Canucks Army Monday Mailbag: August 21st

I could see a healthy Anton Rodin who plays an entire 82 game season putting up about 30 points.

Elias Pettersson: Probably two-to-three years out from making the team. Whenever he does, I’d expect him to take on a big role. Pettersson already sees the ice like a professional and his playmaking ability isn’t far behind. Right now, it’s all about filling out his frame.

Jonathan Dahlen: I don’t think Dahlen will make the Canucks out of training camp, but I think he’ll be close enough that they store him away with the Utica Comets for a late-season call-up. He’s a hell of a player. I could see him really finding his stride in the NHL by the middle of the 2018-19 season.

Adam Gaudette: I’ll be surprised if Gaudette doesn’t join the Canucks for a handful of games near the end of the season like Brock Boeser did last year. I doubt he’ll have anywhere near as immediate an impact on the Canucks as Boeser did in his first handful of games, but he’ll hold his own, I am sure. Gaudette might need the most time of the three to come into his own at the NHL level. It might be another three seasons before we see Gaudette reach his fullest potential.

As for the Bo Horvat contract, I’d think anything in the $4.5-4.75-million range on a long-term deal is fair. Even if Horvat gets to $5-million, which so many have suggested as a floor for his next deal, it won’t be the end of the world. It’s just that I think of that number as an absolute ceiling more than a floor. That’s where I differ from most.

I keep picking Olli Juolevi as my surprise to make the Canucks out of training camp because I genuinely think he’s NHL ready. At the very least, there’s not much else he can accomplish at the OHL level. The logistics such as they are don’t offer a clear path for Juolevi to the Canucks lineup, though. That will be his likely downfall and probably the reason Juolevi goes back to the London Knights for another season. And if he’s not in the conversation for the best defender in the OHL, then the Canucks have a problem.

I don’t think the Canucks have to worry too much about salary cap recapture with Roberto Luongo. The Florida Panthers are an internal budget team. Anything that helps them reach the floor is golden in their books. As Luongo ages into chronic-injury territory (imagined or otherwise), the Panthers will be all too happy to store him away on injured reserve for the remainder of his deal to help artificially raise their salary.

If the Panthers don’t do that, then there’s nothing the Canucks can do to prepare for Luongo’s cap recapture penalty. It’s salary cap end-times.

If the Canucks spend this season fully committed to rebuilding their hockey team, and all their moves align with that goal, then I think it won’t matter where they finish. The response of the fanbase will be a vote of confidence that ownership can’t ignore, and they just might extend Canucks general manager Jim Benning’s contract. I’m just not sure that Benning is ready to bite that bullet. If the Canucks flounder around aimlessly while all the while losing night in and night out, as they have for much of his tenure, then it will make an extension wholly unjustifiable. Hell, it would be hard to justify bringing him back for another season period.It’s interesting that you raise development as a reason to keep Benning. By Benning’s own words, having prospects playing in a winning environment is crucial to their development, and he’s done a miserable job to that end.

It’s interesting that you raise development as a reason to keep Benning. By Benning’s own words, having prospects playing in a winning environment is crucial to their development, and he’s done a miserable job to that end. Many in the industry hold him responsible for stunting Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann’s development by inserting them into the Canucks lineup too soon, too. If you wanted to argue that Benning is an above average scout and amateur talent evaluator, then I’m all ears. I’m having a hard time buying the developmental angle, though.

I wish you’d asked this question when Corsica.Hockey was around. With the Similarity Calculator tool they had, this would’ve been a far easier task. I wouldn’t expect many matches, though. Bo Horvat’s statistical profile is interesting as all hell. There aren’t many players who played as many minutes in as difficult a situation as Horvat has at this early a stage of his career. The ones that did, though, produced far, far better results than Horvat. Without Corsica.Hockey or any other similarly useful sites for the kind of information you’re asking for, that’s the best answer I can give you. I’d ask me again when Corsica.Hockey is live again. Maybe the end of September?

Let’s go with a 79OVR.

I expect Jake Virtanen to spend another year with the Utica Comets and get close to the 0.5 point per game mark. Assuming steady development and growth, he could be a player that’s ready for a bottom-six role as soon as next season.

If the Canucks would just buy into the rebuild wholeheartedly, that would do all the work for them. I think that the Canucks youth will get an opportunity to shine in spite of the competitive mantra from the top. Well, minus Jordan Subban that is.

Denmark.

I doubt it.

I’d set the odds at 50/50 for an Erik Gudbranson trade at the deadline.

Boeser probably won’t next season, but I could see him getting there not long after.

That’s a no for me.

Well, the Edmonton Oilers didn’t pay Connor McDavid the max. They didn’t forsake the RFA advantage, either. I just don’t see that. McDavid is a one of a kind, generational talent. If I’m running the Oilers, I lock him up for as long as possible, as soon as possible, and avoid any kind of mess. As for your follow-up tweet, I don’t think that McDavid’s deal affected the Leon Draisaitl negotiations. I just don’t see it. There’s one Connor McDavid and everyone else. He’s in a tier of his own. An outlier that shouldn’t factor into anyone else’s contract negotiations.

It probably has to do with Cody Franson being a big guy who doesn’t throw his body around. He’s not the greatest skater, too.

I haven’t heard much of anything about the Canucks and their pre-season game in China. I know the Twins are making the trek, but beyond that, who knows?

It’s only a bad thing if those prospects don’t have anything left to learn in lower levels of hockey. At that point, the tires start spinning. Besides, you want to maximize your usage of players while they’re at their cheapest and closest to their peak. That’s the goal.