Canucks Army Monday Mailbag: July 11th

Well, that was a relatively uneventful week of Vancouver Canucks fandom. I mean, unless you’re of the hardcore variety and you’re into development camps and so on. In which case, yeah, there was at least that. For the neophytes among us, not so much.

I mean, the Canucks did sign somebody. They inked Michael Carcone, fresh off the heels of his development camp showing, to an entry-level contract. That’s something, I guess. The big trade that we’re all waiting for has yet to drop, though. Similarly, the Canucks haven’t been connected to any free agents of consequence. 

Yet you fine folks still came up with a series of questions about the Canucks. And I will do my best to answer them in kind.

Now, with all due respect, that’s a pipe dream and a half. The Blue Jackets are a poorly run franchise, but I can’t imagine they’re that out to lunch. The Blue Jackets are in a tight spot. They’ve only $4.4-million in cap space. Then again, the Canucks only have $4.1-million.

The Blue Jackets are in the midst of a rebuild and much of what they’ve done reflects as much. The Canucks are going all in for the playoffs and refuse to rebuild. Really, when you put it in those terms, the Canucks aren’t exactly negotiating from a position of strength. I don’t see this happening. At least not in a one-for-one deal.

Well, frankly, I don’t like it anymore now than I did at the time. How does the saying go? If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it? I’d say that accurately reflects this situation. Both trades are terrible. Though the Oilers got the better of the two players, they had to surrender one of the league’s best two-way wingers to do it.

At the end of the day, the Oilers overpaid for a second pair defender. They massively overpaid, really. The Canucks overpaid for a player that’s probably closer to a third pair defender. 

Well, at this stage I’m resigned to the Canucks starting the season with Luca Sbisa on their roster. The thing is, they’re just not likely to find any takers for a third pair defenceman on a $3.6-million contract, for another two seasons. The only way I can see the Canucks pulling this trade off is if they take a bad contract back and from what I can gather they’re not all that keen on the idea.

I really don’t know how worthwhile an answer I can give to this question. Like, it would be conjecture and nothing more. I’ll say this much: of the two, I’m expecting more from Anton Rodin.