Vancouver Canucks: The Curse of the Goaltender Trades

If the Vancouver Canucks are going to make a trade at the deadline, it’s going to be more of the same: accepting “what the market will bear”.

It wasn’t long ago that Vancouver Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis and forward Radim Vrbata were thrust into the rumour mill, courtesy of Jim Benning, and the ball hasn’t stopped rolling.

It all started when Benning announced that no contract discussions would be held until the end of the season, sparking a debate on the team’s interest in signing either one of them beyond 2016. After less than stellar performances thus far, Vrbata and Hamhuis are in the thick of the trade deadline hype, but more likely than not, “fair value” in return just isn’t in the cards.

Much has been made about the “value” of rental players for this year’s deadline. As Pierre Lebrun speculated, there may be a steep decline in the value of rental players at the deadline. To say this news is “unfortunate” or “bad timing” for the Canucks is an understatement, especially when you consider the team’s recent track record.

It’s not often that a team ships out a franchise goaltender, but when it’s all said and done, the Canucks may have traded away not two, but three starting NHL goaltenders in Roberto Luongo, Cory Schneider and Eddie Lack.

Moving an elite player to make space for a younger option is commonplace in pro sports, but it’s hard to make sense of what occurred in Vancouver in such a short period of time. To get a realistic comparison of the quality being shipped out and the performance of that player post trade, you might look as far back as the 1995 trade of Patrick Roy.

Just let that comparison settle for a minute… or maybe a year.

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Now, it may still be a little early to throw Lack into the equation, but it’s fair to say he’ll likely be the starting goalie for the Carolina Hurricanes moving into next season, making him at least an NHL calibre starter, and that’s saying something. Not that you really need him in the mix to make the point.

Like most veteran for prospect trades, it takes a few years to see the value balance out, but for what equates to three NHL goaltenders (two elite and a starter), the Vancouver Canucks were taken to the cleaners.

In his second season, Bo Horvat has established himself as a solid two-way forward, but unlikely to live up to the trade of Schneider, who has been on a roll with a staggering .928 save pourcentage and 2.54 goals-against average. A true Vezina calibre season.

Meanwhile, Jacob Markstrom has proven to be a valuable backup goaltender, but still has a way to go in his development. H

ow is Luongo you ask? Great. In fact, Luongo currently ranks in the top 10 in save percentage at .924 and wins at 24, as the Florida Panthers push for the playoffs. Guillaume Brisebois remains relatively unknown, as you might expect for a prospect drafted just last year, while Lack has recovered from a slow start, backing Carolina on their most recent winning streak.

Surely there’s room to grow for these Canucks players, but it’s a truly remarkable comparison. Is it just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or is something sneaky going on?

It’s been well documented that former general manager Mike Gillis had his back against the wall with a crowded crease and teams were coming at him with “solutions” to his goalie “problem” of having two number one goaltenders in Luongo and Schneider. After a long soap opera, a decision was finally made, and the show was over. Unfortunately the solution of going “off the board” and trading away both goaltenders came at a very steep price, and one that has casted a shadow over the franchise in years since.