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Trade deadline Recap: What NHL moves meant for the Canucks

Teams can add players for the remainder of the 2020 NHL season until noon PT today.

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Good morning!

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It’s the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline. Here’s what we thought about the day’s news as it happened.

I’m in Vancouver, Ben Kuzma is in Montreal. We’ll tell you what we know, when we know it.

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1:40 p.m.

So Jim Benning was cautious about Jacob Markstrom’s injury. But we know this: he’s out for a few weeks. He’s coming back to Vancouver for further assessments.

Benning said he never really considered Robin Lehner as alternative.

Doesn’t sound like he looked at much else, though he did try to trade Sven Baertschi and seems mildly hopeful he’ll find a trade partner for the winger at the draft. It also sounded like the Leafs came calling for Troy Stecher — Benning said he never offered him around — and offered Tyson Barrie. Notably, when Barrie’s name was mentioned, it was the one time Benning said he didn’t want to comment on other teams’ players.

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Zack MacEwen has been papered to Utica to make him eligible for the AHL playoffs. He’ll be recalled in due course and finish the season with the Canucks.

1 p.m.

Jim Benning is speaking soon, so we’ll try to update things as best we can, as we go. Wild day.

The Ducks have added a couple defencemen in Matt Irwin and Christian Djoos. They sent Korbinian Holzer to the Predators and forward Daniel Sprong to the Capitals.

12:35 a.m.

Louis Domingue is now a Vancouver Canuck.
Louis Domingue is now a Vancouver Canuck. Photo by Elsa /Getty Images

The Canucks have added a goalie because they’re worried about Jacob Markstrom’s health.

Louis Domingue, who has split time between the NHL and AHL this season with the Devils, is on his way to Vancouver for Utica Comets goalie Zane McIntyre.

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Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have Robin Lehner. If Markstrom’s injury turns out to be serious, you have to think the Canucks will have wished they could have added the former Blackhawks goaltender, who has been having quite the season.

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11:55 a.m.

The Team of Jerks have landed quite the defenceman to add to their stable.

They’ve picked up Sami Vatanen.

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11:45 a.m.

Still waiting for the final onslaught.

Recently I was digging through our archives and I came across this story on Jim Benning in his days as a Canucks defenceman. Or more correctly, at the end of his time as Canucks defenceman.

Thirty years ago today, Jim Benning refused to accept a conditioning loan to the AHL. The Sun’s Elliott Pap got him on the phone.

Jim Benning’s decision to refuse a two-week demotion to Milwaukee essentially boils down to a “if you’re not going to play me, then trade me” edict.

The 26-year-old defenceman was scratched for nine straight games before Vancouver Canuck management asked him to accept the ‘conditioning’ re-assignment earlier this week. On Friday, he told them no.

“What for?” Benning said last night from his West Vancouver home. “I don’t want to be an ass but, basically, I want to see if there’s any interest in me out there. My first choice is to play here but if I’m not in their plans, then they might as well move me along.”

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Benning and forward Doug Smith, who will either be traded or bought out, are the first casualties in the Canucks’ long-awaited youth and size movement.

The Canuck braintrust felt the 185-pound Benning had problems with opposing forwards crashing the net. Smith, a 26-year-old journeyman, lost his job due to his own ineffectiveness and the Canucks’ desire to play Dave Capuano, 21, Rob Murphy, 20, and Ronnie Stern, 23.

“We respect Jim Benning’s decision not to go to Milwaukee but we don’t agree with it,” said Brian Burke, the Canucks’ director of hockey operations. “We just wanted him to get some playing time in. Obviously he feels differently. Maybe this will force our hand.”

The Canucks have not placed Benning on waivers, although they may do so as the drama unfolds.

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“If he does clear waivers, he can be sent down whether he likes it or not,” said Burke. “And then if he doesn’t report, he can be suspended.”

According to Canuck coach Bob McCammon, there has been little interest in either Benning or Smith. Both have apparently been available for a lengthy period of time.

