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Which tells you everything about the plan to be more competitive. Adding 30-goal winger Loui Eriksson, 30, in free agency and big defensive defenceman Erik Gudbranson, 24, via trade — and also keeping both goalies — means the accent to maximize two years left on the Sedins’ deal is obvious. Rolling the one-year contact dice on Rodin with a $950,000 cap hit means the Swedish Elite League most valuable player with 16 goals and 21 assists in 37 games could displace another winger.

But where does he play? If the Canucks land a second-line winger and Baertschi moves down, wouldn’t it make more sense to play Rodin on the right side and on the third line behind Eriksson and Hansen?

Photo by Ward Perrin / PNG

“Rodin is a skilled player and quick with a good release on his shot and we’ve seen our league gravitate toward that type of player,” Benning said of the 5-foot-11, 181-pound Stockholm native, whom the Canucks drafted in the second round in 2009. “I think he can be an effective player in the top nine and that’s where I see him fitting in.”

The right side is deep with Eriksson, Hansen, Jake Virtanen, Emerson Etem, Derek Dorsett and Burrows. The left side is a curiosity. Brendan Gaunce was moved there in the minors to develop a better grinding game, but he also looked good in the middle down the stretch. It’s also fair to ask how sold the Canucks are on Etem and how much they really need Virtanen’s size versus a need to develop a total game.

“We’ve been talking to some teams and it would be a hockey trade,” summed up Benning. “The first part of free agency was guys signing and the second layer is going to be teams wanting to move contracts or bodies. Teams know what we’re looking for and we’ll see how it goes.”