July 1st, 2010, 2 Comments »
We interrupt talk of the World Cup and lingerie models to discuss the Canucks recent player movement. Today is the start of the free agency period, enabling teams to sign (typically older) players who have reached the end of their contracts. It’s a frenzy of deal making and over-spending general managers.
The Canucks made two sizable deals today, signing BC-born, hard-nosed defenceman Dan Hamhuis to a six year, $4.5 million/year deal and BC-by-marriage (his wife is Steve Nash’s sister) defensive forward Manny Malhotra to three years at $2.5 million a year. They also signed spare parts Jeff Tambellini and Joel Perrault. Add the draft-day trade for Keith Ballard, and Canucks GM Mike Gillis has been a busy man.
To his credit, Gillis has recognized and addressed the team’s defensive deficiencies. The team simply couldn’t deal with the Blackhawks’ speed and size during last year’s playoffs. None of these players are going to pot a lot of goals, but goal-scoring hasn’t been a problem for the Canucks in recent years.
I like that both Ballard and Hamhuis are just 27, and coming into the prime of their careers. The team also got significantly meaner. The forwards aren’t a particularly physical bunch, but Ballard and Hamhuis can dish out punishment from the back-end (heh).
The team almost certainly bids farewell to concussed Willie Mitchell, Kyle Wellwood, Pavol Demitra (good riddance) and Andrew Raycroft (as I write this, I see he’s signed with Dallas), all free agents. With eight NHL already under contract (if they sign restricted free agent Shane O’Brien, that’s nine) they’ll almost certainly trade odd-man out Kevin Bieksa for help up-front and to clear up some salary cap space.
So, what might the opening night roster look like? I know Burrows won’t be back for the start of the season, but I’m slotting him in to make a fully healthy roster (knock on wood):
Sedin Sedin Burrows
Raymond Kesler Samuelsson
Hansen Malhotra Rypien
Rypien Hodgson Glass
Hamhuis Ehrhoff
Ballard Edler
Salo Rome
Luongo
Schneider
If Gillis can trade Bieksa for a bonified third-line forward, then that’s an encouraging roster for the 2010 season.
2 Comments »
March 25th, 2010, 10 Comments »
Imagine this scenario.
Seamus, a database administrator, has decided it’s time to move on from his current job at Microsoft. He’d really like to move south to California and maybe work at Google or Apple. Instead of just giving in his notice and heading south, he posts his intent to leave and his desired new employers on DraftDayDeal.com (not an actual website).
The website notifies HR departments at Microsoft, Google and Apple. It offers the latter companies the opportunity to make a trade–sending another willing employee to Microsoft in exchange for Seamus. Maybe Google has a grumpy technical writer (Tina, perhaps?) yearning for a new gig. Maybe she’s posted her eagerness to move to Seattle on DraftDayDeal.com, too.
That’s today’s bad idea: an online marketplace for trading employees. Of course, every employee starts with a proverbial no-trade clause, and it’s only through their actions that they can post their interest to the site and begin the process. When they do, companies can try to finagle a trade so that they receive value in return instead of simply losing an employee.
I don’t think this idea would ever fly. HR departments aren’t exactly renowned for their innovation and openness. I like talking about it, though, because it highlights two under-recognized facts:
- Much as they may speak to the contrary, employees are just assets to your average company. If the last two years of economic downturn taught us anything, it’s that.
- Employees need to behave like entrepreneurs and consultants inside their organization. It may not seem that way, but employees are masters of their own fate and (to borrow another sports phrase) free agents most of the time.
I think that a site like this might emphasize both these ideas. Additionally, it might bring some transparency to organizations as good or bad employers, much the same way Jiibe does.
It’s probably more of a thought experiment than a tenable idea. What do you think?
10 Comments »
July 3rd, 2007, 2 Comments »
The Vancouver Canucks have some strange aversion to free agency. Over the last decade, when July 1 has rolled around, they’ve usually ignored the big targets and signed stick boys for $27.50 and a box of TimBits. There used to be budgetary reasons for their inaction, but that’s far less justifiable in a salary-capped league.
James Mirtle has been doing yeoman’s work detailing what the other 29 clubs have been up to over on the Globe and Mail’s hockey blog, and here’s a big list on TSN’s site.
Happily, the teams in the Canucks’ division haven’t been particularly active. Yes, the Avalance got Ryan Smyth (he’s going to get a merry reception when he plays four times in Edmonton, eh?), but that’s about it. The Flames acquired Owen Nolan, but how much does he have left in the tank? There’s no news from the Oilers and the Wild yet.
Canucks GM has been very savvy since his promotion, so I trust that he’s working on something. The team obviously needs two more twenty-goal scorers, and I don’t seem them in the farm system.
2 Comments »
