Jeff Paterson on the Canucks keeping Hronek, Zadorov leaving, keeping Mikheyev, sign Guentzel?

Jeff Paterson on the Canucks keeping Hronek, Zadorov leaving, keeping Mikheyev, sign Guentzel?

joined Now by Jeff Patterson of rink wide Vancouver our Canucks reporter with uh well let’s face it uh a busy couple weeks Jeff we’re just sort of waiting for news waiting for shoes to drop here on a number of fronts let’s start with Phil ronic the big piece who unlocks much of the Canucks off season do you think this is a long-term deal by the draft or we’re moving Philip ronic proposition yeah I’m not so sure that I feel it’s that dire that I I think the Canucks have some time here that they know there are several options um none of them are particularly great financially for the Vancouver canox in that ronic got most of the leverage here and you know if uh the Canucks can get some other deals done here I think they can put ronic on the back burner a little bit knowing that ultimately he can take them to arbitration and he’s got a strong case and so I think they know they’re going to take their lumps here whether they get a deal done or not I guess the question is how much do they value this player and I guess internally if they come to a conclusion that you know they don’t value him the way that maybe we think they do then perhaps we’ll see a deal done uh to move him on but uh look they’ve been chasing a right shot defenseman that can play Big minutes basically the entire time that I’ve covered this Hockey Club which is a quarter of a century and you can make a strong case that you can go the entire existence of the Vancouver Canucks and it’s an awfully short list of true right side top pairing guys that they’ve had on the fold they gave up a lot to get him I guess I I’m just not convinced that they’re going to be prepared to move off him uh even at the price that he’s going to command here so you think arbitration is an option then you you think the Canucks would be happy with doing the arbitration deal basically kicking this can down the road knowing you’ve got on a one-year deal before UFA yeah I don’t know that I I want to be characterized as saying I’m H that I think they’d be happy with that but I think that that is an option now we see I mean what small percentage of arbitration cases that actually get before the arbitrator so uh you know one thing for a player to file for arbitration that just buys them a little bit more time before you know they can hammer out an agreement but I just think any way that conu look at this they know that the arbitrator is going to side with the player here he played huge minutes he put up massive points and these are you know the counting statistics that the arbitrator uses and just any way you slice it it’s going to fall in ronic Direction so you know that’s why I come back to this idea that you know internally if they don’t think that he is a player long term that can compliment Quinn Hughes and can continue to eat these minutes and if they think he’s more the second half player than he was the first half player then sure maybe they’ve got their eyes on some sort of move here and the draft is definitely a time when the ground is fertile for deals to be made in the National Hockey League although we always say that going into the draft and far fewer deals actually transpire but you usually get one or two significant trades in and around the draft uh and look they’re not going to have anything else to do on the first day so maybe they can they can be busy over at their table making phone calls and pestering other teams uh that are focused on actually getting involved in the first round of the draft so uh you know it’s funny I mean as we sit here on this Monday exactly two weeks from July 1 like it’s coming quickly and we know that the last general manager in this city uh declared famously that he ran out of time they still have time in their hands but with the draft in those two weeks and even though they don’t have a first rounder you know their attention is going to be elsewhere here they’ve got a lot on their plate like time is ticking here on the Vancouver canox quite frankly I’m a little surprised that they haven’t been able to take care of some of their internal business here to allow them to you know just let uh the amount of work that they have to do over these next 14 days if there is an unreasonable Line in the Sand from the ronic camp um for all the reasons you just talked about with regards to arbitration um this is a valuable player if he’s everything that you know you guys just talked about there with regards to the huge points and the right elusive right shot defenseman he’s also a guy that has a tremendous amount of value especially because he is Young um if there’s somebody out there with a right shot defenseman that’s aging and they’re not in that cycle of contending for a cup right now there might be a deal to be had if again the number begins with an eight and they’re unwilling to bend off that and if the if the Vancouver can actually say we can’t do that I mean there are options here like I I think they like the player Jeff do you think they love the player like absolutely can’t live without him like in in an alias Pon kind of sense