dudacek

Power

Reminds me of the Bruins and Panthers games: 2 teams that have mocked us for years. Let’s bump our record above .500

It’s the forum that’s changed -where you communicate, what and who hears it. Lines have been blurred about what is and should be private and public. The Hull Tweet above is a good example of this. A generation ago, people would have freely debated his merits as a hockey player and a human being in cafes, pubs and lunch rooms. Very few would done so in front of his grandson. I suspect very few did so considering they were doing it in front of his grandson, and most who did were only doing so because there would never be any personal repercussion.

Cozens is exactly the type of kid you could trust to do it and you could trust for it not to carry issues with him or his teammates, now or later.

And he apparently rubbed Hockey Canada the wrong way by trying to force himself into exceptional status a few years back. Not that Hockey Canada would ever be governed by anything other than the utmost integrity. When I saw Savoie live he was used like a standard 1st-line centre on a deep team. Regular shift, top PP. He played with Benson a top prospect for this year’s draft.

Sure, not arguing this at all, but he wasn’t asking who the worst draft picks were, he was asking if there was a worse player that we drafted and signed than Pekar? There may have been, but there weren’t many. Pekar is not good and certainly was not a better player than Nylander, as ineffective as Alex was.

Is there anything in the world stopping us from paying Dylan $20 million next year, then an 8-year, $48 million extension? Somebody get Sam Ventura on the phone now!

Great point. Why not? Sure would be a great way to weaponize cap space.

That’s not exactly what’s happening here. That’s what they’re being paid. What they are worth on the recent market is more like a $7 million defenceman and an $8 million winger.

My 2nd Meier thought is are we in a position manipulate the cap in a Meier trade? Think about what the Canes did with the Kotkaniemi offer sheet, or the Sharks with Kevin Lebanc: essentially secretly agree to one multi-year deal, but officially break it into two contracts. For example, we sign Meier to his $10 million qualifier, or hell, give him $14 for next year. We’ve got the room under the cap. Then, when the calendar rolls around, sign him to a 5-year, $40-million extension. Effectively, he gets his 6-year $9million deal, but we save a $1 million under the cap when we need it more

I’ve had 2 contradictory streams of thought about Meier. The first was based on Tuch/Eichel comparisons: If Tuch and Eichel are similarly useful players on the ice, who in their right minds would prefer Eichel at 4 years at $10 million to Tuch at 4 years at $4.75? Similarly, Meier, 26, at $10 million for 1 year or Chychrun,24, for $4.6 million for 2 years? What helps us more? Chychrun at 20 minutes a night upgrading Jokiharju and removing Bryson going into next year? Or Meier at 16 minutes a night upgrading Quinn and removing Okposo? Aren’t we far deeper up front? Plus, trading for Meier now kinda forces you to negotiate an extension for him now, ahead of Cozens, Dahlin and Power. Trading for Chychrun now, you can decide what/if you’re willing to pay him after you get those guys signed. More flexibility. More time for both sides to feel out the fit.

The question was “drafted and signed” Hurley and Davidsson were never signed. Cornel played 250ish AHL games with 80ish points Grigorenko and Nylander played a lot of NHL games. Pekar has just 77 AHL games and 13 points in 3 years. He’s definitely a contender. Karabecek was even worse though: 24 AHL games, 8 points. And he was a 2nd-rounder. That’s some bad scouting there.

Totally agree. It’s exactly what Granato is taking about when he says the young players have learn to play the game “efficiently” and learn that “you don’t have to win every shift”. It’s no different from the philosophy of not sacrificing winning long-term for winning tonight. The NHL regular season is marathon, not a sprint.

Why are you skeptical about his ability to rebound? His track record has been impeccable prior to now, his slump is 15 games.

This. Basically, for me it comes down to whether or not you believe in UPL. This thread is one of the most clear examples of recency bias I’ve ever seen. In the space of less than 20 NHL games we’ve gone from “UPL sucks, when is Adams ever going to get a goalie” to “not interested” in a young already-established #1. Demko is the best goalie to hit the market since Ullmark left.

