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Ballard BC Bound

Tonyz Tanti — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:43:23 +0000

The biggest deal on draft day in 2010 once again involves the Vancouver Canucks. The same team that brought you Alex Mogilny (1995 draft), the Sedin twins (1999 draft) and Roberto Luongo (2006 draft) did it again. While not as big as the aforementioned trades, the acquisition of Keith Ballard is significant. The Canucks acquired Keith Ballard and prospect Victor Oreskovich in exchange for their first round draft pick, Michael Grabner and Steve Bernier.

In the short term I like this trade but I think it is a bad deal long-term. Keith Ballard is exactly what the Canucks need. He’s a mobile, gritty defenceman who can play big minutes in their top four (he’s also no longer on Tomas Vokoun’s Christmas card list). He’s also only 27, so he shouldn’t be over the hill. That’s the upside. The downside is that he makes $4.2 million and has five years left on his deal. That makes him the Canucks highest paid d-man. Can Ballard play in a shutdown role? Can he play on their first unit power play? That remains to be seen. He’ll be a useful player for them, no doubt, but to justify making $4.2 million he needs to be one of their top two defencemen.

The other player acquired in the deal is a prospect by the name of Victor Oreskovich. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be an impact player but he sure is big. The Whitby, ON native was a 2nd round draft pick in the 2004 draft and is 6’3″ and 215 pounds. He split time between the NHL and AHL last season. He’s got a cap friendly salary at $438,000 next season. I’m guessing his potential is to be a third or fourth liner that can provide some size and grit.

So what did the Canucks give up? In Michael Grabner, they’re officially giving up on Dave Nonis’ first round draft pick from the 2006 draft. He was picked 14th overall, so it’s disappointing that he wasn’t able to fetch more in return. I believe Grabner is just about ready to make an impact at the NHL level, and probably has potential to become a 30 goal scorer. The problem with him is that there isn’t much room for him with the Canucks next season. Their top six will be filled with the Sedins, Burrows, Kesler, Raymond and Samuelsson. To play Grabner on their fourth line certainly wouldn’t help getting grit into their lineup.

Steve Bernier’s time with the Canucks was filled with lots of effort, but no finish. The bottom line is that his lack of finish reduced his role to the third line and wasn’t particularly effective on the penalty kill or power play. He was set to make $2 million next season, so getting rid of his salary was a plus. He’s a nice player to have, but not at his salary.

The Canucks also parted with the 25th overall pick in this year’s draft. I’m a little bothered with the Canucks losing this pick, given that they already don’t have a pick in the second and third round. Mike Gillis must work at acquiring some draft picks or else the cupboard will be bare.

The Canucks gave up a lot to get Keith Ballard and for this trade to be viewed as a success, Ballard must deliver. While this trade doesn’t eliminate the chances of the Canucks landing another free agent like Dan Hamhuis, it doesn’t help it. This trade likely means Willie Mitchell won’t be back with the team, although that was already common knowledge. Ballard provides a lot of what Kevin Bieksa brings to the table, so this deal could be a precursor to the underachieving d-man being shipped out of town.

I also believe that this is an early sign from Gillis that he’s going to ‘go for it’. The window of opportunity is now for Gillis. Roberto Luongo had an off-year last season, but he should still be considered one of the top 5 netminders in the league. Their forwards are deep and have high end talent. Their defence needs improving and Gillis is attempting to do that in this trade and can improve it some more with some free agent signings. What I’d really like to see is a true #1 defenceman in blue and green, but those guys are hard to come by. Ballard is useful, but certainly not a true #1. In any case, I believe the window for this team is open for the next 1-2 maybe 3 years. The time is now.

Draft Day Recap: Pronger, Bouwmeester Traded and the Canucks Nab the Next Patrick Kane

Tonyz Tanti — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:53:19 +0000

The 2009 NHL entry draft did not offer a lot of surprises in terms of players selected (Tavares, Hedman and Duchene went in predictable order), but did offer a couple of interesting trades.

