TRADING FOR A TRUE 3D, AND SOON, MOST CRUCIAL MISSION FOR CANUCKS MANAGEMENT
What a difference a year can make.
Prior to the 2023-24 season, the key question on most folks’ lips about the Vancouver Canucks was whether or not they would ever be competitive with their current core.
But then the 2023/24 season happened, and it saw the Canucks claim the Pacific Division crown and take the eventual Western Conference champs to Game 7 of Round Two. Several important players took major steps forward, and both the front office and the coaching staff demonstrated that they had what it took to make an impact.
And now, for many, the key question has flipped all the way over to “How long will the Canucks’ competitive window stay open?”
It’s now fair to say that the Canucks are outright expected to make the playoffs in 2024/25. They’ll still face stiff competition from the Edmonton Oilers and the (waning) Vegas Golden Knights, but aside from that there’s just not much else to worry about in the division right now.
Really, a lot of it comes down to the Oilers. They’re the Canucks chief rivals right now, and after what many consider some offseason improvements, the Oilers are a lot of people’s top pick for the 2025 Stanley Cup. That makes Edmonton the number one barrier on the Canucks’ path to forcing their window of contention even wider open, and keeping it that way.
But as we discussed in the wake of the Leon Draisaitl extension, the Oilers may soon be overburdened by a collection of massive contracts. There is potential there for the Canucks to leapfrog their provincial neighbours over the course of the next season or two, should enough cards fall in their favour.
But the Canucks will also have some contractual concerns to deal with on their own books, including a difficult decision regarding a Thatcher Demko extension in 2026, and Quinn Hughes being owed a gargantuan raise in 2027.
All things considered, we’re looking at a fairly definitive three-year window. The Canucks should compete with the Oilers (and other notable contenders) well enough in 2024/25, and then have the chance to take a further step forward as of 2025/26 and 2026/27. After that, the future becomes too nebulous to make any real concrete predictions. The cap gets more complicated, players get older, prime years get moved out of.
We’re not saying that the current Canucks are toast within three years. Just that, from where we’re sitting, the next three years look like their best chance to actually win something significant, and anything after that is much more up in the air.
We started this article with key questions, and this transitions us nicely into the central queries for this article: what do the Canucks need to do in order to maximize their chances of winning over the next three years? What missing pieces do they absolutely need to acquire in order to not waste the window?
The Canucks are already a well-built team. The Patrik Allvin regime inherited a strong core, and have put in more than two years of work supplementing that core. The Canucks can already lay claim to two of the league’s top-20 centres in JT Miller and Elias Pettersson, and one of its very best defenders in Quinn Hughes. Those are the exact building blocks that non-competitive teams usually lack.
And they’ve got all three of them locked in for at least the next three years.
Once Brock Boeser is extended, the Canucks will also have two top-line wingers under long-term contract in he and Jake DeBrusk, along with a pretty decent 2D in Filip Hronek.
The injury troubles definitely complicate the goaltending situation. But when healthy, the Canucks have a Vezina-contending starter in Thatcher Demko, and a fine enough succession plan in place in the form of Arturs Silovs.
Top centres, top wingers, top D, and at least one top goalie. If we’re going through a checklist of what a contender needs on hand, the Canucks are clearing the first section of the list with flying colours.
Depth-wise, the Canucks have a forward corps loaded with valuable middle-six players, including several already signed for the next two or three years.
It isn’t until one peeks behind Hughes and Hronek on the blueline that any real missing pieces start to become apparent.
The Canucks have reconfigured their blueline this offseason after some difficult departures. And they’ve done an applaudable job of doing so. They’ve got a competent bottom-pairing, and they’ve got two players capable of at least filling in on the top-four in Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers.
But true contending teams generally require a strong top-four. And that reveals the one piece that the Canucks are truly, truly lacking.
It’s a quality 3D.
Put a quality 3D behind Hughes and Hronek on the depth chart, and it doesn’t really matter who fills out the fourth spot in the top-four. Find someone to fill that considerable gap in effectiveness between Hughes/Hronek and Soucy/Myers, and we’re suddenly looking at a much stronger contender.
Put that notion together with the aforementioned window of the next three seasons, and the urgency becomes pretty clear. Canucks management’s number one job right now is to seek out and acquire a genuine 3D…and soon. Preferably, between now and the 2025 offseason.
Which is, of course, easier said than done. Quality defenders are usually best developed from within the organization, but the Canucks can’t really count on someone like Tom Willander being able to handle a 3D job on a competitive team at the age of 21…and there’s no one else in the pipeline with that potential.
That means the Canucks are probably going to have to find their 3D from somewhere outside the organization.
A quick look ahead at the 2025 UFA class produces a few names with potential. Shea Theodore, Aaron Ekblad, Jake McCabe. But in order for any of those players to end up Vancouver, they’d first have to make it all the way to UFA, and then be willing to sign with the Canucks over all other options – and, ideally, at a lesser salary than currently occupied by 1D Hughes and 2D Hronek.
That’s a lot to hope for from unrestricted free agency.
And that’s why the Canucks’ only real hope of getting that missing 3D is through the trade market.
That, too, is easier said than done. But it is, at least, more feasible for the Canucks than a homegrown or UFA option at 3D.
And if the general success of Hronek and Nikita Zadorov are any indication, identifying and acquiring blueline talent through trade might just be an Allvin specialty.
The possibilities of players the Canucks might trade for over the next year or two is vast, and definitely too ranging to get into at the tail-end of an article. Instead, we’ll leave it at this, with a clear organizational need highlighted and a method of achieving that need outlined.
During lulls in the 2024/25 season, we’ll run a series of articles on The Hunt for a 3D, and that’s where we’ll start naming names.
For now, it’s just a gap in the depth chart of what otherwise looks like a burgeoning contender.
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2024-09-12T19:21:57Z dg43tfdfdgfd