Frank Seravalli on the fallout from NHL Free Agency, how #Canucks stack up vs. #Oilers & Pacific

Frank Seravalli on the fallout from NHL Free Agency, how #Canucks stack up vs. #Oilers & Pacific

our first opportunity to talk to Frank Celli NHL Insider from the Frankly Speaking podcast in the daily faceof since the Vancouver Canucks and all their free agent activity Frank joins us from his base in Philadelphia how you doing I’m pretty good guys nice to uh get a chance to take a breath and take a a sober second thought at uh what was free agency yeah well before we get into the conu you have a big takeaway like you know I know you guys did the the show the free agent show on Canada Day uh were you surprised by anything were there any trends that emerged what did you make of the day RIT large in the no I think there’s always a big reaction to some of the larger deals that are handed out and you know people would say hey look at can’t believe this guy got this much term can’t believe you know seven years for that guy and and I understand the criticism like it’s totally fair and warranted however when you look on a chart of all the deals that were signed I think there were five six-year deals and five seven-year deals I mean we’re not really talking there was 143 one-year deals it it’s it’s a you know they’re outliers in the in the quite literal sense and some of them will end up working out just fine and I’ll be real curious to see what does that mean for someone like a jake debrusk for instance but um I it feels like at times there’s a bit of an overreaction when it comes to evaluating the market and really what actually took place on July 1 well the con count themselves lucky according to those stats that they at least caught a decent sized fish and and had a an opportunity to improve their Club um you talk about sober second thought as well you know RIT large on the kuu Acquisitions then um what’s your report card there as a whole because you we had guests on last week who said hey the conu did okay you know blah blah blah you know explaining their and we had a couple of fans in theaction did okay are you kidding me they did amazing like you know there’s still some debate as to exactly how much success the conu had on on July 1 what’s the report card from your eyes I I kind of report card if I were to look at what what could have been like those things don’t count um it only really matters what ended up being correct um we know that they had a ton of interest in Jake gensel we know that didn’t happen uh we know that they tried to retain some of the pieces that they had heading into free agency and and not all of that happened I thought for the most part um they did pretty well in terms of hey you got Teddy Bluer to take a slight pay cut and you were able to keep Dakota Joshua for instance and you know go through the different pieces that they have um I would say on the whole if I were to give them a grade it would be a C+ I think it was middling I think it was um I don’t I guess the biggest thing that I struggle with is I don’t know how you could possibly make the argument today that the Vancouver Canucks are better than they were when they lost in game seven of round two part of that is to be expected like we knew that they were gonna have a really difficult time keeping all the pieces that they had on the ice that was kind of a one moment one period in time type roster that they were able to assemble that I think they saw a window and and they they smashed it now moving forward the big question is how aggressive will this front office be in terms of trying to get back to that level which was still less than halfway there so answer me this Frank what would you have liked to have seen uh obviously they had the heart set on gensel and and that wasn’t able to come to pass after Tampa traits for his rights did you not like the pivot to De bruss tell us about the process that landed them uh debras and and tell me was there something out there you think they could have done and didn’t well I like the pivot I mean he’s he’s a worthy checkdown option but he is just that a checkdown option like that money and that term wouldn’t have been devoted to him had they been able to get gelled there’s just no way to make it happen happen they get him for uh just a little more than half of what he you know what a gensel would have ended up bringing and they’re probably going to get hypothetically or at least if you look at uh his previous production likely a little more than half of the production so um I understand the pivot for sure um he was you know the term I think is is really kind of fast fting and the total commitment but I it’s not it’s not going to matter uh three four years from now you’re you’re counting on the first number of years of that deal being successful and I don’t really have any doubt that they will be so from that perspective I think they’re just fine um go ahead well I was just gonna say would you have prefer T Foley and arvidson mantha you know one of the other next tier Wingers and particularly uh given the deal some of those guys sign Skinner not particularly uh Skinner would have been a nice fit I think um you know when you look at arvidson I think he’s a tremendous player that is a pain in the ARs to play against that’s a great netfront presence that also has a significant injury history and so you really have to you know be