Vancouver Canucks: A look at the Left-Handed Defence depth chart

Over the past few weeks, I have been going over the Vancouver Canucks depth at different positions. Next up on the list is the left side of the blue line.

The Vancouver Canucks infamously came back with the exact same defence group last season that they did in the 2017-18 season. While general manager Jim Benning made some key personnel changes, such as moving Erik Gudbranson and Michael Del Zotto out, the defence still remains a question mark.

Let’s take a look at how the Canucks look on the left side of the blue line currently. Keep in mind, Benning has said he intends on giving the defence a bit of a new look this offseason.

Alex Edler

What a player Alex Edler has been for the Canucks these past couple of years. He has been tasked with playing on the top defence pair of a team that isn’t nearly as strong as the teams Edler was used to playing on earlier in his career. Edler is a veteran presence in the locker room, and as seen in this Troy Stecher mic’d up video, is someone that young defencemen on the team turn to for guidance.

While you can’t put a price tag on leadership, Edler is in need of a contract, as he will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. There have been multiple rumours as to why the Canucks haven’t come to an agreement with Edler’s camp yet, some say it’s term, some say it’s money, and some people are speculating that Edler wants a NMC that would protect him from the Seattle expansion draft.

Whatever the case may be, the Canucks will need to get something done this offseason to bring Edler back. Both sides have expressed interest in getting a deal done, and I believe that something will get done and that Edler will be back as a Canuck next season.

Ben Hutton

Ben Hutton is a curious case. One may even call it the curious case of Benjamin Hutton (credit to Daniel Wagner of the Vancouver Courier for that one). Hutton was a pick by former Canucks’ general manager Mike Gillis, taken in the fifth round from the University of Maine in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

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Hutton made his Canucks debut in the 2015-16 season, appearing in 75 games for the Canucks. In that season, Hutton had a career-best 25 points. The seasons that followed did not go as well as his rookie season did, especially the 2017-18 season, which was Canucks’ head coach Travis Green’s first year on the job.

Hutton found himself in the press box for multiple games last season, in what is also known as Travis Green’s doghouse. Green openly called out Hutton and was brutally honest with him. That honesty is why Hutton says that players respect coach Green. The players know exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing, even when us fans aren’t entirely sure of Green’s thought process.

After the disappointing season that was 2017-18, where Hutton picked up just six assists and was scratched for almost 20 games, he went back home and trained hard alongside Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux and changed his diet completely.

Hutton did exactly what Green told him to do and earned himself a spot back on the Canucks’ blueline this season. Hutton is now considered one of the Canucks few valuable trade assets because he proved this year he can be an effective second or third pairing defenceman for any team, including the Canucks next season if they choose to keep him. He is a restricted free agent and like Edler, will require a contract this offseason.

Quinn Hughes

It’s strange that Quinn Hughes was the second most anticipated debut of a Canucks’ prospect last season, because fans were extremely excited to watch him play. It’s just that Pettersson’s debut came on opening night, and we had all already heard about how amazing he had been with the Vaxjo Lakers of the SHL.

Hughes only appeared in five games, but had some rather memorable moments in those few games. I wrote a piece on the top three memorable moments from Hughes first games in a Canucks’ uniform. You can read them here.

Hughes looks like he has what it takes to turn the Canucks blue line around, and finally give the Canucks some offence from the back end — something they’ve lacked in for many years now. Expect Hughes to come into camp next year and challenge for Hutton’s spot on the second pairing.

Olli Juolevi

Next season will be a huge year for Olli Juolevi. After being selected fifth overall at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Juolevi has been dealt a rather tough hand. He already had to overcome adversity after the player chosen right after him, former London Knights teammate Matthew Tkachuk has had a ton of success at the NHL level with the Calgary Flames.

Juolevi played under Canuck legend Sami Salo‘s watch with his Finnish club, TPS Turku, whose coaching staff featured Salo. Salo has high hopes for Juolevi, who arrived this year in Utica and looked good in the games he played before suffering a season-ending leg injury.

Had Juolevi not gotten hurt, we likely would have seen him make his NHL debut at some point this season. Due to the injury, however, that just wasn’t the case. Juolevi has struggled to find quality training time, and as a result, has struggled to crack the NHL. Expect Juolevi to come into camp next year and challenge for a spot.

