So how's everybody holding up so far?
With all his talk of trying to acquire draft picks, Jim Benning managed to add two to his arsenal for this year's event.
He traded Eddie Lack to the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-rounder in this year's draft and a seventh-rounder in 2016, then he dealt defenseman Patrick McNally to the San Jose Sharks for the 210th pick (second-to-last) in today's draft.
McNally was not in the team's plans, so at least they got something for him.
Here's a little more on from Benning, from after Saturday's draft.
I'm going to hold off on talking in much depth about the Canucks' draft picks at this point, as I haven't had a chance yet to read up on them.
I will say that first-rounder Brock Boeser looked less-than-thrilled when he was chosen by Vancouver at No. 23 yesterday.
I'll assume that's because he's a Minnesota native. Boeser would have been an impressionable six-year-old when the Wild beat the Canucks in the 2003 playoffs and the idea of Vancouver being "Minnesota's biggest rival" was born.
Though many of us were expecting the Canucks to draft a defenseman, Benning seems excited by Boeser's prospects as a scoring right-winger. I'm a little surprised he chose to target that position after picking a right-wing power forward in Jake Virtanen last year at No. 6. I guess it does play into that philosophy of picking the "best player available."
On the trade front, Benning had his sights set on left wing Milan Lucic earlier in the day, who ended up being dealt to Los Angeles.
Lucic does only have one year till he becomes a UFA and I don't think the Kings' cap situation is going to solve itself overnight. It's hard to imagine, at this point, how he can be a long-term acquisition in L.A., even though the Kings gave up a lot to get him—a first-rounder, quality backup goaltender Martin Jones and defensive prospect Colin Miller, who was a standout during the Manchester Monarchs' Calder Cup run.
I don't love the idea that the Kings got bigger and stronger, but I also wonder if they're getting a petulant narcissist whose offensive prowess is already on the decline. I don't mind the idea of watching Lucic a little more closely in a different environment before the Canucks decide whether or not to take a run at him as a UFA in 2016.
What concerned me more about the Lucic situation yesterday is that I think it might have taken Benning away from the tasks that should have been his top priority, trading Eddie Lack and Kevin Bieksa.
In the end, Benning says the only concrete offer he received for Lack was from the Carolina Hurricanes, though he spoke with 10 teams about a potential deal.
I'm a little disappointed that Lack didn't generate a bigger return, and I am surprised that he ended up in Carolina but ultimately, I think this lines up with the evidence at hand. When Devan Dubnyk was traded from Arizona to Minnesota for a third-rounder back in January, we thought that was a pretty good comparable for Lack's market value.
Of course, Dubnyk got nominated for the Vezina Trophy and just signed a $25-million contract extension with the Wild. Eddie can only hope things go so well for him in his new home.
Now, the Jacob Markstrom era begins.
Despite the current skepticism surrounding Markstrom's ability to step up to the NHL level, I'm really intrigued to see how this plays out. I feel like Lack has already reached his peak potential at age 27, while 25-year-old Markstrom is still developing his game—a game that showed major improvements last season in Utica.
Jim Benning is committed to Ryan Miller; that's not going to change. But Markstrom now has a chance to develop in a reasonably low-pressure situation and get a real crack at being the next No. 1 when Miller moves on—probably when his contract expires in two years.
Speaking of sticking around, Kevin Bieksa's also still here, despite loud whispers yesterday that he'd be moved to the San Jose Sharks.
Here's what Bob McKenzie originally reported on the Bieksa situation:
On Friday, we were hearing that the Sharks were willing to work out a contract extension for Bieksa—all that remained was for the two teams to determine suitable compensation. Which seems to be where we hit the snag.
The Sharks ended up using that 2016 second-rounder to move up to No. 31 today, so that presumably took the deal off the table right off the bat on Saturday morning.
Don't discount the possibility that something could still happen with Bieksa before the summer is over.
My biggest takeaway from this year's draft weekend for Vancouver? Unlike last year, when Benning seemed willing to do whatever it took to complete every deal he targeted, he was a little more stubborn this year. I wonder if that comes from a year with the organization—being a little more attached to his players—or if it's simply a matter of not wanting to give up too much in order to make a deal.
I think we knew the Canucks weren't going to change overnight this weekend. And the fact remains that Vancouver has a number of promising prospects in the pipeline who should be challenging for jobs at training camp.
It's a little scary to see Edmonton and Calgary making big moves to get better while Vancouver appears to stand pat, but every new acquisition looks good on paper. Free agency will shuffle the deck once again; then, we should start to get an idea of how Vancouver's Pacific Division competition will stack up next season.
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