Photo Credit: Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports

The Vancouver Canucks were unlikely to be players in free agency. That was prior to Tuesday evening’s trade of Kevin Bieksa and his $4.6 million cap hit to the Anaheim Ducks, though.

In the wake of the Bieksa trade the Canucks have nearly $8.3 million in salary cap space to play with according to NHLNumbers.com, and with only four pre-arbitration restricted free agents left to sign, can realistically be players, even if it’s only in some limited fashion, when the market opens at noon on July 1. 

So what might the Canucks target on the open market? How about some additional blue-line speed.

During a press conference discussing the trade with media on Tuesday evening, Canucks general manager Jim Benning outlined to media what he might target on the open market. In particular the Canucks executive appears to believe that his defense corps needs to add speed and mobility.

“I think if we could add another defenseman with mobility, another defenseman who can get back and transition the puck so we spend less time in our own end,” Benning said of what he sees as the teams needs going into Wednesday’s free agent frenzy. “That would be the No. 1 thing for me – to add another mobile, puck-moving defenseman.”

He’s not alone in that belief. Vancouver’s offensive attack was all but snuffed out 200-feet away from the Calgary Flames goal during a first-round series loss in which the Canucks’ plodding blue-line made marginal Flames forwards like Michael Ferland and David Jones look like the Oakland Raiders’ defensive line in the mid-80s. 

There’s a wide variety of quick-footed blue liners who will be available in free agency on Wednesday, ranging in quality from Mike Green on the high end, to Andre Benoit. There are old puck movers like Paul Martin, Marek Zidlicky and Lubomir Visnovsky, and relatively young puck movers like Matt Bartkowski, John Moore and Yannick Weber.

Indeed, Benning expressed some confidence that the club would still get a deal done with Weber, the 11-goal scorer who Vancouver opted not to tender a qualifying offer on Monday.

RELATED: Canucks Free Agent Frenzy Preview: Depth Defenders

On the higher end of the market there’s former Vancouver Giants defender Cody Franson, who isn’t the fastest or most ‘mobile’ defender, but who makes an excellent first pass and scores goals at an obscene rate. Franson indicated earlier in the offseason that he was hopeful that the Canucks might bid on him, and he has the sort of heavy right-handed shot that could make Vancouver top power-play unit sing. 

Similarly, the agent for former Canuck Christian Ehrhoff indicated that he’d be open to a Vancouver return. While the German-born blue liner would bring versatility and a bona fide top-of-the-lineup presence to Vancouver in a second tour of duty, it’s expected that he’ll sign a short-term deal with a more credible Stanley Cup contender.

Even with Bieksa’s salary off the books, the Canucks don’t have unlimited cap space with which to chase a difference making ‘mobile’ blue liner. Franson could clear $6 million per season if the bidding gets intense enough, which would surely fall well outside of the Canucks’ price range. They’ll have the money to make a run at a credible puck moving defender though, good news, since that’s a facet of the game in which this iteration of the Canucks sorely lacks.