Canucks: Where does the team go from here in the offseason?
Expectations were sky-high for the Vancouver Canucks coming into the 2020-21 season, with the team was fresh off a gruelling, seven-game semi-final series against the Vegas Golden Knights.
However, that unexpected bubble performance accelerated the team’s overall expectations, which came crumbling down shortly after.
The team lost veteran players like Tyler Toffoli, Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom in free agency, and it has definitely shown this year. Fortunately, the goaltending has stepped up during the season, but the Canucks could have desperately used Tanev’s defensive presence on the back-end this year, along with Toffoli’s 28 goals in their top six forward group.
Instead, the Canucks chose to head in a different direction, a decision that was with much ire from the fanbase, a lot of it well-deserved.
The Canucks head into the final stretch of this season of turbulence with more questions than answers regarding the franchise’s future. The biggest of them: Is GM Jim Benning the right person to lead the team from here on out?
This topic has been exhausted daily among the Canucks fanbase for what seems like the past five years now and, once again, the Canucks find themselves in a familiar discussion.
It’s been yet another season where the Canucks head into the season’s stretch-run with nothing to play for other than pride and moral victories, and will likely be drafting in the top 10 because of their overall results. The re-occurring theme of mediocrity during the Benning era has gotten old, and the fanbase is restless, as it should be.
A good number of the fanbase has concluded that it is time the team moved on from Benning, and the noise got even louder when the New York Rangers moved on from one of the brightest general managers in the league in Jeff Gorton.
The fact of the matter is that the Vancouver Canucks are heading into a crucial offseason with question marks everywhere. The general manager role aside, the team is also dealing with a head coach that is less than a month away from hitting the open market, as well as an elite goaltending coach right behind him, both of whom are likely on their way out if contract extensions aren’t finalized soon. And how can we forget the restricted free agencies of young stars Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, two of the most important players in the organization.
With that said, the rebuild and solid drafting by the Benning regime have landed a young core to build around. The core-five, including Pettersson, Hughes, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and goaltender Thatcher Demko is as good of a young core as any in the league. However, the organization must do better in surrounding them with enough talent. It is already bad enough they could not weaponize the cap space while their stars were on their entry-level contracts. But now that the duo of Pettersson and Hughes need extensions this summer, the team must surround them with players that can take the burden off of the young players’ shoulders.
The Canucks need to count on hitting on their later draft picks in order to have contributors that are not only still on entry-level contracts, but can also be used to build around the core. The team simply can’t afford to pay bottom-six forwards upwards of three million dollars annually on multi-year contracts and expect to have a balanced lineup with depth at all positions. When it comes to overall team construction, a team with their stars already paid, the front office must be creative when it comes to filling out the roster.
First, drafting and accumulating draft picks is essential. The more draft picks an organization has, the more likely the team can develop them into NHL contributors. Look no further than the Toronto Maple Leafs; young players like Zach Hyman, Pierre Engvall, Justin Holl, Travis Dermott, and Ilya Mikheyev surround their core with cheap contracts that mostly came up in the organization.
The 2016 and 2017 Pittsburgh Penguins are also a great example of this. With their core already in place, they had young players on entry-level contracts such as Jake Guentzel, Matt Murray, Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust contributing at high levels.
Lastly, going right back to last year’s Stanley Cup champion, the Tampa Bay Lightning enjoyed incredible contributions from players like Anthony Cirelli, Mikhail Sergechev, Erik Cernak, Pat Maroon, Carter Verhaeghe, and Zach Bogosian while they were on entry-level contracts or league minimums. Gone are the days where Stanley cup contenders spend big money on bottom-six forwards. Cheap depth wins championships.
Whether or not Benning is the person at the helm this offseason, the Canucks must change their approach to roster construction. The fact is that the young stars need legitimate help, and the current construction of the roster just hasn’t gotten the job done. Losing key contributors like Toffoli and Tanev was a gut punch to the Canucks’ playoff hopes this season. There’s no sugar-coating is.
And as the team heads into the offseason, there isn’t much wiggle room to make drastic changes, but they can, however, still make smart changes.
With the flat cap and financial ramifications of the global pandemic, this may be another summer of bargain contracts. And that is precisely the approach the Canucks must take: bargain bin hunting.
Players like Nick Bonino, John Merrill, Mike Reilly, Brandon Montour, and Nikita Gusev are potential impact players that could see their market impacted due to the flat cap and may be forced to take below-market deals. One thing in common among these possible free-agent additions is their offensive versatility. Each can provide secondary scoring, a far cry from the previous direction of free agents that this organization has targeted.
As for the infusion of young talent on entry-level contracts, you’d like to believe some of them are already on the roster. Players like Nils Höglander, Jack Rathbone, and Kole Lind played well in their first NHL seasons, and all of them, along with prized prospect Vasili Podkolzin, have an opportunity to make a big impact on this roster as soon as next season.
With that said, this organization must retain draft picks until they are ready to contend. For example, trading a second-round pick in addition to a valuable prospect for a rental, which was done during the Toffoli trade, is just not wise at this point of the Canucks timeline. Simply looking at the Canucks’ roster at face value, there isn’t enough offensive talent outside of the top six.
To win in today’s NHL, you need to have scoring threats on all four lines. The Canucks must change their team-building philosophy as they head into this crucial offseason. There is no quick fix; spending aimlessly in free agency has set this team back years. Large anchors of contracts have held them back from building around their young stars organically.
Before all that, the Canucks must decide on the direction they will head in for their front office leadership group. Rumours have begun swirling when it comes to the future of Benning. During his radio appearance on Sportsnet 650, reporter Patrick Johnston mentioned that Benning’s job could be in danger as the Canucks ownership group will evaluate their options in the coming weeks.
Johnston also went on to say that he “thinks there’s a strong chance that a change is going to happen for a whole bunch of reasons.”
"I think there is internal discussion going on within the family. They're trying to figure out what they really want" ~ @risingaction
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) May 13, 2021
PJ joined #BikAndTheBoss @Bik650 earlier to talk about Benning, Green, and ownership motivations this offseason
Listen: https://t.co/HiCiLC1HKv pic.twitter.com/pZXQ5mDz9o
A new management group could mean a new head coach. All in all, changes wouldn’t be the worst thing for this organization. The past seven years under this regime haven’t given the fanbase much to be excited about when it comes to one day raising a Stanley Cup banner in Rogers Arena.
Next. 3 takeaways from 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames. dark
What do you think, Canucks fans? Do you agree with the direction this team is headed towards? Or do you encourage a change? Make sure to comment below!