concerned about that as well there’s lots of people who wonder how much production the Edmonton Oilers are going to get out of arson given his health status so um I think of what was left available in terms of trying to find a Winger to play with leas Pon this is this is as good as what was on the table available to them um but that’s it I would have liked to have seen a better followup move um I like Heinen and Sherwood his Acquisitions um I can even understand forbert for the extreme short term that he’s been signed but at the same time I could also Imagine conglomerating the money from some of the role players like Dar and forbert to find somebody that can maybe just be a little bit more impactful than the the depth that you ultimately get so then my next question and I would totally agree with that philosophy my next question would be who is the target then yeah I mean you know ideally I would have tried to aggregate some money and find a defenseman that is in the $3 to5 million range to really complement what they’ve got and maybe that would be at the cost of not bringing back Toler Meers ultimately well maybe that’s one of the key misses then is should they have just gotten a deal done with Nikita zardor off then because MoneyWise it would have been definitely possible to do so um given how all of this transpired I think the problem for the Canucks is once they got to a certain point where they they were kind of devoting or allocating that money to gensel the market was moving so rapidly that I think there’s a lot of guys you know wink wink this never happens with tampering uh there’s a lot of guys that started to sweat and said hey I I can’t be left holding the bag here I’ve got to lock in on something and you know wait until 1201 to actually sign the paper but I I got to land somewhere because so many of the jobs in cap space it was all allocated by a certain point in the process I’d say really not long after arriving in Vegas for most of these teams everyone had a pretty good sense of what the market looked like uh two follow-ups one on the defense but one on the tampering Frank since he mentioned it it’s extraordinary how many deals were seemingly done in the minutes after noon eastern time is anelle concerned about that they used to have the talk window right the tampering window so is the Angel concerned about that like what’s the process going to be going forward because it’s pretty evident there was a lot of tampering this summer well so if everyone’s tampering then no one is tampering that’s that’s how I would look at it like there’s not one team in the league in my view that didn’t engage an inappropriate conversation prior to July 1 at 12 noon Eastern it’s it’s not possible so everyone’s guilty I don’t know how you’d possibly police it and taking a larger view this the NHL fell victim here to its own schedule you know you have a draft and a free agency and a cup final in that condensed of a period of time you couldn’t even do an interview period or window if you wanted to unless you change the date of free agency itself which they there have been calls to do that forever and they’ve resisted those on a Canadian holiday uh they they don’t care that that’s the start of their next fiscal year and that’s the start of the next contract so um I I don’t think they’re terribly concerned no one has said a word to me no one has whispered that this is something that is even on the League’s radar okay uh the work they did do on defense forbert and uh de har your thoughts there forbo is a guy that I think a lot of people seem to like uh he’s a well-respected player in the sense that everywhere he’s gone he’s been a good fit team-wise which I think is important when you’re talking about that role on a roster um I like a har I saw him a ton obviously during this playoff run and throughout you know his sort of bursting onto the scene as a classic Late Bloomer uh he’s got the size he’s got the reach he’s actually got pretty decent boots for a player of that size I would just say that there are really limitations there he’s skill-wise like he is what he is like you’re not going to see anything flashy or fancy um he comes to work and and and brings his lunch pail which is important he’s a worker he’s a grinder uh and certainly won’t take it for granted but don’t expect him to be anything more than he isn’t which is a classic big third pair defenseman I I worried about his decision making in key games for the Oilers um like I I thought he was certainly one of the the weak links there on on the blue line so um they seem to be intent on on trying to sculpt him into more into into um using gonar and foot and and getting more out of dear I I’ll put I’m not saying it’s impossible I’m just saying good luck with that like you’ve got your work cut out for you at 27 you are what you are yeah yeah most probably okay so let’s look at that I mean they get an Oiler um the Oilers are likely to be the class of the Pacific Division um the Canucks aren’t going to give up the crown easily they’re going to want to try to run it back as well um what’s that Gap like who’s got the gap on whom right now as you see it to uh to start the season yeah I mean I think the Oilers had a strong off season I thought the McLoud trade was the cherry on top I think their top six is the best top six that they’ve assembled I I have uh Skinner and arvidson in the top six I think it’s their