“He’s a matchup guy”, Canucks general manager Jim Benning said on a conference call.
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According to the data from ownthepuck, since the 2012-2013 season, Brandon Sutter scores like a solid fourth-liner or lower-end third-liner and plays third line minutes, but he’s on par with fourth liners in terms of his influence on line mates, corsi, and a majority of his other HERO stats. “Hopefully we can get something figured out, and if you asked me four years ago if I would have been traded twice, I wouldn’t have thought so”. “He’s a playoff player. When the games mean something that is when he is at his best”.
It was an odd trade for the Canucks, who seemed to lose a bit of secondary scoring – Sutter did tie his career-high in goals last year, with 21, but managed just 33 points overall – especially considering Bonino, still just 27, managed 49 and 39 points the last two seasons. He excelled in the AHL playoffs with the Utica Comets, with three goals and eight points in 23 games and was a plus-7.
The Penguins also picked up a second-round draft pick and young defenseman Adam Clendening in the trade with Vancouver. A lot will depend on Bo Horvat.
For the Canucks, there’s the hope that Sutter can elevate his twenty-goal season with a more consistent lineup.
“He’s a playoff player”, Benning said of Sutter. “We have enough good players now”.
Sutter was traded to the Canucks on Tuesday.
“It sounds like there’s an opportunity to be a second-line centre”.
“But at the same time, whatever works for the coach, whatever makes our team better”.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are wheeling and dealing again.
“He’s got high-end intangibles”, said Benning.
“Willie (Desjardins) will figure out who will be the second centre and who is going to be the third centre iceman. He brings us speed through the middle of the ice, and I think it solidifies our centre ice (position)”.
In Sutter, the Penguins lose a 20-goal scorer, but his $3.3 million dollar salary coming off the books was key for the Pens to be able to sign Fehr.
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Benning believes the right-shot Sutter is a current and future franchise fit, and is working on a contract extension.
