Canucks News and Notes

[2Fingers]

Or McCann + for Drouin.

Or McCann to Utica next year.

Or McCann for D prospect.

Door #2.

McCann should have been sent back to jr this year, but was kept because of injuries to other centers. He can skate and make plays, but he is a flyweight. A year in Utica to get stronger would be good. At center next year we have Hank, Sutter and now Granlund anyway...we don't need McCann.

You forgot Horvat!

He did..he did forget horvat

Not to mention Matthews.

I mean we have to win something at some point right?? Why not the goddam lotto??

I thought we were getting Stamkos?

[Hockey Widow]

Holly shit. Look at our centre depth next year:

Sedin
Horvat
McCann
Sutter
Granlund
Matthews
Stamkos

Can't see room for Cracknell now. Should trade him within the next week.

Sutter and Stamkos can play wing but we had better promise him he will play centre or he won't sign here. Then we can say sorry but we have too many centres. McCann and Matthews can play in Utica. So we have flexibility to make it work. Maybe there is room for Cracknell after all.

[Rumsfeld]

Holly shit. Look at our centre depth next year:

Sedin
Horvat
McCann
Sutter
Granlund
Matthews
Stamkos

Can't see room for Cracknell now. Should trade him within the next week.

Sutter and Stamkos can play wing but we had better promise him he will play centre or he won't sign here. Then we can say sorry but we have too many centres. McCann and Matthews can play in Utica. So
we have flexibility to make it work. Maybe there is room for Cracknell after all.

Vey can teach that Stamkos bum how to find his game at centre again. Steven can start by watching Willie's love child play 18 a night from the pressbox.

[Hockey Widow]

Just got off the phone with a friend and he provided me with a little gossip and rumour.

* a lot of confusion in the dressing room. Says the players he meets with have that deer in the headlights look. They are I guess in a dazed sorta way. They just can't believe they are where they are, how the wheels fell off so early in the season and just never corrected. They refused to use injuries as the excuse but do acknowledge injuries have played a part. Everyone he has talked says they are a better team than what the standings show and seem at a loss to explain this season.

* the dressing room is not as fractured as it was a few weeks back which has me speculating that Prust may have been part of the issue but I'm just guessing. He says there are still issues in the room but wouldn't or couldn't elaborate.

* I asked him about Willie losing the room, as I had heard a few weeks back. He said bull shit. To a man, the players he has talked to love Willie. He is a great teacher, has a ton of patience, has a calm demeanour, and doesn't publicaly dress players down. If he has an issue with you he talks to you. The players say he is a great systems guy and they love his practices. He lets players play there way out of slumps the best he can. Some of the players are pissed at the media assassination being done on him. My friend told me the players he talks to have developed a strong loyalty to Willie and don't see him as the problem.

* told me Hamhuis, Vrbata, Burrows, Hansen and Edler would all consider waiving their NTC but have yet been asked to. None of them want to go but if asked would considered it. Vrbata would like to finish out the season here and would consider re-singing here in July but will test the market.

* he does not believe there is a disconnect between management and ownership. He just believes that they all thought this transition idea was a good one. Unfortunately he believes they still do. They are pretty insistent that there will not be a full out tear down. They plan to continue the trend of moving a few vets out each year and bringing younger guys in.

* he was not surprised that Shinkaruk was traded. Said Benning has been trying to trade him from day one. Benning does not like his game and was one of the assets he identified very early as not fitting into the long term plans. They needed him to have this breakout year in Utica in order to move him. Last year he couldn't even get a second for him. He was offered up for Clendenning and Chicago said no, they wanted Forsling. LA wouldn't take him for Vey, they wanted the second. As far as my friend knows there were no off ice issues or attitude problems with him. Benning just did not like his game.

* knows management is pissed with this season. Still pissed over the playoff loss. Knows Benning is trying to trade 2-3 players, all the usual suspects I would guess, but my friend has no idea what, if anything may be in the works. He doesn't expect any great returns and has heard that Benning has been unable to drum up the interest he thought he would be able to. He doesn't know if this on Benning or if our players are that lowly valued.

* a lot of anxious players right now as they know that almost any of them, not named Sedin or Miller, could be gone. I guess for a number of the remaining core they haven't had to really deal with this reality in a long time.

* on Miller, he does not believe Benning will trade him, now or in the summer. Benning is pretty insistent that Miller is their number one and will be next year, as the plan will be to make the playoffs next year as well. In fact Benning has said that depending upon Markstrom's development next year they would consider bringing Miller back for 1-2 years as Demko develops in the pros. He does not see Markstrom as a number one at this point. I get the sense that he sees Markstrom as the stop gap until Demko is ready. But this could change over the course of the next year I guess.

* they have started to get calls on Prust and Higgins but nothing imminent. If they get traded expect 6-7 round picks. Higgins is apparently playing very well and he has/is being scouted in Utica. Let's hope.


As always, gossip, rumour and speculation. Nothing here comes from direct sources so take it for what it's worth.

[Lancer]

Wow...

