Willes: Should focus be on playoffs or rebuild?
The Canucks’ situation is still ‘liquid,’ as GM Jim Benning weighs his options and tradable assets heading into the deadline
With the NHL trade deadline some five weeks away, Jim Benning is facing your basic conundrum. On the one hand, the Vancouver Canucks found themselves in a playoff spot heading into the weekend. True, these things are subject to change on an hourly basis — as Saturday morning’s third-period meltdown in Pittsburgh demonstrated — but it’s been the stated goal of the organization to develop their young players in a competitive environment and the least you can say is the Canucks are succeeding on that front.
As it happens, the Canucks were also just eight points removed from the basement of the Western Conference and, for some, the prospect of winning a ticket in the Auston Matthews’ lottery is a lot more exciting than the prospect of squeaking into the playoffs.
The Canucks have assembled some nice young pieces. Throw in a blue-chipper at the top of the draft and, suddenly, the rebuilding plan gains a sharper focus.
So, with the deadline looming, what are Benning’s priorities?
Should he pursue the playoff spot to the exclusion of the plan? Should he say nuts to the playoffs and move those veterans not named Sedin for draft picks? Should he do a little of both? Should he stand pat and let the Canucks’ season play out?
As far as questions go, you have to admit those are beauties.
And even if Benning isn’t ready to commit to a course of action, that shouldn’t stop us from starting the conversation.
“I can’t say right now,” said the Canucks’ general manager. “I think coming out of the (All-Star break) we’ll be healthy. We’re getting Henrik (Sedin) and (Brandon) Sutter back after the break and (Dan) Hamhuis right after.
“I want to see what our team looks like when its healthy. From there we’ll see. We have a month between then and the trade deadline and we’ll use that time.”
In other words, the situation is liquid.
“That’s a good word,” Benning said, laughing. “Liquid. I like that.” While there is still a crucial final act to be played, the Canucks’ season to date has been a positive development for most and a source of confusion for others. Benning’s team wasn’t supposed to be relevant in the West. They were supposed to be standing still while teams like Edmonton, Calgary, Arizona, Winnipeg and Colorado roared by them. Most agreed the best thing for the long-term health of the organization would be a top-five pick to add to their collection of young talent.
They could live with a lost season. They couldn’t live with the empty promise of a meaningless playoff chase.
But here the Canucks are, sitting in third in the Pacific and that creates some hard decisions between now and the Feb. 29 deadline. Benning says, on the surface, nothing has changed for his team or the plan but that will be revisited more than once over the next five weeks.
“I’d like to make the playoffs,” he said. “I think it’s a great learning experience for young players. That’s been our goal and I don’t think it’s changed. We’ve said all along we want to be a competitive team while we’re transitioning young players into the lineup.”
And, on the count, this season has been a significant success.
In their win over the Bruins in Boston on Thursday night, the Canucks iced a lineup which featured 10 players who weren’t regulars last season.
Defencemen Matt Bartkowski and Alex Biega are 27, Goalie Jacob Markstrom is 26. The other newcomers are all 24 or under, including a pair of teenagers in Jared McCann and Jake Virtanen. You can also throw 20-year-old Bo Horvat into that mix.
OK, if there’s one thing we’ve learned about young players, it’s their developmental arc is neither smooth nor predictable. But this season the Canucks have identified half a dozen players who figure to be fixtures in the lineup for the next five to six years — Markstrom, Ben Hutton, Horvat, Sven Baertschi, McCann and Virtanen — and that’s a huge development for any organization.
But does it change anything? Let’s say the Canucks get on a roll in February with Henrik, Sutter and Hamhuis in the lineup. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but does that mean they become buyers? Do they move some of their young assets in Utica who’ve been made expendable by the development of others? Will that fetch them a player who could help them win a round in the playoffs?
Or let’s say they’re just a couple of points out of a playoff spot at the deadline and they can get some meaningful assets for Hamhuis and Radim Vrbata. Do you make that deal, knowing they’ve hurt their playoff chances for the sake of a second-round draft pick? Or do they stay the course and let Hamhuis and Vrbata walk at the end of the season without any return?
The Canucks have been trying to strike a delicate balance between competitiveness and development since Benning moved into the big office. If it’s possible, that balance will become even more delicate by the end of February.
“Coming in we had a plan,” Benning said. “These things never happen as fast as some people want, but ownership has been supportive and our fans are smart. They understand what we’re trying to do.”
Today, yes. But let’s talk again in five weeks.
“I can’t say right now. ... I want to see what our team looks like when it’s healthy. From there we’ll see. We have a month between then and the trade deadline and we’ll use that time.”
- JIM BENNING CANUCKS GENERAL MANAGER