CanucksArmy Monday Mailbag: Noah Dobson, Goaltending and an Old Friend

I’ve nothing but good things to say about Noah Dobson’s game. He’s a big, offensively inclined, minute-munching defenceman who can skate well (not well for his size, just well period) and take away space from the opposition with relative ease. Dobson has all the makings of a top-four defenceman in the NHL, and I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that he could play in a top pair role either.

I’m sure the Canucks woeful penalty kill has something to do with their goaltenders save percentage suffering at 5-on-4 play, but I just don’t know how much of that I’m willing to attribute to the players, system or even goaltending. It’s a chicken versus the egg type of thing. Does the Canucks penalty kill suck because of bad goaltending or does the Canucks goaltending suffer because of a bad penalty kill?

The thing is, the Canucks goaltenders weren’t exactly great at 5-on-5. Jacob Markstrom, for example, had a negative 5-on-5 delta save percentage, which suggests he stopped a lower percentage of the shots he faced than an average goaltender would based on the volume and quality of shots faced. Markstrom and Anders Nilsson haven’t done anything to earn the benefit of the doubt.

As for Thatcher Demko, I’d just trade him to be safe. Can’t have a goaltender who shrinks on the penalty kill.

I have time for that argument. It probably wouldn’t hurt Elias Pettersson to spend a year on the smaller ice, learning the ins and outs of playing centre.

Perhaps the Canucks could convince the Dallas Stars to give up on the Martin Hanzal experiment after a disastrous, injury-riddled first season. Hanzal has two years left on his deal at $4.75-million apiece, and when he’s at the top of his game, he’s the type of shutdown, matchup centre that Canucks head coach Travis Green thinks Brandon Sutter is. He’d be a perfect second line centre behind Bo Horvat. The cost would be low, too, one has to think.

Probably not, no.

I’ve heard that the Canucks have serious interest in Boston University forward Brady Tkachuk, which could be troubling, depending on where they pick. I’m getting conflicting reports on Vancouver’s interest in University of Michigan defenceman Quinn Hughes. They really like Acadie-Bathurst Titan defenceman Noah Dobson, though, to their credit.

That seems possible at this stage, especially without Nazem Kadri in the lineup for another two games.

The Canucks should trade a seventh-round pick to the Dallas Stars to take on Jason Spezza’s contract and their first-round pick.

I already answered the first part of this question in this mailbag, so I’ll skip right to the bit about whether he’d be a good pick in the six-to-nine range. I tend to think that Dobson is better suited to ninth overall than sixth, frankly, but I don’t think six would be wholly indefensible.

I feel like Sven Baertshci’s value has only gone upward since the Canucks acquired him. I feel like they should be able to land a late first-round pick for him.

When it comes to the NHL Draft, I usually hold to the truism that fans shouldn’t complain so long as their team is making reasonable picks. There’s so much luck involved with drafting, much of it bad, so as long as the team is making high percentage plays, there’s nothing to complain about.

In this case, I had Kole Lind ahead of Nic Hague, only slightly, so I’m not going to make any post-hoc critiques of that pick at this stage. It was reasonable. And I still think the Canucks might come out ahead.

I think the world of Alain Vigneault but I can’t justify giving up on Canucks head coach Travis Green just yet. He’s done an alright job thus far in an extremely difficult situation. I want to see what Green can do with this team when he has some actual talent with which to work.

Elias Pettersson.

Yes.

Tkachuk would be a good pick because he plays the prototypical power forward’s game that’s been absent from their lineup since Todd Bertuzzi’s hay days. They don’t have anyone with his combination of sheer power and meanness currently in their lineup. You’d rather have a bully like Tkachuk in your lineup than have to face him on even a semi-regular basis.

On the other hand, his statistical profile is such that he seems an unnecessary risk for the Canucks in the top ten, given all the players that are either equal or better than him and play primary positions.

Lukas Jasek has one more year on his contract with Liberec in the Czech Extraliiga, and I suspect that’s where he’ll end up to start next season.

No.

If Canucks general manager Jim Benning wants Timothy Liljegren, hell, that’s awesome. I had him as the best defenceman in last year’s class. That’d be a great addition. I don’t know if I’d give him up for Chris Tanev, were I in the Leafs shoes, so that makes sense from their perspective, too.

Barring a turnaround in the Leafs-Bruins series, there could be a shakeup to the Leafs defence corps. That team could desperately use a Tanev-type player. They might not give up Liljegren, but I could see them moving Kasperi Kapanen to make it happen. Basically, the Canucks would need to lower their asking price if it is indeed Liljegren that they want.

I could see an internally capped team having interest in Loui Eriksson. That contract is heavily front-loaded, which means that the actual salary is significantly lower than the cap hit. For a team like the Coyotes, for example, those contracts are somewhat attractive.

Best player available.

I think this lineup needs a shakeup period. Almost every move they’ve made has been sold as one to bring in “veteran leadership” and it somehow looks like they still need more. Maybe what they need are better players instead? Just a hunch.

I don’t think money is the issue. That, and this isn’t a question.

Ben Hutton.

He’s invested in the job.

No.