Canucks GM Allvin recaps busy week after mid-season overhaul
The Canucks have had a mid-season overhaul that rarely happens for teams in the playoff picture, and the story on how that works out for Patrik Allvin and Co. has yet to be written. Josh Elliott Wolfe recaps Allvin’s interview on Canucks Central.
It has been a busy week for Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin.
Trading away a premier player in J.T. Miller and receiving Filip Chytil from the New York Rangers who has flashed in his first games with the Canucks. Flipping a first-rounder that was acquired in that trade with the Rangers to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a much-needed top-four defenceman in Marcus Pettersson, then signing Pettersson to a six-year extension a few days later.
The Canucks have had a mid-season overhaul that rarely happens for teams in the playoff picture, and the story on how that works out for Allvin and Co. has yet to be written.
Allvin joined Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satiar Shah on Thursday afternoon to discuss the moves his team made over the last week and what could be next as the trade deadline approaches.
Chytil, one of the new additions, has captured the imagination of Canucks fans in his short stint with the team. Scoring a goal in his first game and essentially being a one-man entry on a team that has been accused of being a bit too reliant on the dump-and-chase has endeared him to the fanbase.
“Our scouts have done a good job tracking and following players. In New York they’re a deep team, he didn’t get the opportunity to play more than third-line minutes,” Allvin said of Chytil. “(Rick) Tocchet has been able to give him more minutes and he has responded. We always knew he was a highly skilled and talented kid.”
It will be interesting to see how Chytil develops with more ice time — the Canucks clearly have a hole down the middle in their top-six with the departure of Miller — but if Chytil can thrive in more minutes there may be a world where he ends up as an internal solution.
That being said, if possible the team will still likely be looking to fill that role, or an impact forward role in general, with some new found cap space.
“We created a little bit more flexibility with our cap space so we can definitely be involved in discussions around the league that we weren’t able to before,” Allvin said. “That being said, we know what we have and we have a lot of younger players in our system competing for spots. If it makes sense, we would be open and listen to see if there is a fit or not.”
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While the Canucks do have some internal prospects with promise, it’s hard to see many, outside of winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki, as realistic top-six options moving forward. That still leaves, at the very least, a hole at centre for the team, but with pending-UFA Brock Boeser’s status up in the air as well, the Canucks may be looking to fill a couple holes in their forward group.
Allvin didn’t commit one way or another when commenting on Boeser.
“I think we continue to evaluate the situation. It takes two sides to make it work. We’ve got respect for Brock and his agent… I’m pretty sure at some point we will find a solution.”
The Boeser decision is a pivotal one for Allvin. If they sign him, it will likely be upwards of $7-8 million AAV, and would lock him in as a member of the core for the remainder of this Canucks window. If they don’t sign him, they’re left with a gaping hole in the top-six and limited options to fill that.
The difficulty that comes with that decision is his fit with this team. Allvin has clearly put an emphasis on speed with the additions of Chytil and Drew O’Connor to the forward group, but speed is not a defining feature of Boeser’s game.
Boeser has also played more minutes at five-on-five with Miller as his centre than anyone else in the past two-and-a-half seasons, so the question of him finding chemistry with Chytil or Elias Pettersson is one that may have to be answered ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.
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Speaking of Pettersson, the star forward has been under scrutiny all season, and that microscope is only getting more intense with the removal of Miller from the roster. It’s hard to know what’s caused the lack of production from Pettersson, and one thing that has often been cited has been his skating speed.
According to the NHL EDGE data, his top skating speed (21.58 MPH) is down almost two full MPH from where it was two seasons ago (23.31 MPH). That puts him below the 50th percentile this season as opposed to the 94th percentile in 2022-23, a season that also saw him average higher speed skating bursts than he has this season.
Allvin was asked about what he thought has led to him not being at the same level.
“Part of it is the preparedness. How you come in everyday and want to improve. The league is changing, you can’t do what you’ve done in the past. You have to always get better. That’s how the best players continue to be the best players. That’s what Elias has realized, he has to work on his game. We all know what talent he has and what he’s capable of.”
There has also been worry of an lingering injury for Pettersson after he had cited knee tendinitis as an issue for him down the stretch last season, which is when things did seem to start to trend downwards for the centre, though Allvin did not mention anything regarding his knee with Dan and Sat.
“He missed a couple games with an upper-body injury around Christmas. Otherwise he has played every game.”
So it is difficult to pinpoint what’s plaguing Pettersson right now, but with the departure of Miller it’s clear the Canucks are going to need their highest-paid player to step up and be a driver for this team if they are going to do any damage down the stretch and into the post-season.
Allvin also spoke about the impact of Marcus Pettersson as a leader, the importance of the games leading up the trade deadline, and more with Riccio and Shah. The full interview can be found on the Canucks Central podcast feed.
