The Florida Panthers have stated publicly that they're looking to make a big splash in the off-season. This is the third part of a league-wide search for great potential trading partners for the Panthers. Today we will look at the Vancouver Canucks.
If you missed the previous teams you can find them here...
Detroit Red Wings
Montreal Canadiens
Arizona Coyotes
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres
Vancouver Canucks: (31-40-11 73 points)
Draft picks owned: 1st round (#7), 2nd round (#37), 3rd round (#68), 5th round (#130), 6th round (#161), 7th round (#192)
UFA's: Daniel & Henrik Sedin (Retired) Jussi Jokinnen (W), Darren Archibald (W), Nic Dowd (C)
RFA's:Sven Baertschi (LW), Jake Virtanen (RW), Troy Stetcher (D), Derrick Pouliot (D)
The 2018-19 season will open without Henrik and Daniel Sedin playing in the NHL for the Vancouver Canucks for the first time since 1999. Consider the constants in life that reach as far back as 20 years ago. It's tough to find very many! The Sedin's retirement means a new era for the Canucks. On a deeper level, they're really the last players to win significant awards without significant speed. The last of the old guard.
With this change, Vancouver can re-invent themselves any way they desire. General Manager Jim Benning can finally give this team the makeover it needs now that the pressure of building a team around the Sedins is gone.
When looking at the Canucks' makeup, two defensemen jump out because of their contracts expiring at the end of 2018-19. Alex Edler and to a lesser extent, Michael Del Zotto, would both fit well into the Florida Panthers lineup.
For our purposes, let's focus on Alexander Edler, who's coming off his best offensive season since 2011-12. Despite his 34 points, Edler finished with the worst possession numbers of his career. Playing 24 minutes per game with one of the worst teams in the NHL generally results in lesser possession numbers. Even though he's 32 years old, Edler can still be an effective top four defenseman in the NHL and play big minutes.
Knowing he's a free agent at season's end, and with a relatively affordable five million dollar cap hit, many teams will be calling the Canucks about Edler. So the question is, what would it take to acquire Alexander Edler from the Vancouver Canucks?
For the Florida Panthers, a first round pick is probably the starting place. However, it would be unwise to give up their 15th overall pick in this year's draft. Instead, they should offer their 2019 first round pick since it's likely the Panthers will make the playoffs next year thus being a lower a pick.
Most likely, the Canucks will want defensive help coming back to offset the loss of Edler. MacKenzie Weegar has begun to grow into a solid two-way defenseman and could be a good addition to the back-end for Vancouver. He's not super flashy, but he showed some offensive upside in his time in the AHL but was given no power play time in Florida. Given the opportunity, he may be able to produce more offensively as well.
Along with a first round pick and MacKenzie Weegar, the Panthers would need to give up a mid-level prospect. Jonathan Ang was a fourth round pick in 2016 for the Panthers. He had 70 points in 65 games this year playing center in the Ontario Hockey League. He played well for the Sarnia Sting in the playoffs with nine points in 12 games.
"Jonathan is a highly-skilled young player who plays a strong two-way game and possesses world-class speed," said Tallon. "We've been impressed with Jonathan's development and look forward to watching him continue to progress as he works towards beginning his pro career." ~Dale Tallon GM of the Florida Panthers
To Florida Panthers
Alexander Edler (D)
To Vancouver Canucks
First Round Pick 2019
Third Round Pick 2020
MacKenzie Weegar (D)
Jonathan Ang (C)
Of course, Vancouver would ask for Aleksi Heponiemi, Henrik Borgstrom or Owen Tippett. While Borgstrom and Tippett shouldn't be on the table for Edler (since he's a UFA at season's end), Heponiemi could be apart of this trade if it looked a little different.
To Florida Panthers
Alexander Edler (D)
To Vancouver Canucks
First Round Pick 2019
Aleksi Heponiemi (C)
Heponiemi is coming off a WHL championship with the Swift Current Broncos in which he had 30 points in 25 playoff games. He's an assist machine with 25 assists during the playoffs and 90 during the regular season.
Florida needs to upgrade their defense and Vancouver needs to rewrite the makeup of their team. Acquiring multiple high-level assets for Edler would go a long way to bringing Vancouver back to the playoffs.
The next potential trade partner for the Florida Panthers will be the
Chicago Blackhawks.
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