[MUSIC] Conox Central Wednesday and Stan Reicho Satyarsha here in the Kintec Studio, Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands, thousands of five star Google reviews or feet. What are you waiting for in the Kintec Studio as the off-season draws near a second consecutive day off in the Stanley Cup final. Sasha Barkov was a full participant in Florida Panthers practice. So tough hit. He took from Leon Drycidal, but the best player so far in the series is not missing a game. No. Yeah. So that's a good thing, I guess. So Conor McDavid still has things to have nightmares about. Yes. He should still be very, very afraid. And I mean, the worst thing, and maybe we'll get to this a bit later, the worst thing Florida has done is they're scheduling their travel. Yeah. Two Edmondson. And I know you want to avoid Edmondson for as long as possible, I get it, kind of, but like, come on, you guys probably shouldn't be flying out the day before the game. Yeah. And it's gonna be a long flight, you know, all those things. We'll see how it plays out tomorrow. Tomorrow's gonna be a really interesting game in the Stanley Cup final. We'll have it here on the station for you. You're home a hockey sports net, 650. But let's get into the Canucks. It's the open. Welcome to the open. That's your home. Are you too good for your home? The open world. We bring you the latest on the Vancouver Canucks and our take on it. And another day of the off season means more things progressing or not progressing and speculation continues. But we are seemingly starting to get a sense of at least one player moving on from the Vancouver Canucks. And we've talked about it a lot, but Elliot Friedman regurgitated it again today that the Canucks are almost at a point where they've conceded Elias Lindholm is not going to be a Vancouver Canucks beyond what he was this year. And so now, like, I'm not so worried about Lindholm. Fine. We've talked about the contract and all those things. But like, what are your pivot points if you're the Canucks? You know, what kind of money do you have to spend? How do you use that money elsewhere? And what are your options in free agency to maximize this roster? Yeah. And, you know, when you kind of talk about that, and yes, you know, Elliot Friedman, you know, mentioned that it's gonna be tough with Lindholm. It looks like that's not gonna happen. It's kind of like a game of he loves me. She loves me not. And you get to the final pedal and you're like, ah, and it's like, because every day it comes, not, not that it changes. But so I'm still, it's it's more so been trending this way for a few days with Lindholm specifically. And we'll see ultimately where it goes because I'm still looking at it and saying it's only June 12. So it's like, you know what I mean? So I still think it's somewhat early to just write it off. But I do, I do understand what you mean, because it doesn't look like seven by seven is going to cut it. And it looks like the Canucks don't want to want to go above what they're putting out. At least not significantly. Look, seven by seven, based on his production over the last two years, is still pretty expensive for a lies Lindholm. And honestly, it's a fair enough offer where now we're hearing his considerations have more to do with, can I be a frontline player if I'm playing behind JT and Patterson, whereas let's say I can go to Boston for the same money even. I can play with Pasternak can be on the first line. Yeah, it's a different world you're living in. Maybe I can go to Utah play with Clayton Keller. Right. Go to Columbus, reunite with Johnny Gudrow. And you get to be like the frontline center, right? Or the second guy, not the third guy, right? So that's a big consideration. So I think you're right. Like we talked about some pivot points earlier this week in terms of centers. Okay, like who do you go after? And the trade market you can look at, right? Like you can look at a team like say, even the Vegas Golden Knights. Yeah, they're capped out. They got hurdle. They have to make some moves. Is Nicholas Roy available? Is William Carlson available? Right. Now, not necessarily cheap, but you can look at trade options like that at the higher end because it connects obviously have looked at a higher end center. In the free agent market, there isn't a lot other than Stevenson, Monahan. Then you get to the Wenburgs, Blugers, Stenlin, Boyd, Ross Levitch, and Karak type. Like that's it. I just named all the centers. Yeah, that's it. There's no one else. Yeah. I guess you're looking for a right shot guy. It's like, okay, here's Linholm. That's Jack Ross Levick, Sam Karak. Like that's that's it. There's the guys. Yeah, it's like a seven tier draw from Linholm, right? We're not even sure Ross Levick is a full-time center any house, right? And I'm not sure how realistic the higher-end guys are. Like are you gonna outbid teams for Stevenson? And how does Monahan fit in? Now, I do think Monahan, because he's a left-hand shot that can fit in on the power play as well, has some size, has played well again. He fits