Vancouver Canucks: More to a Season than Just the Playoffs

Of course the Vancouver Canucks want to make the playoffs.

The more the Vancouver Canucks struggle and slip away from the playoffs, the more the team and the city seem hungry for it. With just seven games left before the 2016 NHL Trade Deadline, all the talk in Vancouver is about the playoffs and how the veterans and the pending unrestricted free agents could find themselves on the way out from Vancouver.

But is the entire season really about the playoffs and the trade deadline frenzy?

Vancouver fans have a knack for being irrational, you know.

Especially for a Vancouver team with the youth movement in full swing, the highlight of the regular season should not be the anticipation of the playoffs, nor the endless drama and exhilaration surrounding the trade deadline.

Really, the main delicacy of the season is the development of the youth. Watching McCann’s Corsi For percentages climb up, watching Ben Hutton get his powerplay time, watching Jake Virtanen make a push after a disappointing World juniors — these are the underrated things that all Canucks fans should be on the lookout for.

It can hurt to watch the team sit so many places out of the playoffs. Therefore, it’s okay to dream about the playoffs, folks. I do too.

But there is even more to the 82-game marathon NHL season, beyond the wins, the losses, the trades, the playoffs, and the developing youngsters. It’s just that Vancouver is so obsessive with these things that nobody cares about anything else.

So here it is, this week’s edition of the Canucklehead Lament, on the four underrated storylines of the Canucks’ 2015-16 season. It is time to think outside the box, step away from the obsession over #tanknation or #playoffs, and quit talking about renting out a suite for the Canucks’ moms.

Next: Storyline No. 1: The Compensatory Pick

Storyline No. 1: The Compensatory Pick

The Vancouver Canucks could have up to three of the first 30 picks of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

Heading into a strong 2016 draft, the talk is about the Vancouver Canucks tanking for Auston Matthews. But in a year headlined with the abundance of strong prospects that could spill over into the middle picks of the second round, the Canucks have got to be happy with where they are in the standings and now with Brandon Sutter and Alex Edler out for some two months.

But with the team and the moms refusing to tank, it will be tough to take advantage of the early picks.

More from The Canuck Way

• Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

Guess what, if there is anything positive that John Tortorella has accomplished for the Canucks, it is fetching Vancouver a second-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Now that pick looks better than ever with Columbus so close to the bottom of the league.  They enter Saturday as the fourth-best team to win the Draft Lottery this year. That means that the Canucks could have one of the first picks of the second round, followed closely with their own second-round pick.

Actually, there is more to the story than just the one pick.

Last year the Calgary Flames entered the draft with three second-round picks. Calgary then flipped the first two of the three to the Boston Bruins as part of the Dougie Hamilton transaction. Could the Canucks pull a similar act? If Vancouver trades away a pending free agent for a second-round pick, the surplus of picks could serve to be a lethal weapon in Trader Jim’s hands.

Don’t forget about this pick!

The one condition to this, though, is that Columbus has the option of deferring the pick transfer to next year, or even 2018.

Next: Storyline No. 2: The Utica Comets Struggling

Storyline No. 2: The Utica Comets Struggling

Maybe placing third in the AHL North Division with 53 points in 47 games doesn’t exactly spell out a struggle for the Utica Comets, the AHL Affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, but the Comets are not meeting expectations.

Can anyone think of three factors that have resulted in this slumping season?

Right. I am sorry that some of us are not on the Comets Bandwagon that flared during the Calder Cup Playoffs last year.

More from Canucks News

• Canucks are in “wash, rinse, repeat” mode after Monday’s 5-1 loss
• Canucks send Jack Rathbone and Vasily Podkolzin down to Abbotsford
• Canucks acquire Ethan Bear, Lane Pederson from Carolina
• Brock Boeser, Curtis Lazar placed on injury reserve
• Canucks officially unveil Reverse Retro jersey in latest aesthetic change

First off, the Canucks had to call up boatloads of their top players. That list includes Andrey Pedan, Taylor Fedun, Richard Bachman, and many more. Although the circumstances have turned around and the Canucks are giving veterans to the Comets, the struggle to date has got to be a result of missing their top players. Prime example — their captain Alex Biega just got signed by the Canucks.

Secondly, the Comets had their own injury struggles. Fedun had a major injury, all-star Hunter Shinkaruk had his injury, and Darren Archibald has had his setbacks. That has resulted in the Comets handing out PTO contracts for roster-filling purposes. Without a steady lineup, one can’t expect the Comets to form chemistry and win.

Lastly, the goaltending took a major hit when Jacob Markstrom was taken by Vancouver. Last season, both Markstrom and third-string netminder Joe Cannata put up save percentages over .930. This season, Bachman has struggled (.899 save percentage) and pushed Cannata to share duties with him with not much success (.908 save percentage).

AHL netminding might be one of the things on Trader Jim’s bucket lists this trade deadline.

Next: Storyline No. 3: Re-signing the Trio

Storyline No. 3: Re-signing Baertschi, Etem, and Vey?

Yes, the offseason means that Dan Hamhuis, Brandon Prust, Radim Vrbata, Yannick Weber, and Matt Bartkowski (oh no! What about Beth Bartkowski?) are all going to hit unrestricted free agency.

Also previously discussed, it means that guys like Andrey Pedan, Taylor Fedun, Alex Grenier, Mike Zalewski, and Ronalds Kenins are going to hit either unrestricted free agency or restricted free agency. All five mentioned above are 24 years old or younger, with the exception of Fedun, who is set to hit the UFA market as a 27-year-old.

But has anyone thought of how much raise that Sven Baertschi, Emerson Etem, and Linden Vey might demand? The three are all coming up on their RFA status. The combined cap hit of the three this year? $2.75 million.

More from The Canuck Way

• Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

You can bet my life that those three will demand a sum of more than just $2.75 million for their next contracts.

Just kicking around some numbers, the figure rises to $5 million pretty quickly.

Vey would take a minor raise from his $1 million. Etem would take just a minor raise too, similar to the one-year contract Baertschi inked last year following the trade from Calgary. But Baertschi’s next contract would probably be at least two years long and at least at $2 million per year. And there it is, the three are getting paid at least $4.5 million next year.

For the Vancouver Canucks who want to make a big splash at the Free Agent Frenzy, that is not good news. Of course, there is the option of not re-signing them in the first place. Should that happen, I can see the rights to Vey being dangled for a minor pick, if at all anything.

But regardless, Jim Benning has some re-signing to do, even if he chooses not to bring back some UFA veterans and the RFA prospects. And as far as I am concerned, no one really cared about re-signing and giving raises to Vey, Etem, and Baertschi.

Next: Storyline No. 4: Never Enough Prospects?