On yesterday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal discussed recent developments involving the Canucks, focusing on the Vasiliy Podkolzin trade and Thatcher Demko’s injury report.
The discussion began with the Podkolzin trade. Quads shared his thoughts:
“The guy played for three NHL coaches in basically two seasons. Last season was his first year to go down to Abbotsford and be ‘the guy’ with steady deployment. The organization was very dysfunctional just a couple of years ago, and it’s obviously better now. It feels like there’s a chance Podkolzin could find his game in Edmonton. Would it have been hard for him to find his game here in Vancouver? Absolutely. But to be honest, I don’t love the trade.”
Harm countered, saying, “I ultimately don’t think it was going to work out for him in Vancouver specifically. Rick Tocchet clearly didn’t trust him, and when you combine that with how much competition there was for fourth-line winger spots—especially after signing Daniel Sprong—I don’t think he was ever going to leapfrog a Phil Di Giuseppe or Nils Aman. Tocchet has always had a soft spot for PDG because of how low-maintenance he is and his defensive reliability, which is the biggest difference between Podkolzin and PDG. It doesn’t seem like Tocchet ever fully trusted Podkolzin defensively. As for Aman, it’s his flexibility—being able to play center and having that valuable versatility. In a best-case scenario for Podkolzin coming out of camp, he might have made the team. But if the lineup was healthy, he’d probably be on the outside looking in, in and out of the press box. Every player is different in terms of how their performance is affected by confidence, but Podkolzin seems particularly sensitive. When he lacks belief in himself, he starts to overthink every play, becomes timid and slow, and that’s when he starts making mistakes and isn’t a factor.”
Moving Podkolzin opens up an extra contract spot for Vancouver, which could be filled based on any current needs—though, at this point, it’s all speculation.
“Logically, I understand why the Canucks made the move,” Harm added. “It’s one of those ‘shrug your shoulders at a modest return’ situations—it’s nothing special.”
The conversation then shifted to the topic of Demko’s injury, sparked by reports that Vancouver is exploring the goalie market because Demko is taking longer than expected to recover from the knee injury he sustained during Vancouver’s first-round playoff matchup against Nashville.
“You’re not smashing the panic button yet, but it’s concerning, especially when the report says there’s no timetable for a return,” Harm began. “The one good thing for the Canucks is that, as a team, they’ve gotten to a point where they can manage. If we reach October and he’s not ready for the start of the regular season, we know the Canucks are good enough defensively and overall that they can still win games without Thatcher Demko. In years past, if Demko was uncertain for the start of the season, we’d be panicking. This situation also raises questions about his health and overall durability. Yes, the Canucks can weather missing Demko on a short-term basis, but we know they’re a completely different calibre of the team if they have him playing at a Vezina level. There are so few goaltenders who can consistently play like a true 1A starter.”
“And that’s your big advantage over other teams,” Quads added. “There are so many different things to consider here. It’s easy to say, ‘You’ve got to sign this or that guy’—yes, I’m talking about Martin Jones because I think that would be great. But you could also see a tandem of Silovs and Jiri Patera—don’t forget they signed Patera earlier this offseason. You might even see Nikita Tolopilo get a start or two; he’s in a very similar spot to where Silovs was last year. You could see Demko be ‘healthy,’ and the Canucks really ease him in. If we’re talking about no timetable now, I think we’re talking about Silovs potentially starting the year as the starter and easing Demko back in. If he’s good to go, that doesn’t mean he’s playing 80% of the games in November and December—that’s not when the games matter. I’m not going to sit here and speculate because we just don’t know, but at the very least, the fact that this is even a conversation hammers home the idea that Demko and Silovs should be on a 55%-45% split.”
You can watch the full replay of the show below:
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