Playing less is more for Sedin twins thus far
Rookie head coach isn’t afraid to shuffle the deck in search of favourable matchup
The Vancouver Canucks haven’t fooled anyone.
When they’ve won, it has been heartthrob goaltending and special teams goals.
That’s kind of what they were trying to do last year. But, really, that’s where the similarities end.
Head coach Travis Green has delivered on a promised platform of change. He’s been on the job for 10 regular-season days and five games. He’s started those five games with 10 different lines.
Oh, we’ve learned Green gets restless. This is what else we’ve learned:
Sedins have been deployed like third-liners and it looks good
What if I told you the Sedins could have a resurgent season that went unnoticed?
Mostly because they’re not playing enough.
For much of the past decade, they’ve been the energy the Canucks’ world has orbited. On Tuesday, Henrik quietly played 12 minutes 48 seconds. They were good, encouraging and efficient minutes.
But still, it was 12:48. It’s usually the playground for third-liners and developing youth. And now, we guess, 37-year-old legends.
It was the fourth time in five games the Sedins didn’t play 17 minutes. It only happened in 10 games for Henrik last season.
Green has used them as though less is more and so far he has been absolutely right. Consider Henrik has been on the ice for 17 more shots on net for than against. No Canuck on another line is above a plus-2.
It’s only five games, but it’s promising. The Sedins have been controlling possession this week as effectively as any five-game stretch in years. The Canucks have had 58 per cent of the unblocked shot attempts with Henrik on the ice.
Many moons ago, some in the local analytics community prophesied the Sedins would become wonderful third-liners in their sunset years, dominating possession in easier matchups. There is a chance the prophecy is being realized right now.
Green loves his matchups and in-game strategizing
Remember Year 1 of Willie Desjardins? How can you forget?
The Canucks improbably rode their way to the playoffs by “rolling four.” It mostly meant Desjar- dins would unfurl his lines one after another without being concerned about matching them.
Things couldn’t be more different this week. In Ottawa Tuesday, Green flipped his lines upside down in the third period even though the Canucks were up 2-0. He peeled Markus Granlund from the Sedin line, pairing him with Brandon Sutter instead so they could resume their shutdown life together.
Granlund went on to play 7:37 in the third. Henrik, by way of comparison, was out there for 3:13. Granlund is leading all Canucks forwards in ice time (18:17) and Sutter is leading all centres in 5-on-5 time (13:30). That’s the byproduct of a coach leaning heavily on those matchups.