<p>Early starts? Apparently, no problem for the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/3-vancouver-canucks-stars-week-kevin-lankinen-remains-road-warrior">Vancouver Canucks</a> after overtime wins in matinees in Buffalo and Detroit. The road warriors roll into Minnesota to wrap up this six-game road trip already guaranteed success with four victories in the first five games.</p>
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<p>You know what else was an unqualified success? The response to this week&#8217;s call for questions for the Monday mailbag. From trade chips to pushing the captain to the limit to waiting for Dakota Joshua to hit his stride, you had a number of questions you wanted answered. So on this Cyber Monday, have we got a deal for you: six responses absolutely free of charge:</p>
<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:lqthct77zr5bnwxtkcachdzz/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcb3omdhge26" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreic2qlyequelooz7vpom7lq7uqgg6cup2yuvxe7ko4e5thhyc7vtea">
<p lang="en">In an ideal world where an ideal 3rd/4th D is available, what would you be comfortable giving up for such a trade?</p>
<p>&mdash; <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lqthct77zr5bnwxtkcachdzz?ref_src=embed"> (@tijbo.bsky.social)</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lqthct77zr5bnwxtkcachdzz/post/3lcb3omdhge26?ref_src=embed">2024-12-01T17:03:26.065Z</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Well, ideally, if the Canucks could pry a true top three defenceman off another team, I think they’d be willing to pay a hefty price. We know this management group is aggressive, and it was around this time last year that the Canucks made the Nikita Zadorov deal in part to reward the group for its fast start. Will we see a similarly timed move, or will the front office be a little more patient to see what this team looks like when it gets JT Miller and Thatcher Demko back in the fold? To answer the question, I think the Canucks 2025 first-rounder is very much in play, possibly the second-rounder, too. I believe the Canucks want to avoid peddling recent first-rounders Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Tom Willander, but would be willing to part with young prospects like defencemen Elias Pettersson and Kirill Kudryatsev. And that’s a credit to the player development system that has turned mid to late-round picks into players who are helping Abbotsford right now but could be used as trade currency.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-135070 size-full" src="https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-01-at-4.05.09 PM.png" alt="" width="1194" height="380" srcset="https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-01-at-4.05.09 PM.png 1194w, https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-01-at-4.05.09 PM-300x95.png 300w, https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-01-at-4.05.09 PM-1024x326.png 1024w, https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-01-at-4.05.09 PM-768x244.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’d suggest the vibes are pretty good around a 13-7-3 team missing significant pieces. So I’m not picking up the bad vibes you suggest. But you are correct that the schedule has been friendly to the Canucks – particularly on the road. Tuesday in Minnesota will be the first time the Canucks have visited a top-six team in the overall standings. They’ve feasted on the bottom third of the league, and credit to them for taking care of those opponents. But there are good teams out there and the Canucks will eventually face them, too. They have to go to Vegas on the back end of back-to-backs later this month. In mid-January, they have a four-game run of road games in Washington, Carolina, Toronto, and Winnipeg. That will surely be a test and the Canucks will need to level up to find success in those kinds of games against that type of competition.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Is this level of effort by hughes sustainable?  Is management doing him and the team a disservice by not trading for help?</p>
<p>&mdash; ジョーじゃない (Doesn&#39;t not eat Sushi) (@kWPj8dOiN7rZBGu) <a href="https://twitter.com/kWPj8dOiN7rZBGu/status/1862937470918414703?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Can he regularly play 31:04 like he did on Sunday in Detroit? No. Can he continue to play at a ridiculously high level and control games the way he has for much of this season (and last season, too)? Yes, he can. The Canucks need to be careful with their captain and easily their most valuable player. With <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/how-vancouver-canucks-hughes-hronek-were-almost-defence-partners-detroit">Filip Hronek</a> out and Hughes taking on added ice time and responsibility, the Canucks may need to give Hughes a free pass on practices and morning skates for the foreseeable future. He understands the assignment and knows what he means to the hockey club, so he’ll surely do whatever he needs to be rested and ready for game action. As for a disservice to Hughes, I’m not sure I can get there. All these wins now buys the Canucks some time to be patient and prudent in terms of accruing cap space to add the best possible player when the time is right. The Canucks have 11 games between now and a five-day holiday break with only one set of back-to-backs in there. The workload for Hughes will surely be heavy, but based on his play over the weekend in Buffalo and Detroit, he’ll be up to the challenge.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">How long of a grace period should fans give Dakota Joshua to return to full form?</p>
