Canucks Young Guns

[Chef Boi RD]

Jim Benning still speaks from the GM graveyard, our two best assets in Abby are Silovs and Karlsson! Key figures in winning the championship!!

[Lancer]

We either have great depth,
or all we have is depth.

IYKYK…

Been thinking about Abby's championship and what it means to the big club.

What does it mean?

It means we have a coach on the Farm who climbed that head coach learning curve quickly and successfully. If he doesn't get scooped up this summer by another NHL team, it means we have a viable option if Foote trips up this season and needs to be canned.

It means that Silovs has proved himself in the minors, and is a significant asset to management moving forward. Given the organization's stable of goaltending prospects in the pipeline already, Silovs may have seen the last of Abby - whether he becomes a fixture in Vancouver or some other NHL team. In the end, notwithstanding what happens with Demko, Vancouver's goaltending depth is the envy of more than a few clubs, I wager.

It means that the handful of prospects who could become important parts of a contending team got some great professional playoff experience. For kids like Lekk, Mancini, Kuds, and Raty, this is something from which they can draw when they get into the playoffs with the big team. Look what it did for the likes of Kes, Burr and Bieksa. Even so, nobody among them looks destined to become a core part of the team moving forward though it looks good for the upcoming supporting cast.

Mostly, though, it means that Vancouver has quality depth options in the bottom-6. Karlsson, Sasson, PDG, Bains, and Blais will never threaten anyone's job in Vancouver's top-6. Nobody is slotting Cole McWard into the top-4 in Vancouver either. That said, when injuries happen in the top-6 or top-4, the risk will be more related to the Vancouver player who moves up a slot, as opposed to whoever from the Farm comes in to replace them lower in the lineup.

If they won, and it was Lekk leading the team and playoffs in scoring and such, perhaps a different assessment of the prospect system. With Silovs and the veterans leading the way - admittedly with some bright spots from Lekk, Kuds and Mancini - this just means that Vancouver's farm system is solid; it just needs more promising youngsters with higher ceilings to churn out better players for the big club.

[Cousin Strawberry]

Jim Benning still speaks from the GM graveyard, our two best assets in Abby are Silovs and Karlsson! Key figures in winning the championship!!

Now that we're this thin on prospects again maybe they should bring ol Jimmy back to lead the scouts for a few years til we restock the cupboards

He does have an eye for talent

[Lancer]

He does have an eye for talent

Benning, or his departed bird-dog Brackett???

[UWSaint]

Been thinking about Abby's championship and what it means to the big club.

What does it mean?

Good post.

What I think it means is that the Canucks had a team of AHL veterans, not exciting but undeveloped NHL prospects (in addition to your comments about Silovs and Malhotra).

These guys who are a little past the age where you can project much bigger things (e.g., Karlsson, Sasson) but aren't known-forever tweeners-at-best AHL-contributors-better (e.g., Wolanin, Nielsen) are the kinds of guys that maybe you can get some bottom 6 benefit from for cheap. Maybe they can develop specialized skills in those or on top of those roles -- Karlsson on the PP and annoyance; Sasson to figure out how to use that + speed for forechecking and pestiness not playmaking.

But the Canucks have invested in players for those kinds of spots in the lineup -- Joshua, Hoglander, O'Connor, Lankinen. Its not that those contracts are individually bad (well, I think Lankinen is a terrible deal), Its that their marginal value over what can be provided by this post-prospect pre-guaranteed tweener class is unlikely to be huge, yet the aggregated player costs over near league minimum salaries is not insignificant. Let's see Raty (who is still developing but doesn't have more to get from the AHL), Silovs, Karlsson, and Sasson in Vancouver next year.

Now, because these vet bottom 6 type NHL contracts aren't individually bad (and perhaps others around the league think the Lankinen deal is all right -- looking at you, Buffalo), they are probably movable for some return. Let's see what happens.....

[rikster]

Been thinking about Abby's championship and what it means to the big club.

What does it mean?

Good post.

What I think it means is that the Canucks had a team of AHL veterans, not exciting but undeveloped NHL prospects (in addition to your comments about Silovs and Malhotra).

These guys who are a little past the age where you can project much bigger things (e.g., Karlsson, Sasson) but aren't known-forever tweeners-at-best AHL-contributors-better (e.g., Wolanin, Nielsen) are the kinds of guys that maybe you can get some bottom 6 benefit from for cheap. Maybe they can develop specialized skills in those or on top of those roles -- Karlsson on the PP and annoyance; Sasson to figure out how to use that + speed for forechecking and pestiness not playmaking.

But the Canucks have invested in players for those kinds of spots in the lineup -- Joshua, Hoglander, O'Connor, Lankinen. Its not that those contracts are individually bad (well, I think Lankinen is a terrible deal), Its that their marginal value over what can be provided by this post-prospect pre-guaranteed tweener class is unlikely to be huge, yet the aggregated player costs over near league minimum salaries is not insignificant. Let's see Raty (who is still developing but doesn't have more to get from the AHL), Silovs, Karlsson, and Sasson in Vancouver next year.

Now, because these vet bottom 6 type NHL contracts aren't individually bad (and perhaps others around the league think the Lankinen deal is all right -- looking at you, Buffalo), they are probably movable for some return. Let's see what happens.....

Actually the baby Canucks had one of the youngest teams in the league and younger than traditional Calder Cup champion teams...

What does it mean?...that our media and fans need to start paying attention to the system and not just when they are on a deep playoff run...

Thought this post from HF put a nice button on it...

Even as the AHL Canucks were parading around the ice the Bojangles Coliseum, there's a lot of members of this team likely won't be back. That's just the nature of the beast in the AHL, a constant changing of the guard.

Veteran UFA's now include Blais, Khaira, Wolanin, PDG, Smith, Kambeitz and Brisebois. Difficult to see how any of them will be back--maybe Brisebois, but that's about it.

But the mystery is the raft of RFA's on this team. The list is long: Bains, Raty, Sasson, Glover, Nielson, Woo, McWard, Felton and Tolopilo. And Hirose is a Group 6 UFA without enough games to be an RFA.

The other mystery is in goal where they currently have six under contract: Lankinen, Demko, Silovs, Tolopilo, Patera and Koskenuvo. Far too many, even if they were to send somebody to Kalamazoo.

And of course they have to find room for the likes of Arliksson, Bloom, Mynio and the recently signed Ravinskis next season. And I suspect they'll be busy adding a college UFA or two.

But I guess you enjoy tonight, and where the roster all breaks down in a few months is a conversation for another day.

btw, the poster forgot to mention Young in the group of netminders under contract who has a high upside...

Take care...