This is Horvat and Boeser’s team now
If the Sedins final week was a dream, and it often felt the way, it’s suddenly morning in Vancouver.
The retirement party is over and the team landed in a crater when it rolled out of bed. The Canucks have 217 points in their past three seasons, the fewest in the NHL. For all of it, the twins were vital motors of the offence on the ice and steadying leaders with unapproachable work ethic off of it.
They were Vancouver hockey’s biggest influencers long before the term was co-opted by social media.
Many in the city, and the organization, have spent sleepless nights worrying what life would be like for the Canucks without the Sedins.
We’re finally about to find out. “We’re not going to replace Daniel and Henrik’s leadership in that locker-room,” team president Trevor Linden said. “Or their production on the ice. Rushing out and trying to do that is ... I think we have to be very careful how we approach that. I think, as Travis (Green) said, we will look from within for our young players to take another step with more opportunity.”
Consider this, the last time both Sedins didn’t finish in the top three in scoring on the Canucks it was 2004, and they were fourth and fifth.
It was this way right to the end. In the final nine games — which some are pointing to as a reason to be optimistic — the Canucks were in part carried by the Sedins, with a combined 14 points in those games.
They haven’t just been the heart and soul of the Canucks offence for 14 years, they’ve been the lungs, liver and kidneys too.
A look at young players — 23 and under — on the current roster and there aren’t many who jump out as possibilities for offensive breakouts next season.
There’s Brock Boeser, who was the source of troubling news Monday.
He’s back home in Minneapolis having his wrist re-evaluated. That news hit like getting thrown into a hot tub filled with ice. It’s been two months since he hurt the wrist in Tampa and more than a month since he played. Whatever is wrong, it’s still lingering.
Even if he starts next season 100 per cent healthy, how reasonable is it to expect him to expand significantly on the season he just had? He led the team with 55 points. Could he add 10 to that? Maybe.
There’s Jake Virtanen, but Green’s lean has been to put him in more defensive type roles.
There’s more offence in him than the 20 points he finished with, but the counter to that is he’s likely to spend most of the season on a third line.
There’s Nikolay Goldobin, who had a nice stretch to end the season, but is there going to be top six ice for him available when Sven Baertschi, Loui Eriksson and Boeser are healthy?
There’s Brendan Leipsic, who had nine points in 14 games and looks to be a shrewd acquisition. But is he good enough offensively to help fill the Sedin void? That question mark should be 10 times the normal size.
There’s Adam Gaudette, who seems destined to centre a bottom six line for a year or three.
There’s the future in Elias Pettersson and Jonathon Dahlen, and
We’re not going to replace Daniel and Henrik’s leadership in that locker-room. ... We have to be very careful how we approach that.
no one can discount the possibility they will have big roles.
And finally, there’s Bo Horvat, who may have more pressure on him than anyone else in the organization without the Sedins.
That reality may be the best, and only reason, he’s not named captain this summer. Without the Sedins who is going to take the heat if the Canucks can’t generate offence?
It sure won’t be Brandon Sutter. And two years into his monster contract, Eriksson is already an offensive afterthought.
There’s some periphery players like Baertschi and Sam Gagner who generate indifference in this market. Truth is, right now, this team belongs to Horvat and Boeser and with that, as the Sedins know, comes a ton of magnified scrutiny.
“If we can figure out a way to support that and bring in people who can support their growth and where they can get to, we’re going to do that,” Linden said.
“But there’s various ways to ... we feel we’re going to get better ... but the thought of replacing 100 points and what they bring to the organization with leadership is ... I don’t think it’s replaceable,” Linden said. “The whole package.”