Photo Credit: UticaComets.com

The Vancouver Canucks have added to their defensive roster today, calling up Taylor Fedun from the Utica Comets ahead of their afternoon game against the Washington Capitals.

Unlike the multiple handfuls of defensive call-ups we’ve seen throughout this year, this one seems to be completely unprovoked. Nobody on the active Canucks roster has been ruled out of today’s game, and the Canucks already have a full roster of defencemen.

Perhaps Willie Desjardins is unhappy with how his group is currently playing, making this an exceedingly rare “shakeup” call. While I’m personally a fan of what Yannick Weber brings to the table, there’s no denying that he’s struggling right now. His assist against Tampa Bay on January 8th was his first point in over a month. It’s not like Weber has been a huge defensive help either; with a personal Corsi-For percentage of 43.8% (-4.0% relative) since December 3rd, the Canucks have been better off with him on the bench than on the ice during this cold streak.

Presumably, Canucks could use any help they can get against the first-overall Capitals. Washington has some of the scariest scoring talent in the league in their core that includes names Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, TJ Oshie, and Justin Williams. A quick-minded shot-suppressor like Fedun might help. There’s no guarantee that he will, but if things are broke, you may as well try to fix them.

Fedun has been one of the bigger “what if” players since a 2011 pre-season femur injury cancelled out his entire rookie season out and removed a significant chunk of his foot speed. However, he’s still managed to have a relatively respectable minor league career, and he’s been particularly effective with the Utica Comets this year. In 24 games, Fedun has picked up four powerplay goals and seven all-situations assists; his eleven points only trail Jordan Subban and Travis Ehrhardt among Comets defencemen. He leads the team in plus/minus (+7), thanks to the Comets scoring 60% of the goals while he’s on the ice.  

This isn’t Fedun’s first call up this year; the Canucks have brought him up in case of emergency and opted not to use him, but given the lack of urgency to this move, it wouldn’t be surprising if that changes. It will give him an opportunity to build on the eleven NHL games he’s previously played with Edmonton and San Jose, in which he’s picked up six points.