CanucksArmy Monday Mailbag: Trade Deadline Edition

The Comets have seriously turned their season around in spite of injuries, call-ups and all other sorts of misfortune. The work that Comets head coach Trent Cull is doing is nothing short of spectacular. I can’t think of any aspect of the Comets that isn’t firing on all cylinders — goaltending, scoring, defence, it’s all going well in Utica.

When the Utica Comets get Nikolay Goldobin and Tyler Motte, they’re going to be adding some high-end AHL forwards at just the right time. It’ll be like their version of buying at the trade deadline, in its own unique way. Then again, they lost Philip Holm. Let’s call it a net positive gain.

This team is well-positioned to make some noise in the AHL playoffs, but I just don’t know if I see them as a better team than the Toronto Marlies or Syracuse Crunch. There is just so, so much talent on those teams. You never want to say never, but this doesn’t look like the Comets year. Regardless of how their playoff run goes, this season has been a massive success though.

There’s just no way the Canucks are going to trade Erik Gudbranson months after signing him to a three-year contract extension, lack of a no-trade clause or otherwise. No matter what any of us think of Gudbranson or even what some of us project on to the Canucks, the simple fact is that Canucks general manager Jim Benning is a big fan. I don’t see Gudbranson moving while Benning is in Vancouver.

I think the door is open, if only slightly, for a Chris Tanev trade, but it doesn’t sound like the Canucks are actively shopping him. If they move Tanev, it’s because a rival GM has made them an offer they can’t refuse.

I don’t have a damn clue.

If the players’ lack of discipline was hurting the team, I’d start stapling said players to the bench.

Probably not.

Stylistically, I don’t see a tonne of similarities between Sven Baertschi and Ryan Hartman. They share similar outputs whether it’s their counting stats or their underlying metrics. I’ve been advocating that the Canucks move Baertschi for a while now, too, so I agree that they should’ve explored the market for a similar return.

I would think so, yes.

It’s not that I don’t like the veterans that the Canucks have picked up, in a vacuum. They’re all useful players that can contribute on good hockey teams. Look at what Sam Gagner did last season in a sheltered role with the Columbus Blue Jackets for example.

The problem is, the Canucks go into the secondary market and sign bottom-six players to term that they can’t then move for picks or prospects. That or they just don’t want to, and I’m not sure which is worse frankly.

Could the Canucks do a better job in pro-scouting? Yeah, absolutely. Some of their biggest bets have yielded the most fruitless returns. And it’s cost a tonne of money and assets in the process. I don’t think it’s as simple as they aren’t finding useful NHL’ers though. It’s that they’re finding useful NHL’ers that have to play way above their capability for the Canucks.

Whatever the case, I don’t think the fault with the pros is that they can’t yield picks — it’s the Benning doesn’t want to go that route with Brandon Sutter, Michael Del Zotto, etc.

I don’t think Baertschi, with the new contract he’s in line for this summer, is a great fit for the Canucks future. I’d see what the market will yield for Baertschi, whether it’s picks or blue-chip prospects.

How many bottom-six forwards are on the Vegas Golden Knights? There’s your answer.

I don’t want to speak for anyone else’s education, and frankly, I’m not that interested in surveying the staff for that information — sorry.

Speaking from my experience, I graduated high-school (barely, there were a lot of sympathy passes along the way, I am sure), and that’s about it. I’ve had to learn everything on the job, with a lot of help from some great people and awesome mentors. So, no, it’s not a requirement, though I’m sure it helps in this line of work.

That’s because Benning hasn’t read Scott Adams book on the art of persuasion. There are valuable life lessons in Dilbert.*

I usually try not to pit the CanucksArmy writers against each other, but you might be onto something with this one.

These acquisitions have zero effect on Petrus Palmu’s place in the organization whatsoever.

50/50

We’ll check back in on Canucks Twitter in a decade or so and find out.

First of all, I’m flattered that you’d float this even as a hypothetical. I’m not sure I qualify for any jobs within the Canucks organization.

If I could pick and choose, though, I’d love to start a career in amateur scouting. It’s a brutally difficult job, and the people involved don’t get anywhere near enough credit for the work they do, but it’s such an interesting line of work. You’re constantly watching hockey and having to face the ultimate challenge of beating the odds year after year. There’s so much on the line every year.

That line of work totally suits my personality, too. I’d so much rather not get caught up in media circuses, etc. and just let my work do the talking. I feel like you get that as part of the ample trade-offs that come with that line of work.

The Canucks deserve to take the blame for so many different missteps these last four years, but moving on from Zack Kassian isn’t one of them. I’ve done a lot of digging on this front, and the Canucks genuinely did everything they could to try and help Kassian out. There was nothing more they could do on that front, and Kassian’s openly admitted as much.

Were there better ways to handle the Kassian situation than making the ill-advised Brandon Prust trade? Absolutely. That said, at the time, it seemed possible they could’ve yielded a return for Prust at the deadline that probably exceeded the fifth-round pick, so let’s not get too carried away here with the post-hoc criticism — not saying people didn’t hate the trade at the time.

I’ve never been in an NHL war room at the trade deadline, so I can’t comment on the specifics of the job.

The Canucks were clear at the press conference for Benning’s extension that they wouldn’t be making any additions to their staff, so I don’t see that happening, no.

On the Canucks roster.

In three-to-four years.

Maybe?

The Canucks have to be way up there, certainly. That said, the Edmonton Oilers are giving them a run for their money.

A potential bottom-six piece, for better or worse. Here’s what I wrote about Motte, as an aside.

Check back in for Part Deux!