I live in B.C. and follow the Canucks more closely than any team but the Sabres. He’s been bad and injured this year. That’s it. He was their best player last year and consistently very good since his run in the playoff bubble three years ago. He has missed one week due to injury in his NHL career prior to this season.

This is fair, but I’m going to put a lot more emphasis on his body of work than a 15-game stretch on this year’s most dysfunctional team. His resume and his numbers up to this season are textbook goalie development. Last year he was definitely among the league’s best goalies. He’s a high pick who has excelled at every level. To me this screams buy low and profit. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=146146

Are people convinced UPL is the answer moving forward?

The bulk of Bryson’s minuses were compiled during November when he was being asked to cover for Boosh, Mule and Jokiharju being injured. He was -11 in the 15 games he was playing 20+ minutes a night against top players, -5 the rest of the season. Because of injury, Bryson/Lyubushkin have only really been a thing for an extended run recently. In January, when they’ve regularly been the 3rd pair, Bryson is -1, Boosh +1.

I don’t know what went wrong this year, but he was a fantastic goalie on a bad team each of the 3 years prior. He thrived despite all the high-danger chances the Canucks gave up. And, in my view, disguised a lot of their issues that have been exposed this year. He’s just 27 And Demko put up better numbers over 3 seasons on a worse team. To my way of thinking, not interested because UPL is like saying not interested in Meier because Quinn and Peterka. But I guess I am a lot higher than on Demko than most appear to be here. I think over the next 5 years he is a good bet to be among the top 10 goalies.

i think my edit is the more pertinent question. 3 months ago, most of you would have said “yes”. There’s no doubt that prior to this year Demko has been better than what we have.

I don’t think we have. Previous talk was about getting a generic goalie and the comeback was “who has been available, fits our window and wants to be here?” To my mind, Demko is the first goalie who fits. He’s of the right age, is under contract for 3 years at an acceptable price and has proven himself to a much greater degree than the Comries and the Vaneceks and the Hussos that were available in the summer. The blocking question comes down to: “who does Adams believe is going to be a better asset for the Sabres as their window opens?” We know he had no issues bringing Matt Murray (or some suggest John Gibson) ahead of UPL this year. I would imagine the same logic would apply to Demko, unless the past 2 months has convinced him UPL is the guy. Do we believe those concerns from the fall have vanished and UPL is going to be “the guy”, at least until Levi forces his way in? If Demko was coming in, I would suspect UPL or Comrie would be going back.

This doesn’t mean it wasn’t sincere from Ras, but they pretty clearly had a role. Okie, Mule, Donnie and Cozens were all asked questions about fan support during yesterday’s practice. The clips were spliced together for an item on their website yesterday and this pops today. All this just after great road trip, the Bills are out, and ticket sales are meh for the league’s #2 team coming on. Its definitely been a more sophisticated approach this year from what we’ve seen in the past, but just because it’s based on things that are “real” doesn’t mean it’s not also marketing. They are trying to build a buzz that they can ride until the end of the season with a big win before a packed house over a good team. Especially if they follow that up with Tage doing something to get them talking at the all-star game. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with this. I hope it works.

Elliotte Freidman on today's Marek show said Demko is someone the Canucks are also open to trading as they continue to retool. He mentioned the Penguins, Kings and Sabres as three teams that make sense as destinations. Thoughts? In my opinion he is one of the better young goalies in the league and had this option been on the table in the summer, i would have been all over it. Since then, we started winning and growing more comfortable with the idea of UPL as #1, and Demko has played poorly, got hurt and has quietly been identified as being unhappy in Vancouver. I'm definitely at least making the call. He's 27 and was with the USNDTP around the same time as Donnie, although I don't know if he played for him. He's signed three more years at a $5 million cap hit. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=146146

Gretzky is #1. They revealed that before the countdown started, basically said it was no-brainer. Lindros was #38 Lafluer 14, Bossy 12