The Vancouver Canucks are sitting on the NHL's top waiver priority, and insider Thomas Drance says it's something the front office is watching closely.
That's not a small detail heading into the fall. It's leverage, and Vancouver has more of it than anyone else in the league right now.
The Canucks finished 25-49-8 last season, good for dead last at 32nd overall in the standings.
A last-place finish is brutal to sit through. But it comes with one consolation prize: first pick of anything that hits the wire.
Vancouver closed the year going 4-6-0 over its final 10 games, capped off by a 1-6 loss on the road against Edmonton.
Manny Malhotra takes over as head coach after being hired in June, stepping into a roster that finished with a goal differential of minus-100.
That's the number that should worry Canucks fans more than any single loss. Minus-100 doesn't get fixed by one waiver claim.
A 25-49-8 season hands Vancouver first crack at scraps
According to Thomas Drance, speaking on Donnie and Dhali, the Canucks are absolutely going to explore their options with that waiver priority.
That's not spin. That's a front office admitting the current roster needs outside help, and soon.
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Elias Pettersson still carries the richest cap hit in Vancouver at $11,600,000, which limits how far this team can stretch elsewhere on the books.
Malhotra didn't build this roster. He inherited it, along with every one of its problems and now, apparently, a plan to use waivers as a shortcut.
Whether that turns into a real upgrade or just noise depends entirely on what Vancouver's front office is actually willing to do once the wire starts moving.
Should the Canucks actually use their top waiver priority to grab real help, or is it a lazy fix for a 32nd-place roster?
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