The Vancouver Canucks brought in a busload of new bodies over the weekend. The team is deeper than it was a week ago; younger but not necessarily any better off than it was at the beginning of last season.
Since the beginning of 2016-17, the Canucks have lost:
• Forwards: Alex Burrows, Jannik Hansen, Jack Skille, Drew Shore, Joseph Cramarossa, Alex Grenier, Mike Zalewski, Borna Rendulic
• Defense: Luca Sbisa, Nikita Tryamkin, Philip Larsen
• Goal: Ryan Miller
In addition to their draft picks, they have gained:
• Forwards: Sam Gagner, Alexander Burmistrov, Nikolay Goldobin, Jonathan Dahlen
• Defense: Michael Del Zotto, Patrick Wiercioch
• Goal: Anders Nilsson
CapFriendly sets the current Canucks roster at 22 players, with $9.5 million in cap space remaining.
That number does not include the four restricted free agent forwards that still need to be signed: Bo Horvat, Brendan Gaunce, Reid Boucher and Michael Chaput.
The good news is that the Canucks look like they're starting to build enough depth that they'll be able to fill holes when the inevitable injuries occur. As things stand right now, the kids who are waiver exempt will need to be extremely impressive in training camp and preseason if they hope to have any chance of earning roster spots.
Preseason, of course, will also be extra complicated because of the trip to China midway through. It's expected that the Canucks and the Los Angeles Kings will bring veteran-heavy lineups to these showcase events. Will Travis Green also be part of the Asian entourage, or will the team benefit more from keeping him here with a more prospect-oriented group, assessing players who will be fighting for jobs?
Here's an early look at the Canucks roster for 2017-18, with a very rough attempt at laying out possible line combinations and a rough guess of who will stick with the big club.
FORWARDS - 12 signed, 4 RFAs
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin, Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Anton Rodin
Markus Granlund - Brandon Sutter - Sam Gagner
Reid Boucher - Alex Burmistrov - Derek Dorsett
EXTRAS: Jayson Megna, Michael Chaput, Brendan Gaunce, Brock Boeser
Of these 16 forwards, only Brock Boeser is exempt from waivers. Boucher and Burmistrov both changed teams last season after being put on waivers—in Boucher's case, multiple times.
Boucher and Chaput are both eligible for arbitration.
If all four RFAs re-sign and the team goes into the regular season with a healthy group of forwards, some decisions will need to be made. Chances are, most of these fringe players could be assigned to Utica at the beginning of the season without being claimed by another team.
YOUNG FORWARDS WHO COULD PUSH FOR JOBS:
• Jake Virtanen, Nikolay Goldobin, Jonathan Dahlen, Griffen Molino (all waiver exempt)
YOUNG FORWARDS WHO WILL LIKELY BE ASSIGNED TO UTICA:
• Zack MacEwan, Yan-Pavel Laplante, Michael Carcone, Mackenze Stewart, Cole Cassels, Joseph LaBate (RFA with arbitration rights) (all waiver exempt)
DEFENSE - 8 signed
Alex Edler - Troy Stecher
Michael Del Zotto - Chris Tanev
Ben Hutton - Erik Gudbranson
EXTRAS: Patrick Wiercioch, Alex Biega
YOUNG DEFENSE WHO COULD PUSH FOR JOBS:
• Olli Juolevi (not AHL eligible, will need to return to junior if he doesn't make the Canucks)
• Andrey Pedan (not waiver exempt)
• Jordan Subban, Philip Holm (waiver exempt)
YOUNG DEFENSE WHO WILL LIKELY BE ASSIGNED TO UTICA:
• Jalen Chatfield, Guillaume Brisebois, Ashton Sautner, Anton Cederholm (waiver exempt)
• Evan McEneny (RFA) (not waiver exempt)
GOAL - 2 signed
Jacob Markstrom - Anders Nilsson
GOALIES WHO WILL LIKELY BE ASSIGNED TO UTICA:
• Thatcher Demko (waiver exempt)
• Richard Bachman (not waiver exempt)
As we saw in the lead-up to the expansion draft, when a team finishes bottom-three in the league for two straight years, its fringe players are not really in demand. I don't imagine it will be much of an issue to get players through to Utica, whether that's Andrey Pedan or, say, a player like Patrick Wiercioch if Pedan outplays him in training camp.
With Anders Nilsson's $2.5 million salary, I imagine he could also be re-assigned quite safely if he falters in the early going. The Canucks know they have a good Plan B in Richard Bachman, as long as Thatcher Demko gets some support during his second season in Utica.
In the short term, the Canucks have provided themselves with some insulation for their kids, and these players have shown they can handle themselves in the NHL, even if their professional roads have been bumpy at times.
Sam Gagner has played 696 NHL games at age 27. Michael Del Zotto has played 484 games at age 27. Alex Burmistrov has played 324 games at age 25, Patrick Wiercioch has played 268 at age 26 and Anders Nilsson has played 78 at age 27.
If you're worrying at all about Bo Horvat's summer stretching on with his contract status still unsettled, his social media feed provides some reassurance.
Over the past couple of weeks, he has tweeted a welcome message to Elias Pettersson and his fellow London Knights alumnus Sam Gagner, as well as posting this:
The chatter about Connor McDavid's massive new contract and the big $7.8 million-a-season deal that Evgeny Kuznetsov inked on Sunday add even more fuel to Bo's bargaining power. I think it's getting increasingly likely that he'll be inked to a longer-term deal; it'll be interesting to see where the final number lands.
To close today—Ryan Miller gave me all the feels when he posted a Canada Day video of his own.
Give this kid a job!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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