Is there an NHL organization which is in worse shape top to bottom than the Vancouver Canucks?
Long Road Ahead for the Canucks
It’s a long road ahead for the Canucks, as their NHL roster is good enough to be a bottom five team in the league with aging veterans and inexperienced youth. In addition the Canucks do not have a great pipeline, so top prospects coming to Vancouver in the near future are few and far between. It’s clear Vancouver needs to take a big step in its rebuild but even that faces many challenges and issues.
Age & Lack of Flexibility
Depending on the fate of Alex Burrows and Chris Higgins this summer, as well as whether or not Radim Vrbata and/or Dan Hamhuis are brought back, the Canucks could have as many as eight players who are at least 30 years old, including five who would be 35-plus, on their opening night roster next season. Since the best path for Vancouver is a full blown rebuild, it’s logical to trade these veterans for prospects and draft picks, right? The problem is all of Vancouver’s 30-plus club have either no movement or no trade clauses, while only two (Vrbata and Hamhuis) have contracts expiring this summer.
The 30-plus veterans can be approached about moving their no movement/trade clauses. But even if some of them were willing to do so, I am sure it would only be to certain teams. This would greatly impact what Vancouver could receive in return. Not trading Hamhuis to the Dallas Stars at the trade deadline for a package of future assets was a huge mistake. Those kinds of errors cannot happen again moving forward.
Facing Off with @ColtonnDavies: Should the #Canucks consider trading the Sedin twins this summer? https://t.co/EvzUCCbBCf #NHL #THW
— Larry Fisher (@LarryFisher_KDC) March 14, 2016
Future Core on the Roster
When you look at the future core that is already on the Canucks roster, it’s a limited list that has question marks. Brandon Sutter, who only has played 20 games this season, is a two-way center who can be an important player for this club to build around. However, by the time this team is ready to compete for the playoffs in all likelihood the 27-year-old Sutter will be hitting his thirties.
The other potential future core players all have question marks as well. Former top first round picks Bo Horvat (9th overall in 2013) and Jake Virtanen (6th overall in 2014) have to show they will be at least top-six forwards. Keep in mind that Cory Schneider, who is now one of the top goalies in the league, was traded to the New Jersey Devils so Vancouver could select Horvat.
Is Jacob Markstrom a starting goalie in the NHL? The 26-year-old becomes an unrestricted free agent after next season. The Canucks will have to decide whether or not to make a long-term investment in the Swedish goalie. Will youngsters Sven Baertschi, Jared McCann and Brock Boesner (23rd overall pick in the 2015 draft) become key parts to the solution in Vancouver?
Goals from 2013 NHL draft class:
1. Sean Monahan, 77
2. Nathan MacKinnon, 59
3. Alexsander Barkov, 47
4. Elias Lindholm, 35
5. Bo Horvat, 24— Darren Haynes (@DarrenWHaynes) March 17, 2016
The Pipeline
Per the Hockey’s Future latest team rankings the Canucks fall in the middle of the pack, 14th overall. However, that was with Virtanen and McCann as their top two prospects, and both are already with the big club. It’s a very short list of Canucks prospects who have the potential to be impact players when they arrive in the NHL.
When looking at the upcoming draft, Vancouver has seven draft picks. The Canucks have one pick in every round (their own selection) except the 5th round where they do not have a selection and the 7th round where Vancouver has two picks (their own and Carolina’s). At this point the Canucks are looking at a top-seven pick at worst in the first round of the 2016 draft. Hopefully for the Canucks sake they snag a higher pick in the lottery, as Vancouver cannot miss on this selection. Considering how good this draft is overall, Vancouver has to land NHL players with their selections in rounds two through four, as well.
This organization is in store for very difficult seasons the next three years. From a player personnel situation there is no team that needs to win this year’s draft lottery for the #1 overall pick more than the Vancouver Canucks.
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