Canucks' Gillis willing to make trade impact at draft
Mike Gillis has already proved that the NHL entry draft is also the new trade deadline.
A year ago, the Vancouver Canucks general manager parlayed months of prior planning to acquire Keith Ballard in a multi-player swap that included Victor Oreskovich. It jettisoned a player who struggled to play in the top six in Michael Grabner and eliminated a contract of a player who couldn’t play anywhere in Steve Bernier. A year later, Gillis has acknowledged the need for a top-six forward and calls keep coming regarding Cory Schneider. And it wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest he’s fielded a few regarding Cody Hodgson.
“I don’t think you can have enough top-six forwards and when you have enough, you’re bottom six are that much better,” said Gillis, who was named top GM by his peers Wednesday. “But these type of of players don’t fall off a truck — you have to work to get them. We have multiple plans we’ve worked on the last two months and we have opportunities that people probably don’t think of right now. But we have them.”
Gillis could simply select 29th overall Friday and perhaps land U.S. National Development Team goaltender John Gibson — especially if Schneider fetches a proven top-six forward and the franchise suddenly has a hole in goal. Gillis could also package the pick with a prospect and acquire a promising top-six forward or wait until July 1 to take a run at prime unrestricted free-agent wingers. However, Erik Cole (32, $2.9 million US), Tomas Fleischmann (27, $2.6m) and Brooks Laich (27, $2.0m) could command too much on the open market because they all have a blend of talent and grit and Fleischmann isn’t even talking contract with Colorado. More importantly, Gillis isn’t into bidding wars. He’s into being a step ahead of his peers and might look elsewhere at the draft to the fill the need.