CanucksArmy Monday Mailbag: Jacob Trouba, Chris Tanev and the Opening Night Roster

Compared to recent Hobey Baker award winners, a trophy awarded to the best player in NCAA Div. 1 hockey, Adam Gaudette’s production is alright. It’s better than the last forward who won it, New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey, and it bests Will Butcher, though he’s a defenceman. The above mentioned Johnny Gaudreau put up better numbers, and so too did Jack Eichel.

When you expand the field beyond the last five years, though, Gaudette’s production is better than most Hobey Baker winners.

I’d like to think that the Canucks can do better for Ben Hutton, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. With that in mind, I’d think a Hutton-for-Nic Petan sweep would be a good haul for the Canucks. The only problem is that it exacerbates the problem of having far too many bodies up front.

I’m not certain of the top ten defensive prospects in the NHL off the top of my head. Such an exercise would take a fair amount of time and work. I know that Olli Juolevi is on the low end of that list and that Cale Makar and Miro Heiskanen are on it, too.

I suspect the blue line for this season is going to look an awful lot like last year’s group. I’d just sub out Hutton and put Quinn Hughes in there, and you’re set.

My intuition is that you’re not really upset with how long Quinn Hughes is taking to decide on whether he’ll sign with the Canucks or return to the University of Michigan next season because you shouldn’t be. This is a major decision for Hughes to make, and I think he deserves all the time necessary to make it. It’s not like Hughes is going to make or break the Canucks next season.

I doubt that the media has any real impact on the way the team performs on a night-to-night, game-to-game basis. That said, they play a significant role, good and bad, in dictating the tone around the team, I would like to think.

We at CanucksArmy can get a bad rep, perhaps deservedly at times, for pushing negative narratives. I’ll often find people in the Canucks’ fan base repeating points we make about certain players or decisions, which sometimes aren’t terribly flattering. That said, we do a lot of work to dispel ugly myths, too. Think about the Mason Raymond-thing from way back, or the way we pushed back against all the negativity about Hutton last season.

Generally, a lot in the media, and certainly us at CanucksArmy, will report or provide analysis based on what we believe to be true, and provide evidence for those opinions. Sometimes, those opinions catch on in public. In that way, we have an impact on the discourse; I tend to think.

I could see Canucks general manager Jim Benning losing his job if the Canucks’ season is as bad as I think it will be, which is to say, very. Perhaps Green finds himself in the crosshairs, too, though I find that far more unlikely.

Jonathan Dahlen is probably one year out from being an everyday NHL’er. That said, I hope he gets to sip a cup of coffee at the NHL level this season, and I think that will happen in time.

As for Hughes, I think there’s a 50/50 chance that he signs with the Canucks.

Roberto Luongo is a surefire Hall of Famer, as far as I’m concerned, but I’m not sure whether that counts. If not Luongo, let’s go with Boeser.

88.

I’m going to offer a little optimism, and go with 15 goals for Eriksson next season.

Positive surprise: Olli Juolevi forces his way onto the roster in a full-time capacity by the end of the season, and plays well at that.

Negative surprise: Erik Gudbranson plays on the top pair with Alexander Edler.

Chris Tanev.

I lean towards a number one defenceman being the more difficult asset to find. One of the big reasons why is that I find there is so much division among NHL analysts and talent evaluators on what makes a good defenceman. Throw coaches into that mix, too.

The Jets are getting an absolute steal on Jacob Trouba after the arbitrator awarded him a one-year deal valued at $5.5-million. Trouba’s 24 points don’t jump off the page, but he produced primary points at 5-on-5 like a first pair defenceman and was just on the outside of first pair results for play-driving.

If anything, I think Trouba is underrated, and I suspect the Jets are going to greatly regret not signing him to a long-term deal when they had the chance.

I could definitely see the Canucks having interest in Trouba. Whether they have the pieces to make such a trade happen or not is another story entirely. Tanev makes some sense in that he’s a right-shot defenceman, but I think there’s a significant gap in the quality of those two as assets, and covering that is where the Canucks are going to struggle.

The Jets could use a couple of depth forwards, but I’m not sure the Canucks have depth forwards of the calibre to make a trade like this happen. This is a first-pair, young, right-shot defenceman we’re talking about after all.

Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

The debacle of the Nikita Tryamkin contract aside, I’m not sure I see eye-to-eye with you on the Canucks’ apparent struggles to sign rookie to entry-level deals.

That second point is valid. They’ve done a lot to ensure there’s almost no room for their youngsters this season. But they’re not alone in that regard.

In the worst-case scenario, the Jets retain the rights to Trouba for the next two seasons. That’s precisely as many years as are left on Tanev’s contract. The salary retention point is a good one, but again, I’m just not sure that makes up the difference in the quality of asset between the two.

From the Canucks? No, not at all. Other teams called on Sutter, apparently around the clock, and the Canucks balked at their offers. It’s not happening any time soon I don’t think.

Hutton.