In the weeks leading up to the draft, there was a good deal of concern about the lack of buzz surrounding the Vancouver Canucks.
Now that it's in the rearview mirror, Elliotte Friedman has chosen to lead his new "30 Thoughts" column with a big-picture view of the Kevin Bieksa saga.
At this point, I guess it's semantics about whether or not the Canucks "asked" Bieksa to waive his no-trade clause. "I’ve been in contact with Kevin every step of the way and have been honest," Jim Benning told Friedman. "He understands our position and we’ll try to do what’s right for (him)."
The potential deal with the San Jose Sharks has been in the works long enough that Bieksa and his family had gone to the Bay Area to look at houses!
But I guess Doug Wilson got cold feet when he was able to trade up to No. 31 in order to pick defenseman Jeremy Roy. The landscape changed when the Colorado Avalanche acquired that pick from Buffalo as part of the Ryan O'Reilly deal, and Wilson paid dearly for it.
Wilson gave the Avs his 39th pick. Plus, to move up eight spots, he also gave them his 2016 second-rounder and a sixth-round pick in 2017.
Reports varied on whether Benning was after both of those second-round picks or just one. Here's what he told ESPN's
Pierre LeBrun:
Going in, the market place dictates that Johnny Boychuk went for two second-round picks," Benning said, citing last fall’s deal between the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders. "Kevin is a little bit older. That’s what our asking price was [a second-round pick this year]. I don’t think it’s too much, I think it’s fair. That’s what we were trying to get if we were going to move Kevin.
That age difference is pretty significant. Boychuk was 30 when he was traded to the Islanders last season, while Bieksa has just turned 34. So, one second rounder seems appropriate.
Wikipedia has a summary of next year's second-rounders—where it looks like the second-rounder and the 2017 sixth-rounder that the Sharks sent to the Avalanche yesterday both originally belonged to Colorado—and were traded to the Sharks in exchange for Brad Stuart last summer.
So, I guess you could say that the Sharks gave up Brad Stuart for the opportunity to move up eight spots yesterday. Interesting.
What's more pertinent on the Canucks front is that I think the Sharks do still own their own second-rounder for 2016. Maybe that pick—and perhaps another small asset?—could still be used to complete the Bieksa deal?
Or, maybe Benning will take his time talking to other suitors to see if there's another fit that would work for Bieksa and his family. Says Friedman:
There’s still a lot of interest in Bieksa, with approximately 10 teams having shown some desire to acquire him. He may be disappointed now, but there’s still an opportunity for a soft landing. He deserves it.
Friedman says Bieksa's looking to have a contract extension in place before he's dealt, so that he doesn't have to uproot his family twice in two years. Fair enough. The numbers that Friedman suggests are in the range of $4 million a season for three years.
For all the heat that Benning is taking over the Eddie Lack trade, the Twitterverse has been remarkably quiet about the fact that the braintrust appears to be 100 percent on board with the idea of moving Bieksa, which has been popular around those parts—and around here—for months.
Benning's doing his best to move those contracts and make the team get younger. This isn't the first NHL trade that hasn't been consummated on the first try. With other teams now in the mix, perhaps the ultimate return will end up being even better than what Benning was seeking from the Sharks.
At this point, it also doesn't hurt to remember that the reason why the Canucks don't have a second-rounder this year: because it was traded to Calgary for Sven Baertschi—a scoring winger who should be able to help the Canucks' top six next season. That's not an asset that Benning would have been able to conjure up in this draft if he had kept the pick.
With that 53rd pick, the Flames picked defenseman Rasmus Andersson from Barrie of the OHL. We'll have to keep an eye on his development to see if he becomes an NHL player.
Jason Botchford decided to further fuel the flames of dissent in
this column, where he roasts Benning for not getting in on the Dougie Hamilton action when he was dealt out of Boston on Friday.
Botchford makes a good case for how Hamilton could slot in as a potential franchise defenseman—who has boundless upside at only 22 years old.
But today, the traditional Boston post-trade character assassination begins.
“It was surprising,” said one NHL assistant GM to
Steve Harris of the
Boston Herald. “It’s obvious there’s something going on that we don’t know about. From what I’ve heard behind the scenes, his teammates don’t like him. I heard he’s a loner and sort of an uppity kid, and that his teammates don’t like him and it was unanimous.”
I heard a similar whisper about Hamilton earlier this week. And Benning has had Hamilton as a player himself before, so he'd know what the kid is all about.
But here's where it gets curious. From Friedman:
Edmonton felt it could provide a prettier cornucopia of draft picks (for Hamilton), but for Peter Chiarelli, the price was going to be higher, since Boston’s worry of an offer sheet from him started all this.
If Chiarelli thought there were character issues with Hamilton, would he still have gone after him?
Of course, Boston sent Tyler Seguin down a similar road two summers ago, only to see him flourish in Dallas. We'll have a front-row seat here in Vancouver to see how Hamilton fits in with the Flames.
Looking at Free Agency
This just in—Ben Kuzma looks ahead, to Vancouver's possible free-agency moves on Wednesday:
Here's the plan:
“We’re going to look at some players,” said Benning. “We’ll meet Monday and we won’t be in the high-end free agency market, but if there’s something that makes sense and we can improve our team, we’re going to look to do it.”
Kuzma figures the Canucks could use a stop-gap defenseman, especially if Bieksa moves. I think Cody Franson will be far too expensive for what he delivers and I suspect there will be a good deal of interest in Matt Irwin.
Matt Bartkowski, come on down? Maybe Vancouver will add an ex-Boston young gun defenseman after all?
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