The Canuck Way Mailbag: Podkolzin, Sutter’s deal, 2021 offseason, more

The Vancouver Canucks have now won three of their first four games back from their hiatus due to COVID-19, but they are still behind Calgary and Montreal for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division — with games in hand on every team around them, mind you.

Whether we’re looking at Vancouver’s fifteen remaining games, or ahead to next season, I am again here to answer all of your Canucks-related questions.

It’s Jim Benning, and Brandon Sutter is 32 years old, so minimum, what, five or six-year deal? With a no-trade clause, no doubt. Probably in that $3-3.5 million range that JB loves to give. All joking aside, realistically speaking, that’s not going to happen, because Benning doesn’t have the cap space.

I don’t think Sutter should be offered a contract extension with the current outlook of the Canucks cap situation. Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Olli Juolevi, and Kole Lind are all restricted free agents.

As of right now, there are only two (TWO!) NHL defencemen under contract in Vancouver next season; Tyler Myers, and Nate Schmidt. If we add Juolevi, Hughes, and hopefully Jack Rathbone to those two for next year, you still only have five. Does Jalen Chatfield, Brogan Rafferty, or newly acquired Madison Bowey take that six spot? Of those three, only Bowey is currently under contract for next year.

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If the Canucks are going to sign one of Travis Hamonic, Alex Edler, or Sutter, I’d like it to be Edler or even Hamonic.  I’m sure I can’t be the only one who thinks a defence core featuring Hughes, Rathbone, and Juolevi could be helped with a veteran.

Now, I do think Benning is going to sign Sutter, especially considering that Jay Beagle looks like he could land on the team’s LTIR to start next season. If Sutter is signed, he would get a one-year, $1 million deal. A good comparable for Sutter would be someone like Carl Soderberg, who signed that exact deal with Chicago coming into this season. Soderberg is three years older than Sutter but has had much better offensive production in the last few seasons.

If it can happen on the right deal, keeping Sutter instead would be preferable, but the last thing Vancouver needs is another player in his mid-thirties on a multi-year deal in the bottom six.

There are two ways I can see Ron Francis going when he approaches Vancouver during Seattle’s expansion draft this summer.

One, he can take Loui Eriksson. There is a salary-cap floor that Seattle has to reach, and next year would be Eriksson’s last at a $6 million cap hit. Unfortunately for Vancouver, Francis is not going to select Eriksson. He’s just not. If Francis is worried about reaching the cap floor, there are better options for Seattle.

Option two is taking a chance on a former top-10 pick who has underachieved at the NHL level; Jake Virtanen. Virtanen’s 2019-20 season saw him score on a 21-goal pace, but ‘Shotgun Jake’ has taken a huge step back this season, with just four points in 34 games. Virtanen also hasn’t registered an NHL assist since August 19, 2020.

You have to assume Benning is going to consider seven other Canuck forwards more valuable than Virtanen, leaving him exposed. Francis picking JV gives Seattle a player who could either return to top-six form, or a slightly overpaid fourth liner. It’s worth the gamble.

More mailbag Q&A

To me, there are two scenarios that would result in Lind, Rathbone, or Mikey DiPietro get into games.

The first is the factor of fatigue. From today onwards, Vancouver is scheduled to have 15 games in 26 days. Very simply, Rathbone and Lind would simply be less tired than the rest of the roster.

The second scenario would be what I like to call the “Screw it button.” Basically, if the Vancouver Canucks are eliminated from playoff contention before May 19, they will be playing relatively meaningless games. The best use of these games? Give time to the youngsters. Give Lind, Rathbone, and DiPietro game time, and give them ice time at that. Why not put Lind and Rathbone on the second powerplay unit? Why not play Lind with Bo Horvat? Why not give DiPietro his first few starts this year?

If the Canucks are still in playoff contention, and there aren’t more injuries to deal with, I don’t see them playing. As was proved all season long with Juolevi’s endless healthy scratches, the Canucks are not going to be playing the kids for the sake of playing the kids.

Admittedly, I have only watched Vasili Podkolzin play about a dozen games – mostly in the World Juniors, along with a couple of his games during this season’s KHL playoffs. In that time, I have grown to really, really like Podkolzin’s game. He is a complete winger, who plays good defence, good offence, is a great playmaker, and a more than capable goalscorer.

Podkolzin will probably have as good, if not a better rookie season than Nils Hoglander. As with Hoglander, Podkolzin will likely be given every opportunity to play in the top-six and on the second powerplay unit. With that ice time, and playing with players such as Horvat, Pettersson, J.T. Miller, or Brock Boeser, Podkolzin scoring 20 next year would not be out of the question.

Podkolzin is a different kind of player than Hoglander; you’ll probably see Podkolzin’s offensive numbers rival Hoglander’s from this season (about a 20-goal, 40-point pace), but Podkolzin brings more on both sides of the puck. He’ll be more effective in the defensive zone.

I might be getting ahead of myself, but you might hear Podkolzin’s name brought up in conversation for the Selke trophy within the next half-decade.

More Mailbag Q&A

Here’s one thing I’m not going to touch with this: Politics. My opinions on Francesco Aquilini are entirely political. I’m not going to get into his apparent hesitation to spend money, because that’s not what this platform is for.

So, Aquilini aside…

There should be four main goals for Vancouver in the offseason, and they are named Pettersson, Hughes, Travis Green, and Ian Clark. Those four have been essential pieces to any relative success the Canucks have had since the beginning of the 2019-20 season, and the four will be important to any success the Canucks hope to have moving forward. Get those four signed, and get them signed ASAP. The rest can wait.

They might as well, yes.

To my knowledge, no. Last week, Benning said that the Canucks had “no timeline” regarding a Pettersson return, and that was after an appointment with a specialist.

Truth is, I don’t know, but hopefully, Pettersson can return to help the Canucks with a playoff push.

Yes, I think Edler is a Canuck next year. One year, $2 million. He can play with either Juolevi or Rathbone, providing stability for the youngsters.

Honestly, I see Edler retiring as a Vancouver Canuck. He has been a staple on the back-end for more than a decade and a half. He would have to take a major, major pay decrease – Edler is not worth any more than $2.5 million. His offensive production has completely dried up, and his defence is not what it used to be.

With that being said, he still has more to offer and contribute, and a one-year deal is low-risk, low-reward. I’d rather have him back than Hamonic, and I’d rather see him at $2 million than Tryamkin at above three.

That’s it for this week’s The Canuck Way Mailbag. If you want your questions answered, get them in next week. Ask a question when we drop the Tweet every Friday.