I wasn't asking specifically about JVR, just about the state of the Canucks and the idea of waiting.
And I do think you're losing games for lack of talent. The Sedins were good enough to be your franchise players into their mid 30's but, predictably, that's coming to an end. Eriksson, Granlund, Sutter are alright players, but not good enough to be the scoring engines of a good team
JVR is also not a middle six player on your team, he's top six. Since joining the leafs he's a 29.1 goal/58.8 point per 82 game player, often as the second best player on his line and sometimes as the best player on his line, I don't recall a time where he was the 3rd best on his line which has typically been the top line. He's a top line winger by definition, he's in the same production range since joining the leafs as Landeskog, Cammalleri, Palat and Forsberg which is good for being a top 15-20 LW in the league, there are 30 "top line" spots so the best 30 are top liners. Your interpretations of him are selling him short, objectively speaking
I don't think JVR fixes the Canucks problems either, you need franchise level talent, which you either have to draft incredibly well or incredibly high to get. So waiting to make a move to start a rebuild until your management is changed I think only devalues tradable assets where they could bring good return now
Not JVR specifically, no, but I don't think it is a talent issue so much as a grotesque misuse of talent, bordering on neglect. Daniel, Henrik, Burrows and Eriksson are all 30 goal scorers in the last few years, and Horvat and Sutter are 20 goal scorers. There isn't a lack of talent there. Baertschi and Granlund, and God willing Virtanen, have a chance at hitting that in the near future (I can't in good conscience try to even type "this year"). Eriksson is having a rough start, Sutter is coming off almost a full year of being injured, the Sedins and Burrows have regressed, the kids are hit and miss, but on paper that should be a fine mix of offense. It hasn't been. The use of these pieces is what the problem is. Our defense and goaltending has been good enough to usually stop all but one or two goals, so we aren't having to out score our problems, but routinely getting 30-40 shots a game and not scoring once is what our problem is. Outside shots, simply being "robbed", not being able to recover when getting a rebound, it varies as to why, but there is no reason all 9 of those guys, with whom JVR would be competing, would be shut out, again routinely, unless it is something from the coaching side of things.
Franchise level talent is the one thing that could help us over come this level of incompetence. JVR isn't close to what we need, and frankly that level of offense won't be available. Tanev gives us, even in a single dimension, that level on defense. He is young enough to be useful during a rebuild, and frankly we have 0 reason to trade him. JVR doesn't do more for our future or our present, so there is no reason to trade down to JVR+ from Tanev. If it was Tanev+ for a young game breaking forward, yes, we could/should/would do that trade. If it was a considerable prospect(s) who had the potential to pull Vancouver out of it's tailspin it seems to be flying into, then yes, we could/should/would make the trade.
Tanev to hold down the fort, provide leadership, take the edge off getting accustomed to the game for players like Tryamkin or Juolevi to do their thing, or simple to trade off when we finally, finally, finally ditch Lindenning/Desjardins/Aquilini, those are all worth far more to us then JVR.
It really depends on the direction the franchise is going. I've heard mixed responses about this; some say Vancouver is rebuilding, some say they are retooling, some say they are still trying to go for it.
If you are rebuilding: trading your best players is the best thing to do, it assures you will be bottom feeders, and not middle of the pack (which is the worst).
For example; Trading phaneuf and kessel for mediocre returns pretty much gave us Matthews. If Phaneuf or even Kessel was still on the leafs there is no way we'd finish last place. Sometimes its addition by subtraction.
If you guys are still trying to go for it: By all means trading Tanev is stupid.
There is no direction. Our pilot is drunk and the ship is listing. Management is saying we're "going for it", but if Benning says anything of the sort after...9?...straight losses, he needs to be flogged. I trust that idiot to do a "Toronto-style" rebuild as much as I trust a dog to not eat a pizza on the floor I will be leaving in my empty apartment all weekend. Pressure from ownership will force him to try to make lemonaid from this roster, and he will comply. He overpays for players he likes, and simply dumps players that don't fit the mold, instead of trying to maximize value. Trading Tanev fits into the later style move.
The "sell off the lot" style rebuild (man that is wordsier then "Toronto-style") is a huge risk. This year especially...I mean Nolan Patrick and Liljegren and the like, people are talking like they would have been 4th or 5th or 6th in previous drafts. Not a bad pick to be sure, but not a Matthews or McDavid, who frankly Benning should have tanked for last year (if not for our late season winning streak, we would have had fine odds for 1st overall).