Canucks Army Monday Mailbag: October 2nd – Part Deux

Watch the Swift Current Broncos for Aleksi Heponiemi. It’s worth the price of admission.

I didn’t watch the Utica Comets a tonne last season, but from what I can remember, Andrey Pedan didn’t get much power play time, no. According to www.prospect-stats.com, Pedan didn’t have a single five-on-four point last season.

In fairness, Travis Green’s preference is to run a power play with four forwards and one defenceman, so the opportunities would be sparse. That said, Pedan’s skill set doesn’t lend itself well to that role.

Ryan Biech, and Jeremy Davis too I think, had a theory that Pedan was frustrated with being on the Utica Comets and his play reflected as much. I’m usually willing to take them at their word on all things Comets, so that theory is good enough for me.

Would I be upset personally with a Jake Virtanen demotion? No, not necessarily, but I wouldn’t think it a particularly smart move for the team from any perspective. I’d certainly sympathize with fans who were upset with the move, though. Hell, I’d sympathize with Virtanen. What else could he have done to make the opening night roster?

Probably not.

Quinn Hughes from the USNTDP, playing for the University of Michigan this season, is one to watch. I’m legitimately curious to see if he can outperform Zach Werenski’s gaudy totals from his draft year.

Hopefully not very, because the Sedins just aren’t going to work in this current setup.

Loui Eriksson should play with the Sedin twins.

It depends on the Canucks’ approach. If they want to lock up Troy Stecher long term, it’s going to be north of $4-million, I would think. If they decide to opt for a bridge deal, it will probably be closer to the $3.5-million mark.

I could see Virtanen putting up between 25-30 points if he plays a full season with the Canucks.

The answer is yes.

In all seriousness, I think it’s a bit of both. The Canucks don’t boast the greatest finishing talent in the league, and that matters on the power play. By that same token, they ran a unit last weekend where Sam Gagner, Alexander Edler and Henrik Sedin were the three trigger men on a 1-3-1. For my money, the systems are so completely out of line with the personnel available to them and their skill sets, and that’s the bigger problem of the two.

I’d rather see what Markus Granlund can do offensively away from Brandon Sutter for a season. I don’t care if that’s on the wing or at centre. Honestly, I have no preference.

Yeah, and the best part was all the people screaming at me to tell me how wrong I was about the Canucks and their playoff aspirations.

Yes.

You could certainly make a case for some mismanagement by Canucks brass with their best assets. To their credit, they seem to be doing an okay job of recouping some of Virtanen’s stock, such as it was.

I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I’m not too sure, to be honest. Virtanen’s game has been pretty solid in all phases so far this season.

Brock Boeser: skating and play away from the puck

Jake Virtanen: concerns about readiness for the NHL and the pressures and vices of playing in Vancouver.

Andrey Pedan, apparently, and Darren Archibald.

I agree. This team won’t be as unbearably awful to watch as last year’s iteration.

It’s a mailbag, so why do you make emailing in a question inconvenient? :). Can you ask JD to put an email submission link at the top of his mailbag each week?

I don’t think it’s difficult. Certainly, not based on the fact that I have more questions than I know what to do with, it doesn’t seem like people have a hard time getting questions my way. As for email submissions, well, you reached me by email this time, so again, it can’t be that difficult. My email is in my Twitter bio and my author bio. Go ahead and reach me by email!

At the moment, there aren’t any, but Jeremy could always surprise us with one from out of nowhere.

If my math is correct, I think that pGPS has been around for about two-plus seasons, which is far too small a time frame to evaluate drafts in. It’s something we’ll certainly explore in the future, though.