Welcome back to another edition of WWYDW. We’d like to again take this opportunity to wish you all well, and we hope everyone is staying safe out there.

It’s been about as busy a week of news in the NHL as a non-operational league can have, and some of that news involved something that hangs over the head of the Vancouver Canucks’ fanbase on a daily basis – the salary cap.

According to Andy Strickland and a few other sources, the NHL’s cap will stay flat at $81.5 million for the 2020/21 season, whenever that happens to occur. These reports are, as of this writing, unconfirmed, but they’ve already got a number of franchises, including the Canucks, squirming.

The last time the salary cap was set lower than expected – coming out of the 2012/13 lockout – the league solved the issue by granting each team two compliance buyouts, which they could use to free themselves of any two contracts without any cap-related penalties. The players bought out are still entitled to two-thirds of their salary, as with a regular buyout, but their cap hit completely disappears.

And though any further compliance buyouts would have to be negotiated and agreed upon by the both the NHL and the NHLPA, history suggests they represent the simplest and most justifiable way to avoid having the bulk of the league experience a cap crisis next year.

If the Vancouver Canucks were to be given one singular compliance buyout to use in the next offseason, we all know who it would be used on. But, last time, there were not one, but two compliance buyouts on offer.

With that in mind, this week we’re asking you:

 

Last week, we asked:

Your responses are below!

 

Pretty hard to not go Sedin – Sedin – Bure…in their prime, they would be dominant. Linden could be my alternate.

Defense is where it gets trickier.

Instead of going back in time where these greats were in their prime, I will time travel ahead and take Hughes on LD. He will be that good and he may already be that good.

RD is challenging. I would nominate Lidster. He was a very good player for us and a puck-mover before we called them puck-movers. Too bad we lost him to get expansion draft protection.

So, I have:

For goalie. I take Luongo. He did win an Olympic Gold Medal, after all.

 

I think everyone will take Danny-Hank-Pavel and Lou in goal.

Defense is tougher, with Edler/Hughes on LD and Salo/Juice on RD.

I will go with Hughes and Salo as the D pairing.

One caveat.

If it’s just all-time, I go Juice, but if they play together, Salo’s shot would be incredible with Hughes’ skating and passing.

 

Daniel-Henrik-Pavel up front. Kirk McLean in goal. D is harder, because of RH shots. But historically it should be Edler on left and Salo on right. Apologies to Ohlund, QH, and JovoCop on the backend.

 

For once, I’m going to chime in with my own answer!

That’s the obvious answer up front. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how well Bure’s lightning-speed game would mesh with that of the Sedins, but this is an All-Star squad, not an everyday lineup. Prime Todd Bertuzzi is the guy who I think would be the best actual fit on the right wing.

That’s right, I’ll say it – Hughes is well on his way to being the greatest defenseman in franchise history, if he’s not there already. The right-side choice was much more difficult. Considered Doug Lidster, but ultimately went with Prime Tanev, who is probably the best defensive defender the Canucks have ever had.

This one is pretty easy. I love Kirk McLean, but he never reached Lu’s peak.

Who is probably the only coach creative enough to make that Sedin-Sedin-Bure line work!

 

Just to be a contrarian, I’ll take the future Petey (at 24 and still a Canuck), flanked by World Junior teammates ’95/96 Mogilny with 55 goals and 107 points, and ’92/93 Bure‘s 60 goals and 110 points. (Though I hate Bure, and Sedin could replace Petey.)

I also don’t give a rat’s butt about sides, I’m gonna throw out any age Quinn Hughes cuz he’s that good and ’89/90 Paul Reinhart with 17 goals and 57 points in 67 games (who sadly was the most talented pre-Hughes defenseman we’ve had.)

Of course, Luongo is the best goalie we ever had but my backup is Gary ‘Suitcase’ Smith, cuz he dragged us to our first division title and his drop kicks when he had time with the puck were awesome!

 

It really is debatable. The `82 team had Gradin between Smyl and Fraser, and they were dominant even against Trottier and the Cup-winning Islanders right up till (as someone noted Snepsts to Bossy), but also Hlinka and Boldirev for strength down the middle. I`d go with Hlinka in his prime, who was comparable to Lemaire being as solid as a rock – but then I have to wonder, was Lemaire the best center the Canadiens ever had?

No debate about Bure. He was electric. Tanti on LW was another pure goal scorer so I`d say Tanti – Hlinka – Bure.

On D, maybe Ohlund and Hughes.

 

So, I’m going to include some toughness. Can’t dispute the Sedins up front. Although, I think Petey will be better in the future.

Henrik, Daniel and Bertuzzi to bust some heads when the opposing team rubs their gloves in the Sedins’ face.

On right D, I’ll go with Jeff Brown, as he was the best defenseman for the Canucks during the

‘94 Cup run. He also put up 78 points in 71 games for the Blues. On left D, I’ll go with Jovanovski. The guy could skate and didn’t hesitate to drop the gloves.

In net, I’ll go with McLean. Not because I think he was better than Luongo, but because he was mentally stronger. Luongo choked against the Bruins.

That’s my team. Skilled and when push comes to shove. They can beat up your team in the playoffs.

 

Lots of people have already said Sedin-Sedin-Bure up front, and I don’t know who else you’d choose. Goal I also think is obvious = Luongo.

I think the backend is where it gets more complicated. I’ll push for Lumme and Edler, regardless of side. I did think about Kearns, but he has a plus-minus of -155 and, even if that stat doesn’t mean nearly as much as it might seem, it means SOMETHING. Even the ‘80s guys like Lanz, Butcher, or Lidster don’t plum such depths.

For coach I’ll take AV.

 

C’mon, you guys, give us the whole lineup – four lines, three pairs and two goalies! Can you find a spot for Gino?

 

“Consider each player to be at their peak performance AS A CANUCK.” I’m reading this to mean “the best that any Canuck ever performed at this position.” If this is indeed the criteria, then there should be no argument that the goalie should be Richard Brodeur. No Canuck goalie, not Luongo, not McLean, not Markstrom, has come anywhere close to the performance that King Richard put on for 6 weeks in the spring of 1982. On the other hand, if its a lifetime achievement award, I’ll go with McLean. Luongo played on a far better team in a much easier era for goaltenders, mainly due to enhanced equipment and much tighter defensive systems.

As for the rest, Sedin-Sedin-Bure is a given, and I’d go Ohlund and Bieksa on the defence. Edler and Jovo would get consideration, but the left/right thing made me take Juice.

 

Sorry, Hank and Danny, but these guys are just better…No Sedinery but straight-ahead go-after-it guys who could play powerplay and PK, and score lightning-quick goals.

Can you imagine how good Hughes would be with a 6’4″, 233 pound hard-hitting partner who could do it all. Just saying. Really wanted Jovo in there, but threw the kid in for fun

Captain Kirk is the most clutch goalie Canucks ever had. Sorry Luo. Luongo had better stats, but McLean would win you the big games. Didn’t need a silly ‘C’ on his jersey. Didn’t seek the limelight. Never a showboat. Never bigger than the team.

Coach: The big Irishman…Pat Quinn.