Carol Schram: Vancouver Canucks: More on Waivers, Kesler Signs, Higgins Not on Block? Sorting more through the Canucks' waiver situations, a look at Ryan Kesler's new contract, and word that the team is not trying to trade Chris Higgins.

....considering how many offensive chances seem to die on his stick during regular gameplay. CS

my thoughts exactly...

Obviously whoever signed kesler took that Mike Gillis how to sign a player course 101

From the last blog:

Well since you guys have successfully convinced him to no longer bring his opinion to this board, I'll do my best.

Now I'm not going to get into what Kesler will be worth when he is 36 because either you understand the concept that you pay later for services now or you don't, regardless if your name is Toews, Kesler, Luongo, Ovechkin, Hossa, Nash or whichever player you want to refer to.

The closest comparables to Kesler's contract would be.....

Patrice Bergeron who signed in 2015 to a 8 year 6.875 per year deal and is 29.
Jonathon Toews whose contracts starts in 2016 is 8 years and 10.5 per year and is 27.
Zach Parise signed in 2013 for 13 years at 7.54 and is 30
Jason Spezza contract starts this year at 4 years 7.5 per and is 32.
Travis Zajac signed in 2014 for 8 years at 5.75 per and is 30.
Grabovski signed in 2014 for 4 years at 5 per and is 31

I think most would agree that Toews is a cut above all these players and clearly he being paid as such.

I think most would argue that Bergeron is a better play than Kesler but I don't think there is a huge gap between players. Bergeron also got 2 more years and signed a year earlier, which should be noted as the salary always goes up.
Bergeron is a .74 ppg player in 740 games
Kesler is a .6 ppg player in 736 games.

I think Kesler is also on par with Parise but some might think otherwise, which is fine as Kesler will be making significantly less than Parise.

Zajac, Grabovski and Spezza are all lesser players than Kesler IMO and for the most part are compensated less.

Will this deal come back to hurt Anh? most likely but it is from as far as I can see close to the market value and all those players listed will likely be a burden to their teams financially by the time they retire.

The critique to the Sbisa, Miller, etc deals was that they were not at market value and that Benning struggles with this aspect of mgmt.

I know the rebuttal will be but who cares if he overspent it's not your money, we are a cap team anyways etc.
But that doesn't change the fact that the deals were above market value.

The Clarkson deal is made fun because it was so far from the market value regardless of if Toronto had the cap space, was the richest team and on and on.
- belcherbd

I'll rebut the rebuttal by saying that ANA is paying for 1st line production when his production is barely adequate (20-24-44pts in 81 games) for a 2nd line center and he's lost Beleskey who was effective on his wing for most of the season and didn't replace that production. ANA is making the same mistake Vancouver did, overpaying a puck-hogging center and not putting wingers around him that can feed him the puck and clean up the garbage as inevitably he shoots the puck into someone's shinpads.

Obviously whoever signed kesler took that Mike Gillis how to sign a player course 101
- SRam19

Gillis would have gotten a lower AAV at around 6 million, but it would have been a NTC.


Always good with Value, below average with trades, and a nightmare with drafting

RE: DK

I'll rebut the rebuttal by saying that ANA is paying for 1st line production when his production is barely adequate (20-24-44pts in 81 games) for a 2nd line center and he's lost Beleskey who was effective on his wing for most of the season and didn't replace that production. ANA is making the same mistake Vancouver did, overpaying a puck-hogging center and not putting wingers around him that can feed him the puck and clean up the garbage as inevitably he shoots the puck into someone's shinpads.

I certainly don't discount that Anh is paying for 1st line production but think they likely look at his .81 points in the playoffs and see a player who will help them win another cup.

Like I posted previously, Kesler at .6 ppg is not great but considering who he played with, is pretty impressive considering his all round game and effective shutdown ability.
I also think Anh has the ability to put much more talented players with Kesler, Silvferberg had a quietly very good season, (1.13 ppg in the playoffs) he is one of my dark-horse picks for a big breakout year. They also have Ritchie waiting in the wings along with Carl Haglin and Chris Stewart as other potential line-mates.

Those guys I see as more talented offensively than Higgins, Hansen, Raymond, Booth, Burrows....Demitra and Samuelson were decent and we saw Kesler put up more points at that time.

From Hodgson to Kassian to Prust, can we just eliminate number 9 from now on?

From Hodgson to Kassian to Prust, can we just eliminate number 9 from now on?
- WhiteLie

Put it with no. 7

From Hodgson to Kassian to Prust, can we just eliminate number 9 from now on?
- WhiteLie

9 is always Tanti in my books

9 is always Tanti in my books
- belcherbd

Tanti all the way

9 = Don Lever

Great find on the OneCanuck Blog Carol, I had not read any of his stuff previously but he did a great job laying out all the waiver information.

I can't imagine how long it took him to sort it all out. I do wonder if he is a HB lurker as his article came out very conveniently today after all the musing we were doing yesterday.

Also on this board there has been an obsession with NMCs as if Vancouver hand those out like (add witty phrase here as I'm blanking at the moment). Seems like all teams use them to a pretty large degree. Would love to see how teams compare on this. Anyway, the Ducks could be feeling some salary pain in a few years. If they don't win the cup that pain will hurt so much more.

@JasonPHT: The Canucks didn't think the Ducks would have the resources to re-sign Kesler. Were thus convinced they'd have to accept less in a trade.

