First off, a couple of news items to start the day.
If you missed it, Jiri Hudler is now a member of the Dallas Stars.
The Stars still have one order of business on the docket before the season begins: signing restricted free agent Valeri Nichushkin. After a solid rookie campaign as an 18-year-old, Nichushkin missed almost the entire 2014-15 campaign due to hip surgery. When he returned to action last year, he was farther down the depth chart and saw his scoring drop off a bit.
Given that they drafted him 10th overall in 2013, I doubt the Stars are eager to give up on the big Russian, but he seems like a bit of a square peg right now in their deep forward group. I could see Nichushkin coming available as a trade chip at some point—maybe not before the beginning of the season.
Secondly, it sounds like the Colorado Avalanche are close to making a decision on a new coach.
Mike Chambers and Terry Frei of the
Denver Post are choosing their words carefully, but seem to be indicating that, while Travis Green's name is in the mix, Kevin Dineen and Bob Boughner are likely the top candidates.
The Avs' announcement could come as early as today.
Now...back to more immediate Canucks thoughts.
Yesterday, I looked at the changes in the Canucks forwards that caused the team's production to drop by 50 goals from 2014-15 to last season, and the changes that are on tap to hopefully help rectify the situation.
Defenseman Yannick Weber got a passing mention, since his 11 goals in 2014-15 dropped to zero last season. He has now been shown the door and the team is moving on to new plans.
Here's the complete breakdown of goals by defensemen over the past two seasons:
2014-15 - Total: 34
• Yannick Weber - 11
• Alex Edler - 8
• Kevin Bieksa - 4
• Luca Sbisa - 3
• Ryan Stanton - 3
• Chris Tanev - 2
• Dan Hamhuis - 1
• Frank Corrado - 1
• Alex Biega - 1
• Adam Clendening - 0
2015-16 - Total: 23
• Alex Edler - 6
• Matt Bartkowski - 6
• Chris Tanev - 4
• Dan Hamhuis - 3
• Luca Sbisa - 2
• Ben Hutton - 1
• Nikita Tryamkin - 1
• Yannick Weber - 0
• Alex Biega - 0
• Taylor Fedun - 0
• Andrey Pedan - 0
That was a pretty significant dropoff!
Right now, here's how we think the blue line will look next season:
Edler - Tanev
Hutton - Gudbranson
Sbisa - Larsen ?
Additionally, the Canucks have Nikita Tryamkin - who can play either side, Andrey Pedan (left) and Alex Biega (right).
Given Chris Tanev's massive ice time, his ongoing improvement as a player and the fact that he's working with a shooting coach this offseason, I'm going to expect another modest improvement in production from him - maybe in the 6-8 goal range. If we can get a full season out of Alex Edler, he could get back to 10 goals, but he might lose some power-play time if the Philip Larsen experiment works out as hoped.
I have a big question mark next to Ben Hutton's name. As well as he started off last season, he struggled more as the season went on, and his offense never really came into focus. In a perfect world, he's had a good offseason and will come back this fall with more confidence and a better idea of what's expected from him, but I worry that he's a perfect candidate for a possible sophomore slump.
Because he started his NHL career at age 22 and played 75 games in his rookie season, Hutton would have to clear waivers if management wanted to send him to the AHL. We have to hope for the best for the Canucks' most cheerful player, who is pencilled in to play with newcomer Erik Gudbranson on the second pairing.
As for Gudbranson, he's not exactly an offensive beast. In his five seasons in Florida, he only hit double digits in points once, with four goals and nine assists in 2014-15. Gudbranson has a grand total of 11 goals and 43 points in his 302-game NHL career to date, so I wouldn't pencil him in for more than, say, three goals and 10 points?
In my mind, the biggest question marks of training camp will be Jordan Subban and Troy Stecher—and, to a lesser extent, Olli Juolevi.
No matter how well Juolevi shows, he needs to fill out, so he'll almost certainly return to the OHL for another season. But Jordan Subban is now 21—and he managed 11 goals and 36 points in his first pro season with the Utica Comets last year.
I know there are questions about Jordan's two-way game, but I'm eager to compare his game to Philip Larsen's.
Same with Troy Stecher—a 22-year-old who had 29 points in 43 games at the University of North Dakota last year. I know he'll probably need some AHL seasoning—it's an especially big jump from college to the NHL for defensemen—but from what we've seen so far, Stecher seems like the kind of kid who's going to come into camp with every intention of making life difficult for the coaches.
If Subban and/or Stecher can light the lamp during preseason, they might earn a chance to help improve Vancouver's offense from the defense in the coming year.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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