It’s time Canucks let the kids run wild
Vancouver’s faithful fans ready for what’s coming next as long as it’s something different
You might not like Mondays, but at least they provide musings and meditations on the world of sports.
This is where the bar now sits for the Vancouver Canucks.
On Saturday night, the Canucks faced a San Jose Sharks team playing their second game in an as many nights that went most of the evening with 16 skaters after early injuries to Melker Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
The Canucks still dropped a 5-3 decision to the Sharks, but the larger impression was the rollicking atmosphere provided by the St. Patrick’s Day crowd. Never mind that the Canucks lost their sixth straight game: The crowd saw their heroes score three goals. They saw a big night from Nikolay Goldobin and some moments from Brendan Leipsic and Jake Virtanen. For all intents and purposes, this was a win for the Canucks.
Now, it’s hard to know how management is going to attack this off-season but, as this campaign approaches its depressing conclusion, one thing is clear: The faithful are ready for whatever comes next as long as it’s something different. The Trevor Linden-Jim Benning management team has failed miserably in their stated goal of providing a supporting environment for their younger players, but if they’re waiting for the perfect time to start integrating prospects into the lineup, we might not see Thatcher Demko play a game until he’s 27.
For the Canucks, the future has arrived and if that’s not consistent with — ahem — the larger plan, too bad. The organization can’t possibly expect their fan base to sit through another season like this with the same cast of veterans delivering, presumably, the same results. Those fans want to see what tomorrow looks like. They want to see if there’s any reason to believe in this management team. Whatever runway the Canucks were hoping to build for their prospects has been torn apart by these last three seasons.
The faithful aren’t expecting much. At the very least, they expect to see the kids in the lineup next season.
On a related note, Adam Gaudette’s Northeastern team opens the NCAA men’s hockey tournament against Michigan on Saturday, meaning Gaudette could be available to the Canucks as early as next weekend.
Michigan is the second seed in the Northeast Regional. Northeastern is the third seed. The winner of that game plays Sunday with the Frozen Four set for April 5.
Gaudette, a Hobey Baker finalist and a Canucks fifth-round draft pick in 2015, led the NCAA in scoring this season.
Michigan’s Will Lockwood, another Canucks’ draft, remains out of the lineup with a shoulder injury.
On Saturday night, Alex Edler played almost 27 minutes, picked up a goal and assist, directed eight shots at net and recorded four hits, including an open-ice beauty on Evander Kane.
It’s not a coincidence that Edler had a big game when Chris Tanev returned to the lineup, but he’s also been bringing it most every night during a wretched campaign. There are any number of reasons to complain about this Canucks season. Edler, for once, isn’t one of them.
“Leadership,” Travis Green answered when asked what he’s seen from Edler this season. “I like the way he’s playing: aggressive, competitive, dialed in every day in practice. He’s been a great pro.
“We put a lot on his shoulder. He’s our shutdown guy, our power play guy. Is it too much some nights? Maybe.”
It’s hard to quantify which NHL team has been hit hardest by injuries this season but it’s safe to say the Canucks are in the top three.
According to the website Man Games Lost, the Canucks rank sixth in the total number of, well, mangames lost. But they lead — if that’s the right term — in the cumulative impact of injured skaters lost to injury and are second in cumulative minutes lost to injury.
The cumulative impact of injured skaters — and I’m thrilled to have lasted enough in this business to type this sentence — is a metric designed to measure the importance of players lost to injury. The Canucks lead the Sabres in this category. The Sabres lead the Canucks in cumulative minutes lost to injury.
Vegas, of all teams, leads the NHL in total man-games lost.
One other thing about the data: Owing to the travel schedule, there’s a perception the West Coast teams are hit hardest by injuries. The numbers, however, don’t support that theory. Nine of the top 16 teams in man-games lost are in the Eastern time zone. Yes, Anaheim is fifth and the Canucks are sixth, but the Kings are 17th, the Sharks 19th, Calgary 20th and Edmonton 21st.
The Evander Kane trade looked like an absolute steal for the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline. It looks even better three weeks later.
Kane’s production — five goals and five assists in nine games since the deal — is one thing, but the larger story is the way it shapes up for the Sharks’ future.
Kane turns 27 in August and, theoretically, he’s entering his prime years.
Yes, he becomes an unrestricted free agent this off-season but the Sharks have Joe Thornton, Joel Ward and, sigh, Jannik Hansen coming off the books and they currently have US$3 million in cap space.
They also have a deep-rooted belief in the strength of their locker-room. There’s never been any issues with Kane’s ability. The questions lie elsewhere. But if the Sharks sign him — and the bet here is they will — they’re getting a first-line power forward who makes them dangerous in this year’s playoffs and can extend the shelf life of their core group by a couple of years. That’s a pretty good trade.
Finally, let’s go through this step by step.
At the 11-minute mark of Saturday’s game, the Whitecaps’ Kendall Waston is battling for position against Atlanta’s Leandro Gonzalez Pirez on a set piece when Pirez goes down like he’s been shot.
After a five-minute video review, referee Ismail Elfath determines the act is worthy of a red card and a penalty.
Couple of take-aways here.
I will never understand the culture of diving in soccer.
Why is professional wrestling a better-refereed sport than MLS?
If it ever happens again, I hope Waston gets his money’s worth and plants Pirez like a tulip bulb.