The perch atop the National Hockey League and Western Conference is a lofty position. any NHL club would love to have this late in the year. So Canucks president and GM Mike Gillis realizes just how fortunate he is as his hockey team is sitting first overall heading into the final weekend before the trade deadline.
Coming from a position of power, don’t expect the Canucks to be involved in a blockbuster before Monday at noon pacific time, but that doesn’t mean Gillis and company aren’t listening to offers.
“We are going to look at anything that comes our way to make the team better but we do it with the knowledge that we are pretty satisfied and happy with the group we have,” Gillis told Sportsnet Friday. “That means a lot of things that are discussed with other teams won’t be discussed with us because people know we are pretty happy with the way things are situated.”
Of course, being patient at this time of year is a lot easier when your team leads the league in goals scored and hasn’t lost back-to-back games since the middle of November.
“We went into this with a plan both short and long term," Gillis confidently stated. “It can get pretty easy to deviate from that plan and suddenly cause yourself to go backwards … we have good goaltending, good defence and a good forward group so to do something would have to be a big improvement for us.”
With the fourth line being a revolving door this season, acquiring some depth for the bottom-six forward group appears to be high on Gillis’ list of things to do this weekend.
There has also been some rumbling of late, that the Canucks may want to improve their second line as well.
An addition that would have to come with some subtraction but according to Gillis, Corey Schneider is not in play unless he receives a deal that knocks his socks off and moving Mason Raymond is also a long shot.
“In just observing from the studies we’ve done on trade deadline day, you can really set yourself back in a big way by doing certain things," Gillis said matter-of-factly. “If you have a good team, you can always find ways to think you are going to improve ….so I find it a little challenging when people suggest you have to go out and do something, Because we did do something in the summer time when we had control of things. We hit home runs on them in my opinion, so to replicate that now at the deadline is going to be very difficult.”