The Vancouver Canucks co-owner Francesco Aquilini stated this week he is conducting an audit of his team.
I offer, free of charge, a no BS assessment of his team and if Mr. Aquilini reads it, all the better, because I think he could do with an outsider look at his team rather than an insider.
I'll start with building the team lines for 2019/20 season as I see it because it seems like the logical place to start. What SHOULD the team do for next year? An audit that projects forward.
1st line -- LW Josh Leivo / C Jake Virtanen / RW Elias Pettersson
2nd line -- LW Tanner Pearson / C Adam Gaudette / RW Brock Boeser
3rd line -- LW Antoine Roussel / C Tyler Motte / RW Jay Beagle
4th line -- LW Loui Eriksson / C Zack MacEwan / RW ???
Defense -- Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, Luke Schenn, Ben Hutton, Ashton Sautner, Guillame Brisebois
Goalie -- Jakob Markstrom, Thatcher Demko
Additions to the team -- NHL Lottery Draft -- if they get Jack Hughes they'll need to sign him and not return him to NCAA and risk losing him; there's a slot open on the 4th line. You tell EVERYONE he's not going to be a 1st line player on the team PERIOD. He's not ready. He's NOT a franchise player.
IF they get anything BUT 1st overall the priority has to be leaving the June 2019 NHL draft with TWO NHL D elite prospects.
THEY MUST GET - Bowen Byram and Philip Broberg OR Thomas Harley.
Byram can play right away.
TRADE CHIPS
Bo Horvat -- While he's a very nice young man and a decent hockey player the reality is he hasn't lived up to his top 10 draft billing. Or maybe he has. Projected as a third line player I think that's what he is. He's a 50 point player that doesn't hit, doesn't fight, doesn't generate offense. He's not a center he's a Left Winger. Horvat however has good trade value and would probably fetch the 10-15th overall pick in this year's NHL draft which means Broberg or Harley.
Troy Stecher -- He can't play in the Western Conference due to the travel requirements and the size of the opposition but I think he's got trade value. He's something that could fetch a late 1st round pick OR he could sweeten the pot with Bo Horvat to grab a Broberg or Harley.
Nikolay Goldobin -- He's not a NHL player, at least not in Vancouver or the Western Conference -- but he could help to sweeten the pot on a trade AND/OR he could garner a late 1st Round pick perhaps or a 2nd Round Pick.
Quinton Hughes -- He's not big enough to be a NHL defenseman. Hughes certainly could help sweeten the pot to move up to a 11th spot in the year's NHL Draft to grab Alex Newhook, a 5'11" 200 pound center who will be going to NCAA. It's possible it might move you to 7th overall to grab Kirby Dach, a 6'3" 200 pound center from Saskatoon. It's better to cut bait on Hughes now before the value disappears.
JUST TO PUT HUGHES IN PERSPECTIVE -- Troy Stecher had 8 goals 29 points in his final year of NCAA. Hughes had 5 goals and 33 points in his final year of NCAA.
THERE'S NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUGHES AND STECHER. Stecher can't help an NHL team (at least not Vancouver) because of his size. Teams like Vegas literally walk through Stecher like he's a mirage. Hughes won't be any different. Stecher was actually better than Hughes at NCAA. Adam Gaudette is a NCAA Hobey Baker Award winner - Hughes is not.
There isn't any other player with trade value. There's no value in Edler, Tanev, Pearson, Eriksson, Granlund, etc.
CUT/WAIVE -- Ryan Spooner, Derrick Pouliot, Tim Schaller, Brandon Sutter, Alex Biega -- there might be a couple of picks there. I do like Biega but like Stecher he's just too small. You can't have D men that are too small for the NHL especially in Vancouver.
PROSPECTS -- Olli Juolevi
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Roster Assessment
Jake Virtanen leads the class of players on the Canucks. He's a natural center. He has the size, speed, vision and most importantly creativity to be their top line center.
There's a lot of confusion in the Vancouver market as to what a Center actually is and does. The reason the Canucks go into prolonged slumps past game 50 every single year is because they don't have any natural centers and haven't had any since Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin. So you would think the market would remember what a center is and does. Kesler created with his shot and energy and Henrik Sedin with his passes. Both were big enough players to be able to handle the rigors of an 82 game season.
