After the Pittsburgh Penguins' Game 7 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, we have three hockey-free nights until the Stanley Cup Final kicks off on Monday.
That means the debate over the Canucks' Eric Gudbranson trade will continue to rage. Also, the NHL is releasing the final rosters for the World Cup of Hockey today.
The teams from Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Finland have already named their players.
The other four teams—Team Europe, Team North America, Team USA and Team Canada—will make their announcements around 3 p.m. PT this afternoon.
• The 18-year-old sensations Patrik Laine and Sebastian Aho have both been named to Team Finland, as was their excellent World Championship goaltender Mikko Koskinen.
• Team Russia includes four KHL players, which comes as a surprise to me. Vadim Shipachyov will be one to watch—he was the leading scorer at the World Championship. I'm also very surprised to see Slava Voynov's name on the Russian list. I didn't think the NHL would have him back at any event they were presenting after everything that went down with him two years ago.
• Robin Lehner has been named as the third goalie for Team Sweden, along with Henrik Lundqvist and Jacob Markstrom. Markstrom had his moments at the World Championship but was torched for six goals in the quarterfinal against Canada, and Lundqvist had a tough run in the first round of the playoffs. I wonder how the Swedes will do in net in Toronto in September?
Also of note: Alex Edler did not make the cut for Team Sweden. Given that he was a member of the 2014 Olympic Team, that's a bit of a fall from grace. There was just one more spot on the blue line available after the initial announcement—it went to Matthias Ekholm of the Nashville Predators.
• The announcement came a few days ago, but I'm bummed that Jaromir Jagr won't be playing for the Czechs, sticking to his proclamation that he has retired from international competition. Radim Vrbata was not named to the Czech team.
Canucks Sign Tom Nilsson
Speaking of Swedish defencemen: One day after pulling the trigger on the big Erik Gudbranson deal, the Canucks announced the signing of another defensive prospect. Tom Nilsson is 22 and was originally drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fourth round in 2011. His North American experience is limited to 44 games with the AHL Marlies in 2014-15—last season, he returned to Frolunda in Sweden.
Nilsson is on the small side for a blueliner at 6'0" and 183 pounds, but the word is that he likes to play a physical style, a la Niklas Kronwall.
Like Gudbranson, Nilsson is a right-handed shot.
The contract is for one year, and is a two-way deal, so Nilsson will most likely suit up for the Utica Comets next fall. As usual, with all their injuries, the Canucks organization's defensive depth was seriously tested last season. Nilsson's a bit of an unknown entity, but he's young and will hopefully help lend a hand down on the farm.
If you're looking for an updated Canucks depth chart, click here to look over the up-to-date list at Roster Resource. We could argue wither or not "Projected Bench Player" is the right spot for Jordan Subban, but the list appears to be current and is quite thorough in terms of player status.
One more quick note on the Gudbranson deal before I wrap it up for today. Ed Willes of The Province dug into the heart of the analytics debate when he spoke with Jim Benning about some of the concerns that were being raised about Gudbranson in the fancystats community.
“To be quite honest, I don’t get it sometimes,” Benning told Willes. “There’s a place for analytics. We use analytics. But you use analytics like vitamins — to help you out, not as your staple.
“Decisions have to be made by hockey people who know what winning teams look like and how to build them.”
Also...
“I’ll be perfectly honest with you,” he says. “We won a Stanley Cup in Boston and we didn’t use analytics.”
As Willes points out, that Stanley Cup in Boston happened five years ago, and the NHL landscape has changed since then. One thing we do know is that a number have teams have put significantly more resources into their analytics departments over the past couple of years—such as Kyle Dubas' role in Toronto, new GM John Chayka in Arizona and—yes—the Florida Panthers, who added a couple of the numbers whizzes that used to write for our own Canucks Army site to their management team midway through last season.
If other teams are raising their game, does that leave managers like Benning at a disadvantage, or can old-school hockey sense still win out?
I think it's safe to assume that Gudbranson will remain the poster child for that debate for at least the next couple of seasons.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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