The Vancouver Canucks are not beating around the bush anymore. The club is ready to blow things up this season. That’s no surprise, as the team has been unable to make significant headway.
Entering Tuesday night’s action, the Canucks are second-last in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the dreadful Calgary Flames. Vancouver has been awful. But to their credit, it hasn’t necessarily been poor play. Injuries have decimated the lineup.
So, team president Jim Rutherford decided to accelerate the inevitable. The Fourth Period reported on Tuesday that a memo from Monday leaked. Said memo, sent to the other 31 teams in the league, stated that several veteran players are available this season.
While the memo did not name names, it’s rather evident who is on the block. The Canucks have numerous veteran players set to become UFAs. Kiefer Sherwood, Evander Kane, Derek Forbort, and Teddy Blueger are all impending UFAs.
Rutherford told Patrick Johnston of the Province on November 25:
“We have to make this team younger. We have to get this team going in a different direction from where we’ve been.”
The club didn’t exactly do that by adding David Kampf earlier this month. However, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Rutherford added:
“The position of the team is that you would be willing to talk about the unrestricted free agents that would be talked about closer to the trade deadline… It’s more about accelerating the obvious that could be made two months down the road.”
In other words, the Canucks are willing to go ahead and blow everything up now instead of waiting until the trade deadline.
Canucks Captain on Hold for Now
Naturally, the biggest question would be the availability of Canucks captain Quinn Hughes. As it stands, the club has been adamant about affirming its allegiance to Hughes. But considering the shake-up looming, who’s to say Vancouver won’t listen to offers for Hughes?
It’s important to understand that the Canucks are heading into “somewhat of a rebuild,” as Rutherford stated. Rutherford further added that it’s not a “full-blown rebuild.” Meanwhile, the New Jersey Devils are just entering their window of contention.
So, how long could it take before Hughes and his representation pressure the Canucks to make something work?
Even if Rutherford can somehow figure out the future, he can’t guarantee Hughes will be patient during his prime years.
Hughes Aware of the Situation
Rutherford addressed the Hughes situation by stating:
“I believe Quinn and his agent are aware of the direction we want to go. And they’re aware of the direction they want to go. Everybody wants to play on a winning team. But there’s different reasons why people make decisions.”
There’s no need to read between the lines. Hughes knows the Canucks are heading towards a rebuild. The honorable thing would be to publicly commit to the team. But behind the scenes, Hughes and his people have to be reading the tea leaves.
It could only be a matter of time before push comes to shove. Quinn Hughes’ time in Vancouver could be quietly dwindling.
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