| 6o4__boi | 01-15-2015 01:58 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by SumAznGuy
(Post 8581598)
Depending on how far the Canucks fall in the standings in the next few weeks will determine what course of action(s) they will take prior to the trade deadline.
The Canucks are only allowed to have 23 players on the roster.
Right now, that is 2 goalies, 7 D men and 13 forwards with a spot for Hammer's return.
All the guys on the current roster is all that they can play with. Even if they sat Higgins/Kassian/Burrows/Sedins/bucket of pucks, there is no room to bring anyone up unless someone is on a 2 way contract and can be sent down to Utica without the risk of losing them on waivers (going down or when they are recalled back to the team).
At most, when Hammer returns, then they will send Corrado back down to the minors which frees up a spot for one call up.
At the end of the season, imo, is where we will start to see changes. Higgins while not performing with points, does a lot of good things defensively and on the fore check. He may find himself in a better place on the third line and his contract isn't that bad that makes it a burden to have him on the team. Same goes with Burrows.
It's Richardson and Matthais that is the most interesting as they are both UFA's at the end of this season.
I can potentially see the Canucks trading away or letting these 2 guys walk away from the team at the end of the season to free up roster spots for some of the youth in Utica.
Dorsett is also a UFA, but I see him having enough upside on the fourth line that they will keep him.
As for young guys in Utica, I am almost ready to say Jensen is a bust as he isn't exactly lighting it up in the minors. In fact, none of the youth that the Canucks drafted is lighting it up in the AHL for the Canucks.
With the twins on the decline, much like Naslund in his final few years as a Canuck, the team will be a borderline playoff team much like Calgary was for the past few years.
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Wayyyy too early to call the drafts in Utica a bust. With our drafting record i wouldn't be surprised though.
It takes time...maybe if they were 22/23/24ish and still putting up jack all in the minors then they can officially be classified as busts.
I'd keep Matthias, big body who can skate and can be a factor in the bottom six. Richardson might attract some interest at the deadline but we're pretty thin on centers at the moment.
I kno Bonino is pretty young but he doesn't strike me as a top six player...he reminds me of MayRay lol. Streaky as fuck, and pretty much a peripheral player all the time.
Assuming our UFAs actually wanna come back to Vancouver...lol that might be a stretch. Coming to Vancouver is pretty much a tough sell for any FA, hopefully JB doesn't overspend.
The problem with Higgins is that when he's not contributing offensively, he's expendable. He's ok at the bottom six/pk role but we have a fuckload of guys who can do that AND contribute offensively. Hell, even Dorsett puts one away every now and then. Same can be said for Burrows but imo he's a better penalty killer than Higgins.
When Higgins is expendable, we can afford to send him down to his home state because he's easily replaceable. PK specialists aren't hard to come by, they're a dime a dozen.
We're swimming in bottom six players atm:
Dorsett 39 GP - 13 pts
Higgins 40 GP - 17 pts
Richardson 41 GP - 19 pts
Burrows 36 GP - 17 pts
Matthias 39 GP - 12 pts
Vey 38 GP - 16 pts
Hansen 40 GP - 15 pts
Bonino 41 GP - 22 pts
God, those numbers are fucking depressing lol. | 