Canucks: Who is real Drew O’Connor? Dakota Joshua trade may be answer

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Is Drew O’Connor the new Dakota Joshua?

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The Vancouver Canucks’ left-winger measures up in size, speed, smarts and willingness to engage. With Joshua dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday for a 2028 fourth-round draft choice — it adds $US3.25 million in salary-cap space for the pursuit of a support centre — opportunity now awaits O’Connor.

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He could be a third-line fit because of lessons he learned from Sidney Crosby. The Pittsburgh Penguins are a shadow of their once dominant presence, but their captain always plays like he practises, which is very hard.

“He’s so good at teaching you things on the ice with where he wants you to be,” O’Connor told Postmedia News. “He likes to play close in the offensive zone and move the puck really quickly, work the down-low game. He explains the little details, like how to grab pucks off the wall and tight turns that he’s really good at.

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“It was awesome playing on a line with him because every time you come to the bench, he shows you different ways of learning new things.”

Crosby turns 38 on Aug. 7 and remains a bull-like centre who is difficult to defend off the rush, hard to contain along the walls and almost impossible to deny at the net. He’s built to hold his ground. For the undrafted O’Connor, it was a master class of top-flight tutelage.

“You notice it going in practice against him,” laughed O’Connor, who is 6-foot-4 and 209 pounds, and should be able to win his battles. “It’s hard to get the puck off him. And the one thing I got from him is he tries to get better at one specific thing every off-season and has done it for a while.”

There is untapped potential in O’Connor, much like Joshua displayed in his 2023-24 breakout season. His 18 goals and 32 points plus a team-leading 244 hits, which ranked ninth overall in the NHL, earned a four-year contract extension that became a management problem last season.

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Joshua’s testicular cancer diagnosis last summer and September surgery meant missing the first 14 games. Playing catch-up in the NHL is never easy, especially with physical and mental hurdles to clear. At age 29, he understandably lost his moxie and slumped to seven goals and 14 points in 57 games.

Suddenly, that US$3.25 million in annual average value was perceived as an anchor. O’Connor is certainly more affordable following a two-year, US$5 million extension Feb. 18. But can he be more productive?

O’Connor, 27, piqued the Canucks’ interest after 16 goals and 33 points in 2023-24 because he played hard for the struggling Penguins. He dipped to six goals and 16 points in 53 games last season before being dealt to the Canucks in a multiplayer swap on Feb. 1.

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O’Connor’s four goals and nine points in 31 games here in a season of transition didn’t produce that ‘wow’ factor, but his first impression was favourable. He was visible and effective in a 3-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 4 that left former Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet gushing.

“I don’t want to overstate it, but (Filip) Chytil and (Drew) O’Connor with their speed and willingness to take the puck to the middle on a rush is a little breath of fresh air,” he stressed. “You see Chytil take the puck to the middle and that’s when things happen. Just adding those two guys has helped our rush game.

“We’re smiling. That’s the stuff we need.”

Fast-forward and the trade addition of Evander Kane on the left side makes the east Vancouver native a candidate to work with Elias Pettersson or Chytil. However, that depends on what pivot the Canucks do or don’t acquire in free agency or trade. If it’s a significant acquisition and Chytil slides down to the No. 3 hole, O’Connor won’t complain.

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Conor Garland gave Chytil, who was shut down in March after a brutal hit and placed in concussion protocol, quite the initial compliment on his effectiveness.

“Fantastic speed, sees the ice well, makes a lot of plays,” said Garland. “A real good pickup. Good zone entries and drive. He’s a winger’s dream.”

As for O’Connor, the dream was to live up to his own hopes, which once seemed like a stretch for the Chatham, N.J., product.

He was 5-foot-10 in Grade 12 and didn’t initially attract collegiate interest. It was demoralizing but he pressed on. A growth spurt to 6-foot-3 when he arrived at Dartmouth College in the East Coast Athletic Conference made a difference. So did a dedication to diet and fitness.

“I’ve had a lot of stretches where things weren’t going well and high school was a real struggle for me,” admitted O’Connor. “I was always one of the better players growing up, but when I got to that point in high school, I was really kind of fading and dropping off.

“But I was a late bloomer. I was able to overcome and eventually get my way into college hockey because that was my goal growing up. I just learned how to deal with it all.”

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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