JT Miller Traded to NYR + Marcus Pettersson Acquired from Pens

[Strangelove]

Who is the new off ice leader? Myers is 35 and their natural ice daddy

Boeser, the quiet leader, the patriarch, the calming influence.

[Strangelove]

It’s weird. I think I finally like how the Canucks’ defence is shaping up moving forward. If Myers continues to play the way he has all season, they have a nice top four. I’ve always been impressed with Marcus Pettersson and when healthy Hronek and Hughes are a nice top pairing. That’s two righties and two lefties just like Tocchet likes.

Behind them they have four youngsters - again two on each side - that have very good potential to be successful in the NHL. Willander and Mancini on the right and DePetey and Kudryavsev on the left. I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect to see each of them playing some games with Vancouver next season.

Between the top four and the four young defencemen, they have decent bottom pairing placeholders in Soucy and Forbort.

There is a good chance more limited players like Juulsen and Friedman won’t be needed in the top six in the future unless an extreme rash of injuries occur.

It’s been a long time since the Canucks have iced a solid defensive group, but I think they are there once they sign Marcus Pettersson to an extension and Willander finishes college.

Baring re-injury Demko and Lankinen make a good goalie tandem.

I won’t be surprised if the Canucks use their first rounder to add to the top six forwards (ideally a centre with term) in the coming weeks.
But whatever the case, this team should be much better at holding on to leads with their new defensive group.

The concern is, can they get enough clutch scoring from this forward group without Miller?
It’d be helpful if DeBrusk and Boeser could contribute consistently.

This post 'bout sums up my thoughts...

[Nuckertuzzi]

Yup, I said essentially the same thing in another post. Tending and D are now solid (or should be if all is healthy and rolling).

My big issue is that paper thin forward group. It's actually not a bad group if you like responsible defensive players, then we've got plenty. But if you can't generate offense you got no shot to do anything in this league no matter how solid your lineup is. This is a major concern.

I'm sure mgmt know this and they will do everything they can to alleviate it. The problem is the solution doesn't just require one player (another top center) because I don't believe Debrusk and Boeser are good enough to be your top wingers on a contending team. So imo they need to add or upgrade there as well.

Which makes me super nervous because I don't see how we have the resources to make the upgrades without moving Willander & Lekkerimaki. We all know ownership and mgmt are allergic to draft picks so it's inevitable they'll give up our 1st rounder +. The prospects tho, not sure I can stomach losing two of our futures who appear to be close to cracking. I just can't see how they can do anything otherwise, unless they go the patient route and wait for the offseason. Patience is a foreign concept to these guys and they already threw that idea out the window on Friday.

[Strangelove]

Yeah, I'd kill for a top-6 power forward like JT Miller right now (if we didn't have to give up a top prospect).

[Meds]

Yeah, I'd kill for a top-6 power forward like JT Miller right now (if we didn't have to give up a top prospect).

[Strangelove]

Can’t recall who, but someone said something about Pettersson having a Tom Wilson on his wing would make for a more effective Petey….. probably an astute prediction.

I'll take credit for that one.

Donlever would never conceive of such a thing.

[Nuckertuzzi]

Now, to add some positive hope for our forwards. Been wondering about Chytil. He got sidelined for essentially the entire season last year, which timeline-wise could've/should've been a breakout year following the nice productive year he had the season prior.

So...could it be that the injury only set his development back a year and we are getting him at the perfect time when he's just on the verge of a breakout? After missing an entire year, which should be a massive roadblock in any player's recovery, he's already matched his production pace from 2022/23 with limited ice time, so that could be a great sign for even bigger, better things to come. Not expecting a Miller-esque breakout the season we acquired him, but could certainly add another layer to the whole trade.

[donlever]

I'll take credit for that one.

Donlever would never conceive of such a thing.

[Lancer]

Now, to add some positive hope for our forwards. Been wondering about Chytil. He got sidelined for essentially the entire season last year, which timeline-wise could've/should've been a breakout year following the nice productive year he had the season prior.

So...could it be that the injury only set his development back a year and we are getting him at the perfect time when he's just on the verge of a breakout? After missing an entire year, which should be a massive roadblock in any player's recovery, he's already matched his production pace from 2022/23 with limited ice time, so that could be a great sign for even bigger, better things to come. Not expecting a Miller-esque breakout the season we acquired him, but could certainly add another layer to the whole trade.

That's some serious silver-linings hunting, there. The kid looked alright last night. He had some good-looking moves and scored the kind of goal Tocchet's been crying for all season. He was also responsible for the OT goal against. Coughs up the puck in the O-zone, and I'm watching the Wings' rush into the zone asking myself, "Where's Chytil?" only to see him appear as DeBrincat scores. Those are some serious "Bad Miller" flashbacks there. I'd like to see if this kid can pass, or whether he gets blinders on when he gets the puck.

Not to say there's no further upside with him, but he's 25 - there's a significant probability that what you see is what you get with him. Not bad, but it doesn't look like he's going to move the needle much - and not near as much as "Good Miller".

[Blob Mckenzie]

Look at it as one deal if you can. And I never do ths but if you consider what they started with on Fiday and what they ended up with, its not horrible.

People have been bitching about Heinen and Desharnais all season. They're history - cap dumps at the price of a Melvin Belvin. Pettersson was the best UFA on the market. He was getting a mid to late first all day and with 27 mill in cap space Im sure they'll sign him. Hes thin but hes a damn good D man.

You deal a 32 year old top end forward that had worn out his welcome here. He is absolutely the best player in both deals but he couldn't play nice with others, a couple scrubs nobody wanted and a couple meh prospects.

They ended up with a legit top 4 LD who is 28, a 25 year old mid six centre with size and speed who has scored at a 40 point pace playing 13 min and a solid prospect and a pile of cap space. Its not horrible.

