Monday Mailbag Part Two: Brendan Leipsic, Ben Hutton, and the CBA

I’m sympathetic this argument when it comes to their forwards. Apart from Elias Pettersson, the crop of young players that have yet to make the NHL is pretty uninspiring. On defense, it’s another story. By any objective measure, the Canucks had one of the worst crop of defensemen in the league last season and yet it looks like they may come back with the same eight players. That would be a little disappointing.

Assuming there are no trades, my best guess is that the depth chart will look something like this:

(Line combinations are obviously purely speculative)

Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser

Eriksson-Sutter-Pettersson

Roussel-Beagle-Virtanen

Goldobin-Gagner-Leipsic

Schaller Gaunce

Edler-Tanev

Del Zotto-Gudbranson

Pouliot-Stecher

Hutton

Markstrom

Nilsson

It’s not what I would go with, but I think it’s what we’re most likely to see on opening night.

I think Leipsic has enough skill to maybe be a complementary player in a top-six role, likely on a second line. I also think that’s the best possible outcome one could realistically expect from a 24-year-old who’s struggled to make his mark at the NHL level thus far.

I would probably have to go with Bo Horvat.

For whatever reason, a large chunk of the city of Vancouver always seems to rush to belittle the accomplishments of young defenders who don’t play a sufficiently physical game in their eyes. It’s funny because most of these people are also the same who label any young defender who can make a decent first pass as the team’s saviour less than 10 games into their tenure here. I think expectations have a lot to do with it. Most fans just don’t have a clear idea of how rare it is to find an offensive, physical defenseman who is also reliable in his own zone. This city seems to oscillate rapidly between love and hate for its defensemen. Given the fanbase’s track record with other players, I actually think Troy Stecher has done a good job of avoiding criticism so far.

The NHL can choose to opt out of the current CBA in 2019, which seems like the most likely scenario at this point given the animosity that arose over the league refusing to allow its players to attend the Olympics. Either way, the good news is that the current CBA doesn’t expire until September 2022, while Seattle’s inaugural season is set to be in 2020-2021.

Precedents set in the past would seem to point towards the likelihood of another strike, but it’s unlikely it will affect the expansion process. The Canucks are probably in the clear.

To be honest, I don’t think there are many recent comparables. Hughes’ game is more in line with the freewheeling style of the seventies and eighties, but things have changed so much and as soon as you start to go back more than a decade or so you run the risk of making a comparison a young player can’t live up to. That’s a boring answer, but the truth is he’s incredibly unique.

The Devils would make sense, and I could see teams like L.A. or Chicago that have a lot of money locked up in a few players and are looking to extend their window maybe taking a risk. I’d imagine the market is pretty limited at the moment, otherwise we’d have seen a trade by now.

I’d be interested in splitting up the Horvat-Boeser combo to see if you can spread the offense across the lineup. I wouldn’t mind seeing Petersson play the right side with Horvat and Baertschi and seeing what an Eriksson-Gagner-Boeser line could do. I’d rather stick Pettersson with the team’s one proven offensive centre and hope Brock Boeser can carry his own line than see him play alongside someone like Brandon Sutter.

The team is better off waiting until they’re competitive to think about adding sweeteners to bad contracts to get them off the books. The Canucks look so far away from competing at the moment that it may not end up being necessary.

I definitely think the Canucks would be interested in a player like Reinhart. It’s tough to gauge what the price would be, though. He’s eclipsed 20 goals in two of his three seasons and has never finished a campaign with less than 42 points. The price should be high, but every time he’s discussed it seems to be in a negative light. The Sabres will be looking to make a quick turnaround now that they’ve added Rasmus Dahlin; maybe they’d have interest in someone like Chris Tanev to add a veteran presence to the team’s blue line?

A quick glance at Micah McCurdy’s shot tracking data would indicate that the Canucks’ PK was better at limiting scoring chances without Gudbranson on the ice. You may be on to something.

Nikolay Goldobin and Brendan Leipsic look to be competing for the same role as a scoring winger in the top-nine. That looks too close to call at the moment.

Right-side defense.

Given the state of the team’s offense, losing Goldobin for nothing would look extremely foolish. It would surely be a sign of poor asset management, if nothing else. But it probably doesn’t justify forming an angry mob. Losing Frankie Corrado for nothing was foolish too, but turned out to be no real loss. If he gets claimed and lights it up somewhere else, then maybe you can get your pitchforks out.