the mold of the players they've looked at now clearly, right? With Linholm, he fits that profile. But I'm just not sure how realistic those options truly are. Yeah. So it's really, to me, if you're not bringing Linholm back, I think you have to kind of be willing to live with the Bluger types, the Wenburg types. Like that's kind of what you're looking at. At least at center. Yeah. But if you view it in a different way, like, okay, seven's not gonna get it done for Linholm. We want to bring in some kind of a top-flight player. Is that where, you know, why we're hearing the Jake Genssel rumors and things start to pick up on that front? Well, I mean, I think if you're not bringing Linholm back, you can give Jake Genssel a nine and a half. Yeah. We've done them. We're doing the math before the show began. The connects have 25 million in cap space. We include LTIR. And you include a couple of guys fill out the roster, including Shilab's as the backup. You have about 25 million in cap space, right? And that's to fill out about five spots on the roster. It's not an incredible amount. Two forwards and three defensive. Yeah, essentially. Yeah, essentially. If you give nine and a half to Genssel, you have the money to bring Heronik back, not only, right? But you can also breeze on Myers and you can still add a player like a Brennan Dillon. If you're not bringing, say, Zadora back. Yeah. Because it's a door of options. There aren't many. Like, essentially, to me, like, if you're looking at type of players, like that has some size, has some physicality, right? It can be a bit of an impact player can play your PK. You're looking at Brendan Dillon, Derek forebored Joel Edmondson. Like that's, and then we're talking about guys that fall off a cliff in terms of like, you want to go after a Jack Johnson? Yeah, you want to go after an Eric Johnson? Like, I'm not sure. You know what I mean? Like, Eric Johnson is a right-hand defenseman, but Jack Johnson, for instance. So, to me, those are the options. Unless you're looking at bringing Ian Cole back. It's, it's, it dries up pretty quick. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Like, in terms of big physical guys, because you want to replace the physicality in size. And the Zadora thing, you know, we saw where it went last week. It was maybe that final push before they left for their off-season home and left for, left Vancouver for their off-season home. Nothing got done then. Now it's gone quiet. You're hearing today, Dolly Wall linking the Leafs and Nikita Zadora, and really, I mean, if there's any GM around the league that likes signing former Canucks, it is definitely Brad for living. So, of course, of course, they're going to be in on guys like Zadora. And they were in on Zadora at the trade? Yeah, when he was available in trade, yes. Exactly. And we've heard Nashville's a team that could be all in, or very, very aggressive on Zadora. It doesn't seem like he's going to have a hard time getting the money he desires. No, it's going to be, like, he's going to be able to get the money and then be able to choose where he wants to go to. Yeah, to some extent. Like, it'll be a couple options he'll have at close to the money that he wants, right? So, he's, he's living in life as well as you can live it right now, right? So, I don't think there are a lot of other guys and really, really Brendan Dillon and Derek Foreboard and Edmondson. Yeah. And I'm not sure. Like, the thing is, do you get Edmondson on a one-year deal and make it palatable? Okay. But if he's getting some term, I don't love it. A bit older or two, right? Edmondson, yeah, not a term deal if he's kind of just looking the latch on with a pretty good team. Yeah. Like, that's kind of what you're hoping for. Yeah. And Derek Foreboard actually is a good penalty killer. And he's decent defensively. He's got some size and some toughness. But he was even healthy scratch at times with Boston. Yeah. And the playoffs. So, it's like, I don't know how comfortable that's why I go to Brendan Dillon. Like, to me, the best option quote-unquote or best of your free agent options through at least somewhat replicate the physicality and size. And he's not the same. Again, they're different players. But to me, Brendan Dillon is probably the closest you're going to get in the free agent market. Like, Dillon, this is all... Because we know what they like on defense, right? They want big players defensively sound. And that's kind of exactly what the mold is of a Brendan Dillon type. A lot of this is predicated on how do you build out the defense? But a lot of it is also still what happens with Philip Ronik. And I know what we talked about yesterday. Got a little bit of buzz. I don't think it was really anything all that new. But, you know, with Ronik, the arbitration option is there as we discussed yesterday. Doesn't make a ton of sense to go into next year with him on an expiring deal. So, if you don't get him done, then a trade has to be the option. But one of the better options is to still have him here in Vancouver and have him be a