Coconuts

Gillis and Gilman flew to Sweden to make their last ditch offer, but yes https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/canucks-commit-61m-to-sedins-1.849221 https://thehockeynews.com/news/sedin-twins-avoid-free-agency-agree-to-five-year-contracts-with-vancouver

It's probably easier to find a winger than a center though. Not a lot of quality centers on the market right now. Particularly young, cost controlled centers. Maybe things change, but there's a lot of teams within striking range of the 6-8 spots in each conference right now and if that continues there may simply just be fewer sellers. It's probably easier to try and play Pettersson and Miller seperately and focus on improving upon one of Petey's wingers, particularly if management views Pettersson as a center more than a wing.

That's how I see it, but it's also a comment he could have probably not made publicly. He doesn't need to say that to the media, he'd probably been better off just speaking to other GM's with Allvin on the down low. Like I said, sometimes I think Rutherford is too honest for his own good, Allvin is much better at giving answers that aren't really answers and I think that's the better approach in Vancouver even if it is more frustrating to hear.

Except Sanderson is a D for one, and has gone on to have a solid season despite Ottawa's struggles. Averaging 23:11 a night, 23 points in 40 games which puts him on pace to break 40 points. His putting up 32 points as a rookie D is more much impressive than Pinto's putting up 35 as a young forward. Was it too much too soon for Sanderson? I wouldn't have given him that deal after a single season. But he looks like a top 4D at 21. Sanderson's pedigree is also different, 50A pick in 2020 vs 32OA in 2019.

I could see the Canucks being interested in Vatrano, don't really see why the Ducks would be interested in Kuzmenko though. Or why Kuzmenko would want to leave a top of the league team for a bottom feeder, he's got a 12-team NTC. One could argue he'd get more minutes in Anaheim, but if Kuzmenko wants to win he's better off trying to figure it out here or one a team that's actually competitive. Kuzmenko also doesn't have the value to get Vatrano at this point imo, we'd have to add even if did agree to go to Anaheim. Ducks could get a better return trading him elsewhere if that's all we were offering. Could the Ducks get a decent return by taking Kuzmenko and flipping him at 50% or something? Maybe, but we'd probably still have to add.

I don't get the Friedman bit. I understand that some folks don't like him becoming more of a personality, but I find he's one of the more reliable guys out there.

Yes, but even on CDC Eklund had a reputation for being especially bad. Eklund, and the whole E5 bit, are cultural jokes at this point.

I'd say the 2010-2011 group had a huge edge at 3C too We don't have anything close to a 1-2 shutdown combo of peak Kesler and Malhotra, which isn't to disparage our current group, I wish we did Malhotra was a special defensive player and a faceoff ace, if he hadn't gotten that eye injury who knows what might have been

The bit about the practice facility is the best Canucks related news I've read in a while, should have been figured out years ago I'm more optimistic about Allvin going forward than Rutherford though, if Rutherford has been as hands off with the GM role as he's said Allvin's been doing good work Which isn't to say Rutherford isn't a good resource for Allvin or that he's not an important buffer between management and ownership

I do think Allvin handles the media here better, things seem to run more smoothly when he's the public face and Rutherford is more behind the scenes I think sometimes Rutherford is too honest for his own good

Not sure I agree with that, if they were closer to the 7-8 spot I'd agree but they've built themselves a comfortable cushion. It's not playoff hockey every night, the stakes aren't as high because they're not really at risk of losing their spot, it's them trying to consistently maintain good habits. Teams want to step up against top teams in the league, that's nothing new, doesn't make it playoff hockey every night. The Oil, Kraken, and Flames have been playing hockey more akin to playoff hockey every night, the stakes have been higher for them given the holes they've been trying to dig themselves out of. What I do agree with is that this season has been an ongoing lesson for both players and staff, that's part of the whole maintaining good habits bit. This is a team who's still showing growing pains at times despite their record, that's part of transitioning from a team who hasn't been a playoff team to a team trying to step towards being a playoff regular. This isn't a group that's experienced a whole lot of playoff hockey, and I don't believe they're going to jump from say.. G or H to Z. Regardless of what happens come playoff time this season will be a success if they make the playoffs, that's a big step forward from being mediocre or stuck in no man's land. The first step towards becoming a playoff regular, and then maybe more, is breaking the streak of playoff misses. I view this season as a transition season, I'm not really expecting a cup, but sometimes you have to lose in the playoffs and play meaningful hockey down the stretch to learn. We saw that in the late 2000's, had to go through the ringer a bit come playoff time before going deep. Most teams have to do their time losing in the playoffs, beating their heads against the playoff wall before breaking through. We've seen it repeatedly with most cup winners over the past decade. But the only way to get that experience is to be there, we're on track to be there.

If they'd been healthier and not the walking wounded group they were towards the end I reckon they would have Boston was definitely the healthier team when they reached the final

I'm not so sure, as an RFA forward who will be coming into the season cold and who has a season of 20 goals and 35 points to his name it's not like he has much leverage. If he tears it up over the second half of the season it could help him earn more, but I'm not really expecting that. Longer term doesn't have to be 6-8, it just has to be longer than a single season deal. I figure it'll probably land in the 3-4 year range, Pinto still has a lot to prove as a young player with a limited track record and a 3-4 year deal gives him a chance to get paid much more handsomely in his later 20's if he can build on his 20 goal season. He turned 23 in November, 3-4 years would take him to 26-27. Sometimes it's worth the gamble, it worked out with Stutzle, but Pinto hasn't shown nearly as much.

A7X at the height of their powers, they just weren't the same after Rev died and Shadows can't scream like that anymore

Jason proceeded to

If we're getting lit up just put him in net He can take his lumps on and off social media

Eh, many hockey fans care about results at the end of the day, even after their team wins a championship or two. Sure, there would be a chunk of the Canucks fandom who'd happily accept whatever came after if it meant having won a cup, but there's also a large chunk of the fanbase who would absolutely care if management went on to make poor decisions. Blues fans were pissed with management for fumbling the Pietrangelo scenario for example.

I like their D better. I'd take Edler, Erhoff, Hamhuis, Bieksa, and Salo over our current group in a seven game series despite lacking a Hughes caliber offensive D. Their center depth throughout their top three lines was better. Sedin, Kesler, Malhotra. Prime aged Luongo could absolutely match Demko despite being a Jekyll and Hyde bit at times. It was one of the most statistically dominant teams in the modern era. Dunno, that team had it's characters too. Bieksa, Torres, Higgins, Hansen, Kesler, Burr, Lapierre, Rome, Alberts, Samuelsson, Glass, Rypien, Volpatti, Oreskovich. Even Hamhuis and Salo could be chippy. That team could play chippy too, but Boston was absolutely chippier at the end of the day.

Yeah, that's a black mark on his time here for me as well

It's a good question, here's hoping

Considering he's in the HHOF that's already safe to say

Giroux could have gone to a lot of teams and had success, more competitive teams for sure, he wanted to go home https://theathletic.com/3420245/2022/07/13/senators-claude-giroux-signing-free-agency-nhl/

Sens management be like