The Vancouver Canucks have paid a steep price in seeking to carve out short-term cap space while also upgrading their blue line during the Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin era. With limited cap resources to utilize, trades are difficult to make, particularly in the waning stages of the NHL’s flat cap era. Instead, the club has opted to lean on jettisoning futures, spending a first-round pick, two second-round picks and a fifth-round pick to offload Travis Hamonic’s and Jason Dickinson’s contracts, while also bringing in Filip Hronek, Ethan Bear, Travis Dermott and Riley Stillman (who was later traded for Josh Bloom,…