Monday Mailbag, Afternoon Nap Edition: Waivers, Erik Gudbranson, and the USNTDP

I don’t think it’s a huge issue that many of the team’s youngsters have been sent down. Lind, Dahlen, Gadjovich, Palmu, etc. never really looked ready for NHL action, but they’re all likely to play a big role in Utica this season. I don’t have an issue with sending them down to get acquainted with the team they’re actually going to play for a week or two early.

No one who writes at Canucks Army manages the Instagram account.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Probably a little of column A and a little of column B. Tyler Motte could absolutely be a serviceable NHLer; but given his age, AHL scoring pace, and what he’s done in so far in his limited NHL career, I wouldn’t expect much more than that.

The Canucks are not going to be good this year, so they might as well experiment. I’m not sure what precedent there is for 5-forward PP units or if there’s any data on how they’ve fared, but it’s worth exploring.

With the Sedins and Thomas Vanek gone, the Canucks have just over 40 all-situations goals to replace if they want to match the 218 they scored last year. The good news is, a lot of the twins’ scoring came on the power play, so matching the even strength totals is definitely possible. Although if the preseason has been any indication I wouldn’t put money on it.

My guess is, this will be a bottom-5 year in team history for even-strength offence, but will fall short of claiming the title of worst season all-time.

As far as the defense goes, I could see Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher taking a big step forward, but it won’t be pretty. Quinn Hughes’ arrival in Vancouver can’t come soon enough.

Dave will be done when he wants to be. You don’t have to like him, but there’s a reason he’s been doing what he does for as long as he has. The man knows how to get the fans riled up, and has generally been pretty entertaining while doing it. I rarely find myself agreeing with him anymore but I still have fond memories of listening to him and Don Taylor on rides home from the ferry terminal when I was a kid.

Perhaps more importantly, you’re not likely to find an ally in calling for someone’s job. Especially not someone in the media. Everyone deserves a living.

To be honest, I haven’t really noticed him so far. Given the style of game he plays, that’s not a bad thing. But it could also be that I’ve just gotten used to watching him cough up pucks and get turnstiled in the defensive zone.

The early reviews have been bad, but that’s just Gudbranson. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the same guy he was when they traded for him.

I’d probably have to go with Thomas Vanek. The Canucks are going to have to rely on an awful lot of unproven youngsters to provide offence this year and it would have been nice to have a veteran on a brief and relatively cheap contract to help out with the offensive load. As it stands right now, it looks like one of Horvat or Pettersson will be stuck playing without a proven goal-scoring winger, something Vanek could have provided.

At the end of the day, there isn’t really anyone out there I’m clamouring to bring back.

Unless I’ve misunderstood the requirements, Hughes’ age makes him ineligible to play in college next year.

The USNTDP is a fantastic program with a better graduation rate than virtually any other league. They play against a wide variety of competition, including games against college teams. For a special player like Hughes, there’s no reason to think it’s too big of a leap. If players can make the jump from junior to the NHL, there’s no reason to believe an NTDP player can’t do the same.

The Canucks are probably going to be one of the worst teams this year at five-on-five even if everything goes right. Now consider that it’s the preseason, when veterans have a tendency to sleepwalk through most of their appearances, and the team’s often have to play guys that don’t have even a slight chance of making an NHL roster. The Canucks simply won’t have enough talent to score goals until their final lineup is set, and even then it won’t be easy.

I lean towards keeping them apart, but it depends on whether or not Pettersson sticks at centre. If he does, I’d like to see him put in the best possible position to succeed, and there’s a good case to be made that that means playing with Boeser. On the other hand, if he ends up on the wing I’d prefer to see the team’s arguably two best offensive players on different lines. Something that hasn’t really been discussed that I’d be curious to see is Pettersson on the wing with Horvat with Boeser left to carry an additional scoring line.

Motte is a single game away from meeting the requirements for waiver eligibility. For that reason, I don’t think he’ll be on the opening roster unless he absolutely forces their hand. Then again, the team hasn’t been afraid to lose players on waivers in the past, so it’s difficult to say how much they’ll factor Motte’s status into their decisions.

There are enough injuries now that the Canucks shouldn’t have to lose anyone to waivers. As far as who would make Canucks twitter the most angry, I’d have to think it would be Nikolay Goldobin. He’s flashed high-end skill at times, and he was the centrepiece of the Jannik Hansen trade, so it would be disappointing to lose him for nothing.