Four disasters in need of relief
Two Canadian teams, Toronto and Winnipeg, are in, unofficially at least. The Jets need to keep playing well to fend off their pursuers, mind you, but there should be Stanley Cup playoff games in Manitoba two months from now.
The Leafs are in a much more comfortable spot. The Wings, Panthers and Canadiens are miles behind them for third in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs could play .300 hockey the rest of the way and still make it.
A third Canadian squad, Calgary, is teetering on the brink. Finding a way to win more than half their games on home ice is probably a necessary requirement if the Flames are to make it to the postseason.
The Jaromir Jagr experiment was a complete waste of time, but no harm, no foul. Otherwise, while the Flames would like to be further up the standings, it’s certainly not been a disastrous season in Calgary, and their young core has played pretty well.
Which brings us to the other four Canadian teams. Vancouver. Edmonton. Ottawa. Montreal. Four disasters. Actually, that’s a little unfair to the Canucks. Nobody expected much of them, and they’ve at least delivered a slice of hope. In Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser they trust. That said, Vancouver was 25th overall (83 points) when Jim Benning was hired as GM four years ago, and today they’re 28th overall on pace for a 71-point season.
You be the judge if that’s progress. Looks like treading water from here.
What Vancouver does have in common with the Oilers, Senators and Canadiens, needless to say, is that some major, major decisions are on the radar for the coming days and months.
Unlike, say, Florida or Arizona, barely noticed teams that can miss the playoffs again without much public comment or debate, the four Canadian non-playoff squads have to make their choices in the white- hot heat of public scrutiny.
That includes moves that could be made over the next 10 days leading up to the NHL trade deadline. All those teams have bodies to trade if they choose to do so. Big moves aren’t out of the question.
For the sake of organization, we’ll go in alphabetical order:
EDMONTON
The bad moves are piling up on GM Peter Chiarelli, and the bad metrics, particularly historically awful penalty killing, aren’t complimentary to head coach Todd McLellan. Nobody expected the Oilers to take such a massive step backward this season, and somebody, you figure, has to pay the price.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins needs to move on. Problem is, the Oilers felt the same about Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, and the trades involving both of those players look pretty bad right now for Edmonton. The Oilers have historically been one of the NHL’s fastest teams, and now they’re one of the slowest. As said many times, that Milan Lucic contract is going to haunt them.
The key question is whether the Chiarelli/McLellan combo can return, or whether they need to wipe the slate clean in Edmonton. Again.
Tough call for owner Darryl Katz. Connor McDavid’s cap hit, don’t forget, jumps to $12.5 million (U.S.) from $925,000 next season.
MONTREAL
The Canadiens can’t blame the absence of Carey Price for this debacle. He’s been a big part of it. There’s no No. 1 centre, and you’d have to be an eternal optimist to believe Jonathan Drouin is going to become that guy.
Tomas Plekanec may go before the deadline, but there’s not a lot else for the Habs to move. The good news is they’ve got their first-round pick this June plus three second-round picks. The bad news is next season Price’s cap hit jumps to $10.5 million from $6.5 million, and the team has to carry that until (gulp) 2026.
GM Marc Bergevin was hired in May 2012. It’s time to make a change.
OTTAWA
The Senators committed to GM Pierre Dorion this week with a three-year extension, then turned around and made a deal with L.A. that sent Dion Phaneuf packing and seemed mostly about saving money. Sens fans can be forgiven if they’re confused about the message here.
Otherwise, everything’s about whether Erik Karlsson is going to stay in Ottawa. Now, or in June, would be the time to move Karlsson for a king’s ransom if Dorion and owner Eugene Melnyk are so inclined. Logic says that’s exactly what they should do, as hard as it may be to do. But the fans are disgruntled already. The onus would be on Dorion to articulate a game plan.
The worst-case scenario would be for Karlsson to just walk out the door as a free agent after next season. Ottawa cannot afford to play the high-risk game Tampa Bay played with Steven Stamkos and the Islanders are currently playing with John Tavares.
VANCOUVER
The time has come for the Canucks to move on from the classy Sedin twins. Henrik has two goals, and he and Daniel only play 15 minutes a night now. Trading them, obviously, is basically impossible, but that doesn’t mean you have to re-sign them.
They’ve done a lot for that franchise, but this is basically the same as the Mats Sundin situation was in Toronto. You can’t go on wishing they were 25 again.
The Canucks can clear $14 million of cap space there, plus another $5.5 million by moving on from Erik Gudbranson and Thomas Vanek. They could use that room to take on bad contracts from other clubs, add draft picks and have this team in a much better position in two years. Brendan Shanahan can send Trevor Linden the blueprint if he wants.
Now is not the time for sentiment. The twins will be 38 by the time next season begins. Time’s up. Damien Cox’s column appears Tuesday and Saturday