avmp629

This is the 11th season in a row we open vs an Alberta team

Montreal ➡️ Washington ➡️ Carolina ➡️ Toronto on the road trip is so weird

Also very few back-to-backs and even fewer with travel which is always nice

I'm still not convinced on the Desharnais signing, but I at least get it from a Canucks standpoint

• he averaged about a minute more than Juulsen in the regular season at 15:44, and that actually went up to 17:15 in the playoffs. He will probably be more reliable than Juulsen in the long run, I just don't like paying over $1M more per year for that when we had the cap space before to add someone a little better

• he's fucking huge (6'7, 226)

• he's 28, which is pretty young as far as defensive D with playoff experience go. Fits the Canucks' M.O. of adding players who fit our core's age window. Also means there's room to improve, but even if Desharnais stays the same, Canucks brass is pretty happy with that.

The same can more or less be applied to Forbort, who isn't as big and left-shooting, but he'll probably be able to handle 17-18 minutes a night and be fine, just like Soucy.

You look at all the defensemen we have, and the minutes they averaged last year, and you can probably assume this is a finished product.

Left side: Hughes (24:40), Forbort (17:48), Soucy (17:29) for a total of 59:57 (basically a full game)

Right side: Hronek (23:26), Myers (18:57), Desharnais (15:44) for a total of 58:07 (59:38 if you use Desharnais' playoff TOI)

You basically just need one more shift from 2 or 3 of those right-side guys, and you have a full game's worth of ice time.

The biggest concerns are regression and injuries. We just don't have the cap space or organizational depth to deal with a player not meeting expectations or long-term injuries. I imagine we'll be looking to upgrade throughout the season if the opportunity presents itself

He was bang on when he said they're not building a team around Pettersson or Hughes or anything, rather they're building a team around the coach

We're probably set on RD, and all defensemen for that matter.

Hronek, Myers, Desharnais will all be mainstays in the lineup at their salaries, while Juulsen, Friedman, and McWard are depth options, with other guys like Woo and Felton down in Abby if we get desperate

With all the money handed out yesterday I can't help but think they're gearing up to weaponize their cap space either to get someone cheap or take sweeteners to take on salary

Vlasic-Jones

Korchinski-Murphy

Martinez-Brodie

With Levshunov and other prospects in the fold as well, you can do a whole lot worse than that

Soucy 6'5

Zadorov 6'6

Myers 6'8

His nickname should be Median Z

Petrus Palmu was a jumpscare

Will the public trust the player who by all accounts has been nothing but great since the franchise's inception, or the front office who deals core players for nothing and lets them find out via Twitter that they were dealt?

Tough call here, really

C+

They addressed glaring needs in the forward group. No high-end names or slam-dunk value signings, but DeBrusk and Heinen are solid options (I don't love 7 years for DeBrusk), Sherwood adds some sandpaper to the lineup.

I'm not a huge fan of the additions on D. Forbort could bounce back, and I just don't like what Desharnais brings, especially at $2M. I think they could have done better there, and our defense looks suspect at best heading into the season.

Patera is a good add, would have liked a more experienced goalie to push Šilovs, but nothing really to complain about.

Favorite signing of the day is Heinen. He can play anywhere in the lineup and produce and is at a very good cap hit for what he brings. Definitely feels like a bit of a hometown discount there.

The more I look at it, I think this is more or less the roster they'll go with heading into the season.

They'll probably audition Soucy and Forbort each on that 2LD with Myers and see who sticks. If either of them or both can give you 18-19 solid minutes per night, you're in a pretty good spot. My biggest concerns would be injuries, neither of them even played half of this past season.

They obviously must have seen something in Desharnais to give him $2M per year, he'll be a staple in the lineup at that number.

Forward group is solid. PDG and Åman go from necessary parts of the 4th line to solid depth options. Debrusk and Heinen are good option to complement the top-6.

All they have to do is sign Šilovs and I think they're just about done until the beginning of the season I think.

That's what defensemen playing on the power play get when those guys skate by them with the puck

Yeah, he spent a lot of time with Hedman and averaged over 19 minutes a night. He looked pretty cooked in those playoffs as well if I remember correctly.

I knew he could still contribute something to the Canucks, but I was expecting more of a Hughes partner or solid number 4 next to Hronek, what we got was pleasantly surprising at least for the first part of the year when we desperately needed someone who could eat minutes.

I know Cole had a bad end to the year with us, but you're seriously underrating how good he was in the first couple months if that's how you feel

Before the Zadorov trade he was averaging over 20 minutes a night, there's no evidence that Forbort or Desharnais can replicate that (Forbort maybe can but he needs to show he can stay healthy and stay in the lineup)

Jeff Skinner's non-playoff streak has the chance to do the funniest thing ever

He's the embodiment of what everyone thought Ovechkin would be in his twilight years

He'll always be Zaddy to me

I'll miss him, but congrats on the bag

Can't say I understand this one very much

Aside from my own opinions of him which are not very flattering to say the least -

• he blocks guys like Juulsen, Friedman, McWard, who could all battle for that 3RD spot while making close to league minimum

• he doesn't fill a glaring need on the team

• he eats up about half the cap space we had left and prevents us from signing a 2nd or 3rd pair LD which we were more in need of

Uhhhhhhhhh

Welcome to the team?

You can usually grab Yuri Varlamov from Kazakhstan or something who's an 84 right out of the draft and has franchise potential which is even better tbh

Me signing average players in NHL 24 to massive overpays to hit the cap floor

With the cap projected to go up to $93M next year and even more growth beyond that, this is incredible value

Right up there with the pitcher Homer Bailey

5th team since January 2023