This is the recovery process, Vancouver.
When the old general manager doles out No Movement Clauses like Pez candies, the new GM has to make trades like Ryan Kesler for Nick Bonino and a bunch of stuff. Or Kevin Bieksa for an 18-year-old that the Canucks won’t draft until a year from now, and you won’t see in a Canucks uniform until 2020 at best.
The capped-out Canucks dealt Bieksa, a huge chunk of the heart and soul of their dressing room, to Anaheim for a second-round draft pick in 2016 on Tuesday. Like the Kesler deal, GM Jim Benning had to work off a list of trade partners submitted by Bieksa, which left his hands tied.
The deal is OK, when you consider that Bieksa carries with him a cap hit of $4.6 million. And as admirable as his playing style is, he just turned 34 and is on the downside of his career. (It also means that Francois Beauchemin will be a UFA on July 1, as Bieksa effectively takes his place in Anaheim’s rotation.)
Canucks fans have watched Kesler walk for a collection of so-so talent, and now a pillar on the blueline walks away for a draft pick. Don’t blame Benning — he inherited this ageing roster, and now he is simply trying to move it along without missing the playoffs.
But there is a succession underway in Vancouver, and we’re watching it unfold: Bieksa turns into a draft pick in 2016, but also frees up $4.6 million in cap space. That opens the door for a free agent offer to Cody Franson on Wednesday, or perhaps Mike Green or Andrej Sekera.
The one truth of the cap system is that teams are built through the draft. But Benning entered this latest draft with just one pick in the top 113 before going to work to acquire a second-rounder — but he had to deal fan favorite Eddie Lack to do so.
And drafting takes soooo long. An 18-year-old usually won’t help you win a game for four or five years — if he pans out at all. That’s OK, if an organization consistently drafts players that turn out.
Do that, and you’ll have the kind of depth that Columbus had when they unloaded some young prospects for Brandon Saad earlier in the day. The reason Vancouver is looking at a lull however, is their lack of draft success from 2006 to 2011.
That void of talent, with first-round picks like Patrick White, Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder — or 2010, when Vancouver didn’t have a selection until No. 115, then drafted five players who have not yet played — leaves an air bubble in the hose that is now playing out in Vancouver. The Sedins are ageing, and need someone to rise up and assume the first-line duties.
All they’re hearing are crickets, and at age 35 they will take on the first-line duties again in the fall.
Bieksa is gone, and if Vancouver is lucky, they’ll find a free agent who will make Canucks fans forget how valuable Bieksa has been all these years, even if he struggled in 2014-15. Free agent pickups are stop-gap measures, however, by teams that haven’t developed their own talent.
If the Canucks are ever to get back on top in the West, it will happen because they draft smart, develop smarter, and — for Pete’s sake — quit handing out No Movement Clauses to every veteran who asks for one.
