NHL
The Vancouver Canucks Have Gained Some Veteran Grit While Losing the Sedins to Retirement.
In Vancouver, the Sedin Twins were an iconic duo that could do just about anything on the ice. However, Daniel and Henrik have retired and it is now up to the Canucks young core to step up along with help from the signing of veterans that can lead a ship.
On July 25, Owner Francesco Aquilini sent out a series of 12 tweets notifying the Twitter-verse that he and President of Hockey Operations, Trevor Linden had amicably parted ways. Like I said in Arizona’s 31 in 31, their finish gave Aquilini false hope for this season. Obviously, Linden did not think his young team could compete the way Aquilini thought it could. This resulted in a change of leadership in the office. You can read more about this by Joshua Rey here.
Have the Canucks Gotten Better?
This is a tough question. For me, I do not think the Canucks have. But it seems like on one side of the fanbase, fans want to be competitive, however, on the other side fans want to lose for Hughes and bring Jack Hughes and Quinton Hughes together. Losing the Sedins and signing some ridiculously dumb contracts the Vancouver Canucks may be in the running for Jack Hughes.
Additions
Three players signed with the Vancouver Canucks this offseason. Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, and Tim Schaller. Roussel and Beagle were both signed to four year $3 million AAV deals. Tim Schaller was signed to a two-year deal worth $1.9 annually.
Antoine Roussel played Left Wing last year with the Dallas Stars and tallied 5 goals and 12 assists for 17 points in 73 games. 17 points in 73 games is a Career low for Roussel if the Lookout shortened 2012-13 year is not looked at. Jay Beagle played 79 games with Washington and scored 7 goals with 15 assists. Beagle also brings in the experience of winning a Stanley Cup. After a full 82 game season, Tim Schaller put up 12 goals and added 10 assists.
Another addition to talk about is Quinton Hughes. The Canucks decided not to sign Hughes and will have until August 15, 2021, to do so. Hughes has decided to go back to Boston University for another season.
Subtractions
Henrik and Daniel Sedin were two huge pieces of the team that pulled off a Cup run in 2011 but lost to Boston. With their experience and leadership capabilities, it only made sense for the Canucks to keep the twins until retirement. Towards the end of last season the twins, Daniel and Henrik, decided it was time to hang ’em up and spend time with their families. The Sedin duo combined for a total of 26 goals, 79 assists, and 105 points. They will be greatly missed on a young team Vancouver will have this year.
Nic Dowd was signed to a $650,000 one year deal by the Capitals. Dowd scored 3 goals in 40 NHL games last season. Jussi Jokinen was not resigned by the Canucks. In a season where he played for four organizations, Jokinen finished the season with Vancouver scoring 4 goals and totaling 10 points in 14 games.
Where the Vancouver Canucks Stand
The Net Gain total is not good at all for the Canucks. 61 added player points combined with 124 subtracted player points equals a Net Gain of -63 player points. This is not good, because of the fact that Vancouver is planning on being much younger next year. What if the young players coming up are not ready to be NHLers?
Nothing changed from the defensive and goaltending side of things, but Vancouver added some grit in Roussel and Beagle. The Canucks also resigned Jake Virtanen to a two year $1.25 million AAV deal. It will be nice to see what some of the young guys can do. Is Elias Pettersson ready for the NHL? Is Bo Horvat the next Canucks Captain or does Brock Boeser have something to say about that? These are all questions to watch for in 2018-19.
Speaking of Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat, I expect them to have an outstanding year as each should get more ice time without the Sedin Twins in town. But I am not sure it will do much for the team success as I have the Canucks slotted in as the 8th team in the Pacific Division this season and in the bottom three teams of the NHL.
Follow Jared on Twitter at: @jared_pettus_00
