Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet that makes it all up as it goes.

Speaking of improv…ement, the Vancouver Canucks might just be in need of some. If not dire need, then need of the same. And now, almost a quarter of the way through the season, most would agree that said improvement probably needs to come to the blueline, first and foremost.

But improving an NHL blueline is decidedly easier said than done. It’s true that general manager Patrik Allvin and Co. have done a better job of it in their three years on the job than Jim Benning did in his eight, but a better job is not necessarily a complete one.

The Vancouver D corps still needs work. Most would agree that it still needs at least one major addition – someone to fit in between the enormous gulf in capability that has formed between the pairing of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek and that of Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers.

It’s not quite the holiday season yet…but it’s seasonal enough to say it’s time for a wishlist.

You know we’re going to continue to publish articles on potential trade targets here at CanucksArmy until we run out of names to consider. That’s our job. But we have the time and space to really explore the full range of possibilities.

Not you. You’ve got just this time and just this space to identify the one (realistic) trade target that you think could genuinely fix the issues at hand.

This week, we’re asking you:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

My pick would be Craig Janney. Never played a game for the Canucks, but Quinn got three players in return for him and they went on a glorious run to the Cup Finals in ’94.

Same as my answer from last week: Randy Holt, 22 games, 1G, 3A, 80 PIM, edging out Quinn Hughes for greatest Vancouver Canuck of all time.

Mats Sundin might have the biggest impact of any short-term player. The team won one round of the playoffs, but the Sedins, Kesler, and others became better players after he joined the team. The Sedins have said that his mentorship helped them become elite players.

My pick is Anson Carter. Leading goal-scorer in his one year tenure with the team, ahead of the West Coast Express and the Sedins. Got him a pretty good payday with Columbus afterwards, also…

Thomas Vanek was all kinds of fun.

Although a fan from the beginning of the franchise, I think my answer will be the very recent Nikita Zadorov. He brought a lot, toughness, aggression, power, intelligence, and style. His financial demands were too high to retain him, but wasn´t he fun? Christian Erhoff would be my second choice.

For me as a high school kid in the late ‘70s ,it was the 16-game stint of Derek “Turk” Sanderson. 7 G , 9A , 16P, and 30 PM. Not to mention multiple women bedded and beers consumed.

Luc Bourdon. Only played 36 games with the big club, but it was evident he was going to be a great player. If not for that unfortunate motorcycle accident, he would have been a pillar of the defense on those great Canucks teams, particularly the SCF team in 2011.

Alexandre Burrows salutes with his firing to the heavens after he scored always got to me and reminded me of what could have been.

Geoff Sanderson. Was a Whalers fan, so I was pretty stoked that he came to Vancouver back in ‘97-‘98. If only they could’ve held onto him long enough to see him reunited with Cassels, but he just wound up being another victim of Keenan’s reign of errors.

I’d say there are two separate categories for this question for me which result in different answers. The first is “favorite short-term Canuck for how good they were during that short time” and the second is “favorite for how hilariously short their tenure with the team ended up being.” Recent archetypes would be Zadorov for the first and Sprong for the second.

All-time, in the first category I would pick Bob Essensa, for coming in as a 35-year-old journeyman and backstopping a winning record and in so doing helping the team squeak into the playoffs for the first time in years. It was 39 magical regular season games and two hard-fought efforts in playoff losses with our team hopelessly overmatched against the eventual champs from Colorado. Will never run out of love for Backup Bob.

In the second category, I’m taking pint-sized defenceman Lee Sweatt, who scored a nice goal assisted by Daniel Sedin in his first NHL game. After two more games, he was out of the league forever, but we will always have that beauty against Nashville to remember him by. (Coincidentally, his younger brother Billy also only played three career NHL games, also with the Canucks, but never achieved immortality with a Sedin-assisted goal).

Depends on the definition of short-term. How many games?

Memorable to me…

At less than 100: Cowan the Brabarian, Jeff Cowan

Less than 20: Sean Burke.

Not the best save/win percentage in goal, but when he was throwing down with Barnaby and Shields? Awesome.

I can’t believe I am old enough to remember sitting in the bar and watching both of those fights…

Anyone remember when Steve Kariya played for the Canucks? He was a complete underdog to make the team, but did make the team for a short while. He had a small stature, but a lot of great skills. Unfortunately, his size ultimately contributed to him having a short tenure with the Canucks.

There must be hundreds of potential answers to this question. I know personally a couple ex-Canucks who got short stints. Great guys who played pretty long careers in the minors.

Most of the “short-term” Canucks most won’t remember. None jump out of the memory banks as a favourite.

One ex Canuck I wished had a longer tenure as a Canuck was Michael Grabner. Vigneault didn’t seem to like him much, preferring to play grunts, and Gillis wasted the asset (along with a first round pick) in a trade for Keith Ballard. Still a trade that belongs somewhere on the list of worst trades in franchise history.

Grabner was scary fast. He scored 34 goals the season after being traded. He didn’t go on to a memorable career, but in his limited time as a Canuck he could be really exciting to watch.

TH:
I’ll go with Kellan Lain, who played all 9 of his career NHL games with the Canucks. Best known for setting an NHL record by getting ejected two seconds into his first career game after being involved in the line brawl against the Flames that led Torts to try to attack Bob Hartley in the Flames dressing room.

Mike Peca. He played 37 games and almost killed Temu Selanne in the playoffs, then was traded in the Mogilny package. I thought he was going to be a captain after Linden.

Ronalds Kenin. The Latvian locomotive. The guy was a buzzsaw. Plus, who adds an ‘s’ to Ronald? His mother knew he was more than just one man. Honorable mentions go to Thomas Vanek, Cody Hodgson, and Nikita Tryamkin.

How about Claire Alexander? Known as “The Milkman” because of his part-time job before making the NHL, he scored 26 points in the 32 games he played as a defenceman for the Canucks in his lone season ‘77-‘78. He was most known for his booming shot from the point and his resemblance to Popeye when he removed his dentures.

This may be recency biased, but Zadorov was a beauty; he should have been the priority signing in the offseason. We need a 2D pair improvement and he fit that bill. One rare miss by this management group.

Thinking about this looking further back, I really liked Darren Langdon. One season. 45 games, 143 PIMs, and one monster assist.

Paul Reinhart played only 130 or so games for the Canucks, at the tail-end of career, bad back and all. He was the best defencemen the Canucks ever had up to that point in the franchise history.

Played with poise, elegance, seemingly effortless, and had a way of “looking off forwards” as they bear down on him, causing them to skate right by.

Great passer, classy guy on and off the ice, a treat to watch play.

Arturs Irbe is the guy for me. The little Lavian had a winning record in the most dismal era of Canuck history.

Keenan had a goalie carousel, and Irbe couldn’t seem to garner the coach’s respect, but played excellent every start.

He went on to have a great career; makes me wonder what could have been if Irbe was kept to be the goalie in the West Coast Express years.

Just popping in to say how much I enjoyed the responses this week. So much variety and texture, this was probably my favourite week of answers yet.

And for me, it’s Brandon Reid.