Vancouver Canucks: 3 defencemen the Canucks need to sign

3: Tyler Myers, a tall option

When I say tall, that still doesn’t give enough of an idea of just how tall Tyler Myers is. At 6-foot-8, he’s essentially a giraffe on skates – but boy would he bring a unique skill set to this Vancouver Canucks blueline.

Those hockey fans with longer memories will remember Myers bursting onto the NHL scene back in 2009-10 with a monstrous 11-37-48 rookie season for the Buffalo Sabres. That performance earned him the Calder Trophy that season, and he looked destined for huge things. Sadly for Myers, he was playing for the Buffalo Sabres, one of the few franchises more frustrating for its fans than the Canucks.

The totals he set for goals, assists, points, plus/minus, power play goals and blocks remain his career highs — he is not the second coming of Bobby Orr that people wondered if they were seeing.

That’s not to diminish what Tyler Myers does bring to the table now. Approaching his 30th birthday, he’s a veteran of 635 NHL games and is now a reliable 30-point defenceman. He doesn’t lay opponents out using his size — his career-high for hits is just 107, just six more than Alex Biega managed in 41 games this season — but due to his exceptional reach he’s a difficult opponent to get past.

He’s around the league average in terms of Corsi, so wouldn’t let the team down especially. The addition of Myers’ height and reach would be something the Canucks have not had in eons.

Would Vancouver Canucks fans be happy to see Tyler Myers arrive in Vancouver on July 1st, laden with a long-term deal around the $5.75 million mark?

The market for free agent defencemen isn’t as deep as the market for forwards this summer, which is a frustration for the Vancouver Canucks as it means that adding a meaningful blue liner is likely to have to come via either the draft or via trade. However, these three options would all add something to the team — let us know if any take your fancy, or if we’ve missed a better option.