Welcome Matt: Can Canucks management repeat Pittsburgh's unheralded defence success?
Of the many faults with the Vancouver Canucks’ previous regime, their scouting of defencemen ranked near the top of the list.
Drafting Quinn Hughes was a huge hit, but from Erik Gudbranson to Tyler Myers to Tucker Poolman to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, ex-GM Jim Benning and Co. took some mighty swings — and misses — on the blue line.
Is that changing under Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin?
The early returns are good, and no we’re not talking Carson Soucy and Ian Cole. Not yet anyway.
Akito Hirose looked like a poised, NHL-capable player in a seven-game cameo last season. Fellow college free agent Cole McWard played well in five NHL games.
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We haven’t seen enough good health from Filip Hronek to judge, but he’s a top-four NHL defenceman and while the acquisition cost was high, the Canucks would be lost without a player of his calibre on next year’s team.
Christian Wolanin and Noah Juulsen proved wise depth signings last season. Both should contend for more NHL games this season. Wolanin, named the AHL’s top defenceman, may even crack the opening-night lineup.
Even Benning-era holdovers Guillaume Brisebois and Jett Woo took steps forward last season, keeping their dreams alive of one day being regular NHLers.
Beyond that, there is European free-agent Fillip Johansson, a one-time first-round pick, and the guys from the last two draft classes: Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson (EP-D), Hunter Brzustewicz, and Sawyer Mynio.
Outside of Hronek, none of these players figure to dramatically affect the team this season, but Rutherford and Allvin do have a track record of rehabilitating defencemen and slotting them appropriately from their time in Pittsburgh.
Their 2015-16 Stanley Cup team had one of the worst defence corps of any championship team, but it got more out of the sum of its parts with players like Trevor Daley, Ben Lovejoy, Brian Dumoulin, and Cole contributing.
The next season they repeated with veterans Ron Hainsey and Justin Schultz subbing for Lovejoy and Dumoulin.
All along, Kris Letang was their only star on defence. You can see that pattern or profile developing now with Hughes and the Canucks.
Fast forward to today, and for the first time in years, the Canucks blue line looks like it has serviceable depth, even if more quality is needed. And with the track record of this management team, it’s fair to expect good returns from Soucy and Cole this season, even if they’re being asked to play up the lineup.
Like some Penguins’ defencemen of yesteryear.