Canucks Coffee: Why trade at all?

When you zoom out and consider the trade the Canucks pulled off on Thursday, if you found yourself asking the simple question of "why trade at all," you weren't alone.

Think of it. The Canucks moved on from a player who hadn't shown enough to cement himself a regular role, getting two players in return who might play some NHL games but neither of whom matter much at all in the long run.

One, Jacob Quillan, at 24 has already played some NHL games but is mostly destined for the AHL. The other, Brandon Buhr, a local kid who is the same age as Quillan but who is the ECHL, two steps away from the NHL.

Raty, by the way, is 24 next month, so this was a trade involving three forwards of roughly the same age, who are exiting the development window.

It's a shuffling of chairs that might help both organizations: the Canucks helped the Maple Leafs open up an NHL contract spot, while adding two players whose minor league salaries add up to less than the wage Raty would have kept earning had he been sent to the AHL. (He is on a one-way deal, which means he gets paid the same whether he's in the NHL or AHL.)

Raty cleared waivers so Toronto could have had him basically for free, but instead they worked out a deal.

It just wasn't going to work for Raty here and it's hard to imagine that story changing even with the proverbial "change of scenery."

Raty's a lovely guy, obviously good on faceoffs, but in a league where there are a lot of guys like this, he doesn't really stand out.

He's what you could call a "Quad-A player" — but he's not even been traded for one. (OK maybe Quillan becomes one, but really this is all just shuffling deck chairs).

This all got me thinking about what is the best use of roster spots taken up by guy likes Raty or Arshdeep Bains or Guillaume Brisebois or Vincent Mancini? Realistically those guys are on an NHL roster because of the circumstance the Canucks are in. Skaters 17 to 21, as one NHL team source put it to me.

Those players are your depth defencemen and your fourth line options.

Talking with a number of people who think about the game, I've narrowed down four categories of player that you can use your fringe roster spots on:

The marginal prospect, who probably doesn't become anything at all, but who you can still take a look at. Was Raty one of those? He got 100 games. Maybe he could have been more.

You can use the roster spot on a player whose contract has become much bigger than his actual value; you extract a price from the team that's looking to get off the contract.

You can use it on a player who will have value later in the season, a player you can flip at the deadline.

Players we would call a "reclamation project."

Raty's spot has been taken by Filip Chytil, who in the long run you hope can find health and have a good run this season. If that comes to pass, he'll have good value at the trade deadline, especially as a player on an expiring contract.

Chytil is category 3. Or at least the Canucks hope he proves to be.

Quite the thing seeing the Edmonton Oilers being the latest team struggling to sell tickets.

It's a problem every one is running into — just look at the blowback, such as it is, we've heard from some very vocal Vancouver Whitecaps fans about the soccer team's surge in season ticket prices.

The world is expensive, for anyone who has to work for a living, and there's only so much price elasticity in everyone's wallet.

A holistic view needs to be taken of the whole sports market — isn't the task still to put bums in seats?

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