Vancouver Canucks: What Missing Drake Caggiula Means

Apr 9, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; North Dakota Fighting Hawks forward Drake Caggiula (9) skates around with the trophy after beating the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the championship game of the 2016 Frozen Four college ice hockey tournament at Amalie Arena. North Dakota defeated Quinnipiac 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 9, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; North Dakota Fighting Hawks forward Drake Caggiula (9) skates around with the trophy after beating the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the championship game of the 2016 Frozen Four college ice hockey tournament at Amalie Arena. North Dakota defeated Quinnipiac 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
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Jul 2, 2015; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; NHL draft number one pick Connor McDavid walks out to the ice in the Edmonton Oilers rookie camp at the Rexall Center. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

The Connor McDavid Effect: EDM will Get what it Wants

Yes, the Connor McDavid effect. Although one can only imagine that McDavid would not be centering Caggiula this coming October, the very prospect of being in the same lineup seems to have drawn Caggiula away from Boeser.

Unless, of course, GM Peter Chiarelli talked Caggiula into believing that the Oilers might lend him a spot on the McDavid line, that is.

Are you going to call this unfair from Vancouver’s perspective? Think again.

More from Canucks News

How did Radim Vrbata come to the Canucks? Via free agency. But really, how? To play with the Sedin twins. To a lesser degree, remember how David Booth, the then-coveted power forward, land with the Canucks a few summers back? To play with fellow American then-Canuck Ryan Kesler.

The Canucks had their fair share of attracting free agents through name power. Now the cycle is allowing the Oilers to do the same thing. Unfair? Not in Edmonton’s perspective, especially when they have thousands of Fort McMurray refugees filing into the city.

But this is a sign of things to come. The Canucks are bound to be handicapped by this for the foreseeable future. McDavid is not going to move away from the Pacific Division, and big names could continue to trickle into Edmonton, especially when the rebuild leads to a contending team.

Just be thankful that any one of the top three picks of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft has not fallen into the hands of the Pacific Division rivals. Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, and Jesse Puljujarvi will only hurt Vancouver a handful times a year.

Next: Too PASSIONATE to be ATTRACTIVE