Will The Canucks Tank For Conor Bedard?

Will The Canucks Tank For Conor Bedard?

Did anybody watch Conor Bedard at the World Juniors? He’s breaking Canadian records left and right. Bedard is supposed to be the next generational star the NHL has to offer and teams are foaming at the mouth have get their hands on the number one pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. Should the Canucks join the tank race for Connor Bedard?

The Canucks are sort of trapped in no man’s land. They’re not bad enough to be at the bottom but egregious contracts and terrible blue line defense will never allow them to be contenders either. Vancouver has 35 points in 36 games and would have the 9th best odds to land Bedard.

Except there is an underlying story here. Bedard is from Vancouver. That’s his hometown team. If given the option, this is where Bedard wants to go.

Landing a guy like Bedard could change the entire narrative around the Canucks. They’re everyone’s favorite punching bag right now. JT Miller has packed it in, every other night there is a rumor about Bruce Boudreau being fired, and they have to or seem like they blow a third period lead more often than Emma Brown slides into hockey players’ DMS.

If Vancouver wants a real shot at landing Bedard (which has to be the goal at this point) then the fire sale needs to start sooner rather than later. Waiting until the deadline may not be good enough. The time to trade Bo Horvat is now. Colorado makes a lot of sense there. Can they actually find a taker for JT Miller? Is a Quinn Hughes out of the question? The only untouchable player on the roster seems to be Elias Pettersson.

The point here is, if the Canucks don’t start selling off some of these pieces, they’re never going to have a realistic shot to land the one guy that could change their future. It’s time to tank for Bedard. We’ve seen enough of the current iteration of the Canucks to realize it’s time to build for a new tomorrow. Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford shouldn’t wait another second to start this rebuild.