@ryanbiech: Really looking forward to when #Canucks management gets the right read on something

And the whining continues. Does Brough get real information from the negotiations or does he just assume? How about the scenario that Kesler said I want to be traded and I have a no trade clause, so I only will accept a trade to the Ducks. How about that being the only leverage the Ducks needed? The only thing Benning could likely have done differently is tell Kesler I'm not trading you until you give me a list of 5 teams.

@JasonPHT: The Canucks didn't think the Ducks would have the resources to re-sign Kesler. Were thus convinced they'd have to accept less in a trade.

@ryanbiech: Really looking forward to when #Canucks management gets the right read on something

And the whining continues. Does Brough get real information from the negotiations or does he just assume? How about the scenario that Kesler said I want to be traded and I have a no trade clause, so I only will accept a trade to the Ducks. How about that being the only leverage the Ducks needed? The only thing Benning could likely have done differently is tell Kesler I'm not trading you until you give me a list of 5 teams.
- bazz

Benning did this and Kesler negotiated him down to 1.

@JasonPHT: The Canucks didn't think the Ducks would have the resources to re-sign Kesler. Were thus convinced they'd have to accept less in a trade.

@ryanbiech: Really looking forward to when #Canucks management gets the right read on something

And the whining continues. Does Brough get real information from the negotiations or does he just assume? How about the scenario that Kesler said I want to be traded and I have a no trade clause, so I only will accept a trade to the Ducks. How about that being the only leverage the Ducks needed? The only thing Benning could likely have done differently is tell Kesler I'm not trading you until you give me a list of 5 teams.
- bazz

Ya I don't know who those guys are but it sounds like BS to me.

Like you said Benning could of played hardball with Kesler but there was also interest from Chi. I imagine if they offered anything it would of been a worse package but it is always hard to tell, I think it depends who he was targeting off of that roster.

I think Benning has been pretty straight up in explaining that he targets players and keys in on them. With Anh it was Bonino apparently, for weeks we heard about Miller, Bartkowski was rumored for months, he admitted that they had Brisbois as their guy regardless if they were picking 66 or 57, Virtanen was rumored as their guy for months as well.

Ya I don't know who those guys are but it sounds like BS to me.

Like you said Benning could of played hardball with Kesler but there was also interest from Chi. I imagine if they offered anything it would of been a worse package but it is always hard to tell, I think it depends who he was targeting off of that roster.

I think Benning has been pretty straight up in explaining that he targets players and keys in on them. With Anh it was Bonino apparently, for weeks we heard about Miller, Bartkowski was rumored for months, he admitted that they had Brisbois as their guy regardless if they were picking 66 or 57, Virtanen was rumored as their guy for months as well.
- belcherbd

Benning also seems to have wanted to get rid of a problem and start fresh. Would have been nice if Benning could have had a bigger threat available. Something like not letting him report to camp. But with NMC, he had very little leverage and forcing him to stay with the team would have been a nightmare.

Ya honestly as fans we will probably never know the truth on kesler. He was rumored to be an ahole and we know that he was always trying to get into players gfs pants too......schneiders we know for sure.
Not the kinda guy you want around. And rumor atbthe time was the leadership on the team stripped him of the A. So that says alot. Next he wants out.

Sorry guys I went MIA w a gf yesterday
here's the link you asked for for super cheap tickets to rush on Friday night
http://arenavancouver.com...JuOj8iF3sYCFc-CfgodQeYBVQ

Sorry guys I went MIA w a gf yesterday
here's the link you asked for for super cheap tickets to rush on Friday night
http://arenavancouver.com...JuOj8iF3sYCFc-CfgodQeYBVQ
- SMBDragon

np, thankyou

Ya honestly as fans we will probably never know the truth on kesler. He was rumored to be an ahole and we know that he was always trying to get into players gfs pants too......schneiders we know for sure.
Not the kinda guy you want around. And rumor atbthe time was the leadership on the team stripped him of the A. So that says alot. Next he wants out.
- SMBDragon

Gillis would have gotten a lower AAV at around 6 million, but it would have been a NTC.


Always good with Value, below average with trades, and a nightmare with drafting
- classic321

I wouldn't say nightmare.

Connauton (traded but not bad)
Cannata
Grenier
Corrado
Gaunce
Horvat
Shinkaruk
Cassels
Subban
Cederholm (stretch)
Tommernes (stretch)

Edit: when you think about it is there another canuck GM who has a better track record? Maybe Burkie? Quinn? The thought makes me sad.

I wouldn't say nightmare.

Connauton (traded but not bad)
Cannata
Grenier
Corrado
Gaunce
Horvat
Shinkaruk
Cassels
Subban
Cederholm (stretch)
Tommernes (stretch)

Edit: when you think about it is there another canuck GM who has a better track record? Maybe Burkie? Quinn? The thought makes me sad.
- bloatedmosquito

You forgot hodgson

Ya quinn was decent. Grabbed pavel bure in like what 5th rd.
He did pick nedved who was a good player but he wanted jagr or primeau but scouts convinced him on nedved. Drafted linden too. Nedved became assetts thatbtook us to SC final in 94. He lately brought us naslund.

Burke did draft sedins so we have him to thank for that. Nonis drafted schneider who now is horvat. So theres lots of guys to thanks for current team.

But there were busts too

np, thankyou
- hillbillydeluxe

Are you going to show?

Are you going to show?
- SMBDragon

Likely not.

Just had a buddy take me to the Journey concert last sat. he never got any discount, $125 or something for the floor, 9 rows back.


But it does look like a helluva deal.

Wouldn't mind taking my son, not sure though.