CanucksArmy Monday Mailbag: January 22nd — Part Deux

I can only make guesses as to what’s happened in Toronto, but it’s clear that this once supremely forward-thinking front office has taken a step back in that regard. The way I see it, there was a power struggle between Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter for second in command within the organization behind Maple Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello, and Hunter won.

It’s not just the Matt Martin and Roman Polak signings. Look at the way this team’s philosophy at the draft has shifted over these last few years. It’s clear that they’re taking a more eye-test based approach, for better or worse.

These are educated guesses on my part. But I maintain that the sense I have is that Hunter has worked his way ahead of Dubas on the organizational depth chart, and he’ll probably take over for Lamoriello when he retires.

If Cole Cassels ever does make the show (I don’t think he will, frankly) it will probably be as a 13th forward. Even at his peak, the most reasonable projection for Cassels was that he could develop into a Brad Richardson-type player. His star has fallen a lot since then, even if his recent run of production puts him back in the conversation as a semi-legitimate prospect.

There are no apologies necessary, my friend. As for the question, Filip Zadina’s game is really starting to grow on me. It’s not just his World Junior Hockey Championship, though, that was really impressive. When I checked the SEAL scoring adjustments (Situational Era Age League), Zadina was actually ahead of Andrei Svechnikov in points per game. He’s legit.

As much as I like Quinn Hughes’ game, and I’m a huge fan, it would be tough to pass up on Zadina based on where the both of them are at this moment.

The narrative that Canucks general manager Jim Benning was being forced by ownership to avoid a full-on rebuild needs to end post-haste. It’s a fantasy. The “retool on the fly” plan was part of his plan. Is that what ownership wanted to hear? Yes. Did it make them more amenable to Benning as a candidate for the job? Yes. Does that eschew Benning of responsibility for how poorly the Canucks have faired following his plan? Absolutely not.

Even if you buy the notion that Benning had to follow this course of action, that doesn’t excuse him for the poor moves he’s made in that vein. The Canucks have been at or near the cap in each of his four seasons at the helm, and they’ve made the playoffs once. His biggest acquisitions have almost all been flops.

At some point, the Canucks have to create space on their left side for Olli Juolevi and/or Philip Holm. Between Michael Del Zotto, Ben Hutton and Alexander Edler, the Canucks have three lefthanded defencemen signed for next season and with a not insignificant amount of capital owed on each of their contracts. Where’s the room for either of those two to play?

If Edler won’t waive his no-trade clause and they can’t find a deal they like for either of Hutton or Del Zotto, then this is the easiest way they can create space on their roster and cut salary. It wouldn’t even be salary cap prohibitive. The Canucks would have Edler on the books for $2-million next season and $1.5-million the one after, which is totally manageable.

It’s not ideal, but it could save the Canucks from themselves — i.e. they would avoid trading Hutton for pennies on the dollar. I’d think it smarter to do that then to just wait an additional season to lose him in free agency anyway.