[MUSIC] >> Canuck Central Wednesday at Stan Reicho, Sat T.R., Shaw, here in the Kintec Studio. Canuck Central is for Enzahn Pacific Bay, Kruver's Premier Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep Superstore on Second Avenue between Cambion, Maine, or at Enzahn Pacific Chrysler.C.A. A wild Wednesday around the hockey world set. >> Crazy day, man, is today the deadline. That's kind of been the running joke today because it seems like every big piece is moving. Except for the one big piece that the crux are still involved in. >> Yeah, what gives the most active front office in the NHL is not active so far on one of the most active trade days we've seen in a long time? >> Yeah, I mean, there is one front office. They may yet be bolder than the Canucks front office. >> And they just so happen to be in the same division. >> Yeah, they also happen to be the defending Stanley Cup champions and looking pretty, pretty, pretty good. 650, 650 Dunbar Lumber, text message inbox, questions, comments, everything. You can get in there and we'll try to answer and discuss through the course of the program. But as we always do here on Canuck Central, we get ready with the open. [MUSIC] >> Welcome to the open. >> That's your home. Are you too good for your home? Answer me. >> Well, no, Hannafin is too good for the Calgary Flames apparently and he is heading off to the Vegas Golden Knights. That is the latest on the trade market. So yes, Vegas getting Anthony Manta and still had a little bit of change left over in the salary cap space world while the LTIR salary cap space world. And now they have gone out and acquired Noah Hannafin still waiting on the details of the trades. But also it sounds as though a extension is getting worked on for Noah Hannafin as well. He does not leave the Pacific Division. He's heading to the Vegas Golden Knights. And we'll keep discussing some of those particulars as they continue to develop. But it has been a crazy day. We've seen the avalanche load up. We've seen the oilers make their big move. The Canucks have to this point not done anything on the day. Other than send facility pod coals and back to the Abbotsford Canucks. What are we hearing on the Canucks and just how hot is it on the hot stove for Vancouver? Obviously, they're working very hard as you would imagine right now. And I do think there has been urgency, especially with the Gensil situation still unfolding. Vancouver still is very much in the Jake Gensil race. And even if they may not have the confidence that they will ultimately win it, I do believe he's still firmly their number one target right now. The question obviously comes down to are they going to be able to pull it off? But they're very much in the mix still. Like as far as I knew this afternoon, they weren't out on Jake Gensil. And that's still promising because I know there's been subsequent reports here that Vancouver is still in it. Carolina is in it. And so are the New York Rangers. And there was also a report from a Pittsburgh reporter that Jake Gensil may prefer to go to Vancouver as opposed to other destinations. So as much as Vancouver is in the mix, there may be teams that outbid them. But are they sitting here hoping that it still breaks their way here because they feel like they may have the inside track with the player? Emily Kaplan of ESPN reporting 11 minutes ago, Penguins are still weighing their offers on Gensil. A few teams, including the New York Rangers, Carolina and Vancouver are still in Kevin Weeks. You know, he piled on the Elias Lindholm and a three way trade idea. Many of potential deal scenarios out there right now, but this one I heard has caught my attention. Gensil took an ox to Brass to Penguins Lindholm to the Bruins in a potential three way deal. So everything is kind of happening. A lot of speculation is continuing to drive people wild and drive Canucks Twitter wild. This still feels the three way deal I think it gets everybody excited sat, but how realistic is it that a three way deal happens here, especially when a lot of the reporting today has been that the Canucks feel like the price is still high on Jake Gensil and maybe their package isn't quite what other teams can offer. Yeah, at the same time, it's one of those things where I don't exactly know what to believe exactly when it comes to Lindholm at times, right, because I do believe a lot of the reporting out there. And then you'll hear from people saying, hey, you know, it's not quite everything people think it is in terms of how things are going with Lindholm. There's something there there, but it may not be all of what is out there on Twitter. Now, you keep hearing this stuff, though, right now, Kevin Weeks tweeting that out, you know, he's been a very credible with his reporting. So clearly there's something going on, whether it's a smokescreen or there is actually real smoke to it, right? So you can't dismiss the possibility. And as we've said, how can you dismiss this front office doing that? You can't. Yeah. It's in it would be something they would do, right? So you can't dismiss the possibility. I just still wonder how do you make that package work that Key Weeks was referencing. Vancouver gave up a first round pick, Bruce Davis, and a fourth round pick, Yawnie Yermo. And Andre