News

Canucks Trade Deadline Day Recap

DH Vancouver Staff
DH Vancouver Staff
|
Dec 19 2017, 10:12 pm
Canucks Trade Deadline Day Recap

It took a while for things to get cooking on deadline day, but the Canucks eventually made a couple of trades today.

TSN and Sportsnet began their coverage at 5am today and as usual it took a while for most trades to materialize. So what do we do while we wait?

We analyze the commercials:

We analyze prospects:

And we break trades from 1991:

The Vancouver Canucks eventually made two trades today, first acquiring Cory Conacher from the New York Islanders and later acquiring Sven Baertschi from the Calgary Flames.

Vancouver traded a 2nd round draft pick to the Calgary Flames in exchange for 22-year-old Swiss forward Sven Baertschi.

Baertschi is the most significant player the Canucks acquired today despite the fact that he likely won’t play for Vancouver this season. Given he requires waivers to be sent to the AHL next season, Baertschi is a lock to make the Canucks in 2015-16.

This move is for the near-future and if GM Jim Benning is right, this will be a very good trade for Vancouver.

The Canucks swapped minor league centres with the New York Islanders, sending Dustin Jeffrey to long Island in exchange for Cory Conacher. The 25-year-old Conacher is almost two years younger than Jeffrey and likely has more potential, though he is a long shot to make a significant impact at the NHL level.

So what about the players that didn’t move today? Thankfully, in my opinion, Zack Kassian wasn’t traded today.

The Canucks were reportedly shopping the enigmatic power forward, but didn’t find a taker.

Zack Kassian infuriates me more than any other player on the Canucks when he isn’t playing well, but I’m glad he is staying in Vancouver. Kassian has a tantalizing combination of size and skill, and he is turning it on of late.

He also presents an interesting twist to the Sedin line, when Vrbata/Burrows aren’t producing.

John Shannon gave the Canucks a thrill this morning. Remember Jordan Leopold??

…And then 24 minutes later John Shannon took all the fun away.

The Canucks didn’t add anything to help them win the Stanley Cup in 2015, and quite frankly that’s the right move at this stage. Vancouver wants to make the playoffs and they’re in good position to do so. They’re also a team with a lot of depth at every position, so acquiring a depth player is mostly redundant. The only moves they were in a position to make were moves for the future.

Chris Higgins was also a player rumoured to be on the move, given his struggles this year and Vancouver’s depth at forward.

Higgins, who has a limited no-trade clause, would have likely fetched a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick. Losing him would have made the team worse this season, and could have sent a bad message to the rest of the Canucks’ players as they fight tooth and nail to make the playoffs. Higgins can still be moved in the offseason, but likely for less of a haul.

After the deadline passed, Benning dropped hints that he may look to acquire some draft picks in the offseason.

Shawn Matthias, Derek Dorsett and Brad Richardson are all unrestricted free agents after this season, and the Canucks will lose them for nothing if they aren’t re-signed. All three players have had good seasons and make the Canucks better, although I thought that Brad Richardson presented the best opportunity for the Canucks to add a draft pick. The injured Richardson has become increasingly expendable, given the development of rookie Bo Horvat.

But for now, Matthias, Dorsett and Richardson are still here.

And yes, smilin’ Eddie Lack is still here too.

ADVERTISEMENT