<p>&mdash; Drew (@canuckguru) <a href="https://twitter.com/canuckguru/status/1862936301353496835?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’m glad you asked, Drew. I tried to ask this very question after the game in Buffalo on Friday and got roasted on social media. I was simply trying to gauge how patient a fan base that isn’t always patient was prepared to be with a player coming off a cancer diagnosis and trying to ramp things up without the benefit of training camp or a preseason. The answer is that fans – and media – should be very patient. The fact that Dakota Joshua is back playing at all is a victory in itself. Now, if you asked Joshua, I think he would have liked to have been a little more impactful through his first nine games of the season (no goals, two assists and just two shots on goal). But his line with Pius Suter and Conor Garland crushed its competition on <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/stanchies-jake-debrusks-hat-trick-calls-game-vancouver-canucks-best-red-wings-overtime">Sunday in Detroit</a>; Joshua seems to be finding the speed of the game with every outing, so there are definitely some positive signs. And frankly, if it takes him 20 games or 30 games, really it’s all about ramping up for the stretch run and playoffs. I think it’s important that Joshua doesn’t get frustrated with his lack of early counting stats and continues to chip away at his game so that he can have an impact in the second half of the schedule.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">If the Hughes Myers pair actually looks good in the Hronek abcence, would you consider having Hronek on the second pair when he’s back?</p>
<p>&mdash; Travis Wall (@Travis_A_Wall) <a href="https://twitter.com/Travis_A_Wall/status/1862931208466018517?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yes, I would. But, shockingly, Rick Tocchet and Adam Foote don’t consult me on these matters. I think the Canucks have seen an uptick in the play of both Tyler Myers and Carson Soucy since those two have been split up (finally). Soucy had one of his strongest games of the season in Detroit on Sunday and Myers rode the Quinn Hughes wave to some crooked possession numbers. If the Canucks roll with the defencemen they’ve got for the time being, they’re going to need Soucy to play his way out of his early-season funk, and they’re going to need more from Vincent Desharnais. The team still hasn’t offered any kind of timeline on Filip Hronek’s injury, but if it’s 4-6 weeks as is being speculated, that’s going to keep him out into the new year. That’s a huge ask of the remaining blueliners to hold down the fort in his absence. So I think we’re putting the cart in front of the horse here by worrying about what to do when Hronek gets back. This team needs to find a way to weather this storm without its second-best defenceman. And with two wins in two games since Hronek went down in Pittsburgh, so far, so good.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Is Hoglander the only forward who is not responsible defensively?<br />If he’s not, why is he being singled out like he is?</p>
<p>&mdash; Al Powell (@al_powell57674) <a href="https://twitter.com/al_powell57674/status/1862923053484630310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">No, Nils Höglander is not the only forward who struggles defensively. But he’s singled out for a couple of reasons. One is that his play is being graded against the incredible 24-goal season he had a year ago, when, if he made mistakes, he could erase them by contributing at the other end of the ice. Right now, he’s gone 18 games without a goal and hasn’t looked dangerous in weeks. So if he’s not chipping in with offence, he can’t be hurting the club defensively, and that has been an issue. On top of that, he doesn’t seem to be making enough of an effort to change his ways. He looks lost right now. That doesn’t mean he’ll be lost forever. But if he’s not scoring, he has to get back to being the ferocious forechecker and pain in the butt to play against that earned him a spot in the NHL to begin with. The coach has sent plenty of messages with reduced ice time, and there has been no response from the player. Right now, Höglander wears the Canucks uniform but that’s about all he does. And that has to be a big part of the frustration for the coaching staff. Höglander is a better player than he’s showing these days. But every game looks the same. And that’s a problem. Even if he’s getting limited minutes, use them more effectively. Be a spark plug, throw a hit, win a battle, draw a penalty. Do something. With the Canucks carrying just 12 healthy forwards, Höglander isn’t likely to come out of the line-up altogether. But with each passing game, he’s looking more and more like a guy that could benefit from a night off to reset.</span></p>
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Early starts? Apparently, no problem for the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/3-vancouver-canucks-stars-week-kevin-lankinen-remains-road-warrior">Vancouver Canucks</a> after overtime wins in matinees in Buffalo and Detroit. The road warriors roll into Minnesota to wrap up this six-game road trip already guaranteed success with four victories in the first five games.
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&nbsp;

