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While the Canucks on the ice need to stay focussed on every game, the focus in the front office must be firmly on the future. That means deepening the prospect pool by adding picks and players at the trade deadline.
The Canucks have two clear candidates to be traded at the deadline in pending UFAs Erik Gudbranson and Thomas Vanek, with a few wild cards like Michael Del Zotto, Ben Hutton, and Chris Tanev who could potentially be moved if the right deal came along. But what would the right deal entail? What do the Canucks need most?
A look at the Canucks’ prospect pool and the young players already in their lineup reveals one significant deficiency. While the Canucks could use more depth at every position, they have some good young prospects at most of them.
Their centre depth doesn’t look great after Elias Pettersson and Adam Gaudette, but those are two excellent prospects who could both fill in behind Bo Horvat as early as next season. Right wing looks strong with Brock Boeser and Jake Virtanen already in the NHL and Nikolay Goldobin, Kole Lind, and Petrus Palmu all with the potential to make the NHL in the future. Left wing looks a little shallow, but Jonathan Dahlen and Jonah Gadjovich are two very good prospects and many of their other forwards can shift over to left wing pretty easily.
It should come as no surprise that defence is a big need for the Canucks’ system: while Olli Juolevi is a high-end prospect, there are few, if any, surefire NHL defencemen in the prospect pool. In addition, their two youngest defencemen in the NHL, Derrick Pouliot and Troy Stecher, will both be 24 by the start of next season. That may not sound like much, but even if you’re optimistic and think the Canucks could be Stanley Cup contenders in three years, they’ll both be 27, at which point analytics suggest defencemen already start to decline.
But even with the lack of high-end defencemen in the prospect pool, the Canucks have a lot of depth on the left side, with plenty of opportunities for a defenceman to surprise and outperform expectations. The Canucks have been high on Guillaume Brisebois, Jack Rathbone is young, fast, and skilled, and Cole Candella is solid, if unspectacular. Nikita Tryamkin could even return from Russia to give the NHL another chance, while Evan McEneny and Kristoffer Gunnarsson are longshots, but can’t be completely counted out.
It’s the right side that is worrisome.
The Canucks have just two right-handed defencemen in their prospect pool: Matt Brassard and Jalen Chatfield. Both have a lot of work to do to reach the NHL, though both are on the right track. Brassard has already set a career high in points in the OHL, putting up 12 goals and 33 points in 48 games, while Chatfield was a standout for the Canucks in the preseason with 2 goals and 5 points in 2 games, though he has underwhelmed in his first AHL season.
The problem isn’t with Brassard and Chatfield, who are both viable prospects. The problem is they’re the only right-handed defencemen in the system and neither are guarantees to make the NHL. That’s it. That’s all.
That need should be in the forefront of the minds of Jim Benning et al. as they negotiate trades at the deadline this month. If they can’t add right-handed prospect defencemen — they’re admittedly hard to come by — they should look to add more picks for the upcoming draft so they can select a couple more in June.
Stick-taps and Glove-drops
A tap of the stick to Jaromir Jagr, whose NHL career came to a close this past week when the Calgary Flames put him on waivers. Knowing Jagr, however, his hockey career is far from over. The 45 year old is heading to HC Kladno, his hometown team in the Czech League, where he is a co-owner of the franchise.
Brock Boeser deserves a tap of the stick for his fantastic performance at the NHL’s All-Star Weekend. The Canucks rookie won the accuracy shooting contest, was voted the MVP of the All-Star Game, and adopted a dog.
Big Numbers
550,000 - Thanks to his performance at All-Star Weekend, Boeser earned $550,000 in contract bonuses and cash prizes, in addition to the new car he won as MVP, which he intends to give to his sister.
39 - With 19 goals and 39 points in 26 games, Canucks prospect Adam Gaudette currently leads the NCAA in scoring. He has been particularly effective on the power play, where he leads all of college hockey with 21 points.