best top six since the 1980s um how much worse are are the Canucks than what we saw last year I think is a fair question to ask and will there be some other natural regression we talked last year about you know hey is this team going to come back to earth at varying points and there were like some small you know sags and stretches throughout the course of the Season as it went on but for the most part we’re a very consistent team I think the Canucks are a firm playoff team I don’t think they’re challenging for the class of the division uh as I see it now and when it comes to a larger View and what that means in terms of being in the Stanley Cup Contender category I think they’ve got work to do I think they’d be the first ones to admit that they have work to do uh Frank we uh we were all looking at those AFP analytics projections for contracts prior to July 1st and when kefer Sherwood and Danton Heinen landed the common Bond was H those deals come in under what the AFP projections were uh a word or two about the two free agent Wingers the conects added here what you think of those H Denton Heinen is a guy that has been year after year sort of there’s never really much fanfare uh he’s not collecting the big payday but every year you turn back and you look at his numbers and you’re like damn that was a really good year like that guy produced and he’s probably not in a different category than Daniel sprong who’s still sitting on the market I mean he’s one of those guys that’s gonna get you 15 to 20 goals and and give you just about everything that he has in his bag um to get to that point and that’s you need that in on your cap table like you need guys that can punch above their weight class and I think hen has the ability um to do that um and when it comes to you know fit and uh you know what you’re looking at with the rest of the team like I’m looking at the Canucks going okay kefir Sherwood there’s a guy that you know not GNA cost you a lot um can skate can do a lot of different things and you know probably you know hit double digit goals last year what can he give you probably in that same range 10 12 13 goals and can maybe fill another role for you on your team why do these guys languish Pew suder lasted for almost the entire summer before the kuu signed him and and people have nothing but good things to say about his diligent work away from the puck um his defensive play and again same thing 12 to 18 goals a year and in fact has had many 20 goal Pace years that have just never materialized into 20 goals because the game’s played why does a guy like Daniel sprong languish here and it’s only July 10th he’s he’s not into August like Pew sudor was but uh but why is it literally the proverbial everybody’s sat down on a chair and there’s no chairs left I it’s probably some part of that it’s probably caps space percentages available there’s probably uh something to what these guys are looking for in terms of an Ask um because they have the goals and the production to point to and say hey I should be making X just because you should be doesn’t mean that that’s what the market is willing to pay and I also think it’s just an eye test thing it’s if this guy is not scoring what’s he doing for you which I think is a fair question ask of a lot of people but then I see how this Market shaped out and it’s like it’s today’s July 10th can someone explained to me why James Van reik isn’t signed he was one of the best point per dollar players in the NHL last season and every year he does the same thing he’s a netfront guy but for whatever reason people look at his the way he plays this is just a pure eye test thing because he’s more of an upright skater people are like oh he’s he’s not skating hard he’s not working hard he’s not a grinder and it’s like that guy’s been the same exact player since he was the number two over overall pick yeah the production has has slid of course as you get older into your mid-30s but nonetheless he’s not looking for a lot of money he’s got eight teams that are after him he’s still playing for a million bucks but no one has put the offer in front of him for him to sign that’s like hey this guy’s G to be part of your team next year and I also think just to add to that why do some guys languish there was a massive Market over correction this summer on big defensemen who don’t really do a heck of a lot else other than be big yes yes I don’t I don’t and I’m not disparaging anyone but the fact that Josh Brown got three years times one million bucks he is a classic number seven defenseman so that and that’s fine like you need those guys to fill out your team but Tyson Barry has 550 points in 800 NHL games he doesn’t have a deal Tony D’Angelo totally different C set of circumstances but a 50-point defenseman he doesn’t have a contract Uh Kevin shattenkirk classic power play guy he doesn’t have a deal these are all Bonafide solid NHL defensemen that give you points that are sitting here on the market because everyone likes guys that have beards and Tattoos all good I’m just saying that you need those types of guys too beards 60 yeah beard per 60 uh re wingspan per 60 very very big hear you um uh Frank we’ve we’ve dealt with the Oilers and I don’t think we have to deal with um Anaheim San Jose or Calgary I think we know what’s going on there but Kings Knight Kings Knights Kraken in that middle of the Pacific Division whose work do you