Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning has drafted and cultivated several excellent young forwards in recent seasons in Bo Horvat, Jake Viranen, and Jared McCann.
What Benning has been lacking on his organizational depth chart is young, big, mobile D-men.
Veterans Dan Hamhuis Luca Sbisa, and Yannick Weber can't log the heavy minutes and stand up to the physicality and brutality being thrown at them by Western foes San Jose, LA, Anaheim, St. Louis, Nashville and the like.
Ben Hutton is Vancouver's best young blue line prospect.
Just before puck drop on Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night, Benning traded promising young forward McCann, a second-round pick and a fourth-round selection to the Florida Panthers for defenseman Erik Gudbranson and a fifth-rounder.
All picks in the trade will be from the 2016 draft.
McCann recorded 18 points in his rookie season with the Canucks. The 19-year-old was Vancouver's 24th overall pick in 2014.
Why do the Cats need another center ice man? They already have Sasha Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, Derek Mackenzie, Rocco Grimaldi, Quentin Howden, Gregg McKegg, and Corban Knight. My guess is that McCann will have to play the wing if he plans on playing in the top nine in FLA.
Gudbranson logged 20:06 TOI this season.
I love this deal for Vancouver. Gudbranson is a big, tough, fast, makes a great first pass, is skilled, durable D. He will make life miserable for Connor McDavid, Taylor Hall, Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Anze Kopitar, Pat Kane, Jonathon Toews, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and the best forwards in the West.
Gudbranson has always reminded me of Buffalo's burly D Zach Bogosian.
Gudbranson will be UFA next July 1 and will earn $3.5M this season.
The emergence of Aaron Ekblad, Dmitry Kulikov, Alex Petrovic and Mike Matheson have bumped Gudbranson down the Florida D depth chart. Matheson just impressed for Canada's gold medal winning squad at the IIHF Worlds Championships.
Cats PP QB Brian Campbell is expected to test free agency.
I really liked what I saw of McCann when I watched him play junior with the Soo Greyhounds.
Let NHL silly season begin.
The week leading up to the 2015 NHL draft saw a flurry of A-list players traded in Ryan O'Reilly, Milan Lucic, Dougie Hamilton, Carl Hagelin, Martin Jones, Cam Talbot and others.
I fully and completely expect more eye brow raising trades in the week leading up to the NHL Draft in Buffalo on June 24. Steven Stamkos' UFA rights will be a hot ticket. Ditto Kyle Okposo. Tampa and NYI will want to recoup value in exchange for their top goal scorers rather than allowing them to skate into unrestricted free agency with zero compensation.
Also on the trade block will be Anaheim QB Cam Fowler.
On Thursday, I will share my thoughts on the excitemnt and hand wringing that will surround silly season.
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Thanks, Bloomberg
The NHL may be taking a $200 million hair cut despite the possibility that the league will likely set an all time revenue record.
Blame the failing Canadian dollar.
Commissioner Gary Bettman shared with Bloomberg TV his thoughts on the soft Canadian dollar and it's negative impact on the NHL clubs.
The good news is that the Canadian dollar has ascended to $.76 cents U.S. from its 13-year low of $.68 cents five months ago.
“It’s a fact of life, it’s something we deal with,” Bettman said.
“If the Canadian dollar were still at par, we’d be $100 million or $200 million higher, perhaps, than we may find ourselves, but I do believe there will be a revenue increase over 2015.”
The NHL enjoyed $4 billion in economic prosperity in 2015, up about 8% from 2015's record $3.7 billion.
Approximately one-third of the NHL’s revenue comes from Canada via ticket sales for the seven teams north of the 49th parallel , its $5.2 billion television deal with Rogers Communications Inc. (which pays in Loonies) or from Canadian sponsorships. The NHL all its business in U.S. currency. A sick Canadian dollar translates to lessened profits for the NHL.
To deliver a true 50-50 split, the players have money deducted from each pay check withheld and held in escrow for re-balancing at the end of the year. That escrow percentage grew to 18% in 2015-16, and players will likely lose a majority of that at the end of the year.
For the first time since 1970, none of the seven Canadian teams qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Per Bloomberg:
While that means a larger percentage of playoff revenue was generated in U.S. dollars because every game was played in a U.S. arena, it’s also lowered interest in some the league’s most important markets. ESPN reported that for first-round games, ratings on Canada’s Sportsnet channels and CBC were down 60 percent over last year when five of the seven Canadian teams made the post-season.
In his interview, Bettman pointed out that the NHL's popularity continues to surge. The NHL is also seeing growth in attendance, revenue and media scope.
The NHL owners, GMs, and capologists have been waiting patiently for the final draft of the 2016-17 salary cap number, The NHL closes it's books on the 2015-16 season on June 30. The 2016-17 fiscal year begins on July 1. Canada Day and NHL unrestricted free agency day.
What would a $200 million loss mean to the NHL? The owners would lose 50% or $100 million. Each NHL team would lose roughly $3.3 million per club. That represents one veteran player contract per team. The UFA market will be negatively impacted to be certain.
The players also stand to lose $100 million.
One way that Bettman and the NHL owners can mitigate projected losses is expansion to new markets.
Bettman told Bloomberg an announcement regarding expansion for the 2017-18 season would have to be made would probably have to be made within the next couple months.
Las Vegas has it's building set and ready for an NHL team. Not coincidentally, the NHL Awards will be hosted by Las Vegas on June 22. In the days leading up tp the NHL Awards, we should expect a formal announcement to be made by Bettman regarding NHL expansion to Las Vegas.
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Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray has locked up his 2014 second round draft choice to an entry level contract.
Forward Vaclav Karabacek was the 49th overall pick in 2014.
Murray now avoids having Karabacek re-enter the 2016 NHL Draft. The Sabres were days away from losing Karabacek's negotiating rights.
General Fanager reports that Karabacek has signed a three year deal with Buffalo which will pay him an annual average of $695,000 until the end of the 2018-19 season.
Karabacek spent the last three seasons playing in The Q.
He started off with the Gatineau Olympiques, then moved to first Baie-Comeau Drakkar, and finally finished off this year with the Moncton Wildcats. Karabacek amassed 117 total points in 171 career games in the major junior.
Karabacek use his 6'1, 200 lb. frame to flus walls and win corner battles. He is not flashy, however, he plays a responsible, heavy game. Tim Murray loves him some tough, disciplined forwards who have skill. Karabacek fits that bill and then some. He loves to cycle and grind opponents.
New Rochester Amerks head coach Dan Lambert will come to appreciate the brawn and brains of Karabacek, who adds needed left wing depth to the Buffalo organizational depth chart.
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