Canucks reporter Rob Williams on team’s free agency approach, Guentzel, Mikheyev for Laine trade

Canucks reporter Rob Williams on team’s free agency approach, Guentzel, Mikheyev for Laine trade

joined now by the national editor of the daily Hive in the offside Sports vertical Rob the room room guy on Twitter Rob Williams fresh from the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal you gonna change your beat it would be wouldn’t be bad send me to Monaco and uh true travel’s good Bahrain and and all the all the rest be good way to see the world it’s the best beat in sports journalism you get to every part of the world and some really cool cities so yeah uh welcome back glad you glad you survived the rain there in Montreal uh we’re talking Vancouver Canucks here and first rob you see two paths here as they enter free agency and in fact it was paths that Blake and I were debating yesterday so tell us uh the roads taken here and the road not taken from the Canucks heading into free agency yeah it’s going to be the subject of my article today and it’s just like what philosophical path are they going to go down right and I think you look at what they did last season it was volume and value and they hit it out of the park right they got brought in guys like Susi Cole and Bluer all on July 1 all for a pretty good price all for short term um you know and that that gave them depth that gave them penalty killer and it changed kind of the makeup of their team what do they look for now though where they kind of have more of the framework of a of a you know of a playoff team and they’re looking to get like are they going to try to add another you know piece to the Stanley Cup puzzle in and when I say that I mean a guy like Jake gensel and you think about what like what are the components of of of a Stanley Cup and which ones of those do have they have a lot of the the main pieces right they’ve got the VZ level goalie they got the Norris Trophy D they’ve got two top centers they’ve got a scoring Winger in besser you know they’re probably missing you know they’ve got Herona on D they’re probably missing another top four defenseman uh and they’re definitely missing at least one more scoring Winger like like maybe a couple but definitely one more Elite one and if you can go out and get gensel and add that one more piece to the puzzle uh you’re probably going to have to pay big money like is he going to cost 9 million is he going to command 7 years that pays 36 perhaps but you know there’s the Pittsburgh connection there’s the tocket connection is that a guy that you can convince to come to Vancouver that might not be available every single year so I do Wonder like is this the time to really go for it and then try to go cheap in other areas and hopefully you know as alvan said find the next Dakota Joshua we had this chat yesterday we had this debate yesterday and see I’m on the I’m on the more depth is needed more volume and value you’re not quite there yet I was on the Difference Maker side on the Difference Maker side Rob which side are you on I think I mean there’s risk on both right you can you can go for the mid-range guy and end up with Ilan mckv you can try to go for or one of the bigname guys and end up with Lou Erikson right so I I do see risk on on both ends I think you want to have as much certainty as possible right if you bring in a guy like gensel you you know him you know that this Management Group knows him tet knows him you know he’s likely to fit into what you’re doing it was you know similar I think to what they were thinking when they brought in Lind Holm you know Rutherford knew him well think you just want to make sure that you’re not bringing in a guy that’s going to fall off a cliff you don’t want a Jonathan hubero situation uh you know so like is you know a guy like Sam Reinhardt is his his values at an all-time high right now like are you going to be paying for you know Top Dollar on Sam Reinhardt when in a totally different situation he’s you know he he comes crashing back down to earth you want to make sure that you’re if you’re going to swing for that home run that you at least hit a triple right like you can’t you can’t commit big money and big term and then just be regretting it a year or two later so I think if you’ve got some some mid-range guys that you feel really comfortable with and that you think can really be diff difference makers for you and you add a couple second liners rather than the one first liner then I I can see it but it’s it’s such a hard thing to say until you know the dollar figures until you know like what what the offers are but Jake gensel to me is very very intriguing because I think he’s exactly the type of player that that they need I I think Sam Sam Reinhardt might have made himself $3 million this season per per year oh yeah sure because if he if he sets a career high of 35 goals this year I mean what’s he Mak he’s making gel money right if that probably not that yeah it’s crazy um see my point about you know adding the G adding gensel like take a look at the Leafs topheavy paying all the forwards have been good enough really even to get to round two other than one time look at Edmonson right now even with dry cidal and McDavid topheavy down two nothing in the Stanley Cup Final I I I I know Pittsburgh previously won it as a reasonably topheavy team salary structure wise I just when I I think of tet Style hockey and I think of more depth through the lineup with a healthy thatr Demco in the playoffs I just think that’s a better route for these Vancouver Canucks these are strange times though like the multiple games in these playoffs the Evon ERS haven’t got to 20 shots yeah like what is it like what are we even talking about here they’re a topheavy team with two of the best offensive players ever born and they can’t get to 20 shots someday so I I don’t even know what we’re what we’re arguing for in terms of what the kucks need in terms of difference makers but doesn’t that tell you something that like because Miller and Pon are not those guys no no so I just I have need some offense you do need to be able to which is why I’m for sort of sprinkling it more through the lineup and creating a little more depth and and trying to win defensive games or or do you just flush it out Rob with like a a top or a six man defense Corp that is par excellance do you do you sign ronic and sign Brett pesy and leave the forwards alone and get $3 million forwards to sprinkle through the top nine it it’s such a tough decision I I I do think when you look at the the list of free agents that there’s more Wingers available probably than anything else you know there’s not a ton of of of options when you’re looking at centers there’s not a ton of options you’re looking at D so I do wonder if you’re going to pay through the nose for the few available guys that that are there um it was interesting the path that they went on with defense this last season