WWYDW: What to do now…

Assuming you were connected to the internet at any point yesterday or came in contact with a single, solitary Vancouver Canucks fan, you’ve heard of Linden Vey’s familial troubles. If not, follow this link to the Jason Botchford article which unearths the chilling tale involving Vey’s parents.

To Vey’s credit, he’s not using the trial as an excuse for a subpar showing in his two seasons with the Canucks…

I would say that Vey is being a little hard on himself, but I digress. There’s no telling how an investigation of this magnitude might impact a player’s ability to concentrate, and similarly, whether that makes the player in question any more or less valuable as a future of this team. I certainly can’t answer these questions. 

Are you up to the task? If so, the question is: Would you qualify Linden Vey this summer, as he is set to his restricted free agency.

Last week I asked: Who would you take with the fifth overall selection in the NHL Entry Draft?

I’ll let Benning decide which of:

Dubois, Tkachuk, Juolevi, Sergachyov, Chychrun

is a foundational piece.

One trade I would be willing to explore – trade down 2-3 spots for a 20yr prospect further along development. Other than that…. keep the pick.

What about Logan Brown if Dubois has already been selected?

His age and CHL scoring rate is virtually identical to Alex Nylander.

But he is much bigger and plays a more valuable position.

I’m not even necessarily in favour of Brown.

I would just like a logical explanation as to why Nylander is considered the better and/or more skilled prospect.

The prime need for Vcr come the next 4-5 years is a number 1 centre with Henrik dropping to a #2 C. So IMO it’s clear Dubois is the player to be selected. Unfortunately that’s the way the Oilers see it to. So I suspect we end up losing him and ending up with Tkachuk

What they have to do is quote one of the Finns saying something so outrageously horrifying that they drop two or three positions in the draft. And then after you’ve selected your guy at number 5, you go back and be like “Ohhhhh, mistranslation.”

There is something fishy about Pierre-Luc Dubois’ movement up CSS between the mid-term and final rankings. It is very rare that a player inside the top 10 will move up 6 spots like that, it’s almost unheard of. It’s not like PLD has gone crazy over the second half and blown everybody away, and Matthew Tkachuk has done nothing over the second half of the year to warrant falling a spot into #2, he has been the model of consistency all season long. So what gives? Something smells a little fishy to me.

Personally I would take Tkachuk because he already plays an NHL game and can probably make the jump immediately, he has a more dynamic offensive game and probably has a higher ceiling in that regard but PLD is bigger, a more complete two-way player, and can play center and wing – pretty much everything this management group wants in it’s players. If PLD is available at #5, it’s a done deal.