Canucks: A look at Jordie Benn and the defensive depth

With the Oscar Fantenberg factoring into games and playing well, where does that leave Jordie Benn who has been watching his team from the press box since Alex Edler’s return?

The Vancouver Canucks signed Jordie Benn this past summer to a two-year deal worth $4 million. Slotting in as a sixth defender at the outset of the season, Benn was to bring in stronger and more experienced depth on the blueline.

The gritty, versatile defenceman can play either side, which provides more pairing options for head coach Travis Green and assistan Nolan Baumgartner to work with.

Factoring into 510 career NHL games, the native of Victoria has had an up and down start to his Canuck tenure. Prior to Alex Edler‘s return from injury, Benn’s play started to dip opening the door for Oscar Fantenberg to stay in the active line up.

The depth

Playoff aspirations for 2020 — and a pair of key veterans that are prone to injury in Edler and Chris Tanev — create a need for quality depth in pivotal roles. Benn supplies such while being on a manageable contract. Capable of playing quality minutes with a physical style of play, he could factor into a big role when the games get heavier.

In the recently expired decade, the Canucks lost more man games than any other franchise. Preparing for such misfortune would be a wise move.

The cap and the reinforcements

The Canucks’ cap constraints are well documented. With the team trying to shed various dead weight contracts, could a player like Benn that would have trade value come the trade deadline be potential bait? $2 million cleared could help with the decisions come July, or enable them to go rental shopping to fill a need for a potential playoff push. That being said, would the rental player be as impactful as Benn?

It seems that there would be too many question marks for this scenario. Many of which would be hard to have result in an improvement.

The Utica Comets have boasted a much improved blueline thanks in large part to contributions from a healthy Olli Juolevi, Brogan Rafferty, Ashton Sautner, Josh Teves, and Guillaume BriseBois.

With such young defenders, some of which have NHL experience already, it’s great to see that the blueline looks to be of little concern depth-wise going into the latter half of the season. Ideally, these reinforcements will remain in Utica for the balance of the season and help the Comets with a push of their own and meaning that their parent organization is relatively healthy for a change.

The Resolution

Benn is an important piece of the puzzle going forward.

Especially considering the ambitions that the organization has in it’s 50th anniversary season, players that bring that physical element and can provide reliable stability on both sides of the blueline are impactful.

The Canucks will face injuries down the stretch in some form or another, and having experienced NHL help that’s capable of stepping in will keep playoff dreams alive. There are better trade bait pieces that wouldn’t negatively affect the team in the short term, should cap issues continue to build.