The Vancouver Canucks may have to settle in their top-six search
Sportsnet: Jason Brough and Jamie Dodd talking about the Vancouver Canucks and their search for a top-six forward help this offseason. They have limited assets to work with and they’re going to have competition.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Brough: “We’ve actually haven’t had a show together since the end of the season. What do you think about this notion that the Canucks are gonna add two or three top six forwards, and they’re gonna do it not liking the unrestricted free agent list. And you know they, they’re going to do it with kind of limited assets in which to deal with.
They barely made any first-round picks over the last little while, or second-round picks for that matter. And you know you don’t really want to trade away your few blue chip prospects. And yet, that’s what they’re gonna that’s what they said they’re gonna do.”
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Dodd: “Although you also listen, and I know Drance has kind of reported this, like they, you know, he had the piece of The Athletic this week. Like, D Petey (Marcus Petterson) probably untouchable.”
Brough: “Yeah.”
Dodd: “Right. I don’t know if they have a lot of appetite to deal (Tom) Willander. We’ll see about the standoff where that goes. Maybe he becomes an asset. Willander or (Jonathan) Lekkerimaki. So he’s, like, you start taking, you don’t have a ton of assets, and then you’re taking some off the table, which makes sense.”
Brough: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I don’t want them to trade D-Petey either.”
Dodd: “Yeah, promising young player. Absolutely, he’s awesome, like, I get why, but it’s you’re also taking your best trade ships off the table. And then you factor in, you know, Minnesota, who we might talk about later, they’re in the market for a center, for center help, right? You look at Montreal, probably in the market for center help. Those teams have more assets to work with than the Canucks, so it’s going to be difficult to outbid them.
When you start to really do the calculus and look at it, I think where I land is, they, it is going to have to be distressed assets. It’s not going to be, ‘Oh, wow. This guy had a great season last year, and we just acquired him.’ You know…”
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Brough: “Maybe the capitals essentially like, Okay, we’ll find we’ll take (Pierre-Luc) Dubois.”
Dodd: “That’s why, and I, and people get very angry when I bring this name up. But like, the name, I brought up a lot was Trevor Zegras.”
Brough: “Yeah. I get it.”
Dodd: “If you’re just like, we got to take a swing, I know. Well, and so…”
Brough: “It is like, Oh, great. He’ll bring his cellies here.”
Dodd: “The people on CHEL.”
Brough: “But I understand it.”
Producer: “But did you see that, Gritty?”
Brough: “Yeah, I understand it, though, right?”
Dodd: “Because it’s not like that’s their first choice, but you’re gonna get outbid on your first choices, if they, if those guys even move.”
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Brough: “And those guys and the perfect guys won’t be available.”
Dodd: “That’s the thing.”
Brough: “There’s going to be something about these players, probably something significant, where a team is willing to give up a center that’s 23,24, 25 years old. It’s not gonna be like, he’s perfect.”
Dodd: “Yeah, we I know, he was great, we love him.”
Brough: “We hate ourselves. We are going through a midlife crisis.”
Dodd: “He was a great leader. He was productive last year. No injury concerns. You know, actually, on a really team friendly contract too. Do you guys want him? It’s like, oh, yeah, sure, absolutely, yeah, no, that’s not happening.
There’s going to be a lot of boxes that are not checked for the player. And that’s the market you’re shopping in. And you hope that they can turn it around. They can you can unlock them here. That’s what it’s going to look like.
Now, can they do that? Add two or three players of bad ilk, maybe. And then you just got to hope that you find the right coach and you can figure it all out and, and go from there but it’s an uphill battle, I think, to say the least.”
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