Thanks for that Wids. I guess what surprises me is the apparent love in the dressing room for Willie. Go figure. For all that praise, you'd think there'd be better results on the ice, but like you said even the players are at a loss.

Seems there will be less movement than perhaps we would like this TDD based on what you shared. This could get ugly the next year or two.

Interesting the stuff about Markstrom. You'd think the guy can get a chance to take the reins. If that's what they think of Markstrom, imagine what they thought of Lack.

[Hockey Widow]

Lancer, I think Benning really likes Markstrom, sees him as a Ben Bishop type. He just does not believe he is ready to be the number one. The plan as I read it is to hope by the end of next year he is ready to step up to the number one job. His two year deal was no coincidence. If they think he is ready he will get rewarded and Miller will walk. If they still think he isn't ready don't be surprised if they take Miller back on a 1-2 year deal, if Miller would come back.

[Island Nucklehead]

Thanks for the Rumour Roundup, HW. Your posts continue to be a highlight of the site.

Couple thoughts (and they aren't new)... it doesn't bode well for Benning's asset appreciation when he's targeting guys like Prust (locker room issues?) and offering up some of our better prospects for guys that later become give-aways or waiver-fodder like Clendening and Vey.

A guy like Shinkaruk was having a good year in Utica, 8th in the league in goals (and the youngest in the top-15), and we can't trade him? I know we're not exactly stocked with quality assets, but at some point Jimbo is going to have to start being a better salesman. It says a lot that he's willing to throw away 2nd round picks for other teams' aging prospects, but can't seem to get anyone to bite on his.

Being pissed about or current performance/last seasons playoff loss isn't really going to get us anywhere or change anything. Looking at the roster, I'm not sure what they were expecting.

Slightly concerning that the NTC crew hasn't been approached. You'd think these things would be in the works by now. But now we know they've been spending a long time on the Shinkaruk deal.

[Topper]

Thanks HW.

No surprises.

WD, fans complain about twitchy hip shaker with a clipboard behind the bench. Same fans who complained about AV's nonchalance. Rarely do we see him run film and practice but in the rare clips, Bo, Jake, Jared being told they are staying, he's got the trust of the players. there was an interview with him earlier in the season where he was asked about McCann's lack of production. He said that goal scorer are treated differently by him, he recognizes that not all chance will go in and is patient and willing to let them play through slumps. Hinted he's less so inclined to let defensive lapses go.

Of course Verbata would like to stay through season's end, doubtful he'd want to move twice in the next few months. Realistically, I see him going back to Europe next year.

So Shrinkwrap was never worth much.......didn't get a chance to see him play other than his few shifts in his lone Canuck game. Looks like other GM's were not impressed either. Good thing Green pumped him for the dump.

Plenty of new territory for the old core sitting on tenterhooks waiting for the GM to call them aside.

[Topper]

Slightly concerning that the NTC crew hasn't been approached. You'd think these things would be in the works by now. But now we know they've been spending a long time on the Shinkaruk deal.

The deal is worked out first, and then the player is told and has a yeah or nay........remember Iggie to Boston Pittsburgh.

[Island Nucklehead]

Slightly concerning that the NTC crew hasn't been approached. You'd think these things would be in the works by now. But now we know they've been spending a long time on the Shinkaruk deal.

The deal is worked out first, and then the player is told and has a yeah or nay........remember Iggie to Boston Pittsburgh.

And Heatley to Edmonton San Jose.

I would do my best to avoid such a situation. Leaks/rumours... all that. Talk to Dan/Verb/whoever, ask them if and who they'd be willing to go to, and then go to those teams (and maybe one or two others to drive up the price, nothing says they have to know who's made the list) before circling back to keep the player/agent in the loop.

[Island Nucklehead]

So Shrinkwrap was never worth much.......didn't get a chance to see him play other than his few shifts in his lone Canuck game. Looks like other GM's were not impressed either. Good thing Green pumped him for the dump.

Vey for Mantha.

[Rumsfeld]

Yeah thanks HW.

I'm sceptical about a few of the nuggets in there, but as always I appreciate you posting it.

[Topper]

I would do my best to avoid such a situation. Leaks/rumours... all that.

So you would enlarge the group discussing a deal?

[Hockey Widow]

Slightly concerning that the NTC crew hasn't been approached. You'd think these things would be in the works by now. But now we know they've been spending a long time on the Shinkaruk deal.

The deal is worked out first, and then the player is told and has a yeah or nay........remember Iggie to Boston Pittsburgh.

You know it's probably a Luongo situation. Just because none of the players have been asked to waive doesn't mean they haven't had conversations about whether they would. Probably has been some type of chat to get a sense of whether they would consider it and a feel for what it would take to get hem to waive. As Benning said a couple of weeks ago, he intended to sit down with some players to get a sense of where they were at. Nothing has been done in a formal way is all.

[Strangelove]

Yeah, for fuck's sake IN, even Ladd hasn't been approached about waiving yet

... and we all know he's getting traded.