Canucks Army Monday Mailbag: September 26th

The Vancouver Canucks training camp is officially underway, and the pre-season isn’t all that far behind. We’re so damn close to the regular season. Even closer than the last three or so times I pointed out how close we were.

The Canucks added Jack Skille to a professional tryout and Jacob Trouba’s demanded a trade. That’s what’s happened in the last week or so. Oh, and of course, the Canucks camp and scrimmages from Whistler. This, after the Canucks held their annual Young Stars Tournament in Penticton. Everything is happening.

This is where the inane small-talk ends, and I get to your questions. You know the drill.

I’m going to go ahead and treat these two questions as one. Yes, the Canucks should absolutely try to trade for Jacob Trouba. Players of his calibre hitting the market and staying there (hello, Travis Hamonic) are so rare. That’s because they’re so hugely valuable. Trouba just finished his first professional contract, and he’s already a high-end first pairing defenceman — not to mention a right-handed one at that.

I’m less certain, however, of the Canucks ability to make a competitive offer for Trouba. According to Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press, the asking price is a left-handed defenceman of similar quality to Trouba. That player probably isn’t Alex Edler, and he’s the best left-handed defenceman the Canucks have.

If the Jets are willing to take a prospect for Trouba, I’d suggest offering Olli Juolevi. Honestly, if Juolevi becomes a defender anywhere near Trouba’s calibre, the Canucks have done well. I’d take the certainty of Trouba. It matches with their ‘win now’ agenda, too. Then again, the Jets don’t sound eager to take back a project for Trouba.

I get the sense based on the quotations that this tweet was very tongue in cheek. I’m not really sure it should be. You could take this front office to task on a number of issues, and I wouldn’t bat an eye — this isn’t one of them. I honestly think the accelerated timeline bets that the Canucks made were all sound process moves and in some respects ahead of the curve. Linden Vey and Adam Clendenning haven’t worked out, but Sven Baertschi sure as hell has. That’s a good average.

As for the question itself, I don’t think the Canucks have many more of those moves in the tank. They’ve mostly required a draft pick in the mix. The Canucks don’t have a tonne of those going into the draft, and if this season goes about as poorly as everyone expects it will, then it will be even more difficult to reconcile parting with them.

That’s a hard question to answer. Dealing in hypotheticals, and so on. I’d like to think the Canucks would have more prospects. I don’t imagine they’d have parted with draft picks to the extent that they have with Jim Benning. They’d probably have targeted different players. You can take Luca Sbisa and Erik Gudbranson out of the lineup. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. 

I have no idea how you look at this lineup and take issue with the Chris Tanev and Alexander Edler pair on defence. They’re legitimately one of the few bright spots on this team. And really, they’re an above average first pair. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

As for Olli Juolevi, I don’t see him making the lineup. The logistics aren’t in his favour. Inserting Juolevi into the Canucks’ opening night lineup means placing two defencemen on waivers, probably. That’s a tough call to make. You’d have to be very, very certain he’s a marked upgrade on the players you’re placing on waivers to accommodate him.

For whatever it’s worth, a lot of the scouts I spoke to in Penticton suggested that Juolevi making the team was a real possibility. In fact, they all said they would do just that in the Canucks shoes. Don’t rule it out.