The Vancouver Canucks were busy in the offseason reshaping their defence and bottom-six. In the process of adding Teddy Blueger, Pius Suter, and Sam Lafferty up front and Carson Soucy and Ian Cole on the back end, they also said goodbye to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Kyle Burroughs, Ethan Bear, Tanner Pearson, Spencer Martin and Collin Delia.
Now that the 2023-24 season has passed the halfway point, it’s a perfect time to see how each of them is doing in their new homes. Some have thrived, while others have struggled to find their footing. Let’s dive in.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Florida Panthers
I think it’s safe to say that the trade that brought Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland to Vancouver will go down as one of the worst in franchise history. Then-general manager Jim Benning became obsessed with the smooth-skating Swede long before the trade, and not only eventually overpaid for him, but lost Tyler Toffoli and Chris Tanev to the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames respectively when he tried – and failed – to acquire him in the 2020 offseason (from ‘How Oliver Ekman-Larsson became a Canuck in one of the riskiest trades in NHL history’, The Athletic, 2/27/23).
When the deal finally came to fruition just before the 2021 Draft, Benning sent the farm to the Arizona Coyotes in the form of Antoine Roussel, Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, a 2021 first-round pick (Dylan Guenther), a 2022 second-round pick (Hunter Haight) and a 2023 seventh-round pick. Benning believed he was getting a difference-maker on the backend that would help transform the Canucks into a playoff team.
Unfortunately, that expectation went up in smoke as Ekman-Larsson struggled in his two seasons with the Canucks and his massive contract became an albatross to any effort to improve the team. Benning was fired not long after the trade, and the new regime of Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin had to deal with the fallout. Ekman-Larsson survived the change for one season, but was eventually bought out in the 2023 offseason and ended his tenure in Vancouver with only seven goals and 51 points in 133 games.
The Florida Panthers took a flyer on the 32-year-old for one year at $2.25 million and he’s made the most of it with eight goals and 22 points in 44 games so far. With the injuries to top defencemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, he got a lot of ice time early on in the season averaging over 20 minutes a night along with time on the top-unit power play. Since the duo has returned, his role has been reduced, and he’s now playing on the bottom pairing with Dmitri Kulikov. Even so, he’s proven that he can still hold down a top-four spot in the NHL and contribute to the offence. In 44 games, he’s already matched the point total he had with the Canucks last season and is only seven points away from shattering the 29 he had in his first season with the team. In fact, he’s on pace to hit 40 points for the first time since 2018-19.
Kyle Burroughs, San Jose Sharks
Moving onto the BC boy, Burroughs made a name for himself in Vancouver in the two seasons he patrolled the blue line. Coming over from the Colorado Avalanche in the 2021 offseason, he made the team out of training camp and ended up playing 90 games in the blue and green. He shuttled between the top-four (sometimes with Quinn Hughes) and the bottom pairing and provided solid minutes at both five-on-five and the penalty kill. His physicality was evident on every shift and he was often the only defender that was consistent in that department – apart from Luke Schenn. He finished his stint in Vancouver with three goals and 10 points alongside 287 hits and 143 blocked shots.
Related: Canucks’ Trade Pieces to Improve Roster
In rebuilding their defence corps, Burroughs was allowed to walk in free agency last offseason and eventually signed a three-year contract with the San Jose Sharks at $1.1 million AAV. On a clear rebuilding team, he has taken on the role of a top-four defenceman and is averaging 19:05 of ice time in all situations. Before Calen Addison was acquired, he was even asked to quarterback the power play – something his archetype isn’t known for. Overall, he has struggled alongside the rest of his teammates as the Sharks sit dead last in the NHL. He is still doing his job, however, with 75 blocked shots, 94 hits and a career-high 15 takeaways. He is a minus-24, but that’s just the byproduct of being on a bad team that bleeds goals.
Ethan Bear, Washington Capitals
The Canucks seemingly planned to have Bear in their lineup this season, but an injury at the World Championship (WC) and subsequent recovery derailed those plans pretty quickly. He was a relatively solid defender after he was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes last season and seemed to fit nicely with Hughes on the top pairing. He was even productive offensively with three goals and 16 points in 61 games and blocked a ton of shots (82) in the process. All in all, he probably would have fit with the group the Canucks have right now. Still, he decided to take more money elsewhere after Allvin didn’t extend him a qualifying offer in the offseason and he became an unrestricted free agent.