Chris Pronger was traded from the Ducks to the Flyers (along with Ryan Dingle) for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, two first round picks and a conditional third round pick. Interestingly enough this will be a return to Anaheim for Lupul, and the second time that he has been traded for Chris Pronger. If you ask me, the Flyers gave up too much for Pronger. Pronger only has one year left on his current contract, and is getting up in age. Don’t get me wrong, he will be a force for the Flyers this year, but those two first rounders will come back to haunt the Flyers in the long run. Another thing to ponder about this trade is how in the world are the Flyers going to make this work under the cap? They currently have a cap hit of $17.5 million for their top three centres (Briere, Richards and Carter), Simon Gagne ($5 million), Scott Hartnell ($4.2 million), and over $13 million for three defencemen (Timonen, Rathje and Carle). They must believe that Ray Emery can be a difference maker in goal with his cap hit of only $1.5 million, that is when he’s not coming late for practice or punching out a trainer.

Speaking of team acquiring high priced defencemen they can’t afford, the Calgary Flames acquired the negotiation rights to Jay Bouwmeester, and gave up a third round pick to do it. Now call me crazy, but giving up a third round pick just for the right to speak to a player for an extra week makes no sense to me. Some very good players are found in the third round, for instance, Steve Mason, Cal Clutterbuck, Kris Letang, Kris Russell, Jonathan Quick, Alex Edler, Johan Franzen and Dustin Boyd were all third round picks between 2005 and 2007. Even if the Flames are able to sign Bouwmeester before July 1, how in the world are they going to fit him under the cap? Bouwmeester should command at least $6 million per season, which should require the Flames to have to offload a significant part of their team.

As for how the Canucks fared on draft day, they didn’t make any major trades, istead choosing to keep all of their picks. I, for one, am very optimistic about their first round selection, Jordan Schroeder. Schroeder is a small, speedy centre compared to Patrick Kane. He slipped down from the original projections by NHL Central Scouting and Bob McKenzie. He is small (5’8″), which suggests to me that teams were scared off by his size.

The reason I like this pick, is because he seems like a guy that will either become the next Steve Kariya or will become the next Patrick Kane. When you’re picking in the first round, I believe you ought to be trying to pick a future all star, and not a future third liner. You should try to pick 3rd liners in the second and third round of the draft. Continuing Canuckz.com’s hating on Patrick White (for a good laugh, check out his stats here), here’s a look at Patrick White’s scouting report by TSN before he was picked in the 2007 draft: “A skilled forward with the ability to make a difference. Strong player with a physical presence. Plays tough in the corners and in traffic. Is good on the right wing and gets his wrist shot off with ease. Sometimes lacks urgency in his play”. Sounds like a future third liner to me. Contrast with what they have to say about Schroeder: “He’s a dynamic player, a leader and a type of player that has developed into a complete offensive and defensive threat every time he is on the ice. He has a rocket of a wrist shot and he can beat you by putting the puck in the net, going around a defender, or freezing the goaltender and passing it off to one of his wingers”. That sounds like a future all star to me.

Draft Day Thoughts

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:57:33 +0000

Today is a day of optimism in the NHL. Every team will get “the guy they wanted” and willl have “picked the best player available”. Every player is going to be the next [insert Hall of Famer]. So before you believe whatever spews out of the mouths of GMs today, remember that the fact of the matter is that outside of the top three picks this year, it’s a bit of a crap shoot.

This year the Canucks pick 22nd. Mike Gillis will continue to try to prove to Canucks fans everywhere that the Canucks draft day woes are behind them. While most of you are no doubt already having flashbacks of Libor Polasek, Josh Holden and Nathan Smith right now, remember that this is a new era under Mike Gillis. Last year he chose the smaller but smarter Cody Hodgson (92 points in junior last year) ahead of the bigger and more enigmatic Kyle Beach (63 points in junior last year).

To get an idea of what diamonds in the rough you can find at #22, here’s a look back at some of the better players picked at #22 since 1990:

Claude Giroux (2006)

Simon Gagne (1998)

Brian Boucher (1995)

Anders Eriksson (1993)

Dean McAmmond (1991)

Not getting you excited? I don’t blame you. I could show examples of bad picks with the #22 pick (Maxim Ouellet), but you get the point. It’s a crap shoot.

Got to love the positive spin on this pick!