yeah I don’t think they’re at that point with this player but I do think one of the factors guys you have to keep in mind is his partner had a 92o season MH I think you want to keep the captain happy uh he is the driver of this organization and not that he couldn’t put up massive Point totals with other players we’ve seen him do that in Years Gone by but he’s coming off a career season and he was locked uh to Philip ponic and the numbers showed like when they were out there they were a legitimate dominant pair in terms of driving play and spending time in the offensive zone and and so it’s not just Philip pronic in isolation it’s the role that Philip pronic had in boosting the superpowers of Quinn Hughes and that is significant to the Vancouver KS and so I think they have to be mindful of that and again could they go and try and find a replacement that could you know find a rhythm with Quin Hughes and allow Quin hu like Quin Hughes is incredible player we know that on his own but sometimes you’re a product of the surroundings and he and heroni found something there there that absolutely worked for them individually and for the team collectively here so uh you know it’s never just one guy in isolation but you’re right um a 26y old right shot guy that came close to 50 points and you know this wasn’t this was a career high for ronic but it it was an anomaly I mean he’s been a 40-point guy without playing full seasons in Detroit so you know I think he’s realizing his potential here and I know he didn’t want to discuss it on that final day at the meetings the exit meetings he was Hur in the second half but he just that’s an undeniable fact it’s been reported now I saw with my own two eyes that arm was so heavily wrapped for practices I would imagine it was that much and then some probably for games as well there was a reason we didn’t see the big slapshot until game seven against the Edmonton Oilers when I think he thought like I got nothing to save this for I may as well just wind up and and let it fly and sure enough he found the back of the net so you know there were factors and reasons why his production at the very least dipped in the second half I the Canucks have to be careful of separating the production from the performance and you know we get so focused in our business on goals and assists and ultimately the counting statistics I think the Canucks have to take a a long her look and I’m sure they have from every direction was it just his production that dropped in the second half or did his performance dip in the second half and there is a distinction to be made there yeah uh IL M Frank selli had the news on Friday Jeff that the Canucks have been calling around looking to move MF for some time now actually um since the uh since last season after the zadorov trade at the deadline and again since the end of the season where you at on that are you willing to retain some salary are you willing to pay a sweetener if it means moving MF and a salary out yeah I don’t like either of those options but I mean that’s where they are if they want to move the the player on the contract I mean option three obviously is to bring him back and I’m not convinced that we wouldn’t see the best version of Il mckv in his three seasons so far this four-year contract yeah he got hurt in the preseason in his first year we know that he played on a torn um liament and obviously they had to shut him down he didn’t have last summer to train fully and I just use Oliver Eckman Larson as an example of you give a guy a full off season to train and do the work and put in the effort and can come back and and be a player um and look I don’t love the contract at the time of the signing didn’t love the contract but if you look at the underlying numbers with ilam mcab like defensively he is still a legitimate National Hockey leager he doesn’t hurt you in the defensive end he doesn’t help you offensively and it is a little bit Rich to have him in a bottom six position I get that but so many of these guys that you know we’ve talked about the fact that so many of their penalty killers are on expiring contracts I don’t know if they have all those guys back they didn’t use him that much as a penalty killer if he has a full summer he can get some of that speed and that burst back if he could take on penalty killing as one of his primary duties here I think I could live with him for next season at that price point and then maybe you get a player back that would attract a little bit more interest around the national either you get a player back that helps you or you know the rest of the league isn’t as wary of a guy that just came off a run of one goal in in 61 games like I can understand why teams are asking for some sort of sweetener here uh you’re just not trading that player straight up there’s just going to be no interest at his price point so um you know of all the options I do wonder if living with il mckv at 4.75 for next season could be palatable if you get a guy back that is closer to the player we saw in the first half of the Season he takes on some added responsibility maybe late games protecting leads those types of things because again I think the defens side of his game and his mind is still there uh what does he