Who looks better now?

[Island Nucklehead]

Except using 20/20 hindsight ( and a little intelligence ) MG put himself in cap trouble by not trading Bieksa for a prospect or a bag of pucks.. That 3.7 mill salary could have gone to signing BMo.. plus Schaeffer ( why would anyone sign that floater I dunno ) and leave an extra 2 million on the table for a decent dman ( say the guy from Pt Hardy with the big stick ). Nope MCP your reasoning is accurate but Gillis blew it ! No BMo and we are stuck with a lousy dman ..

Yep... that would work out real well with Salo, Ballard, Alberts and Hamhuis hurt. Take Bieksa off the back end and what are we left with? Ehrhoff, Edler, Rome, Parent, Baumer, Connauton?

Do you honestly believe Gillis was interested in offering soft-noggin' Willie the contract LA did? He'd save us a whopping 250K on Bieksa, and we'd have another year of him. All this after we went ahead and got Ballard and Hamhuis, with Ehrhoff a UFA at seasons end? Not likely.

Keeping Bieksa was pretty much necessary because Salo got injured. It had nothing to do with a fourth line forward position.

[dangler]

All the Bieksa bashing reminds me alot of when Sopel was here.

I hope the Canucks are able to hold onto him for the season and he is able to remain injury free for the season.I think he could really gel 40 or 50 games in and his presence has already proven valuable and there is at least another 70 games this season to go.

[dr.dork]

All the Bieksa bashing reminds me alot of when Sopel was here.

Bieksa hasn't been very good so far this year so some of the bashing is warranted. He may very well be out when Salo returns if we're healthy, if there are holes elsewhere and if there are cap issues. Those are three big ifs, but he is pretty expensive as a number 5 or 6 (especially when he plays like a #5 or #6). And pretty expensive as an insurance policy. (And we're certainly in cap trouble when healthy).

[Arachnid]

All the Bieksa bashing reminds me alot of when Sopel was here.

That's the pecking order, the next lowest on the totem pole is the next one to be chopped off...kind like on here now that that tool shid smithers is gone we all pick on poor farhandi

[Farhan Lalji]

All the Bieksa bashing reminds me alot of when Sopel was here.

That's the pecking order, the next lowest on the totem pole is the next one to be chopped off...kind like on here now that that tool shid smithers is gone we all pick on poor farhandi

Farhandi?

Well hopefully, I can climb up the proverbial totem pole fairly quickly here.

(next topic: Farhan's $0.02 - Canucks should trade Bieksa, Raymond, and 1st for Shea Weber - Nashville will definitely go for it!).

That outta move me up a few steps.

[Tiger]

Yep... that would work out real well with Salo, Ballard, Alberts and Hamhuis hurt. Take Bieksa off the back end and what are we left with? Ehrhoff, Edler, Rome, Parent, Baumer, Connauton?

Do you honestly believe Gillis was interested in offering soft-noggin' Willie the contract LA did? He'd save us a whopping 250K on Bieksa, and we'd have another year of him. All this after we went ahead and got Ballard and Hamhuis, with Ehrhoff a UFA at seasons end? Not likely.

Keeping Bieksa was pretty much necessary because Salo got injured. It had nothing to do with a fourth line forward position.

so .. a pisspoor Bieksa + a floater like Schaeffer is preferrable to Willie Mitchell and Morrison? a flake and a floater .. over 2 well proven veteran top players that cost us 500,000 more?.. the only chance MG would have been taking is on an injury reoccurence with Willie and that would automatically put him in IR ... hence no hit to the cap..

[Island Nucklehead]

so .. a pisspoor Bieksa + a floater like Schaeffer is preferrable to Willie Mitchell and Morrison? a flake and a floater .. over 2 well proven veteran top players that cost us 500,000 more?.. the only chance MG would have been taking is on an injury reoccurence with Willie and that would automatically put him in IR ... hence no hit to the cap..

Put it this way. Did Gillis even WANT Willie back? Aging D-man, injury problems, questionable head. He's not an offensive guy (despite his stats thus far this season) and if his ability to play physical hockey is put in jeopardy we've got a pretty useless player out there. Gillis is probably going to let Bieksa walk at the end of the season and finish putting his stamp on the back end.