Josh Teves

Josh Teves was signed late this season to help out the Canucks’ blue line depth along with fellow college free agent defenceman Brogan Rafferty. Since Teves was in his fourth year at Princeton University, he is now a restricted free agent and must be signed this summer.

General manager Jim Benning made it a priority to improve the Canucks’ blue line, and said that he would look at signing NCAA free agents to do it. There may be more coming this offseason, but since making those comments, Benning has gone out and acquired Teves and Rafferty.

Teves was only able to get into one game, which just isn’t a big enough sample size to tell how much of a difference maker he will be if he’s given another chance. With Rafferty, management wanted to get as much of a look as possible at him, but with Teves, they were unable to get him into more than just the one game.

Teves will likely come into camp trying to somehow make the team, but will most likely spend the majority of next season with the Utica Comets if he is re-signed by the Canucks.

Evan McEneny

Evan McEneny is a bit older now, and at 24, soon to be 25, it is looking like McEneny will spent the rest of, if not the majority of his career in the AHL. McEneny made his NHL debut in 2017, where he appeared in just one game.

He is a useful player for the Utica Comets blue line, but likely won’t see much time in a Canucks uniform any time soon.

Nikita Tryamkin

What, you didn’t think I would include him? Technically, the Canucks still hold the rights of Nikita Tryamkin, meaning that he is indeed listed on their depth chart.

The man known to fans as the “Big Friendly Giant”, the expectations were high for Tryamkin right from the day he was drafted in the third round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Standing at a towering 6’7 and weighing in at 265 pounds, fans were hoping that Tryamkin could be an absolute unit and force to be reckoned with that kept opponents honest whenever he was on the ice.

Hence the nickname “Big Friendly Giant”, fans quickly realized that Tyramkin may very well not have a mean bone in his body. Although he was compared to Zdeno Chara a countless number of times, mostly due to his larger than life stature, Tryamkin said he wanted to be better than Chara.

He was improving with every game, and near the end of his time with the Canucks, it seemed as though there was a feature and highlight package on Tryamkin nearly every time the Canucks played. At the time, Troy Stecher was the Canucks’ most exciting defence prospect, so you can understand why fans were so excited to see Tryamkin having success.

After the 2016-17 season, Tryamkin packed his bags and headed back home to Russia to play in the KHL. I won’t get too much into rumours of why he left, but essentially, Tryamkin wasn’t happy with his ice time under former Canucks’ head coach Willie Desjardins, so he made the decision to pack his bags and go to a place where he knew he’d get plenty of playing time.

The Canucks still hold his rights, and his contract with his KHL club, Yekaterinburg Automobilist, ends next season. Meaning the opportunity would be there for Tryamkin to make a return to the Canucks, who have since cut ties with Desjardins. Fingers crossed.

Jack Rathbone

Jack Rathbone just wrapped up his freshman year at Harvard University. After a successful season at Harvard, where he picked up 22 points in 33 games, there was some speculation that the Canucks may sign Rathbone at the end of his season with Harvard.

That wasn’t the case, however, and Rathbone will be a huge part of the Harvard blueline next year as a sophomore. Rathbone will be 20 in May and still has lots of time to develop. Expect the Canucks to look at signing him at the end of this season if everything goes well in his second year.

Toni Utunen

Toni Utunen is a Finnish defenceman that the Canucks selected at last year’s draft with their fifth-round pick at pick number 130 overall. Utunen was the goal scorer that sealed Finland’s overtime against Canada at the World Juniors — scoring on fellow Canucks prospect, Michael DiPietro.

Utunen will spend the foreseeable future with Tappara of the Finnish Liiga. Last season, Utunen picked up three points in 43 games with Tappara. He will return to the club next year.

Kristoffer Gunnarsson

Drafted in the fifth round of the 2017 draft, Kristoffer Gunnarsson has played the last three seasons with Frolunda HC, the same club that Rasmus Dahlin played for before he was drafted first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2018 draft.

Gunnarsson is 22 years old, and it’s becoming more and more likely that we never see him in a Canucks uniform. He was drafted for his “big shot” but had just one goal last year through 46 games in the SHL. He will need to be signed before June 1st or he will become an unrestricted free agent.

There you have it, folks! The Canucks have more depth on the left side of their blue line than they do on the right side. How else do you think the Canucks should improve their defence over this offseason? Let me know in the comments section below!