Welcome Matt: Will Canucks' lack of size jive with Tocchet's plan of attack?

Remember back in June when the Vancouver Canucks entered this offseason with priorities that included a big winger?

Granted, the winger was fourth down their list after two defencemen who could play in the top-four (enter Carson Soucy and Ian Cole) and a third-line centre (enter Pius Suter).

Their lack of cap space has prevented ticking that box by now. Maybe Tyler Myers is traded and they acquire room to add that big winger via the big defenceman.

For the moment, new head coach Rick Tocchet is going to have to get his rough-and-tumble from Dakota Joshua, Phil Di Giuseppe, and Tanner Pearson, if he’s healthy.

Size — or lack thereof — may well be something that eludes the Canucks this season, particularly at forward, and you wonder how that will jive with Tocchet, who was himself a big gritty winger, and wants wall warriors capable of winning those board battles.

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The Athletic recently did an article looking at Vancouver’s measurable and how the Canucks stack up versus the Pacific Division.

The Canucks are the second shortest and lightest team up front, averaging 6 feet and 189 pounds per forward.

Only Seattle is smaller, and mostly because of Yanni Gourde and Kailer Yamamoto, both sub 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds. The Canucks have Conor Garland in that category.

Size considerations, while important, are more likely to separate clubs in the Stanley Cup Playoffs more so than the regular season, where space is more readily available. It’s no biggie (pun intended), and at this point, looks like it’ll fall to the next phase of the Canucks’ evolution, when they have more cap space or more assets to trade.

Until then, Tocchet may have to suffer a lack of size.