“Every team has had a shot at them,” said McCammon before boarding a plane for Los Angeles and tonight’s game against the Kings.

I asked him about the story and he nodded. He wasn’t ready to just leave his pregnant wife at home, he pointed out to me. He wasn’t prepared to just go off to the minors without a fight.

So yes, he knows the human impact of roster moves, first-hand.

“You still lived life away from the rink,” he said. “Sometimes that’s the hardest part of this business, sometimes you’re trying to make decision, it’s not just the player involved, that’s the hardest part of this business. It’s not just what the public sees with the team, these are human beings leading real lives.”

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Benning didn’t get traded. He only played 45 games in the end for the Canucks that season. And he played the next year in the AHL.

11:15 a.m.

Let’s take a moment for some instant analysis from HockeyViz.com’s Micah Blake McCurdy.

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He’s not a fan of either player’s utility. Gustafsson has put up points in the past but the case here is that it’s superficial. Interesting.

Really enjoy his secondary observation as we see teams like the Oilers adding Athanasiou and Ennis, both forwards who will improve the edges of the Oilers’ lineup. They’re not massively substantial moves in isolation, but add them up and you see how they’re the opposite of the idea of death-by-a-thousand-cuts.

Building a wall brick by brick? Is that the right cliche?

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11:05 a.m.

And like moments before (see below0 I said a flurry of news!

The Flames have added two defencemen in Derek Forbort and Erik Gustafsson.

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The Flames could yet move out the likes of T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic, one imagines. Both are pending free agents.

Forbort is a true depth defenceman, but Gustafsson can move the puck. (Familiar theme, eh?)

• Meanwhile the Oilers have added another forward in Tyler Ennis, a handy and cheap depth forward.

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• Interesting that the Stecher/Barrie deal didn’t work because the Leafs and Stecher couldn’t agree on a deal.

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Ben Kuzma reports from Canucks practice in Montreal that Stecher was great post-practice.

“He said his buddies were sending him fake reports left right and centre,” he said. “But he was even more interested in talking about Phoebe, his dog, not winning the dog race on Wednesday!”

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10:56 a.m.

Johnny Gaudreau has not been traded, but a good bit of humour in Calgary.

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There’s an hour to go. Flurry of stuff sure to happen. Will Vancouver be involved at all? WHO KNOWS.

10:50 a.m.

Pageau gets a six-year deal. He’s good, but that a lot for a 27-year-old winger who’s on a scoring-percentage bender.

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• Meanwhile, the lack of Barrie movement suggests to me the Leafs are still listening to offers. I’ve also been assuming there’s a related move that will happen there if they move him.

https://twitter.com/lukefoxjukebox/status/1232014936332734466

Canucks’ offer was always likely to be option B or C.

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10:25 a.m.

So with Athanasiou off to Edmonton in exchange for a couple second-round picks. (Seems a bit high to be honest.)

Columbus was apparently close to picking him up earlier, but were also chatting about Sven Baertschi too.

Maybe they circle back?

https://twitter.com/DhaliwalSports/status/1231986295813148673

10:10 a.m. PT

Still quiet here in Vancouver.

But where will Jumbo Joe go?

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Florida has shipped Vincent Trocheck already, so there’s a fit there. But would Thornton really want to join a team in total chaos?

Dallas makes a lot more sense.

• Oilers have apparently added Andreas Athanasiou, which is a great pickup for them.

A fast guy with the fastest player in the league?

The Oilers still need defencemen but this makes them evermore dangerous.

9:40 a.m. PT

Two deals just now: Danton Heinen goes to Anaheim. Bruins had been trying to convince the Canucks to take him. Instead he heads to Anaheim for Nick Ritchie, who feels like a Boston Bruins player if ever there were one.

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Meanwhile, apparently the Isles may flip Maple Ridge’s Andrew Ladd to Minnesota for Zach Parise. Obviously Minny will be looking for more, since Ladd has spent the year in the minors.

Parise can still play. Big cap hit though, and still under contract for five more years.

