The Vancouver Canucks currently have nine defencemen who have seen NHL ice time at some point this season. All of them want to keep their spot, but only seven can — that’s what depth means, right?
Well, kind of, I guess. In the simplest definition, depth means being able to replace an injured player with one of almost equal quality or simply being able to maintain the team’s quality as a whole. Luca Sbisa gets injured, Alex Biega comes in. Uh, great.
Vancouver’s defensive depth chart looks something like this:
- Alex Edler
- Luca Sbisa
- Yannick Weber
- Alex Biega
With all players healthy — which admittedly does not happen often, but it does happen — the Canucks must cut at least one D-man who gets sent to the Utica Comets.