and I thought I was really concerned about their defense coming into the year and you look at what they did where you know I I think after they got zadorov I kind of thought geez they like they might be okay here and and they had a top pairing a legitimate top pairing and they kind of had like two 2B pairings like to like second or third line you know how many of those other four are Bonafide top four defensemen you know you can make the case that they’re like I I think you had like four guys that were really like a four five guy right rather than a a three or four um so I thought that was was very interesting yeah like what’s what’s the best fit for Pon is it is it gensel and and find somebody else like hoglander or mck somebody and and and that’s your second line or is it you know can you make it make it up with like a you know Tav terraine and Tyler tley like like a some sort of mix like that can you get those two guys for for kind of the price of gensel that’s it you know that that could be a a better second line but you know again you’ve got to take into account a lot of different things here you know you know to Foley would be Age and and you know the guys that are like 28 29 they’re probably going to command a lot of term you know is that is that the way to go you getting faster right they mentioned speed a bunch of times besser is not fast if you got besser and T foi is your top two Wingers neither of those guys can speak which brings me to Patrick l Rob he is uh available for trade now he is still in the player assistance program but he is available for trade he wants a fresh start both the agent and the Columbus Blue Jackets are working to make it such he is still a big ticket be it just this coming season and one more and he might be an offloading ground for the ilam mckv contract what do you think should the kucks be interested in Patrick lie I think L is an an intriguing player and you know there’s there’s big you know big big potential that what if just he’s in he’s been in not a great situation in Columbus what if he leaves that that comes somewhere else has more talented players to play with has a better Center to play with he hasn’t really had you know a ton of help there in Columbus what if he’s put in the right situation and he explodes and if that happens you look at you know lon’s he’s not going to be I don’t think they’re Columbus is not going to give him away but his value has never been lower like he’s never been more affordable to acquire his entire career than than right now I would argue but in saying that what do the kucks have to give up like yeah they don’t have a middle Prospect I mean I guess a rotu would be or a pod koulen along you know something like that something like that like who are the like who are the prospects that you’re excited about coming to the Canucks right now like laraki and willander I guess over payment that’s overpayment for you’re not going there you’re not going there and that’s too much but then if you look after that like like you said Blake like there’s like there’s nothing really after that look at the look at their drafts from like recent years like they they have given up a lot of draft picks this this upcoming draft uh or writer Noah Strang like put together a piece like they were at the near you know bottom five in the league in terms of draft pick value of coming up at this draft like they they just traded their first round you know this is this is the rub for when you know everyone was excited about getting Lindholm and I I thought it was a you know maybe a worthwhile gamble at the time but you give up first round pick there you don’t have that chip to play this off season you know they gave up Futures to get zidor off they they made a lot of those moves already uh you know on on short-term moves and and hey they they had a great season and and you know made a nice little playoff run but you don’t have you can’t make that move every year um so I think that that that’s not a luxury that they’ll be able to afford right now unless there’s roster players that can make it happen and I and I don’t see see I don’t see a fit for for players that that Columbus wants right now I you know I think you’d be sending them a kef and saying part of what you’re getting on this Columbus is the cap space over the next couple of years shopp you know the difference between line a at 87 and um MF at 47 um so you’d be giving them nearly four million per cap space per season and then you’d be attaching sort of a a middle a you know a mid Prospect or a middle round pick and say you know there you go may not be enough you know someone may be head over heels with Patrick l think him you know still the 40 goal scorer or even 30 goal scorer previous in his career but um you know I think it’s worth exploring I I agree with you on that is it is it gonna be like Mev shilov and a third round pick is that like the new Raymond Raymond Ballard in a second no no because she loves this your backup goon I don’t think you’re going there uh you capitalize on a guy like sort of a hunter brevich kind of trade in in kirro kudr or epd or as you say ratu if they believe in PUD gos and I think you have to look at that as well so yeah I mean I think there’s different concoctions here not sure it’s the it’s the combination that’s going to get it done but it’s worth exploring but let’s just roll down are are you okay with the risk of the player because he could come here you could go right back in the players assistance program and you could have nothing to show for for the trade you okay with that risk I think you need need to do your homework on on that aspect and have some level of of comfort about what you’re what you’re doing um ultimately if he gets two out of hand of course you can terminate the contract too right so you do have that as an extreme if Columbus is ready to to give him away from Mev plus a you know C Prospect or something like that like absolutely take take the risk that’s a really talented player he’s still young he’s you know very very accomplished in his career if if you think that that that you can put him in a position to succeed in Vancouver absolutely i’ i’ take take a swing at that I’m just concerned about what it’s going to cost to to get him and what you have to give up and and those are H Fair considerations Rob Williams um just want to invite you over uh to my crib 6:00 a.m. for the next F1 race okay coffee bacon egg will be served because I know you’re such a convert now and we’ll talk to you on this show sounds sounds great hey everybody if you’re enjoying what you’re 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

Rob Williams discusses whether the Canucks should go big-game hunting in free agency, or rather take the quantity over quality approach. Plus, Rob gets into Jake Guentezel, a potential Patrik Laine trade, Ilya Mikheyev and more on the Canucks’ off-season

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