Ronning4ever

Canucks: Barter'in, Truck'in and Trade'in

Good god it feels great to see the Canucks on a winning streak. With gas in the tank, goals and a stingy offense the Canucks have been fun to watch and fun to follow.

But remembering again why I'm an armchair GM, one must always be looking to the future.

It is certain that GM MG has been kicking plenty of tires, more so, it seems, than his predecessors. What's more interesting to me, is that all teams seem to be having a flurry of activity. While Eklund has ellaborated on why this might be, it's safe to say that this has something to the Cap and the economy.

With the tanking economy, comes what many people have not been talking about: uncertainty. With uncertainty in the economy comes uncertainty about : an owners assets, their ability to get short term loans to cover big moves, regional fan spending power and importantly, if the cap is going to go down.

If it does, the situation for teams like New York and Tampa are going to pretty....rough.

With that in mind, there are many ridiculous deals rolling around the NHL at the moment and some pretty sketchy possibilities out there.

For the Canucks, they are sitting pretty on a lot right now but will have some decisions to make.

For the defense, who goes? Mitchell is a lock to stay for his leadership, as is Edler for his potential. Salo probably refuses to move. Defense is a high commodity right now and big returns could be had from Ohlund and Bieksa. I'd certainly like to keep Ohlund's skills and reward his commitment, but would he be too expensive in the long run? Would he even allow to be moved? Bieksa would get a huge return, but would the Canucks be crazy to trade his offensive capabilities? Could they reasonably afford to keep them all?

For the offense, do you pay for the known or unknown? Do you pay both Sedins what they're worth? Give them a hard-to-move discount or trade them? You'd get a good package for the Sedin's but it probably wouldn't come as cheap...or as consistent. But can you afford to keep them all long term? Raymond, Kesler, Burrows and Hansen will fetch top dollar soon and unless the cap goes up, there will be a need to be sacrifices and room made for youth. Pyatt could fetch a good price

For Luongo, do you replace him or put him in a mentor role? Luongo can't play forever or could sour on Vancouver eventually. His backups have been cheap and nothin special for a couple of years. He'll either be replaced by Schneider and less stellar goaltending in a big named trade or will go into a mentoring role with Schneider as years go on. Would they be crazy enough to move Schneider as well?

All in all, Nonis left the team in good hands. His youth projects are developing well and his patience has left Canucks land with money, prospects and good decisions to make. AIf it were up to me I think a short term Sundin signing is the way to go. I'd sign the Sedins for as cheap and as long as I could and wouldn't touch the defense. If the cap goes up, the Canucks have room for a free agent signing and to resign their top players quickly, cheaply and immediately. They'd keep talent, a core group and would still be able to make great trades and develop players.