Team: 2022-23 Vancouver Canucks

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 19, 2022

Published: Jul. 19, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

1. COL/VAN: Summer Fwd market appears to be soft, so while VAN doesn't get the haul that was forecast at the '22 TDL, inclusion of Girard and a '23 1st (which is more like a 2nd) will meet the Canucks needs. Miller to COL solves their loss of Kadri, giving the team another solid crack at the Cup with a similar cap hit. Believe Miller would extend there as well at a reasonable number, given the team has a solid chance to win every year. Girard's movement out allows for Byram to move to the 2nd pairing alongside Manson. While Girard is a LS D in COL, he has shown ability to play the RS and as such could be paired with Hughes or OEL. I would pair him with OEL as the 'rover' allowing OEL to settle into more of a defensive role as opposed to a play driver and primary passer.

2. NJD/VAN: Garland for Severson: Severson is a UFA after '23 and with prospects like Nemec and Mukhamdullin in the pipeline, NJD would accept a cost-controlled and interchangeable FWD like Garland to play in their top-9. As he has shown in his career, he scores at a 1st line rate 5v5. With the addition of PP1 time, Garland could easily top 70 points and be a complementary player on a line with Hughes or Hischier.

3. ANA/VAN: ANA is WAY under the cap floor. ANA needs players to balance out their roster while they continue their rebuild. Myers solves that problem. VAN attaches the '24 2nd as a sweetener and ANA includes a '23 4th to make this deal match up with similar cap dump trades.

4. TOR/VAN: TOR Needs cap space. While not saving money in absolute dollars (b/c Jim Benning didn't insure the Ferland deal), Ferland's contract could be used in LTIR to allow the Leafs to exceed the cap i n'22-23 and round out their lineup by resigning their remaining RFA in Sandin. DiPietro gets a new lease on life back home as a sweetener in the deal. Kerfoot fills a need for the Canucks in a 3C role.

At end of day, does this make the Canucks better?

Defensively, yes.

Forwards are still a question mark, given the departure of their leading scorer from the past 2 seasons (Miller) and their best 5v5 player (Garland). These moves count on EP40 consistently delivering on his 1C role, heavily relies on Mikheyev and Kuzmenko living up to their promise, as well as continued progression from Podkolzin and a return to form from Boeser and Hoglander.

But having a true top-4 on the backend should help the team in transition from the defensive zone (a real eyesore and constant challenge during the entire Benning regime) into more rush chances. Is this a playoff team? Probably a bubble team but on paper looks way more balanced. And if the team is out of it by the '23 TDL, then they still have UFA assets that are a.) cheap and b.) attractive to contenders who want to put themselves over the top to get additional draft capital and/or prospects.

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