The Canucks still don’t know what they’ve got in Rodin
CANUCKS: Winger is back from first-half knee troubles, but can’t seem to crack lineup on a regular basis
The thing about experiments is they actually must be performed in order to determine success or failure.
Like if Dr. Alex Fleming had simply sprayed bleach on the bacteria he found on his lab counter upon returning from vacation instead of studying it under a microscope and testing his findings, the world wouldn’t have penicillin. Or if Alexander Graham Bell had hung up on Watson and gone for taquitos, we wouldn’t have the telephone.
Of course, Bell and Fleming were blessed with that brilliant academic pragmatism and work ethic that imbue all Scots — like the guy who invented the deep-fried Mars bar — and pursued their work with exhaustive vigour.
The Vancouver Canucks, on the other hand, have yet to test their theory on Anton Rodin.
This is the theory: That a Swedish Hockey League MVP, who had failed in his first attempt at North American hockey with the Canucks organization, could return to Vancouver at age 25 and become a scorer in the NHL.
To fund this experiment, the Canucks signed Rodin last March to a one-year contract for US$950,000.
That was two months after Rodin underwent season-ending surgery to repair a knee tendon partially severed by a teammate’s skate. And, it turned out, that was 10 months before Rodin’s knee would be well enough for him to play a regular-season game with the Canucks.
In Monday’s 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche, Rodin played NHL game No. 2 and registered an assist while logging 10:12 of ice time on a line with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi.
But with Alex Burrows ready to return Wednesday against the Arizona Coyotes after missing one game due to a scratched eye, Willie Desjardins sounded Tuesday like a coach who will be removing Rodin once again from the Canucks lineup.
Halfway through Rodin’s “rookie” season, six months before he’ll become a free agent and be courted by European teams willing to pay for a guy who had 37 points in 33 SHL games last season for Brynas, the Canucks have no idea what they may have in the skilled winger who was their second-round pick in 2009.
“I don’t think I know what we have with him yet,” Desjardins said after Tuesday’s practice. “I don’t think it’s fair for two games to try to decide. It’s unfair to take that sample size to make a decision. But sometimes that’s the sample size you get, too. Who knows how many games you get to look at him?
“It’s a hard one because every game is so important. Every shift is so important. Last four games are all one-goal games; it’s not like one shift isn’t critical. That puts the onus on him to be good when he gets the chance and the onus on us to make sure we get a good evaluation.”
Desjardins said Burrows has been good with Horvat and Baertschi and for the most part he has been. But even with the Canucks on a fourgame winning streak, it’s hard to see how, say, fourth-liners Brendan Gaunce (no goals, four assists in 34 games) and Michael Chaput (no goals, three assists in 27 games) are indispensable.
And while a fourth-line checking role isn’t a good fit for Rodin, Burrows or first-line fill-in Jayson Megna can play there.
There seems to be a lack of urgency within the Canucks to see their experiment through on Rodin.
There was urgency with Nikita Tryamkin, a third-round pick from 2014, because the hulking defenceman could return to Russia after this season. And look what Tryamkin has done with his opportunity: 29 straight appearances and looking more comfortable by the night.
Look what Troy Stecher, an undrafted, 5-foot-10 defenceman, has done: 26 straight games and an average time on ice of 20:50 as a rookie.
Who knows what Rodin may be capable or incapable of at this level?
His major knee surgery left him unable to train properly until September and yet Rodin co-led Canuck forwards in pre-season scoring with five points in five games.
Increasing soreness took him out of the lineup for what was expected to be a week or two at the start of the regular season. But Rodin’s weakened knee required extensive rehab and he didn’t make his NHL debut until Dec. 23 — a 4-1 loss in Calgary that was one of the Canucks’ worst games this season.
Rodin played just 7:18 in that game and then not again until Burrows was unexpectedly forced out of the lineup on Monday.
“I’ve been through this before in my career; it’s always frustrating to deal with,” Rodin said of waiting for his chance.
“You just have to play each game like it’s your last one. You have to play to earn the coach’s trust, so he wants you in the lineup and thinks you can contribute to the team. It’s my job to take care of that.”
Rodin said he hasn’t questioned his decision to return to the Canucks organization after going home to Sweden in 2013 following two unhappy and unproductive seasons in the American Hockey League.
“Even in Sweden, every hockey-playing kid, the dream is to play in the NHL,” he said.
“And it has been my dream since I was a little kid. Home is always going to be there; I can always go back. But I’d be pretty disappointed if I didn’t try this.”
He hasn’t yet been able to try anything.
“Even in Sweden ... the dream is to play in the NHL. And it has been my dream since I was a little kid.” — Anton Rodin