On yesterday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli was joined by Patrick Johnston to discuss Vancouver’s cap situation and the potential impact of moving off Tucker Poolman’s contract in terms of cap space.
“$2.5 million is a lot to work with,” Patrick started. “You can talk about finding a centreman who’s not Pius Suter. I think Pius Suter will be fine; he ran into some bad luck playing with Joshua and Garland before he got hurt. He’s a sharp player and makes things better when he’s on the ice. The Miller and Boeser line was so much better in terms of puck possession when he was with them. That said, if somehow in this dream scenario you’re able to move off Tucker Poolman’s contract, you’d like to use that on a forward or defenceman who can actually play for your team. There’s not a lot left on the market, so we’re not necessarily talking about signing a player, but you can start looking at trades and moving things around. Getting Poolman off the books creates so many great possibilities for the Canucks, and that’s probably the reason why Allvin hasn’t been able to find anybody to take the Poolman problem off his hands.”
Now that the free agent frenzy has calmed down, the list of remaining players the Canucks might have their eye on has slimmed down significantly. One name the guys mentioned is Oliver Kylington, a 6’0” left-hand shot defenseman who suited up for 33 games with Calgary this past season.
“He’s an interesting name, but I think about what he’d be willing to do,” Patrick cautioned. “If you find yourself in this position, you didn’t have anyone rushing to sign him on July 1st. It’s now July 10th; most teams have set things pretty clearly. When he sat down with his agent going into this offseason, what was their target? When you look at the Canucks, who’d love to add another depth, puck-moving defenseman, can they find someone who can slot in there and move the puck a bit? They’ve already slotted Mark Friedman as a depth guy, and they’ve got Noah Juulsen in that role. I think Kylington is a better option than those guys. He’s an option that neither of them provides, but is that a role that he wants to play?”
Finally, Jonathan Lekkerimäki’s name was brought up for discussion as to how the Canucks might approach this year’s preseason. The dream scenario is Lekkerimäki slots into the top six with Elias Pettersson right away, but that’s likely a long shot.
“Give him a run with Elias Pettersson in training camp. If Linus Karlsson can get a run with Pettersson, so can Lekkerimäki. That’s where he’s going to play. If he makes the team, that’s where he’ll be,” Quads asserted. “If they realize they can’t trust him defensively and he needs some AHL seasoning, don’t do the Podkolzin thing where he bounces up and down the lineup. If he’s not a top-six winger in the NHL, go be a top-six winger in the AHL. We’re not trying to turn Jonathan Lekkerimäki into a bottom-six winger. I don’t like the idea of him playing on the fourth or third line. Put him in the AHL, let him play there, and don’t try to make him something he’s not. Give him the chance to play in the top six in the preseason. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out; put him in the AHL. It’s not even a problem for this team; they’re not banking on him making it this year.”
You can watch the full replay of yesterday’s show below:
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