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It’s been a rough offseason for the Canucks so far – NHL

Published

4 years ago

October 12, 2020

Monday’s Tyler Toffoli signing wasn’t just a big deal for the Montreal Canadiens.

It was also significant for the Vancouver Canucks because it means that Toffoli no longer plays for them. That makes him the latest player to exit the team during what has been — so far — a very frustrating offseason.

The Canucks entered the offseason coming off of their most successful season in nearly a decade. They made the Stanley Cup Playoffs, won their play-in round series against Minnesota, knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in the First Round, and then took another Stanley Cup contender (Vegas Golden Knights) to a seventh game in the Second Round.

They also have one of the best young cores in the league with Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Quinn Hughes at the top of the lineup, all of whom excelled in the biggest games this postseason.

There should be a lot of optimism here. But almost everything that has happened this offseason for Vancouver has been some kind of a loss.

[Related: Tyler Toffoli signs with Montreal Canadiens]

The only exception to that is probably the signing of goalie Braden Holtby on the opening day of free agency, bringing in the Stanley Cup winning veteran to share the net with Thatcher Demko.

A quick rundown of everything that has happened after that.

They failed to complete a trade for Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson before his deadline (he has a no-trade clause and can determine when and where he goes). Some might look at that as a win depending on what you think of Ekman-Larsson’s contract, but…
The failure to complete that trade, combined with the free agency departures of Chris Tanev and Troy Stecher, has left them with some significant question marks on defense after Hughes and Alexander Edler.
They lost Toffoli after trading two draft picks and a prospect for him at the deadline and getting just 17 games out of him. That was always going to be a risk, but it still has to hurt.
That means since the end of the postseason they have lost Jacob Markstrom, Toffoli, Tanev, and Stecher and only replaced them — as of now — with Holtby.

Toffoli is the one that is going to hurt the most because he was the sort of player they could have really used long-term.

There is a significant drop-off in talent from the Canucks’ top-four forwards to the rest of the roster, and in his limited time with the team Toffoli looked like he could have been a perfect complement to that core group.

It is possible that salary cap limitations played a role, as the Canucks currently sit with just a little over $7 million in cap space remaining. They still have restricted free agent Jake Virtanen to re-sign and still need to fill out the rest of their defense following the departures of Tanev and Stecher.

But even if that is the case, it is just another reminder as to how a bunch of little mistakes over time can add up into a big problem.

Keep in mind, the Canucks are currently paying Loui Eriksson ($6 million) and Brandon Sutter ($4.3 million) more than Toffoli is going to make for Montreal. When you add in the $3 million per year contracts for bottom-sixers like Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel, it just makes things even tougher. The concern with those deals at the time was they were overpaying for players that they probably didn’t need, and that it could eventually cause headaches down the road. It seemingly has.

The Canucks are in a situation now where they are going to have to deal with a salary cap crunch in the short-term despite the fact that 1) their best players are still relatively cheap, and 2) they do not have a single player on the team that makes more than $6 million per season. A team should not be this pressed against the cap given those two circumstances.

That crunch helped cost them a really good player and has left just another hole on the roster that is going to be tough to fill.

Things are not going to get any easier next offseason when they have to re-sign Pettersson and Hughes to potentially massive contracts, while also still filling out the rest of the roster.

It is still early in the offseason, but they are not going to find a better player than Toffoli for a better price on the open market, while there is not much left to pick over on defense.

Tough way to follow up the most promising season the team has had in years.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

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Sports

Sports betting roundup: NFL and college football were all about the favourites

Published

16 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.

The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.

Trends of the Week

The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.

In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.

When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.

Upsets of the Week

The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.

Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.

Coming up

Right after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees to win the World Series, odds for the 2025 World Series were released.

The Dodgers have the best odds at +400, while the Atlanta Braves and Yankees are next at +800.

The Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies round out the top five, both at +1100.

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This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.

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Sports

Longtime rivals Ovechkin, Crosby join Necas as NHL’s three stars of the week

Published

16 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.

Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.

The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.

Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.

Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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Oliveira, Mitchell named as finalists for CFL outstanding player award

Published

5 days ago

October 31, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.

Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).

Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.

Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.

Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.

Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.

The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).

The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.

The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.

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