The Canucks had a stinker of a trade deadline and the fans have taken notice. Hell, even the national media is giving this one it’s fair share of air-time. 

Canucks general manager Jim Benning entered the draft with any number of pending unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents and expendable pieces, but left empty handed. That’s the nightmare scenario this club’s fans envisioned over the course of the weekend. 

Inter-divisional opposition made waves. The Canucks made excuses. If the Canucks front office is ever cleansed in a Soviet-style purge, point to this Monday as the defining day in their downfall. 

Which begs the question to you, the fans: what level of faith do you have in the Canucks front office?

Last week I asked: What is your take on the Hunter Shinkaruk for Markus Granlund trade? Is it a trade you would make in Jim Benning’s shoes? If so, why?

The Granlund/Shinkaruk trade makes no sense on any level.

-For one this guy can’t crack the Calgary line up, which wouldn’t be the end of the world if he was Shinkaruks age and had a couple years left of not having to clear waivers but this is not the case. This player could very well not make the team next year and be lost via waivers just like Corrado.

-Benning says he wants to get a bigger player who can get to the dirty areas to score goals. Well Granlund might even be smaller than Shinkaruk and is 2 years older. Shinkaruk could have scored 40 goals if he played the full season in Utica. Last year Shinkaruk was coming off a big injury so comparing players 1St years in the AHL is meaningless.

-Benning says this was his best offer, we’ll if so why make it now. Not like this had to be done now and he could have been added to a big package deal for a legit defenseman.

-We have lots of centers, sedins, horvat, Sutter, JM, vey, Granlund and cracknell is probably the order. Another thing to notice is other than Sutter they are all small to average size. Why add another small average player to that group and now what happens if we add Mathews, McLeod or Dubois at the draft?? Granlund will be on waivers again as these 3 are all or very close to be NHL ready.

I make the Granlund for Shinkaruk trade and dip into the centre depth to go after potentially impact talent.

McCann plus Baertschi for Drouin.

It looks like Benning sold on an asset (Shinkaruk) while his value was inflated. There appears to be a very strong statistical probability that Shinkaruk will neither be able to sustain or duplicate the success he has been enjoying at the AHL level this year. Add the reported ‘facts’ regarding his soft play, sloppy defence and unwillingness to commit to improvements in those areas and one can understand why the Canucks current management didn’t view Shinkaruk as an NHL-level difference-making player.

As for Granlund, much of the criticism I hear (Currently from Canucks media/fans, formerly from Flames media/fans) reminds me of the criticisms placed on Baertschi at the time of that trade.

In conclusion, only time will tell but it’s safe to say that Benning and Co. feel Granlund has a better chance than Shinkaruk at fulfilling an effective role at the NHL level. On a personal level, I haven’t seen Granlund play a minute of hockey but look forward to getting that chance soon. I have no idea who wins this trade yet, as nobody does, but I’m excited at the idea of another Baertschi-level player joining the fold.

I also wonder if this frees up a spot on the Left side that could be filled in the very near future via trade. There are some intriguing names out there, currently under contract with teams that are looking for upgrades at the Trade Deadline. The first two that come to mind for me are Drouin or Nichushkin.

It is a trade that I would have made, but with differing variables. Benning has said that they tried to look for a defencemen, but failed to do so. His response to that was to trade mid season for Markus Granlund..

Theres nothing wrong with the players involved when you compare the two. Both were able to score at a 25-30 goal a season pace at the ahl, albeit Granlund did it in his first season in the ahl. Hunter shinkaruk probably has more offensive upside, but hes also past the point in his career to be a dynamic player. Often criticized that his goals will not translate to the nhl.

With the scouting department likely seeing more upside with baertschi, there isnt much room for many small wingers on the team. The only baffling thing is why they did the trade now, and not on draft day, where they could have packaged shinkaruk for something else. His value wouldnt drop either, as hes having quite the season with the comets.

In addition, getting Granlund gives the canucks 7 centres… Sedin, sutter, horvat, mccann, vey, and cracknell being the others. So if vey is cut… We paid a second and shinkaruk for granlund. Asset management at its finest.

The problem with the Granlund trade as I see isn’t just that they didn’t necessarily get full value for Hunter – maybe they did, maybe the didn’t. It’s that they traded from a position of weakness (speedy skilled sniper) to a position of strength (middle-six utility player). Why not hang on to that player and see if he turns out, or trade him as part of a package to fill a position of weakness?

The Canucks have lots of guys in the organization who can play the kind of role that Granlund is expected to play – they’ve got Higgins, Kenins, Gaunce, and Grenier all in the minors right now who would likely be (or in the case of Higgins and Kenins, have been) solid third-line players at the NHL level. They have Burrows, Hansen, Etem, McCann, and Virtanen at the NHL level who are or could be solid third line (or better) players. Decent third liners are available for trade as free agent signings all the time.

Shinkaruk may not ever hit his ceiling, but his ceiling is something the Canucks haven’t had much of in recent years – a young, fast, goal-scoring sniper.

If the Canucks really felt it was time to move on from Shinkaruk, why not hang on to him and include him in a package to land a more prominent asset than Granlund? There’s rumours that the Canucks are still in on Drouin, for example – would Tampa Bay have been interested in Shinkaruk as part of a larger package for Drouin? Possibly. There are rumours that Toronto is open for offers on Nazem Kadri – if Vancouver wants to return to respectability sooner rather than later, maybe Shinkaruk can form part of a package for Naz. Or just hang on to him until the draft, and if there’s a player on the board a couple spots above your draft position, bundle him up with a draft pick and move up at the draft. Shinkaruk’s a player with value, to this organization and other organizations.

If McCann is going to Utica next year (which seems likely) to play a 1st line C position with top minutes and 1st unit PP time and Canucks have seen enough of Vey to decide he’s not their 4C going forward after Sutter is healthy, getting an NHL ready bottom 6 C makes a LOT of sense. Especially when you consider Granlund is another guy like Baertschi who just didn’t fit with the Flames. Was Granlund really ever going to beat out Bennett or Stajan for a full time spot? Probably not. At least not anytime soon. The Canucks have a much speedier more skilled bottom 6 in comparison to Calgary’s which is a heavier tougher one. The fit seems right. It does suggest that the Canucks have an extra guy in their bottom 6 now though even after Vrbata is gone. Is that Vey? McCann? Cracknell? Burrows? I imagine we’ll find out in the next few days.