After recovering from the shoulder injury he suffered with Team Canada at the WC, Bear weighed his options and signed a two-year contract with the Washington Capitals worth $2,062,500 AAV. Since joining the team on Dec. 28, he has had one goal and two points in nine games and is averaging 16:52 of ice time. He also has continued his shot-blocking prowess with 14 blocks already.
Tanner Pearson, Montreal Canadiens
Pearson was a key part of the Canucks for many seasons, mostly alongside Bo Horvat on the second line. Before falling to a hand injury last season that ultimately ended his career in Vancouver, he had 55 goals and 114 points in 221 games. He was a consummate professional and veteran presence his entire time with the team and was a productive piece of the top-six with double-digit goal totals (including a 21-goal season in 2019-20) in all but one season.
Related: Canucks’ Burning Questions: Hughes, Pettersson, Trades & More
After injuring his hand in a Nov. 9, 2022, game against his current team, the Montreal Canadiens, Pearson suffered through multiple surgeries to repair the damage. Luckily, the last surgery was successful, and he is playing in the NHL again – just not with the Canucks. To shed some cap space, Allvin decided to trade the veteran winger to the Canadiens for DeSmith just after Pearson was activated off long-term injured reserve.
Unfortunately, Pearson is back on the injured list with an apparent injury to that same hand. The Canadiens are calling it an “upper-body injury” but he clearly blocked a shot with his left hand. He has four goals and eight points in 27 games, and was looking like his old self before the injury on Dec. 9. The initial timeline was 4-6 weeks, and he appears to be right on track with that as he joined the Canadiens on their current road trip. He might be returning soon, and that’s good news considering how much he had to go through the first time he injured it.
Spencer Martin, Columbus Blue Jackets
Going into the 2022-23 season, the Canucks were confident that Martin could provide solid goaltending behind Thatcher Demko. After all, he was coming off a short, but impressive, stint in 2021-22 where he started six games and put up Vezina Trophy-caliber numbers (1.74 GAA, .950 SV%). But, they weren’t counting on Demko going down long-term and handing the keys to the kingdom to a journeyman goaltender who only had nine NHL games under his belt.
Martin was okay to start, but eventually succumbed to the pressures of being a number-one and struggled to keep the puck out of the net. He finished with an 11-15-1 record with an ugly 3.99 goals-against average (GAA) and a .871 save percentage along with nine really bad starts (RBS) and a minus-27.5 goals-saved above average.
With one more year on his contract, Martin went into this season as the expected backup to Demko. However, after Allvin traded for Casey DeSmith from the Montreal Canadiens, the writing was on the wall. Martin was placed on waivers and claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets. As part of a three-headed monster with Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov, he has a 3-8-1 record with a 3.65 GAA and .887 SV% but was placed on waivers again today (Jan. 18). If he clears, he will go down to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
Collin Delia, Manitoba Moose
Finally, we have Delia, who platooned with Martin to form a below-average tandem when Demko was out of the lineup last season. They were good at times, but ultimately did not provide the Canucks with quality enough goaltending to hold down the fort. Delia was signed in the offseason to be a mentor and third-string goalie in the minors for the Abbotsford Canucks, not a backup or starter. He did have decent numbers record-wise at 10-6-2, but still gave up over three goals a game (3.28 GAA) and had a sub-900 SV% (.882).
Delia was allowed to walk in the offseason and found a home with the Winnipeg Jets on a one-year contract. He has not appeared in a game this season with the Jets, but has played 20 games in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Manitoba Moose. His numbers aren’t too good either with a 3.47 GAA and .881 SV%. I don’t expect he will get any NHL games this season unless both Connor Hellebuyck and Laurent Brossoit fall to injury.
Canucks Don’t Miss Their Offseason Departures
No disrespect to any of these players, but the Canucks don’t miss any of them right now. They are riding high at the top of the league with a 29-11-4 record and the defenders and goaltenders that replaced them have been huge reasons why. The defence corps consisting of Hughes, Filip Hronek, Soucy, Cole, Nikita Zadorov, Mark Friedman and Noah Juulsen has been one of the best in the league and has guided the team to their best goal differential since the early 2010s. They, along with Demko and DeSmith’s brilliant goaltending, are poised to lead the Canucks into the playoffs for the first time since the bubble in 2020. I would say Allvin made the right decision to let them walk into the sunset.
