This is a solid trade for both teams and for Sven himself. It was becoming increasingly obvious that he wasn't a fit in the future of the Flames plans as the Flames have a very solid prospect base that has seemingly better developed the trust of the management. At the same time the Canucks having had the smartest man in the room in Gillis at the helm (at least I am sure that he thought of himself in that manner), had a tendency to draft older players in the draft in the hopes that they would become later round steals, which they obviously did not. The Canucks have been in a position in which their success means that they haven't had the Blue-Chip prospects in the 21-24 year old age range and consequently Benning has had to use draft picks in order to attempt to resupply the cupboard.
Looking at the past near decade the Canucks have had some atrocious drafting with one player currently on the team that has been drafted in that time (Horvat) and one player who they traded for using the selection (Kassian for Hodgson). There are a couple of prospects but no one who really seems capable of stepping in at the current time. Baertschi is the most NHL ready forward that the Canucks have in the AHL at the current time, which is a pretty sad state of affairs.
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