The NHL trade deadline is not until Friday afternoon at noon PT, but Tuesday felt monumental as teams across the league were actively reshaping their rosters.
As heavily speculated, the Vancouver Canucks moved defencemen Luke Schenn to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who gave up a third-round pick in this year’s draft.
Schenn was drafted by Toronto in 2008, where he played four seasons with the club before being dealt to Philadelphia. The veteran blueliner adds more depth as the Leafs hope to gear up for a long playoff run come the spring.
Former Vancouver forward Jannik Hansen joined Bik Nizzar on The People’s Show Tuesday afternoon and stated this move had to be done with Schenn’s contract set to expire, and is pleased to see the team continue to make deals.
“We’ve been waiting for these trades to happen pretty much since the season started, and they got off to such a bad start, but now it’s just the dominoes are falling, and one by one they’re going, so it’s the direction that we’ve been wanting to see,” said Hansen.
“Again, you’re hoping they’ll capitalize as much as possible on this stuff and give themselves as many assets to put themselves in a better position come next October.”
The former Canuck noted that even though it is just a third-round pick coming back west and many fans had hopes of potentially receiving a little more, it still gives the organization a chance to draft a player that can become something special.
“It’s one of those things, another shot in the barrel, come draft night,” said Hansen.
“You don’t know if it turns out to be anything, but it’s another chance to get a player. So again, now it’s in the scout’s hands, and the scout gets a couple more picks than they’ve had in the past. Hopefully, you can find these players, and if you look around the league, there is tons of players, late draft-round picks that are big contributors for these teams. And that’s where you need to get lucky. Obviously, you need to be good as well; you need to be doing your homework, but you do need to get lucky with these draft picks. And again, the more (draft picks) you have, the bigger opportunities there are that just one of these turn out to be a difference maker.”
Hansen is taking a long-view approach to these deals.
“We’re not looking for an instant solution here because that’s not what we’re talking about,” he continued. “You’re talking about depth, you’re talking about getting better down the line, you’re talking about building your prospect pool, making your minor league team better and therefore making your pro team better.”
The Canucks have been one of the most active teams this year in the trade market, and more moves could be coming down the pipeline before Friday’s deadline.
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