On today’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal broke down all the latest surrounding the Vancouver Canucks as they get set to face off against former captain Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders tonight.
Most of Tuesday’s episode was spent talking about the reception that Horvat will get tonight, which left the door open for today’s show to predominantly be about the news of the day, that the Canucks will be without defenceman Carson Soucy for 6-8 weeks.
More specifically, the guys talked about how the Canucks are rolling with four right-handed defencemen tonight while Akito Hirose is slated to be a healthy scratch. Quads talked about how Hirose should get in for Noah Juulsen on Thursday in Calgary, and that whoever plays better could be the player who sticks in the lineup longer. Harman also talked about how Juulsen and Hirose are quite different players, which could make the Canucks’ defence corps composition an interesting story to follow.
The chat and social media was buzzing with trade packages for players like Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev to provide immediate help on the blue line, but given what those players may cost to acquire, both Quads and Harman were preaching patience on the trade front.
“First of all, you hope that your organizational depth is good enough to help you stay afloat from losing a bottom pair defenceman who was playing very well,” said Quads. “I’m not trying to discredit what Soucy was doing, but it is a bottom pair defenceman that you’re trying to replace. Sure, his minutes got higher in some games, but regardless, you’re replacing a guy in the bottom half of your defence corps, so you’re hoping that the organizational depth is enough. If you’re the Canucks, Zadorov and Tanev are both free agents at the end of this year, so why would you pull the trigger and give up assets to get them?
“I’m just looking at it and saying don’t make a trade yet. If you’re going to make a trade, I don’t think you need to rush. You want to see what this defence corps looks like. And look, if you start going on a skid, then yeah, okay, maybe you make a trade, because going into tonight, the Canucks are one win away from being at the top of the Western Conference. So sure, maybe you do owe it to the players if they’re able to get there and then all of a sudden you’re going to skid because your team can’t defend anymore. Maybe you do owe it to the players to go out and get them some help if you go on a skid, but if you’re more or less playing the same level of hockey, I wouldn’t be giving away one of these premium assets like a Nils Höglander or Aatu Räty or Vasily Podkolzin, which according to Dhaliwal, in Calgary, if they trade one of these guys, they’re looking for a young prospect kind of player that can play in their lineup right now.”
Harman went on to talk about how it’s also valuable for the Canucks to see what they really have in players like Noah Juulsen, Akito Hirose, or maybe even Matt Irwin and Christian Wolanin down the line. Additionally, Harman talked about how Calgary will be trying to get the best return for Tanev possible, especially if they’re dealing him within the Pacific Division, which makes you wonder if the Canucks would even want to be on the other end of that trade.
Watch the full replay of today’s show below!
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