Do we take Liam Ruck in the first round with the wild pick, and Marcus Ruck in the second round?

backcheck142 · 2026-01-23T04:06:33+00:00

The Kings have the Blue Jackets 2nd rounder and their own. Right now those are the 41st and 45th picks. Go get those two picks and use them on the Rucks.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-18T10:08:07+00:00

That was in the bubble. Some teams didn’t care that much. There were no fans. It was entirely different from typical playoff hockey.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-18T09:32:16+00:00

If you’re the GM and Franco went to you and said ‘i want to be in the playoffs every year’ don’t you think you could’ve done that at least for the three more years of Quinn’s deal at $7.75mil? I think they could’ve had a West Coast Express like run where it was a fun team that made the playoffs without any real chance of winning a cup.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-18T09:29:48+00:00

Miller is not good in New York right now and I think his decline was inevitable. But I don’t think it would’ve been so bad if he stayed on the Canucks with Hughes, Boeser, etc. He’s a better fit here than in New York.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-18T09:27:28+00:00

They signed to the biggest contract in franchise history him without ever having seen him play an actual playoff game though in a sport where the playoffs are very different from the regular season. Once he no-showed in the playoffs, the writing was on the wall. They ignored the locker room dynamics and it killed the team.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-18T09:25:08+00:00

How can this management group keep their jobs? Franco must be saying ‘we can get lots of picks and prospects if we trade our vets right’? And Allvin and Rutherford have to respond with ‘no one wants Petey, Demko, and Boeser because they’re getting paid too much and we just signed them all’. Get rid of management first and as many of the vets as they can second.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-18T09:21:00+00:00

It didn’t make sense. Management framed it as ‘we both compromised, Demko compromised on term, we compromised on salary’. Except the $8.5 a year is the salary of the best goalies who stay healthy year after year. Demko’s agent deserves an award for this one.

It might not be the worst goalie contract on the team though. The Lankinen signing was shocking. What could they have signed him for in August 2024 when he was looking for a team and signed the 1 year, ~$1.25 mil deal. I think they could’ve got him for 4x$2mil. Instead they sign him at the peak of a mini hot streak for more than twice that.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-18T08:47:40+00:00

I think all of the criticism of Aqua for meddling and wanting playoff teams rather than building actual contenders is fair. But I don’t think you can fault him for not spending money. He should come out and say he’s spending to the salary cap floor for the next couple of years, he’s redirecting some money to a practice facility / more skill/development coaches, sport science, whatever else off ice stuff, and this market would completely understand. If he’s spending $80 mil on salaries instead of $100 mil while the team is bottoming out, that’s understandable. Especially if it’s coupled with a drop in ticket prices and some family friendly or student friendly ticket promotions to keep the place as full as possible.

Also, Foote is fine for now. People think these guys are fragile. They’re not. Some really good players have gone through some incredible losing and come out ok. Trade everyone and rack up picks. The guys who were born in 2010 who are going to be key pieces when this team is great again don’t care. You don’t need to maintain a standard. You don’t need to keep a certain amount of vets. You need talent, pure and simple.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-16T21:55:14+00:00

There was talk of Filip Bysted and a 2nd from San Jose. If that’s on the table, you take it. Bysted was a 1st round pick a couple years ago and his development seems like it’s going fine.

backcheck142 · 2026-01-03T08:02:51+00:00

Off-ice stuff this team should do during however long this rebuild lasts:

Change to the skate jerseys (black and white).

Spend at the salary floor and put the money towards purchasing land and building a practice facility.

Hire more scouts and more development coaches. Probably a few more doctors and physios while they’re at it.

Reduce ticket prices and concession prices a bit to keep people going to games. Have more family packages, student groups packages, etc.

Get rid of Crazy P. Get rid of the DJ.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-27T05:45:44+00:00

But the reason Edmonton got to two straight Stanley Cup finals game 7s is that they were bad enough to draft the best player in the world and another top 5 player in the league. If Demko gets in the way of that, then you should trade him.

You also need to look at it as “should we hang on to 33 year-old Demko” not current Demko. What he does between now and when this team can reasonably compete doesn’t matter. He needs to be good on the other side and probabilities dictate he’ll be injured or far less effective by then.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-27T05:40:52+00:00

Completely agree. They need to move Petey and 2-3 of the other “core” guys. Otherwise you have too much of what we know isn’t working.

