
3. Keeping Dan Hamhuis and Radim Vrbata
Unlike the 2014-15 season, the Vancouver Canucks were far out of the playoff race by the time the trade deadline rolled around in 2016. The Canucks had a pair of quality trade chips in veteran blueliner Dan Hamhuis and Vrbata. It was a weak trade market, so the Canucks could have fetched a couple of young assets.
Just about everybody expected Jim Benning to trade away Hamhuis and Vrbata, and it wasn’t because of their ages (33 and 34, respectively). Both were set to become free agents at season’s end, and it didn’t make sense to keep either for the remainder of the season.
But when it was trade deadline day, Benning didn’t trade either of them. Hamhuis could have gone to Boston, but apparently didn’t want to go there because he didn’t consider them a Cup contender:
Hamhuis said last night that going to a contender was top priority to waive NMC. #Bruins don't fit.
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) February 29, 2016
The Canucks and Dallas Stars (Hamhuis’ current team), were close to a deal, but the Stars made a trade for Kris Russell of the Calgary Flames at the last minute.
We don’t know exactly what the Canucks would have receiver for either guy, but even a pair of seventh-round selections for the two would have been better than nothing. It just made zero sense for a bottom-five team to hold on to a pair of veterans that weren’t re-signing.