Monday Mailbag Part 2: Tuesday Edition

With all due respect to Jonathan Dahlen, I don’t think he ever had a real chance of making the team anyway. There are just too many bodies in the way and he’s still needs to develop before he’ll be ready for full-time NHL duty. That being said, I do think we can learn something from looking at scrimmage lines. Travis Green looks ready to give Nikolay Goldobin a real shot in the top six, and it looks like Brendan Gaunce will be heading to Utica if his linemates through camp have been any indication.

I think you nailed it. The Canucks are really going to need Eriksson to start producing if they want to get anywhere this season, and his best chance to do so will come with Brock Boeser. I covered this a bit in my deep dive on Eriksson during the offseason, he needs to play alongside someone who can generate a lot of rebounds and Boeser obviously fits the bill. I also think Travis Green will be curious to see what Virtanen’s size and speed can provide alongside Boeser and Horvat, so he’ll probably get a shot there as well. I’m not sure it will last, but I could definitely see Green experimenting with Virtanen on that line. I also don’t think we can discount the possibility that Sven Baertschi finds his way back onto that line. It’s worked in the past and there’s no reason to think it can’t continue to work in the future.

Stranger things have happened. I thought Kulbakov looked pretty good in Penticton despite the Canucks squad giving up over 40 shots. I could see the team wanting to get a look at him in a low-stakes situation, maybe on a youth-heavy roster for one of the split-squad games.

I highly doubt it. Brandon Sutter’s not going anywhere, Jay Beagle’s earned rave reviews with his performance in camp, and Sam Gagner has spent some time skating with Brock Boeser. If there’s an opportunity for anyone to play their way off the roster, it’ll be for guys in that 22-25 age range like Markus Granlund, Brendan Leipsic, or Nikolay Goldobin.

There’s no way the Canucks sell at the deadline if they’re in the playoff mix. If anything, they’ll buy. By all accounts, they want to compete.

I covered this a bit in a previous question but yes, I think it’s probable that he will get at least a couple of games there. As far as the fit is concerned, I just don’t think Jake has the hockey sense to play well with skilled players. That doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective player moving forward, I just think his ceiling is limited. He has almost no playmaking ability to speak of, and still struggles to understand how to take the puck to high-scoring areas. Even if he learns to take the puck to the net consistently I still think he would limit the line’s effectiveness. If he’s going to play with them I’d rather see him play net-front on the powerplay than line up on the left side at even-strength.

I hate to say it, but it could be any one of the Canucks top line from last year. All of Sven Baertschi, Bo Horvat, and Brock Boeser benefited from high personal and on-ice shooting percentages last season, and in some cases for the past two or even three seasons.

I think all thre players have a chance to be above-average converters, but not to the extent that we’ve seen so far. Brock Boeser’s going to be a consistent 30-goal scorer for years to come, but I don’t see him continuing to score nearly a goal every two games for the rest of his career.

I still think the best candidate is Ben Hutton, but the fact that he’s come to camp in such better shape and earned some nice words from Travis Green has softened my position. I think there’s a pretty good chance one of Markus Granlund, Brendan Leipsic, or Nikolay Goldobin will be starting the season in a different uniform, via either trade or waivers.

I don’t mind the idea at all. All three have speed and a willingness to mix things up, and Leipsic adds the type of playmaking ability the other two will need to be effective. I still don’t see any room for Gaudette on the roster, unfortunately,

I think Petrus Palmu probably has the greatest potential to surprise people in the near future. He won’t make the team this fall, but if he has a good season in Utica I could see him earning a call-up towards the end of the season. That would be quite the feat for a 5’7″ 6th-round pick who many saw as an afterthought in the 2017 draft.

I don’t think so. You’re right to point out that he’s made significant strides in the last year, but he still looks a couple of years away to me. He didn’t really stand out to me in Penticton despite playing alongside the squad’s two best forwards, and doesn’t have the maturity or willingness to engage physically that a player like Jonah Gadjovich, Zack MacEwen , or even Petrus Palmu have right now. Ideally, he’ll pass all three on the depth chart in a year’s time, but right now he’s not really standing out. I still think very highly of him as a prospect, he just needs more time to acclimatize to the pro game.

Would Elias Pettersson having a big season even qualify as breaking out at this stage? He looks ready to take the NHL by storm, but given the Calder buzz and high expectations he may not exactly be a prime candidate. I think Brendan Leipsic and/or Nikolay Goldobin have the next-best chance of having a breakout 2018-19 season, but they also have the best chance of playing their way off the roster by November. The preseason will definitely offer its fair share of intrigue in that regard.

Will the team be as bad as people expect? Probably. Elias Pettersson will help, but the team lost three major offensive contributors this offseason and replaced them with Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, and Tim Schaller. My guess is that the team will still struggle to score.

Yes.

I think the reason some people are worried is because of their general lack of faith in the organization. The think about being one of the worst teams in the league is that it often means you’re also one of the worst-managed teams, too. I’m not saying that’s the case in Vancouver necessarily, but you’ll find many fans who feel that way if you take the time to look for them.

People will often dismiss worries about losing a player to waivers in the manner you described, and on the surface it makes sense. The team isn’t good, so if player x can’t make that team, they must not be good either. The problem with that line of thinking is that it assumes the organization in question is being run soundly. I think you’ll find that’snot always the case with bad teams, so that’s probably what the anxiety stems from.