Canuckz.com » Jay Bouwmeester

Let the Second Guessing Begin: Team Canada Announced

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:03:23 +0000

The speculation about who will make Team Canada ended on Wednesday (Canuckz.com correctly predicted 16 of the 23 players named back in August… is that good?), as GM Steve Yzerman revealed the 2010 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team. As expected, lots of deserving players were left off, but lets start by looking at who made the team:

No real surprises in net. I’m sure Brodeur will be the starter and he’ll be backed-up by Luongo. Fleury won the cup last year, but his stats have never been outstanding.

Goalies

Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks)

Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils)

Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Are Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger too old? Is Drew Doughty too young? Should the top offensive defenceman in the league (Mike Green) be on this team? What about smooth skating Jay Bouwmeester? The questions on defence are a plenty, but that speaks more to the unbelievable depth they have at the position. My biggest concern lies in the fact that they picked Brent Seabrook ahead of Jay Bouwmeester, who is a better all-around defenceman in my estimation. Seabrook made the team due to his chemistry with Duncan Keith, which I believe is overrated in this regard.

Defence

Dan Boyle (San Jose Sharks)

Drew Doughty (LA Kings)

Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks)

Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim Ducks) – Captain

Chris Pronger (Philadelphia Flyers) – Alternate captain

Brent Seabrook (Chicago Blackhawks)

Shea Weber (Nashville Predators)

I generally agree with Yzerman’s picks, except for Patrice Bergeron. To me, he isn’t good enough offensively to be on the team. Nice to see Jonathan Toews on the team, especially if a game goes to a shootout. Amazingly, Eric Staal made the team, despite his poor start to the season. The most disappointed players all have a Tampa Bay connection: Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St Louis and Steven Stamkos. Shane Doan should also feel very disappointed with not being named to the team considering his strong play and international experience. Thank goodness they had the sense to keep Mike Fisher and Jordan Staal off the team.

Forwards

Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)

Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) Alternate captain

Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks)

Dany Heatley (San Jose Sharks)

Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames) Alternate captain

Patrick Marleau (San Jose Sharks)

Brenden Morrow (Dallas Stars)

Rick Nash (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Mike Richards (Philadelphia Flyers)

Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks)

Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes)

Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks)

Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks)

As always, Team Canada will ice an outstanding team and they could probably ice a second team that would contend for a medal. This edition of Team Canada will and should be considered the gold medal favourites. That is not to say that competition won’t be fierce, because it will. Ultimately, it will probably come down to goaltending (as it often does in hockey) and if Martin Brodeur plays up to par, they should win gold.

Sedins Re-sign, Gaborik to the Rangers and More!

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:57:15 +0000

That’s right! The twins are back, this time making $6.1 million a season. That can only mean one thing. Now Sedin bashers will be adding “overpaid” to the list of things they don’t like about the Sedins (also on the list? They’re Swedish, soft, too polite, boring, don’t produce in the playoffs, too slow, etc.). All the Sedins have done is disprove each one of those allegations one by one, which is why they are indeed worth $6.1 million. They didn’t come at a bargain basement price, but when you see the Montreal Canadiens trading for Scott Gomez, he of the $7.357 cap hit (for the next next five seasons!) and 58 points last season, it’s certainly a good deal for the Canucks.

Sedin news means we get to post this video:

Also moving on Wednesday was Mattias Ohlund, signing a ridiculous 7 year deal at $3.75 million per season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ohlund will be 39 by the time his contract runs out! Ohlund’s play has been declining steadily for the last few years. This deal has the potential to have him being overpaid grossly in the not too distant future.

So what about all of the other free agents moving on day 1 of the free agent madness? You can see the full list here. Often times you hear about “winners and losers” of trades or free agent signings, but it is more complex than that. Some deals like Mattias Ohlund’s contract with the Lightning will be beneficial to them in the short term, but will hurt them greatly long-term. Taking that into account, here are the biggest short and long term winners and losers in free agency so far:

Vancouver Canucks

Winners both long and short term. The Sedin twins were two of the most sought after free agents and Mike Gillis landed both of them. Their contracts are fair, so not a home run, but not a strikeout either. The length of contract (5 years) is vital as well. In 5 years they will still only be 33 years old, and shouldn’t have too much of a drop-off in their play. They lost Mattias Ohlund, but he was signed to ridiculous money in Tampa Bay and Gillis would have been crazy to match that. Jason Labarbera ended up in Phoenix, which will hurt, but when you have Luongo playing and making as much as he does, it’s hard to spend big money on a backup or promising significant playing time.

Chicago Blackhawks

Big short term winners, long term losers. Chicago bolstered their lineup with the additions of Marian Hossa, John Madden and Tomas Kopecky. Hossa and Madden are upgrades over Havlat and Pahlsson, who each signed elsewhere, while Khabibulin signed with Edmonton and Matt Walker will be joining Matty-O in Tampa Bay. The reason they are long term losers is that Marian Hossa signed a 12 year deal! Combine this with the fact that Brian Campbell is locked up to ridiculous money until 2016, and they are going to have a terrible time trying to re-sign Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith when all three become free agents next summer! Clearly, someone will have to be moved for it to happen.

Montreal Canadiens

Just what is Bob Gainey doing? The Habs are losers in both the short and long term. They signed a bunch of good, but not great, players to huge money on Wednesday. Cammalleri is going to make $6 million and Gionta $5 million. Add that to Scott Gomez’s $7.357 contract that they acquired on Tuesday, and that’s over $18 million spent on an average first line! They also lost Komisarek, their version of Willie Mitchell, who signed for reasonable money in Toronto ($4.5 million per season).

New York Rangers

I guess Marian Gaborik will have to rent out his Vancouver home? Great signing by the Rangers. He signed a 5 year deal in New York, which will be a bad deal when he’s injured and a great deal when he’s healthy. He’s bound to be healthy for at least a portion of that deal, and when that happens, the Rangers will be tough to deal with.

Calgary Flames

Big winners. Jay Bouwmeester was the prized defenceman of this year’s free agency. Calgary’s defence now consists of probably the best top 3 in the league with J-Bo joining Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr.

Free Agent Shopping List

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:43:15 +0000

With free agency beginning tomorrow, let’s look at players who should be at the top of the Canucks shopping list.

Jay Bouwmeester

Bouwmeester is clearly the best defenceman available and the top young player (age 25) available on the free agent market. This means he will be likely be overpaid by someone. He also fits a need the Canucks have, being a great puck moving defenceman. The Canucks could probably fit him in at about $6 million, but that might not be enough to land him.

Marian Gaborik

He has reportedly already purchased a home in Vancouver, so chances are good he’ll land in Vancouver. He’ll likely command over $6 million, a little risky considering he makes Sami Salo look like an iron man. But when healthy, he’s one of the most dynamic players in the league.

Saku Koivu

This year’s free agent crop is thin with centres which makes it curious that nobody is mentioning Saku Koivu’s name. He seems like a Mike Gillis kind of player, kind of like a younger and smaller Mats Sundin. He produces in the clutch and is a great leader. If the Sedins don’t return, Saku Koivu should be at the top of their list. Look for him to sign for less than $5 million.

Mike Cammalleri

The Canucks should have the inside track on the former Gillis client, but he will probably get more than $5 million on the open market. He can play centre and wing, but played more on the wing last season. I don’t believe last season was a flash in the pan, but he’s also not going to be a player who will lead you to a cup. He is a very nice complimentary player though, and would look good alongside Gaborik or the Sedins.

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.