look like with a full offseason to train and come back and and hopefully hit the ground running one more year gets you that much closer to a palatable buyout too if you do have to kick that can down the road as well uh your take on the poll question here because everything went right healthwise and performance-wise for the Vancouver conects to give them the season that they had um in some ways maybe you’d want to run it all back with the most of of the same players um or you can just say hey that was a lot of planets Alig we need need to be better than we were um what do you think should they try to run it back will they try to run it back or do you think there’s going to be a revamp of the roster I think in Pro Sports change is inevitable I don’t think you’re running it back entirely uh it certainly sounds like a couple of guys at the very least have their foot out the door and want to explore free agency and and that’s fine that comes with the territory players work hard to get to this situation to set themselves up for the big payday and if it can’t come here I’m not going to begrudge any of them for testing the market in that regard also running it back and it was a fun two rounds it was a terrific 13 games it re-energized the city and the fan base and and the marketplace But ultimately it was seven wins where 16 were needed I mean there are areas that they have to get better without a doubt now having a healthy Thatcher Demco would that have changed things having a healthy Brock besser for game seven might that have tipped the scales yeah maybe can play that game all offseason but you know if you take the broader approach they need help upfront scoring I think we all know that I think they recognize that uh I think Rick toet had a defense core sort of molded the way that he liked and so I can understand the reasons for wanting to keep as much of that intact and and running that part of it back but um you know for me and I’ve said this before and I’ve written about it at conu army you know the most important thing to happen for the Vancouver cans this offseason is to get Star level Alias pson back because whatever else they do whatever other money they devote they are in for the Long Haul with this player committed the CAPIC that goes up um this offseason they need him playing like a star and if he does you know there’s a trickle down effect but the inverse is correct as well that if he comes back and is you know not terribly engaged and looks like he did uh from the All-Star break and and through the playoffs you know there’s a trickle down there in that we’re going to be wondering about the Wingers and you know who’s going to get them the pock and and help them create so uh you know I don’t know that there’s a whole lot the hockey club can do and I’m sure whatever they can they would but so much of that is on Alias pson to figure it out and come back and be in the right mindset and be you know the best shape Rick toet has thrown down the gauntlet here the challenge I heard him recently talking about wanting Pon to be one of the top three players in terms of Fitness level you know that tells me that he’s not in the top three uh right now or at least he wasn’t when he reported for last season and so I think talk it uh you know has basically put the challenge at the feet of Alias pson and so much of the Vancouver conu success next season and the season Beyond uh you know it’s going to flow through number 40 and and what kind of Alias pson do the Vancouver canox have moving forward the key transaction of the offseason the acquisition of Alias pson is that what you’re saying well or the acquisition of uh a trainer for alah a big summer of no but Jeff’s right well quite frankly you don’t have the resources available to you this offseason to revamp the roster to a contender status you have to rely on some of your internals to get to that next step and Jeff’s a million percent right that Patterson being a star centerman is part of the equation a healthy Philip ronic is part of the equation as well as is a healthy uh that rempco so no it’s a it’s a very good show Jeff um because they just don’t have the cap space to be able to build upon what they have this year and and look there’s not a ton of internal Improvement left like I’m not sure how much better Quinn Hughes can get I’m not sure JT Miller is getting better uh at this age of the game but that’s sort of the die that is cast for the conu for this coming season at least we we’ll see a year from now when we’re talking about this team and its roster Jeff does gensel at 99 plus million doll and ice you or does a Buy Low potential trade on Patrick l ATT you entice you when we talk about that big gaping hole of scoring on the wing yeah line just doesn’t feel like a fit to me for this organization for Rick toet particularly uh I just can right now I can feel that one kind of souring already and and going sideways and you know we’ve seen that wherever line is gone that look the talent’s undeniable and yet for whatever reason just so much noise around him um and for a coach that you know demands the work boots are on and wall workor and structure and system I’m just not sure that that Patrick l is the guy here um I I think I’m ready for