TIME TO TRADE FOR PICKS
Canucks can look to Bruins to see how it’s done
Fifteen months after losing in a Stanley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins traded one of their core defencemen for draft picks.
No one knew it at the time, but moving Johnny Boychuk was the first play in a string of vets-forpicks deals that have helped propel the Bruins back to the top of the NHL.
There was much praise heaped on the Trevor Linden-era Canucks this week for apparent draft successes and a prospect pool that some are labelling “unprecedented.”
And it may yet be that.
But since Linden took over as the Canucks’ president, the Bruins have drafted five players who are currently making an impact in the NHL, and another who has helped the team this season.
The Canucks have one such player.
How long would GM Jim Benning’s extension have been if he had five draft picks in his lineup right now? Longer than three years is a safe bet.
The Bruins return to Rogers Arena tonight having rebuilt since their 2011 championship run. To do it, they succeeded where the Canucks have not, staying competitive while adding one group of young players who are already helping the team win in the NHL, and another collection of interesting prospects who will have their chance to do it soon enough.
It’s all difficult to stomach for many of Vancouver’s hockey fans, who have seen their team chase the “Boston model,” plucking one of the Bruins’ top personnel guys to run the Canucks, only to then watch the Bruins flip their franchise upside down. Since 2014, Boston has used the draft to add
one of the best young defencemen in the league in Charlie McAvoy, one of the top under-25 goal scorers in David Pastrnak, 21, and a group of slight but highly skilled forwards in Danton Heinen, Anders Bjork and Jake DeBrusk.
All this for a team that blew its chance to add Mathew Barzal, passing on him three straight times in the first round of the 2015 NHL entry draft.
The dramatic part of the Bruins’ facelift began just days before the 2014-15 season. For cap reasons, Boston reluctantly made the Boychuk deal. One of the picks Boston got back was later used to select Brandon Carlo, a 21-year-old defenceman who is currently playing in their top four.
At the end of the season, Boston didn’t stop. The Bruins turned Milan Lucic into two first-round picks and moved Dougie Hamilton for a first- and two second-round picks.
Those transactions are exactly the types of deals many in Vancouver have been yearning for since Benning took over as general manager.
In fact, one of the ideas that’s been making the rounds in Vancouver for more than a year is trading Chris Tanev for future bets, the kind that have built Boston’s foundation.
The Canucks, however, have shown zero interest in dealing Tanev, and given the number of injuries he’s had this year, they may have already missed the opportunity to get peak return, even though he would improve just about any top four in the league.
It’s part of the reason it rang hollow this week to hear Linden again say the Canucks’ road map back to relevancy is to “draft and develop.”
If that’s really been the plan, the Canucks have had a curious way of executing it.
With Linden as president, the Canucks have traded 11 draft picks and acquired nine. In a fascinating analysis of the exchange in picks, a Canucks Army blog used an incredibly detailed, researched draft pick valuation model to assign point totals to all of those picks.
Obviously, the higher the pick, the more value it has, and the higher number of points assigned.
The picks the Canucks have dealt since 2014 were given a consolidated value of 401.09. The picks the Canucks acquired were assessed at 325.73.
That’s not great for a rebuilding team, but of course, this is Benning’s second chance. The Canucks went all in on his and Linden’s plan, announcing an extension this week. But is anything going to change?
Vancouver has a great opportunity leading into the Feb. 26 trade deadline to show it will be different this time. The Canucks can move several players for picks, including the two who get the most attention, Erik Gudbranson and Thomas Vanek.
But why stop there?
If Tanev really can get them a first-round pick and a top prospect, as some in the national media are suggesting, it’s a no-brainer.
Then there’s Ben Hutton, who has gone from a legitimate top four defenceman in October to fringe player in February.
If he’s not part of the future, the Canucks should move him for a draft pick.
It’s the same for Sven Baertschi who was a healthy scratch on Thursday in San Jose. Is he going to help the team win a Stanley Cup? If the answer is no, the team has to explore the possibility of moving him.
It’s easy to talk the talk. It’s easy to preach about the draft and how it’s the only way to rebuild the Canucks. But now Vancouver has to walk the walk.
On Wednesday, Benning was asked what part of the job he excels in. He said it was the amateur side of things and the draft.
So go get the man some picks.