Kuzmenko. And Kuzmenko to make the deal happen, right? So you can say Debrask is a Kuzmenko piece. Yeah. Sure. The make weight salary. Right. The first round pick. Now, Boston doesn't have a first round pick this year. No. Next year's depends on what happens with this year's pick. So you're talking about it will be a future first round pick. Yeah. First round pick. Yeah. What prospect Fabian Lysell would he is either best prospect? Is he better than Hunter Bristevich? Latra. I don't know. Do they want to trade him? Do they want to trade him? Unless they feel like they can extend the player they're acquiring, perhaps different. And Boston is a team and Elliot mentioned this that they wanted to explore an extension when they talked to Calgary with Lindholm, but obviously that never happened. So is it dependent on that potentially for them? That could make sense. I still kind of wonder, is Pittsburgh getting the pieces they want in that three-way trade? I think if they do poetry as sure, like in Lysell, and is the brusque poetry in Lysell, and it's not a pick, but maybe a second or something, or one of those guys, maybe they talked themselves into it, and I bet you, the brusque would be a guy they flip. Yeah. He wouldn't be a guy they sign, I don't think. No. He's also an expiring contract. It doesn't feel like the, well, it's not the traditional type of deadline day deal for one of the top pieces at and available on the trade deadline. So that's why it would be a little bit out of left field. Carolina's easily got the prospect pool to make a deal work for Jake Genssel, but they're not a team that has traditionally spent on rentals in the trade market. So there's that hurdle you'd have to get through, but even if it's not Nickishan, which generally most teams don't give up their top-rated prospect for a rental anyway, so I don't see why they would have to give up Nickishan. Elliott sort of mentioned this morning on the Jeff Merrick show that they wouldn't even give up Nickishan in a potentially Lius Pedersen deal, which is wild to me, but also that's obviously what they think of the player. They wouldn't give him up for Jake Genssel, and I don't think Kyle Dubas would even expect that. No, you probably look at their third, fourth best prospects, Bradley Nadow, Scott Morrow. Those types probably are the ones that come up in conversation, and if it's Vancouver just making a straight-up deal with Pittsburgh, I don't know that they have a prospect outside of Lecaromacchi or Willander that moves the needle as much as one of those Carolina prospects would. And if they would move one of those guys. The question here with Carolina is, are they going to be willing to make that type of a trade when it's gone against her MO, generally speaking? Yeah. It's gone completely against their MO. It would be a total turn from what they've done as a franchise, though there have been moments in the past where the Carolina hurricanes have maybe acted in ways that we did not expect. I'm looking at Yisberry Cookanyemi in the offer sheet after Sebastian Ajo got offered preceded by the Montreal Canadiens in a deal that actually worked out very well for Carolina, by the way. But it's, I just wonder about that, especially with the week in history, this week in history of the Carolina hurricanes in Vancouver Canucks. Yeah. So we'll see ultimately if the Canucks can pry Genssel out of Pittsburgh, right? And like we said, they're very much involved in it. The question comes down to, if they can't make the Genssel trade, what do they do? What else is out there? Yeah. And if you look at like who's next best available, it's Tyler Tifoli. Yes. And we know his situation is still somewhat murky in Jersey. They want to sign him, but can they work that out? Oh, no, we were spitball in the other day and mentioned that, hey, if he's looking for a contract extension, like they're going to talk to Jersey about what is he looking for? You saw what Calorin got last year, and that's something Elliot mentioned in terms of comparable. So that's 25 million. He's 33 years old. So he gets a bit sticky in terms of what does he want contract-wise? Is that something you're willing to do? And if you're giving up significant assets, because if you've seen the prices so far, if Anthony Math is going for her second and a fourth, Tifoli who has 26 goals and has more pedigree, probably needs to go for a first-round pick. And that's something the Canucks don't really want to do. And I don't know for a rental. Yeah. And that's the thing. Now, is that something they can maybe work out with him? They could work something out? Are they interested in assigning him? So I think those are the complicating factors around Tifoli as well. As good as a fit as he would be, it wouldn't be a cheap price to acquire him. Yeah. And is Vancouver comfortable doing that if they can't agree to a contract? It depends on what he's looking for. And anything that's where it gets a little bit sticky. So there are challenges around Tifoli as well, right? Zucker we've heard about, and we've heard the Canucks have made some sort of inquiries, maybe even have made offers for it, but the prices are high. One thing I was told is that I think the Canucks feel that the Reem quoted pretty high prices. You know, I think it was