Vancouver Canucks LW Chris Higgins in Utica is a Win-Win

Benefit: Higgins can help nurture the future Canucks

If there is anything a 32-year-old can do on a team of 20-year-olds, it is bringing leadership.

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Higgins has yet to play a game for the Comets and it is possible that he never will. As the AHL heads into its All-Star break, the Comets will not play until January 23rd. There still is a chance that the Canucks can trade Higgins before then.

Higgins will be a great mentor with his defensive game. He did post top-ten possession numbers on the 2014-15 Canucks squad alongside 36 points in 77 games, after all. He will be great for Brendan Gaunce and Hunter Shinkaruk.

It is hard to see where the Comets will place him in their lineup, though. After Vey got called up and Nicklas Jensen was traded, Utica’s first line was decimated. The best-case scenario for Higgins would be to play the off-wing to the right of Gaunce, who will either play as the team’s top centreman or as the second-line left winger behind Shinkaruk. If Higgins stays on the left wing, it is hard to see him bumping Shinkaruk, but a line of Shinkaruk-Gaunce-Higgins should be a good first line for Utica.

That being said, the Comets need to make a push. They have gone 3-5-1-1 in their past 10 games and find themselves in danger of falling from third to fifth place in the North Division. As expendable as Higgins was in Vancouver, he will be a great boost for the Comets.

And his abs. I wonder if he will give away the secrets to his abs to some of the Comets down there…

Next: Benefit for Higgins himself