the vanover cans to take their best swing here in unrestricted free agency at Jake gensel I mean they’ve been linked to him the history is there uh with the principes and The Operators so you know I think they are serious about taking a look here um again they need leas patteron but leas patteron does need to be surrounded with better players and certainly uh on this year’s free agent front I’m not sure that there is a better proven goal scorer Than Jake gensel so uh you know that sounds like the big fish that’s out there it comes at a hefty cost there’s no doubt and you know Patterson’s contract kicks in you got JT um you this deal would be sort of in the middle between those two guys uh we’re not that far away obviously Brock bess’s a year away from unrestricted free agency like how many big contracts can you have that’s a question that they’re going to have to answer even as the the cap goes up here and we’ve seen in other markets you know if you go topheavy uh you have to find deficiencies elsewhere and and that has held back certain uh other teams so you know that’s a sort of a problem the bank Canucks have to recognize but yeah rather than trying patchwor and hoping and they did a nice job of it last year like credit words do and it’s why Patrick Aline was in the running for general manager of the year and Rick tett was able to you know make the most out of the group that he had and and he’s the the coach of the year but besser had a career season Neils hoglander had a career season you know some of those unrestricted that they brought in had career Seasons you can’t Bank on that every single year and even with a guy like besser like I’m not convinced that Brock besser is a 40G goal scorer for the next bunch of Seasons no I do think that he’s got to be a 30-goal season scorer I think he’s proven now he can get to 40 that 30 has to be his Baseline but you know maybe he takes a step back maybe Neils hoglander takes a step back as well and that’s where you need some other guys to step in here and fill that Gap just on the goal scoring front and Jake gensel would certainly do that so you know in terms of capitalizing on a a re-engaged fan base if look con next swing for the fences and were to knock it out of the park on July 1 Landing gel like I think that would get the attention of the rest of the hockey world but it certainly uh would carry this Buzz through the summer months into next season here in Vancouver so let’s see how it all plays out if they don’t retain some of these pending unrestricted free agents they’re going to have the money to spend certainly and then it’s a question of you know there’s two sides here like you can make your best pitch for gensel gensel may have his eyes on playing somewhere else uh there family situations like I don’t know what he prioritizes I know at one point there was a suggestion that he didn’t want to come to Canada I think that’s kind of been uh refuted now but ultimately the player gets the final say and wherever he goes he’s getting his money like I don’t think we have to be worried about Jake gensel uh on free AG frenzy day he’s getting his money it’s just a question can the canx you know put together enough of a compelling case for him to join some people that he’s familiar with uh to have a prime situation on a team that looks like you know the building blocks are here for them to take step forward uh and he would be a big part of that but uh you know I would say to kak fans like you know yeah I think people should be excited about the opportunity but brace yourself that ultimately Jake gensel may decide to play somewhere else uh next season in the National Hockey League it’s too bad that some of the Young D Draft Picks and Prospects from a couple years before we Lander and leer macki like a pod Coulson for instance haven’t had the traction because wouldn’t that be nice right now to see you know pod coulsen coming off an 1819 no goal season with more traction expected this coming season because they are close for wander and laki but it’s just not close enough that it can affect really what you’re doing in this offseason right yeah for sure and and I think anytime you’re trading as many first rounders as they have here in a short span it is going to catch up to you and I think we’re at that point and that’s where you know free agents and effective free agents and finding uh value in the free agent market and they did a nice job of it last year and that’s what you know this Management Group has earned the benefit of the D like I’m kind of excited to see what they do on July 1 and maybe even July 2 and third after some of the big fish come off the board you know can they extract some value out of free agency like they did with with a guy like Pia suder uh you know and they waited a few weeks before they were able to to land him last summer but yeah I mean you know entry-level contracts are massive for teams that are taking on you know big salary commitments at the top of the roster and and that’s where the Canucks are now and so you know we’ve We’ve Spoken Here recently about pod koul and and yeah like I want to believe but I just feel like this is such a massive year for him five years removed from his draft at 23 now like if we’re having