The Vancouver Canucks got ahead of the game by adding Elias Lindholm over a month before the trade deadline, but apparently aren’t done making moves. President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin are still in the market for a defenceman to bolster their depth and are closing in on signing Phil Kessel who is a free agent right now. While it appears they are done with the blockbuster trades, the weeks leading up to the deadline could still be interesting to follow for Canucks fans. With that said, here are three moves (not necessarily trades) that they should make before March 8.
Add a Solid Depth Defenceman
The Canucks will essentially have a deadline addition in the form of Carson Soucy around March 8, but they could still use another solid depth defender for the stretch run and into the playoffs. Names like Chris Tanev, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Alexandre Carrier have been speculated as targets, and they all have a few things in common: toughness, shot-blocking and what many people call “hard to play against”.
The preference of every Canucks fan is probably Tanev, but the Calgary Flames don’t seem to be wavering from their ask of a first-round pick. Teams are reportedly offering second-rounders instead, but even that will be difficult for Allvin and Rutherford to muster considering they don’t have a first or a second until 2025 at the earliest. They of course traded their first in the Lindholm deal and their second to the Chicago Blackhawks in October 2022 as a sweetener to take Jason Dickinson off their hands.
Unfortunately, Tanev might be staying in Calgary until the Flames are firmly out of the playoff race. Since acquiring Andrei Kuzmenko, they have gone on a bit of a heater and are now three points out of a wild card spot. Selling might be on the back burner for Craig Conroy and company as a result.
As for the other names floating around, Carrier and Lyubushkin would add a similar element to the Canucks’ defence, but might still require a second-round pick going the other way. Carrier appears to be a younger Tanev; calm, cool and low maintenance. He does his job out there with very little pomp and circumstance and would be the perfect depth defenceman to cycle in and out of the lineup. Lyubushkin is the bigger option at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, and could be had for a cheaper price tag, considering he went to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2022 Trade…
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