Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Cory Schneider might need a new mask after Wednesday.

The Vancouver Canucks have no choice but to try and make a Cup-clinching deal Wednesday.

VANCOUVER — They are at different points on the developmental curve, which might tell us why Calgary Flames general manager Darryl Sutter has been a dealing fool this month, while Vancouver Canucks counterpart Mike Gillis continues his patient ways at the trade deadline.

Gillis has traditionally done his best work in the summertime, standing pat at his first deadline as the Canucks GM a year ago. His team is on the way up though, while Sutter’s recent activity has the look of a guy who is playing the piano as fast as he can, with his team officially below the playoff cut line when it resumes action Wednesday night.

But here is where the two philosophies collide:

Coming out of their pre-lockout Cup run in 2004, the Flames figured they had what it took to contend for the Cup for many years. When Sutter added Dion Phaneuf coming out of the lockout he suddenly had his four pillars in place, including Miikka Kiprusoff, Robyn Regehr and Jarome Iginla.

Sutter changed some light bulbs during those first few years, but never had an active Trade Deadline Day until a year ago, when he acquired Olli Jokinen and Jordan Leopold.

Today, that core has been changed with Jay Bouwmeester replacing Phaneuf, and Sutter becoming more active than ever on the trade market. Yet the team he came out of the lockout with — the one that was going to be a Western power for years to come — is suddenly in grave danger of suffering the insult of missing the playoffs this spring.

So what does Gillis, whose team is sure to win its second consecutive division title this season for only the second time in franchise history, learn from watching the evolutionary curve of the Calgary Flames?

Well, for one, keeping a solid core group works. So he wrapped up the Sedins and Roberto Luongo long-term.

But is their room for patience as an NHL GM? Or, once your team hits the level the Canucks have reached, do you have to approach every Deadline Day like it’s your last true shot at a championship?

This Deadline Day marks the final chance for Gillis to improve his club and make a Cup run. If he stands on what he has now — a very good team, but not one that looks to be better than Chicago or San Jose — then he is letting another year pass.

Ask Flames fans what they were thinking as one first-round exit turned into another, and another.

That "good" Flames team never turned into a "great" team, and now it’s life or death for a playoff spot in Calgary.

So why does Gillis cling to one of the best minor league goalies in hockey, Cory Schneider, when he has Luongo locked up for four more seasons? What could he possibly be waiting for from a goalie who clearly has the AHL mastered, and is ready to step up?

Schneider has better AHL numbers than recent grads such as Pekka Rinne, Ondrej Pavelec and Tuukka Rask, and all of them are on their way as NHL starters. NHL GMs are looking at Schneider the same way.

So with a Dan Hamhuis on the market, should Gillis be out-bid by the Philadelphia Flyers or Boston Bruins? Or should he be dangling Schneider — we know, Nashville has lots of goalies — Michael Grabner, Steve Bernier, or whomever?

If he can do a trade-and-sign with Hamhuis, is the defenceman worth a first-round pick and a player? The Canucks are within striking range of their first Stanley Cup, and Hamhuis is an elite defenceman.

Which brings us back to the Calgary Flames, an organization that years ago dealt away a kid named Brett Hull in a multi-player deal with St. Louis, one day before the 1988 trade deadline.

The Flames won their only Cup in 1989.

Then, in 1995, the Dallas Stars traded a no-name called Jarome Iginla to Calgary for Joe Nieuwendyk.

Four years later, Nieuwendyk was a pillar on the only Cup-winning team in Stars history.

You never know if trading prospects for immediate needs is going to pan out. But Mike Gillis should remember this: You’ll never know if it will pan out, if you don’t take the risk to make a good team great.