Dollywood who mentioned the Canucks felt like they had a better offer than Dallas for TANF. Yeah. And that was turned down and it felt like they were asking a lot from Vancouver. There's a sense because Vancouver's been so active in trades and stuff and they're so willing that teams are now trying to get more out of them a little bit. So I think they're also fighting that when they're making these trades now and being hesitant to overpay extra to make deals happen. So I think that's something that they're fighting against a little bit. And I think that complicates the price for these higher end guys. So ultimately, if they'd missed out on Tifoli, if Zucker too, who they're asking for a second round pick apparently, plus something to retain, which is a lot for a guy who has nine goals this year, right? So if those prices don't come down, do they have to explore other players like, say, Barabana from San Jose, right, won't be a heavy price, hasn't had a lot of success, more of a flyer type of player, you know, another guy even farther down a totem pole would be a Victor Olafsson guy who only has four goals this year, has really struggled. He just does not feel like a Rick Talkett type of player. Yeah. And I think those are the things that you may have to explore and I don't think that's very high on their list. But Barabana I think would be a bit more interesting at the very least. Like what I would say about at least my assessment of Olafsson is, remember how we would talk about it, you know, you're trying to figure out if you can trust Andre Kuzmanko in the playoffs. Yes. Like Victor Olafsson's a guy I could see you trading for and then not playing in the playoffs because you're too worried about his defensive game. As far as Barabanaov goes, no analytic card that you see about this player is going to look all that great. His stats aren't going to jump off the page to you, but every time I've watched San Jose and this guy's out there, like he kind of pops when they've been at Roger's Arena. He kind of pops. He's got some speed to his game. He's not the tallest guy, but he's kind of wide. He's thick and he can get in on the forecheck. Just feels more like a player that I think would suit the Canucks, but you know, more of a bottom six type and you're still kind of looking at your top six and hey, Ilya McCabe doesn't have a goal in 32 games and Souter hasn't scored in 16 and none of our bottom six guys are scoring like they were earlier in the year. And that's, I feel like the Zuckers and these types of players, they don't solve any of those issues that we've seen with the Canucks. No, they don't necessarily solve it. I don't think a Barabanaov would. I think Zucker is probably better than what he's played so far. Like, could he play, let's say, with JT and Besser and be the third guy on that line? Potentially. Right. Now, that still doesn't solve that you're looking for a score with Ilya's Patterson, but it's one of those things where those are the things you more likely explore once you get to Friday. Because those players will still be available then most likely. And that's why as you go through this process, you can understand why they're still very much trying to get the Jake Genssel deal done. And our friend to the show, Dave Pinota mentioned earlier today on Twitter, Arizona, still looking for a second round pick for Jason Zucker, that would include 50% retention on his salary. But even still, I mean, to that, I sort of respond well, keep him. Because a second round pick, like, I mean, Arizona already owns like 85% of the second round picks in the league for the next three seasons, so what more second round picks do you really need? I don't know. It just, it feels like a big ask right now and you got to wait them out and kind of stake them out until Friday to see how much it comes down. Yeah, and I think by Friday, they'll probably just trade them for whatever they can get for them. Yeah. Because they'll be probably happy to save. Even if it's half the salary, you're saving that money on, you're saving the cash for the rest of the year. However much it is, plus you're getting another asset. So I think you can get him a cheaper if you wait. And that's why the Genssel thing, that's the activity. Yeah. And then those things are the lesser moves that you explore and add depth and just kind of move on and bank on what you already have. Genssel's got to be the domino that falls before some of these other things start to happen. Now, Elliot Friedman, just reporting as we talked about off the top of the show, Noel Hanifen to the Vegas Golden Knights, details are still being worked on. Elliot saying a extension is currently not an immediate part of this deal. We'll see what comes, but nothing immediate in the announcement. So that's the latest, the Vegas Golden Knights, who are the Canucks opponent tomorrow night, getting Anthony Manta yesterday and Noah Hanifen today. The Colorado Avalanche, who we'll see here in Vancouver next week, acquired Sean Walker from Philadelphia. It cost them a first round pick and Ryan Johansson, which opened up a lot of cap space for them. They also traded Bowen Byram for Casey Middlestadt and seemingly solving their top six or second line center issue by acquiring the young center out of Buffalo. Euler spent