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Trade

Steve Ott- Vancouver has been after him for a few years now to complete their bottom-6 forwards. He'd bring a physical presence, leadership, character, penalty killing and a bit of scoring. Seems like the perfect guy right? Well the cost may be pretty steep to land him and my guess is any deal would have to be built around a blue-chip prospect.

Nick Bonino- Maybe I overrate Bonino because he seems to always play the game of his life against Vancouver, but I think this kid is on the cusp of being a very good NHL player. He went toe-to-toe with the Wings talented centres in the playoffs and won more than 55% of his faceoffs. He's also a decent penalty killer and he has 15-goal upside. He's exactly the type of guy that I'm looking for on the Canucks third-line, but my guess is the Ducks will want to keep him. Cost, maybe you could pry him out of there in a hockey trade of some sort for a Tanev or Ballard.


UFA

Dainius Zubrus- He's a little long in the tooth, but he has the size that the Canucks are looking for and my guess is he's sign for 1.5-2 million per season. He also didn't play a whole lot of centre last year, but he has played the position in the past. I think he can still get you 12-15 goals and bring some size to any team. Two years, 2 million per.

Tim Brent- If Dallas Eakins is hired; my guess is you see Brent getting a shot in camp. He played well under Eakins while in the Leafs system, he has decent speed and he can kill penalties. While he had a rough season last year, he did have 12 goals in 11/12. I think he'll be cheap at around a million per max. And if it doesn't work out you can have him play in the minors. Two years, one million per.


In the system

Brendan Gaunce- I'm not 100% sure he is ready and he may be better suited to play wing in the NHL, but he is a player I give every opportunity to win the job in camp. A lot can happen in an offseason with young players and my gut tells me this kid will turn heads in camp. With a new coach coming in, he may even stand a chance.

Jordan Schroeder- I'm not sure I like him as the third-line guy because of his size, but he can clearly play the 14-17 minutes a night you need out of a third-line centre. I want to ideally see him get his reps with the top-6, but if he can't hang there I'm perfectly comfortable with him on the third-line.


In a perfect world my plan would be to play Kesler with the Sedins on the top line and have Schroeder centre the second-line. Kesler would still drop down to play on the second-line from time to time, but I'd like to see him be given a shot at playing with the teams two top guys. I picture Kesler's role being similar to Zetterberg's role in Detroit. When they need offence he moves up with the twins. When the team needs balance, he drops down to the second-line.

Brent would be signed as a UFA and centre either the third or fourth-line, with Gaunce being given every opportunity to play.

Draft links

I recently did some work around the NHL draft for the Calgary Journal. Check out my story on 2013 Draft prospect Jamal Watson of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, ranked 137th by NHL Central Scouting. Feedback is always welcome, so let me know what you think.


Well that's a wrap.

Ian


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