The Canuck Way Mailbag: Schmidt, Virtanen, free agency, more

The Vancouver Canucks finally made a move and brought in Nate Schmidt. They clearly need to do more, which was the focus of this week’s mailbag.

The Vancouver Canucks finally made a move to mitigate the losses they incurred in free agency by bringing in defenceman Nate Schmidt via trade from the Vegas Golden Knights. They only gave up a 2022 third-round pick in the deal, so no real assets left the farm on this one.

General manager Jim Benning still needs to do more to fill the hole left by Tyler Toffoli when he signed with the Montreal Canadiens, but he did improve the defence with Schmidt.

Now that he’s added $5.95 million to the salary cap, the need to clear money has increased ten-fold. He can’t go after any high-priced free agents or even submit an offer sheet until that is done.

The offseason has not been overly kind to the Canucks so far, apart from the Schmidt and Braden Holtby additions. Questions still remain about what this team will look like come opening night. So with that said, let’s take a look at a few of them in this week’s edition of The Canuck Way mailbag.

Schmidt is definitely more of a two-way defenceman than Chris Tanev. He is also more mobile, can play on both special teams, and most of all is not injury-prone. As much as I love Tanev and what he brought to the Canucks over the years, Schmidt is a massive upgrade to the top-four.

When you compare analytics, Tanev had a 46.2 Corsi-for percentage (CF%) while Schmidt had a 52.9 CF%. He is a play driver from the backend, which is what the Canucks need more of if they hope to succeed in the future, especially with all the young offensive talent they have coming up.

The Canucks will miss Tanev’s penalty-killing prowess, but Schmidt is no slouch in that department either, especially when it comes to the art of shot-blocking. He has eclipsed the 100-mark three times in his career and probably would have done it a fourth time if the season was allowed to finish with its usual 82 games. Overall, Schmidt is going to play a bigger role in their success moving forward than Tanev would have.

Zdeno Chara is still a top-four defenceman at 43-years-old and probably will remain that way for a while. His fitness regimen is insane, and he never stops working to stay relevant in the NHL. His offensive production isn’t where it used to be, but he can still be a dominant force on the blueline. That being said, I think the Canucks have a few better options out there before they should start thinking about bringing him aboard.

Benning knows what Chara brings to the table, as he was assistant GM with the Boston Bruins for seven of the 14 seasons he was with the team. Knowing his propensity to sign players he is familiar with, I would not be surprised to learn that he was kicking the tires on the idea.

Chara probably can’t demand a lot of money in free agency, so he could represent a low-risk gamble to mentor some of the young defencemen on the Canucks. Also, I’m not going to lie, it would be fun to see a 6-foot-9 Chara and a 6-foot-8 Tyler Myers pairing patrolling the blue line at some point next season. You can’t tell me that thought didn’t cross your mind when you read this question.

Even with the addition of Schmidt, Benning should not be done poking around the free agency or trade markets. Unless he has supreme confidence in Jack Rathbone, Olli Juolevi, or Brogan Rafferty to adequately anchor a third-pairing alongside Jordie Benn for an entire season, they still need to replace what Troy Stecher brought to the blue line over the past few seasons.

Madison Bowey is a great skater that can be used on the power play and has shown a propensity to put up points in the past. He hasn’t put it all together in the NHL yet, but he did post back-to-back 60-point seasons with the Kelowna Rockets in junior after he was drafted in the second round by the Capitals in 2013. So he does know how to generate points.

However, Bowey’s defensive play can be suspect at times, and that’s where the idea of him being a replacement for Stecher should end. If you look at the Goals Above Replacement (GAR) advanced stat from Evolving Hockey, he was amongst the worst in the NHL at minus-3. Stecher, on the other hand, was at the opposite end of the spectrum with an impressive GAR of 5.4. So if you’re looking for offence, Bowey is good, but when it comes to defence, he still needs a lot of work.

So to answer your question, I don’t think Bowey is the right choice to solidify the bottom pairing. I see him as a Derrick Pouliot at this point in his development, and that’s not what the Canucks need on their blueline right now. If given the choice between him and Benn, I would much rather have Juolevi and Benn as a pairing instead.