Canucks need Baertschi’s offence
Winger working to regain scoring touch after missing a month with broken jaw
With his skates on and legs sprawled out, Sven Baertschi leans back, deep into his locker stall.
He looks serene, like he’s catching a cool breeze on a blistering summer day. He fields a series of offbeat questions about the lockerroom music and “DJ MDZ,” who is otherwise known as Michael Del Zotto, full-time defenceman, parttime jukebox.
You’d have no idea the weight of the franchise currently rests on his shoulders. He’s not alone. Soon, Brandon Sutter and Bo Horvat will be right there with him, trying to pluck the Canucks out of the mud.
Together, they represent a new hope. When these three amigos are healthy and playing, many believe the Canucks’ fortunes will turn and a run that’s seen them win just five times in the past 21 games will finally be put behind them.
But if Baertschi’s first couple of games back are any indication, it’s going to be a lot harder than it looks on paper.
“There are certain things that are missing in your game when you come back,” Baertschi said. “I have to give myself some time. The shooting is the biggest thing. Getting used to being in tight at the net again, and getting a feel for when to shoot. Finding your timing again is huge.”
Baertschi discovered he had broken his jaw the morning after a 4-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. He was hit in that game with a puck, and cruelly, it fractured the opposite side of his face from where he was hit.
“I kind of noticed it overnight,” Baertschi said.
“I felt OK, because they were saying nothing was really going wrong at the start.
“But I didn’t sleep well at all and this side (opposite to where he was hit) started to swell. And then I was worried.”
Baertschi would miss a month of hockey. Partly because his absence coincided with Sutter’s and Horvat’s, the Canucks went into a tailspin they’re still not out of yet.
They need wins. And they really need goals.
Enter Baertschi, who scored 18 goals last year and was on a pace to better that total this season, with eight in 32 games, before his face broke.
The Canucks, even with Brock Boeser in the lineup, need scorers. Since Nov. 23, during this 21-game slide, only three teams have scored fewer goals.
And that’s with Boeser being among the league leaders in scoring and with the Sedins being nearly point-a-game players. Henrik has 19 points in those 21 games.
So yes, the Canucks could really use some secondary scoring. They could really use some Baertschi.
“If I start putting too much pressure on myself, it’s definitely not going to work,” Baertschi said. “Obviously, the team needs me. It needs me to produce. I know that. That’s my job. But at the same time, we only win as a team, when everyone is going. The games we’ve won, it hasn’t been just one single player scoring . ... ”
He catches himself. “Well, there was Boeser.” There sure was. He’s been a story all season. But so is this: Despite his 22 goals, the Canucks sit 28th in the NHL in goals per game.
“Teams that score a lot of goals, they have high-end offensive players,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “When you look at our group, we’ve been honest with our group, we’re not a team that’s going to over-pass the puck.
“We’re not that kind of team. So how do you create offence? You have to go to the net hard. I’d like to think we play an offensive game.
“We want our D up in the rush. We want our D to keep pucks alive in the offensive zone.”
When Baertschi is in a rhythm again, he’ll help. Horvat, too. Green mentioned Sutter’s return as part of the solution. Sutter scored 17 goals last year. He had two before a hit created problems with his groin. He was told it was a six- to eight-week injury.
He may play Sunday against the Minnesota Wild, which would be seven weeks since his last game.
“It’s great when you get players back,” Green said. “But when you start to miss three, four and five weeks, that’s a big chunk of time.
“You talk about two months. That’s a summer. To think a player is just going to jump in and take off from where he left off, that isn’t always the case. It’s different for every guy.”
There are certain things that are missing in your game when you come back ... The shooting is the biggest thing.