No Time
Aside from being a great Guess Who song, no time refers to the Canucks current predicament with the loss of Ryan Kesler. Many believe he wasn’t having a good year, but I beg to differ.
Yes he has only racked up 16 points (6 G, 10 A) in 48 GP with a +1 rating, but those stats don’t tell the whole story.
He is:
1st in take aways,
3rd in short handed ice time,
3rd in face offs won,
4th in hits,
5th in blocked shots,
6th in shots for
And is their 2nd best shoot out player
Now Vancouver will have to play without him for 3 months, the rest of the regular season. Now could they play without him? Well if you saw yesterday’s game the answer is no. The Canucks didn’t have any jump last night; there was no fire, no feistiness, nothing resembling an urgency to win. And in the Northwest Division no urgency = no playoffs.
But back to the ‘no time’ reference; Vancouver can’t wait a month until the trade deadline when teams, who know they aren’t making the playoffs, are willing to deal. By being forced to trade now rather that in 3 weeks, Vancouver will not be able to find a lot of trade partners. Teams like St. Louis, Phoenix are not that far out and aren’t going to trade away anyone significant. Thus Vancouver’s only trade partners are: Los Angeles, Chicago, Columbus, Philadelphia, Florida and Boston (I’ll explain Boston).
Teams make trade based on areas of strength. Luongo won’t be traded! Their next best thing is their defense. The defender who they’re willing to trade is Sami Salo; he has one of the best slap shots in the league. He’s a top offensive defenseman and he’s also good in his own zone. He leads the Canucks in +/- with +10 rating. In simple terms he’s a top pairing defenseman. The only offensive player they could trade is Morrison; he is extremely fast and a great passer. People have been commenting that his current contract is a little high (3.2 M, 1 year left) but if paired with the right wingers he could start putting up 60-70 pts again, he’s only 30.
Now remember I am proposing one of the following trades. Each one will be explained as best I can.
To Vancouver: Conroy, Armstrong
To Los Angeles: Morrison, 1st rdp
Not a big fan of this trade but it helps both teams. Los Angeles gets a younger centre (Conroy – 34, Armstrong – 33) and another 1st rdp to add to their youth movement making Morrison’s contract acceptable. Vancouver obviously gets 2 players for 1, but they give up that 1st rdp. Come the trade deadline LA could ship out Morrison for another high draft pick.
To Vancouver: Smolinski, Vrbata, Vandermeer
To Chicago: Morrison, Salo
Don’t like this one much either, but when you need players you don’t have the upper hand. Chicago is in desperate need of an offensive defenseman, hence Salo. Also Mo would be able to play with Havlat, allowing Ruutu to get back to the wing where he excels. Smolinski isn’t nearly as fast as Mo, he’s more defensively minded and the book is still out on Vrbata’s consistency. Most definitely a riskier trade for Vancouver than it is for Chicago considering this could be Smolinski’s last year.
To Vancouver: Zherdev, Svitov
To Columbus: Salo, Bulis, Cory Schnieder, 2nd rdp
A lot of people believe that Salo leaving without a defender coming in would be terrible, but I believe Edler and Fitzpatrick could hold up nicely as 5th and 6th defensemen and Tremblay isn’t a bad #7. Columbus is extremely upset with Zherdev; they fought like hell this past summer to sign him cheaply, but he demanded 2.5 M due to his good year. They caved, and he stopped playing well. Like Chicago, Columbus, needs an offensive defenseman. Salo, Schnieder, 2nd rdp for Zherdev is fair, but to make the cap even they would have to trade Svitov for Bulis which is also fair.
To Vancouver: Pitkanen, Umberger (or Richards), Sanderson
To Philadelphia: Morrison, Salo, 1st rdp, Cory Schnieder (#1 starter in near future), 3rd rdp
I don’t think many people are aware how close Pitkanen is to being traded. He hasn’t produced this year (goal wise) the way he is expected to and Phili is growing impatient with his poor defensive play. Pitkanen for Salo (who is overall better than Pitkanen) and a 1st rdp is fair. I whole heartedly want Phili to do well next season and they will resign Forsberg, Salo can help this team to a cup a lot more than Pitkanen. Cory Schnieder and a 3rd rdp for Umberger (or Richards) is fair. Phili needs goaltending help, they’ve got a lot of young talent offensively in the minors. Schnieder could take a back up role next year or at least be #3. Morrison is better than Sanderson and they are there to even out the cap numbers. Come the trade deadline Phili could ship Mo, to say the Rangers who desperately need a 2nd line centre, for a higher draft pick or prospect than they would be able to get for Sanderson.
To Vancouver: Horton, Stumpel, Kwiatkowski
To Florida: Morrison, Salo, 1st rdp
A very possible trade, especially if Florida wants to keep Bertuzzi. Mo and Bert are good friends and could give Florida a good one two punch on offense. Stumpel is a UFA and Horton made it clear he doesn’t want to stay in Florida; Kwiatkowski is a # 6 defenseman. With Salo on the blue line the Panthers would actually have a good defense: Boumeester, Salo, Salei, Van Ryn, Allen, Montador. Horton and Stumpel would team up with Naslund and Cooke could finally settle in with the twins.
To Vancouver: Boyes
To Boston: Salo
Boston wants an offensive defenseman bad, they think he could be the missing piece to making the playoffs. Boyes hasn’t been that great this year but with Vancouver, and more ice time,
I think he could do well.
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