Another week, another mailbag.
We’ve finally got some news and a January 13th start date to look forward to. With that in mind, let’s see what all you wonderful people asked this week.
This season, teams will have 23 man rosters plus 4-6 additional players on a taxi squad. The players on the taxi squad will be paid full AHL salary while on the taxi squad and will travel and practice with the big club.
Here is what I’d go with:
My lineup:
J.T. Miller – Elias Pettersson – Brock Boeser
Tanner Pearson – Bo Horvat – Jake Virtanen/ Nils Höglander
Antoine Roussel – Adam Gaudette – Nils Höglander/ Jake Virtanen
Zack MacEwen – Jay Beagle – Tyler Motte
Extras: Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Olli Juolevi/Brogan Rafferty
Quinn Hughes – Tyler Myers
Alex Edler – Nate Schmidt
Jack Rathbone – Jordie Benn
Thatcher Demko
Braden Holtby
Taxi Squad:
Kole Lind, Jayce Hawryluk, Olli Juolevi/Brogan Rafferty, Jalen Chatfield, and Michael DiPietro
Explanation:
To be clear, I’ve got the Lotto Line in a matchup role. This is something we saw toward the end of the year and into the playoffs: Elias Pettersson and his linemates going up against the opposition’s best, and they’re capable of doing it over a full season.
That’s why I have Nils Höglander or Jake Virtanen on the Horvat line, because I’m assuming that the second line won’t be given tough matchups as they were last season and will be able to produce some more offence. Höglander has a real shot at not only making the team, but meshing extremely well with Horvat. He will certainly be a guy to watch extra closely at training camp.
The third and fourth lines are fairly predictable, and the reason Micheal Ferland isn’t in this lineup is because we’re assuming he’s on LTIR to start the season. We will see if that’s indeed the case when the puck drops.
My taxi squad has Lind and Hawryluk as the forwards along with Juolevi and Rafferty completing the defence corps (although, it really depends on what happens at camp, Juolevi, Rafferty, and Rathbone’s names are all pretty interchangeable here, I just think Rathbone will provide the most help in transitioning the puck.)
What may surprise you is that I’ve got Michael DiPietro written down as the goaltender to keep around rather than sending him to the minors to go play in Utica. There are a few reasons for this, but the main one is that he’d get more time working with Ian Clark every day, which would be fantastic for his long term development with the organization.
Clark’s philosophies have been instrumental in a laundry list of goaltender’s success, and further instilling those philosophies in DiPietro — who has already exceeded all expectations by becoming the starter in Utica last season — would be great for his development.
I’ll have a more in-depth story on this coming this week, but for now, that’s what my taxi squad looks like.
I don’t think Travis Green’s lineup would look all that different, either. Maybe he’d have Eriksson on the second line instead of Höglander or Virtanen and give that line matchup minutes, but other than that, it would likely be pretty similar, all in all.
Adding Hamonic would be great for the Canucks, especially if it’s on an almost risk-free deal that they could bury without it impacting their cap. That being said, Hamonic certainly isn’t going to accept a two-way deal, meaning the Canucks would have to pay him his full NHL salary, regardless if he’s on the taxi squad or in Utica.
That makes me think that the real dollars are what’s going to keep the Canucks from adding anybody else, even if they technically have the cap space to do it. Canucks ownership likely doesn’t want to pay anybody else to not play for the team, and you can’t really blame them when you take into account the revenue losses the organization has faced and will continue to face for the foreseeable future.
That being said, Hamonic would be a nice addition to the right-side depth, and could even force his way into the third pairing spot where most people — myself included — currently have Jordie Benn in. Green would certainly love to have a proven veteran NHL blueliner at his disposal heading into training camp, but I’m not so sure it will happen.
The Canucks are not the only team that doesn’t yet have the green light from their provincial government to play games at their home rink.
The Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Ottawa Senators could all be facing a similar hurdle as the Canucks while they all await confirmation from their provinces as to whether or not they can host regular-season games (with no fans, of course).
What we do know is that training camps have been greenlit, and the Canucks have permission to follow the same cohort guidelines they did in the summer when they held training camp ahead of travelling to the Edmonton bubble:
We will have to wait and see what happens with the regular season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canucks don’t have a concrete answer from the province until the new year, at the earliest.
If any of these Canadian teams can’t play in their home cities, they will have to relocate to a different Canadian city. In the case of the Canucks, that’s likely going to be Edmonton.
Ben Kuzma of The Province shed some more light on the situation yesterday, writing:
If Quebec, Ontario and B.C. don’t sign off on the RTP, then expect a hybrid bubble concept in Edmonton. The Canucks would play eight games over a two-week span at Rogers Place, return to Vancouver for a week, and then return to the Alberta capital bubble.
If B.C. is the only province that doesn’t receive approval, then the Canucks would have to relocate to another Canadian city until there’s a resolution. Edmonton would again make the most sense because of its success hosting the 2020 post-season with zero test cases. There is also a provision for players to be joined by their families, if relocation comes to fruition.
This, like many other things happening right now in Canuckland, will be a key story to follow and we will keep you updated as it progresses.
I would advise you all to keep a close eye on Adam Gaudette. To me, he’s the most likely candidate to explode offensively, especially if he somehow finds himself playing on Elias Pettersson’s wing.
As for rookies, Rathbone and Höglander both have serious potential to surprise a lot of people, including the Canucks’ brass. The confidence that both of these players play with bodes well for their chances of becoming impact players in a hurry.
There are four playoff spots up for grabs in each division. The “North Division” is the only division with seven teams instead of eight, which means we’re going to see a minimum of four Canadian teams qualify for the playoffs when the season ends on May 8th.
The Canucks will most likely finish third or fourth in their division, with the only team who’s really a “lock” to make the playoffs being the offensively stacked Leafs. The Canucks could make a strong push for first or second in the division, but third or fourth are the more likely outcomes. 
That being said, missing the playoffs is something anybody in the organization — from ownership, management, or the players — is going to deem unacceptable. The bar has been raised and with a lineup built on exceptional young stars who have already shown well in the playoffs, the sky should be the limit for the Canucks.
The messaging from Green at last year’s training camp (the first one, that is) was that the Canucks were “here to make the playoffs”. They just did that, and I would expect Green is delivering a similar message to his group on January 3rd.
That’s all for this week! Thanks to everybody who asked questions! To ask a question in a future mailbag, follow me on Twitter @QuadreIli and look out for the mailbag tweet each week!