part of your top pair as long as the number is right. But that number still got to be around 7 million for these equations to sort of work for us here, Sat. And I'm not sure it's going to end up there. But when you look at building out this defense, it still feels like having that top end top pair, you need Philip Ronik there to do it. I think that's an ideal world, right? Like, okay, so the Canucks again have 25 million in cast space. But the Canucks can do is do Bluegr and let's say, let's say you do Gensil at 9.5, do Bluegrat 2.5. Okay, that would give you 13 million to fill out your defense, which would allow you to sign her own it to even 7. Yeah. And then sign two more guys making 3 million. Myers's ballparked around 3 million. So, then you'd have 3 million for Brendan Dillon type. So, how much better do you think the Canucks are? How much how much worse would are they? Yeah. Or better in your estimation, depending how you view it. If you go from the Blue Line that connects out this past year with Zadorov and Cole, right, to going with Ronik and Hughes, you still have that pair, you have Susie and Myers, you keep them together and you have Dillon and Julesin. Yeah. And you go into next year, maybe as you did last season, being ready and aware of any players that may come available on the market. Yeah. And then your forward group, well, you have Gensil to start the season. Yep. And then you have Bluegrat back as your third line, you have so you have Souter and Bluegrat as your third and fourth line center. You don't read more in the forward group? I mean, I think you do. But, I mean, you can still start the season that way. That way, right? And you give yourself at least, I think you look, you look at least the same as you did last year, if not slightly better to start the. So, then your centers would essentially be Miller, Patterson, Bluegr, and Oman or Souter. You can have Souter there as well, right? Yeah. And again, it's not like as high end, but I think you can start the season that way. I think your Blue Line, which Wilson being your sixth defenseman and those other guys, like, I think you feel pretty good about that. You can live with that. Now, there is another world where if you trade Heronik, you can maybe add a couple of those wingers you're talking about. You can have some money to sign a couple of guys to 1 million, 2 million. Right. You wouldn't be able to have Hughes and Heronik together, obviously, but you can downgrade and go after a jailing chat field type, or that's like way lower down on the scale, or go after a Brett Peche met Roy type, which is going to be in the four or five million range. And that extra 2 million can allow you to go and address other needs on the wings too. So, I mean, the Canucks have enough money here to do different things. They can't do everything, but they can bring Heronik back, sign a Gensil type, have Bluegr back, and fill out their Blue Line and go pretty robust on the Blue Line. But you're not going to be able to upgrade more than the one player up front. You're getting Gensil and that's going to be your only upgrade. Well, it's to me, that's fine. You know, as we talked about yesterday, and we went in extensively on Gensil and just why he is such a good fit, why there is a lot of hype around him. There's not too many guys around the league that score like Jay Kensil does. Period. Bottom line. I would prefer to add a top flight forward to this roster than a couple of more depth options. Like they did really well hitting on their depth options last year, finding guys to fill holes, and having guys play a little bit above maybe their expectations for the year. You know, Bluegr did that, Souter did that, Lafferty did for a time until it fell off towards the end of the season. But they had a lot of these guys that they signed play above what your expectations were for them at different points of the season. And that's all well and good. But in order for you to maximize out on the roster, you have to have higher end players. And ultimately, Jay Kensil gets you closer to that. Yeah, and what else you're going to need, and this is what every good team has done, is bring players along. Yeah, at cheap numbers, either as ELCs developing up or finding those gems like Joshua, like they found, right? And put goals in, they need him to step up, right? They need a ratu, ratu, or a banes, or somebody to emerge from the forward group. You got to get something out of pot coals and next year. And I think to me, I'd rather upgrade the ceiling and then bet on, okay, can we fill out our supporting cast internally over time? And maybe this year isn't this leap forward, but I think it allows you to leap forward if not next year, the year afterwards, because you raise a ceiling that significantly. And if you're able to add more to the cap and you're able to do some other things down the road, I think it can allow you to be very, very scary in a couple of years. Like, I think if you get Gensil now, even if next year, again, is not your Stanley Cup year, I think the year afterwards, all of