Kuz is (frank)ing awesome: I want a full rebuild but I’m ecstatic we kept this kid
- CanuckDon

👍 & 👍

4-3 Ducks woohoo
- Nighthawk

appreciate your enthusiasm but we aren't going out-tank those bastards


We need PHI/OTT/MTL/SJ/ARI to win or get loser points

appreciate your enthusiasm but we aren't going out-tank those bastards


We need PHI/OTT/MTL/SJ/ARI to win or get loser points
- Nucker101

I believe we will see the Blues set the market price when they sell O Reilly, Tarasenko,Barbashev and Mikkola.

I believe we will see the Blues set the market price when they sell O Reilly, Tarasenko,Barbashev and Mikkola.
- Reubenkincade

They do have some nice pieces to sell

They do have some nice pieces to sell
- Nucker101

Some players that are similar to what the Canucks should be selling.

Team tank thanks all those teams below us for your outstanding contributions this evening.

Team tank thanks all those teams below us for your outstanding contributions this evening.
- claygolf83

😄👍

Man those Fijians play amazing 7s, just beat Tonga 52-7 only playing with 6 men for 75% of the game.

Man those Fijians play amazing 7s, just beat Tonga 52-7 only playing with 6 men for 75% of the game.
- A_SteamingLombardi

Damn that’s wild

Damn that’s wild
- CanuckDon

Canada is going to get spanked by Argentina in 25 mins.

I believe we will see the Blues set the market price when they sell O Reilly, Tarasenko,Barbashev and Mikkola.
- Reubenkincade

They’re selling 1st?

They’re selling 1st?
- Nighthawk

My guess, after reading this.

Johnston: Teammate Ivan Barbashev is a name that’s started to circulate here a little bit. Barbashev is having a bit of an off-year. Certainly off the pace of his career-best of 60 points last season. But there are a few contenders out there that have him on their list.

He’s a name to keep tabs on. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s on an expiring contract, making just $2.25 million against the cap. I don’t have any reason to believe that St. Louis, at this point, is totally ready to wave the white flag on this season. But if and when they do it could get pretty interesting there.

I think Yzerman needs to complete the trade first.

Bo-Larkin will be a nice 1-2 punch
- Nucker101

Bo for Luke Hughes? Jersey is pushing hard from speculation but heard lots of that distraction.

Fuck! Canada up 19-12 with less than 2 mins to play and they lose 24-19

My guess, after reading this.

Johnston: Teammate Ivan Barbashev is a name that’s started to circulate here a little bit. Barbashev is having a bit of an off-year. Certainly off the pace of his career-best of 60 points last season. But there are a few contenders out there that have him on their list.

He’s a name to keep tabs on. It certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s on an expiring contract, making just $2.25 million against the cap. I don’t have any reason to believe that St. Louis, at this point, is totally ready to wave the white flag on this season. But if and when they do it could get pretty interesting there.
- Reubenkincade

I’d guess StL will wait & decide if the PO’s are outta the question.

Fuck! Canada up 19-12 with less than 2 mins to play and they lose 24-19
- A_SteamingLombardi

Hey good result regardless!

Fuck! Canada up 19-12 with less than 2 mins to play and they lose 24-19
- A_SteamingLombardi

Distraction lol

Man those Fijians play amazing 7s, just beat Tonga 52-7 only playing with 6 men for 75% of the game.
- A_SteamingLombardi

Today I found out two people care, we’re all learning.

Team tank thanks all those teams below us for your outstanding contributions this evening.
- claygolf83

Pretty good night for the tank

Today I found out two people care, we’re all learning.
- neem55

I doubt that.

Flames
- VANTEL

Good article from Harm about the general feeling most of us have about the Kuzzy signing:

Andrei Kuzmenko has brought precious joy and happiness to Canucks fans. He’s been an offensive machine on the ice and can light up any room off of it with a big, wholesome smile. In a jaded market suffering from years of disappointment, Kuzmenko’s innocent, positive spirit has made him an instant fan favourite.

The contract extension he signed Thursday, two years at a $5.5 million cap hit, is even good value. Kuzmenko’s cap hit is tidy and there’s virtually no downside risk with the two-year bridge term. Kuzmenko, who turns 27 in a week, is a good player now signed to a modestly friendly deal. Normally this would be cause for celebration. In the Canucks’ case, however, there’s an argument to be made that they’re too far away from contending to take advantage of it and that the opportunity cost is high.

What are the Canucks going to win in the next two years that would provide more value to the organization than the premium return he could have secured at the deadline? It’s an important question for a team that’s made one first-round pick in the last three years and whose prospect pool ranks 28th in the NHL, ahead of only the Penguins, Bruins, Lightning and Avalanche, all clubs that have won at least one Stanley Cup and been contenders since 2010.

There are currently only eight teams with $2 million or more in cap space according to CapFriendly and most of those eight are bottom feeders. That would have made a player like Kuzmenko, who’s scored 43 points in 47 games while on an entry-level contract that every team in the league could afford, a very unique asset. Kuzmenko’s small NHL sample size and lack of playoff experience would have been a reason for pause, absolutely, but he still would have had strong trade value because of his minuscule cap hit, offensive punch and proven ability to mesh with elite talent.

