On the Vancouver Canucks …
Rick Dhaliwal: Looking like defenseman Ben Hutton‘s time with the Canucks could be up. It would be a surprise if the Canucks didn’t explore the idea of trading him at the draft in June.
Rick Dhaliwal: Corey Hirsch on the Ben Hutton saga: “The team may give Hutton the summer to improve himself. Give him a chance to get stronger and bigger and see where he’s at in come training camp and then perhaps move him then.”
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet: To bridge the one-, two- or three-year gap until some of their prospects are ready, do the Canucks look at short-term, big money deal to free agents?
Do the Canucks look to leverage their cap space? Call the Chicago Blackhawks about taking on Marian Hossa‘s cap hit or the Ottawa Senators about Bobby Ryan‘s contract. Ryan does have some control though with his contract.
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Darren Dreger was on TSN 1040 and was asked if the Canucks will be “big players” in free agency. Dreger thinks they will be. They could look at John Tavares, but they and he would realize that they are not Cup contenders now, something he’s interested in.
“But then you look beyond that and see who else might be in play and perhaps they are interested in John Carlson as example, if he decides to leave Washington. Could they decide to try to bolster their blueline in that regard? Maybe.”
Elliotte Friedman was on TSN 1040 talking about the Canucks. With the Sedin’s retiring, they will have a lot of salary cap space to work with. Had Flames Mikael Backlund become available, they would have been interested in signing him.
Trevor Linden doesn’t think they will be big players in free agency. They’ve got some young guys in Adam Gaudette, Elias Pettersson, Jonathan Dahlen, Brock Boeser, and Bo Horvat.
“And I just wonder if the Canucks are going to be a factor in the market on a short-term deal. Do they go after one of the top free agents or one of the bigger free agents and say, ‘If you’re interested in something short term, maybe for a bigger AAV but it tides us over for three years until some of these guys are ready’ – I’m curious to see if Vancouver is going to be a player in that way.”