Vancouver Canucks Roundtable: How to Continue the Rebuild

Feb 18, 2017; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler (23) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Calgary Flames during the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

The Vancouver Canucks have started their “transition period” aka rebuild. But what’s next?

Vancouver Canucks management won’t use the r-word to describe their current direction, and I tried my best to explain why here. But whatever they call it, the direction is obvious. The only question is how the Canucks are going to execute it going forward.

I discussed that with our staff that, by the way, has gotten increasingly small — so, if you want to write about the Canucks, shoot us a message via social media, apply using the link below or click here!

Anyway, let’s get to that discussion I was talking about.

To kick things off, I asked our staff: What are your thoughts about Vancouver’s deadline moves? Are you happy with the return for Burrows and Hansen or did you expect more?

Jeff Godley

I am somewhere between “cloud nine” and “over the moon.” The expansion draft meant Jannik Hansen had to be traded or else the Canucks would have lost one of Hansen, Sven Baertschi or Markus Granlund to Las Vegas. Despite plenty of doubt from the fanbase, Benning clearly recognized this problem and dealt with it proactively. Getting two assets, a former first-round pick plus a fourth-rounder that could become a first-rounder, is a great haul.

I would have been okay with re-signing Burrows on the cheap, but trading him also makes sense. Once again, despite plenty of doubts from the fanbase, Benning recognized an opportunity to get another asset.

The GM turned two veteran players (both with NTC restrictions) with a combined one year and three months of contract left, and turned them into a first-round pick, a high second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. Fantastic.

On a related note: go Sharks go!

Alex Hoegler

I think the Canucks are among the biggest winners at the trade deadline. You just had to have a feeling that the Canucks would once again stay away from selling off veterans for future assets. But it appears as though Jim Benning finally got the green light to start getting younger.

The return for Burrows was much better than I expected. I thought they would be lucky to get more than a third-round pick, but a top prospect in Jonathan Dahlen makes this a huge win for Benning. Even if Dahlen doesn’t pan out as expected, there wasn’t much of a future for the 36-year-old Burrows.

As for Hansen, I was expecting them to get a first-round pick and a B-level prospect. However, getting Nikolay Goldobin is a return you can’t complain about. Vancouver’s prospect pool suddenly seems so much better, now that the left wing position has been addressed.

Janik Beichler

I have to agree with Jeff and Alex here — Benning did a terrific job, and I am glad everyone was on board with his trade decisions. Leading up to the deadline, I was still totally unsure what to expect, as it always seemed like the Canucks were set on pushing for the playoffs. Thank God (or Jim Benning) they didn’t.

The only thing that could have been better is the condition on the fourth-round pick. Having it turn into a first would be absolutely awesome, but the chances are very slim. I feel like the Sharks making the playoffs should have been enough, or it would have been great to have the pick move up one round with every playoff round the Sharks win.