Monday Mailbag: Vacation Edition

J.D. Burke is on vacation in Austin this week, and I’ve just returned from a short trip to Calgary, which means it’s time for a special Tuesday edition of the Monday Mailbag. Let’s dive in.

Every goalie is different from the next and because I’m far from an expert on the position, questions like this can be tough to answer. That being said, based on the very small sample we saw in Vancouver last season I think he could use more seasoning. For the time being, I think it makes sense for him to continue to get as many reps as possible. That doesn’t mean he can’t play a bit with the big club. I’d just prefer not to see him sitting on the bench for extended periods of time. Common sense dictates that if he can be a starter someday. eventually Demko will have to play a season or two as an NHL backup. It’s in the team’s best interest if he doesn’t do so until he’s proven he’s too good for the AHL and I’m not completely convinced that’s the case quite yet.

I don’t want to roast the guy’s hairdo too much, but the first thing I thought of was early Pee-Wee Herman. It might be eye-catching, but if Benning’s calm and cool demeanor with the media over the weekend is any indication, the Just For Men seems to be improving his confidence.

I’d be lying if I said I’ve seen much of him if we’re being completely honest.  I did get to see a bit of him at the U18s, however, and from what I was able to pick up he looks to be a good but not great skater who can make a good first pass. He’s not dynamic or creative, but he’s not a stay-at-home defender, either. He can get the play moving in the other direction.

I have a lot of time for Cam Robinson as a scout, so I’ll refer you to what he had to say about Utunen:

On one hand, I’m as concerned as anybody about the Canucks’ rumoured interest in Bozak. On the other hand, I completely understand why they have interest. The Canucks arguably have to worst centre depth in the league right now, with Bo Horvat and Brandon Sutter as their only proven players at the position. I’m not sure it’s entirely fair to assume the Canucks’ interest in Bozak has anything to do with his character, unless the team is just really into guys that think doing blackface on Halloween is funny.

I’d imagine the team chose to go this route for good reason. By all accounts, arbitration sucks for everyone involved. If they thought this was the best course of action I’d imagine there probably wasn’t a ton of interest from other teams. That makes sense. Pouliot hasn’t exactly been the most reliable defender over his short career. I liked the gamble they took on him, but I’m not sure losing him would have been a big deal even if it had happened.

It would be fair value if the Canucks were a playoff team. They won’t be. There’s no way they trade their 2019 first.

Unfortunately, a buyout will never happen. Eriksson’s bonus-laden contract pays him very little base salary, which means buying him out would save the team very little in cap space. It’s more likely he’ll get traded to a floor team towards the end of his deal. It’s easy to forget in Vancouver that for many teams, real money actually matters, so he could be an attractive asset to a team once most of his contract is paid for.

Quinn Hughes

Olli Juolevi

Jet Woo

Toni Utunen

Jalen Chatfield

Guillaume Brisebois

Jack Rathbone

Matt Brassard

Kristoffer Gunnarsson

Hughes is and Juolevi are both blue-chip prospects. Jet Woo is a very good B prospect. After that, we’re looking at a big pile of maybes.

It’s too early to tell. It’s a fool’s errand to try to divine what the lineup looks like before free agency. I’ll say this much: it seems a little early to assume Hughes or even Juolevi makes the roster.

Nothing I’m aware of. It’s times like these when I really wish we had the same resources available to us that NHL teams have. It’s possible there’s a good reason he went undrafted. I remember a few years ago no one could figure out why Ryan Pilon had fallen down so many draft rankings. He ended up retiring from hockey shortly after being drafted in the fifth round by the Islanders. Maybe there’s something we don’t know, or maybe teams just didn’t like him. This was an odd draft. There were players we had ranked in the top 100, even the top 40 who went undrafted. It seemed odd he wasn’t selected to me, too.

Yes. I can’t see them entering the season with the same six defencemen, so I’d imagine something has to give. It would be uncharacteristic of this management group not to trade at least one roster player this offseason.

I would say somewhere in the 10-15 range. The Canucks added one elite prospect, but so did a lot of other teams. The Canucks got a great rookie season out of their recent first round pick. So did a lot of other teams. Even if it hasn’t resulted in a lot of on-ice success, the Islanders are probably still the gold standard of the league, and the Canucks have a long way to go before they’re even close.

Improving where you stand in this regard is difficult. With the picks the Canucks had, there probably wasn’t going to be a lot of movement up the rankings. That’s part of the reason it’s so important for bad teams to acquire as many picks as possible.

My guess is that they think Madden has more room to grow both physically and in terms of his overall game. I’m skeptical. Madden had the most points of any centre on his team with 20 points in 32 games, but was tied for seventh on his team in scoring. That doesn’t seem like a great sign. People say Brackett has earned the benefit of the doubt because of how Gaudette has worked out, but I’m not sure if I completely agree. It’s one thing to make a passion pick when you’re in the later rounds and everyone is a dice roll. It’s a harder sell in the second and third rounds when there are high-upside players still available like Wise or Vitali Abramov.

The only thing that gives me pause is that Wise played on a fantastic team and Madden didn’t, but I’m not convinced that adequately explains the difference in point totals.

We’ll leave it there for now. Stay tuned for answers to more questions about Michael Del Zotto, Jack Hughes, and Alex Burrows.