
It’s Labour Day! Many look at today in different ways – some see it as a fashion cue, some see it as the death of summer, and children everywhere groan at the realities of having to go back to school. I like to take positives out of it, however; it’s the last major holiday until hockey! Though, at the same time, the grocery stores are closed. The last second race to buy food yesterday was.. interesting. Anyway, lets tackle some questions.
@JGarrettsMuzzy asked: What would Christopher Higgins fetch in a trade?
You have to imagine that a team would give up a decent asset, no? $2.5 million for a veteran who is typically good for about 40 points is quite good, and two years is about as long as I’d like a 32 year old signed (more than a rental, less than having to be stressed regarding a bad year).
As long as he doesn’t regress, I could see him being worth a second round pick and a lower range prospect. Maybe more, if a couple of teams get involved.
@ALaudBrother asked: How hampered as a non-contending team would the Canucks be if they signed Milan Lucic?
The Canucks wouldn’t be hampered at all as non-contenders. Lucic is a good hockey player who adds value when he’s on the ice. The reality, however, is that the salary cap is a thing that exists. “Lucic-lite” players consistently get paid inflated amounts of money in unrestricted free agency, so the real deal is probably going to get something ridiculous.
If the Canucks are bad to decent, Lucic makes them better and doesn’t hamper them. But he’ll eat up so much of their cap space that when it’s time to compete, they won’t be able to afford “missing piece” type of guys. That’s the trade-off. Point to the Bruins all you want, but when he got his cup ring, he was on the first year of a contract that paid him less than $4.1 million per year. That isn’t ever happening again.
@kytheguy11 asked: Which prospects crack the lineup and stick through this next season?
Our top two are the very obvious picks in this conversation. Sven Baertschi has been so close to being a regular NHL player that we almost didn’t classify him as a prospect, and will undoubtedly start the year as Vancouver’s second line left winger next season. “Silver medalist” Jake Virtanen is likely too good for junior (assuming you buy into the injuries causing some of the drop in production last year), but whether or not he’s ready yet is something that we’ll see in the upcoming rookie tournament, training camp, and pre-season. Frank Corrado could be an option on the point, but for everybody else, regular NHL minutes are a long shot this season.
@DaveHeikkila asked: Realistically, what is the best case scenario for Brandon Sutter this year?
The best case scenario, quite honestly, is for everybody to treat him like a player and not an asset. The Canucks exhibited poor asset management in acquiring him and signing him to the contract that he was given, but that isn’t on him – what’s on him is his on-ice performance, he should be able to bring the type of speedy, goal-suppression type of two-way hockey that earned him his reputation to begin with.
As well, it would be really beneficial to Sutter if Bo Horvat had a great sophomore season. Sutter is best suited to the third line, and if Horvat can comfortably beat him out for the second-line centre role, than people will likely take it as “Bo developed quickly” rather than “oh no, Sutter is bad”, and Sutter can, again, focus on the elements in his game that make him likable.
@teamhotdads asked: Why are the Canucks trying to hurt be by being so bad at hockey?
Are you seriously asking someone who is accused of having a Toronto bias why the Canucks are going to be so bad at hockey?
With all due respect, no matter how many questionable things this team has done this offseason, this isn’t bad at hockey.
Bad at hockey is giving up 40 shots a game. Bad at hockey is allowing goals from 1.5 Cloutier’s away. Bad at hockey is giving a contract extension to a head coach who believed that helmets caused more concussions than they prevented for, and a general manager who was out-performed in an offseason by a potato. Bad at hockey is intentionally trying to tank, and then having a fourth liner score a hat-trick in his last game of his career to bump you two spots in the draft. That’s without even getting to the Buffalo and Edmonton levels of bad.
The worst case scenario for the Canucks is that they end up being slightly worse than mediocre. After a stretch of being awesome, I understand that it feels terrible, but trust me, things could be a heck of a lot worse than they are right now.