[Lancer]

Look at it as one deal if you can. And I never do ths but if you consider what they started with on Fiday and what they ended up with, its not horrible.

People have been bitching about Heinen and Desharnais all season. They're history - cap dumps at the price of a Melvin Belvin. Pettersson was the best UFA on the market. He was getting a mid to late first all day and with 27 mill in cap space Im sure they'll sign him. Hes thin but hes a damn good D man.

You deal a 32 year old top end forward that had worn out his welcome here. He is absolutely the best player in both deals but he couldn't play nice with others, a couple scrubs nobody wanted and a couple meh prospects.

They ended up with a legit top 4 LD who is 28, a 25 year old mid six centre with size and speed who has scored at a 40 point pace playing 13 min and a solid prospect and a pile of cap space. Its not horrible.

Holistically-speaking, you're not wrong. They shipped out wasted cap in Desharnais and Heinen and got more cap space. They got a middle-six forward. They got a defenceman who, by some pundits' accounts is a functional NHL top-4 defenceman. They filled spaces - and not with AHL scrubs masquerading as NHL players. Not terrible.

But it's far from great, and not really good either, unless the players in return take a jump in progression that they've never taken before - or this isn't management's last move with the core before next season.

Management has had a hard-on for Scarecrow going back to Pittsburgh, so they'll re-sign him (hopefully for a good cap hit, but I'm not holding my breath with the way management is talking). Even so, great that the team won't be bleeding more shots- and goals-against with Scarecrow's addition, but not seeing any offence from him - when we're starving for puck-movers and offense even before the trade. With D. Petey and Willander looking closer to playing roles with the team next season, that may abate but it will create a logjam on the blueline. Maybe they become pieces in a core-shaping trade?

Yeah Miller was toxic in the room, and playing "Bad Miller" pretty much all season. If his departure was a 'breath of fresh air' in the room, you hardly saw it from either the coaches, the players or their play last night - it was more of the same. I have yet to see the 'addition by subtraction' in the team. It may come, but the jury's out and there are no indications that it will come either.

At the end of the day, you can't make up quality with quantity. The team lost a dynamic player on both offense and defence; a player who plays heavy and the type of game you need in the playoffs. Miller was a player that moved the needle significantly when he was "Good Miller" - far more than the cumulative effect of Chytil and Scarecrow Pettersson. It's just too bad both Miller and management gave up on trying to get him back to 'Good Miller". Maybe it was impossible, but absent any further explanation as to why Miller had to go we'll never know.

Hopefully Chytil gets packaged with some other pieces for a true replacement of Miller in the team's core moving forward. No one can convince me that either going with a core without a viable replacement for Miller or, even worse, a core with Chytil as part of it, is going to last more than a round in the playoffs - especially with Petey's head so far up his insecure ass he can barely shoot straight. The core needs an overhaul.

[Nuckertuzzi]

Now, to add some positive hope for our forwards. Been wondering about Chytil. He got sidelined for essentially the entire season last year, which timeline-wise could've/should've been a breakout year following the nice productive year he had the season prior.

So...could it be that the injury only set his development back a year and we are getting him at the perfect time when he's just on the verge of a breakout? After missing an entire year, which should be a massive roadblock in any player's recovery, he's already matched his production pace from 2022/23 with limited ice time, so that could be a great sign for even bigger, better things to come. Not expecting a Miller-esque breakout the season we acquired him, but could certainly add another layer to the whole trade.

That's some serious silver-linings hunting, there. The kid looked alright last night. He had some good-looking moves and scored the kind of goal Tocchet's been crying for all season. He was also responsible for the OT goal against. Coughs up the puck in the O-zone, and I'm watching the Wings' rush into the zone asking myself, "Where's Chytil?" only to see him appear as DeBrincat scores. Those are some serious "Bad Miller" flashbacks there. I'd like to see if this kid can pass, or whether he gets blinders on when he gets the puck.

Not to say there's no further upside with him, but he's 25 - there's a significant probability that what you see is what you get with him. Not bad, but it doesn't look like he's going to move the needle much - and not near as much as "Good Miller".

Wholeheartedly agree.
The thing is we were going to take a loss on the Miller trade. This was going to be a bad trade, there was no way around it. I would've rather NOT make the trade for either Miller or Petey, and lived with the pain until the offseason. But that's all water under the bridge now. So all in all I think we actually could have done worse. That's the way I look at it.

Btw, I posted about Chytil before the game. So to see some offense right away is promising. The OT blunder, well, it is OT after all and who on this team hasn't made an OT blunder??

[Cornuck]

I would've rather NOT make the trade for either Miller or Petey, and lived with the pain until the offseason. But that's all water under the bridge now. So all in all I think we actually could have done worse. That's the way I look at it.

Fair point, and I think the problem is that management (read:owners) were not going to wait until the season played out if there was still a chance to salvage it. I just hope that they don't think we're going all the way this year and trade some picks and prospects to shoot their wad again.

[Chef Boi RD]

Chef got a brow beating for saying Heinen was a shit signing, but now that he’s been shipped out of Dodge everyone gets on board with the Chef. I can never win.

[Lancer]

Fair point, and I think the problem is that management (read:owners) were not going to wait until the season played out if there was still a chance to salvage it. I just hope that they don't think we're going all the way this year and trade some picks and prospects to shoot their wad again.

Anyone is management who thinks this team is going to last a round with the way they're playing and carrying themselves - well-past the half-way point of the season - is seriously high on their own supply. This team is not getting it done - and that's assuming they even make the playoffs. The players look like they want the season to end already.

Just ride this bitch into the ditch in April and use the offseason to rectify their mistakes with the core and supporting parts.

The only one who should feel safe in Vancouver is Quinn.