'Tis the time of year where innocuous little stories can get blown wildly out of proportion.
I saw a bunch of buzz on Twitter yesterday revolving around a story that Francesco Aquilini and Trevor Linden had been spotted boarding a private jet bound for Los Angeles. The first thing that seemed to come to mind was that maybe the pair were exploring the prospect of trading Ryan Miller to one of his desired destinations; I even saw speculation that they were pursuing a member of the Los Angeles Kings' staff—either Associate coach John Stevens or Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Futa.
I ruled out those last two possibilities immediately. The Kings went out of their way to offer long-term job security to both Stevens and Futa when the Canucks were on their coach and general manager searches during the summer of 2014. There's no way they'd suddenly change course in the middle of a season—especially with their team still right in the thick of the playoff race. A Hockey Operations guy, especially, is going to be up to his eyeballs with intel as the trade deadline approaches; the timing is ALL wrong.
As for the prospect of dealing Miller to the Kings—or even another California-based team? Well, Jonathan Quick's injury situation has dragged on a lot longer than originally expected.
But Quick was back on the ice on Tuesday, and backup goaltender Jeff Zatkoff has been placed on waivers today.
The current projection is that Quick should be ready to get back into game action by early-to-mid-March. If Zatkoff clears waivers now, the Kings don't have to re-assign him immediately.
So—looks like there's nothing to see here.
Furthermore...
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and ESPN talked about the status of Ryan Miller's limited no-trade clause on the radio on Tuesday.
The San Jose Sharks are set in net, getting strong seasons out of both starter Martin Jones and backup Aaron Dell. John Gibson has been excellent as the starter in Anaheim, but Jonathan Bernier hasn't been a reliable backup. Bernier got pulled after one period when he gave up three goals on six shots in his last outing against Arizona on Monday.
Would the Ducks be in the goalie market? According to
CapFriendly, the Ducks are at the salary-cap ceiling, but have just over $3 million in cap space to play with once long-term injured reserve is factored in. Depending on what else they may want to do, the Ducks *could* add a goalie at the deadline—but they'll also have lots of choices available.
To name just a few...
My expectation is that Miller will still be with the Canucks after next week's trade deadline. But just for fun, which teams do you think are the other two that he named on his list? I'd guess one is Arizona, due to its close proximity to L.A. That's a non-starter. Would the fifth be...Colorado? If so, that'd also be a non-starter. I don't imagine he'd name a Canadian team.
Elsewhere...
Everything we've heard so far indicates that Hansen *really* doesn't want to be traded—even while his name gets bandied about as someone who could be exposed to Las Vegas in the expansion draft. If Jim Benning now has Hansen's list in hand, I guess he can get serious about seeing whether or not there's a decent deal to be made with one of those teams.
From a pure hockey point of view, Hansen would be a nice add for a playoff team—he has good speed, good hands and good versatility on both sides of the puck. But how much will a team be willing to give up for a player that would need to be protected in the expansion draft if they hope to keep him beyond the end of this playoff run? His status basically makes him a rental with a one-year option at $2.5 million—and it doesn't help that he's not a real high-profile guy outside of Vancouver. It's quite possible that the Canucks won't get an offer for him that justifies making a move.
Finally, we have Alex Burrows.
Most of the chatter I'm hearing about the Montreal Canadiens is focused on them wanting to trade for a centre. If that's their primary focus, I'd imagine Burrows would only be an afterthought if they aren't successful at pulling the trigger on their primary deal.
We've also heard a fair amount about the idea of reuniting Burrows with his old coach, Alain Vigneault, on the New York Rangers. Nothing there?
If Hansen and/or Burrows are moved, that'll open up some roster space on the wings to finish out the season. With any luck, Sven Baertschi will be back from his concussion after the break but that's far from guaranteed—as of last weekend, he still hadn't skated.
The Canucks could recall one or more players from Utica to fill any gaps. My sense is that Jake Virtanen is still in "learning" mode and will probably finish out his season in the minors.
I wonder if Darren Archibald has earned a look? The big 27-year-old played 16 games with Canucks during the Torts year in 2013-14 but has re-framed his game this year. Instead of 100-ish penalty minutes, he's down to just 33 minutes this season while hitting career highs with 16 goals and 33 points.
The other possibility is that the Canucks could bring in Brock Boeser at the end of the season. North Dakota currently sits fifth in their NCHC conference standings, so it seems unlikely that they'll get a chance to go back to defend their title at the Frozen Four, which runs from April 6-8 in Chicago.
If Boeser's college season ends earlier, he could sign a pro contract and play some games in Vancouver and/or Utica this year...
Last year, we got a late-season look at Nikita Tryamkin to keep us entertained as the Canucks' playoff hopes slipped away. A Boeser appearance this year would do wonders at stoking the fire of hope for the future.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»