Welcome to this week’s edition of What Would You Do Wednesday, hosted on Thursday. My apologies for the tardy article, but life happens and stuff.

The Vancouver Canucks, down the odd-man up front, have resorted to playing Andrey Pedan as a winger on their fourth line. This isn’t the first such move of its kind. Not even the first in Vancouver – John Tortorella pulled the same stunt with Yannick Weber, if memory serves. It does raise some questions about the team’s long-term vision for their lumbering Lithuanian defender, though.

I mean, they could just call up another forward. There’s three in Utica with NHL experience this season alone – Mike Zalewski, Alex Friesen and Alexandre Grenier. So it’s not entirely unfair to wonder if the Canucks experiment with Pedan at forward will last into next season and beyond.

Makes less than no sense to me, or Ryan Biech for that matter. Wanted to hear what our readership’s take on the situation is, though. So, how do you feel about Pedan at forward? Would you continue this experiment into next season?

Last week I asked: Which of Loui Eriksson or Milan Lucic would you prefer the Canucks to pursue in free agency? If neither of those two, who do you have in mind?

NEITHER

Eriksson – 30 Y/O looking for a 4 year deal in the $4.5M to $5.0M. Another 34 Y/O player making $5.0M who can’t score? No Thanks.

Lucic – Probably looking at offers in the 6-7 year range @ $6M to $7M per season. 20 goals @ that price? No Thanks.

If you can get Lucic at a reasonable price for five years or less, Lucic, especially if the Canucks win the draft lottery and are able to bring in a top-four defenceman as well through trade or free-agency. Adding Lucic, Matthews, and a top-four D would go a long way to making this team competitive again.

That being said, if the Canucks don’t win the draft lottery and/or can’t get Lucic at a reasonable rate and term, don’t do it – Lucic is already showing signs of decline and he’s not a player I’d want on my team much past 30.

Eriksson would not be a good fit for this team. He’s still a reasonably productive player but he’s on the wrong side of thirty and isn’t a game-changer. He’d be a great complementary piece to a team that’s competing for a Stanley Cup, but he’s not the kind of guy you want if your team isn’t going to be competitive for a couple more years.

Neither and nothing.

1. This team has a full roster that needs to figure out what it can actually do.

2. Goalie of the future not quite ready — have not seen Marky steal a game. If Demko is coming soon, start positioning the team to peak with him and Marky.

3. Expiring contracts = cap space = be patient and wait for the deals.

4. Draft — no idea what’s coming and what’s on the table and what’s needed until you get what you get.

As nice as it would be to say this is the transition season, it’s likely 2-3 years and this team could be very competitive… Bringing in a couple high priced aging vets isn’t going to help.

This team could soon have a nice bundle of cap cash to play with and if no one signs any stupid contracts, the team could be positioned to buy what they need when they need it.

After this draft, there is a much clearer picture of what the team has and how to fill the gaps or improve players in key positions.

Not spending to the cap leaves room to strategically manoeuvre– isn’t that the big complaint about what GMMG left for Benning? No room to move? Why handcuff yourself now?

We have players similar to the question posed:

Virtanen is similar to a younger Lucic

Hansen is similar to Erickson at a much cheaper cost

When we draft in top 3 this year we should have an NHL ready prospect to insert into line-up.

Although I suggested last week that we sign Boedker, which might not be to bad just for someone to help score, I am a little concerned about signing any free-agent at this moment because of possible expansion.

By signing a FA it would mean we would have to expose a young player in expansion draft or the free-agent we just signed(which might work out ok if said FA was only wanted or needed for a season).

So many variables at this stage ie: expansion, signing of current RFA’s & are are our injured players going to be able to recover (Edler).

Maybe we are best off to wait until the 2017-18 season before we go “all-in” on free agency. By then we should have a better idea on where the youth development stands.

Gillis and Gilman wouldn’t sign either of these players.

The Canucks would be foolish to pass.

Not that they have a change at either though…

Neither. Troy Brouwer, please.

No, I say NO to either. Wrong player at the wrong time.

Stamkos, yes, if it’s realistic. Otherwise go into the season with a ton of cap space and be a predator at the salary cap cut down date.

Get rid of more of the old guard. I think the Sedins are here until they retire but let’s have a new culture. Assuming the Canucks have another good draft it is time to start converting quantity to quality. Maybe even draft a college bound goalie with a mid to late round pick, for the future.

Without a doubt, Eriksson. If he clicks with the Sedins, you not only have a bona-fide #1 line, but you have a line that all the kids can look up to as both an ideal style of hockey and something to take the pressure off them to perform so much.

If you’re trying to raise the kids to the next level, taking some pressure away from them allows them to focus on playing and getting better rather than worrying about levels of production. They would have an incredible line to learn from in practice; how is that bad? We’re not competing in the next couple of years anyway, focus on development.

Lucic is a goon. He’ll just teach them that to win you just hit things and then put the puck in the net. It’s the way of the Luddite school of hockey. I want the kids to grow up to be smart players, not goons.