Canucks Army Monday Mailbag: May Long Weekend!

It may be the May long weekend, but Canucks Army never sleeps, cause sleep is the cousin of death. Which is to say that we don’t take this Victoria Day thing overly seriously, and are still hard at work.

It’s the season of prospect profiles and year-end pieces for each individual player on the Canucks roster. A good time to be alive, indeed. Next up are free agent profiles, but I don’t want to tip my hand too much. Suffice to say, there’s even more great hashtag content on the way.

For now, though, I’ve a bevvy of Canucks related (and not Canucks related, frankly) questions to answer on the other side of the jump. 

In retrospect, I feel as though everyone has done a grave disservice to Dineen by ranking him well outside the first round. Alex Wheeler of Jets Nation did an excellent job profiling the undersized, yet highly productive defender for the North Bay Battalion and therein showcased his pGPS of 50% and pGPS P/GP of 0.35. That said, the sample set is 14 players — not overly conclusive.

Honestly, Brennen, I think there very definitely is a strong case for Dineen as a first round selection. Especially in a world where Logan Stanley and Dennis Cholowski are getting serious consideration for that distinction. I had Dineen 47th, but that ranking seems ridiculous now and is subject to change between now and the draft. 

Usually “stay-at-home defender” and “defensive defenceman” is code for bad at hockey. At least in the scope that the mainstream media often invokes that label — Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Luca Sbisa, Clayton Stoner, etc.

The beauty of Chris Tanev is that he genuinely is an exception to that rule. One of the best metrics to adjudge a defender’s ability is Fenwick — or unblocked shot attempts. Look at this handy graph from www.stats.hockeyanalysis.com and you’ll find Tanev as the league leader (by a sizeable margin) for aiding in his teammate’s ability to suppress unblocked shot attempts.

I don’t know if Tanev is the best defensive defenceman in the league — frankly, if pressed I would side with Hampus Lindholm — but he’s certainly in the argument among the top five.

Yes, and it’s a member of the percussion family.

All that I ever ask of the Monday Mailbag questions is that they don’t get too personal. This one is borderline. I’ll do my best to serve this question justice all the same.

They are both bae. Of this much, there is no debate. Pressed, as I am now, I would choose David Schlemko as the preferable option — sorry, Andrei Loktionov. They’re both excellent depth pieces in their own right, but Schlemko is still in the NHL. That was the deal breaker.

It has to be the perfect mix of excellent luck on the home front and anything but on the other six within their division. Which is to say that a full season from Brandon Sutter, Alex Edler and Henrik Sedin would go a long way towards giving the Canucks a fighting chance.

The real lynchpin, though, is Anton Rodin. The Sedins can produce first line offence and this team really isn’t that much closer to the playoffs unless they have quality depth scoring behind them. If Rodin can shatter expectations, then the Canucks have the faintest chance. 

Is all of the above an acceptable answer? Really, the Canucks should just avoid the premier names in free agency no matter their stripes. Of the three, I’m most concerned with Milan Lucic. There’s a player already in decline and on the wrong side of the ageing curve. Also, some of the work done by MoneyPuck on www.Hockey-Graphs.com indicates his type of player deteriorates very quickly into their mid and late thirties. 

Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekkalainen is wholly incompetent, but expecting him to trade away the selection to Jesse Puljujarvi seems absurd. I very much doubt that the Canucks can make an offer even worth their time reviewing.