Virtanen doubtful, Goldobin promoted as Hurricanes on horizon
Virtanen’s slump might lead to scratch, while Goldobin likely to skate on Horvat’s line
The toughest thing about playing in the NHL, most players will say, is just how good everyone else is and how much of a demand this intense level of competition puts on a player, shift in, shift out.
Growing up, even often into their first professional years, athletes who make the NHL are usually the best players on their team.
In their youth, that meant everything on the ice came easily. Their hockey universe consisted mostly of overmatched opponents.
The closer to the top of the pyramid the player reached, the more top-end opponents he’d encounter. Everyone who’s playing in the NHL has had to climb to the summit. It’s what you do once you get to the summit that dictates your future.
Canucks coach Travis Green spoke about that subject after Tuesday’s practice at Rogers Arena.
“Some players adapt at different rates,” Green said. “Guys who want to have long careers in the NHL, they figure out how they have to play, not just to play in the league but to win in the league.”
Which brings us to Nikolay Goldobin and Jake Virtanen.
Both Canucks have had plenty of words written about the ups and downs of their pursuit to net a regular role in the NHL.
For Virtanen, the story for much of this campaign has been about his growth as a player, one who is looking to do more than just be a shooter, a physical player who can distribute the puck and make life difficult for the opposition whenever he’s on the ice.
The bottom line has always been how much he’s putting out, shift in, shift out.
Players arrive in the NHL thinking they know what their capacity is, but most often discover the NHL demands even more — and that their capacity is higher than they thought and that they can match those demands.
At practice Tuesday, Virtanen — who is one of four players to have appeared in all 50 games this season for the Canucks — found himself on the outside looking in for the most part, while Goldobin was skating on Bo Horvat’s left wing, a spot he’s played before. Josh Leivo was on the right.
With Green looking to use the lines centred by Brandon Sutter and Jay Beagle as defensive trios, Goldobin is seen as a player best suited to skating on one of the team’s top two lines.
Virtanen has seen time on Horvat’s wing this season, but not lately.
Goldobin was skating in a spot that on Sunday was filled by Markus Granlund. Granlund was moved over to Sutter’s line, on the right wing that had been patrolled by Virtanen.
Green wouldn’t commit to the lineup looking ahead to Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. meeting against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, the final game before the Canucks get a nine-day layoff centred around this Saturday’s NHL All-Star Game in San Jose, but he did discuss what he expects from both wingers.
“Consistency, need (Virtanen) to be a consistent player,” he said. “It’s well known we’ve done a lot of work with Jake and I like where his game’s progressed. When he’s on, he’s very impactful.
“If any young player gets scratched, they’ve got to learn from it. Listen to the coaches, put in the extra work.”
Virtanen has a career-high 11 goals this season, but hasn’t scored since Dec. 20, a span of 12 games.
Even so, he has 25 shots in that stretch, so on top of the consistency issue, there’s certainly a dose of puck luck — and there’s also a dose of deployment as well.
For the past four games, he’s found himself on a checking line with Sutter and Antoine Roussel that has been drawing assignments to match up against the opposition’s top lines.
He assisted on Sunday’s game winner by Roussel, his first point since his two-point effort on Dec. 20 against St. Louis, but apparently in the coach’s eyes that wasn’t enough to counter-balance the lack of consistency that now has him as a possible healthy scratch.
On the flip side of this possible lineup move is Goldobin.
Green has been clear what he wants to see from the winger, who has more scratches than games played so far in 2019.
“Whenever Goldy plays next I’m looking for him to play his best game, have effort away from the puck, create when he has it, fight to get pucks back when he’s in a puck battle, fight to protect
the puck, win one-on-one battles.
“Everything that you do when you win hockey games.”
Neither Virtanen nor Goldobin was willing to speak about his situation, but the body language from both was clear: Virtanen’s was frustrated, Goldobin’s was cautious.
Horvat, who broke a long goal-scoring slump Sunday with the game-tying goal against the Red Wings, acknowledged it hadn’t been confirmed to him that Goldobin would be skating on his line against Carolina.
Nonetheless, he spoke of what Goldobin brings to the lineup.
“I don’t think I change my game at all,” Horvat said.
“The best way to complement him is play a two-way game and feed him whenever I can, when he has the puck on his stick, he does great things.”
In the big picture, the spot on Horvat’s wing is going to be a future focus: will the likes of Goldobin or Virtanen find the consistency to fill the role? Or will the Canucks look elsewhere in the summer?
Beyond the Virtanen/ Goldobin question, the Canucks need to do a better job in recovering the puck in the offensive zone.
Green was vocal during practice about the focus his forwards need to apply, pressing them to get in harder on the forecheck.
Horvat said consistency was an issue.
“We’re not placing pucks where they should be, getting in on the forecheck enough,” he said. “I think that’s why we haven’t been getting off to great starts.
“If we get in on forechecks better and hemming them in, that’s going to be better for us.”