Canucks don’t qualilfy Derrick Pouliot; will still discuss deal
The Canucks have elected to not qualify Derrick Pouliot to avoid arbitration. This could give their roster a little flexibility and provide an opportunity to introduce new players on the blue line.
The NHL deadline for qualifying restricted free agents has passed. We found out this afternoon that Jim Benning and the Vancouver Canucks did not qualify Derrick Pouliot, confirmed by Rick Dhaliwal.
For some of you this may be a surprise. Pouliot’s qualifying offer was very little and on the surface, he had a good season, collecting 22 points. That total ties for second on the Canucks blue line with Michael Del Zotto. Keep in mind, Pouliot had favourable deployment on the power play and started few faceoffs in his own end. At age 24, he is also approaching the stage where there is little development left for him, if any.
According to Dhaliwal, the Canucks chose this path to avoid arbitration, regarding a one-way or two-way deal. He goes on to say that Pouliot had a good case for a one-way deal (which he does). By doing this, Pouliot becomes an unrestricted free agent and other teams can talk to him and possibly offer him that one-way deal.
Or, the Canucks and Pouliot come to an agreement before July 1st. Dhaliwal also said that both sides are still interested in a one-year deal, but will let Pouliot test the market.
What this means
To me, it tells us a few things. First, the Canucks don’t see Pouliot as a firm part of the future, which is good to hear. He’s a specialty power play defenceman that should be sheltered on a third pairing (exactly like Yannick Weber). Second, if the Canucks don’t want to pay him NHL money in the AHL, then it appears they want to have the flexibility to add another left-handed player to the back end.
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Perhaps that could be Olli Juolevi or potentially Quinn Hughes if chooses to leave Michigan and sign with the Canucks. In a vacuum, this move is acceptable because the Canucks can’t bring back the worst defence in the league without any changes. Someone needs to go and we’re at the point where I don’t care who it is. Although, if the offers on Chris Tanev continue to stay low, then we will have no choice, but to keep him.
In terms of asset management, it doesn’t look great since the Canucks paid for Pouliot with a 4th round pick from this year’s draft. Don’t forget to add the throw-in that was Andrey Pedan, who himself cost a 3rd round pick. So, if Pouliot walks away for nothing, it’s not a great look. With that said, I would respect the Canucks more for walking away from another unspectacular player; someone who could not defend to save his life and whose offence does not outweigh this critical flaw.
Canucks coaches and favourites
Lastly, there is one thing that could be of interest if Pouliot signs elsewhere. The Canucks would be ridding themselves of one of Travis Green‘s favourites. Every NHL coach in this league has strange preferences for certain players. Whether it’s how they play or in the Canucks’ case, they played for them before.
We saw this with Willie Desjardins for Linden Vey, Emerson Etem, and Brandon McMillan. For Travis Green, it’s Derrick Pouliot, Sven Baertschi and recently Brendan Leipsic. Why it’s troubling in the case of the Canucks is how much influence these coaches have on the roster. That’s not how this works. The General Manager builds the team, not the coach. Green should learn that he won’t always get his way and moving on from Pouliot will do that.
I’m sure Green understands this. Even if he prefers Pouliot stays, if a better offer is out there, then he should take it. I may not think much of Pouliot, but there will always be a team to take on someone with offensive upside, no matter how bad they are on defence.
For him, he has his eighth overall draft status to carry him through. Despite not playing a full NHL season until six years after he was drafted, managers will still gravitate to that “draft pedigree,” whatever that means. At the end of the day, I hope Pouliot can find a good deal with another team.
Next: Canucks roundup: rumours, trades and parting ways
Conversely, the poor asset management would be disappointing, but nothing new considering how this team operates. There are few hills to die on regarding Canucks players and personally, Derrick Pouliot is not one of them.