Canucks kicking tires on Happy Hudler

[yave1964]

 Six weeks since the free agent frenzy Jiri Hudler still has not found a home. Jim Benning has been looking for a middle six forward in a trade to go along with the addition of Loui Eriksson. It is looking like the two of them may have found each other.

  Two years ago playing on a line with Monahan and Johnny Hockey, Hudler had a career year. The little guy scored 31 goals and 76 points but last year he slipped back to 16 goals and 46 points, much more in line with his career norms. At 32 he is slipping but offense is what he has to sell.

  He is likely heading to Europe or Vancouver, not a lot of other options at this point. Europe he would not make as much money since the financial crisis has hit Russia the hardest of all. He wanted six million a year which is laughable, went down to five Mill which still got no bites, he may have to settle for a one or two year deal in the neighborhood of 4 million or so, and even then there are not a lot of bidders.

  Of course Benning is not the sharpest tool around, although he is essentially only bidding against himself, a buyers market where he is the only prospective buyer if you will, Hudler at 32 years old and an extremely one dimensional player in decline without a lot of cards to play is pitting his wits against a GM without a lot of wits to pit, so we will see how it works out.

[ruxpin]

 

He may actually be a good fit for Vancouver.   And he can slot into all three forward positions, so why not?

 

The Flyers really don't have cap space, but I would pick him up for 1 year.

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, ruxpin said:

 

He may actually be a good fit for Vancouver.   And he can slot into all three forward positions, so why not?

 

The Flyers really don't have cap space, but I would pick him up for 1 year.

Actually he would, I watched the majority of his career as a Wing fan and as someone who enjoyed Bob Hartley and the quick turnaround in Calgary and felt he got a raw deal with getting whacked last year. Nobody, I mean NOBODY, not Scotty Bowman even could have won anything with that woebegone bunch of netminders they had last year.

  Hudler is listed as five foot ten but looks much smaller, he is not afraid to go in front of the net, but he gets pushed out easily. He is not super fast but has his sneaky moments, he can pass the puck better than given credit for, he came up as a center but moved to wing not because of his vision which is his real skill but because he was and remains wretched on faceoffs. So he is a slightly out of position winger whose lack of size is his true detriment. I would take a chance on him if I were a team in need of middle six help, but the negatives include that he takes shifts off, can be a bit of a floater and his defense is only a rumor. He will score though, and could do for Horvat what he did for Monahan a few years ago, serve as a nice bridge as he gets his career on track. He would certainly be one hell of a lot better than Vrbata but that bar was set pretty low.

  To me, the real question is what Benning does financially if he signs Hudler. For whatever reason Jiri slipped through the cracks and remains unsigned and nobody is biting. Benning could offer him a 'take it or leave it' deal of 3.5 to 4 million and that would be a good, fair offer, Hell he might be able to get him for a bit less, Europe is starting up already and the KHL is strapped other than a few top tier teams. If Hudler gets a three or four year deal from Benning he should be fired on the spot. Of course most Canuck fans already feel that way, he is the Mike Milbury of the West. But yes, absolutely he should sign Hudler for what he can do, but no, he should not give him more than a one year deal.

[J0e Th0rnton]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

Actually he would, I watched the majority of his career as a Wing fan and as someone who enjoyed Bob Hartley and the quick turnaround in Calgary and felt he got a raw deal with getting whacked last year. Nobody, I mean NOBODY, not Scotty Bowman even could have won anything with that woebegone bunch of netminders they had last year.

  Hudler is listed as five foot ten but looks much smaller, he is not afraid to go in front of the net, but he gets pushed out easily. He is not super fast but has his sneaky moments, he can pass the puck better than given credit for, he came up as a center but moved to wing not because of his vision which is his real skill but because he was and remains wretched on faceoffs. So he is a slightly out of position winger whose lack of size is his true detriment. I would take a chance on him if I were a team in need of middle six help, but the negatives include that he takes shifts off, can be a bit of a floater and his defense is only a rumor. He will score though, and could do for Horvat what he did for Monahan a few years ago, serve as a nice bridge as he gets his career on track. He would certainly be one hell of a lot better than Vrbata but that bar was set pretty low.

  To me, the real question is what Benning does financially if he signs Hudler. For whatever reason Jiri slipped through the cracks and remains unsigned and nobody is biting. Benning could offer him a 'take it or leave it' deal of 3.5 to 4 million and that would be a good, fair offer, Hell he might be able to get him for a bit less, Europe is starting up already and the KHL is strapped other than a few top tier teams. If Hudler gets a three or four year deal from Benning he should be fired on the spot. Of course most Canuck fans already feel that way, he is the Mike Milbury of the West. But yes, absolutely he should sign Hudler for what he can do, but no, he should not give him more than a one year deal.

Most NHL fans do haha

 

But his blundering has been kind of epic to watch. Explaining to my younger friends in hindsight why Milbury was an epic idiot of legendary proportions only goes so far. They see the rotten fruits of his labor but didn't watch during, but being able to give them a quintessential first hand example of that kind of moron so they can see it live action is priceless.