{"id":861799,"date":"2026-08-17T22:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/861799\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T22:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:14:09","slug":"the-canucks-should-probably-be-done-adding-veterans-to-their-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/861799\/","title":{"rendered":"The Canucks should probably be done adding veterans to their roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing Dhaliwal mentioned was that the Canucks \u201caren\u2019t biting\u201d on adding additional players in free agency. Here\u2019s exactly what he said:<\/p>\n

\u201cAgents are calling Vancouver on some of their UFAs, but they\u2019re not biting right now. Ben Hutton is one who is interesting to me. There have been some conversations with Hutton\u2019s agent and the Canucks, not sure where that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hutton was an interesting name to hear brought up. In theory, adding a veteran defenceman with Stanley Cup-winning experience, who\u2019s been in Vancouver before, to be a bottom-of-the-lineup defenceman seems like a good idea for a rebuilding team. The only problem is, the Canucks have already done that this offseason. And they should probably stop adding veterans altogether at this juncture.<\/p>\n

Canucks should be done adding free agents, especially defencemen<\/p>\n

Focusing on the idea of a defenceman specifically, the Canucks added two veteran defencemen this offseason \u2014 Luke Schenn and Jamie Oleksiak. When I wrote \u201cthe Canucks have already done that this offseason\u201d above when referring to the idea of adding a bottom-of-the-lineup veteran defenceman who\u2019s been in Vancouver before, I was obviously talking about Schenn. The role that Schenn, who will turn 37 in November, will fill on this team is clear. He\u2019s been brought in to help be a sounding board for the Canucks\u2019 young defencemen, protect his teammates, and play a hard-nosed game as a 6th or 7th defenceman who can also kill penalties.<\/p>\n

If one of the Canucks\u2019 young defencemen shows they\u2019re ready to take on more minutes \u2014 say, Victor Mancini, then the rebuilding Canucks won\u2019t hesitate to take Schenn out of the lineup to get Mancini the minutes he deserves.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the Canucks shipped out Marcus Pettersson to the New York Rangers in exchange for a first-round pick, and signed Jamie Oleksiak to be Pettersson\u2019s replacement on the blue line. With that move, the Canucks gained a very valuable asset in the form of the Rangers\u2019 2030 first rounder, and while they may have downgraded their lineup by replacing Pettersson with Oleksiak, they committed just two years to Oleksiak, meaning it\u2019s very possible that the Canucks will be able to flip him for an asset down the line. Plus, the Canucks should be doing everything they can to make sure they can secure as high of a draft pick as possible in the 2027 NHL Draft, so worsening the lineup shouldn\u2019t be a cause for concern.<\/p>\n

The other big positive with the Oleksiak signing is that because he\u2019s not exactly a can\u2019t-miss top-four defenceman these days, the Canucks essentially have an insurance policy in the event that Elias Pettersson (DPetey) doesn\u2019t take the step forward that the club is hoping he will. After a promising rookie campaign, Pettersson struggled to build on it, even in sheltered minutes last season. If those struggles continue this season, Oleksiak is capable of taking on the tough minutes and leaving easier matchups for DPetey to work with as he continues his development. And if Pettersson takes the step the Canucks are hoping he can, then Oleksiak can just as easily slide down the lineup and allow Pettersson to take on his well-earned minutes. But Pettersson has to prove he can handle that first.<\/p>\n

But the point is, Schenn and Oleksiak aren\u2019t blocking any of the Canucks\u2019 youngsters from seizing opportunities. Rather, they\u2019re there as insulators in case players like Mancini, DPetey, and even Kirill Kudryavtsev aren\u2019t rushed into situations they\u2019re not yet ready for.<\/p>\n

But adding more vets?<\/p>\n

At some point, adding too many hurdles for young defencemen to clear becomes more of a roadblock than a smart plan B.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019ve only touched on the on-ice reasons so far. Off the ice, Victor Mancini\u2019s 2-year one-way extension<\/a> (signed by the last regime) kicks in this season; he\u2019ll be owed the same salary whether he\u2019s in the NHL or the AHL. That means that, in all likelihood, Canucks management would have to get the blessing from ownership to pay a young player $950,000 to play in the AHL. When you\u2019re managing up, you\u2019d likely not use one of the bullets in your chamber on a request like that.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, the Canucks need to look at the young players they have and what opportunities they will and won\u2019t have depending on their current depth chart, compared to if they added any more players. They won\u2019t want to throw anyone to the wolves or hand out roles that haven\u2019t been earned, but they also don\u2019t want to create an environment where it\u2019s impossible for young players to earn their keep ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just defencemen, either. The Canucks have a number of forwards that need to have the chance to flourish. The club showed patience and discipline in not re-signing Teddy Blueger, or another veteran bottom-six centre. That leaves space for Aatu R\u00e4ty to be an every-night player and grow into a reliable part of the team. It\u2019s make-or-break time for R\u00e4ty, and a rebuilding team should be giving a player with his tool set every opportunity to prove he\u2019s an NHL player. Now, the Canucks did\u00a0bring in Brendan Gallagher and Paul Cotter this offseason, but opened up spots by trading away Nils H\u00f6glander and letting Evander Kane and the aforementioned Blueger walk in free agency.<\/p>\n

On top of R\u00e4ty, Jonathan Lekkerim\u00e4ki is another young player who the Canucks<\/a>, on paper, have a spot in their lineup for<\/a>. That hasn\u2019t exactly been the case for Lekkerim\u00e4ki to this point in his career. Lekkerim\u00e4ki has moved up and down the Canucks\u2019 lineup, and in and out of the press box (and the injured reserve, for that matter). Lekkerim\u00e4ki was shut down midway through last season to undergo shoulder surgery and is projected to be 100% healthy and ready to go for training camp next month. The season before that, Lekkerim\u00e4ki went on a long playoff run with the Calder Cup-winning Abbotsford Canucks, and his offseason was shortened as a result. That took away valuable time for Lekkerim\u00e4ki to bulk up, and the hope now is that he comes into 2026-27 stronger than ever before and ready to prove he can be an everyday middle-six winger. Adding another veteran body would likely jeopardize R\u00e4ty or Lekkerim\u00e4ki\u2019s spots in the lineup, and that\u2019s something a rebuilding team should avoid.<\/p>\n

Now, Lekkerim\u00e4ki\u00a0is\u00a0waiver exempt, so if he really isn\u2019t ready, then the Canucks can give his spot to someone else. The Canucks made some interesting depth signings to players on two-way contracts this offseason. Akil Thomas, Trey Fix-Wolanski, not to mention Mackenzie MacEachern, all have NHL experience and can be recalled from Abbotsford if Lekkerim\u00e4ki clearly still isn\u2019t ready. But adding that \u201csomeone else\u201d on a one-way contract ready to go is getting into roadblock territory for Lekkerim\u00e4ki.<\/p>\n

Forward, defence, and even goaltending. The rebuilding Canucks should probably be done signing veterans for at least the next little while, no matter how many players\u2019 agents come calling.<\/p>\n

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Welcome to Daily Faceoff Vancouver \u2013 Driven by hockey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One thing Dhaliwal mentioned was that the Canucks \u201caren\u2019t biting\u201d on adding additional players in free agency. Here\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-861799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}