like there which one would you be most on the lookout for come next season who who’s buying for second in the Pacific division it’s the Canucks so I’d go I order the division it would be Edmonton Vancouver Vegas La Seattle so not bullish on the Seattle moves I mean I’m personally not I I really like Chandler Stevenson as a player I think he was an underrated part of that team uh also ended up being an NHL All-Star one year which gives you an indication of how important he was um and and I look at the back end and I I see the deal for Montour and I get that he you know is coming off two seasons ago a 70 plus Point campaign fantastic skater and he’ll do different fancy things that’ll certainly add a different element to that Seattle blue line I don’t know how much they move the needle though that Seattle Team still needs difference makers and I find Stephenson and Montour to be great support pieces but not drivers they’re not they’re not passengers but they’re not drivers so um personally I think what happened two years ago for Seattle is the worst thing that possibly could have they got a taste of the playoffs um maybe not all that different than the Canucks certainly out out kicked a bit of what they probably should have done um and they totally regressed back to where a lot of people thought they would be last season it cost their coach their job and it probably Spurs on contracts like you ended up seeing handed out to Montour and to Stephenson because someone somewhere their owner is pounding their fist on the table saying we need to get back to the playoffs fans aren’t renewing their tickets at the same rate that they were Market buzz and and all those things it begins to fall off and you end up making moves moves solely to pacify some of that and I think that’s a really difficult way to build a hockey team uh last question for me Frank but we talked about how it’s the smaller skilled Puck moving defenseman that seems to be uh uh seems to be um Frozen out here a little bit in free agency as everyone goes for the big defenseman when I look at your tradeboard Marner NES aers zigis I know a couple of those guys have played the middle but the scoring Winger seems to be front and center on the trade block and I’m wondering um how busy and how motivated you think their existing teams are on making these moves how you see playing out yeah I’d say really motivated a bunch of them are certainly in terms of the Carolina Hurricanes and Marty NIS and the Winnipeg Jets and Nick eers and in a different way I think the Toronto Maple Leafs to see change um that’s the one part of if we were to Circle back and put a bow on our Canucks free agent conversation should they have potentially left more powder dry to be able to get into some of those conversations if you didn’t love some of the other you know if you were to amalgamate or aggregate all your money and to be able to go after one of those players was that the like should the Canucks have been more involved in trade talks to get a a scoring Winger as opposed to solely relying on free agency how did they feel about that relative to a lot of the Futures and draft picks that they already gave up at the deadline to get into that spot last year um is a fair question to ask but if you were to be able to get your hands on one of those players in their mid 20s that fits your age scheme I’m not really sure that the future draft picks matter as much um especially if you don’t have to dive deeply into your draft poll to make it happen and why wouldn’t the Canucks be willing to move a player or two off their roster to do it and rejig things I don’t I wouldn’t say that they’re totally out of the mix but I think it’s a fair question to ask and it’s it’s a totally a totally fair question to ask I think most people the the the stock answer for most people Frank would be they just don’t even have the assets that would tany any of these teams um and you’d have to be willing to trade Jonathan leer Macky but I don’t even let like while have high hopes for leer macki he’s not a gold chip Prospect like he’s not guaranteed so do they even have the assets to reel in one of these guys you’d probably have to be dealing players off of your roster which then comes back to the same question that we asked at the beginning of the show which is or segment do are the Canucks better yeah well and look you’re hoping lecki turns into one of these type of players like if lecki turns into NS aers or you know Mar that’s a home run right now if he does it at least in the first few years he’s gonna be awfully cheap and that’s a massive massive Advantage but you know long way to go before he turns in for sure to one of those guys anyways we suspect there will be some trades this Summer Frank um much appreciate the time here my friend thank you of course have a great summer guys hey everybody if you’re enjoying what you’re seeing here then follow along with Saron price on YouTube I promise more content coming they call it the kids call it subscribe on YouTube well how about liking it do that as well smash it right now

The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli joins us for his review on the free agent season to date, now that the dust is starting to settle. Frank gives his report card on the Canucks’ activities, and whether they can compete with the Oilers for the division.

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