a sudden somebody emerges or you find another piece, then you're looking like one of the best teams in the league. Like, I think you get so much closer to that ultimate ceiling, but ultimately, you're going to need some guys to emerge. That's what all the best teams do. The connects are prying themselves on the work they're doing in Abbotsford. They've been very happy with the progress the players have made. I think that they feel like their players have done better and should be worth more than they are in terms of how other teams view them as they saw in the deadline, right? But again, they have to prove it. If they prove it, then I don't think we have anything to worry about, right? But that's the thing that has to happen next year, too. It's one thing to add some players. That internal push has to come. Come, that's to come next season. You need one of those guys, Podkolzen. Yeah. Even Oman to be a little bit better, Bain's or an autoratu type to have a better season and be more of an impactful player on this roster, similar to the way that Nils Hoaglander was for the team this season. Yeah. And I think that's where the heroic decision to me is very interesting because I think if you sign him again, you keep the high, you have a good high end on your blue line. You feel good about having him here. But if you don't, I think with the options you have in free agency, you could actually trade her own it just for futures, right? Get a first round pick and get a couple picks later in the draft, say for 2025. And now you have a pick for this year. You can add to your prospect pool, which gives you assets down the road again, right? And then you have a couple of draft picks maybe, fourth or fifth round picks or whatever, that you can maybe use in trades next year. And then you can fill your needs with the money you're saving through free agency. You can do that as well. And all of a sudden, give yourself a chance to do some other things down the road. So I think the Peronic one's going to be really fascinating because you can pivot and give yourself some assets and sign some players, but you're not going to be able to replace his quality in the free agent market. Like there isn't a player you're going to find on the right side on the blue line that's going to be better than her own either via trade or in free agency. But can you get somebody that gives you 80%? Right. 85% of what Philip Peronic was, that would be that would be ideal. That's what the number matters. Yeah. You know, if the Canucks get them out just under seven, I think they do it. But does he want north of that? And you know, that cap space gives you options. A lot of this, again, depends on what Jake Genssel ends up getting like, is nine and a half million going to get it done for Jake Genssel is, you know, does it have to be 10 for the Vancouver Canucks because of tax reasons or whatever else? I don't know. We don't know the answer to that question. But it is one of the options for the Vancouver Canucks. And to be honest, like through this discussion and playing this out for folks, I don't really hate the trade-horonic option. But it depends on a lot of other things, landing a Jake Genssel, being able to get somebody like a Brett Pesche and free agency, and then finding those other pieces to fill out the roster. All right, let's get to the Canucks Central Roundup here on Canucks Central. A couple of news and notes tidbits from the Canucks and around the league. Rick Dolly while reporting today, I would not be surprised if the Leafs take a run at Joshua and Zadorov in unrestricted free agency. The Leafs wanting to bring back Dakota Joshua after all those years where they drafted him and then eventually just let him walk as a free agent. We'll see about that. But as joked before, Brad for a living, never seen a former Canucks he didn't like. No, and I think the Zadorov one makes sense. Like Zadorov. He also had Zadorov in Calgary obviously. He understands him, but he knows him really well. But I think it makes sense. Zadorov is one of the players that if you have cap space and a big need on the blue line, there aren't many guys. Yeah, especially on the left side. Yeah, and the Canucks have Hughes, and they have Susu's really good too under contract, and I think they feel good about having a couple guys. Toronto doesn't have that luxury. No, they have very few options on the blue line right now. Pure Pure Lebron, Blue Jackets and Patrick Leinay trying to facilitate a trade. They're working on it together per Pure Lebron, Leinay at 8.7 million over the next two years. We've talked about Leinay in the past as, you know, at least former big time player that could be available on the trade market. Now that was sort of made official today by by Pure Lebron. It's still a big ticket contract, and I'm sure Columbus for as much as yes, they're willing to help Leinay find a new destination still would like to get something back in return. Yeah, I think they want something tangible. It depends actually if they're going to retain. Right. Now, if they're retaining, do