With limited options in free agency and the trade market, the club did little to address the defensive depth on the right side, which remains unchanged from last season. When asked about this, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford told Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali – The Team: “We have a lot of guys on the left side who can move. Burroughs was good last year, Dermott and Oliver Ekman-Larsson can play right-back and Hughes has told us he can try right-back,” Rutherford said. Advertisement – Continue Reading Below As it stands, the Canucks’ defensive depth chart is as follows, based on handedness alone (note that these are not pairings) Quinn Hughes Tyler Myers Oliver Ekman-Larsson Luke Schenn Travis Dermott Tucker Poolman Jack Rathbone Kyle Burroughs Danny DeKeyser (PTO) Brady Keeper/ Noah Juulsen With Jack Rathbone graduating from the Abbotsford Canucks and joining the big club lineup this season, the Canucks seemingly have – or had – a logjam of defensemen on the left side. Dermott is known to be able to play on the right side and Ekman-Larsson has been able to do the same at various points during his career. The big wild card here is Quinn Hughes. Advertisement – Continue Reading Below If the Canucks can successfully move their best defensemen to the right side, it would be a huge win for the club and would create a major hole in their lineup and overall roster construction. It would also allow Jack Rathbone to take a spot on the third pairing, possibly playing with Luke Schenn, where Schenn would have a similar role as he did with Hughes – allowing the smooth-skating Rathbone to be the main driver in the defensive pairing . The Canucks certainly can’t afford Hughes to take a step back next season if they want to stay competitive, so putting him in a somewhat unfamiliar environment on the right side carries some risks. But if he can make the switch seamlessly? Essentially, money will be found for the Canucks.