Bo Horvat and Elias Peterrsson are NOT centers. Not at the NHL level. It's a different ball of wax in the NHL than in junior or Swedish Hockey League. Pettersson was used as a winger at Junior Worlds and never at center. He has tunnel vision with his play. Teams close the gap on Peterrsson quickly and he coughs the puck up. He's also not big enough or strong enough to play defense in his own zone. He's often turnstiled. He's better used as a winger - a version of Daniel Sedin. Virtanen on the other hand can create with his speed, strength, balance, tenacity and he has very sweet hands. AND it's all Vancouver has for next year.
Adam Gaudette is a 5th round pick - a rabbit out of a hat that ALL NHL teams get from time-to-time in the NHL draft. Flukes. Nonetheless he has the speed, he has the hands, he has the vision, and MOST IMPORTANTLY CREATIVITY - that centers require.
Tyler Motte has proven to be a steady center. He's not very creative but he's ok on the Penalty Kill.
And I would try the 6'5" 215 pound Zack MacEwan at center (his natural spot) on the 4th line and move him to the 3rd line center if he shows promise.
Center Ice is a critical position for this NHL roster.
They have no centers this year. I know this because they've been shutout 9 times already with over 10 games to go. They generate virtually no offense - and that's a centers role. And so that tells me without a shred of doubt that they have no centers. And again, Elias Pettersson can create but from the wing.
I would BAN Elias Pettersson from any of the Power Play units until he learns to create on the rush and to move his feet and force his way to the inside. He stands in the exact same place and does the exact same thing over and over again and it kills a Power Play. Furthermore they need to go the basic Triangle offense. It's simple. It's what Vegas does. It works. Stop pussy-footing around. Hockey is an A to B game. A straight line game.
Defense
They MUST get Nikita Tryamkin and Andrey Pedan back in the fold and dress Byram if they can draft him. I would let Broberg or Harley and anyone else they can pick up (save Byram) simmer another year.
Free Agents
I would NOT under any circumstances sign any UFAs unless it's Alex Edler. They'll need Edler to play with Byram.
WINGS
They really only have Brock Boeser. However, IF, IF the D can be improved by getting guys that can simply play 82 games at a decent rate - the scoring will improve. They have so many small guys that get caved in game after game that the forwards never see the puck.
The theory with guys like Luke Schenn and Tryamkin is they may not be as good in games 0-30 but they're sure as hell going to be better in games 50-82. And it's the 50-82 games that kills them year after year.
Just get the D stabilized with big D men that can play at a decent rate game after game. Stability. Just stabilize it. Don't worry about "pass the puck up as soon as possible" = worry about getting the damned puck out of your own zone first. Worry about clearing your net first. Worry about hitting the opposition first. Worry about scaring the opposition first. And that's Andrey Pedan and Tryamkin and Schenn. Take the load off Edler for hitting. Let those guys be the bruise brothers.
Yes they'll make boneheaded mistakes from time-to-time. So does Erik Karlsson. Don't worry about it. Just get guys that can hit opposing forwards so that forwards know they've been hit.
Bowen Byram would help these wingers do something decent. Boeser and Pettersson on wings is pretty damned good. They could be 30 goal scorers at some point. Gaudette and Virtanen at 25 goals each from Center - now you're in business.
You just can't have 3rd and 4th lines that contribute nothing BUT you must stack those 2 lines to make sure they score. There's no getting out of Beagle or Roussel's contracts or Eriksson so you're stuck with it. There is an opening for a 4th line winger on the team - hope that someone from the draft or your prospect pool looks Okay - and plug them in and hope for a miracle.
In short - it's a mess for next year.
But you can hope that Virtanen and Gaudette can blossom as centers. You can get lucky in the draft. You can hope you get Byram and pull some trades off to get D help in the draft.
But unfortunately after 5 years of being here current GM Jim Benning and head scout Brackett haven't addressed the center position and the defense position. You can hope that Juolevi develops into something.
He still might. That gives you another chip. But you have to start compiling defensemen and centers and you have to stop drafting wingers.
Wingers won't turn a franchise around as you've seen with Pettersson, Horvat and Boeser. Those 3 players are missing 3 centers. And that's a pretty big issue.
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