they also want to take a contract back, or do they want just the assets? Yeah. That's the question. I don't think the Canucks can trade for Leinay or sacrifice for cap space on him unless they're moving money out, even if they retain. Yeah. Like a mikev or a garland. Yeah. To me, that's it. Or even garland and mikev. Yeah. I do that because you clear the money. Right. And then you're getting one guy back, even if you're not retaining, for instance, and then you're out from under it in two years. Maybe worth the risk on the player. But the Canucks can't make that trade unless they're moving money out. And can they get better than garland and mikev on the trade market for Leinay? I wonder what garland could pet you on the trade market. Mikev, I think, doesn't really have value right now. No, not right now. Maybe negative value. Yeah. So that's the tough part. But I'd like to take a look at Patrick Leinay. I just think it's probably too expensive as far as the cap is concerned. The Jets are taking calls on Nikolai Eelers. No real surprise there. It's another interesting name, but 6 million and is appending unrestricted free agent after this upcoming season. That's going to be an expensive look to take on Eelers and a guy who's probably going to want to raise on top of that. So another player, while yes, I can understand a lot of Canucks fans may have interest in seeing a player like that where Canucks colors. I'm not sure it's the most likely of outcomes. No. I think what's more likely is that they go into the season with him and either trade him on the deadline or extend them. Yeah. Something like Winnipeg does something like that, right? Because the cost that they're going to be looking for is at the deadline is worth the first. You know, yeah, it'll be worth the first of the at the deadline. If he's not worth that now, why settle for it? And that's the thing I wonder about Winnipeg and Winnipeg's pretty stingy when it comes to making deals. I don't see them being like, Hey, just let's give us a second. No, you know, it's been pretty good, right? Like, hey, they held on to Jacob Truba for a long time. Like Shovel Dayoff is known to hold on to his asset until the last possible moment or until he gets a deal that he likes. And there are enough wingers on the free agent market, even if guys aren't healers. Yeah. Is it worth it for you to give up that asset today when you can sign a guy in free agency instead, right? Elliot Friedman reported that the Vegas Golden Knights could be one of the teams interested in a potential Mitch Marner trade. Well, they're interested in every big player that's available. That would be surprising at all. Yes. Well, again, we mentioned, I mentioned earlier, if you're looking at centers, a higher end centers trade market wise, Nick Roy, William Carlson. Yeah. Are those are those two players potentially? Carlson scored 30 goals last year has a couple of years left on his deal, right? Well, he's 31, but he scored 30. And then Nick Roy, you know, he's a player who's got some size of physicality. If they're after Marner, they're going to have to trade somebody. Yeah. I'm kind of curious, like, I don't know if it's this year, but Shay Theodore's an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He's making 5.2 million bucks. They just signed Noah Hanif into the long-term deal is and Vegas might just say, like, this is a guy we're keeping because we expect to be cup contenders again and we can't afford to lose him, but or they trade him for Marner, or they trade him for a Mitch Marner type or whatever big game hunt and they're looking to get out of Shay Theodore. And actually, Theodore is one guy that over the past few years, there's always been some whispers that at the right price he could be available. Yeah. Like, they could have easily extended him if they wanted to by now. They've done it for pretty much everybody else, but, you know, they went out and got Noah Hanifen and signed him right away. But the guy who's been there for a long time has got Norse votes on their blue line. Doesn't get an extension. Curious a little bit. And finally, the Blackhawks are in the market for a top six forward, again, per Pierre Lebron. I know we've heard that the Jake Genssel thing since Friedman mentioned it, but I don't know, it doesn't really make sense to me that they would go after Jake Genssel, 29 years old, and then still not being in any kind of a competitive window. I understand wanting to go out and get support for Connor Bedard. I just, I would imagine you want somebody that is either on a shorter term deal or who's going to fit more into the age range of your younger core that is still yet to develop. Yeah. I'm with you on that. It's Dan Reachow, Satyar Shah coming up. Kevin Woodley is going to join us here on Kedok Central. The goalie guru is next on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Big Nizar. Have your say and join me on the people's show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays, three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcast. (dramatic music)