this same conversation a year from now about vasil P Coulson and hoping that this is now the year at 24 you know at some point you know you’ve turned the page and they’re not there yet but that’s why I feel like this one is such a huge year um and then you look Max sassin and ATU ratu and and like like I’m all for these guys getting an opportunity Rd Baines earned that opportunity to get his feet wet in the National Hockey League but he didn’t early move the meter he’s not a Difference Maker and where do you find difference makers at the top of the draft and so if you’re pedaling first rounders the way that the TS have here over the last four or five years it is going to catch up to you and and that’s sort of where I think they find themselves in the here and now yeah I caught your piece about Neil Zan on kanu’s Army and I think you’re quite right like he’s gonna have to be the fourth line Center next year unless San or ratu and many believe including Dave Halla Canucks Army that ratu is better on the wing um unless one of those two guys can break through lastly Jeff for me on zidor off uh where’s your sense on where this is going and how big of a blow do you think zidor off moving on would be to the Canucks not not just the team on the ice but sort of the culture and the dressing room and everything he brought there so this one feels to me like I know we heard heading into the weekend that you know last and final was coming and ultimatums and those types of things and yet in my head I sort of have this vision of Nikita zedor off you know standing at the doorway waving to the kxs saying that’s it bye I’m going watch me walk away and meanwhile the whole time like mthing I love you uh you please please like if there was a split I feel like we would have seen the split happen now and it feels like there’s a deal there um you know we heard a couple weeks back now or I kind of lose track of the the full timeline but it wasn’t that long ago that we heard that you know he loved it here so much he’d be willing to take a little bit of a haircut to to stick around and stay but what is that number knowing that he’s probably going to get his number on the open market but it certainly feels like from a family perspective um the fact that the way the fans reacted and embraced him like this feels like the place that he wants to be and I I keep coming back to myself and wondering uh if it has to start with a five and if that’s the hold up like can the Canucks there was industry chatter that the Canucks had you know gotten into the High fours with zidor off and that wasn’t enough and I wonder if it’s as simple as if if they can get to a five uh and I don’t think term’s a massive issue like I think he obviously wants term as an unrestricted free agent but you know I don’t think the kucks would have a huge issue going five or even six years with a player who you know at 29 like I I think he can continue to be the player that he has been um you know into his early 30s even into his mid-30s and you know we saw our Resurgence from Tyler Myers we’ve seen the Cole play at a high level well into his 30s as well I think as a sort of stay-at-home defenseman although zorov loves to roam too but you know a big physical guy I think he can do what he does and and be successful at it well into his 30s so I don’t think the conu should have fear on term here it is a question of dollars and every penny matters in a salary cap world and you know I keep coming back too to this idea in my head at least you know where does he slaugh to the depth D because they’ve got Quinn Hughes and Carson Susi on the left side it looks he’d be a third pairing guy but by his usage in the playoffs he certainly was more than a third pairing defenseman and so he’s a little bit of a tweener in that regard you know five million a year for a guy that can give you 20 minutes of ice time and kill penales and bring some Swagger and some intimidation uh again the premium you’re paying I think is for the playoffs it’s not so much for the regular season with this player but man you’d love to have him on your side and not have to face him uh if you get into the postseason so I’m not ready to shut the door here and I don’t think either side is that’s my read on this thing is that they both want to get a deal done but somebody’s going to have to budge just a little bit and we’ll see if it happens yep uh wholeheartedly agree the longest goodbye with Nikita zadorov quite right Jeff uh marvelous stuff sir thank you for this and we will uh we’ll catch up next week all right bye bye see you see you talk to you farewell gonna miss you hey everybody if you’re enjoying what seeing here then follow along with Saron price on YouTube I promise more content coming they call it the kids call it subscribe on YouTube well how about liking it do that as well smash it right now

@rinkwidevancouver host Jeff Paterson (@Canucks_Army) stops by to take a bite out of the Canucks recent storylines, including the value in possible long term investments in Hronek and Zadorov on the blueline. Plus, Jeff offers a restrained take on what to do with Ilya Mikheyev, and an aggressive one on the Canucks pursuit of Jake Guentzel.

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