Quinn Hughes and Vancouver Canucks Agree to Make Structural Change Going into 2022-23

The Vancouver Canucks need everything to work according to plan if they hope to make the postseason in 2022-23, as the Pacific Division is going to be very competitive. They either need to be better than one of Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, or Vegas, or one of the top five Central Division teams. In order to hit that goal, they are going go need creative solutions to the hurdles facing their team.

Vancouver's salary cap is still a mess, and they do not really have any options other than to simply make do with what they have. They only added two free agents this summer -- Ilya Mikheyev and Andrei Kuzmenko -- and today signed D Danny DeKeyser to a PTO, which was surprising, as their left side is pretty stacked at the moment. However, Quinn Hughes reportedly approached management and asked them to make a big change, which explains why DeKeyser might fit in on the Canucks blue line.

According to Rick Dhaliwal, Hughes suggested that he make the move to the right side, despite being a left-hand shot. Vancouver's president of hockey ops shared that tidbit with Dhaliwal, and now the need for another leftie makes sense.

Should Hughes make the transition to Vancouver's right side, their left side will look like Oliver Ekman-Larsson, DeKeyser, and Travis Dermott. While their right side will presumably be manned by Hughes, Tyler Myers, and Luke Schenn. Their cap constraints have left them unable to replace D Tucker Poolman -- whose career appears headed to retirement due to repeated head injuries -- via the open market. Ipso facto, they had to get creative and it looks like they have one option. If it blows up in their face, they can always trade for a righty or take a chance on a call-up. Still, GM Patrik Allvin's situation is unenviable.

Hughes has struggled defensively anyway, and he is visibly capable of scoring no matter where he plays. In that sense, the shift can proceed with no real downside. Perhaps the move will balance out Vancouver's troubled blue-line and give them a new identity. Surely, Bruce Boudreau will welcome this change, giving him added flexibility on defense.

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