I would give it to Bertuzzi simply because he’s waited much longer. When you couple that with the somewhat acrimonious manner in which Ryan Kesler departed, I think it’s a no-brainer, although ultimately I think both players belong there.

The Canucks responded on the scoreboard, and in this case I think it was the right call. When I look at the team right now, I don’t see a lack of unity as being a problem. They had no reason to get the Sharks fired up with the way they were dominating them in that game, or to risk injuring another player, so I see this as a non-issue.

I addressed this a little bit in part 1, but I just think Green isn’t particularly high on Stecher for whatever reason. It could be size related, or it could be that his opinion of Stecher has improved, but he just has two other competent and healthy defensemen that he prefers. Needless to say it’s something I’m equally confused by, and I know a number of other figures in the Vancouver media who feel the same way.

I could see the Canucks offloading Loui in his last year under the right circumstances, but I will be surprised if he is considered anything other than a salary dump at this point. If he’s traded at all, it will most likely be for another overpaid player whose base salary is higher than Eriksson’s, but has a smaller cap hit.

To answer your second question, I don’t think it should be controversial to say that Baertschi is a more valuable player in a vacuum than Eriksson is. If I squint hard enough, I can see the case for why you might prefer him on a fourth line, but offensively it’s not remotely close. Over his past three seasons, Baertschi has two more points in 49 less games. If he’s healthy, he deserves to be in the lineup over Eriksson on most nights.

Yes, absolutely. They could trade one of them. That’s about it, unfortunately.

I can see why you might feel that way, but it’s important to note that by sending Biega to the minors, they likely would have been taking away valuable playing time from one of their young, developing defenders, so it’s hard to criticize them too much for it. I also think it’s admirable from a moral standpoint that they tried to find Alex a place where he could be an everyday player after being a good soldier for such a long time. My biggest issue would be the return they got, which seemed like an underpayment even for a depth player like Biega.

The short answer is no, I don’t. That’s not particularly satisfying, though, and it leaves me open to a lot of anger from readers, so I’ll elaborate. I don’t think the question is really whether or not the level of play is sustainable. Only the most dedicated kool-aid drinker would believe that the team is going to continue to score five or more goals every other game, or maintain a shooting percentage of over 10% as a team over the course of the year. The more interesting question is how sustainable it is. While there are certain elements of the team’s success that are bound to come back to earth, it hasn’t been a total mirage, either. While the team’s top line isn’t likely to continue to put up the gaudy totals they have early on, their underlying numbers suggest that they can remain an elite offensive group even as their puck luck begins to dwindle. Similarly, the team as a whole has had fairly promising underlying numbers, which bodes well for their playoff chances. Once again, I expect those numbers to regress as they face tougher competition, but not so much so that they fall back down to where they were last year.

It’s a world where the team’s best young players are another year older and better, have more competent defensemen to help them break out of the zone, and have gotten lucky in the health department so far. It doesn’t significantly assuage my anxieties about their long-term outlook, specifically as it pertains to contracts, but it is genuinely a nice change of pace. The team is fun to watch again, and I’m happy to finally be able to say that.

To be honest, seeing that I poked fun at a half dozen or so old Adam Gaudette social media posts and coming to the conclusion that I personally hate him seems like projection. If I were trying to get him in trouble, you’d think I’d at least tag his employer or something, and I didn’t do that. That is, however, what at least five people did to me when they found out about it. Despite accusations of weepy virtue signalling, most of whining and crying seemed to be coming from the people who for some reason believe it’s unfair to point out that something exists and make fun of it.

Ultimately, if you can’t understand why someone might find the idea of a guy being mad at people for crying during The Fault In Our Stars because it’s disrespectful to veterans, then I can’t help you.

I actually happen to be extremely pro-player, especially when it comes to things like collective bargaining. With a few exceptions such as violent behaviour on and off the ice, or hate speech, I actually try to make a point to try and center my criticisms less around players and more around the decision making processes that led to the Canucks acquiring them or overpaying for their services. For example, I may not have been a fan of the contract Tyler Myers signed, but it is in no way his fault that he signed it, and I would advise every player to take the best deal they can get. I have no issues with him as a person, or with taking the right deal for him and/or his family. I just don’t think expending that kind of money and term on him is a wise decision for the Canucks in the long-term.

As it pertains to Adam Gaudette, I urge you to go back through anything I’ve ever said about him and find anything other than some lighthearted mockery. I happen to think some of the things he’s posted are very silly, but he’s far from the worst the NHL has to awful in that regard given the history some players have of spousal abuse, sexual assault, and vehicular homicide. At the end of the day, I think there are some things that are amusing about him, which I’ve mostly kept to my personal twitter account, outside of this instance, where I’ve been specifically asked to address it on the pages of CanucksArmy. I would suggest perhaps being less sensitive in the future. The internet is not your safe space.