Getting Ladd in comparison does save you some cap space, even if he’s in the minors.

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9:10 a.m. PT

Tim Schaller has cleared waivers. The Kings put him on waivers yesterday, less than a week after picking him up from the Canucks.

Yes, the Canucks could have claimed him they’d wanted to. Don’t think there was ever a chance of that.

Still quiet on the Barrie front as far as I can tell.

Think there’s a chance that no matter what, the Canucks bring back someone like Alex Biega or Luke Schenn for depth.

9:00 a.m. PT

Wayne Simmonds is off to…the Buffalo Sabres.

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Yeah, don’t get it either. The Sabres are a mess. He’s an expiring UFA. There are conditions to the pick, like if they make the playoffs. Ha.

I thought for a second maybe they’d flip it onwards.

Canucks were somewhat constrained, but I believe it was more about the fit in the end. They just didn’t think the player was worth adding.

Also, more on the Kreider deal (further thoughts below): he won’t be a Seattle player next year.

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8:45 a.m. PT

Abbotsford’s Derek Grant is now a Philadelphia Flyer. He’s got decent hands, plays with some size. Sounds like a Flyer to me

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PJ update: I’ve now arrived at Rogers Arena. TSN’s Farhan Lalji has been here since 5:30 a.m. He’s doing well. So is cameraman Owen Korbeld.

“It’s lunch time,” Lalji quipped.

8:30 a.m. PT

This is a first class pair of fun facts:

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Also: Chris Kreider is staying in the Big Apple, which is big for their rebuild and also big for the playoff chase in the west.

VGK were after him. They’re not quite as good as they would have been with him.

Still the favourites in the Pacific.

The Canucks weren’t. They should have been but yet again can’t be because they’re overpaying Jay Beagle and Brandon Sutter and Loui Eriksson.

8:20 a.m. PT

TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal reporting Wayne Simmonds is likely staying in New Jersey. Canucks has been interested in him.

8:15 a.m. PT

You may have heard Troy Stecher’s name as a trade chip. Yesterday there was lots of chatter about the Canucks being close to a trade for Tyson Barrie.

Stecher is definitely a player who the Leafs like. But given the Canucks can only offer Stecher and a prospect, say Brogan Rafferty, it’s doubtful that’s enough.

My understanding is any deal the Leafs make with Barrie would be in tandem with another move.

He’s a puck-moving defenceman. That’s his best skill. He’s been terrible in Toronto this year but in the past he’s been great.

But he’s also Quinn Hughes Lite. Why do the Canucks need that?

8:05 a.m. PT

And another Shark moves along.

Marleau will look nice on the Pens’ fourth line. Thought he might be someone for the Canucks to look at, to be honest.

Most expect Joe Thornton to also move today. He’s got a no-movement clause so he’ll be writing his own ticket. Might he ship himself back to Boston?

7:45 a.m. PT

Already lots happening this morning, with three big trades in.

• Vincent Trocheck, who was briefly linked to the Canucks last week, is off to Carolina…for the moment. Sportsnet speculating maybe he gets flipped again.

When you see the haul, you do wonder how the Canucks could have pulled something like this off. Erik Haula wasn’t far off from being compared to J.T. Miller last summer.

Don’t think the Canucks would have been paying a top winger for a top centreman. And then there’s the rest of the deal.

Also, supposedly Dale Tallon would still like a defenceman.

• J-G Pageau ends up on Long Island. (And do we still say that, that given the Isles play in Brooklyn?).

Lou Lamariello pays a huge price. Got to think he figures he’s going to be able to re-sign him. The Islanders now don’t have picks in the first two rounds of this year’s draft, just like the Canucks.

• The Avs have added Vlad Namestnikov.

Pretty minor deal, all things considered.

• And last night, the Oilers added Mike Green.

The veteran defenceman was once John Carlson-like, but he’s now in his mid-30s.

Either way, he does give the Oilers a blueliner who can move the puck, something they’re in desperate need of.

They’re better now than they were 24 hours ago.

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