DEADLINE LETDOWN
Canucks’ deals barely move needle
After the smoke cleared from Monday’s NHL trade deadline, Jim Benning appeared before the TV cameras and sounded a familiar refrain.
Yes, the GM’s preference would have been to add draft picks. Yes, that’s what he requested in exchange for Thomas Vanek. But those deals just weren’t available so he made the best trades he could.
Benning made the same point half a dozen times during his afternoon presser; made it calmly without betraying any frustration or disappointment, which is more than you can say for supporters of the Vancouver Canucks. He also said in Brendan Leipsic and Tyler Motte that he sees two players who can potentially help the Canucks.
Unfortunately, the faithful see something else.
“We’re going to be a younger, faster more skilled group going forward,” the Canucks’ GM said. “We’re going to give some of these young players a good chance to play from now until the end of the year.”
Which is the message this market wants to hear. The problem is this management team has trouble co-ordinating that message with its actions.
On a day when several teams made the bold moves Canucks fans yearn for, Benning made two underwhelming deals, bringing in Leipsic for defenceman Philip Holm and Motte along with, sheesh, Jussi Jokinen for Vanek. Leipsic and Motte have yet to find their way in the NHL, both are undersized and both offer an element of speed and, according to Benning, competitiveness.
Both also figure to get a look between now and the end of the season as the Canucks plot out an organizational depth chart for next season.
Now, the problem with the two trades isn’t the return, per se. Rather, they’re part of a familiar pattern, the same kind of safe, seemingly lateral deals that have become the go-to move in the Benning playbook.
In his four years on the job, the GM has studiously avoided adding draft picks or moving out his core pieces while stockpiling a collection of players deemed expendable by other organizations.
Invariably, those players can be described as, “tweeners,” which means Leipsic and Motte now join a group that includes Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Sam Gagner and Nikolay Goldobin who are all similar in stature and skill set. The Canucks’ blueline, meanwhile, features Derrick Pouliot, Troy Stecher and Ben Hutton who, again, play a similar style: sort of offensive, not very defensive, not very productive.
Hutton is the only player on that list Benning didn’t trade for or sign.
The team, as you may have read somewhere, has finished 28th and 29th the last two seasons and sits 28th this season. Somewhere in all that losing is pretty clear evidence that something is wrong with the Canucks as they’re currently constructed, but Benning has steadfastly refused to deal anyone from that group.
Given his track record, you can understand if Canucks fans are skeptical about the latest additions.
You can also understand if those fans looked around the rest of the league Monday and wondered about the moves other teams were making. In the last couple of days, the Rangers acquired two first-round picks, two second-rounders, a third, four solid prospects in Ryan Lindgren, Yegor Rykov, Libor Hajek and Brett Howden, NHLers Ryan Spooner and Vladislav Namestnikov and depth defenceman Rob O’Gara.
That motherlode cost them three rental players in Nick Holden, Michael Grabner and Rick Nash and signed players Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller.
The Rangers are going to miss the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Their response? They seemingly did more to accelerate their rebuild at one deadline than Benning has done in four.
They weren’t the only team that gave the faithful pause. In other trades involving nonplayoff teams, Detroit shipped Tomas Tatar to Vegas for a first, a second and a third; Chicago sent Ryan Hartman to Nashville for a first, a fourth and prospect Victor Ejdsell; and Montreal sent Tomas Plekanec and Kyle Braun to Toronto for prospects Kerby Rychel and Rinat Valiev and a second.
Could the Canucks have made similar deals if they put Baertschi and-or Chris Tanev in play? We’ll never know because Benning considers those two players an integral part of the Canucks’ foundation. That may be, but those are also the kinds of moves that would have caused some excitement in Vancouver and the province.
Now, the most interesting news Benning offered on Monday concerned the immediate future of the Canucks’ drafted players. He said the plan was to sign those players and send them to Utica for the AHL playoffs, meaning the Comets could have Adam Gaudette, Jonathan Dahlen, Kole Lind, Jonah Gadjovich and Olli Juolevi in their lineup in the coming weeks.
That group represents a huge part of the Canucks’ future and is something to get excited about. One day, that excitement might even translate to the NHL team.