Thursday, September 04, 2008

What is available out there via trade route for a top 6 forward?

I found it ironic that Mike Gillis traded Ryan Shannon so quickly after the Sundin radio interview. It's also a possible tell that Gillis acquired Nycholat to further increase the Canucks depth on D in order to pull off a trade for a top 6 forward. We know that this is one of his options. Like Gillis said: "

We are going to be in search of the best players we can find but unless you have depth, it is awfully difficult to make that sort of transaction," Gillis said. "You just don't have depth players to fill in."
I believe this was said after the Shannon trade. And he was referring to depth on defence.
So it's probably fair to say that Gillis is giving up on Sundin for now and concentrating on what he can do now to make sure the team is ready. To that I say...great!
With Shannon (a center) being moved, that is also a sign then that our top 3 centers are set: Hank Sedin, Kyle Wellwood and Ryan Kesler. So Gillis may look for a player to play the wing on the Wellwood-Demitra line. At one point, I thought Mason Raymond was that guy. If he isn't, then you'd have to assume he's on line 3 with Kesler and Burrows. Well, that puts Taylor Pyatt on line 4. So you can start to see that a possible trade involving a Canucks defenceman and maybe even Taylor Pyatt could happen.
That being said, here are a list of teams that are currently over the cap (according to NHL Numbers) and perhaps the players we could attain.
Keep in mind that the NHL cap is $56.7 million this season.

Anaheim-($58.13 million)- Will probably only need to move Schneider to make room for Selanne. We don't want Schneider.

-Calgary (sitting at $58.18 million)- I don't know who they'd offer up and who we would give them in return for them to free up enough space. They already have a stacked defence. I've always been a fan of Matt Lombardi though. I think the Flames need to buy out Anders Eriksson's $1.5 million contract.

- Chicago ($59.21 million)- It's just a matter of time when Khabibulin gets traded and that's about all they have to do.

- Philadelphia ($61.22 million)- Geez, that $8 million invested in Kimmo Timmonen smarts. I don't see the Flyers parting with Jeff Carter, or Scott Hartnell. Maybe Mike Knuble, who becomes a UFA next summer is an option. I think he'd suit the Canucks. He can snipe. That would only relieve the Flyers of $2.8 million in salary though. Any word on Mike Rathje? He's injury prone and eating up $3.5 million cap space.

- San Jose ($56.9 million)- so close to being under. How about we trade Taylor Pyatt for Ryan Clowe straight across?

- Tampa Bay ($54.145 million)- All those players signed and still under the cap. But take a look at their forwards? This team is run by offence whores. I see about 17 forwards there that can play in the NHL. Hey, we'll take one off of your hands! Vancouver is defence-heavy while Tampa is offence-heavy. This should make them a favorite as a trading partner. How about we give Tampa Kevin Bieksa and a 2nd round pick for Mark Recchi and Michel Ouellet?

Restricted Free Agents to possibly take a stab at:

-Patrick O'Sullivan. It doesn't matter what he's asking for. He has potential to be even better and we're rich.

UFA's left over:

- zip. Anybody want Gelinas back? I'm tempted. How about Curtis Brown? Nah.

For the a list of remaining free agents check this out... and weep.

Hey, I'm just brainstorming here. Anybody have any other ideas? Agreements? Disagreements?
If any of the above info is wrong in any form, let me know so I can correct it.

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7 Comments:

At September 4, 2008 at 7:55 a.m. , Blogger Mike said...

I think Lombardi has already said he'll match whatever offer comes to O'Sullivan, almost goading GM's to try or as a warning to those (like ours) who would take a stab at it.

Calgary would be foolish to trade with us even if it is a salary dump.

All Anaheim needs to do is move Schneider and maybe one other warm body. Schneider would be a terrible addition.

The Caps are also over the limit I think. They have a few guys (Kozlov or Nylander) who I'm sure they'd part with.

Chicago is over the limit and the biggest eye sore on their roster (besides Khabby) is Lang at $4 million a year.

Under your scenario the best bets would be Philly or Tampa Bay. Knuble would be a decent addition and it'd be fun to pry Gagne from them even with his list of injuries.

Tampa...meh. They have so many wingers it's disgusting. Recchi is deadweight and Vigneault would never use him. Maybe another project player like Jokinen or Halpern?

Truthfully I think Gillis won't do a thing. He's going to let this team gun it out training camp and is probably willing to sacrifice a shitty October record before truly hunting down a viable plan B.

Jump on the Grabner train!

 
At September 4, 2008 at 9:28 a.m. , Blogger Unknown said...

I've heard murmurs that Gillis is indifferent about Sundin at this point because of some blockbuster trades that he has on the block. I have no idea who, but it gives me some satisfaction to know that he's working on something.

Something...

 
At September 4, 2008 at 12:46 p.m. , Blogger Sean Zandberg said...

Mike: Would you be content with either Nylander or Kozlov coming here? Not me!
Recchi can still put out. And he's still got wheels.
Gillis may wait, but I'm thinking along the same lines as John. I think he'll do something before October. He's kind of an aggressive type.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that Dean Lombardi threat! Damn! O'Sullivan is good!

 
At September 4, 2008 at 4:31 p.m. , Blogger Mike said...

Nylander and Kozlov leave much to be desired. Recchi has nothing to be desired!

Get Knuble, he's at least serviceable.

 
At September 4, 2008 at 5:16 p.m. , Blogger Sean Zandberg said...

Knuble is gold, yes. Recchi had 40 points in 53 games last season. Which part of that don't you like? :) The fact that he's 40?

 
At September 4, 2008 at 10:53 p.m. , Blogger Mike said...

I don't think Vigneault knows how to use veterans. And 40 pts last year would be far less on a team with less offensive skill.

 
At September 5, 2008 at 12:16 a.m. , Blogger Sean Zandberg said...

...because he's not playing with Kovalchuk.....
But he'd be playing with Wellwood and Demitra!
50 points easily! haha

 

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Waiting For Stanley was created in June 2006.