Vancouver Canucks must improve bottom six forwards this offseason

The Vancouver Canucks need to bolster their forward depth if they want to be serious Stanley Cup contenders.

This season can’t be seen as anything sort of a significant success for the Vancouver Canucks. Their young players took huge steps forward and they made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2014-15 season.

After making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Canucks shocked the reigning Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues and almost made the Stanley Cup favorite Vegas Golden Knights blow a 3-1 series lead.

However, “almost” only counts in horseshoes, bocce, and hand grenades. Not in hockey. The Canucks blew an opportunity to make a Stanley Cup run and they shouldn’t take it lightly. On paper, Vancouver has an extremely bright future. But the same thing could have been said about the Winnipeg Jets in 2018. And look at them now. The Canucks can’t sit back and be happy with this season. They must improve.

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Their biggest area of need heading into this offseason is forward depth. Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Bo Horvat, Tanner Pearson, and Brock Boeser are darn good top six forwards. They’ll be even better if they manage to re-sign Tyler Toffoli. Those players combined for 67 points this postseason.

But after those guys, the Canucks forward depth is quite unimpressive. The rest of Vancouver’s forwards combined for merely nine goals and 17 points in 15 games. Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights have gotten 33 points from their non-top six forwards in 13 games.

Ultimately, that’s why the Golden Knights beat the Canucks and why had it not been for Thatcher Demko, the series would have been over much sooner. Vegas has forward depth and they know how to use it. Vancouver needs to have that kind of forward depth to win a Stanley Cup.

Jake Virtanen is an important player who can play anywhere in the lineup, but he could also be trade bait. Adam Gaudette is a quality top-nine forward. Micheal Ferland, if healthy, has proven to be an effective top-nine forward. Josh Leivo could give their third line a boost, as he’s a skilled player who has put up pretty solid numbers in limited opportunities. Tyler Motte’s made a name for himself with an impressive postseason.

Other than those guys, no one from the Canucks third and fourth forward lines should be guaranteed a roster spot for next season. Vancouver’s paying Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, and Brandon Sutter a combined $10.375 million next season. That’s a mighty expensive fourth line. Especially with Pettersson and Quinn Hughes needing new contracts after next season.

Free Agent Targets

Personally, I believe Canucks general manager Jim Benning should stay the heck away from free agency. Lock him in a room without a cell phone or computer for the entire first day of free agency because that’s when he makes his worst mistakes. But there are some interesting free agent forwards this offseason who could help out the Canucks.

Tyler Ennis is a pretty useful top-nine forward. He’s a bit undersized, but he’s versatile and if needed, he can fill in throughout the lineup. Last year, Ennis had 37 points, his highest total since the 2014-15 season.

Vladislav Namestnikov is a bit bigger than Ennis. Like Ennis, Namestnikov is a solid top-nine forward who is a bit of a Swiss Army knife. He’s a great example of a skilled, gritty player. It’ll be interesting to see what his price tag is, but at the right price, he’d be a nice upgrade for the Canucks. The same could be said for Jesper Fast.

Craig Smith of the Nashville Predators is an interesting candidate. He consistently posts strong underlying numbers, though his results don’t always reflect it. With a lot of teams struggling with cap space, Smith’s price could fall into the Canucks’ range. He’d be a very nice addition.

Johan Larsson doesn’t do too much on offense, but he’s a very underrated defensive forward. With better linemates, his production could improve. He likely won’t cost much and he could wind up being one of the best bargains of this offseason.

The Canucks should be proud of how much they improved this season. But they need to improve even more to become Stanley Cup contenders. Hopefully, the Vancouver Canucks learn some lessons from the Golden Knights and build up their forward depth.