Goldobin eager to prove he belongs
Rookie wants to show his old team — and new coach — that he’s a pro
At the end of a short practice on Monday, Ryan Miller and Nikolay Goldobin took a knee at centre ice and had a long discussion. Some sage advice for the impressionable kid from the wily veteran?
“I just thought he looked good today and he looked like he needed somebody to tell him he was good,” the Vancouver Canucks goaltender said. “He’s got a lot of good things going. Like a lot of guys, he’s young. He’ll get it figured out.”
It may not all come together tonight in San Jose, but as long as the intriguing right-winger is willing to show more than speed and a flair with the puck, the NHL learning curve for the 21-year-old Russian won’t be as steep as it seems in those critiques from his coach.
After being scratched Sunday against the Sharks, Goldobin is obviously anxious to strut his stuff against his former club on a line with Brandon Sutter and Reid Boucher, and prove he’s not a onedimensional dilemma for head coach Willie Desjardins.
That’s where an encouraging word or two from a 36-year-old stopper like Miller, who has seen it all, can’t hurt.
“He just said to use every day to get better and to just play good,” Goldobin said. “Every day he said to think about hockey and do stuff to get better.”
And there’s clearly something to build upon. Even though Goldobin has played just eight games since being acquired in a Feb. 28 swap for Jannik Hansen and has yet to log 13 minutes in any outing, he scored a breakaway goal in his March 4 debut. It sent a desperate hockeymad market into a frenzy.
There has been nothing since — not a point, a three-shot game or even a critique that hasn’t spelled out his shortcomings.
However, there is potential. Whether that’s doing something without the puck and something with it, or getting to the net for rebounds because Boucher isn’t going to change his hard-shooting game, opportunity is knocking to display a complete game.
After losing 15 pounds to a bad bout of the flu, Goldobin is back up to 190 pounds through a regimen of workouts and protein shakes. He looks better. He feels stronger and knows retrieving pucks doesn’t mean running over the opposition. But it does mean being engaged enough in the process to use speed and stickwork to aid his linemates and not drag them down.
“It’s not that easy,” Goldobin said. “But if (Desjardins) thinks that’s my weakness, I will get better at that because I have a lot to prove.”
There won’t be a lack of incentive because the Sharks deemed Goldobin expendable. The 2014 first-round pick played just 11 games the last two seasons with the Sharks. He had just one goal and was surprised he didn’t get a
longer look and that he was traded.
“It’s going to be a real interesting game — especially for me with a lot of emotions — and I have to bring a lot of energy,” he said of tonight’s matchup. “I just want to score a goal so (the Sharks) know that I’m a good player. They have a lot of vets, so it was hard to make that team.”
Making the right impression on Desjardins won’t be that difficult if Goldobin’s focus doesn’t drift. Bad habits have to be eliminated from anyone’s game, but because Goldobin possesses so many NHLcalibre traits, he is better off in Vancouver than the minors to erase his erratic tendencies.
“He’s good with the puck,” Desjardins said. “When he’s got it, he makes very good plays, so I guess it’s being more involved away from the puck. It’s trying to get him to play the way we need him to play. With his talent — and when he plays hard, he’s a guy who can play — we’re trying to encourage him to get to that point.
“And it’s not just for him: All of a sudden, (Sven) Baertschi is being held way more accountable because that line is moving up in the combinations and we need more production. That’s just the way we’re built now — we need more. Every guy is being pushed out of a comfort zone.”
Boucher was Goldobin’s linemate during the OHL Sarnia Sting’s 2012-13 season. Boucher exploded for 62 goals and Goldobin had 30. They’re just examples of how tough the transition is from the junior game to the NHL.
In that respect, Sutter knows what to expect tonight from Goldobin and is hoping to see an added dimension.
“When he has the puck, he makes pretty good plays,” Sutter said. “The challenge for him is the other side of it, what to do without the puck and that takes some time to really learn it. You have to have the want to get the puck to go into the corners and the hard areas.
“To do that, you have to have grit and balls, and he has to find that.” ICE CHIPS: To make room for Goldobin, Jayson Megna was moved to the fourth line with Griffen Molino and Drew Shore. Injured winger Loui Eriksson (knee) didn’t practise Monday and is doubtful for this two-game trip, which concludes Thursday in Arizona. … Luca Sbisa took a maintenance day and if he can’t go tonight, Alex Biega will take his roster spot. … Baertschi is open to representing his native Switzerland in the world championship tournament and Sbisa will also be a consideration.