Part of me wanted a rebuild, but I'm pretty happy we'll have hockey for the next few years. Plus there aren't many better professionals to learn from, especially for a guy like Schroeder to watch.
It would have been nice to see the lower hit, but I guess Gillis wasn't willing to move on term.
So, go and sign Komisarek for around $4-$5 million on a long term deal. $1 million or less for the back-up. $1 million or less for the #7 d-man. Between $2-$3 million for another forward. That takes us right up to the cap.
We have no use for Komisarek. We don't want the best defenseman left just for the sake of having him. We need someone that can skate and move the puck.
Another piece of good news out of this, IMO, is that it will allow us to be patient with the development of our prospects. This eases the pressure of having to throw guys like Hodgson or Grabner into the mix, as we really need one player to set up and be a top-six forward if we don't acquire said player through free agency. All in all, while again it's a couple hundred grand more than I would have liked, I think this is the best deal for us today. Between an injury prone Gaborik, an(IMO) supporting type player in Cammalleri or Gionta, I think re-signing the Twins made the most sense. Signing Hossa woldn't have been bad, but he would have been the sole component of a top line, perhaps featuring Kesler and Demitra as well. This is a good move for the Canucks, and it leaves enough cap space, IMO, to add a good defensemen.
this builds a solid foundation. gillis obviously has faith in his scouting department to contribute to our high earning players so though we may not significantly improve this year or even perhaps take a small step back, the team fully expects guys like schroeder, rodin, grabner, hodgson or anyone else in our system to start providing major contributions in 2-4 years. when those guys start producing while in their entry level deals, all of a sudden we are in a great position to be a very good team. when those guys need to be resigned, our high earning players have their contracts expire so it's a cycle that allows the team to remain competitive.
a 8-12 year contract for the sedins may make a lot of sense in the immediate future, but it could very well hurt the team for a long time. a lot of assumptions are being made by teams over how these long term contracts will impact a team towards the end and there is no guarantee the players will retire once they stop being high end players and become more like secondary players. if the cap does go down, then it may become next to impossible to trade those contracts 4 years down the road let alone 8 years down the road.
i applaud gillis for standing firm on the length of the contract.
We have no use for Komisarek. We don't want the best defenseman left just for the sake of having him.
That has to be the best couple of lines I have ever read. You do realize that getting Komisarek would then allow either Bieksa or Edler to become more offensively minded. To not want Komisarek is like saying you don't want Gretzky because he's terrible in his own zone.....madness...sheer madness I say.
This was probably the most i'd pay for the Sedins, but I'm glad with the term because it doesn't handcuff the team 7 or 8 years from now. I think some people forget just how good the Sedin Sedin Burrows line was the last couple months of the season. Burrows is far more of a sure bet to pot 25-30 goals this season.
I know people look at our forwards and don't get excited but there is five 20+ goal scorers there, then there is Wellwood and Bernier and youngsters like Raymond Grabner Hodgson and Hansen who all could surprise in the goal department. I'm just happy that the rest of the forwards on the team don't have to be elevated to roles they are uncomfortable with or would be set up for failure. I mean a lot of Sedin less rosters had Wellwood has a top 2 center.
I know people will go "oh well the canucks didn't improve from last year" but you aren't going to improve your team a whole lot through free agency. The canucks will improve themselves by drafting/developing well and producing cheap young roster players that provide a lot of depth. The improvement will come once you see some of the Hodgson or Schroeders of the world cracking the roster.
Anyone think Bernier could have a breakout year and move up to the second line for good?
If the new budget on player development is really as unprecedented as advertised, I could see Bernier in a Top-6 spot. However, I don't see him breaking out as a purely offensive force.
I see him improving drastically on his skating, shooting and overall conditioning. With improved skating, I believe he can get to those scoring areas a little faster - ditto for his shooting by repeating game-like situations. With improved conditioning, he'll give himself a chance to find more consistency - something he's struggled with throughout his whole career.
If even 2 of these dimensions of his game improve drastically, he'll be a valuable top-6 player by being more reliable in finishing opportunities and punishing opposing defenders (something he's proven he can do consistently).
