VANCOUVER – Jack Eichel making his debut Wednesday for the Vegas Golden Knights means another team got better higher up the Pacific Division from the Vancouver Canucks.
On Monday, the Calgary Flames acquired top-six winger Tyler Toffoli from the Montreal Canadiens, a little more than two weeks after the Edmonton Oilers signed Evander Kane.
More than two months since Jim Rutherford became the Canucks’ president, his team still hasn’t made a move. But they lead the NHL in trade rumours.
When Rutherford and new general manager Patrik Allvin eventually start to renovate the lineup they’ve inherited, they are far more likely to be “sellers” than “buyers” ahead of the March 21 deadline.
“I don’t think there’s a rush for us to do anything here,” Allvin said Wednesday in an interview with Sportsnet 650 radio in Vancouver. “We’re still five weeks away from the trade deadline and I want to take the opportunity to watch this team closely, get to know the players better.”
Allvin was hired by Rutherford on Jan. 26. He has watched the Canucks in person for five games.
The Canucks could make an actual hockey trade before March 21, like with their reported interest in New Jersey Devils forward Pavel Zacha. But the Canucks’ roster is not expected to get stronger in the short term. It’s more likely the organization will accept a slight step back now in order to move ahead next season and two years from now as Rutherford seeks to create enough salary-cap flexibility to undertake personnel changes.
It is within this context that the team, coming off yet another schedule break – this time four days – resumes its unlikely playoff chase with a road game Thursday against the San Jose Sharks. Then it’s back to Vancouver for three more home games, starting Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks.
As they flew to Northern California after practising Wednesday at Rogers Arena, the Canucks were five points adrift of both third place in the Pacific Division (the Edmonton Oilers) and the final Western Conference wild-card playoff spot (the Ducks and Los Angeles Kings).
Most teams ahead of the Canucks have played fewer games.
Trade rumours will follow them wherever they are for the next five weeks – and beyond. Conjecture about the future of top forward J.T. Miller, for instance, isn’t ending even if Rutherford and Allvin make the prudent decision to keep the 2023-eligible unrestricted free agent through this trade deadline.
Veteran defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who lived through an entire season of trade reports with the Arizona Coyotes before he was dealt to the Canucks last summer, said the rumours can be disruptive.
“Yeah, I would say so,” he told reporters on Zoom. “I mean, obviously, it's hard when you're trying to focus on your game and focus on playing good for your teammates and the team you're on right now. But there's not a lot you can do. All you can do is focus on your game and try to play your best hockey. That's really what it comes down to because you can't really do much about rumors or trades or whatever.”
Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau had a different view.
“It's all white noise,” he said. “Nobody talks about it. I mean, they obviously read the social media and everything else and those guys see what reporters concoct up. Right now, nobody's mentioned anything. No one's ever come up to me and said: 'Hey, listen, am I going somewhere, am I getting traded?’ And in all the teams (I’ve coached), whether it be Washington, Anaheim, Minnesota, here, none of those (players) have ever said that.”
FULL SPEED AHEAD
The Canucks will be as near to full strength as they’ve been this season with the expected return in San Jose of star defenceman Quinn Hughes and speedy checker Matthew Highmore – both back from COVID protocol. Vancouver’s 3-2 win Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs was top-four defenceman Travis Hamonic’s first game since suffering a leg injury on Dec. 8.
Among lineup regulars, only third-pairing defenceman Tucker Poolman, out with serious complications from migraines, will be unavailable to Boudreau. Centre Brandon Sutter has missed the entire season with long-haul COVID symptoms.
Trapped in the U.S. by the Canadian government’s unaltered guideline on border crossing for people who have tested positive for COVID, Hughes has been skating at home in Michigan under the guidance of his player-development-coach dad, Jim. Highmore practised Wednesday with the Canucks and is expected to be reunited with Tyler Motte and centre Juho Lammikko on a shutdown down.
“It absolutely makes a difference,” Boudreau said of Highmore’s return after a three-game absence. “If you look at our lineup, being honest, we're not the fastest team in the league. And he's one of the fastest skaters that I've had in a long time. And he's got a motor that doesn't quit. So he just keeps going and going and going. Tyler Motte can skate, and Lammo can skate, and when you put them together, they're just frustrating to play against.”
HOW SWEDE IT ISN’T
Boudreau, who gave up a pre-Olympic Team Canada coaching position to take over the Canucks on Dec. 6, was disappointed with Canada’s 2-0 morning loss to Sweden in Beijing. Not so much the Canucks’ three Swedish players, Elias Pettersson, Nils Hoglander and Ekman-Larsson.
“I asked Petey as soon as I got in: 'How dare you beat Canada?’” Boudreau said. “And he said, 'Ah, that was no problem.' They all practised good today. But you know what? When you're surrounded by 17 other Canadians, you're not going to be talking too much smack when there's only three of you. I got up and turned it on and was not happy with the score.”
