Advantage Mac-T Style - Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks fired their coach and a lot of people felt that then bench-boss Alain Vingneault was simply a scapegoat while the "sky-is-falling" attitude in Vancouver was and is solely the blame on GM Mike Gillis. Most of that is irrelevant now as Gillis isn't going anywhere and will look to find a new face to lead what will be a changing Canucks line-up into next season.

The Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider fiasco will need to be addressed and if I'm Vancouver I'm looking to move Schneider. But I'm not and Gillis has already come out on record that Luongo will likely be dealt (likely around the draft) and while I'm not sure Luongo is the smart choice, MacTavish did suggest there are questions surrounding Devan Dubnyk, so who knows.

Goal tending aside, the Canucks are going to need to get below the cap. While moving Loungo would get them almost if not completely there, Gillis has made it sound as though more changes will be coming. Can the Oilers, despite there not being a big trading history between Vancouver and Edmonton, find a fit?

There isn't really as large a need for Vancouver to get under the cap as some other teams we've already discussed, unless they choose to keep players like Derek Roy (who was a large let-down since coming aboard), Mason Raymond and Maxim Lapierre. If the Canucks try to keep those players aboard, then the Canuck blue line might be due for a shake-up.

Keith Ballard is the obvious choice, but like Edmonton fans who suggest it's easier said than done to off-load under-performing contracts, Ballard is an albatross that Vancouver will have trouble getting rid of.

Alex Edler has a hefty cap hit that kicks in this coming season and with Bieksa, Hamhuis and Garrison on no-trade clauses perhaps Gillis looks to move him. If that's the case, MacTavish should be all over that, but otherwise I don't see a fit.

Kesler would be a great pickup, if he somehow becomes available a boat load of teams will be interested, so really, the only fit from Vancouver I see will have little to do with making any kind of deal with the Canucks. It will be in picking up a UFA like Lapierre as a depth move.

Vancouver has cap issues, but I don't see Edmonton coming into play in any way.