Team: 2021-22 Vancouver Canucks

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 7, 2021

Published: Jun. 7, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Vancouver has many holes to fill this off season. Although I doubt the Nashville trade would happen I think it allows Vancouver to become more competitive right away while filling some long term needs.

Trade 1: All four players in the trade all had average years and both teams could use a shake up. For my money Miller>Arvidson although both are still top 6 forwards. At this point Schmidt is probably better than Fabbro who was a healthy scratchy for the preds during playoffs. Obviously he is a lot young and still has upside so they are probably equal value wise. Nashville has cap space and has an older core so might opt for that route. OPTION** Vancouver has Seattle protection flexibility and Nashville is fairly stuck on dman. Therefore the trade could be done in two seperate transactions. Before the expansion deadline Nashville sends Ardvisson and Fabbro for Miller before Seattle expansion draft. Vancouver then sends Schmidt for a 3rd to Nashville following the expansion to help the preds with protection issues.

Trade 2: Vancouver needs to find a 3rd line Center badly to add some offensive and speed to third line. Dallas is in a tough place and probably would have to expose Dickinson to Seattle, therefore gain a 3rd round pick and not loose him for nothing.

Vancouver’s expansion protection is 7/3/1
Pettersson, Boeser, Horvat, Ardvisson, Pearson, Dickinson, Motte/ Myers, Schmidt, Fabbro/ Demko.

Trade 3: Not sure who Seattle would look to Take from the Canucks for expansion. TBH they don’t have great options. Maybe it’s a stretch they take Roussel off their hands but a 3rd and one of Vancouver’s top 5 prospects seems reasonable. Maybe a different prospect or a pick.. but in the ball park.

Bridge Petey and Hughes to three year deals... 3 years allows for Vancouver to be done with Myers, Pearson and Ardvisson when they need new tickets. Pettersson comes in at 7.25 a touch higher then Barzal and Hughes comes in higher then McAvoy and Sergachev.

Vancouver’s remaining needs are another top 6 winger and top 4 defence. Tatar is a healthy scratch for the Habs and value may have lowered because of it. 3.5 million on a 1 year deal seems in the ball park for someone of his resume and if it doesn’t work they’ll aren’t tied up with term.

I opted to sign MCCabe as a top 4 LHD. He is coming off knee surgery so his value might be lower also. If he is all healthy then he could be good value at 3 million on a one year deal. Another option is bringing back Edler at 2 million but for the sake of shaking things up opt for a new player.

Overall Vancouver has a far more balanced team and in this scenario should compete for a playoff spot while not mortgaging their future for a short term fix. If they miss the playoffs not the end of the world.. add another top pick and reload next summer with more cap space flexibility. Next summer with Loui, Beagle and Luongo recapture penalty off the books and only Boeser to resign they are set up to make a big jump the following year with a loaded UFA class

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