a first round pick to get Adam Henrich and Sam Carrick. It feels like the arms race in the West is shaping this year's deadline. There are, last year it was the East and now the East, a lot of those teams in the East don't have the assets because they've spent so many of them. This year, the Western teams are loading up because there's a clear six that all feel they can win the cup and all of them are acting like it here at the trade deadline set. Yeah, and it shows you how wide open it's been and how the Western conference is so strong this year too. I mean, you can look at it and say there's more parity and that means because there isn't as good a high end and that's true. But there are seven teams, including the LA, who the Canucks beat last night, that have a chance. Now, LA may be a bit lower on that list, but so maybe five or six teams. And they all have some holes to need to address. They all see the opportunity and they're all kind of pouncing on it. The Canucks got a jump on it. Now these teams are responding. They were always going to respond to some degree, but the way Colorado has been aggressive tells you quite a bit about what their intentions are and Vegas and if they also get a extension done here with Hanifen, it tells you it's more of a long-term thing. But they've got Alec Martinez expiring at the end of this year. So they just replace those two guys. But as far as the rest of this season goes, when Martinez gets healthy and we don't know exactly the extent of his injuries and IR, not LTIR yet. So you look at that blue line now, let's say at some point they get healthy with Alec Martinez. And let's say Mark Stone does return, and you have Anthony Manta as well. Now, Manta doesn't move the needle as much for me, he's more of a depth piece for them. And I would be surprised if he ends up playing on the first two lines consistently and I think he moves down a little bit or whatever. But getting Hanifen is really big. Bear Decor, Shatheodor, Alex Pietrangelo, Braden, McNabb, Zach Whitecloud, Nick Hague, and Noah Hanifen would be their top six right now. Of course, with Alec Martinez as the one that is currently injured. So you're talking about essentially Nick Hague coming out of your lineup in your top six because you've just added Noah Hanifen. That's pretty good. And as for the Colorado Avalanche, they had Sean Walker today, so their D is looking pretty strong. I'm curious how it's going to work in Colorado. I think that was maybe the most intriguing deal of the day. Bowen Byrom for Casey Middlestadt, the deal is one for one. Yeah. And it's also one of those long-term deals. Yeah. You know, it's- It's a straight up hockey trade, right? It is. And two young players, right? Yeah. And I'm like Ryjo for Seth Jones back in the day. Yeah. And I know people have been talking about Alex Tuck a lot. If they're moving Middlestadt now, I don't know if they're moving Tuck too, right? And we discussed how Middlestadt could be an option in terms of, hey, if the Canucks are going out to pay a heavy price, why not go after him? But clearly, the Canucks didn't have anything like Bowen Byrom to offer. No. Right? And they wanted somebody that helped them, helped them right away. And- Pick some prospects weren't really something that Buffalo craved. No. And when you look at where Byrom's at, he's had his struggles this year. He's had concussion issues in the past, but there's a lot of talent there. Yeah. And if you're banking on him, you know, coming through, he could still be a higher-end defenseman, right? But Middlestadt, I think this move for Colorado, getting a young player with some energy and juice who has some positional flexibility as well, like that could be a really terrific fit on that team. One thing I wonder about Middlestadt, he hasn't played playoff hockey before. He's a bit of a smaller player. You know, is he going to play, like we've seen Colorado develop into a really hard-nosed team as they've learned how to win in the playoffs as a team and stuff like that. How quickly does Casey Middlestadt learn that side of the game? Because he's played well in Buffalo, but a lot of like no pressure hockey in Buffalo. So that's one thing I wonder about how it's going to work. Obviously, the talent of the player is through the roof. I think he's a pretty good two-way player too on top of that generally, but it's a different ask going from where the Buffalo Sabres have been the last number of years to go into a cup container. Yeah, but you're still adding a legitimate top six player or top nine player to your team. They wasn't there already. And you're missing players. We looked at their bottom six and their third line and said, like, where is that supplementary scoring coming from, especially with their injuries? So at the very least, he provides a little bit of depth there. And it's not like... And they're expecting land to scog back to, at some point. Yeah. And the guy, I don't know what to expect from him. He hasn't played him. It's going to be like two seasons. He's going to step into the playoffs and all of a sudden be a beast. Like, I don't know. If he is, then maybe he does have like one point. I mean, we wondered that about Mark Stone and he figured it out. Yeah, but he didn't miss that much time. No. Two full