The Canucks nailed the trade deadline last year, shipping out two fan-favourite veterans for promising prospects. It was the right time to cut ties with Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen, who have struggled with their new teams, and the trades brought in Nikolay Goldobin, who still has top-six potential, and Jonathan Dahlen, who is one of the top scorers in the Allsvenskan.
Those are the types of trades that a rebuilding team needs to make and it seemed to finally be an admission from Jim Benning and the Canucks management team that they were, in fact, rebuilding. In fact, not long after they finally said the word “rebuild” for the first time.
It was a marked improvement from the 2016 deadline, when they were unable to trade their two biggest trade chips, a defenceman and a forward, both pending unrestricted free agents.
That sounds familiar.
Once again, the Canucks head into the trade deadline with a defenceman and a forward on the block. Both will be unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. And there are rumblings from the Canucks that they might not trade either of them.
In 2016, the Canucks were clear sellers, with Dan Hamhuis and Radim Vrbata their biggest assets available in a trade. They also announced an Everything-Must-Go sale, publicly stating that Linden Vey, Matt Bartkowski, Ronalds Kenins, Adam Cracknell, Chris Higgins, Brandon Prust and Yannick Weber were also all available.
They traded none of them.
It came down to the wire with Hamhuis, with various teams potentially in, then backing out. There were various rumours and reasons bandied about for why the Canucks couldn’t get a deal done, but at the end of the day all that matters is that nothing happened.
A rebuilding team that was well out of playoff position and needed to be a seller did nothing at the trade deadline. They acquired no picks and no prospects. They did nothing.
It was a disaster.
It was a worst case scenario, both a disaster from a hockey ops standpoint and from a public relations standpoint. Fans were frustrated that nothing happened and it only got worse when both Hamhuis and Vrbata walked in free agency.
The Canucks face a similar situation this year. It’s not exactly the same — Thomas Vanek has had a much better season than Vrbata, while Erik Gudbranson hasn’t been the steady, reliable top-four defenceman that Hamhuis was in Vancouver — but it’s still two pending unrestricted free agents who need to be traded to help the Canucks rebuild.
The roots of the 2016 failure grew throughout the season. The Canucks allowed the Flames to win the public relations war, as Kris Russell, a massively inferior defenceman to Hamhuis, was hyped up as the better trade option. Meanwhile, Vrbata, who had chemistry with Nick Bonino before he was traded, could have had his trade value increased with a little more ice time with the Sedins. Instead, he played mainly with a young Bo Horvat who had yet to develop his playmaking ability.
That shouldn’t be an issue this season. Vanek has been as good or better than advertised, providing secondary scoring at even-strength and helping to anchor a solid second unit on the power play. He’s second on the Canucks in goals and points and should have several suitors at the trade deadline.
Gudbranson, meanwhile, still has cachet as a third overall pick, with his ability to play a physical game repeatedly brought up in interviews. There will always be demand for a 6’5” right-hand shooting defenceman who can skate.
So, demand for the Canucks’ players at the deadline shouldn’t be an issue. What might be is the Canucks refusal to admit where they are in their rebuild.
The Canucks could conceivably convince themselves that the only reason they’re this far out of a playoff spot is bad luck with injuries and that next year will be different. The could convince themselves that they need Gudbranson and Vanek on the team next season to make a run for the playoffs.
It would be the wrong decision.
The Canucks aren’t close and their injury struggles should be a big warning sign. They don’t have enough depth to become a playoff contender and the way to build that depth is organically through the draft. They need to trade Gudbranson and Vanek, and should look to trade other players who don’t fit into the future for picks.
They need more picks so they can add more players like Adam Gaudette, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2015 draft using a pick acquired from the New York Rangers in the Raphael Diaz trade. Remember Diaz? Of course you don’t. He played all of six games for the Canucks after he was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens for Dale Weise.
But Raphael Diaz gave the Canucks Adam Gaudette, one of the best prospects in the Canucks’ system.
So yes, trade Gudbranson and Vanek, even if the offers aren’t as good as you might hope. Test the market, find the best offer, and take it. Stockpile third round picks if you have to, so you can add the next Nikita Tryamkin, Will Lockwood, or Michael DiPietro to the prospect pool.
The Canucks can’t afford to do nothing at all.
