WWYDW: The Ideal Second Line

The Canucks roster ain’t perfect, but they’re going to have to learn to make do with what they’ve got. Another way to look at is they’ve a multitude of options and flexibility therein. The hope is that they can catch lightning in a bottle with just the right combination and get the secondary scoring they desperately need as a result.

It’s a topic we’ve been discussing at length of late on this platform. Satiar Shah started the trend by looking for the right mix in the Canucks middle-six. This morning Jackson took that a step further, by examining the Canucks options and whether they’re up to the task. Now it’s your turn.

So, if you were tasked with drawing the Canucks lineup on the white board, how would your second line look? Now, just to make this interesting, you can sign someone in free agency or execute a (realistic) trade to suit your needs. But remember, this is just your second-line. Let’s save the other three for another day.

what moves would you like the Canucks to make this off-season? You’ve got $4.1-million to spend and players to trade however you choose. Try to make it realistic, though.

I’d look at Brandon Pirri. He’d be an upgrade over Etem and Burrows on the left side, and can also move to C in case of an injury. He’s a young, versatile guy with a 22 goal season under his belt already.

Also, Scott Hartnell would be a great add, and is openly being shopped. He would add grit, score 20 goals and be a good mentor for guys like Virtanen and Horvat to emulate. I’d offer Etem and Lukas Jasek.

I’d keep the cap space. The team is not going to compete for the cup so there’s no hurry to add players that will only keep us in mediocrity for years to come.

I’d love for the Canucks to add James Wisniewski on a 1-2 year “show-me” contract at say 3.25 million so that they could flip him at the deadline.

Wisniewski would also be a solid RHD option to step into a bigger role if Larsen doesn’t pan out/in case of injury.

However, to add Wis, we’d need some salary cap space in the short term, and likely a roster spot among the dmen, so I’d move Sbisa out for some late-round pick, move Tryamkin back to the left side, and keep Pedan and Larsen as the extra dmen in a 13Fwd, 8D roster set-up.

Edler-Tanev; Hutton-Gudbranson; Tryamkin-Wisniewski;

Pedan-Larsen

Then with the extra cap space from moving Sbisa, sign Gagner or Pirri for the versatility in the bottom-6.

IN: Wisniewski 3,250,000 Pedan 900,000 Gagner/Pirri 2,500,000 6th Round Pick

OUT: Sbisa 3,600,000

Oh, and bury Dorsett and Granlund in the minors for the roster spots. VAN would still have enough cap space to call either of them up in case of injury to even the cheapest roster player.

Sign Sam Gagner to a 1-year deal for $2M.

Benning should have gone after Patrick Wiercioch as an UFA. He signed with Colorado for a bargain basement $800,000 and he’s better than half of our D. Plus he’s only 25 and is a local kid.

i would take care of assets i intend to protect in the expansion draft. the only way i make a major trade is by trading someone on my protected list for someone better.

so i extend markstrom and hold onto the rest of the dough so i can take advantage of some other team in cap trouble or extend gudbranson if he has a good first half. i might even extend gudbranson right away if the price is right.

there is no point in trading for or signing another meaningful asset unless you trade an asset you would be protecting.

at this stage the expansion protected list is likely

sedin/sedin/erikkson/baertschi/horvat/virtanen/sutter

tanev/gudbranson/hutton

that leaves edler/sbisa/tryamkin likely exposed on defence

and

hanson/etem/granlund/dorsett exposed as forwards

so if you add a player now (other than an exempt prospect) who is better than those exposed guys, you will either lose him after the season or lose someone on the protected list in order to protect him. that cost has to be factored into any trade.

i suppose you could gamble and add someone you think is clearly a worse choice for vegas than the best players you plan to expose.

Package Hansen and Sbisa to Colorado for Tyson Barrie. I’m also not adverse to swinging for the fences and trying for Barrie and Landeskog, while sending Tanev and Hansen and picks (2nd) the other way.

I wonder where Jimmy Vessey is going to land, and what price he will come at. He is a left winger, which is where our system seems to lack.

Also I wonder about a few of this year’s camp invitees, some were overage and put up great numbers in the Q.

Still would like to see some size up front. Kane or Landeskog both would be nice adds in lieu of landing Lucic.

Regardless, I feel like this year was all about sorting out our D, which bled like a sieve last year. If they had done that, I was going to be happy, but then we also got eriksson to boot!

How about trading Sbisa to a cap-strapped team for a bad contract and a high draft? I’m thinking of Michalek from Toronto plus their second round pick. Michalek’s cap hit is $4 M, just a little more than Sbisa’s $3.6 and expires in one year. Vancouver has the cap space this year and enough D depth (hopefully) with Larson and Pedan, and gains cap space to use after the expansion draft.