Welcome back to WWYDW, the only hockey column on the internet that writes itself.

Speaking of things writing themselves, sometimes that’s something that the author of this column likes to count on.

Doing a call-and-response article the week after the NHL Trade Deadline? Pft. Easy money. All you gotta do is ask your commenters “What did you think of the trades the Canucks made on deadline day?” or “What’s your grade on that one big trade?” or something similar, and then you dust off your hands and call it a week.

Damn you, Allvin and Co.!

Obviously, by now, you know that the Canucks, despite leading the league in trades throughout the 2023/24 season up to this point, walked away from Trade Deadline 2024 having made zero trades.

Not on the day of. Not the day before. Not on Trade Deadline Week, or even Trade Deadline Month.

Not even a simple “Wyatt Kalynuk for future considerations” sort of transaction.

Zip.

In fact, the last trade that the Canucks made was back on January 31 when they brought in Elias Lindholm.

Now, we’re really only complaining here in jest. The Canucks made a point of doing their shopping early this year, and they certainly did, bringing in Lindholm, Casey DeSmith, Sam Lafferty, Mark Friedman, and Nikita Zadorov in the opening half of the season. There’s no real room here to be upset at a lack of deals.

But most probably entered last Friday expecting at least a little something, and not getting anything could perhaps lead to some reflection.

Are we happy with the team as it currently exists, as management seems to be?

Just pleased to have not paid those high deadline prices?

Would we have preferred a couple of small deals?

Or was it a blockbuster that was needed here, and not delivered?

There were and are a variety of responses to the Canucks’ lack of action on Trade Deadline Day 2024, and we are here to collect them.

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

The opponents that are my least favorite for the Canucks to face are:

– Winnipeg Jets: They are a really good team with four solid lines, solid defence, and an excellent goalie.

– LA Kings: They are sneaky good. Their defensive trap system is brutal to get through, and they have excellent players on all lines. They also have Kopitar and Doughty who have won the Cup and elevate their games in the playoffs. They should be higher in the standings than they currently are.

The opponents I would like to see Canucks face are:

– Nashville Predators; A solid team but I don’t think they have what it takes to win a playoff round.

– Edmonton Oilers; Obviously they are a good team, but if you can shutdown McDavid, you take away half their offense. Their goaltending and defence are mediocre. I think Canucks would do well against their goaltender, so it becomes a matter of just outscoring the Oilers.

– Vegas Golden Knights; I don’t like them because they cheat on the Salary Cap to get an unfair advantage in the playoffs.

Least preferred are Kings and Jets.

Most: New York Rangers.

Least: Florida Panthers.

The most preferred matchup would be versus the Predators or Kings. The Kings are like dogs on bones, but then so should be every team in the playoffs. But the Canucks have more firepower.

The least preferred matchup is versus the Golden Knights. Firepower is close to the same, goaltending as well, but Vegas’ backend and their superior transition game far outperforms Vancouver. Over a full series, I just don’t see the Canucks with a positive CF% against Vegas.

When it comes to the playoffs, I have come to the conclusion that it matters not who we play in the playoffs. Just ask the Leafs fans who were chanting “we want Florida” last year. Would it be nice to not play Vegas? Sure, but we will have to go through them regardless most likely, so let’s try it when we are fresh. Would we have felt invincible in 2011 if we did not first slay the dragon?

Barring some incredible melt-down, the Canucks will not only make the playoffs, but also top the Pacific Division. This is important. Should they also top the conference, a little less likely, they will draw the lower of the two wildcard teams. If they only win the Pacific, then they draw the better of the two wild card teams. I fully expect Vegas to get back into third place in the division, and face Edmonton. Meanwhile, I think it a little less likely that the Canucks will continue to lead the conference. If not, they will likely face LA in the first round. I would prefer they finish first in the conference as well and then will face Nashville or maybe St Louis. Seattle and Calgary have both signalled they are out of it with their trades.

Why does it matter?

They would eventually face the best teams in the conference if they advance anyway. I never understood why anyone would have a preferred matchup.

I don’t want to face Winnipeg as they always beat us. Not to mention, we don’t shoot the puck on net enough and Hellebuyck is the best goalie in the league. I don’t want to face Vegas as they also always beat us. Colorado we play fairly well, but when they turn it up a notch, we falter. That leaves LA, which we have to play solid structured hockey for 60 minutes to beat their trap. I’d gladly play Dallas as Oettinger is lousy this season and their backup stinks too. The Oilers are hot buttttt I think we could beat them if it went 6-7 games. I think we could thump Nashville too. The west is so good this year. There isn’t an easy matchup available.

Have to win the first round before there’s any chance of meeting a lot of these teams. They’re going to play one of Vegas, L.A., or Nashville. Nashville would be the easiest matchup in my mind, although I think they could beat any of the three. Especially if Bubble Demko returns.

If you had told any of us in October that we would be having this discussion, you would have been laughed at.

They can beat Nashville and LA in the first round. Vegas might still plonk for a while, but they’ll gear it up for sure at playoff time, so I prefer they battle Edmonton.

I don’t think Skinner can will EDM to victory, so the Nucks have a chance against them for sure, especially if Lindholm can work some defensive magic.

Winterpeg, OTOH, has the best goalie and sniper forwards, plus they’re bigger too, so that’s a deadly Conference Final matchup if the Nucks get that far.

And if Colorado gets any goaltending at all, they’re the team to beat.

I will take a bit of a different slant on this. I don’t really favour or fear any particular matchup; if these guys are on, I think they can beat anyone.

Instead I will look at the travel. I would hate to see them get into a long series with Dallas or Nashville or anyone in which they are crossing multiple time zones. I would prefer west coast match ups for that reason just to try and reduce fatigue and keep these guys fresh for as long of a run as they can muster up.