Many were left puzzled on Friday morning when the Vancouver Canucks announced that they were inviting defenseman Danny DeKeyser to camp on a professional tryout offer. While the team undoubtedly need help on the back end, it seemed adding a right-handed blue liner would have been the higher priority. However, we may now have an answer as to why management made this decision.
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According to well known Canucks reporter Rick Dhaliwal, general manager Jim Rutherford told him that Quinn Hughes approached the team recently in regards to playing on the right side this coming season. That would be a first at the NHL level for the left shot defenseman, but may help explain why the organization chose to bring in DeKeyser rather than a right shot free agent such as P.K. Subban.
Whether Hughes is doing this because he wants to or because he feels the team would benefit more from it is unknown, but it appears they are going to give him a shot. Given his ridiculously high skill level, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see him quickly adapt and excel in the new role. In 76 games last season, the 22-year-old registered a career high 68 points and is only continuing to get better.
If Hughes does indeed make the transition, the Canucks will now have him, Tyler Myers, Luke Schenn and Tucker Poolman on the right side. Things will now get a bit more interesting on the left, as only Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Travis Dermott are locks to crack the opening night roster.
That seems to suggest that DeKeyser has as legitimate shot to earn himself a cheap one-year deal, though he will need to outplay 27-year-old Kyle Burroughs to do so. The latter suited up for a career high 42 games with the Canucks last season, scoring a goal and five points. Meanwhile, DeKeyser appeared in 59 games with the Detroit Red Wings, recording 11 assists.
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