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Apparently Bob McKenzie thinks Dustin Brown is very available and there are a lot of teams interested. I have two words for this:
DO. WANT.
Seriously, this is a guy I would not mind risking room chemistry to land. You want offensive-minded players to resolve your scoring woes? Raymond is available. You want an offensively-minded first pass D-man to replace Johnson? Ballard is available. Seriously I want to know what it takes to get this done.
Hodgson is untouchable. Schneider isn't, but isn't probably going anywhere, and certainly not LA where the last thing they need is a goalie.
Raymond is the most likely trade asset to go somewhere looking for secondary scoring from a guy who can also play well on the backcheck. But his value is somewhat deflated because he hasn't been getting on the scoresheet. Ballard, I don't really know what his trade value is right now. I mean he's a puck moving defenseman who can skate and can hit, too. But for reasons that have mystified Canucks fans for about a year, he ends up scratched a lot - he makes the occasional bad play but most offensive minded D men will do that.
Anyway I don't know that it's a matter of winning the deal, just a matter of teams getting what will help them most. I just would never pass up an opportunity to get a guy like Brown on my team because he's all effort. He's a member of the NHL all-try team, like Hartnell or Kesler, albeit not as good as either of late. That's kind of the Canucks's "type" for guys on their support lines - Hansen, Kesler, Booth, Higgins, Malhotra are all in that mode and Lapierre was too, during the playoffs - relentless puck pursuit.
...Part of the reason I don't think Schneider will be traded is that the CBA talks may include a one-deal-per-team buyout amnesty, according to pretty much every NHL writer. If so, Luongo's deal will not persist and all parties will have to make a decision as to what to do.
