I'm still reeling a bit from the craziness of the Philly/Nashville trades earlier this week. At first I thought it was great deal for Philly to get the negotiating rights for the two. Then I flipped when I saw the bloated salaries they gave to each guy. I appreciate that Holmgren basically got three established players and a prospect for a soft transfer of both Forsberg and a first rounder. Then it dawned on me why Timonen and Hartnell - both of whom would have been easily two of the biggest free agents out there - wouldn't have tested the market at all knowing that, if this is simply a money thing, they could have likely gotten other deals in the works and pushed Philly even higher. The BoA folks who are by far smarter then I seem to be asking the same thing. It's about at this time that the room starts spinning and I fall over so I am left to just be happy that Nashville is crumbling to pieces, and with Keenan at the helm in Calgary, the Western conference is suddenly not a bad place to be.
As for this weekend, I would hope that Nonis is able to do more then bring some new kids into the Vancouver Canuck system. Surely nothing of the magnitude of Bertuzzi/Luongo is going to happen, but as the handy clock up in the top left of this page will keep telling you, time is slowly ticking off for him to find the right offensive weapons for this team’s system. On that note, not that he's an offensive weapon but one of my hopes to return to B.C. was Scott Walker who is now off the table. Damn it all.
Ideally either this weekend or in the coming weeks, we’ll get a glimpse of whatever the hell Nonis’ plans are to improve on the Pyatt/Bulis/Chouinard acquisitions of last year up front with some more proven commodities. Sit back, crack a cold one (or ten) and let's see how the Nonisian era in its third yearly installment is going to get started. (Here’s a friendly tip: it should not include any reference to a “Yashin” or “Nagy”. Not at all. Never.)
Godspeed.
7 comments:
Hey! Great blog! I'm a Canucks fan, too, and was pleased to see some solid writing concerning current events! I have a hockey blog of my own, although I try to keep it a bit more neutral. For all that writing on Ode to Low-Life Drunks is fun, it's always nice to be able to appreciate a little biased rooting! :D
I think the Canucks go big, the way they did last summer. They're gonna make a huge effort to net Drury, Briere, or Gomez. Nonis has proven that he's willing to invest in the huge names, and particularly in the case of Drury and Gomez, there are some major free agents who would fit Vancouver's new style of play. I say he makes a big splash and gets one! And I'm all for it, because I figure if one of those centres can click with Nazzy and get him back to form, then we should be able to have a two-pronged attack going for us Canucks fans!
Man, I am with you on wishing we could have had another chance at Scott Walker. Oh well, what can you do!
Hopefully Nonis can find a diamond in the rough, I think that is all we can hope for this year. Nothing too splashy, just someone with a scoring touch that fits our style of play.
You may have said this in your post and I missed it...I am extremely tired...but do the Nucks have enough cap room to sign a Briere Drury or Gomez?
Oh, and I agree by the way that staying away from Nagy and Yashin is pivotal. Neither performs in the post-season, and neither is liable to help in their own zone!
As for the cap room, with it jumping this year they should have room. They don't have much in the way of big-name free agents that are due a pay raise, so the fact that the cap is raising another five mil should give them the opportunity to offer 6 million to one of the big ones without pushing themselves up against the wall!
Bethany - I really doubt it. According to the stats I can find, we have some wiggle room but still have big holes to fill (like the entire fourth line for instance). I guess it's possible that some Manitoba guys can step up, but even if that happened, I'm not sure Nonis would want Naslund, Luongo and a Drury-type player all at 6-7 million a year (look at Tampa). Then again it is Naslund's last year so who knows.
Knotwurth Mentioning - welcome to the bedlam! I would assume Nonis will reel in something, but I'm not sure how much time he'll have before the numbers get out of control on him. since our drafting record over the years has been, well, fucking awful I am more then willing to see picks get moved for someone who can score. Or, if need be, I am ready to part with Morrison and Ohlund, the latter of which I think would net us the best return.
Scott - Seriously, I really wanted Walker and Handzus to make an appearance. I guess, with Walker staying in Carolina though, there goes that extra cash to retain Carter's services huh ;)
Vancouver drafting is deplorable. Moving picks to get other teams' prospects seems to be the way the Canucks flourish!
As for the cap limit... it'd be a risk, but surely there's room there. The Canucks, according to your stats, are at $34 million this upcoming season thus far. That's $16 million to work with, with the raise in the cap. The site I work with is here, and according to it Salo's already hooked on for 3.5 mil, which, using your numbers, would suggest we have almost $10 million to use.
The question is, of course, how many low-profile players the team is willing to give up to get a more costly star. I think I would be willing to relinquish Bulis, Flaherty, and Santala, as well as perhaps moving Ohlund or Morrison as you said. It'd mean bringing up a few more players from the AHL, perhaps, but I think that investing 1 and a half million dollars in Bulis is a bigger mistake than counting on a Moose.
It'd be a gamble, but I think Nonis will be willing to let go of some underperformers in order to get someone big. He seems to value the high-profile, reliable player (his wonderful "I want to be able to sleep at night" speech demonstrates this!), and I still think that someone hitting it off with Naslund would be the best that could happen in Vancouver.
Oops. Forgot to link to the info site. Here it is! ;)
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