The Fourth Period: (youtube) David Pagnotta on the “Latest” on the Vancouver Canucks having an interest in adding a top-four defenseman and their need for some additional offense.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Kate Pettersen: “Now, certainly a lot of drama over in Vancouver. It seems that on the ice and off the ice, there’s always something to talk about. In the latest, Patrik Allvin sat down with Sportsnet’s Iain McIntyre, and quite frankly, he wasn’t complimentary of his team.
He expressed some frustration, and particularly he called out some of the members of his core, Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, to name a few. So there’s been a lot going on there. He’s saying that they’re not playing up to the standard that they need to play. What do you think is really going on there?”
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Pagnotta: “There always seems to be something on a regular basis out in Vancouver. And while the team is still in the playoff hunt, they’re still within grasp of everything. And this isn’t a New York Ranger situation by any stretch of the imagination, but they expect it to be better.
And Patrick Allvin very candid in his commentary, indicating that they wanted more. They want to see more from Petey, from J.T. Miller, from Brock Boeser, excuse me, and a few others.
He also kind of hinted that, as history has shown, especially in recent history and in Jim Rutherford‘s tenure in the National Hockey League, that he’s not afraid to make moves, big moves early. We saw it last season with the Elias Lindholm deal. We saw the bull Horvat deal prior to that. So I don’t know if they’re going to go big game hunting to that extent.
And yes, there’s, there’s some speculation around Elias Patterson’s future. I wouldn’t be shocked to see or hear more noise about that in the summertime. But the Vancouver Canucks, look this is, this is twofold. One, you want to light a flame under your players, but, which didn’t work in New York. And at the same time, you also want to put everyone on notice that they are going to look to make some changes.
We know Vancouver wants a top-four defenseman, even when Filip Hronek comes back. That’s still an area they want to address.
But could they address the need up front to add some additional scoring, and additional punch? I wouldn’t be shocked to see that either. Vancouver definitely is looking. Patrik Allvin already admitted in that article as well that they are engaged in trade conversations.
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Again, History suggests they’re going to make moves sooner rather than later. Let’s see what happens once the calendar flips over to January, in what, 12 hours.”
Pettersen: “Exactly. And you mentioned that maybe it didn’t work in New York, but putting a little fire. And I would say that, you know, Patrick Alvin usually keeps his cards close and isn’t super outspoken, so this was a little out of the norm for him, and perhaps that’ll work.”