Monday Mailbag: Why the three-day window to sign Jack Rathbone matters, and predicting when Canucks defence prospects will make their debuts

Another week, another mailbag. Training camp kicks off this week and I’m excited to be able to be there bringing you all the goods from the next two weeks ahead!

The big news of the week (aside from the Boeser thing, but more on that later) came Saturday morning when Sven Baertschi opted out of the return to play.

Baertschi was part of the Canucks’ black aces groups featuring some of his teammates from the Utica Comets, who will be at training camp this week. Kole Lind is taking Baertschi’s spot at camp.

When CanucksArmy’s very own Chris Faber last spoke with Lind he said that he was looking forward to coming up to the Canucks as a black ace. Faber reports that Lind has been ready to go this whole time, despite not getting the original call to come to Vancouver for training camp.

As for other players who I think could opt out, I’ll say zero. If they’re here now, they’re likely here to stay. To clarify for those wondering, Baertschi was in Vancouver but told the team late Friday night that he wouldn’t be participating in the return to play.

The deadline to opt-out without penalty is today at 2 PM Pacific Time, so, stay tuned I guess? I don’t see anybody else opting out, personally. I also haven’t heard anything that would suggest otherwise.

First of all, kudos to Thomas Drance of The Athletic for bringing to light something very important that seemingly went under the radar.

Essentially, the Rathbone “thing” pertains to the three-day MOU window, which, wouldn’t you know it, opens today at 9 AM Pacific — for the Canucks to sign defence prospect Jack Rathbone to an entry-level contract. This window closes on Wednesday at 2 PM Pacific Time.

Rathbone is without a doubt the Canucks’ top defence prospect and comes with legitimate top-four upside. As Drance pointed out, there’s been whispers coming out of the Boston area that the Harvard defenceman could pose a bit of a flight risk — given the fact he will be free to sign with whichever NHL team he chooses next August.

As pointed out by Rick Dhaliwal of TSN1040, if the Canucks get Rathbone signed in this three-day window it will burn a year off of his ELC, but he will receive no signing bonus and be ineligible to be apart of the Canucks’ return to play roster.

Look for the Canucks to push hard at getting Rathbone signed in these next three days. If he doesn’t, Drance suggests the following:

I guess the simplest way to explain “the Rathbone thing” is that if the Canucks are unable to get him signed, they may be wise to turn their focus to dealing him — similar to what the Carolina Hurricanes did with Adam Fox.

For those who need a refresher, the Hurricanes were able to deal Fox to the Rangers for a second and third round pick. While Rathbone doesn’t hold quite the same value as Fox, the Canucks will certainly be able to get something in exchange for their top defence prospect.

There’s still a chance the Canucks will sign Rathbone after this three-day window, but this time frame benefits Rathbone the most because it means one less year on his ELC, along with some certainty considering Harvard isn’t playing hockey in the fall anymore. This route gives Rathbone certainty, and a year burnt off his ELC all in one — which is why it should raise some eyebrows if he chooses not to sign during this window.

The best-case scenario for the Canucks (after him signing in the three-day window of course) is that Rathbone goes back to Harvard, plays his junior year, and asks for NHL action at the end of the year, similar to what happened with Quinn Hughes. This will, as it did with Hughes, burn a year off his ELC.

However, that’s cutting it awfully close to the time when Rathbone will be free to sign with any team on July 1st, 2021.

Here’s a fun one. This person sent a follow up tweet correcting their use of debate to debut*, so keep that in mind. Brogan Rafferty already has two NHL games under his belt, so he’s not included here.

Jack Rathbone. Debut: 2020-21: The man it seems everyone is talking about. People I’ve talked to and trust say this kid is legit and could potentially push for a spot on the Canucks’ third pairing next season. As explained above, they’re going to try very hard to get him signed over the next three days. I’ll say he makes his debut next season.

Olli Juolevi. Debut: 2020-21 midseason call up: Patience is the most important thing to maintain when it comes to your evaluation of Olli Juolevi. He’s not NHL ready yet and certainly requires some more seasoning in the AHL before he’s ready to step into an NHL game. I doubt he makes the big club out of camp next season, but I wouldn’t doubt that he could make his debut as the result of a few injuries.

With the uncertainty surrounding the AHL next season, there’s a possibility of Juolevi going back to the Finnish Liiga, presumably with TPS Turku, who Juolevi played for before. TPS is also the team that Sami Salo serves as an assistant coach for — he’s coached Juolevi before.

When I talked to Salo a few weeks ago he told me that they have already begun to get calls from North American players feeling out the waters of what the Liiga season is going to look like, should the AHL season be cancelled. Salo was sure to add that he’d love to have Juolevi back with his team, and feels it wouldn’t hinder his development to leave North America.

Jett Woo. Debut: 2021-22 midseason call up: The book is still out on what Jett Woo can be for the Vancouver Canucks. He is a big body with some offensive upside but saw a dip in production this season with the Calgary Hitmen. Woo put up 46 points in 64 games this season — whereas last season, he tallied 66 points in 62 games played.

Woo will certainly need to spend some time in Utica before he gets called up to the big club — and with the AHL season potentially in jeopardy, maybe he goes and plays a season overseas to continue his development in a professional league.

Jalen Chatfield. Debut: 2020-21 midseason call up: Chatfield is a part of the Canucks’ training camp roster, but barring disaster on the injury front, he likely won’t suit up in any games during the play-in series. That being said, he could make his debut during next season depending on what the Canucks plan to do with their right side defence.

At this point, both Toni Utunen and Mitch Eliot seem like it will be a while before they make the NHL, if either of them ever do. Utunen spent the year in Finland and put up three points in 32 games. He has yet to be signed to an ELC by the Canucks.

As for Eliot, well, he needs to stick around in the AHL for a full season before we can start predicting when he’ll make his NHL debut. The 22-year-old defenceman played 27 games with the Utica Comets and seven with the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL.

As I mentioned before, it doesn’t seem wise for the Canucks to trade Boeser right now. His value has arguably never been lower and we’re talking about a guy with real 30+ goal upside. Boeser came up just short of that mark in the first two seasons of his career and the 16 he scored this year is a career-low.

When it comes to trading Boeser, one must ask themselves if they think he will continue to trend downward, or if he will bounce back and become the prolific scorer he showed this city he can be.

If I’m a betting man, I’m taking the latter — which means I’m not in the camp of trading Boeser.

That being said, he’s hands down the Canucks most valuable moveable asset not named Elias Pettersson or Quinn Hughes — but those two guys truly are untouchable.

Because of that value, the Canucks would presumably get something that could really help them in return, for example, a top-four defenceman.

We’ve been looking at numerous names and the one I always tend to circle back to is Vince Dunn of the St. Louis Blues. This guy has legitimate top-four upside and could fill the void nicely when the Canucks eventually move Alex Edler out of a top-four role. A left side of Quinn Hughes, Vince Dunn, and Alex Edler? Sign me up.

And now for our final question of the week:

For the Canucks? Yep.

Thanks to everyone who asked questions, and my apologies to those I couldn’t get to, I’ll try to circle back to some of them in the coming weeks, but for now, we’ve got a training camp to cover! To ask a question in a future mailbag, follow me on Twitter @QuadreIli and look out for the weekly mailbag tweet.