REMINISCING | Trade that aged exceptionally badly for the Canucks: Would've fixed a lot of issues in today's line-up

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Felip Gosselin
June 2, 2023 (8:49 PM)

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If we were to list all Jim Benning's trades that didn't age well, we'd be here for days. However, some of these trades have a direct impact on the Canucks even today.

On March 2nd, 2015, Benning announced that the Canucks had traded away 2nd Round Pick in the upcoming draft for a young former 1st Round pick who'd been having trouble making his place in the NHL, Sven Baertshi.

Baertshi failed to make his place with the Canucks as well, since he never managed more than 35 points in a full season, ended up back in the AHL after a few years, and now plays in Swiss's top league.

The 2nd Round Pick they had given up ended up being the 53rd in the 2015 draft. The Flames used it to select the Swede defenseman Rasmus Andersson who's played a crucial part in the Flames' success over the last few years. A right-handed shot and a good-sized defenseman, he surely could've helped in Vancouver. Not only did they miss out there, but they could've also picked Vince Dunn (56th), and Anthony Cirelli (72nd).

Later on, that draft also gave excellent picks: Conor Garland (123rd), Ethan Bear (124th), Kirill Kaprizov (135th), Troy Terry (148th), Vladislav Gavrikov (159th)

This year is set to be one of the deepest draft pools since 2015. The Canucks should take that into consideration before they trade their picks. While the Canucks have shown interest in the former first-overall pick, Alexis Lafreniere, if they learned anything from their previous mistakes, it may not be smart to give out picks for reclamation projects.