Canucks Army Monday Mailbag: May 22nd

If nothing else, having a sea lion on the Canucks’ defence corps would sell seats at Rogers Arena. As long as that sea lion has a North American heart, I’m down with giving a sea lion a PTO.

I would imagine that this question relates to the possibility of the Canucks using their fifth overall selection on Cale Makar of the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits. Although, I won’t rule out the possibility that Jason’s draft hipsterdom extends to Ian Mitchell of the Spruce Grove Saints.

It’s not every draft that the AJHL has two players likely to be taken early in the draft, much less one of them going in the top ten or top five. That’s not a coincidence either — it’s just not the strongest league. As with most Canadian Junior A players, the kids who play there are doing so either because they can’t crack it in major junior or they want to maintain their eligibility for the NCAA. With Makar and Mitchell, it’s definitely the latter.

I don’t necessarily think that the AJHL scares me. I understand there are character limits in tweets, so I won’t get pedantic about the language, so much as I’ll suggest it’s important context that should play into how I view his accolades, be they quantitative or qualitative alike.

In Makar’s case, it’s unfortunate that he’s not in the NCAA this season. I can’t say why he’s not playing there, but I know he could be based on his age. And if Makar was playing in the NCAA, I’ve the utmost confidence he’d be lighting that league up too. I’ve talked to a few scouts about Makar, and they all see NHL translatable skill in bunches.

I would perhaps tone down your confidence about Chris Tanev switching teams this off-season. It is, by no stretch of the imagination, set in stone. It’s not even what I’d consider the most likely outcome.

If the Canucks move Tanev, I’d suggest they look at adding Cody Franson in free agency. I tend to think that some in the hockey blogosphere have overstated his value — perhaps it’s the pendulum just swinging against the NHL who criminally understates his value? All the same, he can reliably play on a team’s second pair and chip in on both phases of special teams.

I’ll never forgive former Canucks Army Managing Editor and current Florida Panthers hockey ops member Rhys Jessop for essentially forcing me to google Acute Compartment Syndrome. The monster. Yes, that is the stuff of my most recent nightmares.

The Canucks’ best option, in my estimation, is to move down from fifth overall and take Nick Suzuki.

I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve already answered this one. I won’t get too far into my reasoning, but I’m totally on board with the Canucks giving Nail Yakupov a show-me type contract. What’s there to lose?

My ideal trade partners for Chris Tanev are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning; for Alexander Edler, it’s the Tampa Bay Lightning period.

I’ve discussed a return for Tanev a few times in this space. I think there are a few different directions that trade can go. If the Canucks are trading Edler, it’s going to be for a meagre return. Maybe the Canucks get a second round pick for Edler, but they have to take Ryan Callahan back to do it. That’s how I’d see that trade playing out.

My favourite Canuck growing up was Todd Bertuzzi, so I’m going to suggest you go with his jersey.

Whether the NHL views Chris Tanev as equal to or better than Adam Larson, he is a fair amount better. So I think you have to think big when it comes to surrendering a player of that calibre. I’m not saying the Canucks can land Taylor Hall or even a player of that calibre, but perhaps a package that gets to that range in aggregate.

I would be happy with the Toronto Maple Leafs first round pick and Kasperi Kapanen as a return, for one example. Or Brayden Point, Ryan Callahan and a first round pick from the Lightning. Those are some examples.

Well, I think calling Karl Alzner bad is a tad bit reductive. He isn’t good. He’s a low-end fourth defenceman, or at least that’s how he should be used. Alzner, in theory, doesn’t excite me one way or the other. However, when he gets grossly overpaid this summer, I might find him more offensive.

Find you a blogger that does both.

Canucks Army Associate Editor Ryan Biech is a co-host of the Game Time Decision Podcast, and that’s great listening. They should have an episode going up around the same time as this article, even. Former Canucks Army Managing Editor Dimitri Filipovic is killing it with the Hockey PDOcast, and while it’s not Canucks-heavy, it’s a great listen with good guests almost every episode. The fellas at Black Red Yellow are off to a good start with their podcast, too.

Jay Daddy Burke certainly thinks so.

I like that the idea of snagging Yakupov is picking up steam. That’s a good option. As I mentioned, Franson is a guy worth considering if the roster spot is open for him. I’d look at Darcy Kuemper or Reto Berra in net, too.

The Canucks hang up halfway through Steve Yzerman trying to sell that deal.

Generally, forwards taken in the Canucks’ range pan out at a better rate than defencemen. I think the reason for that is that the league, as a whole, has struggled to evaluate defenceman and that’s more a symptom than the actual problem. As teams learn which skills to value and how to weigh them appropriately, I think that defencemen in the top five will pan out as well as forwards usually do.

The Canucks should take the best player available to them at five, regardless of position. In this case, I think that’s going to be a forward. If they don’t see it that way and take one of Makar, Timothy Liljegren or Miro Heiskanen, though, I won’t be too upset.

Jake Virtanen’s potential now is the same that it was going into his draft. In a perfect world, Virtanen can turn into a Raffi Torres type player. That’s not the worst thing. Torres produced like a first line forward for a little bit. That said, I don’t think Virtanen has first line production in him. Like I said, a Torres type player — not Torres.

Jordan Subban should’ve played last season. I’ll keep saying this because it’s true — the Canucks don’t have anything to lose, so they have every right to be creative and take chances.

So, yes, I think Subban should get a shot at some point next season. Do I think it will happen? Probably not.

I don’t get the Canucks on this front. If Subban gets a couple of games and takes off, then all the power to them — they’ve caught lightning in a bottle. If they play Subban and he struggles defensively, which is a distinct possibility, then they can at least say they gave him a chance and use his failures as a vindication of their hesitation in playing him.

The Canucks having to surrender Tanev and the fifth overall to move up three spots in this draft is a bit rich. I’d caution them against that move. If the Stars want to throw in Denis Gurianov or the rights to Valeri Nichushkin, or something along those lines, then there might be a deal worth making here.

Taking Makar at fifth overall probably isn’t what I would do, but I wouldn’t begrudge the Canucks if they did.

I don’t know if I want to rank the top five because I’ll probably forget someone and look silly. Casey Mittlestadt, Cale Makar, Owen Tippet, Martin Necas, Timothy Liljegren, Juuso Valimaki and Eeli Tolvanen immediately come to mind when thinking about this draft’s best skaters though.

I’d shoot Ryan Biech, who’s on Twitter @RyanBiech, that question. He’s far better equipped to answer that question than I am.

I wouldn’t get too carried away here. I don’t think Burrows was scouting the Ottawa Senators and running them through a model to figure out their probability for success. He just saw a young, up and coming team that made sense geographically and jumped at the opportunity.

I wouldn’t speak against Burrows as a future GM. I wouldn’t speak in favour of the idea, either. And I don’t think his choosing the Senators as his trade destination colours that one way or the other. I honestly have no clue if he has it in him to be a good future GM.