Jimmy Vesey was claimed off waivers on Wednesday by the Vancouver Canucks, which was a smart move by an organization that is severely lacking in depth.
It’s safe to say that the Canucks have one of, if not the worst bottom-six forward group in the entire NHL, and Vesey will be an upgrade on just about every depth player that Vancouver has.
In order to gauge how Vesey could help the team, we can take a look at his underlying stats with the help of Natural Stat Trick. In 30 games this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vesey has scored 1.41 points per 60 minutes at five on five. That’s the 12th best number on Toronto for players who’ve played over 100 minutes at five on five, but it would be good for seventh on the Canucks.
This is both a sad and encouraging sign at the same time; on one hand, it shows just how far Vancouver is to a contending team like the Leafs, but on the other, it also means that the Canucks are about to add a player who will bolster their depth significantly.
We can also take a look at Vesey’s five on five impact at both ends of the ice using graphs provided by HockeyViz.
Vesey's isolated 5 on 5 impact from HockeyViz pic.twitter.com/42ZUNyeX4k
— Bill Huan (@bill_huan) March 19, 2021
If you open the tweet, you’ll be able to see the full picture. The top graph shows the expected goals that he generates per 60 minutes while the bottom one shows the expected goals that his team concedes per hour relative to league average. Simply put, it’s better to have a positive and higher number on the offensive graph and a negative and lower figure for the defensive one.
With that in mind, we can see that Vesey has been a slightly above-average offensive creator for the Leafs this season while his defensive game is a bit worse. These stats indicate that Vesey is an average third-line winger who has the ability to play higher up in the lineup due to his offensive repertoire and he also won’t need to be as sheltered on the defensive end as Adam Gaudette or Jake Virtanen.
In other words, Vesey is already Vancouver’s best bottom six skater assuming that Tanner Pearson and Nils Hoglander are considered as top-six players. With that in mind, I’d expect him to line up beside Brandon Sutter on the Canucks’ third line for most of the remaining season and he could also be moved higher in the lineup if injuries strike.
Ultimately, this was a smart signing by Vancouver that gives them more flexibility both on the ice and in the trade market, as Vesey’s addition could make it easier to move a player like Pearson.
What do you think, Canucks fans? Do you like the addition of Jimmy Vesey? Let us know in the comments below!