Can the Vancouver Canucks Get Back on Track Next Season with a New Coach and Some New Additions?
It’s been an interesting off season for the Vancouver Conucks. A new coach, some player changes, and they may not be done yet. Trevor Begs of Locked on Conucks joined us to discuss that and more next on today’s Locked On NHL podcast. [Music] You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked On NHL podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. It is my pleasure to welcome back to the show the co-host of Locked on Canucks, Trevor Begs. And uh Trevor, it’s been an interesting off season for the Canucks. Uh let let’s start with Evander Kane coming uh to Vancouver. Your thoughts about that move and whether it makes the team better or not. Yeah, I gotta say, Gillet, this has actually been one of the most polarizing trades in recent Canucks memory. And that’s saying something because a lot of crazy stuff happens in Vancouver. Uh for better or for worse, usually for worse. But I mean, my initial reaction to the Kane trade was why why do you take on his Capit? Why are you helping out the Edmonton Oilers? And again, you know, they bring in Evander Kane. Now they’ve lost Pew Sudter and Dakota Joshua. Of course, more moves still to come, but even just between Kane and Sudter, because that really was kind of what happened to free agency off the bat, right? They resigned Besser and then they bring in Kane, they get rid of Sudter or he signs with the St. Louis Blues and it’s is this really a better hockey team with a Vanderane on it as opposed to PU Sudter. And I would probably argue no. I mean, Vanderane, I guess he’s a sexier player more or less, you know, the the brand name. He’s um he’s a loud personality to put it lightly. Uh Pew Sudter is the opposite. He’s a quiet guy. elite defensive metrics quietly put up 25 goals last year, but I think the Conucks are taking a pretty big risk with the Vander Kane. They obviously wanted to change their forward makeup, but you know, this is a team. I mean, this whole offseason we’ve been screaming about fixing the center ice position and all they did was get rid of Pu Sudter and bring in Vander Kane. So, I mean, more moves come potentially in Vancouver. We’ll see what Kane can do. I mean, look, one year left on the deal, so there’s not a ton of risk. fourth round pick wasn’t a huge acquisition cost, but even between Kane and Sudtor Kane and Joshua, it’s hard to say the Canucks are a better team right now with bringing in Kane and and losing those two guys. One issue on the Conucks last year was chemistry in that locker room and they’d made some moves to try to straighten it out. Do you feel right now that the chemistry is better than it was last year or is that still an unknown for this team? Yeah, I mean, not not to pick on Evander Kane, but it is kind of ironic that the Conucks have the most dysfunctional locker room in the NHL last season, at least in the public eye. And what did they do to address that? They bring in one of the most uh disruptive guys in the locker room. I mean, look, he’s apparently he’s been better in Edmonton, but this is a guy who has historically not gotten along with teammates for various reasons. So, yeah, to to say that the locker room is better because now Miller’s gone, but Kane’s here, I don’t know. I mean, everything you hear from the players, of course, is that everything’s rosy in there. Everything’s fine. It’s a tight-knit group. Um, I mean, for optimism for Canucks fans, the fact that Bester wanted to resign here when it looked like he was, um, good is gone. I mean, even Ber said himself in May, uh, that he was unlikely to return. Then you get Demco extending like as soon as he could, Garland extending as soon as he could. So, those are all positive signs for guys who have been together a long time and still want to play together. Um, but yeah, just to say that the locker room’s magically better because JT Miller’s gone. I mean, Marcus Person’s definitely a good locker room guy, too. We’ve seen the videos from him in Pittsburgh. He’s definitely a leader out there. He’s been a leader in the Canucks locker room. Um, but I’m not I’m not going to come on here and say that everything’s fixed and it’s all good in Vancouver. Also, talking about locker room chemistry, new coach in town. What are your thoughts about the hire? And, uh, how optimistic are you that this is going to help? Woo! How optimistic am I g? Come on, man. It’s a brimming with optimism in Vancouver as always, man. Evander Kane, Adam Foot, man. It’s all good. Let’s go. Um, yeah, this one was an interesting choice. I mean, you could see the rationale from Kuck’s management. They they clearly liked Adam Foot. Um, he knows his team, I guess, better than any other outsider they could have brought in. Uh, but this is a guy with zero head coaching experience at the professional level for a team that, you know, kind of needs to make the playoffs next season, right? We all know about the Quinn Hughes noise which uh has been ramped up uh since we last talked I think Gil you know uh you know everyone knows he had two years left in his contract but then for Rutherford to go out and say like well he wants to play with his brothers but we could get his brothers too. I mean he just absolutely poured gasoline on the fire there. So yeah it does feel like an incredibly important season for the Vancouver Conucks and Adam Foot’s got a huge huge task in front of him and you know they brought in a pretty established assistant and Kevin Dean to run the defense. Um, as Scott Young comes back behind the bench to Brett Mlan from the AHL, although his AHL coaching record was not great. Um, yeah, I can say I’m brooming with confidence on this one. I I mean, personally, and I’m not the only one who felt this way in the Vancouver market, it felt like it was time to give Manny Motra a shot. And I know they would have had to wait until the Calder Cup was finished, but Manny Moho, you listen to him speak, listen to Adam Foot speak, and Manny seems like an articulate, thoughtful leader. and what he did with that Abbottzford Canucks team quite frankly was incredible. Usually it’s veteran teams that go on to win an AHL championship. That was a pretty young Abbottzford Canucks team that he led to the AL championship. Uh so I think Manny was probably the right guy for the job. Um I I’m going to say that I I think Foot probably has a short leash in Vancouver. Like if they get off to a rocky start, I wonder if it’s a short tenure. I certainly hope that’s not the case. Like go Canucks go. Come on, let’s do it. