Canucks Army Monday Mailbag: Wednesday February 7th

So, I’m sorry for the long wait on the Monday Mailbag. I’ve had just the worst two weeks. As soon as I got over a cold on Sunday, I found myself stricken with the flu on Monday. I can’t make this stuff up. I’m finally at a point where I can eat again, so I might as well get back to work. With that, let’s do it.

It’s looking that way, unfortunately. The worst part of it all is that I feel like Canucks general manager Jim Benning signed Loui Eriksson to a contract that was about market value — it’s a deal that would’ve made sense for a lot of teams, but the Canucks were never one of them.

Honourable mentions: Ryan Miller and Brandon Sutter

Some of the CanucksArmy OGs did an exercise along these lines in 2014. They didn’t have access to the predictive draft metrics that have helped inform our draft analysis since, whether that’s PCS (Prospect Cohort Success) or pGPS (Prospect Graduation Probabilities System), but the rule they used was in that spirit, so it’s roughly comparable.

It’s Radko Gudas by about a country mile. This might catch some of you by surprise, but Gudas is a genuinely useful bottom-four defender.

Pumpkin pie, every damn time. I love me some blueberry and apple pie too though.

The last time I looked into the SEAL scoring adjusted scoring leaders, to my surprise, Adam Gaudette wasn’t that high on the list. That probably has a lot to do with his age. The thing to remember is that Gaudette’s age and production, as Ryan Biech points out in this article for The Athletic Vancouver, is pretty close to Jimmy Vesey — i.e. it’s good, not spectacular.

I still remember that Gaudette’s only successful comparable player from his draft year, using the PCS prospect analytics model, was Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith. That’s funny, because all these years later, I see that as a comparison that I really like in terms of versatility, playing style and likely production output. I said as much on Halford & Brough on TSN 1040 last week!

Here’s the thing: hockey, for socio-economic reasons (i.e. it’s incredibly expensive to participate in any organized, competitive fashion), attracts people from privileged backgrounds who have shitty opinions informed by their privilege. Max Domi, step on up.

It’s a problem, and one that the hockey community at large should address, but until that day, it is what it is. You’d be surprised by how many hockey players share opinions like the one Domi expressed when he went on his ridiculous anti-immigrant rant in response to the Edmonton terror attack.

What would I do with Domi if I was the team that acquired him? Sit him down with the PR staff and have them grill into him what is and isn’t acceptable until it sticks. The Canucks would be right to be wary of how that rant would fly in Vancouver. So they have to do what they can to avoid that situation. They’d have to do it for a lot more players than just Domi though — don’t kid yourself.

I’m going to address this question as though it relates primarily to the Canucks first pick in the draft — do correct me if I’m wrong in the comments. They do almost have to draft a defenceman in that instance. Their blue line is in a rough place, in so many ways, but especially in their prospect pool. Unless they’re picking two or three, it has to be a defenceman. I’d take Quinn Hughes if I could.

Every damn time.

I don’t even know if the Canucks are interested in Domi, so for now, I’m going to say zilch.

I’m not sure many of you will believe this, but I was firmly pro-Milan Lucic ahead of Eriksson in that summer. I just thought that based on Lucic’s age, he was the better bet to perform to the end of his contract. It seems I was right, so far. So yeah, I’d want the Canucks to make that trade. I just can’t imagine a world where the Edmonton Oilers make that trade. Why would they?

I haven’t heard anything yet.

That’s a fair observation, to a certain extent. I’m not sure about the specifics, i.e. should Benning be aggressively blowing up the phones of his peer’s regularly, but it’s clear to me that he hasn’t been nearly aggressive enough as a general manager when it comes to shopping players.

I’d try to start the conversation with Ben Hutton, since it looks like he’s on his way out anyway.

They’re not getting what they want for Erik Gudbranson on the trade market, and they’d rather keep him in tow than trade him for pennies on the dollar after paying a premium to acquire him in the first place.

As for Thomas Vanek, the current Canucks front office really values familiarity and love to stick with what they know. Benning and co. feel like they know what they can get from Vanek next season, and there’s a comfort factor there that they can’t find in free agency this summer elsewhere.

Those are my guesses — informed guesses.

This feels like more of a Ryan Biech type of question. I’ll say this much: it seems unlikely given that Elias Pettersson doesn’t even have an entry-level contract yet.

I’d keep Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Troy Stecher. My coach would be Mike Babcock and the general manager would be Laurence Gilman.

No.

Ben Hutton. In all seriousness, the guy is 24-years-old. At this point, Hutton probably is what he is. And that’s a compliment. I think you can do a lot worse than Hutton for one’s fourth or fifth defenceman.

Not even remotely, no.

Anything less than Team President would be an insult.

Yes.

Teams always want to add defencemen at the deadline, and Alexander Edler has really turned it around in Vancouver. If Edler was willing to waive his no-trade (he’s not) then there would be teams interested in acquiring him.

If the price is right, then sure, the Canucks would be wise to take a stab at Domi. I’m just not sure there’s a fit. Compounding matters, it sounds like the Coyotes don’t have a tonne of interest in Hutton, who seems like the obvious trade chip for the Canucks to leverage.

I just don’t know what the price is on Domi. Maybe a low first-round pick? Maybe a roster player? It’s hard to say. Players like Domi aren’t usually dealt at this stage in their career unless it’s to bolster a team’s playoff chances. That’s not the case in Arizona.

No. The Canucks absolutely shouldn’t sign Evander Kane period.

There are a lot of general managers that I’d trust to get this rebuild right. If the Canucks are keen on experience, maybe look at Dean Lombardi. If you’re looking for a new wave, look at Kyle Dubas. If you want someone who can masterfully work the salary cap, look at Gilman.

This, again, seems like more of a Biecher question. I’d say Hughes’ skating is almost in a league of its own, which puts him ahead of his peers as far as defencemen in this draft go. I prefer Hughes. That said, I just haven’t had an opportunity to watch anywhere near as much of Adam Boqvist as I’d hoped to at this stage.