Getting down to the wire for roster decisions
With Roussel injury, wAiver ConCerns, do they keep extrA forwArd or defender?
We are much closer to knowing which 23 players will begin the 2018-19 NHL season wearing the Vancouver Canucks’ colours.
The Canucks have to declare their 23-man opening-night roster by 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Nearly all of those 23 names have been locked in since July, when the Canucks added three free agents: Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and Tim Schaller.
Let’s take a look at how the Canucks’ roster has shaped up, and the final remaining personnel decisions before the team hosts the Calgary Flames on Wednesday at Rogers Arena:
THE FORWARDS
Eleven names are a lock: Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Sven Baertschi, Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, Markus Granlund, Sam Gagner, Jake Virtanen, Beagle and Schaller.
Roussel will start the season on injured reserve while he recovers from an off-season concussion.
Given how pre-season has gone, it appears almost certain forwards 12 and 13 are Nikolay Goldobin and Brendan Leipsic.
It was always difficult to imagine Leipsic not making the team, given he scored nine points in 13 games after coming over to the Canucks from Vegas in a trade deadline deal. He also played for Canucks coach Travis Green in junior with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.
Yes, he is with his third organization in three seasons, but on a team that struggled to score a year ago, the Canucks can leave no stone unturned.
It’s the same story for Goldobin, who has shown his skills often enough, but also intermittently enough to show he’s not a topflight scorer. But, like Leipsic, the team simply has too few players who have scoring inability to ignore a player like Goldobin.
That leaves Darren Archibald and Tyler Motte likely on the outside looking in.
Motte has been a strong performer during the pre-season, but is still exempt from NHL waivers, while Archibald needs to clear waivers to be sent to Utica, N.Y.
We know Green is a big fan of both players, but barring a lastminute injury, both seem likely headed for the AHL’s Comets, unless Green goes with 14 forwards and seven defencemen.
NEXT GAME
Saturday | Pre-season Arizona Coyotes vs. Vancouver Canucks 7 p.m., Prospera Place, Kelowna
SNETP, SNET 650 AM
THE DEFENCE
The eight guys the Canucks tapped to patrol the blue-line last season didn’t produce much offensively. And yet, here we are, looking at the same eight guys and the strong likelihood this group is going to start the season.
Based on how things have played out in the pre-season, it looks like the coaching staff is going to roll with Alex Edler and Troy Stecher as one pairing and Ben Hutton and Chris Tanev as another.
The third pairing will almost certainly be Michael Del Zotto and Erik Gudbranson, leaving Derrick Pouliot and Alex Biega ready and willing to fill in.
But there is also a case to be made for putting Biega on waivers now, a complicated time of year for setting rosters that suggests the odds are low another team is going to pick up the eighth defenceman on a team that finished near the bottom of the NHL last year.
Waiving Biega would allow for the Canucks to keep a 14th forward, handing Archibald or Motte a reprieve. But the Canucks have proven to be pretty conservative. Going with eight defencemen fits that line of thinking.
THE GOALIES
There’s never been any doubt: Jacob Markstrom is the No. 1 and he’ll be backed up by Anders Nilsson. Thatcher Demko, who is injured with a concussion, is next’s year man, assuming all goes according to plan.
ROUSSEL’S RETURN
So, what happens when Roussel is healthy?
There’s no timeline for Roussel’s return. A week ago his coach was clear: There’s no rushing brain injuries. But at some point he’ll be healthy enough to play. And if there are no other injuries, the Canucks will be forced into a decision: Another player will have to be shipped to the minors.
If the Canucks don’t play it conservatively, you can see a jigsaw puzzle series of decisions, starting with waiving Biega and sending down Motte — remember, he doesn’t need waivers — and keeping Archibald for now. When Roussel returns, Archibald would be waived to open up a spot.
It’s not the glamorous end of the line, but as Det. Lester Freamon (HBO, The Wire) once said: “All the pieces matter.”