On the the Vancouver Canucks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman was on the Sportsnet 590 talking about the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. Friedman thinks Canucks GM Jim Benning will remain with the team. Many expect they’ll make a coaching change, but he’s done a good job under some tough circumstances. Friedman notes they have some good young players, but lack a dynamic player.
“But the thing is if you really want to win now, you need a guy who is a dynamic player. Edmonton has that guy. Pittsburgh has two of those guys. San Jose, you could argue, has two or three. Toronto has a couple now, and maybe even more, although they’re still really young. That’s what Vancouver doesn’t have. Washington has a couple. But Vancouver doesn’t have that.”
They might have had a that dynamic player at last year’s draft, but they dropped from third to the fifth slot. Olli Juolevi will be a good player, but he’s not a game-breaker. (No. 3 CBJ Pierre-Luc Dubois, No. 4 EDM Jesse Puljujarvi, No. 5 VAN Juolevi and No. 6 CGY Matthew Tkachuk).
John Shannon was part of the same conversation involving Friedman and noted that Canucks GM Benning was trying to trade up from No. 5 to No. 3, but he couldn’t put together a good enough deal for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Friedman then brings up …
“The other one too, John,” added Friedman, “And the Canucks have kind of quietly admitted this – but if Montreal thought they could have gotten up to get Dubois – who went to Columbus third overall – I think there’s a chance P.K. Subban is a Vancouver Canuck.”
Shannon also then mentions that he thinks the Canucks were very close to trading for Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane, though “nobody will admit it.”