WWYDW: What Would You Gift The Canucks This Holiday Season?

However you and yours celebrate the holidays, there’s a good chance that it will involve hockey and gift-giving, and so we’re combining those two things for this week’s edition of What Would You Do Wednesday?

The whole team gets four days off, as good a gift as any for an overworked organization, but after a half-season of exciting hockey we think each and every member of the roster deserves a little something extra in their stocking.

So, it’s time to lay some presents around the Festivus Pole for the Vancouver Canucks.

What will Brandon Sutter be unwrapping back on the family farm?

Is there a present out there that will make the rest of the team Travis Green with envy?

Can anything under the tree make Antoine Roussel say “Sacre bleu?”

Can anyone come up with eight different gifts for Quinn Hughes?

And what can one give to the man who truly has – and is – everything, Elias Pettersson?

Put on your creative caps and have some fun with this one, because this week we’re asking:

Feel free to suggests gifts for the team as a whole, for individual members of the team, or some combination thereof!

 

Last week, we asked:

 

Just imagine the fourth line cap, with Loui replacing Schaller or Ferland!

I doubt “all in for the playoffs” Jim wants to trade Sutter for futures.

I’d keep Gaudette-Roussel-Virtanen intact, and play Sutter flanking Beagle on line four, with added minutes from primary PP kills. I’m afraid, though, especially when leading, that Green is gonna insert Sutter back as 3rd line “stabilizer” C, with Gaudette getting shuffled around to third RW or even fourth C.

 

It’s a bit of a moot point given Ferland’s latest injury, but the Canucks should try to trade Sutts.

Until they find a dance partner just start him at fourth line wing and toggle him between lines three and four based on injuries and performance.

Should also be looking to move Schaller when Mothman is ready to return.

 

I have had to change my opinion of Sutter this season. While I am not a fan of Sutterm I can see that Bo Horvat can not play his 2C role and look after Sutter’s role at the same time. Bo’s play has suffered in Sutter’s absence, so having him back in the lineup even if he skates on the fourth line should help Bo get back on track. In time we may see Gaudette move into the 2C spot and Bo play 3C. I have always doubted Horvat’s playmaking ability and I don’t see that improving to the point where he can drive a line offensively. He can certainly continue to be a fairly complete/ valuable player but he is not ever going to be considered an offensive player. So, having said all that, the Canucks need to keep Sutter for those reasons for at least this season.

 

No spicy takes needed.

Sutter-Beagle-Ferland/Schaller.

Sutter will likely be traded in the offseason if there’s a market. He’s part of the leadership group, so it’s tough to see them moving him out or finding a home for him in-season.

 

Brandon Sutter is truly a reliable veteran when he is healthy and I always figured he got a bad rap from fans and media alike. I’d leave him where he is unless Mr. Benning gets a godsend of an offer for him in a trade. Otherwise, stay the course on #20.

 

Sutter should be traded as soon as someone offers a second rounder. He should not get his next contract from the Canucks and epitomizes the aging veteran a team should extract some value from before moving on. Sutter is not the difference on making the playoffs.

When the Canucks use that second rounder depends on where they sit nearing the trade deadline. Rather than load up trying to squeak in, they should combine the pick with an excess winger and try and land a high-end prospect or, if available, a first round pick. The Canucks need more high-end options to replace Tanev, Edler, and Benn over the next couple years.

If the Canucks are solidly in a playoff spot at the deadline, the pick could be used to acquire a good piece for a playoff run. In the offseason it might be enough of an extra piece to move Eriksson. Either way, an extra second round pick is best used as trade currency than making another pick at this point.

Unfortunately, with Graovac as the only other centre on contract trading Sutter has some risk. It is a risk worth taking to position this team into contention over the next couple years.

 

In JB’s hunt for a top-six winger, equivalent salary has to go. Can’t see anyone wanting Loui, so prime salary dump candidates for late picks or a prospect are Baer, Beagle, and Sutter. That would clear space for a trade, unless the team with the player JB wants wants one of those three.

JB is probably looking for a player with top-six capability without necessarily playing there now, much like Miller.

Good players earlier in their careers have been traded due to cap issues, like Panarin.

So, I think JB clears space first then finds the player to add.

 

Before the injury, Sutter was playing well. I say play him on Beagle’s wing until there is slowdown of production with Gaudette, Roussel, or Jake.

I’m very glad for that line playing so well, but I don’t see them realistically generating those points the rest of the season. If they do, great – if Gaudette has a lapse, he can turn to wing and Sutter can man third center. Options!