The Vancouver Canucks season is mercifully crawling to its end, so the time is right to look towards next season to see where how this roster will shape up.

That starts today, first with a look to the blue line.

We’re still six-plus months away from next season, so there are limitations on what we can and can’t look into. To start, we’ll account for what they have at the moment and who the Canucks are committed to for next October and beyond. From there we’ll see what moves the Canucks might make to augment, supplement those pieces.

The Canucks first pairing for the majority of this season and likely next. At this point, you know what you are getting from them and it’s almost always great. Nothing makes this clearer than a prolonged absence from one, the other or both… The Canucks are lucky to have them both locked in for the foreseeable future – Edler until 2018-19 and Tanev 2019-20.

The pair is running at a cool 48% Corsi For this season. That’s not great relative to other defence pairings, but most of those aren’t playing on a piss poor possession team like the Canucks.

There is no point in dwelling on this pairing, as it’s clear what their role is, where they will play and what we will get. Unless the Canucks sell-high on Edler.

This is where things get interesting. Let’s start with the positive – namely, Ben Hutton. In Edler’s absence, Hutton has taken on an expanded role on the Canucks blue line and held his own. There have been bumps and lulls, but that’s to be expected of someone stepping into their first professional season as a bona fide NHL’er. On the whole, this season’s been hugely encouraging. Hutton has a CF of 46.6%, which shows well compared to other Canucks defenders. If Hutton grows at a similar pace next season, a third defenceman seems like a fair descriptor. 

Although longer in the tooth than Hutton, Luca Sbisa wasn’t without his own growth this season. Everything is relative, after all. Whether that growth merits a top-four role on an NHL blue line is up for debate. There are other options, of course, but the Canucks investment in Sbisa and his experience make him the most plausible option at the moment. Most of Sbisa’s minutes were played with Hutton this season, although in a third-pairing role. Next year, they graduate. 

Sbisa narratives aside, there are valid concerns that Hutton may fall victim to a sophomore slump in his second season. I’ve less concern with the pairing itself than the minutes they’ll be forced to play. The duo is much more palatable in a third pairing role, but the Canucks don’t have that luxury.

The two newest players in the Canucks organisation round out the bottom pairing. I’ve suggested another player could work their way into the second pairing along Hutton. Nikita Tryamkin and Philip Larsen are those players. Neither of the two have played enough to project into that role with any certainty, though.

Should Tryamkin’s development continue at this pace, he seems the likeliest of the two to make that jump. That leaves Sbisa and Larsen as the presumptive third pairing. In a perfect world, this happens at some point next season. Everyone lands on their preferred side in that scenario.

Larsen was nothing to write home about in his first stint as a full-time defender – posting a CF of 47.8%. Nothing special, but it shows that he held his own at the very least. Larsen’s game has matured to the point where he put up stellar offensive numbers in the KHL, with 36 points in 52 games in the kHL last season. The Canucks could have found a Larsen comparable on the market, but in a vacuum he’s an excellent bet to make with a late-round pick.

Tryamkin has looked very good in his short NHL stint, but he is still getting his feet wet and there will continue to be a learning curve. We won’t fully know what the Canucks have until the mid-point of next season, but given the AHL out clause that he has, it’s a safe assumption that Tryamkin will be here and will be playing regularly. Where he is playing will be a point of debate all summer, but the early returns this year have been very promising.

The Canucks are contractually committed to having Andrey Pedan and Alex Biega on their roster next season.

For the first time in his career, Pedan will require waivers to pass through to the AHL. That’s a risk I think the Canucks would be keen on avoiding, especially given their investment of a third-round pick and time thereafter.

Pedan’s taken steps forward offensively, surrendering little defensively in the process. Statistical, age and stature based comparables became regulars NHL players 48% of the time. Although his brief showing in the NHL hasn’t been stellar, there’s enough there to warrant another look. He projects to be the Canucks 8th or 9th defenceman.

He has had made conscious efforts to drive the play offensively while still being defensive dependable for the Comets. When looking at his comparables, 48.72% went onto becoming NHL regulars. So when looking at the him with a keen eye in this NHL stint, he has had some mental lapses that have looked bad, he is worth the gamble of giving regular reps to. Although he projects to be the 7th/8th defenceman next season, given the Canucks injury luck, it should be no time before he is seeing regular minutes next season.

The Canucks tied themselves to Biega for the next two seasons, rewarding his steady play with a one-way contract last month. Great news and the cherry on top of a great story. I’m not particularly keen on Biega in either direction. One could certainly argue he’s more of an NHL-AHL tweener, though.

Dan Hamhuis is the obvious first thought. The Canucks were unable to deal Hamhuis at the deadline, so re-signing him seems the best way of softening the blow. They have the cap space to make it happen. They could create a roster spot by waiving and assigning Biega to the AHL. It would be an immediate upgrade over what they’re currently committed to.

If they don’t choose to re-sign Hamhuis, there are some options on the UFA market that are intriguing – although I doubt the Canucks will be able to land them. Alex Goligoski and Keith Yandle immediately come to mind as targets that would be huge upgrades for this group. But when you look deeper, it’s clear that both don’t fit into the age group that the Canucks have been targeting and would likely have multiple suitors. So even though we don’t know what they would want personally, the odds of the Canucks landing either are extremely low. 

The next tier is players like Kyle Quincey, Brian Campbell or Jason Demers. I would think that Demers is a good target for that second pairing spot with Hutton. Campbell would be too old for this group, and if I had to guess would return to the Panthers. Quincey is another option, but I don’t see him being enough of an upgrade to justify the contract he would command.

Also – who knows what the trade market could provide. There is no way to predict what will be out there. I would expect the Canucks to be active on the market.

Lastly, the Canucks could select an NHL ready defenceman in the early first round this season.

Aside from Hamhuis, these types of actions are impossible to speculate due to a myriad of factors that will change between now and late June. 

There is some obvious concern over the group that they have assembled for a multitude of reasons. 

First and foremost, where is the offence going to come from. As we’ve witnessed with Alex Edler out of the lineup for the past 6 weeks, the Canucks are lacking a puck moving 40 point defenceman. Ben Hutton is playing close to that, but he is a rookie and thus there you are taking the good with the bad sometimes.

Secondly, given the tire fire the Canucks have been since Edler, and then later Tanev, were injured, what happens if either get injured, we are back to where we were before.

GM Jim Benning has said a few times over the last couple of weeks that the NHL has gotten faster, which is a fair observation, although it shouldn’t be a revelation. Looking the group listed above, their speed isn’t of great concern, but I would be a little worried when injuries hit.

I can’t stress enough, that there will be changes to the group going forward. Whether that be a UFA signing or  a trade which results in someone from this group ultimately not wearing a Canucks jersey when the season starts. Generally teams will give themselves so leeway when entering the summer, but it appears the Canucks have taken the steps to have a full squad in advance and then make moves accordingly. Maybe it’s an effort to ensure that they aren’t scrambling to fill roster spots, only time will tell.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next six months, but it’s clear that at this moment, the Canucks seem to have their 8 spots pencilled in.