WWYDW: Jake Virtanen

Whatever the Vancouver Canucks lack in quality pieces up front, they just might make up for with their depth. They’ve not lost anyone of immediate significance and added a pair of players in Loui Eriksson and Anton Rodin who could figure substantially in their attack.

Something’s gotta give. There was the belief that the club might buy out Alexandre Burrows to create room, but here we are in the beginning of August, and he’s still a member of the Canucks organization. He’s not going anywhere, and I mean that. His $4.5-million salary all but guarantees he’s not getting the Brandon Prust or Chris Higgins treatment next season.

It’s looking increasingly likely that Jake Virtanen will be the sacrificial lamb. Hell, the Canucks themselves happened up about the possibility of sending Virtanen to the AHL to play premier offensive minutes and develop with Travis Green.

So, my question to you is what exactly your plan would be for Virtanen. The world is your oyster. Hell, I’d even accept the possibility of a trade.

Last week I asked: Now, assuming you were in Linden’s shoes and had the ability or desire to change any of these contentious trades, which one(s) stick out to you and what would you have done differently?

I wouldn’t have made the Shinkaruk trade for Granlund, not because I think Granlund’s bad but because it’s a lateral move at best and Shinkaruk has an upside as a scoring winger while Granlund as a two-way center. Neither has really fulfilled their potential but both are young. I’d rather that the Canucks if they decided they didn’t want Shinkaruk tried to include him in a package for a different position or player.

I’d also like a do-over for Kassian, not because he would be any less messed up but I’d rather give away Kassian for nothing than the 5th and Prust it cost us.

I’m not sure if “last year” is cut off after the end of the 2014-2015 season but I’ll assume it was. In that case I’d say the Bieksa trade was decent value (ended up with Lockwood by regaining our 3rd), the Sutter trade jury is still out (Bonino who I do like is propped up by awesome line mates), Larsen is still to be decided, and Etem I think we won. Gudbrandson is a tough one but likely worth it (I think Candella is probably better than Ang, and Florida ended up with Mascherin and Nassen who are not as good as Asplund but not bad). McCann looked pretty good at Florida’s development camp.

Given the fact that Granlund is still in their system I don’t expect Linden to come out and call that a mistake. He might do so talking about Kassian though especially since he certainly didn’t seem to be a big fan of Prust.

I’d take that 2nd rounder/Jason Garrison that turned into a half-decent defensive prospect over the empty roster spot that was Linden Vey. Admittedly I’m at work, and not willing to deep-dive into Roland McKeown’s stats to verify this, but you get the point. With the power of hindsight that trade looks real bad right now, but it’s likely a trade many would have made at the time.

I understand the logic behind it. Vey put up great numbers in the AHL. It’s pretty evident now that he got carried by Toffoli and Pearson though. You could also argue that Vey not working out played a big part in motivating Benning to make the Shinkaruk – Granlund.

Side-note: I’m still hopeful Granlund progresses further in his 2nd year as a Canuck, much like Baertschi did. Keep in mind he’s played less than 30 games as a Canuck. Most of the time with linemates like Prust, Higgins, Burrows and Dorsett. Those four players simply wouldn’t make the team out of training camp if the selection process was purely based on skill with no contracts to consider. Tough to move the needle with an anchor on either wing.

I am going to go off the board here and say I am not totally sure we won’t regret the way we managed Nicklas Jensen, especially as Etem hasn’t really set the world on fire with our team. The guy was clearly miscast in Utica, but picked it up big time in the AHL after the trade. He looked excellent in the WHC too. I don’t dispute that he stalled in the system and may have needed a change of scenery, but I really can’t help but wonder if maybe the much vaunted Travis Green isn’t a little overrated in his coaching ability. By my count, the only player who has spent any appreciable time in Utica under Green who will start next season as a regular in Vancouver will be Markstrom. Maybe, maybe Grenier or Gaunce holds down a spot on the 4th line. (Virtanen and Hutton’s end year cup of coffee, and Baertschi’s stint there after “developing” in the Flames system, don’t really count in my opinion). Some people might respond to this by complaining about Gillis or Benning’s drafting, but the inability to make anything out of any of the players he’s been given? Has to fall on the coach a little bit.

why do we keep hearing about shinkaruk/granlund instead of forsling/clendenning?

objectively speaking, forsling/clendenning is by far the worst trade of the benning era. forsling is now considered a potential top 4 prospect. clendenning is gone for nothing…

is it given a pass because it was a trade that canucks army experts and peanut gallery members supported at the time based on analytics? for a refresher here is what was said:

“[clendening’s] a legitimate high-end prospect with as good a shot as anyone at being a top-4 defender 5, 6, or 7 years down the road. He immediately becomes Vancouver’s best blueline prospect, and likely slots in to their top-6 tomorrow”

“Even though Forsling is a very good prospect, I can’t help but think this is a big win for Vancouver. Clendening is closer to NHL ready now, has been more highly regarded than Forsling has, and has a track record of success in a North American pro league. There is likely less risk with Clendening, and likely more upside too.”

here’s what Ted said about the forsling trade:

“Yes, I know some people are bashing Benning and some are not. I’m ok with what he’s doing so far. I may change my mind after this trade deadline passes and that’s how it goes in pro sports!”

here’s what pb said

“Trade seems like a good gamble to me — skill for skill, with Clendening with a better track record than Forsling. I’m still not sold on the latter as his WJC performance seemed luck and situation driven but it’s a great return on a 5th rounder.”

there is absolutely no way you could objectively evaluate the shinkaruk/granlund trade as worse than this one right now. you could “believe in your gut” or on analytics it will be worse, but if you also believed on those metrics that getting clendenning was a good move, then what does either opinion about future events count for? the proof is in the pudding and it is way too early to call the grandlund/shinkaruk trade either way.

If we’re sticking to the last calendar year, then happy anniversary to the Sutter, 2016 #55 overall, and Clendening for Bonino and 2016 #64 overall swap.

To be fair to Benning et al, I’m more concerned with the long-term, high-$ contract signed afterwards than the trade itself.

With hindsight, it’s great to see that Bonino is a wonderful playoff performer, but that wasn’t necessarily clear at the time of the trade. What I take issue with is the identification of Sutter as a future key piece of this team’s top-6 to actively pursue and lock up, when really he should be paid and played as a solid 3rd-line centre. I’m still hoping for that alleged upside to show through, and he clearly suffered an unfortunate season of injuries, but that move (and signing), especially following the Dorsett and Sbisa contracts, was an indication to me that this management group is not afraid to overpay role players to the detriment of the salary cap and the roster openings a rebuilding/retooling team really needs.

If Linden is only talking about the “past year”, then I suppose Forsling/Clendening is out. Even though, ironically, that was among the more defensible moves that Benning has made, it may very well come back to be the one that bites the hardest.

In the prior year alone, it has to be Shinkaruk for Granlund. It made no sense at the time, and makes even less sense now. In a world where Granlund was actually an acquisition target (rather than an “oh well” fallback to a non-existent obligation to trade Shinkaruk), you could pick him up for nothing in the offseason.