Would Canucks sputter without Sutter?
Last year’s missing man has been a huge part of all four of team’s wins
Brandon Sutter would like to be done talking about last year.
Who can blame him? Not only was the Vancouver Canucks centre’s season swallowed whole by injuries, he had to hear how those injuries were the protagonist in the Greek tragedy that was the Canucks’ 2015-16 season.
You’ve heard this lament before from the Canucks. If only Sutter were healthy, things could have been so much better.
Well, he’s not only healthy, he’s the Canucks’ best player. At least, he has been to start this season.
Truth is, the Canucks are 4-0 but could easily be 0-4. The games have been that close, the outcomes that fortuitous.
In the first game, they needed a shootout goal and Sutter scored it. In the second, they needed a threegoal comeback, and Sutter helped set up one and scored the winner.
In the third, they needed to be wonderfully stifling defensively against a loaded St. Louis team. Again, Sutter was one of their better forwards. And on Thursday, Sutter was their best player and second-best wasn’t that close.
Where would they be without Sutter? Could the Canucks be 0-4? Yes, they certainly could.
After Thursday’s win against Buffalo, the Canucks’ fourth straight victory, Sutter said he wished to no longer discuss what went down last season. But what happened to him in his first year in Vancouver, when he played just 20 games and missed significant time because of injuries for the first time in his career, is framing what’s happening now.
It’s a motivating experience to spend as much time as he did last year watching your team sink deeper and deeper into the sludge. Even his teammates see it. “He seems hungry,” Jannik Hansen said. “He did not play a whole lot of hockey last year. He wants to prove what type of player he is. He didn’t really get a chance to do that last year.
“So far, he’s done a tremendous job for us, whether it’s the faceoff circle, penalty killing or chipping in important goals.”
Sutter’s versatility has not only given head coach Willie Desjardins a better penalty-killing unit, he’s given him choices. Some games, Desjardins can use him for big defensive faceoffs. On Thursday, Sutter was often deployed in offensive roles, as his offensive-zone faceoff percentage was 60, leading all of the team’s centres.
It certainly has helped Sutter to be playing with Hansen and Markus Granlund.
Together, they’ve outplayed the Sedin twins.
Sutter’s even-strength shot-attempt differential is 57.3 per cent and Henrik’s is 54.1 per cent.
Small sample size aside, it’s a little surprising because Sutter has never finished a season with a shot-attempt differential that crested 50 per cent. In fact, he’s often been accused of being an anchor, and there’s a lot of underlying data to back up that assessment.
History tells us Sutter’s shot-attempt numbers will regress over time, but what he has never had before is a chance to play with Hansen, whose speed, defensive awareness and improving hands are an ideal mix in today’s NHL.
“He’s been awesome to play with,” Sutter said. “He’s fast — fast and pesty.
“The biggest surprise to me has been his patience with the puck, and how good he actually is with the puck making plays. He’s pretty poised out there.”
Much of the off-season discussion about Hansen was whether he could perform and produce on a line that didn’t have a Sedin on it. But so far the Sedins are missing Hansen more than he’s missing them. Consider Sutter the beneficiary. When Sutter is playing like this, it relieves the Sedins of a tremendous amount of pressure. Maybe the twins have been carried for a game or three, but you know at some point soon they are going to eat, too.
“That line has been awesome,” Daniel Sedin said. “It puts everyone in spots where they can succeed.”
He’s done a tremendous job for us, whether it’s the faceoff circle, penalty killing or … important goals.