*sigh*Mëds wrote: WTF?
We want the guy that is supposed to be our second coming of Bertuzzi (minus Moore) to play like a soft Swedish 20 goal sniper?
And who cares about Lack playing like Schneider. Cory only saw 40 minutes of ice time in the playoffs in 2011. Lou just has to play like Lou (minus games 3, 4, and 6).
Okay, let's give this another look...
There is still room for one or two more moves.
Let's say Alberts realizes guys like him are taking a beating due to the artificially low cap this year
... and he loves being a Canuck... so he signs for $700K.
Now, Nonis has somehow painted himself into a corner in the centre of the universe.
He doesn't have the cap space to re-sign both Kadri and Franson.
Re-signing those two would give him his 23 players (13 forwards, 8 dee, 2 goalies)
Rumour is he's now looking to deal Franson, but there are only a handful of teams with cap-room.
Even fewer that can offer the ideal return, considering his dire situation.
Franson is one of only 2 RHS dee the Leaves have (the other one, Holzer, is #7 on the depth chart).
So the ideal return for Leaves would be a RHS proven NHL tweener on a low contract ($1.5m or less).
Enter Chris Tanev.
Canucks upgrade their dee by trading Tanev straight up for Cody Franson.
Did I mention he's a BC boy who feels he has been screwed over by the Leaves?
Okay, compare this squad to the cup run squad of a few years ago...
FORWARDS
Daniel Sedin ($6.100m) / Henrik Sedin ($6.100m) / Alexandre Burrows ($4.500m)
David Booth ($4.250m) / Ryan Kesler ($5.000m) / Zack Kassian ($0.870m)
Chris Higgins ($2.500m) / Jordan Schroeder ($0.600m) / Jannik Hansen ($1.350m)
Tom Sestito ($0.750m) / Brad Richardson ($1.150m) / Dale Weise ($0.750m)
Mike Santorelli ($0.550m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Dan Hamhuis ($4.500m) / Kevin Bieksa ($4.600m)
Alexander Edler ($5.000m) / Cody Franson ($3.000m)
Jason Garrison ($4.600m) / Yannick Weber ($0.650m)
Andrew Alberts ($0.700m) / Frank Corrado ($0.599m)
GOALTENDERS
Roberto Luongo ($5.333m)
Eddie Lack ($0.750m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $64,202,778; BONUSES: $0
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $97,22
Sedin – Sedin – Burrows = Sedin – Sedin – Burrows
C'mon they had a bad last year due to a slow start in a shortened season, Burrows shuffled around.
MAYBE they score 10 less goals, but it's not like they're over-the-hill and older means more experience baby!
EDIT: Sedins (and Kesler) put up a TON of PP points that year, if the PP gets back on track...
Booth – Kesler – Kassian > Raymond – Kesler – Samuelsson
If Booth is healthy he brings much more to the table than Raymond (15 goals that season).
If young Kassian improves somewhat as most expect he could easily be better than Sammy (18 that season)
Plus, and this can not be understated, Kassian is an asshole.
Higgins – Malhotra – Hansen = Higgins – Schroeder – Hansen
Young Schroeder is likely to improve, NO not to Manny-levels, but Higgins & Hansen are better players now.
Sestito - Richardson – Weise < Torres – Lapierre – Glass
But hey it's only the 4th line amirite?
I'll add here that, Gaunce and Jensen playing on the top line in Utica make for good injury callups...
Hamhuis – Bieksa
Edler – Ehrhoff
Ballard – Salo
Alberts – Rome
vs
Hamhuis – Bieksa
Edler – Franson
Garrison - Corrado
Alberts – Weber
I feel that latter group is the better defensive group but debating the matter would be akin to splitting hairs.
Goaltending, Luongo can go back to 68+ starts as he has done most of his career
... meaning backup is not a big deal.
So sure Schneider was a better backup in 2010-11 than Lack/Eriksson are likely to be in 2013-14.
But who knows and who cares, and besides both Lack and Eriksson are considered stellar.
And so, upon further review, yours truly has decided your Vancouver Canucks will win your 2014 Stanley Cup.