You know what else was an unqualified success? The response to this week's call for questions for the Monday mailbag. From trade chips to pushing the captain to the limit to waiting for Dakota Joshua to hit his stride, you had a number of questions you wanted answered. So on this Cyber Monday, have we got a deal for you: six responses absolutely free of charge:

https://bsky.app/profile/tijbo.bsky.social/post/3lcb3omdhge26

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Well, ideally, if the Canucks could pry a true top three defenceman off another team, I think they’d be willing to pay a hefty price. We know this management group is aggressive, and it was around this time last year that the Canucks made the Nikita Zadorov deal in part to reward the group for its fast start. Will we see a similarly timed move, or will the front office be a little more patient to see what this team looks like when it gets JT Miller and Thatcher Demko back in the fold? To answer the question, I think the Canucks 2025 first-rounder is very much in play, possibly the second-rounder, too. I believe the Canucks want to avoid peddling recent first-rounders Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Tom Willander, but would be willing to part with young prospects like defencemen Elias Pettersson and Kirill Kudryatsev. And that’s a credit to the player development system that has turned mid to late-round picks into players who are helping Abbotsford right now but could be used as trade currency.</span>

&nbsp;

<img class="alignnone wp-image-135070 size-full" src="https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-01-at-4.05.09 PM.png" alt="" width="1194" height="380" />

<span style="font-weight: 400;">I’d suggest the vibes are pretty good around a 13-7-3 team missing significant pieces. So I’m not picking up the bad vibes you suggest. But you are correct that the schedule has been friendly to the Canucks – particularly on the road. Tuesday in Minnesota will be the first time the Canucks have visited a top-six team in the overall standings. They’ve feasted on the bottom third of the league, and credit to them for taking care of those opponents. But there are good teams out there and the Canucks will eventually face them, too. They have to go to Vegas on the back end of back-to-backs later this month. In mid-January, they have a four-game run of road games in Washington, Carolina, Toronto, and Winnipeg. That will surely be a test and the Canucks will need to level up to find success in those kinds of games against that type of competition.</span>

https://twitter.com/kWPj8dOiN7rZBGu/status/1862937470918414703

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Can he regularly play 31:04 like he did on Sunday in Detroit? No. Can he continue to play at a ridiculously high level and control games the way he has for much of this season (and last season, too)? Yes, he can. The Canucks need to be careful with their captain and easily their most valuable player. With <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/how-vancouver-canucks-hughes-hronek-were-almost-defence-partners-detroit">Filip Hronek</a> out and Hughes taking on added ice time and responsibility, the Canucks may need to give Hughes a free pass on practices and morning skates for the foreseeable future. He understands the assignment and knows what he means to the hockey club, so he’ll surely do whatever he needs to be rested and ready for game action. As for a disservice to Hughes, I’m not sure I can get there. All these wins now buys the Canucks some time to be patient and prudent in terms of accruing cap space to add the best possible player when the time is right. The Canucks have 11 games between now and a five-day holiday break with only one set of back-to-backs in there. The workload for Hughes will surely be heavy, but based on his play over the weekend in Buffalo and Detroit, he’ll be up to the challenge.</span>

