Who should be the Vancouver Canucks seventh defenceman?

The Vancouver Canucks will have options this year when it comes to defencemen, but who should be the spare d-man come opening night?

The Vancouver Canucks made a smart move by changing up their defence corps. Say what you want about the Tyler Myers deal, but Myers is an upgrade to what the Canucks have put out on the blueline the past couple of seasons.

With Myers and Jordie Benn, along with a full, highly anticipated rookie season from Quinn Hughes, and all of a sudden, the Canucks’ defence group doesn’t look like a huge weakness. Along with Benn and Myers is a defence pickup who I think could be one of the more underrated ones, Oscar Fantenberg.

Oscar Fantenberg

Fantenberg is a mobile puck-moving defenceman, who can give the Canucks a bit of an offensive jolt from the back end.

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Before he signed an entry-level contract with the Los Angeles Kings at the age of 25, Fantenberg was named to the 2017 KHL All-Star Game, but did not compete in the game due to an injury. He had 3 goals and 20 assists through 44 KHL games in the 2016-17 season before playing the entirety of the 2017-18 season with the Kings, bouncing back in forth from their AHL club, the Ontario Reign.

Last year, Fantenberg played 46 games with the Kings before being traded to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a conditional 4th round pick. As a free agent, Fantenberg signed with Vancouver, and now, the Canucks have only added to their already improved defence depth.

Alex Biega

This is the safe bet, as Alex Biega has been a reliable seventh defenceman for the Canucks for the last four seasons. Nicknamed “Bulldog” by his teammates, Biega doesn’t shy away from throwing his weight around and as Troy Stecher said in this video on the Canucks’ Youtube account, “gets the boys going.”

Biega had a stretch of games last season in which Canucks fans took notice of his improved level of play. Biega was playing increased minutes due to injuries to the Canucks’ defencemen at the time and was up to the challenge.

Biega plays with a level of tenacity and physicality that makes him almost like a spark plug when injected into the Canucks lineup. Biega played just three games in the AHL with the Utica Comets, and 41 games with the Canucks last season. He set career highs in goals (2), assists (14), and points (16).

With one year remaining on his two-year deal, Biega is the ideal seventh defenceman for the Canucks, and it will almost certainly be a battle between Fantenberg and Biega to see who stays up with the big club and who gets sent down.

Surprise Candidates

We may not be used to it, but the Canucks actually have quite a few defencemen who are capable of playing at the NHL level. While the free-agent signings on July 1st received all the buzz, don’t forget that they signed college free agent defencemen Brogan Rafferty and Josh Teves at the start of April.

Those two in particular really add to their defence depth and at 24 years old, both have the potential to develop further than what we’ve seen from them.

Although the two are likely destined to be a staple in Utica’s top four, both of them, along with Olli Juolevi, will be doing everything in their power to make it a tough decision for the Canucks coaching staff to send them home from camp.

Because we just saw Rafferty and Teves for only a couple of games last season, and have yet to see Juolevi make his NHL debut, it would be a huge surprise if one of them is able to make the team out of camp. Realistically, I’d say Juolevi has the best odds, but who knows, anything can happen at training camp.

It will almost certainly be a battle between Fantenberg and Biega for the seventh d-man spot, but we’ll have to wait until October to find out who is still on the roster come opening night. Speaking of which, is it October yet?

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