Canucks' Trevor Linden: Long-term plan in place after busy offseason
As the Vancouver Canucks enter the second full season of their new regime, president Trevor Linden says his long-term vision for the club is taking shape.
"There's no question that, after seeing things for a year, I knew we had to make some changes and get to a better place," Linden told Ed Willes of The Province. "There were things I wasn't happy with. I knew we had to do some restructuring and put new processes in place."
Some of the changes the Canucks have made this offseason include trading backup goaltender - and fan favorite - Eddie Lack to the Carolina Hurricanes for a pair of picks, dealing vocal leader Kevin Bieksa to the Anaheim Ducks for a second-round selection in 2016, and exchanging Zack Kassian to the Montreal Canadiens for Brandon Prust.
Nick Bonino was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a late-July deal that netted the Canucks forward Brandon Sutter. Vancouver signed Sutter to a five-year extension in early August.
The crux of Linden's plan involves fostering homegrown talent.
"The only way we're going to get better is to draft and develop our players," Linden said. "Then we have to do a good job of developing them and getting them here as quickly as possible. That takes up most of my time."
General manager Jim Benning and Linden have added 13 new players since taking over in the spring of 2014, including 22-year-old forward Sven Baertschi and 2014 sixth-overall pick Jake Virtanen.
"When I took the job 18 months ago, we were in a certain place with our organizational depth," Linden said. "We knew what we were coming into and we knew where we wanted to go. I think we did a good job last year and I think we've done a good job this year."
Despite losing to the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs, the Canucks president said last year's goals will carry over to this season.
"There are a few things we wanted to do last year. We wanted to get younger. We wanted to be fun to watch again. We wanted to integrate young players, and we wanted to make the playoffs. Those things will be how we measure success again."