Willander the Great

I really like this signing. If you compare Lankinen’s stats to Saros’ over the past two seasons, they are amazingly almost identical, minus games played of course. That’s a very encouraging metric as this is the closest metric we can get for an apples to apples comparison for him with both those guys on the same team. Needless to say, being the started Saros would’ve seen some tougher teams, but the fact that Lankinen has been basically on par stat wise with an all-star, Vezina finalist goalie like Saros is very encouraging. Saros stats: 2022-23 Nashville Predators 64 63 33 23 -- 7 2099 2.69 .919 2 0 1 0 3809:59 2023-24 Nashville Predators 64 64 35 24 -- 5 1845 2.86 .906 3 0 2 2 Lankinen stats: 2022-23 Nashville Predators 19 18 9 8 -- 1 583 2.75 .916 0 0 0 2 1069:10 2023-24 Nashville Predators 24 17 11 6 -- 0 610 2.82 .908 1 0 1 0

I was so upset the day that we picked him over Boldy, but at the time I’d hoped that our former management knew something that I didn’t. This stings. Also I remember Brian Burke gushing about Podz because he was built like a man, and of course the draft before Burke was crapping on Hughes because he was small. Lol! For such a smart guy Burke definitely had his blatant biases.

I think we did quite well, but I really wish we snagged another goal scorer for the top 6. I think Nashville could be a big winner, although loosing Sherwood could haunt them come playoffs when the game becomes much grittier. I absolutely hate to say this, but I think Edmonton might be a winner as well, inking Arvidsson and Skinner can give them even more goals… ugh! I’m not trying to hate on Leaf Nation here, but I think Toronto is looking like a looser of this free agency. Way too big and too long of contracts for two old defensemen. Another looser in my opinion is Boston. Lindholm and Zadorov are both good players in their own rights, but I really feel like they overpaid for them. And a lot of quality players walked away from their team this free agency… and they all joined the Canucks! Lol

That’s exactly what I thought too. So shocking

I don’t know if this has been posted, but these podcast guys are Maple Leaf fans and hearing what they have to say about Debrusk is actually pretty insightful as they have seen a ton of him in the regular season as well as the playoffs. Long story short, they are ecstatic that’s he signed out west because they hated playing against him… which of course is a good thing lol. “This is a feisty, pain in the ass, hard forechecking, capable scoring player.”

