Despite draft picks, there’s no immediate help in sight for blue-line
Hughes unlikely to play next season, meaning Canucks’ blue line same as it was before draft
The Vancouver Canucks had a fine draft and it’s one which could help reshape the franchise if Quinn Hughes becomes the player the team hopes.
But nothing happened on the weekend which improved the Canucks defence in the here and now.
For whatever reasons, Dallas wasn’t the place to make deals happen. Some believe Ilya Kovalchuk’s decision, he chose the L.A. Kings, held things up. And maybe that’s true to an extent. The result: the Canucks couldn’t agree to any major transactions, despite declaring a desire to be aggressive on that front.
They sure weren’t alone, notwithstanding the blockbuster trade involving the Calgary Flames, the Carolina Hurricanes and Dougie Hamilton. Outside of that, it was Sleepyville on the trade front.
So the question the Canucks faced at the end of their season is still relevant.
How are they going to change the defence?
It was a priority in April and it’s not going away.
After drafting Hughes, the Canucks could probably use some time to think through what they do next. Their defence in the next two to three years could have both Troy Stecher and Hughes in it. Can they win with it? Are they willing to try?
Only a few months ago, the Canucks felt they needed Erik Gudbranson in the lineup because of his size. That feeling probably isn’t going to lessen any time soon.
There seemed to be pushback when it was suggested Stecher and Jordan Subban could coexist on the same team. Now, can Stecher and Hughes do it down the road? Hughes is bigger than Subban, but not by much.
It’s hardly impossible to make it work with two undersized blue-liners in the top six. If they can play, they’ll figure it out.
Stecher and the Canucks are in an interesting spot. He’s a restricted free agent who just out-played Ben Hutton last season. From January on, Stecher averaged the second-most minutes per game, 20:25, among defenders. He wasn’t just in the top four, he was on the Canucks’ top pairing with Alex Edler.
Stecher is more accomplished now than Hutton was when he signed a two-year, US$5.6 million extension. Many thought the Canucks overpaid for Hutton at the time and this year it played out that way.
Hutton appears to be the odd man out long term, with both Olli Juolevi and Hughes as left side defenders. Hughes was trying to suggest Friday he could play either side, but Vancouver GM Jim Benning said the team sees him as a left side defenceman. They won’t arrive this fall together in the lineup, but they aren’t three years away, either.
Some have argued the Canucks need to keep Chris Tanev. Both Hughes and Juolevi are going to need a stable, right-side partner. See Tanev. The idea of either of them playing for long stretches while they develop alongside Gudbranson wont exactly fuel the local market with confidence.
In other words, you could make the case the Canucks need Gudbranson for his size and Tanev for his stability. And if the Canucks believe that, this defence isn’t going to look a whole lot different in September than it does now.
The player who probably makes the most sense to trade is Edler, who just turned 32 and is on an expiring deal. That, of course, will be a decision for Edler, who has a no-trade clause.
But from the Canucks perspective, they either sign him to an extension or move him for some kind of return.