Vancouver’s blue-line options come down to being bold
In a sobering six-game loss to the Flames, the Canucks defence looked like a group that needs to get younger, faster and more able to generate offence.
That’s not a transition that happens overnight, but the right moves through free agency and/or trade can hasten the process.
Dynamic, mobile defencemen are hard to come by and the Canucks haven’t given themselves much chance over the last 16 years, having drafted just one D-man (Luc Bourdon in 2005) in the first round.
In a slim year for free agent defencemen, the obvious player to jump out is Cody Franson, the Sicamous native who is huge (6-foot-5, 215 pounds) and put up 36 points with Toronto and Nashville last season.
But he won’t come cheap. His salary was $3.3 million, but he’ll be looking in the $5 million range.
With the cap not expected to go up much next season ($2 million, to $71 million is the latest estimate from the NHL), the Canucks would have to find relief from that figure. It’s nebulous, of course, depending on moves made or not made, but the Canucks look to be very tight, like a lot of other NHL clubs.
Moving one of their veteran D-men with a salary close to that $5 million figure (read Kevin Bieksa or Dan Hamhuis) would probably get the necessary room.
A more efficient way to accomplish that may be through trade where you get the asset you want and send some salary the other way. It’s widely expected the Blackhawks will have to move some of their veteran core to make room for the twin $10.5 million cap hits that will click in for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane next season.
Certainly, the Hawks would be loathe to give up a key defenceman such as Brent Seabrook, 30, who carries a $5.8 million cap hit heading into the last year of his deal.
But, as part of a few moves to get under the cap might they consider a swap that included, say, Hamhuis, 32, and his relatively modest $4.5 million cap hit and who’s also heading into his final contract year, along with another asset.
Seabrook, a Tsawwassen native, is everything the Canucks need on their back end.
He’s big, physical, mean and can play on both special teams. At 30, he’s in the prime of his career.
The key, of course, to such a deal is he would have to be agreeable to re-signing for multi-years, as he’ll become unrestricted after next season.
Pie in the sky for sure, but the Canucks will need a bold move to change the look of their blue-line next season.