NorthWest Division

Discuss the NorthWest Division here.

The Vancouver Canucks win the NW division for the THIRD straight season. Their first round opponent will be their much hated playoff rival, the Chicago Blackhawks. After talk of conspiracy to squeeze them into the playoffs, they have actually done so. It will be interesting to see what Canucks fans will say if their favoured team cannot get past the current edition of the Blackhawks.

antmonkey wrote:The Vancouver Canucks win the NW division for the THIRD straight season. Their first round opponent will be their much hated playoff rival, the Chicago Blackhawks. After talk of conspiracy to squeeze them into the playoffs, they have actually done so. It will be interesting to see what Canucks fans will say if their favoured team cannot get past the current edition of the Blackhawks.

Vancouver in six

After their recent trade with Toronto, the Avalanche seem to be positioning themselves to revamp their defense.

After trading Liles, and his $4.2M cap hit for a second rounder, Colorado has plenty of cap space and plenty of holes to fill. They need two wingers (assuming they re-sign key free agents Fleischmann, Jonesand Galiardi), two defencemen (assuming they re-sign wilson or cumiskey), and two goalies.

They have plenty of options on the defensive end. They could attempt to reunite Kaberle and McCabe (both free agents July 1st), they could attempt to poach talent from the President's Trophy and Division Title winning Canucks and sign Bieksa and Ehrhoff. Or they could just sign one of the above and fill the other spot with a defenseman in the system.

The only quality goalies available will be Vokoun, if they're looking for a veteran, or Harding if they're willing to risk it on a good goalie who has never played more than 29 NHL games in a season. They also have rookie Chet Pickard, who they want to give a look in training camp.

As for possible free agent wingers, Gagne, Leino, Cole, Upshall, and maybe even Tanguay could be signed.

and with $20M to spend, just to get to the cap floor, don't be surprised to see Colorado put out an offer sheet or two (Parise, Weber, Doughty, etc).

I would love to see Kaberle and McCabe reunited somewhere, might as well be out west. Take Tanguay out of the mix though, after the Regehr trade it seems he's signed an extension for 5 years at 17 mil

good, I don't want him back tbh. I'd much rather they sign, or trade, for Parise b/c NJ can't afford to match.

You lose a lot of picks that way

honestly, if they get Parise... I don't care if it takes a 1st and a 3rd... but I'd prefer they trade spare parts and picks for him lol

$660,000 or below = None
>$660,000 - $1mil = 3rd rounder
>$1 mil - $ 2 mil = 2nd rounder
>$2 mil - $ 3 mil = 1st & 3rd rounder
>$3 mil - $ 4 mil = 1st, 2nd, & 3rd rounder
>$4 mil - $ 5 mil = 2-1st, 2nd, & 3rd rounder
>$5 mil = 4-1st rounders

To get Parise, I would imagine with an offer sheet, just like Stamkos and a few other RFA's, will cost 4 1st rounders

Then I'd definitely prefer they orchestrate a trade with NJ for Parise, or other forwards (Rolston and Elias may be cheap veterans with some gas left in the tank).

And I meant cheap trade-wise, not salary. For this team, salary is not an issue at this time lol

Vancouver has signed Bieksa to a 5 year, 4.6M per season with a NTC (I don't like this deal, too long for his streaky-ness).

They have also resigned Lapierre to a 2 year deal.

Avs re-sign David Jones to a 1yr deal, terms undisclosed.

Canucks signed Owen Nolan to a professional tryout for this years training camp, they also signed Todd Fedoruk.

I don't think Owey Granoly will stay with them after pre-season. Most veterans get cut after try-out contracts.

(That's my nickname for Owen Nolan)

yeah, I think they're trying to see if he can fit into the role Torres played last season. If he doesn't mesh, they won't sign him after the try-out expires.

His contract with the Canucks will expire during my favourite time of the year. Cuts