If we can get a greater value back from trading Horvat, do it! Plugging holes in the dam is futile. All focus should be firstly on getting prospects and drafting a core that looks like they can do it, and icing a team ‘in the meantime’ a secondary consideration to that.
truthseeker:
To me Baertschi is in a weird no mans land in terms of his value. He’s probably not even an after thought to GM’s in the league. Yet he’s done fairly well here. It’s a product of his position being of such low value and the fact that there are a ton of wingers who do what he does. He’s just another NHL winger that nobody outside of Vancouver even thinks about. Like say….Brock McGinn. Yeah…exactly….who’s that. He’s a 30 point winger for the Canes. whoopty doo right?
So the idea that Sven will bring back a first rounder is just dream land. But not because he’s not performing. Maybe technically he is worth that. But he plays the least valuable position outside of backup goalie, in hockey. He’s just another winger.
In my opinion his value is higher to the canucks on the ice than anything he will ever bring back, including the garbage odds of a second round pick or lower who will only have a roughly 35% chance of ever even making it to 100 games in the NHL. Sven’s already blown that kind of production out of the water.
So basically just sign the guy to a year or two and keep doing what they are doing. Give him opportunity and hopefully he either blossoms into an even better player we want to keep, or into a trade chip that will bring something of real value back. Or he breaks and is just another canucks footnote.
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