Vancouver Canucks mailbag: Prospects, lineup, more

Welcome to our segment of the Vancouver Canucks mailbag, where we answer your questions. This week’s agenda includes the prospects and lineup.

The Vancouver Canucks are a franchise with more questions than answers right now. Nobody really knows what to expect this team from the next three to five years, which is why we’re here to try and find out for you.

So I thought it would be fun to see what you fans want to know. We asked you to send in any questions you had.

Enjoy the Canucks mailbag, and be sure to tweet us your questions at any time. We’ll try our best to get to them.

Thanks for asking, Clay. I actually touched base on this on Saturday, but here’s a look at what I project the lineups to look like at the start of 2017-18:

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• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

Sven Baertschi — Bo Horvat — Brock Boeser
Markus Granlund — Brandon Sutter —Loui Eriksson
Daniel Sedin — Henrik Sedin — Sam Gagner
Nikolay Goldobin — Alexander Burmistrov — Jake Virtanen

Alexander Edler — Troy Stecher
Michael Del Zotto — Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton — Erik Gudbranson

Jacob Markstrom
Anders Nilsson

Obviously, moving the Sedin twins to the third line is a risk for new head coach Travis Green. But it’s best for both sides if they’re no longer asked to play first-line minutes, given how they’ll both be 37 this fall.

Related Story: Sedins should move down to 3rd line

Looking at the prospects

We got a handful of questions about some (hopeful) future Canucks stars.

This is a good question, but a tough one to answer. It’s much tougher to score in the SHL, and we don’t quite know yet how talented Pettersson truly is.

The SHL plays 52 regular seasons games, so you won’t be seeing mind-blowing 70-100 point seasons from Pettersson. But I’d say something along the lines of 35-40 points is realistic for the young Pettersson.

This one’s up in the air. But Jason Botchford from the Vancouver Province gave us some ideas:

“Up to now, most have assumed that Dahlen would likely spend this season playing in the AHL, but he said Tuesday he has some options to play again in Sweden…Pettersson said he will be playing for Växjö in the Swedish Hockey League, universally known as the country’s elite league. Dahlen said there could be chance he’s moved to that same team.”

We’ll probably find out soon enough…

For me, it’s Brock Boeser. Besides Daniel Sedin, when’s the last time Vancouver had a winger that was a pure goal-scorer? Alexandre Burrows back in 2012, probably.

Related Story: Prospects Ranking Top 20: The Honourable Mentions

Boeser turned heads by scoring four goals in just nine games last season. He’s one of the NHL’s golden prospects, and he should be able to score close to 20 goals in his rookie season. It’s been a while since Canucks fans could get excited about a scoring prospect. Boeser is that guy for 2017-18.

Jagr over Eriksson?

This was one intriguing question, and I strongly encourage you folks to share your thoughts in the comments:

Obviously, many folks aren’t happy about general manager Jim Benning signing Loui Eriksson to a six-year deal worth $36 million.  Eriksson scored just 11 goals and 24 points last season, and it never made sense for a rebuilding team to sign an aging veteran to that much in the first place.

So yes, signing Jaromir Jagr for two years would have made more sense. We’d have the opportunity to see the best mullet ever skate alongside the Sedins. And yes, the two-year pact would have provided much more salary cap space for the long-term future.

Next: Loui Eriksson will bounce back in 2018

Good question, Barry. The Vancouver Canucks should have chosen Jagr over Eriksson, since the front office was so bent on making a big splash last season.