JPat breaks down how the Canucks should approach the NHL trade deadline: Canucks Conversation
6 months ago
On Friday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal were joined by RinkWide’s Jeff Paterson to discuss the recent power play struggles and potential trade outlooks for Vancouver.
The show started off with the guys recapping Thursday’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, with the Canucks looking lethargic after their Christmas break and falling 4-1 in a game where they just didn’t get much going offensively.
JPat then made his appearance and highlighted the power play as a glaring issue for the Canucks:
“I’ll jump on a soapbox and talk about the power play,” said JPat. “It’s 10th in the NHL, which on the surface people look at and go, ‘Top ten power play, really how bad is it?’ but it’s running at 12% over the last 6 games, and the two goals in that stretch came against the Sharks and Blackhawks; there are a lot of better teams than them in the NHL. Dial it all the way back to the night the Islanders were here in mid-November when the Canucks scored 3 times on the power play—since then, it’s been running at 16%. That’s not good enough, especially when you think about the assembled talent they have here.”
JPat continued: “Quinn Hughes has 1 power play point in the last 14 games; make that make sense. He had 15 in the first 22 games. Teams are adapting, life is about making changes. If teams are going to take away Hughes, you’ve got an extra player out there on the ice to find.”
Quads: “Your thoughts on adding a top 6 winger—is this team going to do something like that?”
“Jim Rutherford certainly has the history, so I’m not betting against it, and Patrik Allvin has learned from his boss and has been as active as anyone,” JPat answered. “The Canucks recognize—and they’re getting Carson Soucy back here soon—that with their defence core and the goaltending they’ve had most nights this year, I think they feel pretty comfortable in that regard, so that puts the focus squarely on a top 6 forward that has some star power.”
“It’s a question of, do you go get a play-driving winger with some scoring chops, or are you looking for another centre so J.T. Miller becomes the scoring winger?” Jeff continued. “That brings some opportunity and options for the Canucks. They don’t have to pigeonhole themselves to find the best winger available. If you can find a guy with some versatility, maybe that allows the flexibility to slide Miller to the wing. Whatever the case, Pettersson’s production has slowed down considerably. Part of that is he’s being asked to play with different linemates. I’d love to find an upgrade there so Elias Pettersson can establish chemistry and play with regular linemates—guys who can finish.”
You can watch the full segment in the video below:
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