Here’s a good list of the top 75 free agents. It’s from June 30th, and there’s a few names on there that have since signed, such as Tanev, nonetheless it’s a good list. In my opinion there’s quite a few gems on there that the Canucks just might target. One player that a lot of us have been sleeping on IMO is Arvidsson. Here’s the list: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/sticky-divorce-on-tap-steven-stamkos-leads-top-75-free-agents-on-canada-day Rank Player Pos Age Team Cap Hit GP G PTS AFP Projection 1 Steven Stamkos LW/C 34 TBL $8.5M 79 40 81 3 x $6.15M 2 Jonathan Marchessault RW 34 VGK $5M 82 42 69 3 x $6.3M 3 Brady Skjei LD 30 CAR $5.25M 80 13 47 5 x $7.5M 4 Brandon Montour RD 30 FLA $3.5M 66 8 33 6 x $7.7M 5 Chandler Stephenson C 30 VGK $2.75M 75 16 51 5 x $5.63M 6 Elias Lindholm C/RW 30 VAN $4.85M 75 15 44 5 x $6.78M 7 Matt Roy RD 29 LAK $3.15M 81 5 25 5 x $5.85M 8 Nikita Zadorov LD 29 VAN $3.75M 75 6 20 5 x $5.32M 9 Brett Pesce RD 30 CAR $4.03M 70 3 13 5 x $6.3M 10 Matt Duchene C/RW 33 DAL $3M 80 25 65 3 x $4.83M 11 Tyler Toffoli RW 32 WPG $4.25M 79 33 55 4 x $6M 12 Sean Walker RD 30 COL $2.65M 81 10 29 3 x $4.65M 13 Jake DeBrusk LW 28 BOS $4M 80 19 40 5 x $5.8M 14 Shayne Gostisbehere LD 31 DET $4.13M 81 10 56 3 x $5M 15 Viktor Arvidsson RW 31 LAK $4.25M 18 6 15 3 x $4.75M 16 Jonathan Drouin LW 29 COL $825K 79 19 56 4 x $5M 17 Chris Tanev RD 34 DAL $4.5M 75 2 19 3 x $4.5M 18 Teuvo Teravainen LW 30 CAR $5.4M 76 25 53 4 x $5.25M 19 Tyler Bertuzzi LW 29 TOR $5.5M 80 21 43 4 x $5.25M 20 David Perron RW 36 DET $4.75M 76 17 47 2 x $3M 21 Sean Monahan C 30 WPG $2M 83 26 59 4 x $5.3M 22 Jeff Skinner LW 32 BUF $8M 74 24 46 1 x $3.1M 23 Oliver Ekman-Larsson LD 33 FLA $2.25M 80 9 32 3 x $4.1M 24 Brenden Dillon LD 34 WPG $3.9M 77 8 20 2 x $2.9M 25 Nate Schmidt LD 32 WPG $5.95M 63 2 14 2 x $2.4M 26 Vladimir Tarasenko RW 33 FLA $5M 76 23 55 2 x $4.15M 27 Laurent Brossoit G 31 WPG $1.75M 23 2 0.927 2 x $2.2M 28 Alex Wennberg C 30 NYR $4.5M 79 10 30 4 x $3.87M 29 Anthony Duclair LW 29 TBL $3M 73 24 42 3 x $4.33M 30 Yakov Trenin LW/C 28 COL $1.7M 76 12 17 3 x $2.55M 31 Anthony Stolarz G 30 FLA $1.1M 27 2.02 0.925 2 x $2.22M 32 Anthony Mantha LW 29 VGK $5.7M 74 23 44 3 x $4.75M 33 Adam Henrique C 34 EDM $5.83M 82 24 51 3 x $4.3M 34 James van Riemsdyk RW 35 BOS $1M 71 11 38 1 x $1.2M 35 Warren Foegele LW 28 EDM $2.75M 82 20 41 3 x $3.9M 36 Jason Zucker LW 32 NSH $5.3M 69 14 32 2 x $3.7M 37 Stefan Noesen RW 31 CAR $763K 81 14 37 3 x $3.2M 38 Michael Amadio RW 28 VGK $763K 73 14 27 3 x $3.1M 39 Jani Hakanpaa RD 32 DAL $1.5M 64 2 12 1 x $1.5M 40 Matt Dumba RD 30 TBL $3.9M 76 4 12 3 x $3M 41 Ryan Suter LD 39 DAL $3.65M 82 2 17 1 x $1.75M 42 Matt Grzelcyk LD 31 BOS $3.7M 63 2 11 3 x $3.25M 43 Jordan Martinook LW 32 CAR $1.8M 82 14 32 3 x $2.77M 44 Mattias Janmark LW 31 EDM $1M 71 4 12 1 x $1M 45 Alec Martinez LD 36 VGK $5.25M 55 4 17 1 x $1.25M 46 Erik Gustafsson LD 32 NYR $825K 76 6 31 3 x $3.85M 47 Daniel Sprong RW 27 DET $2M 76 18 43 3 x $4.1M 48 Kevin Stenlund C 27 FLA $1M 81 11 15 2 x $1.3M 49 Cam Talbot G 37 LAK $2M 54 2.5 0.913 1 x $1.8M 50 Craig Smith RW 34 DAL $1M 75 11 20 1 x $1.1M 51 Jack Roslovic RW 27 NYR $4M 59 9 31 3 x $3.1M 52 Erik Brannstrom LD 24 OTT $2M 76 3 20 2 x $2.5M 53 Brandon Duhaime LW 27 COL $1.1M 80 5 13 3 x $1.8M 54 Ilya Samsonov G 27 TOR $3.55M 40 3.13 0.89 1 x $2.35M 55 Anthony Beauvillier RW 27 NSH $4.15M 60 5 17 1 x $900K 56 Vincent Desharnais RD 28 EDM $763K 78 1 11 1 x $1.1M 57 Ian Cole LD 35 VAN $3M 78 2 11 1 x $2.1M 58 Tyson Barrie RD 33 NSH $4.5M 41 1 15 1 x $1.75M 59 Kaapo Kahkonen G 28 NJD $2.75M 37 3.64 0.898 2 x $2M 60 Tony DeAngelo RD 28 CAR $1.68M 31 3 11 2 x $1.75M 61 Sam Carrick C 32 EDM $850K 77 10 16 2 x $1.47M 62 Tyler Johnson RW 33 CHI $5M 67 17 31 1 x $1.7M 63 Victor Olofsson RW 28 BUF $4.75M 51 7 15 1 x $1M 64 Kevin Labanc RW 28 SJS $4.73M 46 2 9 1 x $893K 65 Mike Hoffman RW 34 SJS $4.5M 66 10 23 1 x $1.15M 66 Joel Edmundson LD 31 TOR $3.5M 53 1 6 2 x $1.65M 67 Scott Wedgewood G 31 DAL $1M 32 2.85 0.899 1 x $1.8M 68 Casey DeSmith G 32 VAN $1.8M 29 2.89 0.896 1 x $1.65M 69 Oliver Kylington LD 27 CGY $2.5M 33 3 8 1 x $1.1M 70 Noah Gregor LW 25 TOR $775K 62 6 12 1 x $1.36M 71 Jake Bean LD 26 CBJ $2.3M 72 4 13 1 x $1.95M 72 Jacob Bryson LD 26 BUF $1.85M 36 1 8 2 x $1.02M 73 Jack Campbell G 32 EDM $5M 5 4.50 .888 1 x $775K 74 T.J. Brodie LD 34 TOR $5M 78 1 26 2 x $3.65M 75 Max Pacioretty LW 35

I don’t know, there are a lot of good free agents still remaining, such as Duchene, Teravainen, Marchessault, Toffoli, and to slightly lesser extent, DeBrusk, Bertuzzi, Duclair, Arvidsson, Mantha, Monahan, and I’m sure there’s a few more I’m overlooking. I’m all for signing Skinner, but I do believe there’s a lot to choose from this year.

Oh no! I really want the ‘nucks to bring him home

Sam Reinhart can be that BC boy

I’m so gonna resurrect my #44 Bertuzzi jersey if he signs here lol. Seriously though, this guy seems like a good fit for Tocchet hockey.

Reports like these crack me up when suddenly his rights are traded for a 3rd lol

Hell yeah! Bring the North Van boy home!

Absolutely! A couple weeks ago when I was reviewing lists of players that should be available at trade deadline, immediately Lindholm jumped out at me as the top prize and the player that would likely have the greatest impact on a lengthy playoff run. His skill set combination is so rare, and he is exactly the type of player that helps teams win.

Another +3 today for Willander. So solid. With Pettersson logging big minutes, Lekkerimaki leading the tourney in goals and Willander leading the tourney in +/- I’m so pleased with these results. Now fingers crossed they can take out the Americans and win gold on their home soil. That would just make this tournament a perfect one.

Another shutout! This kid is unreal!