For Canucks, the status quo won’t do
With talent level dropping off quickly after the top five, GM Benning left with some challenges
Before Monday’s games there were five teams within five points of the eighth and final NHL playoff spot in the West. Speaking of things that unravel slowly and with little purpose, here are the musings and meditations on the world of sports:
■ Some take-aways from the Canucks’ recent road trip through California or musings within musings:
■ If nothing else, the three games in California underscored the two major storylines to emerge from this Canucks’ season.
1. Elias Pettersson leads a young core that has changed the conversation around the franchise.
2. Somehow, someway they have to close the gap between their best players and the supporting cast.
In the three-game set, Troy Stecher averaged over 29 minutes per game, Ben Hutton averaged over 27 and Pettersson, Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser all played at least 21 minutes each time out. That’s a significant development for the organization and it bodes well for the future.
But those five players need help and lots of it. With their current injury situation, no other forward in the lineup has hit double-digits in goals for the Canucks (Josh Leivo has 11, but four came with Toronto). Erik Gudbranson is also their third-best defenceman.
This off-season the Canucks have to add a front-line forward and find another to play in their top six. The hope was Sven Baertschi would fill that spot this season, but, sadly, they can’t go into next season counting on the Swiss winger. Jake Virtanen remains a work in progress, but if the Canucks are expecting anything more than 15 to 17 goals next season, they’re taking a huge risk.
For Canucks general manager Jim Benning, the status quo isn’t an option.
■ The minute Quinn Hughes signs with the Canucks, he’ll improve the power play exponentially. Mind you, Howard Hughes might improve the Canucks’ power play the way things now stand.
■ Found a new level of respect for Pettersson’s game this road trip. In Anaheim he saw a lot of Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler; the next night in Los Angeles it was Anze Kopitar. Saturday night the Sharks threw Logan Couture, Thomas Hertl and Joe Pavelski at him. And The Alien was still dangerous and still driving the play in his third game in four nights
■ Chew on this one for a minute. Ran into Swedish journalist Jonatan Lindquist during the trip. Lindquist — who works for Viasat, the NHL’s broadcaster in Sweden — said Pettersson is generating more hype back home than any Swedish player since Peter Forsberg.
Now think of the great Swedish players who’ve come to North America since Forsberg’s rookie season 24 years ago.
■ Mad props to Scott Niedermayer, the Cranbrook kid whose No. 27 was retired by the Ducks on Saturday. Still not sure if Niedermayer or Joe Sakic is the best B.C.-bred player of all time — Steve Yzerman was nine when he left Cranbrook — but do know this. During his career, the great Scott won four Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold, a world championship, a World Cup, a Memorial Cup and a world junior crown.
He’s currently the Ducks’ special-assignment coach. I have this recurring fantasy that one day he’ll work in the Canucks’ front office.
■ The St. Louis Blues were last in the Western Conference when they called up 25-yearold goalie Jordan Binnington on Jan. 7. They’ve since gone 14-3-1 and moved into third place in the Central while Binnington, who had one NHL game on his resume before this season, has gone 12-1-1 with four shutouts.
Just wish I could tell you how and why this has happened.
■ TSN’s Scott Mitchell filed this from the Toronto Blue Jays’ training camp. The Jays’ Randal Grichuk and Lourdes Gurriel watched Vladimir Guerrero Jr. take batting practice. After he was done, Grichuk told Gurriel, “I don’t want to go after him. You go.”
■ And finally, to understand why the B.C. Lions had to come out of their boots to sign quarterback Mike Reilly, you just have to look at the numbers. And we’re not talking about Reilly’s passing numbers with the Edmonton Eskimos over the last three seasons.
Beginning in 2011, Lions attendance dropped every year until last season when it jumped, if that’s the right term, from an average of 19,858 per game to 19,975. In 2011, the year they moved into newly renovated B.C. Place, they averaged 36,510 per game; then 30,366; then 28,311, then 28,011 in 2014.
Then people just stopped coming to Lions games.
Now, the reason invariably cited for that dip is the changing demographic of the Lions’ audience.
Millennials, the rationale goes, have tuned out the CFL and there’s something to that. But, in 2014, the Lions were still drawing over 28,000 per game and five years doesn’t exactly qualify as a generational change.
The larger problem has been the damage done to the Lions’ brand over that time. Some of that is to do with David Braley’s absentee ownership.
Some of it was the Lions’ inability to develop new stars. Some of it, sadly, was fatigue with Wally Buono. But the overall effect was hard to miss.
That’s why the 2019 season sets up as a referendum on the Lions’ place in this market. To be sure Reilly’s signing leaves holes the size of an oil tankard in the Leos’ lineup, but the former Eskimo also gives them a charismatic star and the promise of an exciting, dynamic offence. Throw in Duron Carter and it doesn’t figure things will be boring around The Dome this season.
Lions GM Ed Hervey struck a major blow for the franchise when he signed Reilly, but production from the new/old QB is the least of his worries. Will anybody care?
That’s the larger concern.