It would be nice if the IR worked that way, but the LTIR doesn't erase the cap hit, just lets us go over the cap by that amount. If Willie got hurt long term, we'd have a hole to fill and no way to fill it other than using our 8th or 9th dman. Unless of course you want to trade for one, lose assets to attain the replacement player, and then be in cap hell when both Salo and Willie ($7+M) return.... good luck.

Frankly, I'm glad Gillis made the moves he did this summer. He'd look pretty stupid if he traded Bieksa for a weak pick, only to be left with his dick in his hand when Willie goes to LA anyways.

[Arbour]

Keeping Bieksa was pretty much necessary because Salo got injured. It had nothing to do with a fourth line forward position.

Which also leads to why Schaeffer was kept ahead of Morrison. The salary cap necessitates a certain amount of planning in anticipation of players coming off LTIR. Morrison wanted more money and probably had expectations as to what his role would be, and Calgary was more willing to meet those expectations. Schaeffer needed a job and was willing to be paid accordingly.

If and when Salo returns cap considerations will play a large role as to who stays and who goes either by trade or waiver. One would assume Gillis is not going to sacrifice depth on the d to fit a single player with a large salary under the cap, so something will have to give, unless Salo is gone for the season. Bieksa fits the bill now and upon Salo's return, and unlike Mitchell isn't a risk for a recurring career ending injury, which would potentially create a real mess if Salo does miss the season.

[woodhog]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=342515

Schaefer has been put on waivers. What's next? Hodgson recalled? Tambellini?

[nucklehead_88]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=342515

Schaefer has been put on waivers. What's next? Hodgson recalled? Tambellini?

Its Tambi, Hodgson would put us over the cap

[Fred]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=342515

Schaefer has been put on waivers. What's next? Hodgson recalled? Tambellini?

Tambellini on his way up he`s out scoring Hodgson. He has 5 goals in 7 games, Hodgson 8 goals in 17 games. Mind you Tambellini is 26.

Morrison 15 pts on a lousy team playing wing I believe, which he seems to handle OK unlike Scheafer at centre. What were they thinking.

[woodhog]

Tambellini on his way up he`s out scoring Hodgson. He has 5 goals in 7 games

If this turns out to be the case, I hope AV doesn't play him on the 4th line. Tambi should be put with the twins. Samuelsson goes to the 3rd line and Hansen to the 4th.
It makes no sense to put an offensive player on the 4th line when the top line is in a funk of sorts. Samuelsson, IMO, is better suited as a 3rd liner and might be able to help that line step up the production again.

[Fred]

Tambellini on his way up he`s out scoring Hodgson. He has 5 goals in 7 games

If this turns out to be the case, I hope AV doesn't play him on the 4th line. Tambi should be put with the twins. Samuelsson goes to the 3rd line and Hansen to the 4th.
It makes no sense to put an offensive player on the 4th line when the top line is in a funk of sorts. Samuelsson, IMO, is better suited as a 3rd liner and might be able to help that line step up the production again.

I'd agree with that Tambellini when i watched him play alongside the twins looked like he could settle in to that position very easy. Samuelsson to the third, that's were he's at right now a third line winger. Hansen can play any where, very versatile. I just wish we could get the D fired up and regular pairings

[woodhog]

Quoted from CDC

Alex Burrows is expected to return to the first line with Henrik and Daniel Sedin against the Colorado Avalanche and hopes to rediscover the success he had with the Twins from last season.

Mikael Samuelsson was skating on the third line with Raffi Torres and Manny Malhotra, while Jannik Hansen made an appearance on the fourth with Tanner Glass and Joel Perrault.

It looks like they may wait to call someone up ... if they even do. It wasn't reported who practiced on the 2nd line with Kesler and Raymond.

[ClamRussel]

Tambellini on his way up he`s out scoring Hodgson. He has 5 goals in 7 games, Hodgson 8 goals in 17 games. Mind you Tambellini is 26.

Not a fair statement....Hodgson has 8 goals in what his last 10 games or so? He was scoreless after the first 7 or 8...
If anything Hodgson is outscoring Tambi or just as hot but they don't want Hodgson playing on the 4th line and want to keep him at center playing big minutes.