In the offseason, teams often put themselves in difficult situations in an attempt to build roster depth. The Vancouver Canucks are a prime example for that, adding right-handed Erik Gudbranson Philip Larsen and Troy Stecher to a group of right-side defensemen that already saw Alex Biega and Nikita Tryamkin signed late last season. Despite getting rid of unrestricted free agents Dan Hamhuis, Yannick Weber and Matt Bartkowski, they will have a difficult time deciding who gets a roster spot and who doesn’t.
The issue with that isn’t so much the process of determining who the best six players are, but rather the contracts some of the other guys are on.