TANK TALK ‘INSANE’
Veteran centre Brandon Sutter says ‘real fans’ want Vancouver to win every game, not lose deliberately for a better draft spot
It’s difficult to get a rise out of Brandon Sutter. You have to go hard at the mild-mannered Vancouver Canucks shutdown centre to get more than a thoughtful response to any query. But mention the odd concept of the NHL club tanking to improve its draft-lottery odds and his tone changes.
He can’t imagine taking his foot off the performance pedal — especially as a faceoff and penalty-kill specialist — and can’t wrap his head around the message that would send to NCAA scoring champion Adam Gaudette, who makes his Canucks debut Thursday against the visiting Edmonton Oilers.
It’s encouraging that the Canucks have won three of their last four games — Sutter scored twice Tuesday in a 4-1 decision over the Anaheim Ducks — but not to the draftists. They see losing as winning even though improved draft odds guarantee nothing.
“That doesn’t sit well with the pro athlete at all,” Sutter said Wednesday. “To us, that’s just insane. If you’re a fan, you want to see your team win. We were talking about having a chance to still catch Chicago, and I’m sure some wouldn’t be too happy about that.
“If you start playing games that way, you’ll never get that (winning mentality) back. We’re trying to improve. Sitting around and losing games isn’t going to make anybody better. True fans just enjoy watching us play and cheering us on.
“There’s always going to be outside pressure, but if you pay attention to it, it could really hurt you. You’ve just got to ignore it.”
Creating the right environment for a transitioning team is imperative to Sutter. Winning is a habit, and so is losing. The veteran wants Gaudette to embrace the right culture in his big moment.
“You’re obviously excited for him and you just tell him to go play,” Sutter said. “I remember my first couple of games, I was pretty nervous. He shouldn’t worry about making a mistake. He should just try to enjoy it.”
The hardest thing might be to harness Gaudette. He wants to burst out of the gate and impress 20 friends and family who have made the trek to Vancouver for his first game in the NHL.
“There’s more excitement than nerves,” said Gaudette, who signed his three-year entry-level deal Monday and will burn a year of it in his debut.
“I just expect to play hard and whatever happens happens. I just need to be brought up to speed on some systems.”
Any measure of success in the Canucks’ five remaining games will grant Gaudette instant adulation. For Sutter, his career in Vancouver has been about speculation.
He’s a polarizing player because he has three more years at a
US$4.375-million annual salary cap hit and is a third-line centre who doesn’t work the power play. He scored 17 goals last season and had 34 points. He has 10 goals and 22 points this season in a more demanding role that has put an emphasis on defence and less on transitional offence.
Sutter got ample first power-play time last season with Henrik and Daniel Sedin as Willie Desjardins’s right-hand solution that
never gained traction. Sutter had four man-advantage goals, and the Canucks scored 32 power-play goals last season and were ranked 29th.
They already have 51 goals with their 11th-ranked power play because the return of assistant coach Newell Brown has brought a different dimension and firstyear NHL head coach Travis Green believed Sutter was better served in a massaged role.
He started the season between Derek Dorsett and Markus Granlund and the trio kept Connor McDavid at bay in the season opener. Sutter’s role was defined from the outset because Green wanted fourline balance — and it’s not an easy job to embrace, because everybody wants to score.
“What Travis wanted and what
my strengths are, we were pretty much on point,” Sutter, 29, said. “I’ve reached the point where I don’t care where I play or what my role is. Last year, I was kind of in limbo and not really sure what my role was. I wasn’t really matched up — I was just playing.”
Knowing what’s expected means not having offensive-zone starts. It means shutting down some of the game’s greats and taking pride in a penalty kill that has gone 15 for 15 the last five games, even with 10 players out of the lineup.
“There’s a feeling in the room,” Sutter said, “that we have a strong coaching staff, and that helps.
“Travis is not letting us let up and accept a loss. That makes us better.”