Canucks: Is the 2021-22 roster better than the one in the bubble?
By Joshua Rey
Defence
Alex Edler-Troy Stecher
Quinn Hughes- Chris Tanev
Oscar Fantenberg- Tyler Myers
Olli Juolevi- Jordie Benn
Vs
Quinn Hughes- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Ekman-Larsson- Tyler Myers
Jack Rathbone- Tucker Poolman
Olli Juolevi- Luke Schenn
Quinn Hughes had a remarkable rookie season finishing second in the Calder voting behind Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche. In 2020-21, the offensive game stayed but his defensive game got worse. He was second in giveaways among all Canucks last season with 51 behind Nate Schmidt’s 60. Hughes had a 2.8 on ice goals against per 60 which is the highest in his career so far.
Part of the reason for his defensive decline was the departure of Chris Tanev. Tanev had a stellar season with the Calgary Flames proving the analytics community wrong. Hughes had Travis Hamonic with him on the top pair and he simply couldn’t replicate Tanev’s success with him. The pair gave up an expected goals rate of 20.18. Hamonic isn’t a bad player by any means, he is just very inconsistent defensively and is a downgrade on Tanev.
Hopefully Brad Shaw will straighten Hughes out on his defense and he and Hamonic look better next season.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson and his big contract were brought in this summer and the Canucks are taking a huge gamble and it is a lot to ask for him to get back to the player he once was
Jack Rathbone is likely to make the team out of camp and his game could potentially grow into a top-four defenseman next season.
In the bubble, the Canucks had Troy Stecher on the right side and was a reliable puck mover who was decent in his own end. He departed for a cheap contract with the Detroit Red Wings and was one of the better defencemen on a poor Red Wings team. Like Tanev,the Canucks really missed his abilities on the backend last season.
Oscar Fantenberg was a servicable depth defenceman who did alright on the third pairing.
With Alex Edler departing in free agency the only member of the blue line from the bubble that remains other than Hughes is Tyler Myers. Myers’ contract isn’t that great and he isn’t very good in his own end and prone to giveaways but can he provide some offense. He didn’t provide any in the bubble and was a defensive liability and will likely continue to be next year.
Since Schmidt wasn’t happy in Vancouver and got traded to the Winnipeg Jets, the Canucks signed Tucker Poolman to a four-year contract for the right side. It is quite a lot for a guy who is nothing more than a third pairing defenceman. In his short career so far, he has struggled defensively and his contract will not age well.
The bubble Canucks had a better right side with Stecher and Tanev but you have to remember the 2019-20 Canucks defensive core wasn’t all that great and it wasn’t good in the bubble either.
However the current Canucks backend looks worse with two more contracts that will not age well and a rookie on the left side (who has potential) and a downgraded partner for Hughes.
The edge: The bubble Canucks but just slightly.