The Vancouver Canucks are, for the most part, set for the 2017-18 season. All they’ve left to do is sign Bo Horvat and reveal the names of their two professional tryouts, and they’re good to go.

Next up is training camp and the pre-season. That’s going to force some difficult decisions on the Canucks front office, some of which will involve trying to clear players through waivers for the purpose of reassignment to the Utica Comets. Last year, that meant cutting Emerson Etem after a lacklustre pre-season and losing him to the Anaheim Ducks along the way.

By the time the season had ended, though, the Canucks had added more bodies through waivers than they’d lost. Reid Boucher and Joseph Cramarossa joined the club near the end of the season, and Boucher remains with the club to this day.

Which Canucks players are susceptible to the waiver wire this season? Read on to find out!

Waivers 101

The league instituted waivers as a means of preventing powerhouse teams from hoarding NHL calibre talent in their farm system. Basically, it keeps NHL talent playing in the NHL and levels the playing field for down on their luck franchises that haven’t had such luck in the draft or free agency. It’s a mechanism that ensures any one player will get their opportunity if any one of the thirty teams in the NHL thinks they’re worth it.

I won’t get into the minutia of each individual rule because reading and interpreting the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement can be migraine inducing at the best of times. If you feel so inclined to give it the old college try though, here’s the www.CapFriendly.com Waivers FAQ.

Former Canucks Army and The Leafs Nation Managing Editor, Jeff Veillette, provided the too long, didn’t read of it all when detailing the waiver quandaries facing the Maple Leafs roster this season. The details are as follows.

• Based on your age and whether you’re a skater or a goalie, you’re allotted a certain amount of years of waiver exemption.
• If you signed as a teen, non-NHL leagues are treated as a slide, much like they are for your ELC.
• Players can also hit a certain Games Played threshold sooner than their allotted exemption years to become susceptible to the process.
• If a player is waived, clears, and comes back up, he has 30 days or 10 games of NHL time (whichever comes first) where he is temporarily exempt.
• Players can be sent on waiver-less “conditioning stints” for 14 days if for a reason deemed acceptable by the league.

Forwards

Waiver eligible locks: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Derek Dorsett, Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Sam Gagner

Waiver exempt locks: N/A

Waiver eligible bubble players: Anton Rodin, Reid Boucher, Brendan Gaunce, Alexander Burmistrov

Waiver exempt bubble players: Jake Virtanen (2018-19 or 95 games), Brock Boeser (2020-21 or 151 games), Nikolay Goldobin (2018-19 or 137 games),

Waiver eligible long shots: Michael Chaput, Jayson Megna

Waiver exempt long shots: Joseph LaBate (2018-19 or 57 games), Michael Carcone (2019-20 or 160 games), Griffen Molino (2019-20 or 65 games), Zack MacEwan (2020-21 or 80 games), Jonathan Dahlen (2020-21 or 160 games)

There’s far more intrigue at the end of the Canucks’ roster this season than most, and for all the right reasons. Say what you will about the top of the Canucks lineup and how starved it game-breaking talent, but they’ve insulated it nicely with a series of additions to the bottom half of their forward corps.

Reid Boucher, Anton Rodin, Brendan Gaunce, Michael Chaput and Jayson Megna are all in serious danger of flirting with the waiver wire as the Canucks trim their lineup in time for the regular season. Of the four, I’d rate Gaunce as the least likely of crossing that bridge and Megna and Chaput as the most likely. Boucher and Rodin’s chances sit somewhere in the middle.

It seems almost inevitable at this stage that the Canucks will have to expose a handful of NHL-calibre talent to waivers. Might lose Megna, too.

Defence

Waiver eligible locks: Alexander Edler, Christopher Tanev, Ben Hutton, Erik Gudbranson, Michael Del Zotto, Troy Stecher

Waiver exempt locks: N/A

Waiver eligible bubble players: Andrey Pedan, Alex Biega, Patrick Wiercioch

Waiver exempt bubble players: Olli Juolevi (2020-21 or 160 games)

Waiver eligible long shots: Evan McEneny

Waiver exempt long shots: Jordan Subban (2018-19 or 160 games), Guillaume Brisebois (2020-21 or 160 games), Ashton Sautner (2018-19 or 80 games), MacKenze Stewart (2018-19 or 160 games), Anton Cederholm (2018-19 or 160 games), Philip Holm (2018-19)

Canucks general manager Jim Benning often cites how playing in the Western Conference seems to deplete his team’s blue line like clockwork. He’s mentioned needing no fewer than 11 defencemen to get through an NHL regular season since joining the Canucks. After the summer he had, the Canucks are as close as they’ll ever get to that number.

Odds are they can’t stash all of their surplus defenders with the Utica Comets, though. Andrey Pedan cleared waivers at the end of last year’s camp, but might not a second time around. Alex Biega’s a safe bet to clear. It’s Evan McEneny who’s situation might be the most perilous.

Do The Canucks Have Something in Evan McEneny? https://t.co/2mwHNsM95g #Canucks #NHL pic.twitter.com/OZfDEGVP1N

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) February 24, 2017

McEneny reinvented himself last season, going from fringe to legitimate prospect status in just a year under Travis Green’s tutelage with the Comets. Now McEneny is waiver eligible. He’s not likely to make the Canucks — not this season — but might not be far off, especially if he continues on last season’s trajectory. A young team looking to rebuild their blue line might see McEneny as worth the trouble, especially if they can accommodate using him as their seventh defenceman.

Goalies

Waiver Eligible Locks: Anders Nilsson, Jacob Markstrom

Waiver Eligible Depth: Richard Bachman

Waiver Exempt Depth: Thatcher Demko (2020-21 or 60 games)

No surprises here. Barring something completely out of left field, Anders Nilsson and Jacob Markstrom will duke it out for tandem supremacy, and Richard Bachman will go to Utica at the end of the pre-season. Thatcher Demko is still a ways away, but isn’t waiver eligible, so there’s no need to fret.

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