Price is Right: What a Rangers-model rebuild would look like for the Canucks

Rebuild. Hockey’s swear word. We’re hearing it again.

It seems unfathomable to think about it. But years after Mike Gillis toyed with the idea, and Lawrence Gilman confided to us on-air years later, there was a plan from that group.

Years after Trevor Linden was forced out for having his own rebuild plan. We are right back here, facing that same question about whether or not the Canucks should go down that road.

Jim Rutherford says no, cause it’s just too darn long a road. But some teams have found the express route.

Buffalo? No, not so much. That’s maybe the biggest and best example of how slow it can be. On the faster side, the New York Rangers.

A Message from Glen Sather and Jeff Gorton. pic.twitter.com/Q56CXS8vDc

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 8, 2018

Since that 2018 letter to the fans… they’ve already been to the Eastern Conference Final.

And it all started at the trade deadline, weeks after the letter went out.

So what would that look like if the Canucks tried to emulate it?

Well, the Rangers made a quartet of big moves at the deadline. Role-playing Nick Holden was dealt for a player and a third-round pick. Maybe that’s a Tanner Pearson trade in Canucks parlance?

They traded Michael Grabner three days later. Grabner was coming off a 27-goal season, and already had 25 in just 59 games that season. He was older than Brock Boeser is though so that’s not a perfect parallel, and was a UFA to be making only $1.65 million. So call it Andrei Kuzmenko.

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That trade brought in a prospect and a second-round pick.

Then the two biggies, UFA to be Rick Nash was traded to the Bruins for three players, a first, and a seventh-round pick. Say that’s Bo Horvat.

Followed by Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Bolts for three players, a first and a second-rounder. Gonna go Tyler Myers and Conor Garland.

That’s a lot out the door, and most of the players the Rangers got back, by the way, did not amount to much — save for maybe Ryan Lindgren and Vlad Namestnikov, who they eventually flipped for another fourth-round pick.

But it was equity gained. First-round picks galore, and exactly four years after the letter went out asking fans for patience, they were two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.

There is a way. But there are no guarantees. The Sabres route? The Rangers route? Or… The Canucks.