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s a risky hire in in terms of what’s been, you know, a risky offseason in terms of constructing this team. You mentioned some more moves maybe coming. There’s a lot of rumors out there. What does this team need and who are they probably looking at to try to add between now and the start of the season? Yeah. I mean, what this team needs is elite talent, which is uh which is pretty hard to find. How how’s uh how’s it been finding elite talent in New York? Maybe you got some this off seasonason though, Gil. Well, maybe, but they’re draft picks, so they’re a few years away from being major contributors. But yeah. Yeah. So, where do they got to do it for the most part, though, right? It’s finding that elite talent in the draft. And finding it on the trade market is incredibly tough to do. Like to be honest, what I think the Canucks need to do is, and they said it themselves, there’s no replacing JT Miller, but you got to go, I think, acquire a guy who’s maybe got that kind of upside, right? And and we touched on that this week on our show, like finding the next JT Miller, finding the next Brandon Hegel, like who is that 26-year-old second liner who is maybe slipped off a bit and and could use a change of scenery and potentially break out. Who is that 23-year-old who’s around that half pony a game mark and and um rising upwards who you could proud of another team? And you know, in terms of the Miller prototype, maybe someone like Owen Tippet from Philadelphia got a lot of young players coming up there. Um he kind of regressed a bit this season. Um, and of course the Brandon Hegel mold to be someone like uh Mason McTavish, right, who’s been in rumors and apparently he’s been attached to the Conucks, the reports that the Conucks have shown interest in him, but of course some hesitation about whether they could get a deal done. Look, it’s going to be incredibly expensive to make a trade like that. Whether it’s finding an Owen Tippet or uh uh Mason McTavish, you know, other names he chucked out like Alex Leferier, maybe Alexis Lafernier. Again, if he keeps struggling New York, like there are guys out there who are struggling who could potentially use a change of scenery. But in terms of the Conucks this off seasonason, again, they cleared Dakota Joshua’s cap space. They’ll need to clear more if they want to bring in a guy like that. Um they’ve been tied to Jack Rosavic probably more than any other team. Um, there are a lot of teams with more capsuers than in the Canucks. So, I still have a little bit of hesitation, but they should be able to afford Rosik after moving Dakota to Joshua. But again, that’s tinkering around the edges. I mean, you look at the Conucks roster and yeah, I got 11 guys who could probably hit 10 goals this next season, but who are the elite players on this team outside of Quinn Hughes? Hopefully, one of them is Leas Patterson, but honestly, this team needs more than that if they’re going to make some noise. Any prospects who are getting close to being NHL ready who might be able to help this year? Oh, Gil, you know one of them very well, right? Atu Ratu. Hey. Yes, your boy. We’ll uh we’ll take care of him in Vancouver. But look, the way the center group is constructed right now, unless they bring in a Jack Rosik or another middle six center, it’s it’s Elias Person who struggled last year. It’s Philip Heedle, who looked good in Vancouver, but obviously has a troubling injury history. Then it’s Teddy Bluger, and then it’s Auatu. Like, that is the Canucks center group right now. So Au Ratu is not only is he likely to make the connects next season like he would have to absolutely lick at training camp to lose that spot. Like there are other guys like Anil Zaman and a Maxis like other AHL guys who could push him but it’s a very thin center group. So of prospects who can make the jump like Atarat who comes to to mind immediately and look in fairness he was pretty good last season right like the foot speed was a bit of an issue but seven goals in 33 games 11 points won a ton of faceoffs he played physical. Um it’s just can he get to that next level in terms of his skating uh and maybe even his playmaking ability too cuz he showcased some of that in the AHL. So Atarachi’s got to watch. Then on defense, I mean the Conucks defense thankfully looks pretty damn good. Um DPD aka Elias Person uh looked electric. Uh I know he only had one goal and three points in 28 games, but man oh man like he was fast, he was physical, he was dummying guys that were like 10 years older than him. Uh he was just a mean piece of work out there. and honestly pretty reliable defensively, too. So, he should get a spot on this team next season. And of course, Tom Milander, um the 13th 11th overall pick. I’m thinking Zack Benson. He still haunts my dreams a bit. Uh at the 11th overall pick in in 2023. Um now that he’s with the Conucks, he has a good shot to make this team. He’ll likely compete with Victor Manchini, who the Conucks got in the Rangers trade. Um who also looked, you know, had some good moments in Vancouver last season, probably a little bit more up and down than DPD. Uh, so those are the prospects who are likely going to jump on the connection roster next season. All right, Trevor, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you and your co-host on social media. All right, Gil, good as always, man. And hey, congratulations to your New York Islanders, man. I don’t that that no one Dobson trade. I was a little bit like, did you guys get enough value? But, uh, you nab some pretty three pretty good looking first round picks there. Um uh for a Kyle and I on Locked on Kucks. Again, it’s uh you know, some of us on the Lock on Network are down to part time. Akana, I still seem to be recording five days a week. Man, we uh we love what we do over locked on Conucks. And Gil, as you know, for better or for worse, usually for worse, it’s never a dull moment in Vancouver. Uh so you can find Lockdown Conucks on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find me on Twitter at Trevs. You can find my co-host Kyle on Tik Tok and Instagram at Kyle Bowen. B Haw Wan. All right, Trevor. Thanks so much. As always, man. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You could track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. And one thing I love, if you are sharing an account with a significant other or another person, Monarch Money helps put everything in one place and makes it so easy to track all of your finances. So, take control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code locked on NHL for half off your first year.
The Vancouver Canucks have a new coach and hopefully some more harmony in the locker room this season.
Trevor Beggs of Locked On Canucks joins us to discuss the team’s prospects for the coming season and whether the changes have made the team better and what else we can expect going forward.
All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.
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