The biggest issue that Canuck Nation has been focused on this summer is the centre ice position.
Many expected Vancouver to make a trade to get stronger down the middle but that never transpired. Now fans are wondering whether or not the team will get production next season from its top two centres in Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil.
It’s a question most have been asking and one that was asked to Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin on a recent podcast. Allvin responded with a rather bold statement regarding Chytil, who has had a history of concussions and missed the final 16 games of last season due to one.
“Centres are a priority for what you’re building your team around. Filip Chytil is still young, he missed some games, but I think he has the intangibles to play higher up in the lineup. He had a 60-point year, and that’s probably in line with some of the other second-line centres around the league,” Allvin told the 100% Canucks Podcast.
Then there is Petterson, whose issues are well-documented.
It will be interesting to see how the 26-year-old Swede responds to being challenged when it comes to his off-ice preparation and if he comes into camp in peak physical condition.
The other story lines in the off-season have been positive ones.
The team resigned veteran Brock Boeser to a seven-year, $50.75 million contract. The Canucks also re-upped Conor Garland to a six-year, $36 million contract and Thatcher Demko to a three-year, $25.5 million deal.
And, of course, Vancouver native Evander Kane was acquired from Edmonton in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft that turned out to be David Lewandowski from the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.
Yes, positive moves in keeping the gang together but there is a bigger issue that the team hasn’t addressed, or at least not yet.
One of the problems the team had last season was that the leadership core wasn’t strong enough and it was identified by people within the organization as something that needed to improve heading into the upcoming season.
Looking at the additions the hockey club has made in the off-season – namely Kane – the leadership question remains.
To be perfectly clear, it’s not that the Canucks have bad people in their leadership group. It’s just that they don’t have the right combination of personalities to form a strong enough core.
A strong group has the ability to police themselves and hold one another accountable without any coaches getting involved and it was something that was missing last year.
It’s one of the reasons that the dressing room tensions between Pettersson and J.T. Miller spiralled out of control to the point where the latter was traded to the New York Rangers. The year before veterans such as Ian Cole and Nikita Zadorov played an important role as leaders. Without them, the dynamic changed and no one really filled the vacuum. The checks and balances, as one member of the organization told me, were no longer there.
Maybe it’s banking on addition by subtraction by not having Miller around. Maybe the club is hoping that some players become more vocal and take on more of a leadership role.
Or maybe they aren’t finished when it comes to tinkering with their roster.
The UFA list has been picked over and there’s not much remaining with the likes of Jeff Skinner, Max Pacioretty, Jack Roslovic and Victor Olofsson still available. It’s not as though the Canucks have a lot of cap space either, with Puckpedia.com projecting only $795,000 available to the team.
There have been rumblings that the club could be set to move Dakota Joshua in a trade to help add depth up the middle. In a perfect world, the Canucks would make a trade for a centre but also one who brings strong leadership skills as well. Unfortunately, the Canucks aren’t the only team looking for help up the middle as top-six centres are a rare commodity in a 32-team league.
The Canucks don’t play until October, so there is plenty of time for the organization to alter the roster and the club has been known to address its needs with in-season trades.
Either way, it’s going to be interesting to see how this situation transpires.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes about the B.C. sporting scene for simplymastery. This column is brought to you by:
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