https://twitter.com/canuckguru/status/1862936301353496835

<span style="font-weight: 400;">I’m glad you asked, Drew. I tried to ask this very question after the game in Buffalo on Friday and got roasted on social media. I was simply trying to gauge how patient a fan base that isn’t always patient was prepared to be with a player coming off a cancer diagnosis and trying to ramp things up without the benefit of training camp or a preseason. The answer is that fans – and media – should be very patient. The fact that Dakota Joshua is back playing at all is a victory in itself. Now, if you asked Joshua, I think he would have liked to have been a little more impactful through his first nine games of the season (no goals, two assists and just two shots on goal). But his line with Pius Suter and Conor Garland crushed its competition on <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/stanchies-jake-debrusks-hat-trick-calls-game-vancouver-canucks-best-red-wings-overtime">Sunday in Detroit</a>; Joshua seems to be finding the speed of the game with every outing, so there are definitely some positive signs. And frankly, if it takes him 20 games or 30 games, really it’s all about ramping up for the stretch run and playoffs. I think it’s important that Joshua doesn’t get frustrated with his lack of early counting stats and continues to chip away at his game so that he can have an impact in the second half of the schedule.</span>

https://twitter.com/Travis_A_Wall/status/1862931208466018517

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Yes, I would. But, shockingly, Rick Tocchet and Adam Foote don’t consult me on these matters. I think the Canucks have seen an uptick in the play of both Tyler Myers and Carson Soucy since those two have been split up (finally). Soucy had one of his strongest games of the season in Detroit on Sunday and Myers rode the Quinn Hughes wave to some crooked possession numbers. If the Canucks roll with the defencemen they’ve got for the time being, they’re going to need Soucy to play his way out of his early-season funk, and they’re going to need more from Vincent Desharnais. The team still hasn’t offered any kind of timeline on Filip Hronek’s injury, but if it’s 4-6 weeks as is being speculated, that’s going to keep him out into the new year. That’s a huge ask of the remaining blueliners to hold down the fort in his absence. So I think we’re putting the cart in front of the horse here by worrying about what to do when Hronek gets back. This team needs to find a way to weather this storm without its second-best defenceman. And with two wins in two games since Hronek went down in Pittsburgh, so far, so good.</span>

https://twitter.com/al_powell57674/status/1862923053484630310

<span style="font-weight: 400;">No, Nils Höglander is not the only forward who struggles defensively. But he’s singled out for a couple of reasons. One is that his play is being graded against the incredible 24-goal season he had a year ago, when, if he made mistakes, he could erase them by contributing at the other end of the ice. Right now, he’s gone 18 games without a goal and hasn’t looked dangerous in weeks. So if he’s not chipping in with offence, he can’t be hurting the club defensively, and that has been an issue. On top of that, he doesn’t seem to be making enough of an effort to change his ways. He looks lost right now. That doesn’t mean he’ll be lost forever. But if he’s not scoring, he has to get back to being the ferocious forechecker and pain in the butt to play against that earned him a spot in the NHL to begin with. The coach has sent plenty of messages with reduced ice time, and there has been no response from the player. Right now, Höglander wears the Canucks uniform but that’s about all he does. And that has to be a big part of the frustration for the coaching staff. Höglander is a better player than he’s showing these days. But every game looks the same. And that’s a problem. Even if he’s getting limited minutes, use them more effectively. Be a spark plug, throw a hit, win a battle, draw a penalty. Do something. With the Canucks carrying just 12 healthy forwards, Höglander isn’t likely to come out of the line-up altogether. But with each passing game, he’s looking more and more like a guy that could benefit from a night off to reset.</span>

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JPat’s Monday Canucks Mailbag: How much is too much for Quinn Hughes?

Sawyer Mynio during the Vancouver Canucks' 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at the 2024 Young Stars Classic from Penticton, BC.

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