WWYDW: The Final Four

It’s been a slow news week as far as the Canucks are concerned, but the Stanley Cup playoffs are really heating up. In the final four, we’ve got underdogs, heavyweights, and dark horses. We’ve even got some ex-Canucks, too. So this week, I’m going to run slightly counter to the spirit of WWYDW and just ask the readers to talk about their rooting interests. Who out of the final four would you most like to see lift the cup?

It’s the boring answer that’s been discussed at length because it makes too much sense, but flip Tanev for Drouin and one of the Garrison/Callahan contracts. And I’m not in the camp that’s saying Drouin is “The Answer”, but he’s quite the complimentary piece and his age is a perfect fit. Let Green make him a project. A couple of “road-less-traveled options”: trade Tanev to one of St.Louis or Philly for a player like Fabbri or Konecny. Tanev would be a beast in St.Louis, bolstering their already strong d-corps (and filling in for an aging Bouwmeester). And Philly now has a very interesting contender window open to them with the high pick this year, a young but capable defense that could use a rock like Tanev, and an offensive core that’s in its theoretical prime.

This has been discussed at length on the website already, but here goes: Tanev to NYI for Ryan Strome.

Strome is hitting roadblocks in his development in NYI. He’s a 1C, but they have one of those, and he’s a pretty good one. Strome is not a 2C; nor is he a 3RW, which is how NYI deployed him last season, by TOI & deployment metrics. As a 3RW, he scored on a pace roughly 10 points above expected 3RW production levels, and on a par with 2RW production levels. In other words, he’s too talented to bury.

Garth Snow, meanwhile, is set to invest $80 million in Tavares to 2025, so adding the NHL’s best shut-down defenceman, who can eat 1RD minutes “like they’re wonderful pieces of salt water taffy” (love that line–it’s not mine) for a guy who is getting passed on their depth chart by Ho-Sang is kind of a no-brainer.

Make the deal now, but do not officially move on it until June 22nd. That way the Canucks can protect Tanev for New York.

I would rather keep him as we desperately need he and Edler to shelter the next generation of defensemen in Vancouver and prevent us from the 10 year abyss that was the Edmonton rebuild, but I’ll play. If he’s regarded as in the same class as Larsson then see if Dallas would bite on Tanev for their 3rd overall and Lehtonen.

The incentive to dump 5.9m off their books plus the addition of a badly needed plug and play defender may be enough to tempt Dallas to reap the benefits of their unexpected lottery win. They need to win with this core now, and this pick will have significantly less value for Dallas than it would for Vancouver. Imagine Tanev on the right side behind the offensive driver that is Klingberg…all of a sudden the Stars don’t have to worry about the right side of their defense for the next 4 years at least. This is perfect for the window of their current team.

Larsson was a ready to go, offensively limited, top pairing, right handed dman and he was traded for a 1st overall that turned into one of the best wingers in the game BEFORE he was dealt. Tanev is a ready to go, offensively limited, top pairing, right handed dman that would be traded for a 3rd overall that may not have the same projection. Having Lehtonen for a year offsets the expected loss of Miller and having the 3rd and 5th overall picks would go a long, long way to placating the fans that are not pleased with the rebuild thus far.

If the Canucks lose Tanev but walk out of this draft with Vilardi and Liljegren then that could potentially address two of the hardest positions to find; a top line center and a top pairing offensive defenseman…and Benning may only be the 29th worst GM in the league after that.

Tanev should be moved before his partial NTC kicks in. That way he can go to any team in a trade. Drouin is a popular trade rumour. Sam Reinhart is intriguing but he may not be a lock to be a future top 6 guy.

Let me add another hypothetical: Tanev, Gaunce, CBJ’s 2nd and Hutton to the Wild for Erikkson Ek, Tuch, Greenway and Kunin. Then Benning can draft a D man with #5 overall or maybe trade down and add a pick/asset. This blockbuster trade adds more high end talent to the organization and the Wild get immediate help to push deeper into the playoffs next year (plus the players going to them are still pretty young).