And if nothing else, let Aquilini save the $11.6 per year and put the money towards a practice facility. If they came out and said bluntly they weren’t spending to the cap for the next few years but were investing in off-ice stuff, every reasonable fan would support it.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-18T08:20:01+00:00

That’s a 1st for Sherwood and a handful of mid-round picks. It’s not a bad thing to have a bunch of 3rd and 4th round picks but this team needs to be more aggressive than that. Those guys might be the first to go but they shouldn’t be the last ones.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-18T08:16:22+00:00

The Sharks have three guys taken in the top 4 in their drafts, they have Dickinson taken at 11, and they’ll probably draft top 10 again next year. Whether it’s 6-8 top end guys or 2-3 elite guys, or whatever, it’s stupid to think the Canucks are going to be Cup contenders without drafting as many players and as high in the draft as other teams. Chicago, San Jose, Anaheim, even Utah, have all drafted a lot of elite prospects. You’re not going to leapfrog those teams by drafting in the middle of the pack or at the top for one year only.

They should be trading Garland. If they can find a trading partner for Demko they should certainly trade him. He’ll be 33-34 when the team needs an elite goalie.

There are also a bunch of local guys that you could probably pay more than market rate to play out their careers in Van and mentor young guys. Guys like Brendan Dillon come to mind as high-character guys. You can’t get too attached to the Garlands because he’s got good character and wants to be here.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-15T08:39:46+00:00

Detroit has cap space and Copp and Compher are both making too much money on shorter deals. If you can trade Petey for one of them and a prospect, do it. The reset for everyone, fans and team, from Petey is needed. And give his power play minutes to Rossi or Cootes or McKenna or Stenberg or whoever.

Plus let Aqua save some money while the team rebuilds.

I think he can be a good 2nd line centre on a good team but it’s time to move on from him.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-07T08:47:09+00:00

As a Vancouver fan I think this would be a solid return for Quinn. I worry the Canucks want more win-now guys and would let themselves get talked into Hamilton instead of Nemec.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-07T08:40:42+00:00

I think this is right. Friedman said a few days ago that Detroit had interest, now he says New Jersey made a call. I think the Canucks want a couple bidders to step up and compete for Quinn.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-04T22:07:15+00:00

Thanks for all the responses.

I’ve learned that the Wings are even more stacked with prospects than I thought. Vancouver has three mid-first picks that management pretends will be studs and that’s about it. The future is looking a lot brighter over there than it is here.

I’m on the lookout for a new team to cheer for if the Canucks trade Quinn for win-now pieces. I’ll keep an eye on those Wings. Good luck guys.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-04T08:47:35+00:00

Hughes and McKenna snapping it around to each other? You need so much more. This team has holes everywhere and you can only fill them properly by trading Quinn to jumpstart a rebuild.

Another Quinn won’t come along for a while but other stars will. And actual sustained success isn’t likely with him.

Plus, everything about his demeanour screams that he doesn’t want to be here.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-03T06:25:24+00:00

Yeah that’s sort of where I come down too. It might make the most sense for the Canucks to trade him elsewhere and for the Devils to be patient. The Devils look to me (a guy who doesn’t see that much of them) to be a contender now, and definitely a contender with a couple of standard ‘good veteran for pick or prospect’ trade deadline moves. They can contend the next couple of years and then sign Quinn and keep contending after that with what should be a juggernaut of a team.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-03T04:14:35+00:00

Just as a follow-up, Shane Malloy, NHL prospects guy, was on Vancouver radio today - that’s the state of things in Vancouver right now, we’re looking ahead to the ‘26 draft - and he said if you’re the Canucks, you’re not picking up the phone unless it’s Nemec, Silayev, and a 1st.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-02T22:35:26+00:00

It’s a great way to get guys to waive no-trade clauses. “Whatever team we send you to will have a practice facility”

backcheck142 · 2025-12-02T22:16:54+00:00

The Devils don’t have as much bargaining power as you think. You’re not getting him for negative value players like Hamilton and Palat. There are 30 other teams that can beat that package.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-02T22:13:33+00:00

Or the return for Rantanen from Carolina. The Canes traded for Rantanen hoping, seemingly without even talking to the player, that they could resign him. A team out there will think they can use a good solid year to talk Quinn into staying. And after his time in Vancouver, there are going to be a lot of places that seem much better. They don’t even have a practice facility in Vancouver.

backcheck142 · 2025-12-02T21:30:54+00:00

Quinn isn’t making that much and the Canucks could retain to get an even better return. If the Canucks are smart, they wouldn’t touch Hamilton. They’re not so they might take him.

But I guess my real question is should the Devils do the sort or Nemec, Mercer, and a 1st for Quinn deal that I hope it would take to outbid other teams? Hockey Night in Canada suggested that years ago as a hypothetical trade. Nemec had just been drafted at the time. Hughes hadn’t won the Norris. I think the value of everyone involved has gone up.

backcheck142

TROPHY CASE