A lot of teams simply can’t afford the massive cap hits that other rentals like Timo Meier, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane carry. Trading Kuzmenko would have brought in premium value plus $5.5 million in cap space, which could have been weaponized to bring in even more chips.

The Montreal Canadiens provided a template for this last year. They traded Tyler Toffoli for a package including a first-round pick and then turned around and used the cap space they freed up to acquire another first-round pick by acquiring the final year of Sean Monahan’s contract which carried a $6-million cap hit. Monahan’s had a decent season so he could probably fetch another piece or two at the deadline.

Vancouver’s decision to re-sign Kuzmenko is also questionable because the club already has a ton of cap space tied up to wingers, especially if J.T. Miller continues playing significantly better on the flank than at centre. The Canucks are now projected to have around $9 million in cap space for next season according to CapFriendly. Is that money going to be enough to acquire another high-end top-six centre to replace Bo Horvat and totally overhaul a blue line that has zero top-four calibre defencemen besides Quinn Hughes?

Sure, the Canucks will try moving money out in the offseason, and the impetus to shed Conor Garland and Brock Boeser’s contracts will ratchet higher. But what gives us confidence that management can successfully carve out meaningful flexibility when they couldn’t accomplish that same objective last summer?

One of the counterarguments I’ve heard from fans is that Kuzmenko will be just as valuable as a trade chip later down the line if the Canucks keep trending poorly, especially because the contract is reasonable. That sounds great in theory but I’m not sure that’s how it would actually play out. Kuzmenko’s in the middle of an exceptional season and his ELC cap hit makes him affordable for every team in the league. I doubt that he’d have the same value when he has a cap hit that’s five times more expensive, almost 40 percent fewer trading partners because of the 12-team no-trade list he has according to colleague Rick Dhaliwal and with multiple years of term left on the deal, in an economic climate where teams are very wary of acquiring non-elite wingers with term.

Think about the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers as just two examples. Minnesota needs a scoring boost to replace Kevin Fiala’s production and the Rangers need a top-line right winger, where they’ve had to experiment with Jimmy Vesey. Both teams would have surely been excellent fits for Kuzmenko as a rental, but both clubs (like many others in the league) are facing a huge cap crunch this summer. They can only afford to take on salary for this season with a rental and would be immediately turned off at the idea of committing term beyond this season.

Don’t forget that it was only this past summer that Oliver Bjorkstrand, who led the Blue Jackets with 28 goals last year, and scored 44 points in 56 games the season prior, fetched only a third- and fourth-round pick because he had term left on his $5.4 million cap hit.

Even if we assume that everything breaks right and the Canucks could trade Kuzmenko at the deadline in two years for the same value they could today, there would be an opportunity cost. A first-round pick that you acquire and draft this summer could have already been in your lineup by 2025 if you drafted correctly.

The other consideration that’s been brought up is whether re-signing Kuzmenko could appease Elias Pettersson (a 2024 RFA) into extending long term in Vancouver this summer. Pettersson and Kuzmenko have shared excellent chemistry, no doubt. Perhaps it’s a bonus.

But think about it this way: If Pettersson extends this summer, it would probably be an eight-year commitment. This isn’t a decision about the next year or two, it’s a choice regarding the prime of his career. Kuzmenko’s two-year extension only overlaps for one year with Pettersson’s next deal. After that who knows where the Russian forward will be? Would the guarantee of having Kuzmenko by your side for just one year when your next contract begins really be the decisive factor in whether you commit nearly a decade to the Canucks or not?

Kuzmenko’s a really exciting player. Watching him and Pettersson together on a line is the most fun part about watching Canucks hockey these days. The contract came in less expensive than I thought and could very well provide good value. There isn’t a downside risk of this turning into an onerous Boeser or Garland-like contract. Maybe it even provides a slight boost to how Pettersson feels about Vancouver. Those are all positives and I’m not trying to paint this as a disastrous signing.

It’s still an open question as to whether this was the best move for the organization’s long-term future though.

Good contract, but just the wrong time and backs them further into a corner they needn't be in. More short-term thinking.

Good article from Harm about the general feeling most of us have about the Kuzzy signing:



Good contract, but just the wrong time and backs them further into a corner they needn't be in. More short-term thinking.
- NewYorkNuck

Who cares, it is not about winning or the cap, as long as Pouty is happy, then the guzzlers are happy.
Having a happy Pouty and a happy crowd of guzzlers, allows the Pouty/Kuzmenko duo, to entertain when playing the high-flying teams, such as Chicago, Arizona and Columbus.
It doesn't matter that they get crushed against teams that play a solid pressure game, like Seattle, Nashville, Minnesota.
It is all good, as long as Pouty is happy and getting points, everything else is irrelevant.

This reminds me of the type of applicants we get get these days.

- Shuswap Wap

lol bang-on. The future work force.

4-1 Chicago after 2 in Calgary...mmmm Marky's muffins are back!
- claygolf83

lol Turd...I mean KY should be in shortly...

Muffins...