Rival Canucks add 3 defensemen
by Kent Wilson on Aug 28, 2009 4:50 PM PDT
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Not sure what Gillis is up to, but he added 3 NHL defenders to an already complete blueline. Must have been possessed by some kind of Sutter-like mentality. Mathieu Schneider, Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich are now all Vancouver Canucks. So, should Flames fans be worried?
I personally don't think so. Not a lot there. Schneider is old enough to be a grandfather and his effectiveness is eroding rapidly. He was the most sheltered defenseman on the Thrashers last year in terms of zone start, he didn't play against tough competition and he was still in the red in terms of corsi and outscoring. And he's only going to get worse.
Brad Lukowich has been a marginal NHLer for years. He's got zero offensive game and he can't really take on anything but third/fourth liners. He was the most sheltered regular Shark defender in terms of match-ups last year.
As for Ehrhoff, he's a guy who has a great tools and high potential, but his computer is faulty. He's fast, agile and has a good shot, but tends to give up a lot of grade A scoring chances against. He doesn't generate as much offense as he should given his apparent talents either. What's more, he's overpaid at 3.1M (unless he takes a giant leap forward as a Canuck).
On top of all that, Vancouver is somewhere close to 2M over the cap and will be forced to move a salary or two to get compliant. Personally, I would guess the perpetually injured Sami Salo will be out the door - he's useful when he's in the line-up, but the 34 year old hasn't played a full season...well, ever. He's averaged 20 missed games per year the last 3 years in a row. Bad news, especially for a 3.75M player.
Even though he's a band-aid, I'd be happy to see Salo get shipped to the East. He ALWAYS seems to score on the Flames...especially at critical times in the game.
Overall? I'd say this is all good news for Calgary fans.
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Ohlund and Salo aren’t world beaters, but there’s no combination of Erhoff, Schneider and Lukowich that equals those two. More to the point, unless Vancouver really likes Erhoff, why would they or any other contender in the West do San Jose a salary cap favour? Why wouldn’t you sign Dennis Seidenberg and/or Steve Eminger for relatively cheap and let the Sharks wallow in cap hell? I don’t think the guys they traded for are that much better, and they gave up assets to boot. The Canucks took on about 6 and half million dollars’ worth of cap hit in those three guys, and they haven’t really accomplished bugger-all, IMO.
I have read Sharks fans describe him as “Error-hoff” which I think is just droll.
by R O on Aug 28, 2009 6:38 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Ha!
You know, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Vancouver trade a Salo or a Bieksa to Columbus, who still desperately need someone on the back-end that is at least semi-capable on the PP.
Bieksa
Bieksa is a Rock. Solid. Piller. 20 minutes a game. Minimum. And Dany Heatley is the Albatross…
Schneider was pretty good for the Habs at the end of last year. Good QB on the powerplay. Erhoff is expensive for what he does but he did put up around 40 points…not bad. Lukowich is not a good pick up. For the money, a poor signing. Seems like taking Erhoff and the salary of Lukowich is a trade in itself. Giving the picks gives the Sharks the advantage in this one. Be interesting to see what the Sharks do with the new found money.
I don’t know if the sharks will do much with the new found money. They unloaded some salary yeah, but they still only have 15 or so guys signed and no back-up….or Thomas Griess’ salary to factor in, if he’s the #2 guy. That leaves about 750,000 per new addition to have a team and not be over the cap. That’s a lot of low-rent or league minimum players.
D for 3 and now goal for 21 years, of course I'm a goaltender apologist.
Thank you for writting this. Originally when I heard about the news I wasnt too sure what to think of Erhoff. I have no problems with Scheider and Lukowich but I didnt know if this was an upgrade but you have put my mind at ease. If they trade away Salo or Bieksa that will be hilarious. Kind of a curious move…
Heres a question you could tackle if you are bored. I hear of all of these Oiler fans getting very excited about the year. Obviously they havent improved at all with their roster (I think putting Khbibulin in instead of Roloson is actually leaving them worse off). The Hockey News and fans feel the coaching tandem of Quinn Renney buchburger and Fleming is more than enough to get excited about. No doubt coaching makes a difference but if you could some how quantify how much that would answer a lot of questions for me. If the Flames did nothing more than replace Keenan with Sutter I dont think I would be overly excited or expect much more from the team than last season (an improved Phaneuf obviously and marginally better kipper stats I guess). So in short what difference will it make in Edmonton?
Brent – that’s fairly impossible to know right now. I was somewhat agnostic on the effects of coaching until Bylsma legitimately turned the Penguins around mid-season (that wasn’t a run of percentages…everything about the Pens got better when he took over) so it is possible for coaching to have a sizable effect on the ice.
Now…can Quinn and company accomplish that type of turn-around with the unimpressive collection TambelLOWEini has provided them with? I don’t know.
This totally puzzles me. I was doing evaluations last night when one of the kids comes out of the dressing room saying “Canucks just picked up three defenseman including Schneider” and I panicked a little. I couldn’t imagine who the other two could be. When I found out, I think I even smiled a bit. Strange…10 defenseman now and over the cap…who’s out is more interesting than who’s in.
D for 3 and now goal for 21 years, of course I'm a goaltender apologist.
Almost all of them – from Atom (which I do less) to Midget. Primarily Pee Wee, Bantam and Midget. So you’re looking at 11-18 mostly for boys. I also evaluate Pee Wee and Bantam girls, and do on-ice evaluations with the goalies.
D for 3 and now goal for 21 years, of course I'm a goaltender apologist.
It’s true. It’s a tease to think we could drop Demo and his salary. It’s at times like this I hope Gillis has Sather (where Demo’s best buddy Gaborik now calls home) on speed dial
'Nucks Misconduct - Housing Swedish Millionaires Since 2000.
by Yankee Canuck on Aug 30, 2009 1:58 PM PDT up reply actions
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