The Vancouver Canucks ended their bye week with a practice at UBC on Thursday, then flew to Denver to spend a little time acclimating to the altitude ahead of their matchup against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.
They're practicing again on Friday, working to get their skating legs back. Lines look basically unchanged from the Canucks' last game, that 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on January 23.
All told, the Canucks had one of the lightest schedules in January, and went 4-4-2. The main reason why they moved up in the Western Conference standings is because the two worst teams in the league last month were the Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks, who each collected just seven points.
Most of the other teams in that Western Conference wild-card race have also been off this week, so there hasn't been too much movement in the standings. The only notable game during the week was the Dallas Stars' 1-0 win over Buffalo on Wednesday, which allowed them to solidify their hold on the first wild-card spot for the time being.
Here's a quick look at where everybody currently stands in the race to claim third spot in the Central and the two wild-card positions:
Third in Central: Minnesota Wild - 50 GP, 55 pts, play Dallas on Friday
First Wild Card: Dallas Stars - 50 GP, 54 pts, play Minnesota on Friday
Second Wild Card: Colorado Avalanche - 50 GP, 52 pts, play Vancouver on Saturday
9th place: Vancouver Canucks - 51 GP, 52 pts, play Colorado on Saturday
10th place: Anaheim Ducks - 51 GP, 51 pts, play Winnipeg on Saturday
11th place: Arizona Coyotes - 50 GP, 50 pts, play San Jose on Saturday
12th place: St. Louis Blues - 49 GP, 49 pts, play Columbus on Saturday
13th place: Edmonton Oilers - 50 GP, 49 pts, play Philadelphia on Saturday
St. Louis picked up 15 points in January to get back into the mix; Arizona got 14. At this point, we've got eight teams fighting for three spots—and that's assuming that Chicago (45 points) and Los Angeles (44 points) really are dead and buried for this year.
The Kings appeared to throw in the towel when they dealt Jake Muzzin to the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this week. Muzzin's a good player, and they got a solid return for a 29-year-old who's on a reasonable contract at $4 million through the end of the 2019-20 season.
But Muzzin's a lefty—and what the Leafs really needed was a right-handed defenseman.
You know who else is 29, is signed through the end of 2019-20, is making similar money at $4.45 million—and is a righty? Chris Tanev.
Last year, the rumour was that the Leafs had never offered the Canucks more than a second-rounder as part of the package for Tanev. To me, it was easy to agree that the Canucks shouldn't make that deal—he's worth more.
But he has been relatively healthy this year, just missing those four games back in October with his hip issue. With 46 games played, he's already ahead of his 42 games from last season, his 10 points are right on track with his usual production, and his 20:38 of ice time per game is also right around his average over the past six seasons.
If you were Jim Benning, would you have traded Tanev for prospects Carl Grundstrom and Sean Durzi and the Leafs' 2019 first-rounder—which could have given Vancouver two first-round draft picks when they host the draft here in Vancouver in June?
I like Tanev so much and I think the Canucks need to keep him if they want to keep their blue line in somewhat respectable shape over the next two seasons, but I would have been tempted by that offer—and I can't really imagine that Benning didn't receive that proposal, or something similar, from Kyle Dubas. Tanev fits Toronto's actual team need, and he's a Toronto native. I wouldn't think that the Leafs are one of the eight teams on his limited no-trade list, either?
Of course, we'll never know what really goes on behind the scenes; there are always pressure points in negotiations. I'm sure Kings' GM Rob Blake had other teams who were also interested in Muzzin; maybe was able to get Dubas into a take-it-or-leave-it scenario, where he would have lost out on his opportunity to acquire Muzzin if he'd tried to shop his package to other teams?
There has been some talk that the Leafs are still interested in acquiring a righty, but now that first-round pick is gone. And Dubas needs to remain budget conscious as he heads into negotiations with impending RFAs Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Kasperi Kapanen. I'd be amazed if they swing a deal for a big fish like Alex Pietrangelo, but I guess a lot will depend on whether they get out of their mini-slump over the next three-and-a-bit weeks before the trade deadline.
Tanev's listed a pretty low-key No. 38 on TSN's
Trade Bait List, which was updated on Friday. Michael Del Zotto was No. 35 when he was swapped for No. 36 Luke Schenn on January 16.
Alex Edler sits at No. 22, but Jim Benning's comments during his radio hit on TSN1040 this morning certainly make it sound like everyone's intention is for Edler to stick around.
I'm glad to see this is the direction that the narrative is being aimed at this point. I have always believed that Edler has no intention of waiving his no-trade clause, which is his right. He's playing terrific hockey right now and will most likely want to re-sign in Vancouver this summer. And his desire to stay means his negotiating leverage isn't especially strong; he should sign a relatively team-friendly deal.
I think Troy Stecher has quietly taken another step forward this season. He continues to work on his strength and his shot and has moved into a tie with Elias Pettersson as Vancouver's best plus-minus player so far this season at plus-14—a huge improvement from his minus-7 last year and well ahead of the next-best defenseman, Tanev, at plus-4.
At the other end of the spectrum, Ben Hutton is a minus-13 so far this year and Erik Gudbranson is minus-20. Only two other players in the NHL are worse, and both play for Florida. Mike Matheson is minus-21 and Jonathan Huberdeau is minus-23.
There's lots more from Benning on the state of the franchise, including another vote of confidence for Nikoay Goldobin, if you care to listen to his interview in its entirety:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»