seasons. Yeah. You know, it's a lot. But we'll see ultimately what happens with Landis Cog, right? But they also picked up Sean Walker and Sean Walker isn't as good as Byron, but he actually helps balance your blue line because they add a right hand defencement and which allows them to play Sam Girard more often on his left side, even though he plays the right side with being a lefty. And now they have far better balance down the right side. With McCar, you have Manson and you have Sean Walker now, too. Yeah. And Sean Walker is not expected to play, you know, 20 minutes a game. I mean, he's stepping into a blue line with depth. Their top four is just going to be absolute craziness. And you see that with Dallas after they made the TANF move, Logan Stankovin looks like he might be the best deadline pickup for any team this year. A lot still happening and the Canucks are wondering, do we need to get more in order to join in on this arms race, even though they already made one big move? Well, that's why. And we'll see with the three way deal thing. Yeah. Right. But I mean, to me, there's still a world where they have Lindholm and Genssel. Yeah. I mentioned this yesterday. It hasn't changed. You know, and if it doesn't end up being Lindholm going. It's not the only way they can get a Genssel deal done. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a few machinations that could be going on with Patrick Oven and Jim Rutherford right now. And I could see as much as right now, contract wise, it might be difficult with Genssel. I do think they might bet on themselves that they can figure it out with him once he comes to Vancouver. Like, even if if a extension wasn't in place with Jake Genssel, I wonder if they feel like they could take care of that down the road here, you know, and if that's how you feel that maybe you're not afraid of making that other big move right now. Tune in on trade deadline day to sports net 650s coverage brought to you by AJ's pizza on East Broadway in Mount Pleasant. Try AJ's traditional New York pizza or sink into their famous Detroit pizza only at AJ's pizza. Order online at AJ's dot pizza. It's a lot of pizza in one read, but it's worth it when you're talking about AJ's. All right. Good knock central round up news of the day. We went through a lot of it already. A lot of teams making moves. The New York Rangers also added Alex Wenberg is one other move that happened on the day. Canucks have Vegas tomorrow. Vegas has lost eight of 10, but they've just added Anthony Manta and Noah Hanifen to their lineup, still awaiting details on the Hanifen trade and what is going to the Calgary flames in that move. It's two games for facility pod calls and sent back to the Abbotsford Canucks today. I know Patrick Johnston had a little piece up with Jim Rutherford and he sort of looked at it or called it a bit of a paper move for the Canucks as well, getting their roster set for Abbotsfords in the playoffs and that sort of thing, but he played what 12 minutes his first game and just nine minutes last night. I saw enough there that it's still a project for pod Colson, but a positive one and I mentioned yesterday I can see him playing a bottom six role for the Canucks next season, but it sort of just feels like with Baines and pod Colson, they wanted to give these guys a look maybe in case they need them to get a recall with an injury or so coming down the stretch. Yeah, I think you're right. I think they wanted to get a look for them. I know it's been suggested. Colson was being showcased and perhaps, but again, I think procedurally this was a time to bring him up if you were going to get a look at him before you get to the deadline and then you only have four recalls remaining. That's the rule after trade deadline for every team and it becomes a bit, you know, you wonder, are you going to bring a guy up to give him a taste and you're not sure how he's going to handle it or do you want to feel confident in your recalls, right? And now you have a better outlook because he's already come and played, but I do think he played well enough that depending on what happens here at the deadline, and obviously if he's still here, and you know, you would assume he would be, but if he's, you know, who knows, it's trade deadlines a few days away, but if he's here, would you be surprised if they recall them, they're bringing them up like it wouldn't surprise me. Like I think they liked what he did and I think they view him as an option that can't contribute to this team down the stretch. He looked like he was a lot more engaged on the forecheck pace of the game was more direct. I felt at a lot of points. So there were some good things about Vasily pod Colzen's game that definitely feel like there's something to build on there. All right. Kevin Woodley is going to join us. He's up next as the arms race is heating up in the Western conference. Noah Hanifid headed to the Vegas Golden Knights, still awaiting details on that and his Vegas done after they add Anthony Manta and Noah Hanifin. That's another question we might have. It is Conoxentral hitting the most important topics for Vancouver sports fans. The people's show with big nazar subscribe and download the show on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. (dramatic music)
