Vancouver Canucks: 3 Players Currently on the Trade Block
D Luca Sbisa
While the Canucks played a terrible season as a whole, there are some players who stood out in particular. Matt Bartkowski is one who comes to mind, and Luca Sbisa is certainly part of this conversation as well. But he isn’t quite as bad as he is made out to be.
Drafted 19th overall in 2008, Sbisa is simply one of many players who never lived up to their potential, and who are constantly bashed by fans despite being decent players. In his first season following the draft, Sbisa played in 39 games for the Philadelphia Flyers, so he seemed like a home-run pick. But, he was returned to WHL Lethbridge for the rest of the year.
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Then, in 2010, the Flyers traded Sbisa to the Anaheim Ducks. Not because they didn’t like him, but because they acquired star defenseman Chris Pronger and needed a promising return. It took Sbisa until the 2011-12 season to stay with the Ducks for a full year, but he still looked like a promising top-four D-man at the time.
Unfortunately for him, Sbisa was traded once more in 2014. Again, not because the Ducks didn’t like him, but because they needed to give something up to acquire Canucks center Ryan Kesler. Now 26 years old, Sbisa finds himself on the trade block again — this time because he didn’t become the top-four player he was supposed to be. Thrust into the position due to Vancouver’s injury woes last season, the Swiss blue liner struggled mightily.
With the acquisition of Erik Gudbranson and the emergence of Ben Hutton as a top-four player, Sbisa is finally in a position to succeed — as a bottom-pairing player. He brings physicality to the lineup, skates well and can carry the puck (even though he skates himself into trouble sometimes). But, as elaborated earlier, there might be no room for him, as Benning and head coach Willie Desjardins are planning with Philip Larsen as the new power-play quarterback.
After seeing what Vancouver and the Edmonton Oilers were willing to give up for Adam Larsson and Erik Gudbranson, respectively, you’ve got to think there’s a market for Sbisa. As said, Sbisa is a solid bottom-six player, there simply is no room for him on the lineup.
Next: RW Derek Dorsett