As many of you know, I don’t actually live in Vancouver. Far from it, actually; I live in everyone’s worst nightmare, Toronto. But I visit every so often, and I always struggle to leave. I love the people, the scenery, and I also love that the weather isn’t so polarizing. Toronto struggles with that; last year we had our high 30’s-low 40’s summer days, and -40 at points in the winter. Vancouver stays relatively consistent.

So I’m really appreciative of the 15-20 degree start we’ve had to November here. It makes me feel like I’m getting a taste of Vancouver. Even if my city isn’t as pretty, and yours is being drowned by rain at the moment. But I digress, lets answer some questions:

I thought this was a known fact? Rhys is dead. He is no more. End of.

In total seriousness, Rhys had a lot of things on his place last year that limited his ability to write full time, and this season, he has a job in the hockey world that conflicts with his ability to contribute to Canucks Army. When I came on as managing editor, this wasn’t the original plan; Rhys was planning on staying on as a contributor, but the new role interfered. As both an editor and a reader, I was a little upset, in the sense that I felt his work was some of the best out there, but I’m very excited to see what he can do from behind he curtain.

Jankowski is an intriguing prospect, in the sense that he’s improved with every year he’s played at the college level. The Flames were considered silly for drafting him as high as they did in 2012, but now that there’s a shred of hope he might become available to thirty teams, he’s flying back into the radars of 29 other fanbases once again.

I wouldn’t hold your breath for him, though. While he’s capable of becoming a free agent this August, Jankowski isn’t the one holding out; the Flames are comfortable with the NCAA as his development path and have allowed him to complete his program. It’s very likely that he’ll sign with the team that drafted him once the year is up.

He’s already taking on the responsibilities of a sheltered #4 as it is. At this point, it comes down to the Canucks having the room for him. He’s been offensively productive and while his possession numbers haven’t been great, the same goes for the rest of the defence corps.

One would assume that one of the higher paid veteran defencemen will be shopped at the deadline (likely Dan Hamhuis due to his contract status), or if the Canucks are in a good place, a move could come at the draft. No matter what the process, as long as Hutton continues to play as well as he has, and it’s possible that he could even improve, it’s very likely he’ll be a regular in Vancouver’s top four sooner than later. 

Shinkaruk is having a great start to his season, with six goals and three assists in nine games with the Utica Comets. He’s taking over two shots per game, and has been Utica’s overall forward to start the season. This has everybody very excited about the 2013 first round pick, and it’s hard to blame them.

With that said, it’s hard to see a spot for him. The Canucks already had enough trouble stuffing super-stud rookies Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann into the lineup, and that’s with Virtanen having a bottom-six feasible game and McCann being team’s leading scorer. On a roster that can’t fit Sven Baertschi in on many nights, trying to get Shinkaruk into the mix would be a near impossibility.

The only scenario where I see him joining the team would be if the Canucks struggle heavily through the winter and sell at the deadline, freeing up multiple roster spots.