The Vancouver Canucks got back on the ice at Rogers Arena on Tuesday after four days off for the All-Star break.
Practice was a spirited, high-intensity affair that featured plenty of skating.
Philip Larsen returned to action in place of Alex Biega in the Canucks' last game before the All-Star break, the 3-0 shutout loss to Arizona. He played a solid 17:55, all at even strength. That was 24 seconds more than Chris Tanev, who was the low-minute man on the blue line for the night at 17:31. Larsen registered one shot on goal and one giveaway.
With Larsen's return, Jordan Subban was re-assigned to the Utica Comets in time for the AHL's All-Star weekend. Biega remains as the extra defenseman, and Ben Hutton is still out of action with that fracture in his hand. His last game was on January 6, so he's now into his fourth week on the sidelines.
Forward Jannik Hansen made his first appearance back on the practice ice since suffering that knee injury against the Winnipeg Jets back on December 22.
Hansen's recovery time was estimated at 4-6 weeks. Thursday's game against San Jose will mark exactly six weeks since he was knocked out of action.
Last week, I took a look at the status of the Canucks' key defensemen after Jim Benning made a comment that suggested that the team now has enough depth to move a player from the blue line.
Click here for my take on the trade possibilities for Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, Luca Sbisa and Erik Gudbranson.
On the radio today, Trevor Linden seemed to close the door on the idea of trading picks for players to help with this year's playoff push, but sounds like he might still be open to making a deal that could help make his team better in the future.
Sounds to me like the possibility of trading a defenseman is still in play.
Here's a look at the status of the players on the bottom half of the defensive depth chart. Like before, players are listed in order of their cap hits.
Philip Larsen - Age 27 - Cap Hit $1.025 million - becomes UFA at the end of this season
Philip Larsen was playing in the KHL when the Canucks acquired his rights from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick. The team's thinking was that Larsen could be used as a dynamic power-play specialist, but the situation hasn't quite worked out as hoped.
Larsen has no goals and four assists in his 18 games with the Canucks and was basically supplanted by Troy Stecher on the power play while he was sidelined after taking that awful hit in New Jersey back in early December.
The power play has shown some signs of life under Stecher but production-wise, it continues to struggle. It'll be interesting to see if Larsen gets another look over these next few weeks, to see if he can provide a spark.
As an impending unrestricted free agent, Larsen could make an interesting potential rental target for a playoff-bound team looking for depth. Stecher's emergence could make Larsen expendable for the Canucks—if another team is interested, he could find himself on the move against next month.
Chance he'll be traded at the deadline: 40 percent
Chance he'll be traded in the offseason: none - Larsen will be an unrestricted free agent
Nikita Tyamkin - Age 22 - Cap Hit $925,000 - becomes RFA at the end of this season
When the Canucks brought in Nikita Tryamkin during the late stages of last season, his status dictated that his entry-level contract could only be two years in length.
The big guy should be in line for a nice raise after the impactful season he has laid down so far. Tryamkin's 1-4-5 in 40 games. Like every rookie, he has his rough spots, but he has shown a willingness to engage physically as well as to rush the puck and be dynamic on the ice.
Is he tradeable? Not with his upside, I don't think.
The Canucks and their fans are excited by what they have in Tryamkin, but I don't think his legend has grown to the point where he's being scouted by other teams as a possible acquisition.
Exempt from the expansion draft and with plenty of upside, expect to see Tryamkin with the Canucks for the foreseeable future, as long as his next contract negotiation goes smoothly.
Chance he'll be traded at the deadline: 10 percent
Chance he'll be traded in the offseason: 20 percent
Troy Stecher - Age 22 - Cap Hit $925,000 - under contract until 2017-18
I can see a tiny bit of uncertainty with Tryamkin due to his contract situation and the always-looming possibility that he and his wife could decide to return to Russia, but it seems like he has been committed to establishing himself in the NHL, so I don't anticipate any issues.
Troy Stecher's situation seems to be even more locked down. He has also exceeded expectations after being signed as an unrestricted free agent out of college and he's in just the first year of his two-year entry-level deal.
Stecher and Tryamkin were mentioned in the same breath, again, as the important building blocks of Vancouver's future defense corps by Trevor Linden on the radio today.
Like Tryamkin, I think Stecher's value and potential are probably clearer to the Canucks and the fans at this point than they are to outsiders. I don't imagine another team would offer enough, at this point, to pry Stecher away in a trade.
Chance he'll be traded at the deadline: 10 percent
Chance he'll be traded in the offseason: 10 percent
Ben Hutton - Age 23 - Cap Hit $896,250 - under contract until 2018-19
Does the rise of Stecher and Tryamkin make Ben Hutton's future more uncertain? Perhaps.
Hutton was a godsend last season, stepping in as an unheralded college player to make the top six on a team that struggled defensively and was hit hard with injuries on the blue line. Dan Hamhuis, Matt Bartkowski and Yannick Weber were all allowed to leave the Canucks as unrestricted free agents after last season, but Hutton remained.
Hutton has already been re-signed to a two-year contract extension that will pay him $2.8 million a year, starting next season. He still shows upside and I think the Canucks would like to keep him around, but he's a bit better known than Stecher and Tryamkin and might be getting squeezed a bit by those young players coming up behind him.
The longer Hutton remains sidelined with his injury, the more the Canucks need to keep the defensive depth they have as they continue their playoff push—and the more he might be forgotten as other teams set their trade targets.
Hutton could move, but I still think it's pretty unlikely.
Chance he'll be traded at the deadline: 20 percent
Chance he'll be traded in the offseason: 30 percent
Alex Biega - Age 28 - Cap Hit $750,000 - under contract until 2017-18
"Bulldog" was a fan favourite last season, acquitting himself well when the Canucks' defensive depth was sorely tested during the late stages of the season. This year, with the Canucks afraid of losing their former Utica captain on waivers, Biega has stuck with the big club all year and stepped in to provide injury relief. He has two assists in 18 games and has now been bumped back up to the press box with the return of Philip Larsen.
Biega's also a "good-in-the-room" guy who's a positive influence on young players, which could be part of his value this year to a team that seems to be really coming together in the dressing room.
He needs to get into the lineup for one more game in order to cross the threshold that would make him eligible as a qualifying player who could be exposed in the expansion draft. Once he crosses that threshold, he becomes more valuable, whether its' to the Canucks or to another team that needs a defenseman to expose.
Chance he'll be traded at the deadline: 10 percent
Chance he'll be traded in the offseason: 30 percent
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