Tanev trade could shape rebuild
CANUCKS: What happens Friday in Chicago will give fans an idea of future direction
Expansion week. Draft week. Trade week. Rebuild week. In what could be defining days for the Vancouver Canucks, the level of latitude that general manager Jim Benning actually has — and what co-operation he gets from his peers — for bold moves at the National Hockey League draft will tell you a lot about next fall and the next few years.
The Canucks have been down this draft road before. They tried to unload salary, aging players and reached for a quick competitive fix at draft sideshows. However, the difference this year is Benning can do the steering and not just be along for the ride. And he has the keys to the car. “Yes I do,” Benning said Monday. “I keep everybody informed and we talk about it.”
There’s plenty to talk about. A Chris Tanev trade could shape the rebuild when Benning steps to the podium Friday night in Chicago. He’s holding the hammer because Benning has what his counterpart Jim Nill desperately needs.
Dallas holds the third overall pick and is a good defensive defenceman away from plugging leaks on the back end — 29th-rated defence and 30th-ranked penalty kill — and returning to the post-season.
However, the Stars want to retain a high pick and that’s where it could get tricky. A swap to acquire Tanev and the Canucks’ fifth-overall selection, and perhaps sending the 29th pick to the Canucks, would also take Vancouver’s draft targets out of the crosshairs.
“We have some interest depending on what we’d have to give up to do it,” Benning said of a pick flip. “It seems like the closer you get to the draft, the more value organizations put on those picks. We’re going to continue to talk to teams ahead of us, but so far there has been nothing that makes sense from our perspective to move up or trade for the (third) pick outright.
“I’ve had conversations with him (Nill). At third overall, he’s getting a good player. But what’s happening is everybody is concentrating on the expansion draft (Wednesday) and when that’s done, teams will start looking at hockey trades again.” And if nothing percolates? “I’m happy in the five-hole — we’re going to get a good player,” said Benning.
In a perfect world, the Canucks would acquire the third pick and select top-pairing prospect in Cale Makar. Two selections later, they could fill a pressing need for a centre. Depending on how dominoes fall at three and four — assuming Dallas and Colorado choose respectively — the Canucks could have a pick of centres Gabe Vilardi, Cody Glass, Elias Pettersson or Casey Mittelstadt.
However, the draft is far from perfect. There could be more smoke than fire because Dallas could keep its pick and take Makar or Miro Heiskanen for future back-end help. And Colorado could select a blue-liner or a centre to replace Matt Duchene, who’s expected to eventually be traded.
Benning has been resistant to trade Tanev because of what the 27-year-old brings to the club on the ice and in the room, on top of being a bargain with three more seasons at a US$4.45 million salary cap hit.
If the Canucks lose Luca Sbisa to Vegas in the expansion draft — a serviceable defenceman who can help get the Golden Knights to the salary cap floor on an expiring $3.6million contract — there would be two voids to fill on the back end if Tanev is dealt. All that on top of Nikita Tryamkin bolting back to the Kontinental Hockey League.
“We’re going to go through the (expansion) process and see what happens,” added Benning. “I thought Sbisa was good for us last year and played consistently. He was good on the PK (penalty kill) and gives us a physical presence on the back end.
“Vegas has lots of decisions to make and without knowing what those side deals entail (a high draft pick for not picking a particular player or players), it’s hard to figure out right now.”
What isn’t difficult to figure out is what the Canucks could do in Chicago because in terms of supply and demand, Benning has the asset in Tanev and the demand in Big D has been obvious since Ken Hitchcock returned to place a coaching emphasis on defence.
This should be about Benning having the upper hand on Nill, not the other way around. In the past, it wasn’t.
The Canucks chose to retain Jacob Markstrom over Eddie Lack two years ago at the draft because the latter was going to need a contract extension or go to free agency. The Canucks were more sold on Markstrom’s potential than Lack’s happy-go-lucky persona. He was dealt at the 2015 draft for a third-round pick that year (Guillaume Brisebois) and a seventh-rounder in 2016 (Brett McKenzie).
In another draft dilemma two years ago, the Canucks sought a second-round pick for pending unrestricted free agent Kevin Bieksa. They didn’t have one that year because it went to Calgary in the Sven Baertschi acquisition and a proposed deal with San Jose never gained traction.
The defenceman was dealt to Anaheim three days after the draft for a second-round pick last year that was moved to Pittsburgh in the Brandon Sutter deal.
The Canucks have also swung for the trade fences at the draft. In 2015, Benning went hard after winger Milan Lucic, but he was shipped by Boston to Los Angeles for three assets. It would have cost the Canucks Markstrom, their 23rd overall pick that year and a prime prospect to bring Lucic home.
That was then. This is about the now and the future.